Chocolate Butterfly Toppers - Attempt No. 1

After viewing some online tutorials on how to make a butterfly out of chocolate, I tried to make 12 of them for the Cupcake Meetup Group which had a meeting on March 15th. They looked really pretty right after I placed them on top of the cupcakes. However, at room temperature, most of the wings drooped and then broke off. I'll write more at a later date once I've found a better approach.

Teapot Cookies for a Piano Recital

A friend of mine, who's an awesome piano instructor (Renditions Music Services), recently asked me to bake and decorate 100 teapot shaped cookies for an upcoming children's recital. I had never done anything like this before but it sounded like it would be a great learning experience so I jumped on the opportunity.  

The following three photos show work in progress cookies and were taken prior to the event.

 

Next, I made the notes using a number 2 tip and a pastry bag.

 

On the day of the recital, I delivered the cookies to this nice community building.

 

We were all happy with the way these cookies turned out. I think that the teapot shape was perfect for the event because tea was served before the performances started. I was able to pull this off thanks to the great teapot cookie cutter that my friend loaned me. Regarding the musical notes, I have to admit that, at first, I was a little concerned that piping them would be difficult. But, after making a few of them (and after making some mistakes) I started getting the hang of it. Now it seems easy!

What worked:
1. Made a few test cookies and ran them by my friend before ploughing ahead and making one hundred.
 2. I made a simple sketch of 100 boxes and used felt markers to roughly draw the design and colors. Then, later on, while I was applying the icing, I checked each one off of the sketch as I made them.
3. Having several racks for drying. I borrowed some from a couple of people.
4. Flat airtight containers. These allow you to store the iced cookies in the refrigerator. A flat container isn't as bulky as a tall one and you don't have to stack the cookies.
5. Gave myself one day as a buffer in case something went wrong.
6. I asked my friend to store some of the cookies in her fridge.
7.  Covering the bottom of containers and boxes with crumpled wax paper and taping it onto the surface. This surface kept the cookies from sliding around while being transported.
8. Making the dough on the first day, wrapping it in plastic, and placing it in the refrigerator. The next day, I stamped the cookies out and baked them. 

What didn't work:
1. Not enough space in refrigerator.
2. Didn't bake enough cookies the first day and so had to bake more three days later. 
3. Needed to run to the super market more than once to buy extra flour and sugar.
4. Not enough airtight containers.

Do the next time:
1. Buy more airtight containers in advance.
2. Think about using bubble wrap at the bottom of containers the next time to avoid having the cookies slip around while in transport. 
3. Maybe paint the notes with royal icing or food coloring plus alcohol.

 
SI

Chocolate Gingerbread Men and Candy Canes

I was invited to a Christmas party last week-end (yes, I know, it's March). I decided to make these chocolate gingerbread men because I thought that the kids would like them. You may have noticed that a similar post is on my blog from a few months ago but I think that these little guys look better because they have a mouth and a white dot for a nose.

Facebook Links, Group, Events

Please also join me on Facebook! I have a page related to this blog as well as a group that will often have events, raffles and fun things like that. 

 

Facebook (name and link):

 Sparked Ideas

https://www.facebook.com/sparked.ideas 

 

Facebook group (name and link):

Cookie Decorating Group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cookiedecorating/

 

Current Group Event (name and link):

Easter Cookie Event  (part of the "Cookie Decorating Group!")

https://www.facebook.com/events/1417803288475374/?ref=4&source=1

 

Please note that the current Event is called "Easter Cookie Event". I'm sending a call out to participants and will be giving away a couple of small gifts (see image below).  These are neat because they're so realistic.

Rainbow Cookies!

I'm re-posting these rainbow cookies because I wasn't completely satisfied with how they looked yesterday. They didn't seem to be quite finished but I couldn't figure out why. I decided to try adding a white outline on top of the original one. This made a huge difference. The design looks cleaner now and the white outline frames the colors and makes them pop out more. So, it was worth it to take that last step!

 

 

 A few days ago I set up a new Facebook group called "Cookie Decorating Group!". To start things off, I suggested to members that we have a Saint Patrick's Day theme. So, for this event, I decided to make these rainbow cookies. Here's the link to the "Cookie Decorating Group!" https://www.facebook.com/groups/cookiedecorating/ Please join me and my fellow enthusiasts! I'm hoping that our group will keep growing and that it'll eventually be filled with wonderful creative cookie creations.

Here are the steps in a nutshell:
1) Baked some simple sugar cookies (one dozen). 
2) Made a white outline of the design with royal icing. 
3) Filled in the empty areas with the colors. 
4) Outlined the rainbow and cloud again with white icing. 

Used a pastry bag, a no. 2 tip, and a thicker consistency of royal icing to make this outline.

Now make 5 lines for the rainbow.

For flooding the shapes, use a pastry bag with the tip cut off (just a little). For this step, use the thinner consistency royal icing.

 

Suggestion: Before adding colors, I tested my colors on small portions of icing until I got the colors that I liked. Then start mixing the larger portions.

These are the colors that I used:

Red and green - Regular McCormick Assorted food colors. The next time I would use red icing color though. I had to add a lot of drops of red which threw off the consistency.

Blue - McCormick Neon food color. This is brighter than the regular McCormick blue. For the light blue, add color to icing carefully and gradually with a toothpick so it doesn't get too dark too fast.

Purple - Icing Color "Violet" or Wilton Gel Food Color "Purple". Add color to icing carefully with a toothpick because it's very concentrated.

Yellow - Icing Color "Lemon Yellow". This is a light fresh yellow that doesn't have too much orange in it.

Use a toothpick to fill in the tighter corners. Tip: To get rid of bubbles, just move the toothpick across it. Poking tends to just move the bubble around.

 

 

I started using a no. 3 tip, with a coupler, to fill in the rest of the colors. It was easier to get into the corners.

Adding the final outline on top really helped to make the lines cleaner and the colors pop.

Almost finished...

 

DONE!