Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

How to Make Chocolate Mousse

January 14, 2013 by Jenn

Making homemade mousse has been on my list of Must Do’s for a while now. I finally bit the bullet, did some research, and holy cr@p . . . why did I not make this YEARS ago?

This mousse is a rich, chocolatey, decadent dessert. If you have only ever had mousse from a box mix, you MUST try homemade, from scratch. It is so much better.

It’s full on calories, but you won’t regret one bite.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:
– 10 oz (280 grams) bitter sweet chocolate
– 2 cups (475 mL) whipping cream (heavy cream)
– 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar
– 4 Egg Whites
– 1/4 cup (60mL) coffee

For the procedure, check out the video!

Filed Under: Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: Chocolate Mousse, Mousse

Tips for Choosing a Wedding Cake Design

January 13, 2013 by Jenn

Choosing a wedding cake design can be one of the most exciting tasks that you are faced with during your engagement. Made from scratch with quality, fresh ingredients and decorated by a skilled cake designer, wedding cakes are remembered for years to come.

Choosing a Decorator/Baker: When choosing a baker, at least 4-6 months ahead of time, you want to ensure that your choice is someone who comes with a portfolio, reference and one who can provide you with testimonials. Make sure that your cake decorator.baker is using a health inspected kitchen, and is currently practising food safety! A quality cake decorator will want to meet with you to discuss our cake design.

Personalizing Your Cake: Your wedding cake should match the overall look and feel of your wedding, menu and the decor of your reception. Do you like simple or unique? Classic or personalized? Shaped? Stacked? Fresh flowers or sugar flowers?

Choosing a Flavour: When choosing a flavour, you may want to consider what season you are having you wedding in Summer offers up lighter lemon and berry flavours, while the fall leads more to flavours like pumpkin, or spice cake. When it comes to frosting your cake, you can choose from buttercream frosting, fondant, gum paste and royal icing.

Pricing: The most important thing to remember when you are pricing out a cake is your budget. Wedding cakes are often priced on a per serving basis, and can vary anywhere from $2.00 per serving to $15.00!

Delivery: When discussing details with your cake decorator, figure out who is responsible for delivery. Having your cake delivered by the professional is your best bet.

For more detailed information, head on over to JJ’s Custom Cakery Weddings section!

This editorial (written by me) was originally published in the East Kootenay Weddings book, January 2011.

Minecraft Cake

January 12, 2013 by Jenn

Minecraft is one of the most popular games going right now. To play this game you place blocks and build anything you want! I researched that, yo. I had no idea what Minecraft was when I first heard the name. And after telling people about the cake I was working on, I learned I was not alone. Who are the people making this game popular? I know exactly who . . . the YOUNG! Unfortunately, I am not in that age category anymore. I’m not my Grandma old (98), but apparently, neither am I young, or hip.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: minecraft, minecraft cake, minecraft how to, minecraft tutorial

2013 Wedding Cake Trends

January 11, 2013 by Jenn

The New Year brings about a change from 2012 Wedding Cake trends (elegant, classic, and bold) to brand new 2013 trends! When it comes to organizing a wedding, choosing the cake for the special day can be one of the most exciting planning events! I’ve been decorating cakes for a while now, and I think that these are the trends we will see this year!

Vintage
Paying homage to era’s past, wedding cakes will be showing muted colours, ruffles and lace. Lace on wedding cakes will dominate 2013 styles as embellishments, edging and overall icing design. Mimicking bridal dresses including corsets, ruffles and lace details, will be also be very popular and will be seen accented with jewels and bling!

Mint
Mint green made a start in 2012, and it’s popularity will continue to grow in 2013. Cupcakes and cakes coloured mint, with matching elaborations will be popular on cake tables this year. Pairing the colour mint with the flavour, chocolate cakes filled with mint buttercream will create the perfect match.

Extravagant flavours
Pairing sweet and salty flavours together, such as peanut butter and chocolate are breaking the traditional vanilla. Salted caramel filling and buttercream is very popular and pairs well with both chocolate and vanilla. How does bacon sound in your cake? For a groom’s cake, it is becoming very popular, showing appreciation to the men in the reception. Looking for something lighter? Try lemon lavender . . . lemon buttercream paired with lavender buttercream.

Patterns- Bold, Bright and Beautiful!

