Pumpkin Spice Cake

Today we will be working on very cute Mother's Day cupcakes! They are little flower pots. Cupcakes baked in terracotta pots then decorated with tiny flowers. This idea comes to us from Manda. She found these perfect little pots at the Family Dollar store. 3 pots for $1. Can't beat that. I will post the tutorial later on today as we make them.

Our favorite cake recipe is the pumpkin spice cake. I know its a fall favorite but after all its Mother's Day and we are mothers so we get to pick!! lol Mix the icing with some pumpkin pie spices and OMG you have something fantastic!!

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE

1 box of spice cake mix
1 box of pumpkin spice instant pudding mix or vanilla instant pudding mix
        (buy and hoard during Thanksgiving. lol)
1 cup of pumpkin pie canned pumpkin.
1/2 cup of oil or apple sauce if you are on a diet
1/2 cup pumpkin pie spice coffee creamer or regular creamer
4 eggs
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ginger


You can can use vanilla pudding and regular coffee creamer if you don't have the flavored ones. It is still a great cake. Mix all your wet ingredients together until well blended. (This is a secret.) Doing that adds so much to the texture of the cake. Well worth the extra step. After all the wet ingredients are well mixed add the dry ingredients. Mix until well blended and lump free. For cupcakes bake at 350* for 25 mins. and for an 8 inch cake bake at 350* for 40* min or until a knife or tooth pic comes out clean.

If you didn't want a decorated cake you could make a simple glaze and add pumpkin pie spice to and and enjoy. Mmmmmm Can't wait to sneak me a few bits in today. lol. As always if you have any questions just let me know. I am happy to help all I can.

Mini Gumpaste Purse Tutorial

Now that your high heels are dry its time to make some purses to match. What's a pair of shoes without a handbag? Manda did a great job on these and I really think you will love them. Just pick out two of your favorite colors. We are going to use the red and black to match our shoes.

SUPPLIES:

gumpaste
fondant tools
food color
sharp knife

1. Color your gumpaste in the colors you like.

2. For purse style 1 make a round ball out of gumpaste
about the size of a large marble.

3. Use a flat edge to press on all sides of the ball to
create the sides of the purse.

Do the same thing for purse style 2 only in a tear drop
shape. Cover and set aside for later.

4. With a fondant tool make lines to give texture to
the purse.

5. For the straps and zipper on the purse roll 3 thin
snakes. This is red for a black purse. If your ball was red
make the straps black.

6. Use small drops of water to glue the snakes in
place. One in the center for the zipper, and two on
the sides for straps.

That's it for purse style one. :) Now on to style 2.

1. Start with the pressed tear drop shape we did earlier.

2. Roll a tiny snake for the strap. You will only need one.
Also roll out a thin piece of gumpaste for the flap.

3. Cut out the shape of the flap with the sharp knife.
We just free hand this. You can use a ruler if you like.

4. Use water to glue it in place. Let it go over the back
some to get a better look.

5. Use a small drop of water to glue the strap on to
the purse. Just enough to make it sticky.

6. "Glue" on a small dot just for decorations. We
just rolled a tiny ball and flattened it a little.

7. All finished!! Don't worry about the water. It will dry
and you wont be able to see it. Now they are ready
for cupcakes or a small cake.

Cute!

Hope you like the tutorial. If you have any questions just let me know. I am happy to help all I can. :)

Happy Mother's Day!!

High Heel Shoe Cupcake Tutorial

We made these just in time for Mother's Day!! Very cute very tiny high heel shoes for the shopping or fashion lovers! Perfect for a cupcake. Who doesn't love shoes?? We made these simple but you could dress them up any way you want. They would be cute with dots or stripes.

SUPPLIES:
gumpaste
sharp knife
food color
fondant tools
shoe template

 1. Print shoe template.

2. Fold the drying rack according to the arrows on the

template. It should look like this. I use tape to hold it

in place because it is so small.

3. Use food color to color your gumpaste. You can

use any two of your favorite colors. 

4. Use the pink bands on the rolling pin to get the right 

thickness. Its about an 1/8th of an inch if you 

don't have them. Do this to both colors.

This is the closed toe template.

This is the shoe bottom template.

This is the open toe template.

5. Use the templates to cut your shoe out of your 

gumpaste. You can use either the closed toe or the open

toe template but you can't use both. I am going to use the

open toe in this tutorial. Also cut out 2 shoe bottoms. 

One left and one right. Keep covered in plastic wrap

to keep it from drying out too fast.

 6. Use a drop or two of water to glue the toe srap

to the shoe bottom. With a fondant tool press the strap

in place securely. 

7. Place it on the drying rack and use another  fondant tool

to make sure the toe strap has a good form. 

8. Quickly make a heel. Make a tear drop shape and then 

cut it to the size you need. When you cut it that makes

the flat edge to glue to the shoe bottom. 

9. Use a drop of water for glue and glue the heel

to the underside of the shoe bottom.

Here I'm showing you 2 different size heels. And

I really like the taller one better. It brings the back of

the shoe bottom up just a little off the drying rack.

That's it. Let dry over night or until they are hard.

Cute!! We will be making the purses tomorrow. 

We made tiny pearls for this pair. You can use the

pearl mold or just roll tiny balls. 

Happy Mother's Day!!