Roots Tech Cake Competition with Guest Judge Buddy Valastro

 My first ever Cake Competition........and I won second place in the Graduation Category! I can hardly believe it. With over a hundred hours put into making this cake it was a real boost to get such a great prize from Orson Gygi! I am so excited to shop there and find some new tools to use in baking! I feel so blessed and honored to be a finalist especially when there were so many fantastic looking cakes at the show! I met a great group of bakers who have the same dreams!

The best part about the competition was meeting Buddy Valastro and having him sample my cake! What a dream come true! I got a couple pictures with him and I will be posting those later. :) A shout out to Roots Tech and the amazing crew who put on the cake competition! Rachel Hixon was a delight to work with and a great organizer. Thanks so much everyone!

This billboard was just off I-15 in SLC! A fun way to remember the cake competition!

Fondant Birthday Cake for a Physicians Assistant

This was a fun cake to make. I used Buddy Valastro's chocolate cake recipe as well as the chocolate frosting recipe from his Cake Boss recipe book. It was good to try something different. His outstanding cakes have inspired me to make fun looking cakes. Visiting his bakery in Hoboken, NY was one of my favorite memories! I was hoping to see him, but he wasn't there and I got a picture with his sweet sister instead. 

Holiday Cream Cheese Snowflake Cupcakes

Holiday cream cheese snowflake cupcakes. YUM! The snowflakes were made by piping warm white almond chocolate onto parchment paper and then allowed to dry. I love the Christmas feel with the Snowflakes on top of the cupcake!

Sour Patch Fondant Birthday Cake

Sour Patch Cake and Ice cream at Boondocks. I made my own cake board using layers of cardboard that were glued together. Green Foil under a layer of cellophane finished the board off. Easy Peasy!

Welcome Home Cowboy Cake

My nephew is finally home! Welcome elder! Here is his cowboy John Deere Cake. He was a fantastic missionary and has a bright future ahead of him. This cake was a tribute to him and show off all the things he loves! Everything Cowboy!

November Ganache Floral Cake

November Ganache Birthday cake for my lovely Mother! She deserves the best. I love to put my two favorite things together. Flowers and Cake! What a lovely combination. Too good to eat!

Pepperoni and Olive Birthday Cake

Pepperoni and olive Birthday Cake! Fooled my son by placing this cake in a pizza box and had it delivered to our front door. Fun times! So delicious.

Ganache Floral Birthday Cake

Chocolate Ganache Floral Birthday cake for a sweet friend!

Stacked Rice Crispy Treats

Looking for a new twist on the same old delicious rice crispy treat? Cookie cutter shapes work wonders! Make a batch of rice crispy treats by following the directions on the cereal box. After the pan of crispy treats are cooled cut them out with a round biscuit cutter or circle cookie cutter. Stack them and you have a fun way to share an inexpensive but tasty treat. Who can resist rice crispy treats?

 After I stacked a few rice crispy treats I decided a layer of chocolate would really take these treats up a notch! So on went some melted chocolate chips. After the chocolate cooled I use the biscuit cutter and made more circles. The chocolate wasn't really ready to stack quite yet so I put them in the refrigerator for a few min to harden the chocolate.

 YUM!

Simple & Sweet Apple Turnovers

SO DELICIOUS APPLE TURNOVERS!!!

Really simple to make: 1 Can apple pie filling(chop coarsely), 

1 Box Refrigerated Pastry Pie crust (2 circles per package), 1 egg, powdered sugar, 

milk, water, almond extract.

Cut out circles with a glass or small bowl. Use knife to score edges. Fill center with 1 TBls. filling.

Wet seam with a small amount of water and press closed.

Score edges with fork or I used a Wilton decorative stitching tool (used for cakes & fondant). 

It is pictured below. 

Beat egg with 1 tsp. Milk and brush on the top of the turnover. 

Yum! The egg wash created this nice browning effect after they were cooked in the oven. So awesome! 

SOOOOO TASTY LOOKING!

After the turnovers cooled for a while, I glazed them with powdered sugar and 1tsp. water and 1tsp. almond extract. After I mixed the icing I poured the mixture into a Ziploc bad and cut a small hole in the corner. I used it as a make shift pastry bag. Then I drizzled the topping on and allowed it to dry.

Heavenly treats!

Warm, sweet and tasty treat for the Fall season. You can't beat these treats for the holidays.

These beauties remind me of the little Wonder Bread pies that my Dad used to bring home when I was a little girl. What a treat they were. They package up nicely for a great gift.