Valentine's Day Cake Pops 2012 - Order NOW!!!

It's that time again when love is in the air!  Express your love with an exclusive collection of delicious handmade Valentine's Day cake truffles (some may call them Valentine's cake pops) - hearts, double hearts, hearts within hearts, XOXO's, and edible glitter will do the trick.  Your sweetheart will love you for it!

ORDER NOW!!!

Please see prices below:

Set 1: Valentine's Day cake truffles (box of 5): $15 + S&H (or you can just pick up the week before)
Set 2: Valentine's Day cake truffles (box of 8): $20 + S&H (or you can just pick up the week before)

Shipping and Handling: If orders are placed one week in advance of Valentine's Day (on or before 2/7), I will ship the order via Priority Mail on Thursday, Feb 9th ($10 for S&H); package will arrive on the 13th or the 14th (I can't control the arrival date).  I can also ship the day before Valentine's Day via Express Mail for the truffles to arrive before 12 noon on Valentine's Day ($35 for S&H).  Sorry - I'm going by post office prices!

Each set will contain an assortment of cake ball flavors: red velvet, chocolate, and butter cake.

A complimentary card will be mailed with the order.  Please email me at dewishesdelights@gmail.com with the quantity you would like of each set of Valentine's truffles.You can pay by PayPal (or personal check if I know you).  :)

Below are samples of the set of 5 and the set of 8.

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

The Nightmare Before Christmas...

" 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house.  Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." and so begins the legendary poem by Clement C. Moore.

This event was for a surprise birthday party (shhhh...it's this Friday) and since the birthday guy's favorite holiday happens to be Halloween, I used "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as the theme.  I was asked to combine the birthday theme with Christmas, and since I've always loved the characters in "The Nightmare Before Christmas", I was super excited to begin this project.

A couple weeks before the event, I begin researching ideas and envisioning what I wanted the cake to look like and eventually drew this picture.  As you can see from the photo above, I actually stuck pretty close to my original design (which doesn't always happen)!

Because I wanted to focus on decorating, I outsourced the 6" velvet cake from one of my favorite bakeries and asked them to simply cover it with buttercream.  At home, I cut multi-width strips of black, red, and green fondant and laid them aside to dry out a bit.  This is actually a bit more complicated and time-consuming than it looks.

Meanwhile, I cut a building silhouette out of sugar paper which was no small feat (for so many nooks and crannies) since sugar paper breaks easily.  After placing the colored strips where I wanted, I adhered the silhouette to the side of the cake with frosting and made some windows out of fondant.

Next, I rolled black and white fondant pearls and lined the base of the cake:

Now it was time for Jack, who was an architectural challenge (skinny legs, arms, hat, and tricky beard).  The arms were still too flimsy after several hours so I set Jack aside while I worked on the iconic moon and hill.  His arms ended up drying overnight and then almost for another day.

Here is armless Jack (his arms are behind his body):

Next in line to make were the pumpkins, which I nestled on top of curled holly leaves.  I also decided to make a couple of snowflakes for the side of the cake.

Here is the whole cake assembly, minus Jack...still waiting for Jack.....

 Left view & right view:

And finally...Jack!

Again, left view & right view:

More close ups:

Time to make some cake pops.  I already had the Santa Claus bellies from the previous post, so I made some Jack cake pops and created a design on yellow cake pops to complement the moon and the hill motif.

All the Jack's have different faces:

And voila!  Here is the whole display:

Aerial view:

Almost everything looked great to me when I retired upstairs for the night, but one little thing kept bugging me: the back of the moon.  I had covered it in candy melt so it would stand up, but I didn't like the look of it (see below).  Cakes are meant to be seen from 360 degrees, and I cringed at the thought of someone seeing the back of the moon, so I slept on it...

My solution the next morning were two more pieces of fondant on the back of the moon:

Packaging the cake pops for delivery:

This project was super fun but also challenging.  Estimation of total hours: 12 hrs.  But then again, there's the saying, "when you do what you love," it doesn't feel like work...I love doing this!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN,

and I hope you enjoy your cake and cake pops!  I've been requested not to post this up on Facebook until Friday night!  :)

Here's one more picture!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

Actually, it's been looking like Christmas for a while now, and Christmas is only a week away!  A friend needed a Christmas present for her boss, and since they have two granddaughters, she asked me to make cake pops with "just any X-mas theme."  I found these snowman and Santa Claus bellies online (I love that they are just the belly) and mostly recreated them, with butter cake and vanilla frosting on the inside.  The hats are an inverted chocolate candy melt with a Rolo candy on top, and I added green autumn leaf sprinkles (I didn't have holly sprinkles on hand) and piped berries onto the hat for a little pizzazz.  The snowmen's carrot noses are made of fondant, as are their eyes and mouths.

