While Sydney was home this past weekend, for a VERY short time, we visited the Botanical gardens. As we walked around the flowers and greenery I saw a Flamboyant Mayflower and became mesmerized by it’s beauty! The Flamboyant Mayflower is known for its flamboyant display of flowers. In many tropical parts of the world it is grown as an ornamental tree and in English it is given the name Royal Poinciana or Flamboyant. It seemed kismet to spot this…
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Peonies are one of my favorite flowers, we have had them adorn our landscaping for almost 22 years; I remember planting our first peony plant with Sydney (she was almost two) and it just happened to be Mother’s Day. As I was covering the the second cake Sydney came through the door ready for 10 days of fun (she is spending the summer in DC). I had originally created the Peony cake topper as another cake, in a long line, of 21 birthday cakes for her to choose…

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I posted a few days ago Sydney will be turning 21, and I am creating a few different cakes for her to choose from for her party. This is the first cake for her to view. This cake is a billow weave, Susan Trianos has a wonderful video explaining how she creates a wonderful tufted billow weave cake. The first time I saw the billow weave I thought of Sydney, between her love of fashion and fondant cakes, I knew she would adore the fabric fondant cake.
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I love a full open rose sitting on top of a cake. It is a simple touch of elegance. I had planned on designing a few cakes for Sydney to choose from for 21st birthday party. The first element I need is for her to choose from is the type of topper; she is leaning towards a flower. She wanted to see a few different types, last year we designed Butterfly Orchids for her birthday cake. This year she hasn’t a clue, so I thought I would start with the rose, but I wanted…

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I was organizing my cookie cutters, and I came across a beautiful copper corset cookie cutter Sydney had given last summer. I couldn’t believe I had not used it yet. Since Sydney loves fondant I covered them in strawberry flavored and mocha-cinnamon fondant, from Fondarific. The decorative details are piped in royal icing. While Sydney and I were FaceTiming she suggested they would look best 3-D on a fondant molded stand with royal icing string work.

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I have been watching General Hospital for 48 of the 50 years it has aired on ABC, my grandma and I would await for every new adventure each day at 2:00 pm CT. I skipped school on November 17th 1981 to watch Luke and Laura”s wedding, I actually missed a few more days leading up to the event. I cried in 1994 when Maxie Jones needed a heart transplant; her recipient being her cousin BJ and again in 1995 when Stone Cates died. I inadvertently turned Sydney, my daughter,...

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Shoes are the number one accessory; women brag about how many pairs of shoes they have in their closet. Mariah Carey had Mario Buatta designed an elegant space with gold-leaf and bleached-wood floors for her stilettos. Although my husband has to share his closet with my left over shoes I do not have a special built room just for my shoes, I would not object to one! I admit I adore shoes, wearing them, looking at them, and shopping for them, so it only seems..
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I was showing Sydney a two tone royal icing brush embroidery (that is a mouthful), and she thought the cookies would be a wonderful dessert to create for Mother’s Day. I must say I agree,  the cookies would look exquisite in a clear top box with a blush pink ribbon. In fact I am planning on remaking the exact cookies for my  99 year old grandmother, she taught me my early culinary skills. I can remember when I was in college my grandma would send me care…
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• egg whites
• 907 grams / 2-pounds icing sugar
• 247 grams/ 2/3-cup egg white
• 1-teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2-teaspoon almond extract or flavoring of choice

Prepare your mise en place.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, sift icing sugar twice, add lemon juice and egg whites.
Attach the bowl to the standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat on the lowest speed for ten minutes to reach off-peak consistency. If the royal icing has not soften enough keep beating, on low, in 3 minute increments until off-peak consistency is achieved. Add the almond extract and beat, on low speed, for 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer to a container and cover with a damp cloth.

Both Sydney and I prefer egg white royal icing, both for taste and texture.

• 907 grams/ 2 pounds icing sugar
• 80 grams/ 1/4 cup. plus 2 Tablespoons meringue powder, (NOT EGG WHITE POWDER)
• 236 grams/ 1-cup boiled water, cooled to warm
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2-teaspoon almond extract

Prepare your mise en place.
In the bowl of a standing mixer pour warm water whisk (by hand) to a soft peak consistency, sift icing sugar over the mixture, add lemon juice and almond extract. Beat on the lowest speed, with the paddle attachment to reach off-peak consistency. If the royal icing has not soften enough keep beating, on low, in 3 minute increments until off-peak consistency is achieved. Add the almond extract and beat, on low speed, for 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer to a container and cover with a damp cloth

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I was inspired to create a sugar cookie with frills from a Craftsy video and a beautiful fluted egg cookie cutter I purchased at Copper Gifts. The design is a collaboration between Sydney and myself, we wanted something different and frills seemed perfect. The fondant is a monochromatic pink-purple color as are the frilled wrapped roses.
The sugar Cookie Recipe:

