Holiday Baking

3D Turkey Cake/Thanksgiving Cake

October 8, 2014 by Jenn

It’s about time I learned how to cook a turkey I say!! A turkey made out of CAKE that is!

Somehow Canadian Thanksgiving has managed to sneak up on me. While learning how to cook a turkey for a big dinner is honestly on my list of things I want to learn how to do, this year will not be the year! Paul and I will be furiously filming this weekend in order to be prepped and ready to go to Buffer Festival next weekend in Toronto! I’ll give more updates on that later.

This 3D carved turkey cake is surprisingly easy. The hardest part is having the patience to ice the turkey legs and wings. I found that freezing the cake “pops” worked well, and gave me a bit more time before the cake became soft, and was a serious problem to cover in buttercream. Carving the turkey shape is simple, and again, if you’re having difficulty with that, try freezing the cakes before starting to cut them. You will definitely want to freeze them if you are using cake mixes. The cake mixes are much softer and lighter than homemade cakes (as a rule) so carving them is super challenging.

I found the cutest “Peas and Carrots” candy from Jelly Belly on a recent trip to the States. I haven’t looked for them in Canada, but I’m sure they can be ordered online. I found that they were the perfect addition to the cake, as adding some colour seemed to be a must. If you can’t find the peas and carrots, making them yourself out of fondant, candy or modeling chocolate is also a possibility.

Another way I found to add colour to the cake was the addition of the bed of “lettuce” on the serving plate. This again is an optional step, but I think it really adds to the overall presentation of the cake. I used a simple petal tip, but you could do without a tip, and simply spread it onto the cake.

Whether you’re with or without your family near or far, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving weekend!!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: 3D cake, cake, canadian thanksgiving, carved cake, food cake, fool cake, shaped cake, shaped turkey cake, thanksgiving, thanksgiving cake, thanksgiving dessert, thanksgiving dinner, turkey, turkey cake, turkey dinner

Gourmet Caramel Apples with Homemade Caramel

October 4, 2014 by Jenn

I’ve never made caramel apples before, and in fact, I’ve never even had a caramel apple. I’ve walked by chocolate shops a million times that had the fancy apples in the windows, but for some reason I have never bought one. I probably thought it was too healthy or something . . . all that fruit and all!!

When I first set out to make the caramel, I started out trying the pre-made caramel candies, and melting them down. I tried that 3 times, and had no success. I don’t know what I was doing wrong, but I had failed enough times that I said “Screw it!” and went to scratch! I should have known better and started there! The caramel is deliciously chewy and SO hard to resist dipping into it immediately, but it is HOT when it comes off the stove, so be careful.

Choose a great tasting apple to use for dipping. I went with Honeycrisp and I was worried at first that they would be too sweet with the caramel and chocolate, but they were perfect! When I took the apples to a work function, the thing that my coworkers liked best was the combination of flavours with the type of apple I had chosen.

Choosing which additional toppings to put onto the apples has endless possibilities! I chose three that I thought would make great combinations, but you can change them up however you would want to. My favourite of the three was the peanut butter one. I think it was because of the combination of saltiness of the peanut butter items and the sweetness of the caramel and apple! Whichever one you choose, they’re all delicious!!

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Filed Under: Holiday Baking, No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: apple desserts, candy apple, candy apples, caramel, caramel apples, chocolate, chocolate apples, chocolate caramel apples, fall baking, homemade caramel, oreo apples, oreo caramel apples, oreo cookies, oreos, peanut butter apples, reese's pieces, reese's pieces apples, smarties, smarties apples

Giant American Flag Candy Bar for the 4th of July Dessert

June 28, 2014 by Jenn

The American’s are coming! The American’s are coming! My brother and his family from Minneapolis are coming! They’re “the American’s” in my world. I can wait to see them and celebrate Canada day AND the 4th of July!

Since we have family, friends and lots of viewers from the United States, I wanted to do another 4th of July video for all of them. Last year I did an American Flag surprise inside cake, so I knew topping that would be a challenge. What’s better than cake? CHOCOLATE!

In Canada we call small bars covered in chocolate “chocolate bars” but my research told me that in the States, they are called “candy bars”. They’re the same thing though. This candy bar uses my sugar cookie recipe for the crunchy base, and a chewy nougat for the top. Cover the entire thing in chocolate, and you have your own giant chocolate bar!! I found red and blue M&M’s easily (they come in the regular pack of M&M’s), but I had to order the white M&M’s off of Amazon.

I had never experimented with making candy before this recipe, so I was a little intimidated. Turns out, it’s only a lesson in patience! Watching the candy thermometer slowly climb seems as effective as watching paint dry. It takes a long time to get to 250F!! Ok, well, maybe it was only 10 minutes, but it seemed like a long time. The only caution I have is that the candy is HOT, so be careful.

