Holiday Baking

Less than 2 days until Christmas, and I have SO much baking to do. I have already made a German Chocolate cake, my first one actually..and it turned out great, everyone loved it and I will definitely be making it again. I also just made Cranberry cream cheese bars.. great recipe, I think this is my 3rd time making them in the past few weeks..the crust has oatmeal and white chocolate in it, with a layer of cream cheese that has been blended with sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla.. the 2ND and 3rd time making these, I doubled the cream cheese layer, and cranberry layer, which made the proportions better with the thick crust. Next on my list is Cherry cheese cake, the recipe I use for this cheesecake is definitely a no fail.. Sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cream cheese.. always creamy, and gone within a hour :) For Tomorrow, I'm making Coconut cream pie, peanut butter sandwich cookies, and a braided bread ring. I've made the pie and cookies before, but the braided bread is a first, we will have to see how that turns out.. Anywoo, back to baking, have a wonderful Christmas and try not to eat too much ;)


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Premier-Cheesecake-Cranberry-Bars/Detail.aspx?prop31=2
^ here's the link for the Cream cheese bars

http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/1927/Recipe.cfm
^ Cheesecake, even though its for mini cheesecakes, I just use a 9 inch spring form, and add a little bit more gram cracker crumbs :)

How to Make: Pastry Cream

Very Simple Recipe for a yummy filling for Eclairs, Donuts, Cream Puffs, or Tarts!

Cappuccino Muffins

These were really easy to make and really good =) I am not a coffee person, but I really did enjoy these. . . The topping for them is optional, some people left it off because of calories. But I believe it made the muffin more enjoyable. All Recipes is still my favorite site to go to for recipes. =)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cappuccino-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Process of Anniversary Cake

Day one: Wednesday, I baked 3 of the cakes, 10,8 and 6 inch..I froze them, just to see how it would work. I've had a lot of people tell me that freezing cakes makes them super moist.. but, I didn't get to taste the cake after it had been frozen, but the client and the party enjoyed it. =) So for my next cake(s), I will be freezing them, it saves a lot of time making the cakes in advance. I also made some of the flowers that day, to see how they turned out so I could make adjustments. Day two. Thursday.. I made the other cakes, 10,8 and 6 inch again.. then two 12x18 cakes. . that took 50 cups of batter. .a lot..lol. then I made the fondant, 3 batches of it. Such a messy thing but always turns out great. I filmed me making the fondant.. so I will be posting that later. . Also made the rest of the flowers.. filmed that as well. Such an easy flower to make. I'm not quite sure if it has a name.but it's pretty..=)
Then day 3. Friday. . The most work was this day. Made God knows how many batches of butter cream, and creamchesse filling. . I frosted each tier, covered with fondant. and the decorated with the flowers. Doesn't sound like much.but it sure was =) Then the sheet cake was a little bit of a challenge, but managed well to get that covered with fondant. . I made the "40" cake topper out of chocolate. Printed out a 40 and layed wax paper over it. and just filled it in with chocolate. I've done this b4 with success, but my client called yesterday and said that it fell off before they got to the party. :( which was the only thing that went wrong. I'm not quite sure what happened, either a bump, to hot in the car, or I just didn't secure it enough. So next time I will make it thicker. .I think that will help =)
Then Saturday, my half day, I got up early before she came to pick up the cake, and wrote on the sheet cake and added some more flowers I made the previous day. Also added some leafs to go along with the flowers.

Over all, after 3 and a half days of working on the cakes I have to say I am pretty happy with how they turned out =)

Anniversary Cake

I can't keep track of how many fondant cakes I've made, but I'm guessing..that this was my 12th? I'm not quite sure.. but either way I had a blast making this cake order. =) The tiered cake is a 10,8 and 6 inch.. and the sheet cake is a 12x18. . that thing weighed a ton! lol.. I do apologize tho because I was supposed to film myself making it.. but I got busy and wasn't able too. But I was able to film the recipe for the cake, fondant, and the flowers. .. .So I will be posting those later. =)



Thanks.

.Ashley.

Cookies

Chocolate Mint Cookies =)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Mint-Candies-Cookies/Detail.aspx

They were a big hit with my dads employees.

Thanks for Watching. . =)

How To Make Gum Paste

First attempt at a Tutorial. =) Needed Gumpaste for the flowers I am making for the cake. . When filming yourself, you are more aware of what you are doing, and wanting to do everything perfect. . It will help when I film the decoration of the cake =)