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No Bake Oreo Marshmallow Bars (Cookies and Cream Bars)

February 19, 2015 by Jenn

Oreos and marshmallows make a great combination . . . who would have thought?  I’m making these bars, which are super simple, as I have a big cake project in the plans, and you need to know how to make these before I get to the special video!

 There is a lot of flexibility when it comes to these bars.  You can add extra marshmallows, or extra cookies to change the way that the bars taste and feel.  The more cookies you add, the crunchier the bars will be.  And vise versa, the more marshmallows you add, the chewier the bars will be.   I would also take a guess and say that mixing in a different flavour of sandwich cookie would be good too.  Maybe any cookie would work!?!  If you try that out, let me know! 

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Popcorn Cake (No Bake)

February 11, 2015 by Jenn
I love popcorn.  It’s my vice in the evenings.  Really, it’s probably a habit that I should quit, but I just can’t quit it.  Yet.  But I should try. Soon.  Maybe.  But I like it!  Years ago, my friend Kim introduced me to the wonders of popcorn with Smarties.  Say what?  Popcorn and chocolate?  OMG,  Everyday I curse and applaud her for this.  Thank you dear friend. 
 
Well, now that you have direct proof of my mental struggle with food, I will move on to the actually reason you are here reading this, and that is for the Popcorn Cake! 
 

If you love a salty and sweet combination, which I also love, but we don’t want to get into that, this is the perfect no-bake cake for you! Start out with a basic recipe that you might find for rice krispies treats (marshmallows and butter), and add in any of your favourite small candies or chocolates, press it into a cake pan, and ta-da!  A popcorn cake! 
 
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Heart Shaped Kit Kat Cake for Valentine’s Day

February 4, 2015 by Jenn

 Whether you are a lover or hater of Valentine’s day, you’re bound to love this cake because it’s full of candy, and lined with WHITE Kit Kats!  

For whatever reason, I wasn’t able to find the white KitKats in Canada.  For those of you that might find yourself with the same problem, I got the white KitKats on a recent trip to the US.  Being so close to the border, I find that it’s super easy to order things that we don’t have in Canada, and have them shipping to a shipping outlet five minutes from the Canadian border.  It’s awesome.  And deadly at the same time.  It’s quite an addiciting habbit.  With Target pulling out of Canada, shopping is incredibly sparse in my city, so if it means I have to drive an hour or so to pick up packages from the USA, I’m willing to do so.  All for the sake of the videos.  All for you.  ALL FOR YOU PEOPLE!!!  Hahaha . . . that is true, but I might have an obsession with online shopping.  Maybe.  Why do they have to make it so easy!?!?!?

For the candy topping, you could use whichever your favourite candies are, themed with Valentine colours.  Of course, you could make this for another occasion, and it would look just as awesome- I’m thinking Halloween, Easter, Christmas, or even a rainbow theme! 

For the heart shaped cake, I used my favourite cake recipe, divided it in half like I would for any 8″ or 9″ pan, and baked them for about 45 minutes at 350.  I think I had too much batter in the pan which is why I had to bake them for so long.  The heart cake pan comes in a variety of sizes, so when you’re working with your batter, I just advise you to start watching it at 30 minutes.  

When I’m choosing ribbon to use with cakes, for something like this, I went with a larger sized one.  I also stay away from the ones that are “Wired”, since they tend to crinkle, and don’t lay flat on the cakes.  They might be better for making bows, but aint’ nobody got time for that!

 

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Giant Ferrero Rocher Cake

January 30, 2015 by Jenn

Imagine this . . . hazelnut core, nutella hazelnut wafers, chocolate hazelnut coating.  You with me?

Sound familiar?  Like a Ferrero Rocher you say?  Well, it is, but in GIANT form! 

I’ve been wanting to make a homemade ferrero rocher every since I made homemade nutella.  But, rather than making regular sized ones, I opted to go big.  “Go big or go home” is what my brother used to say.  He was referring to hockey and not chocolate, but that’s not important.  When I’m referring to chocolate, I’m always referring to going BIG.   

Hazelnuts are the main flavouring component to a ferrero.  I find it next to impossible to find hazelnuts already roasted.  To roast the hazelnuts, simply line a baking tray with parchment paper, and toast for 15-20 mins at 325F.  Once the hazelnuts are fragrant and toasted, allow them to cool, and peel the skins from the nuts.  They’re now ready to use!

To make the giant ferrero rocher, the general idea is to encase a hazelnut/hazelnut butter mixture, nutella wafers and coat the entire thing in chocolate and crushed hazelnuts. 

If you prefer to stick with the smaller, traditional size, you can definitely do that with this recipe too.  Instead of using the hazelnut butter and hazelnuts to make the core, simply use a single hazelnut.  Wrap the hazelnut in the nutella mixture, roll into a ball, roll in nuts and finally melted chocolate.   

 

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OPI Nail Polish Bottle Cake:3-D Nail Polish Cake

January 10, 2015 by Jenn
 We’re back!!  We took a short break to recover from the excitement of 2014, and will be slowly getting back into the swing of things this month.  To start off with our first video upload of 2015, I have a super fun 3D nail polish bottle cake to show you.  I’ve recieved many requests for this type of a cake, so I’m happy to finally be able to bring it to life.
 
If you’ve been watching my YouTube channel for a while, you know that I always have my nails done.  Some days are better than others, but they’re polished 99% of the time.  Don’t check my old videos out though . . . I prove myself wrong in those.  Teaming up with a fellow YouTuber for nail polish bottle cake was a must for me!  One of the channels that I have been watching for quite sometime for nail art ideas, is IHaveACupcake!  What a perfect name for a collaboration!  Elizabeth has a fabulous channel full of beautiful nail art ideas.  She explains everything so simply, that it makes me think I could actually do my nails myself!  Make sure you check out her channel, subscribe to it, and you can also check her blog out here. 
 
