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How to Make Fondant: Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

January 14, 2014 by Jenn

 

Fondant?  That’s the stuff you peel off a wedding cake, right?  It’s that white, hard stuff that covers up the cake that doesn’t taste very good?

Before I first started decorating cakes, I really had no idea about what fondant was.  I had heard Cake Boss talk about it, except he called it “fon-dawnt” (which has always annoyed me immensely!), and I knew that if I was going to be a wedding cake decorator, I would have to grow to love it, and I would have to find a brand that didn’t have a chalky, chemically taste to it. 

I first worked only with Wilton fondant, but found that to be gross, to tear easily and to be better for sculpting figures.  I then moved onto Satin Ice and found it to be tasty (as tasty as pliable sugar can be) and to cover cakes super easily.  So, I never tried another brand.  I know that many other brands exist, but I never felt the need to try them as I was satisfied with Satin Ice.  That, and we went through fondant by the 10kg container and I didn’t have time to continue experimenting. 

I had heard that you could make your own fondant, but under time restraints, I never took the time to look into it.  Now, that we are not doing our cake business, and I have time, I did some research and learned how to make fondant from scratch!  This version is made from marshmallows so it smells (and tastes) delicious!  It also happens to be one of our most requested videos of all time!  Every time we do a video involving fondant, we get asked for our own recipe.  So finally . . . here it comes people . . . Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Cakes, No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: fondant, homemade, homemade fondant, homemade marshmallow fondant, how to make fondant, make fondant, marshmallow, marshmallow fondant

Ferrero Rocher & Nutella Cupcakes

January 10, 2014 by Jenn
I’m going to have to start out by saying that I have never really been a Nutella fan.  Until we made these cupcakes, I really never understood what the fuss was about.  I’d rather eat a peanut than a hazelnut.  I’d rather have peanut butter and jam, than chocolate and hazelnuts.  It was never in our house growing up as a kid, so I don’t think I ever really knew about it.  But, when an Italian family becomes your family, you learn quickly about all things Italian.  One of those things is hazelnut flavoured everything!  I think I first tried a Ferraro Rocher at Paul’s mom’s house, and meh, didn’t really care for it.  Apparently it had to be baked inside of a cupcake for me to really like it! 
 
As far as Nutella went, I could never understand why bloggers were posting about it, drooling over it and giving it love I didn’t think it deserved.  UNTIL I made this buttercream.  This Nutella buttercream may be the absolute best thing I have ever tasted.  No lie.  It is rich, creamy and oozes smooth buttercream flavour.  The hazelnut-chocolate taste is perfectly complimented by the sweetness of the sugar and saltiness of the butter.  O.M.G.  That’s how good it is.  Good enough to talk in capitals. 
 
The buttercream is one of those tastes that just the smallest amount will send you face first into the bowl.  If you have strong willpower, I guarantee that it will be tested with this cupcake. 
 

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: chocolate cupcakes, ferraro rocher, ferraro rocher cupcakes, hazelnuts, Nutella, nutella buttercream, Nutella cupcake recipe, Nutella cupcakes, nutella frosting, nutella icing

New Year’s Ball Drop Cupcakes: New Years Cupcakes

December 27, 2013 by Jenn

Are you ready to PAR-TAY?  These cupcakes are!  They are covered in streamers, confetti and a ball drop for countdown . . . I don’t think I could have crammed more “party” onto them if I had tried. 

I’ve never been to Times Square on New Years Eve, and I don’t think I’ll ever try (way too many people) despite my love for NYC, but watching the ball drop is pretty much the biggest iconic symbol of this holiday.  New Years eve is one of those holidays that I have a love-hate relationship with . . well, it’s pretty much a hate/hate relationship.  There is always the pressure to do something whether it is to find a party, to hold a party, to pay money for a party (ya, right!), or hide at home with the lights off and the door locked (me? never!).  The overwhelming urge to be in bed by 9:30 that night usually kicks in and I’m barely able to stay awake for the 12:00 countdown.  I hope you have a better attitude that I do when it comes to NYE . .  and I hope you have better plans than we do!  If you do, make sure you brag about them in the comment section as I’d love to hear about them and live vicariously.  I think if we lived in a bigger city, we might have more to do, but that is not the case right, now so I’ll be on the couch. 

