Last weekend I attended the Bonnie Gordon Cake Show @ Wychwood Barns. I was blown away by the talent of all the competitors. Each student had submitted a cake into the competition. I spent the day wandering around looking at the complexity of these cakes. They were all beautiful, and truly pieces of art. Its hard to imagine putting countless hours into these cakes and then cutting into them! They also had a timed competition between three cake decorators. I was able to sit up close and watch them build some of these cakes from the bottom up. Visit @bonniegordoncol on twitter or check out the website http://www.bonniegordoncollege.com/. Here are a few of the cakes that really stood out to me, although they were all amazing and different - tough competition! Whats next for me -  take the Bonnie Gordon cake designer certificate - and open up my own vintage/classy bakery specializing in gourmet cupcakes and custom cakes (a girl can dream)  - for now - looking forward to attending some of Bonnie Gordon's weekend courses!

Modelling Figures with wire

Classy Wedding Cake Design

Alice in Wonderland

Ballet

Birds on a tree

Balls of Perfection

I found this recipe while spending countless hours on Pintrest (yes, I am addicted). I thought I would give these a try - the recipe was simple and I had most of the ingredients in my cupboard. Wow, impressed!! They are so delicious - good for on the go, and really filling. I like to pop one post work-out. Not to mention, they have peanut butter in them (another addiction of mine). Here is the recipe, try them out. I altered the recipe slightly - I used more oats/less honey to cut down on the sugar. 

Recipe makes 18-20 balls   

1 cup oatmeal (I used 1 1/2)

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes (optional)

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional - I used 1/4)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything up in a bowl and place in refrigerator for about 20 minutes, roll into balls. You can keep them refrigerator for up to one week! Energy. In a ball. Mmm.

Happy Nurses week to all my fellow RN's!
I'm back... in action. 
It has been a few months since I've blogged. I know what you are thinking...
actually I don't, but I do know what I'm thinking...
what a slacker I am!
Life gets busy, what more can I say?
Winter has come and gone, yippee! I did do baking throughout, so I will start posting some of my stuff soon. Sorry to all you cupcake sundae supporters, I have been holding out on you! I did some fun birthday cakes over the last few months, some cake pops, and today attended the annual Bonnie Gordon Cake Show @wychwoodbarns. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration, and after attending the cake show today I have inspiration overload! I'll save the details for another post. 
Here is a cake I did for nurses week last year! 

Nursing Week 2011

Hug a nurse this week, at some point he/she is away from their family and taking care of yours :) 
That was the nicer of the quotes... lets try this again:
Hug a nurse this week, he/she picks your needle size... and catheter size
 - and with that thought, I will say goodnight!

Congratulations to the Boyd's! We all can't wait to meet Baby Girl Boyd in the spring!

Who doesn't love converse shoes, especially when they are in miniature form and they are edible! I had the pleasure of making a cake for a colleague and friend of mine, Kathryn. I decided to do a cute baby shoe, but  with a spin!  Here is the pattern and 101 on the fondant converse baby shoe! 

Cut out your pieces using the pattern found at

http://kraftibakes.blogspot.com/2010/09/fondant-baby-converse-shoes.html

Paste everything together using water and small brush

Refrigerate through each step to set fondant

Simple and fun! Tempted to try an adult pair!

Ingredients
1 package Oreo Cookies, regular size
1 package Mini Oreo Cookies, for decoration (optional)
1 package chocolate cake mix (mix according to directions on box)
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix packaged cake mix according to directions (do not bake). Line cupcake tins with liner, place a regular size Oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner. Take 1/2 of remaining cookies and chop coarsely and add to cake mix. Fill the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 minutes (or according to box directions). While cupcakes are baking make the frosting.

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, then add powdered sugar slowly until blended well. Chop remaining regular-sized Oreos very fine (I put the cookies in the food processor instead of trying to chop them up super fine and it worked out really well). Add to frosting. After cupcakes have cooled frost and decorate with Mini Oreos.

UNREAL!

foodsnots.com

My cake pops finally are making an appearance! I made these balls over Christmas and they were a huge hit. Sweet and simple to make, and there are so many different decorating ideas! I recommend checking out this link on Bakerella -  http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cake-pops/ for some different inspiration. Bakerella also has an amazing book (that Santa brought me), and gives you the low down on how its done! You can use boxed cake mix and premade icing to save you time. You will need to purchase melting chocolate (all different colours available at Michaels), sticks, and sprinkles! Happy baking! (helpful hint - corn syrup is helpful when trying to make a pattern with sprinkles on the chocolate coating. You can use a paintbrush to make the design and then dip in sprinkles or something of your choice - check out the one to the left!)

 

Mix the crumbled cake and icing together into balls, refrigerate

Best way to display? Styrofoam!

Reindeer! Best way to transport these... yet to find out. I make it all the way to my family function with these guys and as I ring the door bell they all tip over and bust off their antlers. They weren't so cute after that... but still tasty

Happy 2012! Lots of stuff to post over the next week! Thanks for following and all the positive feedback!