Cleaning up is fun to do!

I have many post to catch you all up on, even my personal blog is lacking updates. Now that the busy Holiday season is over and my family is returning to their regular scheduled “programing” I can get back to the basic's of blogging.

 

For my first post of 2012, I bring you organized chaos!!!

A few year ago I converted a small linen closet into my cake closet. I have over the years, cleaned it and reorganized it but this time I went in, all or nothing.

Here is before. As you can see, it’s a mess <blushing>.

 

After a trip to Meijer, a few hours of scrubbing and reassigning drawers, I have a fresh start for the new year.

I even have room to add extra stuff and a perfect spot for my new circuit cake.

 

On the subject of organizing… I wanted to share with you all how I store my ever growing collection of cookie cutters.

I also have a master list I keep in the kitchen of all cutter and which box I can find them in, so when I head down stairs I know which box I need.

 

Each box has a season, holiday or theme. and then the box is labeled with each cutter inside.

 

Now the one problem that causes the most headache….

CAKE PANS. I have yet to have found a solution to this problem and I am open to all suggestions!

The liquor bottles are there I.C.E. (in case of emergency) and once a week we have “emergencies”

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Create a cookie cutter- Product review

This post is long over due. For my son’s 6th birthday we hosted a bowling party for him and his friends. I ran into a little dilemma…I waited until 3 days before his event to make the cookies. I knew I was in need of a bowling pin cookie cutter and figured, I’d have no issue finding one at the local cake shop. WOW, was I wrong. We have about 5 “local” shops and no one carried a silly little bowling pin. And because I had to make about 5 dozen cookies, a cardboard temple was out of the question.  So I was convinced to to purchase this, Make your own cookie cutter kit. I was a bit skeptical but the other choice was hand cutting  120 cookies.

So I gathered my supplies and read the directions over and over!

*I printed a bowling pin from the computer.

 

 

First step, seems simple enough. You use a piece of tread to trace image. This is your guide for cutting the metal. The metal can be cut with standard scissors.

Next using the tools on the left side of picture you shape the image. This did take some time but I wanted it perfect.

After you have the image shaped, I used clamps to make the sticky tape adhere with a tight grip.  At this point you can allow it to sit for a few days or place in oven, I let it sit for a few hours then removed the clamp and placed in oven.

Once the cutter has cooled can start to cut the cookies.

I was very pleased with the results, and the simplicity of the project. I am curious to try again, the kit comes with plenty of extra metal and adhesive tape.

This product is HAPPY CAKE LADY APPROVED!

Bakin with the Boss

Photo courtesy of Jeniece Pittitt for TLC

If you follow The Happy Cake Lady on Facebook, then you know that I was a winner from Kalamazoo, MI section of TLC's Who takes the Cake contest.

For the contest I had to upload a picture of a cake. The cake was then voted up or down and little old me WON "Best in City"!

So I called the babysitter, dog sitter and packed up the car and went on a little adventure with Mr Frankie G. (my husband) to Kalamazoo, MI

We had a wonderful evening and wonderful seats with VIP treatment.

Buddy's tour Buss. Our first stop on the adventure!

Watching Buddy create a cake is a little like watching a Rock star write a song! ;-)

A HUGE thank you to TLC for the contest, my husband, my parents and friends for bugging their friends to vote, my cake fans on FB for supporting my business and making my dreams come to reality and of course Buddy for going on Tour!

making progress...

The new look of the blog is coming along, slow, but it's coming....

Leave some love and let me know what you think so far! <3

Pumpkin Puree

Items you will need…

1 or more pie pumpkins (these are the small pumpkins)

spoon

large knife

baking pan

foil

water

optional- the help of your 3 1/2 yr old and his lovey named blueberry.  

• rinse off the pumpkins removing all dirt
• remove stem and cut pumpkins in half
• using a spoon remove the seeds and pulp

• place on foil lined baking dish and fill the pumpkins with water, cover the pumpkins with foil
• bake at 375 for 1 1/2 hours or until spoon slides into pumpkin with no force

• Let cool, poor the water from pumpkins into a cup
• With spoon scoop pumpkin away from skin. If cooked long enough the pumpkin should come right off of the skin

• Place pumpkin into food processor and add a tablespoon of water at a time. Blend until the pumpkin is the same consistency as baby food.
• 

I usually bake pies, cake and bars using fresh pumpkin and I usually make the puree the day before and keep in air tight container in fridge overnight.

This was a 2 pound pumpkin and it yielded, just over a cup of puree.

 

Happy Fall Baking!

Blog Update~!

Please be patient with me, the blog is going to get a make over and I'm sure you'll love the new user friendly look!

Happy Baking!

Reynolds Product Review

Hey there Happy Cake Lady Fans!!!!

I have a product review for you. I was shopping in my local Target and came across Reynolds® Baked for You™ baking cups.

They claim, they stay bright, meaning the color of the cups don’t fade with baking. Like these did.

They also claim that you can place the cups right on a cookie sheet with no need for a muffin pan. But will they bake even? Now if you have ever tried this with standard baking cups, you know this doesn’t work, the cups spread out and you get a triangle looking cupcake.

So I whipped up some batter of cherry chip cake and put these to the test. I made sure to over fill the cups just a little to see if that would make a difference. Notice they are placed on a cookie sheet, not in a muffin pan.

Bake at 350 and…..

Here they are fresh out of oven…. Most cups came out round and perfect, I did have a few that were not perfectly round.

and for the true test…. Did they keep their color?

They sure did! Just as bright as they were before they baked in oven!

I would MOST defiantly use these again, but I would stick with my muffin pans. I bake for a living and can’t risk any of my cupcakes being not perfectly round!