Pumpkin Whoopie Goodness

My husband works with the Systems Office at the hospital. Systems, like most good people, like to have potlucks as often as they can. Mike tends to not find out till the last minute or doesn't remember to tell me. His contributions usually end up coming from the grocery store and that annoys me. Two weeks ago he FINALLY gave me a heads up that they were having a potluck and told me I was to make a desert (imagine that!). I decided to go with a whoopie pie of some sort. I have become slightly obsessed with them since having one from a eatery on base. It lacked flavor and cost WAY too much. The filling was also some what of a mystery to me as well. It wasn't marshmallow or butter cream and wasn't sweet. YUCK!

Mike loves pumpkin flavor stuff so I found a pumpkin whoopie pie recipe from Martha Stewart. I had to modify the recipe since I couldn't find canned pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin pie mix and left out the spices that were called for in the recipe). I spent the whole day Thursday working on them and they turned out FANTASTIC even though they didn't look like Martha's. I am not a pumpkin fan and even I thought they were tasty. Liam claimed he needed to taste test one cookie from each batch. Quality if very important to him!

I ended up present at the potluck on Friday and I am glad I went. There's nothing better than having people tell you how wonderful you...I mean your food is! I especially like compliments when they come from the Camo that runs the hospital. Always please people in high places!

I Love a Great Deal!

Mike and some of his friends participated in a fun 5K today called the Spartan Race. All of them dressed up in costumes and had a blast. I was there with camera in tow to record the fun and I got some great pictures. Mike took our old Pentax (it was the first of the water resistant and shock proof cameras from 6 years ago) and took a few pictures of all of them on the course. When we got home I decided to put together a photo memento for the whole crew (all 11 of them). I was able to put a quick little photo book together for them and managed to save almost $50 with all my promo codes! If you haven't used Shutterfly before I highly recommend you check it out. Honestly, I can not remember how I got turned on to Shutterfly over 4 years ago but I have LOVED them and their wonderful site. Plus they are always sending me emails with special offers that make ordering even better!

Sassy Barbie Cake...Complete!

This cake is my second attempt using marshmallow fondant. I am still not very good at rolling it out evenly and getting it on the cake. Like most things, I am sure a lot more practice would be to my benefit. All in all I am very happy with how this cake turned out. I love the contrast of shiny and matte and I am very happy with how the zebra print looks.
  Here's the breakdown on this cake:

6 in. round top layer, devils food with pink butter cream between layers
10 in. round bottom layer, devils food with pink butter cream between layers
2 batches of marshmallow fondant ( white and pink)
Wilton Edible Glitter
Wilton Edible Silver Simmer Powder
Wilton Piping Gel (used as glue for all pieces and them to coat bottom layer for shine)

White fondant dots

I mixed the silver shimmer with clear vanilla and painted the white  dots.

I made this 5 out of fondant using a template cut from Barbie font.
I let this dry for a few days.

I then coated the 5 with piping gel and sprinkled with Edible Glitter.

For the zebra print, I used a pizza cutter to cut random shapes. It helped
looking at a zebra skin. I then used a paint brush and piping gel to glue strips on.
(do this before adding your second layer of course)

When dry I painted the whole bottom layer with the piping gel to make it shiny and
hide all the spots I got a little crazy with gel.

The dots are glued on with the piping gel as well.

And this is the Barbie that inspired it all.  I was going to add
a finishing trim around the bottom of each layer but nothing
looked right.

Sassy Barbie

Have you seen Barbie lately? That girl has changed a whole lot since I was a little girl! One of Mike's co worker's asked me to make a birthday cake for their daughter's 5th birthday. They gave Mike a Barbie that they wanted me to use as inspiration/decoration and he got to carry it all around the hospital. This Barbie is HOT! It's the Sassy Barbie with black and zebra leggings and hot pink sparkly top. When I saw her I had to throw out my original idea and come up with plan B.

The birthday party is Sunday afternoon and I am already ahead of schedule. Both cakes are covered in fondant and I have started working on decorations for the top layer. Fingers crossed, the bottom layer should have pink zebra print by the end of the day.

Keep an eye out for pictures of the project. I pray this little girl loves this cake!

You Scream, I scream, We all scream for Ice Cream Cake!

One can never go wrong with ice cream. I personally love ice cream cakes but they are usually pretty expensive to buy. The only time I will splurge on one is if it's from Cold Stone Creamery. (YUMMMMMMMM) Of course we do not have CSC here in the UK (which is a damn shame) and carvel cakes from the commissary don't do it for me. Especially since there is NO TELLING how long that thing has been in the freezer.

Above is a picture or a super quick ice cream cake I made for a BBQ. I had a 9in homemade chocolate chip cookie in the freezer. (You know one family doesn't need as many cookies as one recipe makes. So I baked a cookie cake to keep in the freezer for emergency.)

For this cake you will need:

1 carton ice cream

1 small marshmallow fluff

1 container cool whip (freezes better than homemade whip cream)

Chocolate sauce 

Sprinkles

Some other option: Carmel sauce, cookie crumbs, nuts, brownie or cake instead of cookie

Use the same pan you used to make the cake portion.

Set out your ice cream till soft and spreadable and spread it smoothly into pan and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Freeze.

Spread marshmallow fluff but not all the way to sides. It's super sticky and might make it hard to get the ice cream disk out.

Freeze.

Add the cake portion and press firmly.

Release the whole thing using a hot towel or water. 

Flip onto waiting plate.

Freeze.

Take out and spread with cool whip and decorate. 

Freeze till ready for the party.

You will want to let it set and soften slightly.

This whole process can be made a whole lot simpler with a spring form pan. But I don't have one and didn't want to buy one! 

Enjoy!