Chocolate Transfer

Here are the steps to creating your own chocolate transfer image (click here for the pdf):

1. Select your image and flip it horizontally before printing so that it is backwards.

2. Tape your image to a cutting board or other flat portable surface, and then tape a piece of wax or parchment paper on top.

3. Take a plastic piping back (no metal tip!), fill it halfway with chocolate melts or chocolate chips and pop it into the microwave. Heat on intervals of 10 seconds and squeeze the chocolate in the bag to ensure it heats evenly. It's important not to heat your chocolate too quickly because it will cause the chocolate to bloom and it will have a cloudy appearance once it's finally cool.

4. Cut the tip of the piping bag(small for fine details and outlining). Squirt a test glob on a plate before you start on your image. If you make a mistake while piping, just take a spooon or a fork, scrape it off and start again.

5. Once you are finished piping your image, take what ever extra chocolate you have a layer it all over to make the image strong and to fill any holes.


6. Put the entire cutting board with the image on top in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes. Once it's done, it should pop right off quite easily.

Juventus Soccer Cake

I love making birthday cakes for my friends and family. I love the surprised looks I get when I present my latest baking creation. Store bought cakes are so impersonal so I jump at the chance to bake something myself.

Before I make a special cake, I sketch it out over a couple of days so I can get all of my ideas out and come up with a plan. I can easily get carried away with some "genius" idea I come up with and once that seed is planted, I have to make it materialize...even if it takes hours and numerous trips to the grocery store at 10 pm.

For this cake, it had to be soccer related. I really wanted to pipe out a team logo in buttercream but the perfectionist in me didn't want to risk possibly screwing up the whole cake in one false move. I decided to try and do the logo as a chocolate transfer simply because there was a lot of black in the logo and dark chocolate definitely tastes better than black buttercream.

As for the rest of the cake, since there were so many people attending the party, I had to double the cake and make it two layers...which messed up my plan to make a soccer field because it was way too high. In the end, I kept it simple and used tip #233 all over the cake so it looked like a hunk of turf with the team logo on it. As you can see, my friend loved it.

Check back tomorrow for instructions on how you can make your own chocolate transfer.

Recipe Review - Blondie Cupcakes

Being the cupcake fiend that I am, I'm always looking to try new cupcake recipes. I stumbled across this recipe and I could not resist. I was a little disappointed with the instructions because they did not advise that this cupcake recipe was a little different than most. don't get me wrong, this is a great recipe, but it would be better suited as bars or squares because of its dense cookie-like texture.

Here are a few things to note when baking this yummy treat:

This recipe is better suited as bars or squares. Simply use a 9x9" pan instead of a cupcake pan.

do not use cupcake liners. This recipe tells you to grease your cupcake pan and that's exactly what you should do! My cupcake liners got stuck to the finished product and would rip instead of peel nicely.

The batter is not pourable; it's similar to a cookie dough so use a scoop to fill your cupcake tin.

These cupcakes would taste amazing with vanilla ice cream!

BRB

I know, I know, I'm going on almost 2 weeks and no posts. I just need to take a time out and figure a couple things out before I can get back to blogging. I hope to have a new post up this coming Monday. Please check back next week! :)

<3 Ashley

Fabric Fabric Fabric

It finally arrived! I ordered some fabric and a couple of patterns from Fabric Closet on Etsy a couple days before the Canada Post strike came into effect. Of course, I didn't even think about the possibility of the strike until the order went through, but Krista of Fabric Closet was very helpful. The fabric and patterns were packaged carefully to prevent damage during shipping and they arrived in fantastic condition. I'll definitely be shopping at Fabric Closet again! Amazing selection of designer fabrics and great customer service.



My Order:

1 yard of Michael Miller - "Falling Leaves in Espresso"
1.5 yards of Michael Miller - "Ta Dot in Fuchsia"

Fat Eighth Pack - 6 Fabrics:
Michael Miller - "Dumb Dot in Sea"
Michael Miller - "Zoology in Sea"
Michael Miller - "Play Stripe in Sea"
Michael Miller - "Play Dot in Sea"
Alexander Henry - "Rush Hour in Baby Blue"
Alexander Henry - "Freeway Dot in Baby Blue"

Patterns:
Uptown Girl Jacket (Reversible) by Make It Perfect
Spice Market Tote by Amy Butler

Countdown to NKOTBSB

I can’t wait for the concert this weekend! I’ve loved New Kids on the Block since I was 5!! I had their music videos on VHS and the tape is pretty worn out due to all of my rewinding! *sigh*

Since I’m so pumped, I thought that I’d share a couple of my favourite NKOTB videos with you.

ps: new crafty post tomorrow, I swear! :P

TONIGHT:


YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF):

What are you doing this Summer?

What's on your list?