In Elizabeth’s video, she shows you how to make cupcake nail art and in mine, we show you how to make a carved nail polish bottle.  You can follow the technique that I show you in the video to match your favourite nail polish brand.  I just happen to have a lot of OPI bottles around, so I chose to go with that type of bottle.  Customizing the nail polish bottle colour is totally up to you, and I went with purple as it’s my favourite colour.  
 

 
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Christmas Cake with Snowman Macarons: Collab with Sugarcoder

December 20, 2014 by Jenn

 Merry Christmas everyone!  This is our last Christmas tutorial video for 2014, so I hope that you enjoy it.  

For a special Christmas video this year, I joined up with my friend Miki who has the YouTube channel Sugarcoder.  I was fortunate enough to have met Miki early this year, way back in February.  She lives in San Francisco and flew to LA to meet Paul and I when we were filming at YouTube Space LA.  She is one of the happiest and sweetest people I have met.  She is always sending me presents . . . that’s not why I like her, but it speaks to her thoughtfulness.  

Miki previously had a different YouTube channel (Miki’s Pantry) and recently started this new one as it was more true to the brand that she wanted to convey.  I think that it was very brave of her to leave behind 60K subs to start all over again!  

Making this cake is basically just assembling many prepared pieces.  The links to everything you need to have prepared are in the recipe below, so make sure to check that out.  I found that the candy canes were mostly broken inside their wrappers, so I opted to leave the wrappers on the candy canes in order to not have to deal with that issue.  Just ensure that they are clean before placing them on to the cake. 

Making macarons has always been a challenge for me, so when you head over to Miki’s channel, Sugarcoder, and try out her recipe, don’t get discouraged if you don’t succeed the first time.  The first time I made french macarons, I failed four times until I got it right.  Miki’s recipe is simple to follow, and she learned it first hand from a chef in San Francisco.  Give it your best effort, and remember to keep practicing if you’re not successful the first time.  Have fun! 

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The Hunger Games Cake: Katniss Wedding Dress Cake

November 29, 2014 by Jenn

 I adore the Hunger Games books.  Adore them.  I also love the movies, but as with most book to movie conversions, the book is better than the movie!

With Mockingjay out in theatres, I knew I had to make another Hunger Games video.  I have previously made Mockingjay cupcakes, and Catching Fire cake pops, so I wanted to do something more epic!  I knew it had to be in cake form, as I had already made cupcakes and cake pops, and one of my favourite parts of the Catching Fire movie was the scene in which Katniss is wearing her wedding dress and transforms into the Mockingjay.  That scene is where the inspiration for this cake comes from. 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Cake

From the bottom up- the bottom is the black feathers of the mocking jay, which leads up to the flames and finishes off with the remaining top of the wedding dress. 

This is a challenging cake to make if you don’t have much cake decorating experience, BUT with the video tutorial I know that all levels can make it successfully.  Planning ahead is important with a cake of this size, and with one of this many elements.  The feathers need to have time to dry, so they can be prepped days, if not weeks ahead of time.  The candies can be melted a couple of days ahead of time as well, though I don’t recommend more than a week ahead as the candy gets a bit sticky.  You can also make the royal icing lace portion days, to weeks ahead as well, as it requires time to dry and doesn’t go bad.  Bake and freeze the cakes the night before you want to use them, and prep the icings the morning you want to decorate.  If everything is ready to assemble, the actually decorating and assembly of the cake is very straightforward.  You can use any decorating technique to ice the cake, and you can also just simply slap it on with a spatula.  

I’m looking forward to watching the new Mockingjay movie, now that the initial crowds have left the theaters!  I hope you enjoy this Hunger Games cake. 

 

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How to Make a T-Shirt Shaped Rainbow Tie-Dye Cake

November 15, 2014 by Jenn
I used to run a home based bakery business (until my love of YouTube took over!) and during that time, my t-shirt shaped cake pan was one of my most used pans out of all of my shaped cake pans.  I had so many of them that they were the first thing that I sold when I closed the business.  I was SO happy to get rid of them.  
 
I have a love/hate relationship with shaped cake pans- they are great as you don’t need to carve or structure the cake, but, they take up so much room!  When I decided which ones to keep and which to sell, I kept the ones that I used for multiple projects, knowing that I would be able to use them in future videos, in multiple ways.  This t-shirt pan can also be used for other cakes, which I’m sure I’ll be showing you at a later date. 
 
Unfortunately as with all good things, they come to an end.  Wilton has “discontinued” this cake pan, but I was able to find another similar cake pan on Amazon, and it you can get it here.  It is basically the exact same cake pan, just with sharper, deeper sides.  If you’re not up for purchasing a cake pan, you can always freehand carve a t-shirt out of a rectangle cake.  That would save you a little bit of money, and a t-shirt is a pretty simple shape to make.  Besides, we’ve all seen one so we should have a pretty good picture in our heads as to what one looks like! 
 
I have wanted to make a cake into a tie-dye design for a while now, and when thinking up a reason, and a cake design, a t-shirt seemed like the natural way to go.  When I think of tie-dye, I think t-shirts, peace, love and the 60’s!  You can do this design on any cake- round, rectangle etc.  To recreate it, start the piping gel spirals at the center of the cake, and work your way out, alternating colours as you want to.  
 
Keeping your brush clean is the most onerous activity throughout the whole process.  I would imagine having 100 brushes would make it a lot easier, but who has that many brushes?  Washing the brush is important, as it helps to prevent the spreading of the colours where you don’t want them to be.  You don’t HAVE to wash it, but your cake may end up being a lovely shade of brown if you don’t.  
 
I hope you enjoy this project! Peace.  

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