#45: Rudolph and Frosty on a Stick!

and here they are...this year's christmas gifts for the family. unfortunately i deleted the higher quality photos from my camera without uploading them onto my computer...so my iphone 3g photos will have to do (this is a disclaimer for the poor quality of photos). sarah and i made a rudolph, frosty the snowman, and assorted green and red ornaments. although i've made cake pops before, these ones were much easier to make for a few reasons. 1. we used candy melts i purchased from michaels 2. used a thicker frosting for the cake and 3. dipped the lollipop stick in the candy melts before attaching the cake to the top. for rudolph, we used pretzels for the antlers, cinnamon candies for the nose, white sprinkles and a black edible ink for the eyes. for frosty, we used regular size and mini oreos for the hat, black sprinkle eyes, orange tic tac noses, and black edible ink for the mouth.

after we let the cake pops set we wrapped them in lollipop bags, tied a ribbon around the pops and gave them away as bouquets. i look forward to my next batch of cake pops!

#44: Mini Holiday Cupcake Treats!

For our annual Christmas cookie exchange I decided to make some mini iced cupcakes. My inspiration was some lemon blossom cupcakes I made a week ago. I decided to go with some seasonal flavors. I decided on egg nog, vanilla bean, and peppermint chocolate. The spiked egg nog cupcake has some rum flavoring. I really like the small cakes with the icing - it is reminiscent of donut holes. the pan i used had designs of stars, hearts, flowers, bundt shapes, and more. the designs added a nice touch, but the pan was a nightmare to clean! all in all i did enjoy these tasty little treats and was excited to give them away as gifts this year. Merry Christmas Eve!




Below is a nice picture that my co-worker bryan took of my little package.

#43: Mini Buche de Noels

you might recall last christmas i made a full size buche de noel. i planned a cookie exchange at work this year and started brainstorming ideas of what kind of baked goods i could make. i decided to make mini yule logs - though i'll admit i was a little nervous they would end up looking like ho ho's. i made the meringue mushrooms on the first night and let them dry out. i then made the cake and chocolate cream the next night. i hadn't realized the first time around, but my buche de noel is gluten free! it's kind of bewildering how the cake has no flour in it - but it's true! it's mostly just eggs and sugar. after i rolled up the log, i added a little stump and then frosted the outside of the log. i then took a fork and made some grains along the log. with more time, i would have loved to add some more color (like red and green holly). maybe next time.