Tag Archives: nora fleming

Baking Food

Cake Retrospective

As some of you recall, before this year I was cursed with the inability to bake (anything that wasn’t hideous, anyway). And as one of my New Year’s resolutions, I set out to address this fatal flaw. For some context, here is an example of the type of cake I used to bake. Don’t look  if you just ate.

Note the special type of two-layer cake where you can actually see from the outside that it’s two layers. And what is up with those strawberries?!? On a side note, my penmanship has gotten far worse over the years.

This next one is a little blurry, but just ask yourself when you look at it: does this look like an authorized Sanrio Hello Kitty product to you? (The cake, not the giant Hello Kitty in the chair.)

I had not yet discovered the round cake pan at this point in time. Nor did the internet have enough rich content on how to make an inoffensive cake. Cake pops weren’t even invented. And I thought it seemed wasteful to cut off bits of cake so that the layers could lie flat against each other. I call this the “Sloped Cake Style”. Other people call it “gross”.

As you may recall, I started off with cookies, which used to be a source of annual embarrassment for my neighborhood cookie exchange. I feel pretty good about my cookie progress. So it’s time to share some of what I’ve done with cakes.

Here is the very first cake that I’ve ever made that didn’t require me to serve people lots of alcohol ahead of time before unveiling:

I used marshmallow fondant to make the stars, letters and dolphin and piped the decoration on the edges. The cake was frosted in buttercream.

I also made some mini-cupcakes. They’re shown here on a cute little platter from Nora Fleming. It was for my husband’s birthday celebration so I put the margarita mini in.

I also found cute ways to dress up cupcakes, like sticking some plastic rock star rings on top of some of them:

And finally, I ventured way outside my comfort zone and baked a guitar-shaped confection:

So overall, I think I’ve made good progress! How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? (I can’t remember my other ones.)

Baking Food

Dolphin Cake Pops (and a Cake Pop Trick)

What are the chances that a bird poops on me twice in 30 minutes? And what are the chances that that happens AND the Winklevii become VCs? 100% apparently. (Though, having lived through a couple of fundraises, I would say in general that the likelihood of getting funding is generally somewhere between the Winklevii becoming VCs and getting pooped on twice in 30 minutes.)

It’s enough to make you want to eat a cake pop.

The girls and I made some recently. And I discovered a new trick. See, the candy coating hardens fairly quickly into something that requires a hammer and chisel to remove. So this time, I put the candy coating in a little ziplock baggie, and then slid that into a mug, folding the mouth of the bag over the top of the mug. Did you know bags had mouths?

So what’s cool about this is that you after you’re done with the coating for the day, you can just pull the ziplock out of the mug, zip it up, and plunk it back in when you’re ready to work with it again. This time, I added in a teaspoon of shortening to help the coating go on a little smoother.

Maybe everyone else already knew this.

Anyway, we made dolphins. Bakerella has great detailed instructions on how to make pops on her site, but here are the basics. First you bake a cake. Let it cool. Then, crumble it into a large bowl.

You may have noticed above that I grew two more hands to do this more efficiently.

Next, squish the cake together with some frosting. Again, see Bakerella for expert advice, but if you use canned frosting, use no more than 3/4 of a can or the pops will be too slippery to stay on the sticks.

Now go to your local police station before you wash your hands and see what happens.

Next, shape them into balls…or in this case, dolphin-ish things. Stick them in the fridge to chill overnight.

When the dolphin-ish things are firm, take them out five or so at a time and dip. We decorated these with just candy coating and edible pen.

Maybe you can’t tell these are dolphins. Some of them have tumors. Our waters are very polluted nowadays.

Some look like T-Rex. I believe he was an ancestor.

Oh, whatever. Cake pops are for eating. So we ate them.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to enter the *nora fleming* giveaway! You get an autographed rectangular platter (you will faint from its cuteness) plus three adorable minis that will change your life and make you lose weight.

 

Lifestyle

Nora Fleming (Autographed!) Giveaway!

Squeal! I’m doing a giveaway and I’m giddy because — gasp — it’s a nora fleming giveaway! And if you’re looking for a Mother’s Day gift, this will arrive just in time.

Do you know someone who has the perfect decor for every occasion? A tasteful starfish for the seaside barbeque. A well-worn catcher’s mitt for the team party. A festive sombrero for the Mexican fiesta.

I was not that woman.

Until I met Janice. Janice can tie bows and wrap presents the Tiffany way. Janice does not wear sweatpants. Janice introduced me to nora fleming.

And now, with nora fleming‘s gorgeously adorable and life-changing platters, I am that woman (but I wear sweatpants). How it works: you get a nora fleming platter. Or three. You insert an appropriate hand-painted mini (they’re adorable little ceramic pieces) into it to transform your classic platter into an occasion-specific serving dish. Your friends are impressed and kowtow in admiration.

And better yet, the winner of this giveaway gets an autographed nora fleming rectangular platter plus three adorable minis (bluebird, apple and butterfly) — an $80 value. Except add a bunch more to that because it’s personally autographed by Nora.

 

Here’s how it works:

  • You have up to 5 chances to win. Just follow the Rafflecopter instructions below to complete your entries.
  • The giveaway will end on Friday, May 4 at midnight Eastern Standard Time.
  • The winner will be randomly selected through Rafflecopter and notified by email after the drawing. The winner will squeal.

Good luck!

 

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