I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted anything! So many things going on! Niece's birthday, Young Adult Talent Show. Thanksgiving. Work. The list goes on and on!

Um, wow, where did November go?

Life has been busy!  Late nights decorating cakes, cupcakes, baking cookies, basketball games (these just started!), helping a friend unpack boxes, helping other friends pack up boxes, talent show, Thanksgiving...  the list just keeps going!

Well, so the last post was about all those cupcakes I made for a friend's birthday.  Shortly after that, after all the super reviews I received from my friends, my brother in law asks me to make a cake for my niece's 5th birthday.  I said "sure why not!"  

Talked things over with my sister and started asking my niece what decor she wanted on her cake and what flavor.  

At first she said Diego, what?  I thought she liked Dora?  ha!  

Then she said "Bubble-guppies", you should have seen the look on my face, simply priceless!  I didn't have a clue who the "Bubble-guppies" were!  

Then my sister looked at my niece and asked her "what about "Strawberry Shortcake"?  I heard a squeal through the phone and knew that was it.  

I said no problem.  

Sent my sister a few pictures for my niece to pick from and wha-la! 

So I made my niece a 6 inch cake and 36 cupcakes for her birthday party.  For the adults, I was asked to make Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream Icing.  Thank you to http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/!  I used your recipe from Cupcake Diaries http://www.amazon.com/Cupcake-Diaries-Recipes-Memories-Georgetown/dp/0062090607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323231684&sr=8-1!    

 Chocolate Cake & Cupcakes with Pink Vanilla Buttercream with Fondant Daises & Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream.

Next up was the 2011 Young Adult Talent show. 

Based on the book, Mr. World and Miss Church-Member.

It was sort of like Pilgram's Progress, but dark.  

The characters didn't make it to Heaven like Christian did.  

http://aren.org/prison/documents/religion/Misc/Mr.%20World%20and%20Miss%20Church-Member--W.%20S.%20Harris.pdf  

Here's a link to the PDF version.  All the groups did really well!  

My group did good, unfortunately, something happened with our sound and things didn't go very well, but our main character did an outstanding job of making up for the lost parts of the skit!

Next up was Thanksgiving!

I made my Pumpkin Cake for the family to enjoy!  I made a Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Icing for it.  Oh my!  Delish!

FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE:

3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I ended up using quite a bit more to thin out the icing as it was too thick to mix into the buttercream frosting)

1/8 teaspoon good-quality sea salt

Place the sugar and corn syrup in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Let the sugar crystals melt gently, while occasionally very gently swirling the pan – this will take about 3 minutes or so and you’ll already have some color in the melted sugar at this point. When the sugar has melted about half way you can use a metal spoon or spatula to very gently stir the sugar and corn syrup a bit, just to combine and let the sugar melt. Once it is completely melted (about 7 minutes total) and has a deep golden amber color, add the cream to the pan and let it bubble (and it will bubbly furiously, so don’t worry!). Stir the cream in to the mixture, then add the butter pieces and sea salt and continue stirring to combine and make a thick caramel syrup. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to cool to barely lukewarm, but still pourable. If you need to speed this process up you can always place your saucepan into a bowl filled half-way with ice water to cool it quicker. You want the mixture cool enough that it doesn’t melt the butter in your buttercream.

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons), softened
4-5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat together the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn the speed down to low and slowly add 2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla and beat the mixture gently till combined, then turn the speed up to medium.  Carefully add the salted caramel sauce in a slow stream to the mixture and beat it thoroughly in to the buttercream. Once it is all added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute to combine well.  Turn the mixer down to stir and slowly add the remaining confectioners’ sugar until you have a thick, light, fluffy and spreadable frosting.  Chill the buttercream for at least 30 minutes in the mixing bowl before using (especially if you are going to pipe it on cupcakes). When ready to frost beat the frosting or stir it well to get a nice, thick and spreadable consistency before using.

This was so good, a little thinner consistency then I wanted, but I made do.

Once the cake was iced, I made caramel curls. 

Then decorated the cake with them.  

It was so good!  Unfortunately, due to the warmness of Virginia in November this year, the icing melted and the top layer of the cake slid off onto the table at my friend's house.  Thankfully, it was late in the evening and everyone that wanted some got some.  The left overs were even better.

Well, I have so much more to post, but it's late and I am tired!

Goodnight my friends!

many blessings!

~a

next up ~ more Thanksgiving meal pictures. And cookies!