A few close-up pictures are always a must! I gave the snowmen a bit of color on their cheeks by brushing on pink shimmer dust. If these snowmen had hands, I believe they'd tip their hats!

Upon further investigation (by eating), we can safely conclude that Santa's belly is a cake belly and not a beer belly:

 One more week until Christmas...

Winter Penguins

A friend and I made these cozy little penguins for fun...the holidays are always an excuse to make something!  We decided to dip them in ice blue since we didn't have enough black candy melt, and I thought they turned out pretty adorable.  Each penguin was warmed up with a scarf, earmuffs, or a beanie.  The scarves were surprisingly the most difficult to make because the long strand of fondant kept cracking.  All the penguins are butter cake on the inside.

Here's a picture with a funny effect; the penguins look like they have blue eyes in this one.  Brrrr........

We packed some of the penguins away in their igloo for house-to-house transfer, and apparently, one of the "naked" penguins was immediately eaten upon arrival!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

These cupcakes and cake pops were so fun to make with a friend. We found cute examples online and started slaving away making our Thanksgiving feast!

These corn-on-the-cob cupcakes are made of butter cake with cream cheese frosting and different colored jelly beans for the kernels.

Ideally, we would've liked to place the "kernels" closer together, but because we didn't have enough yellowish jelly beans, we decided to be creative and make different colored maize.  Afterall, corn really does come in all sorts of colors.  Also, those corn-on-the-cob holders at the ends will be helpful during Thanksgiving dinner!

What's Thanksgiving without a turkey, or maybe a flock of fourteen stuffed with chocolate cake?  We used Whoppers for their heads and butterscotch chips for their beaks, and for feet, we used autumn leaf sprinkles and orange floral sprinkles.  I decided to put nostrils on my turkeys.

Lastly, my last turkey's head started slipping down the front, but by the time I noticed, it had already fallen down to the parchment paper.  It was my perfect excuse to make him into the turkey that was picked for Thanksgiving dinner.  I thought about making a little fondant axe for his neck but I thought that would be a bit too morbid, so I left him with "X's" for his eyes.  I wonder who will eat him tomorrow......have a great Thanksgiving everyone, and I'm sure after the feast tomorrow, everyone will have to roll themselves home!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Gobble-Gobble Day!!!

Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post for some fun Halloween cupcakes.  We found these fun cupcakes online and decided to give them a try.  Chocolate eyeballs and yummy mummies made from fondant strips and red gel. 

Happy Halloween!

Independence Day

July 4th, 1776 marks the signing of our Declaration of Independence.  As with all holidays, we must remember to celebrate and spend time with those we love and to be eternally grateful that we live in a country that believes in protecting the simplest form of all human freedoms: LIFE.

**HAPPY JULY 4TH!**

Teacher Appreciation Week

Creating a spin on the traditional apple, my sister made these delicious red apples for Teacher Appreciation Week, which was last week.  I remember most of my teachers growing up, and among the most memorable are Mrs. Feher (junior high) and Professor Schwartz (university). 

  

 The inside reveals red velvet cake with cream cheese filling:

I love the perspective of the photo below.

Thank you to all the educators for your dedication and hard work each and every day! ;)

Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 8th!!

Are you looking for a special gift for mom this Mother's Day? Instead of the typical flowers and chocolates, show your love and appreciation with a box of our delectable cake truffles!  We are creating an assortment of yummy treats to celebrate the wonderful women who have nurtured and raised us.  Each elegantly frosted box will contain 12 delectable cake truffles with decorative floral accents (picture below shows sample cake truffles).

Please place your request now as we will be making a limited quantity.  Orders must be placed by Wednesday, May 4^th, and can be picked up on Friday (5/6) or Saturday (5/7).  Please email us at dewishesdelights@gmail.com to place your order, and include the number of boxes.  We will confirm availability and your order.  The price for one box of twelve Mother’s Day Truffles is $40.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Happy Easter!

Eggs have long been a tradition in symbolizing birth and spring time, which is why it's no surprise that eggs and Easter go so well together.  We created these darling Easter eggs for...you guessed it...Easter!  We had a (cake) ball decorating these eggs and loved all the spring-y pastel-y colors that surfaced, and if you crack open an egg, you are likely to find butter, strawberry, or chocolate cake on the inside!  Happy Easter Egg Hunting!!!

Happy Shamrock Day!

This array of chocolate, white, and green treats were made for an office celebration.  The chocolate and white treats have shamrock green butter cake on the inside, and the green treats contain contrasting yellow butter cake.  One bite of these, and you'll be sure to find your leprechaun and a pot o' gold!  Happy St. Patrick's Day, and don't forget to wear green today unless you want to be pinched!