Cookies cookies everywhere

I got my first real order for 50 baby-shower cookies from a girl at Ben's company.

There were a few things I learned: 1) a batch of cookie dough makes about 3-dozen cookies, so make a batch and a half for 50 cookies 2) The price I came up with is right, I will no longer under-value my time; these were very labor intensive 3) No matter how much my hand hurts from squeezing, don't let Ben decorate any cookies; it's harder than it looks 4) Chocolate flavored fondant actually tastes good 5) Making cookies is fun! ...well, I already knew that one.

The baby shower colors were brown and purple and I was sure I could find ribbon to match but Michael's and Jo-Anne fabrics had pink&brown, blue&brown, yellow&brown, orange&brown, green&brown but absolutely NO purple&brown!  So, I just got purple ribbon and brown ribbon...

I thought the finished product looked quite trendy and the place to sell trendy things is, of course, Etsy.  So, everyone can now buy custom decorated cookies from "The Shy Cookie" on Etsy and I will ship them to you! Click Here!

Fall Flavors

Tis the season for everything pumpkin... lattes, donuts, frappes, ice cream, beer... and I LOVE it!

In honor of my favorite season and flavors, I decided to make some new cake recipes that will include pumpkin, apple-spice, and salted caramel.  YUMMM!  Any other suggestions?

First up, PUMPKIN spice cupcakes.  (picture to come soon... I can't find the camera)

"CriCut" cookies

I decorated a couple cookies with shapes cut out with my "CriCut Cake".  I used one of Wilton's "sugar sheets" and was rather disappointed.  They don't say the sheets are compatible with the cricut, but I don't imagine them working all that well with their little punches either.  I'm not sure if any of you have seen these punches but you have to buy one for every shape you want to make, that would take up A LOT of storage space.  Wilton has never let me down before, but I think they missed the mark with this one.  The sheets are too darn brittle; I guess I will just keep rolling out my own gumpaste for the cricut; it's cheaper anyway.

COOKIES!

Maybe I should specialize in cookies... I could do this all day!

There were a few different things I wanted to make for my portfolio.  First, I made some DC cookies since we're in DC now and that would be a cool thing for DC themed weddings or even business meetings.

Then, I decided to practice some cookies inspired by my sister's wedding theme and colors (kind of; I used more of a blue than a teal).

And last but not least, I thought it would of course be awesome to have "the shy cookie" spelled out in, what else? ...cookies!

Cake Pops! (Day 2)

After the cake cooled, the next step is to DESTROY the cake!  This is the only time a cake decorator will not have a heart attack when a cake is turned into crumbs.  Then, you add icing to the crumbs, form them into balls, and stick sticks in them.  I put the cake pops in the freezer at this point.

The next step it to dip the cake pops and add sprinkles or decorate them however you want.  I just rolled mine in sprinkles and, since I wasn't really making them for anyone, I made them to match my wedding colors...

Next time I make these I will make them smaller, the amount of cake I used was too heavy for the stick.  I would also like to try decorating them in different ways!

Cake Pops! (Day 1)

One of my former students reminded me today that I have been meaning to make some oh-so-trendy cake pops to keep up with the times, so here we go...

Most of the "easy" recipes I have seen require a box mix and a can of icing, but I'm going with the "from scratch" method.

To start out, you have to bake a cake and I am experimenting with another new recipe. The recipe I decided to try is the "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake on the back of the Hersey's cocoa container. I figure "Since 1894" they must have perfected the chocolate cake by now.

I like this recipe because it is very easy and requires no heating or melting of chocolate.  You just have to add a cup of boiling water but you can stick that in the microwave.  The cake turned out light, fluffy, moist, and oober-delicious.  It looks as though I was correct with my assumption.

The cake has to cool before making the pops, I and I don't have everything I need to decorate them, so I will continue this adventure tomorrow after a trip to Michaels ;)

Review The Shy Cookie at WeddingWire

Once I have 3 reviews, I can put the "WeddingWire Rated" logo on my website...

On our way to fame... well, in a small-town sort of way

Is that a "The Shy Cookie" cake on the home page of another business's website?  Sure is!

www.bradleyjamesphotography.com

Waiting...

I'm officially on the waiting list for the "Old Town Alexandria Farmers' Market"!  Unfortunately, that list is 2 years long... *sigh.  Maybe I should bite the bullet and pay $850 to get a booth at the DC bridal show?

Rental Kitchen part 2

We went this morning and looked at the rental kitchen.  The place looks like a house with nothing but kitchens in every room.  There where people working in every kitchen when we got there around 7am.  Apparently, they are always busy in the morning.  One group was from a cupcake company who has a storefront in town but no kitchen... they bake in the rental kitchen in the morning, and then take everything to their retail store; interesting idea.

The kitchen I would be renting wasn't AMAZING, and it has a steep staircase which would be scary with decorated cakes, but it will do, and it will be legal.  Now, all I need is customers!  I am going to look into a possible bridal show or magazine to round some people up.  I am also working on getting a spot at the Old Town Alexandria Farmers' Market which runs year-round every Saturday from 5:30am to 11:00am.

If you have any other ideas about where I can sell things or find customers, let me know!

New Recipes

I decided to start trying new cake recipes with all of this free I have.  Yesterday I made a yellow cake with butter and butter milk (can't be good for you).  This was my first time baking at my new apartment so I discovered my gas oven bakes hot; the cupcakes were a little over-done in only about 10 minutes.

I also ran out of space in my cupcake pans so I used paper liners by "cupcake creations" that I got at Hobby Lobby a while ago.  They say on the package "...there is no muffin pan necessary when using these baking papers".  Having tried this before with regular cupcake liners, and making a HUGE mess, I did not believe them for a second.  They also say "...grease proof" meaning they will keep their color.  Again, I didn't really believe it because the only liners I have seen that keep their color are coated with foil on the inside and these were not.

Much to my surprise, they really did work without a pan and they did keep their color after baking them.  I would love to have more of these if you're trying to think of a good Christmas present for me :-D

So, the yellow cake turned out alright.. I think it would be better if they were baked a little less (the hot oven thing really caught me off guard).  I sent them to work with Ben to see what the taste-testers have to say.

The recipe I would really like to perfect before Thanksgiving is pumpkin cheesecake.  I think I can sell a lot of pumpkin and pecan pies at the farmers' market in November and the pumpkin cheesecake would be a great addition.  Now that I have a place to bake, the next step is getting a spot at a market!