Smitten With This Kitchen!

Happy Sunday everyone! As the new week approaches we are a few steps closer to our official opening. We have a kichen to rent finally and we got a GREAT deal on it, I couldn't be any happier about it and thought I'd share a few photos with you all. This kitchen belongs to a local church in my area and is actually only about 5 minutes from my home, can you believe it?
Check it out...

Check out all the oven space!

This is just one of many workspaces

It goes on and on and is perfect for our needs! Next step is food certification and kitchen inspection, then we're in business! Don is scheduled for his food class on the 29th and we'll be requesting the inspection around that time as well. EXCITED!


On another note, I've been businer this past week than I think I ever have before. Lots of friends having cake-occassions, so I got a LOT of cake-hours in for practice.


Josh, at work, asked me for the most unique request I've had so far. Broccoli, in cake form. Broccoli... in cake form. Roll that one around a few times and see what you come up with! I thought about it and thought about it and all I had in my mind was a big fat head of broccoli laying on a plate. How un-appetizing! This was for his girlfriend who apparantly was a big fan of the green stuff and I just couldn't give her a hunk of broccoli on a plate! So... this is what I came up with, MUCH cuter I think...

I made the florets from Laffy Taffy and nonpails with a little green colored cany melts. Pretty realistic, huh? And yes, we did taste test them... it's pretty funny to bite into something that looks so much like a veggie and have it taste like watermelon!

The bowl is made od red velvet cake with a very vanilla frosting, vanilla fondant and accents, topped off with a yellow fondant butter pat!

Next was Sonia's blingy birthday cake and Seronda's Gucci Bag.

To round out the week, 2 baby showers, both for the same time and same time! UGH, if there was ever a need to be cloned, this was it! Unfortunately I didn't get to go to either shower, but I was there in cake form! Dee and Jennifer were both on my work team a little more than a year ago and both asked me to create their shower cakes... I was more than happy to do it for them.


Dee's shower was a Noah's Ark theme as well as the baby's name. I knew her cake would be a 3d ark, complete with animals 2x2. This is what I came up with...

Layers of fresh strawberry and vanilla cake covered in fresh strawberry frosting. Animals are made from fondant and the entired cake is edible.

Now, with Jennifer's cake, I decided to experiment. I wanted to do something different, I just didn't know what. She provided me a photo of one of the blankets in the baby's room to use as inspiration.

OK, so without knowing exactly what design I was going to do, I started making fondant teddy bears...

OK, cute, but how to incorporate that blanket and Kaleb's dad's favorite teams, the Lakers and Jaguars...

Keeping in mind, amongst all this mountain of cake this week, I also work a regular job! I'm running on about 20 hours sleep for the week and in my delirium, it hits me! I had an idea and it was something I had never tried and nothing I had seen before... I was going to wallpaper this cake! I printed out multiple pages of swatches from the blanket along with some I dowloaded and I staerted printing.

As a side note, I have to say that my edible image printer is probably one of my best investments ever!

Here's the final product, what do you think? I LOVE it...

Now, anyone that knows me, knows I am a Rays fan and I definately am NOT a Yankees fan. I took some liberties with the bear at the bottom in honor of The Rays win after Derek's attempt at a very un-sportmanlike move... he actually fakes like he was hit with a pitch in order to make it to base on a free walk... not a great move AND they lost... HA! lol

Let's go to the tape, shall we? lol

Well, that was my week, today I've been a total couch potato, gearing up for a new work week and vowing never to take on so much again!

Until next time, folks... LET'S GO RAYS!

Change Is a'Comin'!

Hi all,
Been a long time since I updated the blog. Lots of things have happened and we are well on our way to becoming an official business!


I'll be revamping the blog over the next few days and will fill you all in the happenings!
Stay tuned! (and please pardon our mess while we remodel!)

So It's Official... Support Frostitution!

I've decided to take the plunge and apply for licensing as 'The Red Queen Cakery'! My friend Don has agreed to partner with me and get this show on the road.

I've greatly enjoyed learning the art of cake and while I am still very much an amateur compared to many out there, I think I'm off to a good start. I've worked to perfect some really good recipes and designs and with the response my friends and their friends and their friends have given me, I'm ready to move forward... on a small scale.

So, the plan is for us to use some local Arts and Farmer's markets to setup, test the water, and begin to build a following.

What do you think about these:

Creme de Menthe cuppies. These are dark chocolate with creamy mint bits and a minty cookie surprise inside. They're covered with a generous swirl of minty buttercream and drizzled with a super-yummy ganache. I ate one of these with some vanilla ice cream and they were 'to die for'! I think these are going on the menu.

