My baby is 1 today!

I made my very first Topsy Turvy cake for my daughter's 1st birthday. It was mini sized. I used a 6" round cake pan, a 4" Wilton spring form pan, and a biscuit cutter for the top tier. I used this tutorial to make the cake. I covered the cake in Marshmallow Fondant. The cake flavor is White Almond Sour Cream made from scratch. It's a moist, dense cake, which is excellent for carving. The almond flavor can be substituted for any flavor you like.

White Almond Sour Cream Cake

2 boxes white cake mix
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teas. salt
8 egg whites
2 2/3 cups water
4 Tbls. vegetable oil
2 cups (16oz carton) sour cream
2 teaspoon clear vanilla flavor
2 teaspoons almond extract

Mix all dry ingredients by hand using a whisk in a very large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees. For the cake pans I used, it took about 35-45 minutes. Just do a cake check after 35 minutes to check for doneness.

***One recipe makes: one 14" round + one 6" round
or one 16" round
or one 12" round + one 10" round
or one 12x18" sheet cake
or one 12" round + one 8" round + one 6"

Half a recipe makes: two 8" rounds
or two 6" rounds + 6 cupcakes

My attempt at making a Guava Chiffon Cake.

While we were in California, my best friend brought a sinfully delicious Guava Cake from Kings Hawaiian Bakery. It was so light, fluffy, and oh so yummy. I had to try to make it since there aren't any Kings Hawaiian locations in my area, let alone the whole state. I couldn't bring it home with me because it has to be refrigerated. I don't think they ship them either.

I used this recipe from Star Bulletin. I didn't use the cream cheese frosting because King's Hawaiian's frosting was whipped cream. The guava topping wasn't all that great. I think the recipe below for guava gel topping tastes much better. I have tried it before on a sample cake I was making for my daughter's birthday.

Guava Gel Recipe:

2 C Guava juice
1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C Cornstarch

In a medium sauce pan, bring the 2 cups guava juice and sugar to a boil. Make a paste out of the cornstarch and a small amount of water. Remove guava juice from heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Return to heat and bring back to a boil and boil for one minute. Cool in refrigerator.

I wish I had a picture of the cake, but by the time I remembered to take a pic, the cake was devoured.

The result: The cake was moist and fluffy, but it was still heavier than the King's Hawaiian cake. I am still searching for the perfect chiffon recipe. I'll let you know when i've found it!

Whut up peeps!

I made these Peeps cupcakes for Easter. The cupcakes are boxed Devil's Food Cake, cream cheese icing, colored with Wilton gels. The "eggs" are M&M's.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Surprise Birthday Cookies

I made these cookies for a Surprise Birthday party for a close friend of mine. We couldn't make it to the party since we would be in California on the day of the party. I wanted to make something for her and her guests, and this is what I came up with. Topsy Turvy cookies covered in Marshmallow Fondant.

I used this cookie cutter and impression mat set. I love it. I may buy this and this too!

I tinted the marshmallow fondant with Wilton gel colors. Americolor gel works really well too. I brushed shimmer dust on top of the fondant after I applied it on to the cookie.

I made 40 of these cookies, packaged them and shipped them in lots and lots of bubble wrap. It made it to its destination just fine=)


Marshmallow Fondant Tutorial. You can also checkout YouTube, they have some really good tutorials there as well.

Sugar cookie recipe I used:

6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups butter (4 sticks)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

This is a great recipe when using cookie cutters. It doesn't spread! Your cookies will be the same shape after you bake them as they were before.

Note that this recipe makes up to 8 dozen 3 cookies, but it is easy to cut in half.

Cream sugar and butter until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and flavoring. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

Put a handful of the freshly made dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Your dough will be chilled and ready to cut and bake with no wait and no added flour! Repeat the process with scraps after cutting cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on rack.