Lightning McQueen Cake

I was asked to do a car-themed cake for a boy who absolutely loves Lightning McQueen. I challenged myself to do it in 3-D. I am thrilled with the results! Took about 5 hours to decorate the whole thing. I used parchment paper cut-outs to design numbers and lightning that would fit.

The red is all fondant. The other colors are fondant/gum paste mix and the white is buttercream icing. I covered it in buttercream first. This is what it looked like then:

I had the 3 inch toy car as my model. The cake was three 9x9" cakes that were trimmed and stacked in various ways. The final cake is about 7"x14"x2"high. When I was done, I wanted the wheels to look like they were buried in sand (since they were flat on the bottom) so I sprinkled brown sugar all around the cake. I'm super impressed with how this one turned out!

Smurf cake

Today's blog is just to show how I decorated the Smurf cake I made for my daughter's birthday. I used a shaped pan and filled it with my usual chocolate cake recipe for a 9x13" pan.

Then I covered the flat area with smooth white buttercream, and the rest, with stars. I used piping gel to make the black, and red fondant for the tongue. Pretty cute!

It was really easy to decorate this "shaped" cake! But it did use more icing than I expected. Stars take up more icing than smooth finish.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanted to share a little love this morning. Happy Valentine's Day! This is the cake I made to show my beginner cake decorating class how to decorate a Valentine's Day cake.

Love to All! Have a nice day.

Rhubarb Granola Muffins

Today's muffin recipe is from an old newspaper clipping. They are awesome! I can't even tell which newspaper they came from but it doesn't really matter! They are crunchy and good. I used Harvest Crunch cereal where it calls for granola so they contain lovely slivers of almonds. 

Rhubarb Granola Muffin Recipe

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/4 cups granola

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups chopped (1/2 inch pieces) rhubarb

1/2 cup granola for topping

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, 1 1/4 cups granola, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs; whisk in milk, oil and vanilla; stir in dry ingredients until almost combined. Stir in rhubarb.
3. Spoon into greased or lined muffin cups. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup granola over the batter, pressing lightly on top.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 375degrees F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Pretty simple! Enjoy with your next cup of coffee or tea!

Cranberry Apple Muffins

Today's idea came from my husband, who asked me for Cranberry Apple Muffins. I adapted a Raspberry Apple muffin recipe in my Mostly Muffins Company's Coming cookbook. They turned out really good. He was happy.

Here's the recipe I made for 24 muffins:

Cranberry Apple Muffin Recipe
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt

3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream (or 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup yogurt)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups chopped cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/4 cups diced, peeled cooking apple

Topping:
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Measure flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Stir. Make a well in centre.

Combine eggs, sour cream, butter and milk in a medium bowl. Add to well.

Add cranberries and apples. Stir just until moistened. Fill 24 lined or greased muffin cups full.

Topping:

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. over each muffin.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until wooded pick inserted in centre of muffin comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool. Makes 24 muffins.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Had a craving for some fudge, so I whipped up some of this right after supper. It is fairly quick and easy. Took about 1/2 hour from start to finish (that is, eating it!).

Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe
2 cups granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup milk
pinch salt

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup marshmallow creme (I used 8 large marshmallows, melted in the microwave when it was time for the creme to go in.)
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, butter, milk and salt in large heavy saucepan. Heat and stir on medium until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Boil slowly, uncovered for about 8 minutes, stirring twice, until mixture reaches soft ball stage (about 235 degrees F, 113 degrees C, on candy thermometer) or until small amount dropped into very cold water forms a soft ball that flattens on its own accord when removed. Remove from heat. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir in peanut butter, marshmallow creme and vanilla. Pour into greased 8 x 8 inch pan. Spread evenly. Cool. Makes about 1 1/2 lbs. Cuts into 64 pieces.

Enjoy!

Raisin Nut Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

That cream cheese in the fridge was calling to me today. So I answered it with a beautiful dozen cinnamon buns. We were so excited to eat them, that they were almost half gone before I got to taking pictures!

I made half of the dozen with raisins and walnuts, and the other half were just cinnamon and sugar. I eventually covered all of them with the cream cheese icing. Yummy! Here's the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens 15th Edition Cook Book p.116:

Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls - Raisin Nut with Cream Cheese icing

4 1/4 to 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup milk

1 cup mashed cooked potato

1/3 cup butter, cut up

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon (or more!)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup raisins (or up to 1 cup if you want lots of raisins)

1/2 cup nuts (or up to 1 cup if you like lots of nuts. Roasted pecans are suggested.)

1.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of flour and yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir milk, potato, 1/3 cup butter, granulated sugar, and salt just until warm (120-130 degrees F) and butter almost melts; add to flour mixture along with the eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to med. speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease surface of dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size. (45-60 minutes).
3.  Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set aside. For filling, in a small bowl stir together brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
4.  Roll dough into an 18x12 inch rectangle. Spread 1/4 cup of butter over dough evenly. Sprinkle with filling, leaving about 1 inch unfilled along the long sides. Sprinkle the raisins and nuts over the filling. Roll up rectangle, starting from a filled long side; pinch dough to seal seams. Slice rolled rectangle into 12 equal pieces (use a ruler and "cut" with dental floss wrapped around the roll and pulled through). Arrange, cut side down in prepared pan. Cover and let rise until nearly double in size (about 30 minutes).
5.  Preheat oven to 375degrees F. Bake 25 to 30 minutes (23 was enough in my convection oven.) or until golden. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan. Spread with icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

In a medium bowl beat one 3-ounce package softened cream cheese with 2 Tbsp softened butter and 1 tsp. vanilla. Gradually beat in 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in 4-6 tsp. milk, 1 tsp. at a time, to reach spreading consistency.