Prep work fondant on the next ""order"...

No Black Friday shopping for this girl instead I was up early making holly and stars for my next cupcake order.  Decided to jump on it to do some prep work so as not to be swamped loosing my mind, next weekend.  Plus, it gave me an excuse to put off  lesson planing which will take up the WHOLE day and probably into the night!

I cheated a little and bought fondant this time.  Usually I make my own using my favorite "go to" fondant recipe but I didn't need much and the colors I needed are hard to make, especially red and honestly making your own fondant is quite time consuming.  It would also jack the price up and I try to keep my cupcakes affordable for people/customers (who are usually my teaching friends and we all know about a teacher's salary). It all worked out though and holly leaves and stars have been custom made and ready for cupcake placement. 

Do you even like fondant?  My son loves it but typically I peel it off and enjoy the buttercream underneath.  I guess you either like it or don't.  It does lend itself to a pretty smooth clean "canvas" to work on though and the decorations you can make while time consuming are amazing. Fondant is a good way to dress up a cake and give it a more polished look in my opinion but it's all in what you like and what it's for.

Custom fondant holly leaves (that's why they are uniformly perfect) and stars.

Mmmm.... Cookies

It's summertime and who doesn't love watermelon, soft watermelon decorated sugar cookies that is.

Since I have extra time on my hands in the summer because I teach and during the rest of the year and we have two busy boys, summer affords me the time to do things I enjoy and making delicious cakes, cupcakes and sugar cookies (along with other great foods) are just some of the things I enjoy.  So I pulled out the ingredients, decided on what kind (shape) of cookies to make and went for it. Not only did they turn out very cute, they were delicious! I used my " go to" recipe for sugar cookies.  It's always a hit! 

There are two things to remember when making sugar cookies... along with a wonderful recipe the thickness you roll out the dough and how long they bake are key in making them soft and delicious! Nothing fancy for the icing. 

I used: 

4 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons water

6 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon lemon juice

coloring 

*amounts may be adjusted to get the right consistency.  This is just something I've worked on and still don't have it "perfect" . 

There are LOTS of suggestions, sites and tutorials to help you. Start with something simple.  Most importantly don't be afraid to try and have fun!