Where do you think those Irish sweaters come from??

A few weeks ago, my aunt sent a package filled with cookie cutters.  First of all -- yippee for me!  Cookie cutters!  One of my favorites happened to be a sheep cutter, which made me immediately think of this cute little fellow...

Isn't he adorable??  My friend, I'll call her Karen (okay, so her real name is Karen!), had brought him back from Ireland for my newborn.  We have loved him ever since!  I always think of her and my own visit to Ireland.  There is just something about Ireland that calls me back (it may be the pipes in the glen and down the mountainside,... but I digress).


ANYWAY... I knew I had to make some Irish sheep for St. Patrick's Day!  So here they are! 

Straight from the Aran Islands!   Erin Go Braugh!

February 27, 2011

A few weeks ago, a friend asked if I could make a spice cake for a birthday.  I had never made a spice cake before, but, always up for challenges, accepted, on the terms that I could make a sample one for her to taste.  Here is what the sample looked like (two weeks ago)...

She (and I!) thought it was a keeper, in terms of taste!  So yesterday I assembled the actual birthday cake.  It was my first triple-layer spice cake with cream cheese frosting.  It looked like this...

She had only asked for a two-layer cake, but I had seen how pretty three layers could be from my friend, Valerie, of Silver Sprinkle Bakehouse.    So when one of the layers wasn't as high as the other, I decided then and there I would go with three.  After that decision had been made, I agonized over the colors.  I love a classic white frosting, but didn't want it to look too wedding-ish.  I chose teal, burgandy, and golden yellow, thinking those were "manly" colors without being primary.  Next step - how to frost...  I like swirls on frosting, but wanted something a little more "formal".   I remembered the technique of running a spatula up the sides to create pillars from i am baker (Cake Decorating Ideas {Valentines Day Edition}) and thought that would be perfect, complimented with large stars.  I loved the balloons from Silver Sprinkle Bakehouse's (www.silversprinklebakehouse.blogspot.com) birthday cake, so incorporated some of my own.  Finally, what to do about the writing...  I wanted it to be a little fancier than the normal cursive, so googled "happy birthday cakes" images, found a font I liked, and copied. :)  Voila!  For all the decisions I had to make (and I'm NOT good with decisions!), I am very pleased with how it all came together.


It would have been great to open a bottle of wine last night and congratulate myself on a cake well done, but such was not my fate.  I had two other orders to fill - one for a sweet girl's basketball team for today and the other for my first shipping order (special shipping - it's for a relative!).


Here is the order for the Basketball team...

It seemed to be the theme of the week, as I had just made these up the other day for my son's indoor soccer team...

I really wish I could show you the other two dozen cookies I worked on last night until 1:30am this morning, but I promised the "client" that I wouldn't post until after he had given them as a gift (just in case someone was reading the blog that wasn't supposed to see them yet).   Darn!   Believe me... they will be posted with wild abandonment after they reach their destination!!  :)


Well, that's all for now - tonight is another long night -- I'm looking at 2:00am, is my guess.   But it's going to be SO worth it!  And I get in "the zone" after 10:00pm anyway, so time will fly and I won't even realize it.  I might need extra Starbucks Columbian coffee tomorrow, though!

First Blog Entry

So this is it - my first blog entry!  So exciting, but so not ready!  I'm not a blogger by trade, but like to follow them... a lot!  My own blog is going to leave a lot to be desired, I'm afraid.  There's nothing fancy about it, and I have the feeling it's going to go through MAJOR renovations each time I post!  lol

I started my own blog so I could ramble on about how I started in the cookie and cake business, keep track of my work, post my progress from the concept of Cookies in the Cupboard to registering it as a trade name, to (hopefully!) getting licensed as a home-based bakery.

Tonight I worked on soccer balls for my son's team this weekend and played around with 4-leaf clovers for St. Paddy's Day.  I REALLY can't wait for St. Patrick's Day!  I have so many other ideas I can't wait to get out onto cookies!  Now to figure out how to attach photos to this post...  oh - figured it out!