Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

Inside Out Rainbow Cake

April 23, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Do you have a bunch of leftover jelly beans from an Easter egg hunt? Well, I have the perfect way to use them up! I would love to be able to tell you that I was “using mine up” but, no, I went to the Bulk Barn (I should have frequent flier miles there) and bought all brand new jelly beans for this project.

I absolutely adore this cake. I think that it is beautiful, and the shock value of the inside is second to nothing I have seen. I contemplated using vanilla cake, but I felt the darkness of the chocolate cake really accentuated the bright vibrancy of the buttercreams.

Now, I am a buttercream LOVER, but if you aren’t (what is wrong with you?!) you can make the layers of the buttercream thinner but only making one stripe for each ring. But, if you do that, keep in mind that your cake will not be as shocking when you cut into it. The point of a cake like this is to make it look amazing when it is sliced into . . . and for it to taste amazing!!

I went with an outer colour of white buttercream for the cake to mimic a cloud like appearance . . . did I achieve that!?! Haha. I also think that the white makes a clean slate for the jelly beans to sit on nice and brightly!

I hope you enjoy this cake, I know I loved making it!

Milk and Cookie Shots with Rainbow Chocolate Chips

April 19, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Gone are my days of doing shooters at the bar . . . hopefully. As I get older, and somewhat wiser, I realize that the three day hangover (that started rearing it’s ugly head after 30) is just not worth it for a couple hours of intoxicated fun. It is now “fun” to stay home on a Friday night and get up early on Saturday morning feeling refreshed. You might as well pass me the Seniors menu.

So, what’s a boring 30-something girl to do for fun on a Friday night? Make Milk and Cookie Shots!

This recipe and procedure took me quite a long time to figure out. I tried making the shots with ice cream cones (fail ..very awkward shape). I tried pressing the dough around the outside of a shot glass (fail…it just fell off and made a puddle). And I tried to shape a piece of tin foil to form the shot around, but again, that was a fail. Basically, there are a lot of ways to be able to make these cookie shots, and you may find a better way for yourself, but this is the only way that I found to be successful each time I made them. With that said, I hope you find my version successful for you!

So if you’re not up for getting wild and crazy, make these next Friday night. You know I’ll be partying on my couch with you!

Marbled Easter Cake with Rabbit Peeps and Easter M&M’s

April 17, 2014 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Even though we’ve already made a bunch of Easter treats this year, I decided that this cake could NOT wait until next year. It is too cute to risk forgetting about in the file of “ideas” that I keep carefully organized . . . in my head . . . which is like a black hole- ideas are swallowed up, never to be seen again. Perhaps I should work on that.

When I first was practicing this cake, I could only find pink bunnies locally, so the side of the was cute, but it wasn’t as fun as it turned out to be with the multi-coloured bunny Peeps. With that said, if you can only find one colour of bunnies, just go with it. Brightly coloured marshmallows are happy no matter what colour they are!

Marbling a cake creates a beautiful effect inside the cake. In this case, the effect inside is bright, cheery and perfect for an Easter celebration, or a spring party! The neat thing about marbling is that if you change up the colours, you can customize the theme of the cake for any holiday celebration or party that you might be having.

I think this cake would be a fabulous thing to make with kids if you have any . . . borrow some if you don’t! That’s what I like to do. They could be involved in the marbling process and of course the decorating with M&M’s and Peeps!

Happy Easter!

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

April 11, 2014 by Jenn 1 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.

Inside Out Rainbow Cake

Marbled Easter Cake with Rabbit Peeps and Easter M&M’s

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

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