 

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Filed Under: Cake Pops, Cupcakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: New Year's Ball Drop Cupcakes, new years, new years cake pop, new years cupcake, New Years Cupcakes, new years dessert, new years eve, new years eve ball drop, new years eve cake pop, new years eve cupcakes, new years eve dessert

How to Make a Gingerbread House

December 22, 2013 by Jenn

This is the third video in our three part series on baking with Gingerbread.  If you haven’t yet, make sure you check out the recipes for how to make Gingerbread Dough, and Gingerbread Men.  This video is my favourite though as it was so much fun to make.  I vaguely remember trying to make a gingerbread house from scratch as a teen but I think I tried to use cake or something as I remember the edges wouldn’t stand up or go together.

I did a lot of research before starting this project and the best tip I read was to use a soup can to keep the frame of the house up when you’re putting it together.  It totally works and makes building the house so much easier.  Did you think that I was classy when you saw my jar of Jamie Oliver pasta sauce?  HAHA…I wanted to use my No Name soup of vegetarian chili but thought that might make me a little trashy for the viewers.  Gotta keep up appearances!

Anyway, take this project on as you’ll LOVE it.  It’s such a fabulous family task and you can let the kids go crazy decorating it.

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Gingerbread Man Recipe

December 21, 2013 by Jenn

 

 “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m a marbled gingerbread man!”

When I think of Christmas baking, of course gingerbread men come to mind!  Making gingerbread men requires a really good dough recipe, so make sure you check ours out, because rolling out cookies to cut can be a pain in the bum.  You can decorate these gingerbread men however you want, but I wanted to make sure that I showed you a different way to do them, in case you were up for a baking challenge this holiday. 

Marbling the royal icing creates a really cool effect . . . almost psychedelic . . . and it’s surprisingly easy when I show you how to do it.  You can use any colour combination that you want- I went with the traditional red and green, but I think pinks and purples would be pretty too.  Pretty much any colour goes for Christmas now.  I was at Target the other day and the Christmas bulb pack they were selling had pink, purple and aqua in it, wrap that up in some white sparkly garland and you totally have a non-traditional, but beautifully decorated house!  I should have bought that stuff . . . what was I thinking?  I’m off to go get it.

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Snowman Push Pops

December 20, 2013 by Jenn

I’m annoyed.  Our blog was “hacked” or a “bot” got it or something else annoyingly cyber and my post where I wrote really witty and insightful things about these snowman push pops was lost.   Now what am I supposed to say?  These snowman cake pops are . . . cute . . . easy . . . fun to do with kids . . .  and those other kinds of description words that teachers tell you never to use when writing.   Since my inspiration is all tapped out, make sure you teach your children NOT to be hackers.  It’s frustrating when you’re trying to make a living online.  

Complaining over.  

I’m going to make these push pops again so I can be happy.   They really are ADORABLE!  And simple!  See what I did there? 

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Filed Under: Cake Pops, Holiday Baking, Push Pops, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: frosty the snowman, Push Pops, snowman, snowman cake pops, Snowman Push Pops, snowman push up pops

Melted Snowman Smores Cookies

December 13, 2013 by Jenn

The melted snowman cookie and cupcake has been making it’s rounds around the internet for quite awhile now.  Being that it is such a cute idea, I knew I had to do it, but I wanted to make sure that I had my own spin on it.  So instead of simply making a melted snowman, I thought that a SMORES version of it would be fabulous!  It may not be summer, but nothing goes better with warm gooey marshmallows than chocolate!  

 

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Hot Chocolate Push Pops

December 11, 2013 by Jenn

Continuing on here with our Hot Chocolate theme of late, I’ve made a tutorial on hot chocolate push pops!  I adore push pops.  If I had kids, this would be the only way to serve desserts.  It would totally save the mess of cupcakes smeared all over faces, and tables, and clothing.  Or maybe I’m just imaging I would have prim and proper children who would daintily nibble at the push pop.   Hmmm, kids are sounding better and better!  They’d be like the Downton Abbey babies…but without the nannies, or servants, or castle.

To make these Hot Chocolate Push Pops you will need a batch (or two depending on how many pops you want to make).  If you haven’t tried my homemade brownie recipe, make sure you do!  It’s so good . . . but a box mix will work just fine too if you don’t have time for scratch.

These push pops are very simple to assemble.  The only challenging part is cutting the brownie with the cookie cutter!  I had indents on my palm, but after a couple pushes, I smartened up and used a knife (I was smart enough to show that in the video).

 

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