Since this is a chocolate bar of sorts, I strayed away from my usual candy melts, as I wanted to have a true chocolate coating. Working with real chocolate (as opposed to the candy melts) is a little bit more tricky as the real stuff takes longer to solidify, so time in the fridge was necessary when I was shaping the sides to be vertical. Cover, swipe sides, fridge, repeat.

When you’re ready to serve your guests, slice off a piece of the candy bar, and each person will get their own American flag!

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Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: 4th of July, 4th of July dessert, American flag dessert, American Flag M&M, blue, candy bar, chocolate, chocolate bar, forth of July cake, forth of July dessert, red, red white blue, USA, USA bar, USA cake, USA dessert, white, white M&M's

Canadian Flag Cake for Canada Day (Surprise Inside Cake)

June 22, 2014 by Jenn

“The flag is the symbol of the nation’s unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.” Honourable Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, 1965

In Canada we celebrate our Nation each July 1. Our Canadian flag is a very simple design . . . red panels on each side of the flag, in the middle white with a red maple leaf in the centre. I THOUGHT this would be an easy cake to make. I thought wrong. Very wrong.

After the success of our American Flag cake tutorial that we put out for the Forth of July last year (2013), I knew that this year, I HAD to make one for my country! When I started out, I thought it would be super simple, and I would find success the first time out. Not-so-much. 6 practice cakes later, I had finally nailed it, and it was ready to be filmed for YouTube stardom!

I wanted a very distinct maple leaf in the centre of the flag, and with that, I caused myself a problem. The maple leaf kept coming out of the second bake missing sections of the leaf, or looking like a red blob. I tried cutting the maple leaves out of regular cake, using cakepop mix, and I tried prebaked sugar cookies, until finally, when I had almost given up, I thought I would try freezing the section I needed for cutting the leaves out. Thankfully, it worked!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: cake, Canada cake, canada day, Canadian cake, July 1, red and white cake, surprise inside, surprise inside cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Bouquet for Mother’s Day

April 30, 2014 by Jenn

Mother’s Day is one of the most special days for all of the amazing women in our lives! If you are lucky enough to have a Mom like the one that I do, you are incredibly fortunate. My Mom and I recently starting working together and we are currently teaching the same grade, at the same school. Being that we both have the same last name, it’s a little tricky for the adults in the building, but our 5 year old students seem to understand the difference just fine. It’s quite funny actually. The adults seem to stumble over how to refer and differentiate between the two Kindergarten teachers, but the kids, just go with the flow and line up with the right person each day. Having this new working relationship with my mom has been very special, and it has allowed me to see the genius she has in her craft of teaching. She is an amazing role model to students, parents and to her colleagues.

I wanted to make her something special for Mother’s Day this year, and knowing that she loves chocolate and strawberries, I knew I had to turn them into a bouquet for her this year. Last year she got a cupcake bouquet, which she loved, but I know that when I make this again for her on May 11, 2014, she’s going to love it even more than she did her bouquet last year.

Gathering the skewers together in the centre of the vase was the only tricky part to this video. I used a twist tie to secure them in place, and this also helped to stabilize the structure. The length of the skewers can make standing the up can create quite a tilt in the vase, so make sure that your vase is secure before you abandon it on the counter!

The tutorial is very simple and can be done with kids of all ages. It is also a healthy alternative to other sweets that you might be inclined to make for Mom . . . not that there is anything wrong with that, but with the push for people to stay away from sugar lately, this is one of those tutorials that does just that!

I hope you have a great Mom in your life like I do, and that you take time to recognize the amazing woman that she is!

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Filed Under: Holiday Baking, No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate strawberries, chocolate strawberry bouquet, fruit bouquet, mother's day, mother's day bouquet, strawberry bouquet

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

April 17, 2014 by Jenn

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!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: bunny peeps, easter, Easter Cake, easter dessert, M&M's, marbled, marbled cake, marbled easter cake, pastel cake, Peeps, Peeps cake, peeps dessert, spring cake

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

April 11, 2014 by Jenn

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!

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: daisy flowers, daisy wedding, how to make royal icing flowers, royal icing, royal icing daisy, royal icing decorations, royal icing flowers, royal icing for cupcakes, SweetAmbs, SweetAmbsCookies, wedding, wedding cake, wedding cupcakes

How to Make Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

April 9, 2014 by Jenn

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.

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: cadbury, cadbury chocolate, Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes, cadbury creme eggs, cadbury cupcakes, cream eggs, creme egg cupcakes, creme eggs

3D Turkey Cake/Thanksgiving Cake

Gourmet Caramel Apples with Homemade Caramel

Giant American Flag Candy Bar for the 4th of July Dessert

Canadian Flag Cake for Canada Day (Surprise Inside Cake)

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Bouquet for Mother’s Day

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

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