Patterns such as chevrons, stripes, and circles will be a popular 2013 style. Bold, clean patterns with bright accents, flowers and ribbons will compliment basic white coverings, and standout as serious statement pieces.

Tall Tiers
Cakes in 2013 will be tall . . . the taller the better! Tall tiers (six inches in height) with multiple tiers (four and five levels) will create cakes that will dwarf cakes of years past. These prominent tiers will create a memorable site for all to see.

For more information on cake design and a free consultation, send me an email over at my business site . . . JJ’s Custom Cakery!

Filed Under: Cakes, Weddings Tagged With: 2013 cake trends, 2013 trends, cranbrook weddings, kootenay weddings, wedding cake, wedding cake trends, weddings

Christmas Blog Swap 2012

December 27, 2012 by Jenn

When my friend Karen (Toronto Girl West) posted about joining a Christmas Blog Swap hosted by Leigh (All You Need is Love), I immediately threw my hat in the ring (name on the comment list!) and volunteered to take part!

I was teamed up with Lisa from Jogging on Coffee, and we were to send each other our favourite Christmas gifts/symbols etc with a spending cap at $20.

Since I spend all of my free time in November and December at the Farmer’s Markets selling my cupcakes and cookies, I found what I wanted to send Lisa there . . . glass ornaments from a local glass artisan, chocolate from a local chocolatier and a red glittery (natural) nail polish! These were all symbols of Christmas too me . . well, maybe not the chocolate, but it is too delicious not to spread the love across the country!

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Filed Under: Randomness Tagged With: blog swap, Christmas, christmas blog swap, christmas gifts

Champagne Cupcakes for New Years Eve

December 27, 2012 by Jenn

What is the best sound of the holidays? The pop of the champagne cork of course! Champagne has always been a traditional addition to New Years Eve celebrations in my family home growing up, and of course continues to be one now!

I am definitely not a champagne connoisseur, as you may be able to tell with my use of Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine in the video . . . why would I waste good champagne on something that is baked?!?! For cooking/baking purposes this brand is great . . . relatively cheap (not as cheap as Baby Duck!), has a definite champagne taste that stays throughout the baking process, and it doesn’t taste too bad when you drink the rest of the bottle when you’re done baking these cupcakes . . . using the bottle or a flute to finish it off works either way 🙂

Poinsettia Christmas Cake

December 17, 2012 by Jenn

I’ve got one last Christmasy idea for you before the big day next week! If you’re one of our 11,000 subscribers on YouTube, you’ve already seen this (and thank you for subscribing!), but in the hustle and bustle of this fall, I am finally getting this up on the blog.

In this video, we are using Photofrost frosting sheets, and our Cricut Cake to make multiple layered poinsettia leaves. There are lots of steps to this cake, and it comes out stunning, and perfect for the holidays!

Photofrost contacted us about making a cake using their coloured frosting sheets, and knowing that we had Christmas videos to film, we brainstormed a cake that would work for both sides: a cake that would show off Photofrost’s product, and one that we could do showcasing our Cricut cake.

You can bake any cake for this one, what I did was bake three layers (two vanilla, one red velvet) of eight inch cake, to give the cake height in order to ensure that the poinsettia’s that border the bottom of the cake were not cramped along the bottom or too high to the top.

To make this cake, you will need: frosting sheets (red and green), 3×8″ cake layers, Cricut Cake (or flower tracer/scissors).

Have look-see of the video, and let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Holidays!

Filed Under: Cakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: Christmas Cake, frosting sheets, icing sheets, Poinsettia Cake

Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

December 11, 2012 by Jenn

I’m going to assume that anyone reading this post has seen the hands-down most fabulous Christmas movie to ever fill theatres and home TV screens . . . National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation! It is my number one favourite Christmas movie, and every year, I HAVE to watch it at least once. I am such a nerd and have watched it so many times, I can quote half of the movie, and my favourite quote is “Little full, lotta sap”. It kills me everytime I watch it.

This year, I am proud to say that my family is finally taking after the Griswolds. My sister-in-law posted this picture on Facebook with the caption “That went well.”

I had to share this with everyone because it is so funny. L’s losing his mind. E’s wanting off so badly. My brother’s trying to get out of the picture and Santa has no idea what is going on . . or he’s swinging at my brother!