150 grams/ 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 egg
1 tsp flavoring, pick what you like, for these I chose cherry blossom (the cherry blossom is very concentrated only add 3 drops)
300 to 350 grams / 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 teaspoon milk
Prepare your mise en place, sift together flour, salt and set aside. Line four baking sheets with either a silpat or parchment paper.
Cream together the butter, confectioner’s sugar, with a standing mixer and the paddle attachment. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Whisk the egg and extract together, and add to butter mixture.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment. Sift the flour into the bowl of the standing mixer and mix on low until dough just begins to come together.
Knead on a cool floured workspace, such as a marble board or counter top, bring the dough together, form a well in the center, and add the milk. Knead to amalgamate.
Pat the dough into a disk, wrap the dough with plastic film and place into a zip lock bag. Place in the refrigerator for 30 to 35 minutes, you can work with dough with out chilling it, but I find it is easier to work with it if chilled.
Roll out the dough to about 6.35 mm/ 1/4-inch thick. Dip the cookie cutters in some reserved flour, and cut out the egg shapes.
Place on prepared cookie sheets and refrigerate for 30 more minutes.
Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C/ 325 degrees F, bake the cookies for about 7 to 9 minutes.
The cookies should remain beige in color.
Cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, transfer to a baking sheet , and allow to completely cool.
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DF asked me to bake cupcakes for the women in human resources (to thank them). With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner I thought they should be decorated for the occasion. I was inspired by, of all things, a 21 century insurance commercial. I realize how odd that may sound, but in the little commercial they show this fantasy land with grass, a pound, and flowers; the person who has the 21 century insurance receives a visit from a leprechaun…
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Equipment:

• Creme de Menthe Cupcakes, flat top
• Circle cutters, various sizes
• Ball tool
• Piping tips/tube large and small, you will be using the opposite side
• Grass piping tip/tube, for piping
• #2 piping tip, for piping
• #7 piping tip/tube
• Palate spatula
• Knife
• A-ceto knife
• Parchment piping cones
• Flower plungers
• Fondant rolling pin
• Artistic brush, #2 round and #3 mop
• Celsticks, medium & small
• Toothpicks
• Clay gun

Materials:

• Royal Icing, colored green, blue, & white
• Clear piping gel or blue colored SK piping gel
• Blue food paste
• Edible glue
• Marzipan
• Fondant, colored with pastal colors: yellow, pink, purple, & baby blue
• Petal dust & lustre, green, gold, and kiwi
• Vanilla vodka
• Corn starch
• Crisco
• White chocolate melts
• Freeze spray
• Create the pots of gold and leprechaun hats prior to baking the cupcakes.

Prepare your mise en place and cover your cupcakes with marzipan.

I chose marzipan, but buttercream would be prefect for the Luck of the Irish Hats; you would need to use buttercream for all the piping instead of royal icing, but the method is the same.
Prepare The Pots of Gold and Leprechaun Hats’ mise en place.

Cover the cupcakes, and allow the marzipan to dry. Color your piping gel with blue food paste and whip vigorously,place the colored piping gel in a piping bag fitted with a #2 piping tip/tube, out line a body of water with light blue royal icing, pipe the dam with your blue colored piping gel, and use a tooth pic to spread to the edge (this will also create ripples to the water effect). With a piping bag fitted with a grass piping tip/tube pipe grass from the outline of water to the edge of the cupcake.

The Pots of Gold:
Knead some black fondant roll a “jacks bouncing ball” size ball smooth, hollow the ball with a ball tool, flatten the hollowed ball, and shape the sides. Add flatten round fondant disks to the top. Using a clay gun and round shape disk create the rim of the pot, and attach the rim with edible glue (sugar water, egg white, or store bought).
For the gold disks I used a #7 piping tip/tube, created little round disks of yellow fondant and painted the little disks with a mixture of gold lustre dust and vodka. The edible lustre dust!

Knead wedding white fondant, color with green food paste, roll the fondant out and place in a pasta machine, thin the fondant to #3. Using the wide end of a large piping tip/tube cut a circle for the brim of the hat, and place the brim on a lightly cornstarch area and use a large ball tool to smooth the edges. Form a “jacks bouncing ball” size of green fondant into a smooth ball, turn the ball into an egg shape, with the pointy end of a medium celstick, hollow out the the egg point of the egg shape fondant, play with the top to add movement, and with edible glue attach the top to the brim.
For the band roll to a #4 on a pasta machine flat, and cut about 3 mm or 1/8-inch wide strip, size the strip to the narrow part of the hat, and attach with edible glue.
Since I am not blessed with a plethora of large ball tools, I carefully placed the finished hats to dry on ten bouncing balls covered with viva paper towel and cradle in an egg crate. I created 10 hats, therefore I needed 10 bouncing jacks balls.

I have had a love for Judy Garland since I was a little girl; my father introduced me to The Wizard of Oz when I was two. From that moment on, I watched every Judy Garland movie I could find. I still can recall the first time I saw Judy Garland and Fred Astaire dancing and singing to classics like “We’re a Couple Swells”, “Drum Crazy”, and of course “Easter Parade”. I introduced Sydney to Judy Garland and…

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_Every year D.F. romantically buys a dozen roses and chooses a card in which he meticulously underlines the words he feels is a representations of his feelings for me. He buys Sydney sweet cards for an daughter and 2 roses as well. This year I thought I would create an edible Valentine’s card for him, and for Sydney (I am sending most of the cookie cards to her & her roommates). While the sugar cookie dough was chilling I began to…

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