A Spoonful of Sugar!

Until today, these were my kids favourite muffins...they kept asking for them over and over and over again! Then, I had the nerve to make Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and now they have a new favourite!

So here goes, you will need...

1.5c Flour

1.5tsp Baking Powder

.25tsp Baking Soda

.25tsp Salt (I never put in salt, do you?)

.5c Packed Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

.5c Unsalted Butter, Melted

1c Sour Cream

1.5tsp Vanilla

1c Chocolate Chips

2Tbsp Redpath Turbinado Sugar (this is really important - go buy some!)

Preheat oven to 400F (I always forget to do this part ahead!)

Grease 12-cup muffin pan.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk brown sugar, egg, butter, sour cream and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until blended.

Gently fold in chocolate chips....mmmm...

Divide batter equally among cups (I always double my recipes and make at least 24 at a time...12 just isn't enough for us! Sprink with Turbinado Sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven for 19-21mins or until tops are gold and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Enjoy!
Heather

Car Crazy!

I was asked to do a last minute cake for a little boy turning 3...having a boy that same age I immediately starting talking about Cars, Trucks and Dirt...you know?

We decided on a #3 Cake turned race track. Since the little guy doesn't prefer Fondant, I pulled out all the stops and made a buttercream cake for him (I MUST like him eh?) Whew!

 I enjoyed making this cake...it was during a pretty busy week but I was happy to pull it off in time for an early delivery and I hear the birthday boy was delighted!

This was a Vanilla cake with Banana Whipped Cream Filling (you just have to come up with this wild stuff and I do my best to make it happen!) The Buttercream also has some Banana Flavouring in it...

I hope you had a great day little guy!

Enjoy!
Heather

Accessorize You!

Of course we started by baking cupcakes!

 Then we made these fabulous accessories!

And decorated our cupcakes!

And there is one happy birthday girl!

This party was way back in May when we were renovating my workshop...I finally found the cord for my camera and was able to move the photos onto the computer! Tricky eh?

Look for last week's parties soon!

Enjoy!
Heather

Fall Harvest Cupcake Challenge!

I was invited by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to participate in a Cupcake Challenge at their Annual General Meeting. I would go up against the Pastry Chef from August Restaurant in creating and decorating a jumbo cupcake and then baking mini cupcakes for tasting.

I baked Pear Ginger Cupcakes with a Goat Cheese Cream Icing...my Jumbo Cupcake is meant to be a basket of apples and pears.  

 I got the sweet mini-loaf pans from Michaels for only $1.50 each...aren't they fabulous?

 Fabi, baked Candy Apple Cupcakes and made this fabulous Candy Apple Jumbo Cupcake covered with Red Chocolate Melts and Caramel Icing.

Aren't her cupcakes adorable?

 We enjoyed a lovely dinner together...and waited until it was taste testing time pretty patiently (if you ask me). Finally, they got around to us...and well, the results were very close (and I totally believe that because both of the cupcakes were totally fabulous!)

...Anyway, the winner would get to donate $183 (as donated by the Chamber Members and their guests that evening) to the charity of choice, win bragging rights and enjoy some other perks with the Chamber...

SO....the winner was...

ME!

Pretty cool eh? And my charity of choice was The Niagara Peninsula Children's Centre. They are instrumental in supporting our youngest child in speech development...

Hope you had a fabulous weekend, I know we did!

Enjoy!
Heather

Cake Camp - Above and Beyond

When I decided to do this camp, it never occured to me that my son would want to do it (and that he would find a friend to join him!) But the biggest surprise of all was the determination of my kids to keep on going after the camp was over!

These are their cakes as they were finished with everyone else's

 I think they're pretty cool.

 But that evening, they were in my workshop...

 ...taking things just one step further...

And the next day, they had these totally awesome cakes...

Aren't they fabulous? I was impressed by all the kids that came but mine in all honesty are exposed to a LOT of cakes. But I never dreamt that this is what they would come up with!

