Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

April 11, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

I don’t know about the weather where you are, but it has finally (fingers crossed) become SPRING here in Western Canada. To celebrate, Amber and I from SweetAmbs Cookies decided that we would make something “daisy” related on our YouTube channels.

For my tutorial, I decided to go with decorating cupcakes with royal icing daisies of different sizes. I thought that covering one of the cupcakes in mini daisies and having a second cupcake with one large daisy on it would be a spring-like way to put this design together.

Working with royal icing is not something that is too difficult, but it does take some getting used to if you’re just beginning. The most challenging part is learning about getting the consistency of the icing correct so that you don’t end up with flowers or other decorations that are weeping or falling apart. If you need help with making royal icing, or need a recipe, check mine out here. With that said, making these daisies is easier than more complicated flowers (roses etc) because you don’t have to worry too much about consistency. If you go with a stiffer icing, the petals will stand apart better, and if you go with a thinner icing, the petals may meet and blend together, either of which will work for daisies in my opinion.

Definitely take note that these, and any royal icing decorations, will need to have ample drying time. These ones, being that they are relatively thin, will take around 24-48 hours.

Other than learning to work with royal icing, these cupcakes are relatively simple to make, and result in a very pretty finished product. I think they would make a beautiful display if you were thinking of having a daisy wedding theme as well. Imagine all of these cupcakes spread out over a large cupcake stand . . . it would look like a beautiful garden of daisies!

How to Make Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

April 9, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Every Easter, I used to eagerly anticipate the arrival of Cadbury Creme Eggs on the shelves, but since they have become a year round feature in the chocolate aisle, the excitement has lessened slightly. Is this true where you are from? In the last couple of years, I have started to notice that there have creme eggs for every season! I guess when you have a good thing going, you want to capitalize on it!

Despite their availability year round, I will not eat them at any time other than Easter. RESIST THE CREME EGG! Now, that is willpower unheard of by me!! This year though, I found myself wanting a new way to enjoy the eggs! I think I had egg boredom.

So I thought, “why not put them in a cupcake for a new spin?! ” I knew the cupcake HAD to have a creme egg inside, flavoured buttercream, and another creme egg on top. And of course the cupcake flavour had to be chocolate. If you’re able to find Cadbury cocoa powder, you’re even better off for a “true” flavour match. I didn’t have THAT much luck, but I can’t complain, since like I said before, I can get creme eggs all year round!

If you have never had a Cadbury Creme Egg, I think you are totally missing out! But, these are one of those things that people feel strongly about: they either love them, or hate them! I will admit that they are very sweet, and usually make me cough (but I’m blaming the lingering effects of my chest infection for that this year). The outer shell is chocolate, and in the inside, there is a creamy smooth yellow and white filling.

The only “difficulty” with this recipe is figuring out what time to put the eggs into the baking cupcakes. I experimented with quite a few batches, before settling on placing a frozen egg into the cupcakes 15 minutes into the baking process. I tried putting the frozen ones in immediately, at the 10 minute mark, and found that those 2 times were too long for the egg and the creme filling would leak out of the melted chocolate. But, like I say in the tutorial, it will still taste good if it is melted.

Giant Peeps Cake with Surprise Inside

April 5, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Has the lead up to this cake been dramatic enough? I’m so excited to finally be able to share it with you! I don’t know what it is about Peeps, but they are the cutest things ever! I don’t like eating them AT ALL, but they are so fun to create with. I caught myself on a couple of occasions playing with them . . . “Um, what am I doing?” You can check those photos out on my Instagram account! Or don’t, it’s kind of embarrassing.

This is my first official “surprise inside” cake. I’ve done a couple of cupcakes that have hidden gems inside, but I’ve never done a cake. What I love about a surprise inside is that from the outside, you have no idea that there is something hiding underneath all the cake and icing. You can also choose to make this cake without the surprise and have it all be cake, but then you wouldn’t find all those cute Peeps faces gazing out at you on that first slice!

If you choose not to hollow out the cakes, it will definitely feed more people, so if you are looking to serve a crowd, make sure that you take into account that a lot of the cake is removed after baking. You might want to have some back up cupcakes or another small cake on hand if you have a hungry crowd.

The marshmallow buttercream that we use is absolutely delicious! It has a ton of butter in it, which makes it taste amazing, and also makes it super easy to spread. I’ve found that the higher the butter level, the easier the spread-ability of the icing! I’m also a scientist on the side, can you tell?

If you’re going to be making this cake and prefer to use box mixes, I have to tell you that I’m not sure if the box mixes will hold up in the bowl after the carving. Box mixes tend to be lighter, and weaker than cakes from scratch. I would worry that when you’re carving out the centre of the bowl cake, that you might have some problems with the sides collapsing. But, hopefully you don’t! If you try it with a box mix, and it works out, make sure you leave a comment about what you did to help it be successful!

How to Make Marshmallow Buttercream

April 2, 2014 by Jenn 10 Comments

Marshmallows and buttercream together? So yum!

This recipe comes about as a lead up to a fabulous cake . . . this recipe, plus the one for marshmallow fluff together equal a fabulous SURPRISE inside cake. We will have the great, fabulous, so adorable, wonderful cake ready to be released on Saturday morning. Here’s a hint: there are marshmallows involved.

