Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, there is no denying that fall has arrived, is there? :(  The good thing about it is that I am baking more and making the house smell amazing! It IS the season for putting on a few extra pounds LOL!


Going to keep it short and sweet today... we had our turkey dinner yesterday and I have soup to make today! I am very excited about turkey soup!


We were blessed to get to spend lots of time with people on both sides of the family this weekend... I was able to reconnect with a lot of my cousins on Friday evening, and we spent Saturday with my husband's relatives. Yesterday we just puttered at home while our turkey was in the oven... keeping it low-key. I like winding down like this before the work week starts!


So let's talk cake, shall we?


I've posted a few things on the good old Facebook page, but my pride and joy is definitely the bustier cake I made for my husband's birthday. I made it red velvet with cream cheese filling, with vanilla buttercream, and had to work fast because I only have an hour after I get home from work before HE gets home from work... and I wanted it to be a surprise. He was definitely surprised!

The cake was hand-cut to shape, and the tatas were made with the extra cake I cut off from the sides, mixed with some buttercream and molded into shape. I used various cutters for the fondant trim, and the patterns were used by pressing a cutter into the fondant like an embosser, and piping black buttercream on top. I added dots and a few dragees, , and made the black rose kind of by accident. I was rolling up the trim to make it easier to roll it onto the cake, and realized it looked like a rose, so I went with it.

This cake seemed to be quite popular on my page, but I had to keep it clean... there are children who see my cakes!

Then I made some cupcakes for a friend of mine who was celebrating a birthday.. I wanted them to be feminine so I made them a pretty pink and added some black piping. They're simply chocolate, no filling. She doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so I kept it simple.

And finally, these delicious cupcakes were chocolate, topped with salted caramel buttercream. You may remember, I tried caramel buttercream a little while ago, but I wasn't really happy with the consistency. It needed to be constantly chilled in order to keep it's shape. It was delicious, yes, but not dependable. So I found another recipe for it, and it was a complete success! I added some coarse salt on top of them, but it's hard to see. Unfortunately, the caramels used in it were made in a facility that handles nut products, so it's not a nut-free recipe.

And that is all she wrote, my friends! Please enjoy your Thanksgiving and your families (and friends). Eat lots, drink more and as always, stay sweet!