We were so proud of their creations...we share them with some of our friends and neighbours.

Enjoy!
Heather

Cake Camp Day 4 & 5 - Final Cake!

The kids loved modelling so much that we managed to fit in another mini session on Day #4 while our cakes were baking.  One of the final cakes was to be a Smurf house so I thought I would help the kids out by creating a Smurf that day. Boy did they ever love it!

Aren't they great?

 Onto our final cakes...each cake was designed by the decorator. This enabled us to see a wide variety in finished product and learn different techniques with the different cakes.  This artist used a variety of colours, cutters and techniques and had fun exploring some options in cake decorating!

 The owl in this cake was modelled independently by the decorator...I showed her how to use the clay extruder so she could make the Owl's nest. She was so proud of her modelling from previous days she included that on the cake as well!

 This was cake represents a Smurf house. We also modelled a present to turn his Smurf into Jokey Smurf!

 This decorator took her time and created a lovely flower design on her cake...she took great care in everything she did.

This decorator had Nature on the brain! She enjoyed using the cutters, doing some painting and some independent modelling as well. 

It was such a fun week! I hope that the kids had as much fun as I did because I sure did love it!

Enjoy!
Heather

Cake Camp Day #3!

We managed to keep Simon busy the first few days but there was NO way we were keeping him out of my workshop all week! He insisted that Day #3 was his day to join in on the fun! We spent the day creating roads and cars and decorating them!

The kids loved doing this...and everyone's was different!

To finish up the board, we made porcupines, pine cones and fir trees!

Some of the kids took things into their own hands and added logs and made futuristic cars!

Simon inspired the kids using the heart cutter and then everyone was using it!

It was such a fun day! And the kids were so creative!

Enjoy!
Heather

Cake Camp Day #2 - Cake Pops!!!

"When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen." -A.A. Milne

My kids know...somedays you  have to be prepared for anything and this was one of those days! We set out to make cake pops not knowing what we were getting ourselves into...

 You have to keep these puppies COLD! We lost a few in the chocolate while dipping them...but the kids kept their spirits up and we pressed on...

 While the pops were setting we realized they needed a vessel! I had these sweet little glasses but they were TOO TALL! So we got out the sizzle! I love that stuff!

 And look at what we got!

 So...we thought it best we try them before everyone took them home. You know, to make sure they were okay...

 These kids were all so great...I really couldn't get enough of them!

 And they all worked SO hard!

It was a fabulous day...I am hoping to find more time for cake pops in the future! Like a whole day...just to roll, dip and play!

You should try it too! Check out Bakerella for more details!

Enjoy!
Heather

Cake Camp Day 1!

 I was just browsing my blog when I realized I am MUCH behind! Here I thought a few quick entries for September and I would be laughing...but no! It seems I quit too soon in August!

So here goes! We had a wonderfully successful week at Cake Camp this summer!

 On the first day, we started with a simple, no fail plan. (Is there really such a thing?)

 We were going to decorate cupcakes to look like an ice cream cone...see Princess thought she had it all figured out!

But then we really set to work...and created cupcake art (I think so, don't you?)

And we had a little extra time so we made ourselves some teddy bears...they were SO fun! The kids loved the modelling!

Definitely a great day!

Enjoy!
Heather

You can't always get what you want...

But sometimes you get lucky!!!

Princess was low on summer pjs...so I finally pulled out the fabric we bought to make her pjs...and I dug around (on the internet) until I found this tutorial. I wasn't sure if I could get it right but apparently I got lucky on that!

Then I used my recently purchased Lil Blue Boo Perfect Short Pattern (these shorts are only perfect for people with lovely legs, I think!)
We are currently in love with the whole idea of the Yoga Pant waistband! Princess has shorts and skirts with it and it's so comfy and doesn't go anywhere or get twisted!
You can see I did a ruffle finish on the shirt...I love doing that! And Princess loves it too! Now that fall has kicked in I am going to have to make her pants because she just loves these jammies so much!

Enjoy!

Heather