I give thanks for chocolate cake

Thanksgiving is going to be a low key affair this year, with dinner being at my in-laws.  I offered to make dessert and decided upon a simple chocolate cake.  As there will only be five of us at dinner, I decided to make a six inch layer cake, with whipped milk chocolate frosting.  For some flair, I decided to add texture with the icing with a Wilton icing comb.

Always do a crumb coat...always!

Make sure the icing is thick enough that you won't leave bare spots when you take the comb to the cake.

Comb the top first, followed by the sides, but make sure you don't go too deep and leave bare spots.

You can work to make it smoother, but since its for a Thanksgiving dinner, I went with a more rustic look.

Because I baked 9 inch cakes, I had plenty of left over cake and decided to also make a few cake pops.  There are a tonne of websites and videos where you can get directions on how to make cake pops.  They are soooooo easy!!!  It is literally as simple as adding frosting to cake crumbs, shaping the mix into pops, adding sticks (or not), popping it into the freezer for a little while, and finishing it off with a coating of chocolate (or candy).

I decided to leave a couple without pop sticks because I made them a little on the larger size.

Any ways, Happy Thanksgiving!

Yarn and Felt Wreath

I started making this wreath earlier this year, but only finished putting together the felt flowers.  Last year I made a dozen wreaths for friends and family, including two yarn and felt wreaths.  By the time I got ready to make this one, I got really busy with work and haven't touched it since.  With this weekend being a holiday, I have a little extra time to craft and decided to finish this one.

These are very easy to make but are time consuming, particularly wrapping the wreath.  For this design, I used the following materials:

- straw wreath (from Michael's)
- red and burgundy felt
- faux crystal sprigs
- white and red ribbon
- white yarn
- pearl head pins
- glue gun

As mentioned above, I had already created the felt flowers, so I can't show pictures of that process.  They are easy: just cut felt circles of different sizes.  For the roses, cut the circles in a spiral pattern and start rolling them together from the outside in and use the glue gun to glue the bottom to keep them together.  I wrapped a couple around the crystal sprigs.  For a different look, cut a rectangle of felt about 20 cm long, fold it in half and roll it up. Then cut the roll up, until you have a good number of pieces (as you can see below).

Here's a picture of the flowers I made for this wreath:

For the wreath itself, I start by looping some ribbon to create the loop that will ultimately hold the wreath.  Then, just wrap the entire wreath in the yarn (this takes a while, I think it took about two hours).

I decided to add some extra detail to this wreath by creating an argyle look with red ribbon.

Finally, the felt flowers are glued on in the preferred arrangement.  For extra stability, I placed a pearl head pin down the centre of each flower.

On another note, this week my hubby and I also finally got our next tattoos.  Rather than add a separate post, I figured I'd post it here.  As I'm both a lawyer and a Libra, I've wanted this design for years, but just hadn't gotten around to getting it done.  The hubby was getting a new piece on his arm and I was waiting, so I figured I could make better use of my time by getting the scales of justice done.  The artist added the Libra sign at the top.  

I love it!!!

I wouldn't eat that cake if I were you...

I don't get to make them very often, but I must confess that I love making diaper cakes for friends who are expecting.  In a month or two I'll get to make a new one, but for now, I'll have to make due with pictures from a diaper cake I made for a good friend last year.

I kept this one as simple and elegant as possible and stayed neutral with the colours (notwithstanding that we knew the little one was going to be a girl).  Here are some pictures of the cake in process and the final product at the baby shower.  When I finally get around to making my latest creation, I'll add a list of required materials and instructions for this style of diaper cake:

Pretty, but like the title of this post says, I wouldn't suggesting eating this particular cake if I were you.  ;)

Boston Bruins Birthday Baking Bonaza

I couldn't help myself with the alliterative title.  Sorry for the nerd moment, but it was just begging to be done. 

Any ways, this weekend was my godson's birthday party.  His birthday's not until the end of the month, but if you have ever tried to rent a sheet of ice during hockey season (not the NHL type, since apparently that won't be happening), you will know that you take what you can get.

My godson is a huge hockey fan and a rather talented goalie in his own right.  For his 10th birthday, his mom (my bff) and I rented a sheet of ice for the boys (young and old), and planned a hockey themed party.  My godson's favourite NHL team is the Boston Bruins (despite living just outside of Toronto, he steadfastly refuses to cheer for the "Maple Laughs" as he calls them, but a big factor is that his uncle plays for Boston).

I offered to bake for the party and gave my godson a choice of the cake design he wanted.  He could pick either (a) a goalie pad designed sheet cake; (b) a hockey net, stick and puck; or (c) a round cake with a Boston Bruins design.  He picked the Bruins design (somewhat to my chagrin, since my piping skills need some work). 

Since I had so much fun making the Tye-Dyed Cupcakes a few weeks ago, I decided to make the Bruins logo cake and also cupcakes with swirl icing using the Boston Bruins' black and gold colours for icing.

As usual, when I'm making decorative cakes and cupcakes, I stuck to boxed mixes for simplicity and used Betty Crocker mixes (Devil's Food Cake and Chocolate Fudge) and frosting (Vanilla and Milk Chocolate) and Wilton food colouring and decorating tools.  Here's the pictures of the works in progress:

Boston Bruin Swirl Cupcakes:

 Boston Bruin Logo Cake:

Packed up and ready to go to the party:

Here are some pictures of the NHL themed decorations - honestly, its amazing what's available these days for planning partys.  Party City is a very dangerous store to be in for extended periods of time.

Here's the cake and cupcakes at the party.  I guess, based on the last picture, the cake went over well and maybe the sugar gave the boys some extra energy for when they went skating afterwards.  All in all, while the cake is not as clean as I would like, it was fun to make and it was a fun day overall (plus, I didn't fall on the ice!!!!).

With Fall Comes Wreaths

Last fall, my favourite items to make were wreaths.  It seemed like any spare time I had was spent making wreaths for our house, friends and family.  My particular favourite design typically used the following:

Grapevine wreath
Fall bouquets (mums etc.)
Faux berries
Maple leaves
Homemade bows using wired ribbon
Glue gun
Grosgrain or satin ribbon (1" wide)

Typically, I lay out the flowers on the wreath to get a sense of how many I will need and then I wrap the wreath with the grosgrain/satin.  I also would use the grosgrain/satin ribbon to create the loop for hanging.  Before gluing the flowers into place, I attach the bow (usually at the bottom) using flower wire.

Next, starting at the top and working my way down to the bow, alternating sides to keep the design even, I glue the flowers into place using the glue gun.  Finally, I glue the finishing pieces (berries, leaves) into place.

Here are a couple of designs from last falls (I'll add more when I make some this year):