The Banana Split cuppies are my favorites so far. Delicious banana flavored cake with banana pieces baked inside. There's a tunnel of strawberry cream cheese filling tucked away inside and they're topped with a Very vanilla buttercream with toasted pecans and fudge ganache on top... and of course topped off with a cherry and a bit of pineapple. *Drool*

Rocky Road also turned out to be a big hit. Brownie bottom fudge cuppies topped with Very Vanilla buttercream and atop that is a fun mixture of pecans, marshmallows, and chocolate chips and again, drizzled with ganache. YUM!

Ah, the Drumstick cuppies! Talk about a throwback to yummy goodness of my childhood (and adulthood!). Very vanilla cake with a chocolate fudge lava center and topped with Very vanilla buttercream. These were then dipped in a super rich ganache and topped with sugar cone pieces and peanuts. Mmmmboy! Delicious.

I'll be sharing more with you all and we progress. Don had some really great banners made for us to use on our booth at the market, I'll post some pictures later and update you. We've got our business cards made, t-shirts, and packaging. We'll be peddling  gourmet cupcakes, truffles, and decorated cookies and will take orders for specialty cakes.

As we move more forward into a business mindset, we'll likely convert redqueencakery.com into an actual storefront display website and use the blog as an avenue to communicate with you all. I'm nervous and super-excited!

Check back later for updates!

The Word Of The Day Is...

Procrastinate.
pro·cras·ti·nate  –verb (used with object)
to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
(insert my picture next to the definition!)
 
OK, so I've got to get back on track and keep up to date. I've been soooo busy the last couple of weeks that I've gotten behind on many things, including this. I promise to try to be better!
 
I have been baking my butt off! Now, while I know that's not really a pretty image nor would the health department approve, but hey... my mom taught me to always tell the truth.
Here's a little of what I've been up to-

            Ah, the Juicy bag. I knew sooner or later, I was going to be tasked with the purse-style cake and in March, it happened. This was a vanilla/chocolate marble cake and I'm told it was delicious! Looks good, right?

After that, came Alyce's first birthday. Originally her mommy thought we would do a Dora the Explorer themed party and then later changed her mind to a 'cupcake' theme. Yayyy!!!

The cake was a tropical mix. Bottom tier was a combo flavor of pineapple/coconut/banana and the giant cupcake was an orange creamsicle concoction. Super yummy and a lot of fun to make. Now, we need regular cupcakes to go along with the cake! Strawberry cuppies with pureed strawberry buttercream... delicious!OK, ok... I was just looking for another excuse to play around with my new Cricut Expression cutting system.. LOVE.

This past weekend I officially deemed 'Purple Zebra Weekend'. 2, count 'em, TWO purple zebra themes requested:

Couple days ago, I did Georgia Bulldog cake # 2...

... and a Polo Shirt / hat combo

Shew! Are you tired yet? I'm exhausted!

Don't forget the truffles! These boxes had super selections including Cookies & Cream, Strawberries & cream, Lime Coconut, Coconut, Very Vanilla, and Creamsicle. MMmmm!!

OK, we're almost up to date!

I experimented a little this week... chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes covered in ganache (drool!)

After a small snafu, I ended the week with The Princess and the Frog...

OK gang, I think I got it all in! Not much of a story this time, but lots of eye candy!

The two rules of procrastination: 1) Do it today. 2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. ~Author Unknown

..until next time!

Mardi Gras, Magic, & A Movie Bomb

So this week, I've officially given up my rights to ever be the one to choose a movie again! In an earlier post, I introduced you all to one of my 'partners in crime', Tim... you remember my 'baseball guru'...

This week we decided to do a movie again, but what to see... there are really no big blockbusters going on that we haven't already seen. Well, someone told me that 'Shutter Island' was the one to see. So, even though I'm far from a DiCaprio fan, I figure why not give it a try. OK, so Tim's game and I'm always up for movie popcorn and a frozen coke!

STINKER!

Now, of course this is just my own opinion and I'm certainly not trying to offend any fans, it was just not the movie for me. I think I may have even actually dozed once or twice! Now, I will say that it had a pretty interesting twist of an ending, but was not enough to save the movie. OK, so now I'm just waiting for Toy Story 3 and maybe the remake of Clash Of The Titans to redeem my cinematic voting power! So, I digress... lol!

OK, back to what's important, BAKING!

This week I was in cookie-mode.  

