I've been spending a lot of my down time from the 9-5 (or in my case, the 24/7... that PhD won't earn itself!) in the kitchen lately, and I've been having fun with some Valentine's Day baking. There are so many fun things I want to try so I'm getting a head start on this holiday's baking, which happens to be a favourite of mine not for the celebration of love, but for the celebration of sweet, sweet carbs.
a) A small 1-2 serving heart-shaped french vanilla cake covered in red fondant with a tiffany blue gumpaste bow.
b) Another small 1-2 serving heart shaped french vanilla cake covered in chocolate ganache and a white chocolate drizzle, with a glitter-accented gumpaste rose.
c) A cupcake bouquet - a dozen cupcakes with buttercream piped roses in a decorative vase. This was a little trickier than I thought it would be. Piping the cupcakes was no problem, but getting them to sit in the vase was a challenge. They're stuck into a styrofoam ball (available at any craft store) with lollipop sticks. The styrofoam ball was really stiff, and every once in a while a cupcake would topple off. Some structural arrangements were made (i.e. crossing my fingers and hoping for the best) and everything worked out fine in the end!
d) Box of chocolate (covered cake truffles) - peanut butter cake truffles covered in dark and white chocolates, each one uniquely decorated, atop a chocolate mud cake candy box. This was a lot of fun! Too bad the cake truffles didn't stand a chance in my household.
e) Dark chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream icing - a sweet and simple treat.
-Danielle
