Bake Sale Goodies!

I visited Cannon Beach this past weekend and participated in a bake sale for the Women's Auxiliary Club. These are the goodies I made:

First up, Coconut Macaroons dipped in dark chocolate! I got this recipe from the always awesome, Julie Hasson! The recipe can be found on the membership side of EverydayDish. I must admit these macaroons were delicious! Toasty on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside. They tasted very similar to Almond Joys! They were also super easy and quick to make! You can add the chocolate chips in with the cookie batter instead of dipping them in chocolate or go crazy and do both.

Next up, mini carrot cake cupcakes with the vegan cream cheese frosting from VCTOTW. I added a bit of fresh lemon juice to the frosting and this really made it taste like the non-vegan cream cheese frosting I grew up with. The actual cupcakes are from a carrot cake recipe from school that I veganized. These little babies ended up being really moist and rich! I think the secret to keeping them moist is crushed pineapple. It also adds a great flavor and texture to the cake. I decorated the minis with toasted walnuts and fondant carrots.

Ok, these really are Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookies. I made the dough the night before and I found it really easy to work with. The dough holds its shape really well, so I plan on making these again for the holidays. I made over 11 dozen of these and dipped them by hand in the icing. It surprisingly did not take very long!

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 4

I am done with the Fondant & Gum Paste course! This course was a lot of fun, and it was nice not having to make frosting for class every week. I definitely learned a lot, and will be making fondant cakes for every occasion.
Here is my final cake. It is another blackout cake from VWAV covered in chocolate buttercream from VCTOTW. It is filled with more chocolate buttercream and strawberry jam. This cake was super moist and delicious!I again chose not to do a cake from the course book and just combined a few of the things I learned throughout the course. I am really happy with the end results!

The cake right before I covered it in fondant.

Fondant covered cake and board.

Gum paste carnations.

Daisies made out of gum paste.

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 3

This class was all about flowers! We made carnations, daisies and the Wilton Fantasy flower. Let's just say the Fantasy flower was no fantasy of mine. I'm not posting it because it's just not very pretty. I will try making one again soon and maybe I can make it look a bit better.

I'm not a huge fan of real carnations, but I think the gum paste one's are super pretty. These are also surprising easy to make.

I think the daisies are really cute!
The final class for this course is tonight! I will post pics of my cake tomorrow.

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 2

This is the cake from tonight's class. The Wilton suggestions for this course are extremely boring and ugly, so I had to find something else to make. I covered the cake with fondant and made the beach towel in class tonight; everything else I made at home a couple of days ahead.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out! This was my first time making a fondant cake and working with gum paste, so I feel pretty good about it!

We were supposed to make a draping blanket for class, but I decided to make mine a beach towel and do a whole beach scene.
I made this starfish by making an outline in gum paste with a cookie cutter and sculpting it into shape. I made all of the pore bump things with the end of a piping tip.


The shells and baby starfish are also made from gum paste.

I used smashed animal crackers for the sand...

These flip flops are my favorite!

This bucket isn't exactly what I envisioned, but it still works. It is a cupcake covered in fondant. The bucket handle and shovel are both gum paste. If I do this again, I will use two cupcakes with a smaller handle.

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 1

I have started another Wilton class at Michael's! The 1st class was pretty much just talking about the supplies and covering our cake boards with fondant. We had a choice with the colors and making a marble design or leaving it one color. I chose to do the marble design with pink and purple. This was easy to do and it looks pretty cool, but I kinda think it is a waste of fondant. I think I will only be doing this for special occasion type of things!

I start my 2nd class tonight and I am going to make a cake with a beach theme. I will post pics tomorrow!