It was Erica's birthday and Erina wanted to surprise her with some cookies. Now, I know Erica is a big poker fan & player and her party-theme this year was Mardi Gras... so Erina wanted to incorporate the two into cookies. Erina also tells me it's her husband's birthday as well and he's a big 'Magic, The Gathering' fan. Now, I'm familiar with MTG because my son used to play many years ago so I can get into this.

If you're not familiar, MTG is a collectible card game. Each game represents a battle between powerful wizards, known as "planeswalkers", who use the magical spells, items, and fantastic creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents.

So, the task is to make Erica a dozen Mardi Gras playing card cookies and to personalize them with her name, age, and theme. Hubby gets a dozen MTG card cookies. Not a problem! These cookies will be a piece of cake (ooohhh yes, I did say that... sorry!).

I used a basic firm sugar cookie recipe and cut each cookie into a 3"x4.5" rectangle. Once cooked, I brushed them with some nice apricot preserves and covered them with fondant. White for Erica's cards and black for hubby's cards. I covered each cookie with images provided by Erina. Now, I still had to create the personalized saide of the Mardi Gras cards... nooo problem. While finishing up the MTG cards, my son Chris (who you also met earlier) makes a suggestion. 'Mom, don't you remember the Black Lotus?'

Ummmm... oh yeah! The Black Lotus was supposedly the most soughtafter Magic card and very valuable. So, I figure, as a bonus, I'll throw one in and make a baker's dozen.

What do you think of them?

I also had 2 birthday's, 2 new team members, and 1 veteran member departure from my work team this month. We celebrated with homemade German (or German's if you want to be historically correct) Chocolate cake and ice cream sundaes. Back to the treadmill for me!!!!

Next week, I have a friend asking for a Juicy Couture bag and it's also Alyce's first birthday... it's going to be a busy week. Sometime's I wish I could quit my job and do this for a living! :)

...see you all soon!

Just How *IS* a Raven Like a Writing Desk Anyway??

After returning from the long-anticipated release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I still don't know the answer to this riddle... but I do know one thing...

THIS MOVIE WAS GREAT!

A word of advice - do not go to this movie expecting to see a remake of any previous Alice nor an Alice story you've previously read. This is Tim's vision and adaptation of his own imagination and brilliance! Now, not that we expected anything less from Tim Burton and his usual cast of characters, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Throw in Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Alan Rickman & the rest of the 'Underland' gang and POW! Magical is all I can say!

I saw this movie on opening day, IMAX 3d of course and it was amazing. Gorgeous scenery, incredible effects and yet slightly dark at the same time. I would highly recommend getting lost in this world with the help of IMAX. The sound, the size, the feeling that you were also immersed in Underland was excellent.

Now, I won't give away the plot nor any details of the film, you just have to RUN to the theatre and see for yourself. I absolutely fell deeper in love with The Red Queen in this one and actually moved The March Hare up a few rankings on my favorites list. He was a riot. There was definately not enough time spent at the tea party this time, it was one of my favorite scenes. The March Hare and Hatter are equally mad I think! Check out this clip...

From Alice to Hatter to Red herself this movie was a nonstop overload of excitement, eye-candy, special effects, whimsy, nonsense, adventure, action, heroism, and I believe there may have even been a little touch of warm fuzzies between Alice and Hatter. What a couple that would make! Almost as interesting and odd as the wink-wink relationship between Red and Stave...

The Red Queen's Bandersnatch was second only to her Jabberwocky, and while I realize if you haven't seen the movie, that may sound a little risque'... those in the know would agree with me!

This movie gets a 4.5 out of 5 stars from me and it only lacks the last 1/2 star because it wasn't long enough. The epic battle between good & evil, Red & White, was over almost as quickly as it began. Either the movie was so good that it was over before we knew it or not enough time was spent in Underland... I haven't decided which yet but I suspect it was the latter.

This is definately a go-to movie... do yourselves a favor and see it then buy the dvd!

I love the Red Queen obviously and all the hearts and cards. In her honor, I created these cake truffles. They are a yummy combination of banana, rum, and coconut and coated in white chocolate. They are as colorful, decadent and delicious as the Queen herself!

We're off to Champion Stadium in Orlando tomorrow for Braves Spring training and I'll be taking tonight's special creation with us...

Cookies & Cream cupcakes. This is a French Vanilla cake with Oreo pieces baked throughout and covered in a super-yummy cream cheese frosting. Here's a tip when you make your own... twist oreo's in half and put the unfrosted half in the bottom of the cup before you fill with batter. It's a nice surprise when you bite! I think my Dad will enjoy these, what do you think?

I end today's post with one of my favorite quotes from the movie, "Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.".
See you all after the game!