I think that this icing would be delicious on a S’mores cupcake (which I’m definitely going to make now that I’ve thought of it!) You could scorch the top of and make it TOASTED marshmallow buttercream! Oh my god, I’m dying!

There is definitely a lot of butter in this recipe, which obviously means it’s going to taste great and be horrible for your waistline, but it makes a smooth and creamy buttercream.

I must know . . . how would YOU use this buttercream?

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cake

March 29, 2014 by Jenn 4 Comments

Favourite sandwich as a kid? Definitely peanut butter and jelly! My dad used to make us peanut butter and bologna, which sounds disgusting but strangely wasn’t, but PB&J always came in first. Peanut butter and honey was a close second, and peanut butter and banana rounded up the top three. In case you didn’t figure it out, obviously I have a love for peanut butter!

This cake is such a fun one to surprise everyone with. It’s giant, and seriously looks like a regular sized sandwich. I’ve been planning to make a cake like this for a long time, so a couple months ago, I found a sandwich cake mold to use for it. You definitely don’t need to have a special mold though. It can easily be baked in a square pan (8″x8″) and when it has cooled, carve out the top with a couple of little notches and you’ll basically have the same thing.

I decided to make a peanut butter cake for the “bread” instead of a standard vanilla cake which would make the “bread” look like white bread. The peanut butter cake makes the cake look like whole wheat “bread’, which is obviously healthier. So this cake is healthy as it’s a sandwich made with whole wheat bread. If you make it with vanilla cake, the white bread will go straight to your hips.

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff (Marshmallow Creme)

March 26, 2014 by Jenn 4 Comments

Marshmallow fluff, or creme, as it is sometimes called is basically a spreadable version of marshmallows. Think campfire melted marshmallows- without the char! Usually it is sold by the jar, for relatively cheap, but if you know me and that my recipes are made from scratch, you’ll know that I’m not going to just buy a jar of something because it’s cheap. I have to learn to make it!

Making marshmallow fluff is a precursor to a couple of bigger projects that we have coming up on our YouTube channel. Laying the foundations, and the ground work is critical! No, I’m not building something that needs to be structurally sound- I’m trying to make “fluff” sound like a big, important deal.

Did it work?

So yes, back to the fluff. It’s sticky. It’s gooey. It can be a pain to work with, but it is oh, so, good. Apparently people make sandwiches with it, and despite my never squelched sweet tooth, I think that might be disgusting. If you’ve tried it, let me know what it’s like . . . I can’t bring myself to do it. I would have to buy bread.

Neapolitan Checkerboard Cake

March 22, 2014 by Jenn 6 Comments

Hello world, it’s nice to see you again! I’ve been in the crawl space of our “basement” for the last two days, while we have been cutting cement, digging cement, carrying cement, and digging dirt out of two trenches so we can protect the house from water damage. Water has been coming in the basement every time the snow melts, which has been about 5851456 times this winter, and every time it rains. It’s looking like we have one more day to be down in the dungeon to lay gravel and pipes, and then we should be finished. For now. There are a couple more things to do, but my brain can’t handle the thought of crawling on my knees for much longer.

Anyway, the cake that we’ve done the tutorial for this time is one that I have wanted to do for a very long time. When I first saw a checkerboard cake, I was in complete awe at how to do it, but I quickly discovered through research that it is actually really easy! Once I had the procedure mastered, it was time to figure out what flavours of cake to do. I have always loved Neapolitan ice cream since it’s the best of ALL worlds- strawberry, chocolate and vanilla! There is no need to pick your favourite, you can have all three in one scoop. The same goes for this cake. In one slice, you can have all your favourites, no matter what they are- you just can’t call it neapolitan . . . you’ll have to call it checkerboard Apparently when the trio of flavours was chosen, it was led to believe that they were the most popular at the time . . . like early 1900′s! Who would have thought?

Kermit the Frog Cake / Muppets Cake using Green Velvet Cake

March 16, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

I don’t often get sick, but when I do, I get SICK. Being a Kindergarten teacher, I have had my fair share of minor colds and coughs, but this year, a doozy of one hit my class, and inevitably, me. I ended up on pneumonia antibiotics and was given an inhaler to feel better, both of which worked and I am so happy to be back in the land of the vertical! While I was in bed, I had lots of time to plan ideas for future videos, so I have tons of ideas to turn into fabulous cakes and desserts! Just as soon as I stop coughing.

The idea for this Kermit the Frog cake came from my desire to use my giant cupcake mold, and the fact that the new Muppets movie is coming out at the end of the month! I’ve had a metal giant cupcake mold for years, but I recently got this new silicone one, and highly recommend it. When using the metal one, I would generously coat it with non-stick spray, and the top portion would always stick and never come out in one piece. I haven’t had this problem with the silicone mold once. Each time both pieces of the cupcake pop out easily. If you’ve ever had a cake stick to the pans and break when coming out, you know how annoying it can be.

Kermit takes a leading role for the new movie, Muppets Most Wanted, and according to the movie synapse, there is a Kermit the Frog look-alike and a jewel heist involved. It sounds like a great one to take the kids to and obviously if there are two Kermit’s, you must make a Kermit cake!

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

How to Make Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

Giant Peeps Cake with Surprise Inside

How to Make Marshmallow Buttercream

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cake

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff (Marshmallow Creme)

Neapolitan Checkerboard Cake

Kermit the Frog Cake / Muppets Cake using Green Velvet Cake

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