All the Fun, None of the Fuss

I have great memories of making Christmas cookies every year with my mom and my brother.  There was always a baking day in the week leading up to Christmas, and I looked forward to it.

This year, though, I am a wee bit overextended, and I find myself wishing for just an hour of Christmas cookie fun instead of a whole day.  Enter the homemade lofthouse cookie.  Oh...Oh my.

My sister-in-law, another baking Lore (who has her own great blog at www.enduringtrigirl.blogspot.com and you should go check it out), found this recipe at a site called Annie's Eats.

I tried them.  I loved them.  I'll make them again and again. 

They're just what you'd expect - super soft sugar cookie with perfectly sweet icing.  I really encourage you to try them yourself. 

Not only did I get a recipe for Christmas cookies, these are an incredibly flexible cookie that can be formatted to any occasion just by changing your food coloring and sprinkles.  That's a huge win in my book! 

Now, you'll excuse me while my family and I go stuff as many of these into our faces as we can.  Merry Christmas!!!

Deck the Halls and All that Jazz

What?  MORE super cute Saturdays from Bake Lore?  Well...if you insist...

What goes better with Christmas tree Saturdays than Christmas ball Saturdays??

What other ideas do you have for Christmas inspired Saturdays?  Snowmen?  Little Reindeer?  The possibilites are endless!



Hey There, Tiny Christmas Trees!

Saturdays at Bake Lore are getting cuter and cuter and cuter.

Look at these adorable little Christmas trees!

Kinda makes you want to sing songs and dance around like a little kid, doesn't it?  I'm in love with these little Saturdays.  They were fun to make, and they taste even better than they look.

These were made with the ever popular buttery yellow cake, vanilla butter cream and covered in white Chocoley dipping chocolate.  I discovered that no candy coating, even the good, expensive kind, likes red gel colors.  Something about it makes the chemistry just go crazy and instead of a gorgeous, smooth dipping candy, you end up with wierd, oily crumbles.  Ew.  So, the red decorations were just a bit of royal icing...as were the stars.

AmbuLANCE!

What a week it has been!  I was sworn to secrecy on this latest cake until today so as not to spoil the surprise.  But at long last, I have some fresh pictures for you.

This is buttery yellow cake and vanilla butter cream.  The fireman/emt figure is marzipan and the ambulance is cereal treat and gumpaste. 

Here's a little close up...

Marzipan is fun to work with, although significantly stickier than gum paste.  I'll definitely be using that medium again. 

Hope you enjoyed this fun cake - and congratulations to C.J., who has graduated from nursing school and is now the very best fireman/emt/nurse you could ever hope to have rescue you from anything that might be on fire or bleeding:). 

A Taste of Summer

These may not be the most festive or Christmasy confections I've ever churned out during December, but they are awfully cute.  And who wouldn't like to be reminded of a lovely, ripe, juicey watermelon during these gray months?

So I give you, watermelon Saturdays: 

They only look like watermelon.  I shudder to think of the monstrosity that would be watermelon flavored cake.  Ew...these are a much tastier combination of buttery yellow cake with a little splash of pink, a handful of mini chocolate chips and a big fat scoop of Bake Lore butter cream.

And of course, they are dipped - twice - in Chocoley white chocolate.  That stuff is amazing.  I love it.  You turn it any color you choose and it stays that beautiful shiny, silky smooth chocolate Chocoley is famous for.  You get those so-called candy melts at the craft store, and heaven help you if you want them any color but the one they came with.  It's happened to me so many times - thinking it'll somehow be different, and it never is.  A little gel color turns those candy melts into some kind of crumbly nightmare.  It's weird. 

I was actually just on the verge of being forced to go the candy melt route when my Chocoley order finally appeared on my doorstep.  I did a little dance...and a bit later, I took a bite out of one of these cute little pops. 

It's a Miracle

Oh yes...it's a miracle.

You know that stuff they try to sell at the grocery store or the craft store - they call it miracle cake release or some other such nonsense?  Yeah.  It cost's like eight dollars and you get this tiny little squeeze bottle of stuff. 

Rip...OFF!

Guess what?  Thanks to the miracle that is Pinterest - seriously, you need to check Pinterest out if you haven't already - I found a DIY version of this miracle concoction, and guess what?  It really works. 

I tried it out on some blueberry streudel muffins this morning, and it's dreamy. 

blueberry streudel muffins...that did NOT stick to the pan:)

Well, yeah, you still have to wash the pan, but pretty much a clean break!

Here's the simple formula: one part crisco, one part veggie oil and one part all purpose flour.  Combine and beat the heck out of it.  Then you can store it forever in a bottle of your choosing. 

Awesome!  I'm in love...and did I mention it's a perfect substitute for parchment paper and butter?  Oh yeah!  Huge cost saver for the non-cake parts of cake making...that is some Charlie Sheen style winning, friends.  Love it.

How to Frame a Cake

When I was a girl, I had a great love for porceline dolls.  After the acquisition of three or four of those glassy-eyed figures, I came to a common conclusion:  fake dolls are creepy. 

Since then, I've not been one for collecting.  But at this point in my life, I have a great love of beautiful cake pedestals, platters and stands.  I love them, and I love shopping for them.  I find them online, at antique stores and even, *gasp* at Walmart. 

Like framing a painting, a pedestal finishes a beautiful cake. These are a few of my favorites.

I have started offering these treasures as rentals for smaller cakes.  Perhaps as my collection grows and becomes more diverse, I'll offer them for the big, fat wedding cakes too. 

Luckily, cake pedestals don't stare back at you.  They have no eyes that follow you as you move about the room.  They stack well and stay conveneiently out of sight, out of mind until they are needed.  At last, a collection worth keeping.