Gumpaste Shoes

Last weekend, I played with the new brooch molds I got. I was so excited about them! I was thinking of how I could use them.... then it hit me! Decorations on shoes!! It went hand in hand with another plan I had. My mom is in town to help me out because I got my wisdom teeth out today. Well, of course I wanted to make her a cake! And she loves shoes! I had some ideas (which I won't mention, in case I plan to do them in the future ;)

She deserved a cake!! Coming over 400 miles to help take care of me! Definitely! And even more so because she ended up having to take an extra flight to get here (5 hours later than planned). Gotta love flying. And her birthday is coming up!! I don't get to see her on her birthday so I had to take advantage of this. Can't mail a cake (or at least I do not plan to try!).

I saw a recipe I really wanted to try... Lemon Blueberry Cake. YUM! I wasn't sure about the blueberries since it's not blueberry season, but in my opinion it came out great! It was so tasty!! {I haven't gotten to eaten any of the actual filled and iced cake because of the whole wisdom teeth situation. Uncool} I decided to put a lemon filling in it also. Because of the filling and the blueberries it has to be refrigerated. I think that's kind of a bummer because it was so fluffy and tasty cooled down out of the oven. Not sure about the cooled taste.

 Here's the lemon filling. I should mention that I had this idea Saturday and she came in town Wednesday night. I had little prep time. I made the filling Wednesday after work. All good, except it is done on the stove so it was very hot when done. I didn't have much time and tried to cool it down as much as possible. I still think it was warmer than preferred when I put it on the cake. Live and learn.

 All the lemon and blueberry goodness! Yum. This is when it got so messy. I tried to keep the filling in by a border of buttercream around the filling but that wasn't very successful. I think it's tricky filling it anyway, but I'm convinced it would have been better if it was cooler. The left overs congealed very nicely later. Glad I had leftovers because once I cut the cake, not much filling survived the stacking.

Once I started icing, it was a mixture of buttercream and lemon filling. Such a mess. I was frustrated and losing hope. She was coming in a few hours and I wasn't going to finish!! Then her flights changed because of situations out of her control and she was going to show up 4 hours later. I hated what she had to go through all that but I'm really glad I was able to finish before she got there.

So the cake was a mess, I was frustrated, I was trying to fondant it and it was just awful! I ended up taking all the fondant off and started over. Hate to waste but it was worth it. Fortunately my husband fell asleep so I had the time to myself to do it all over.  

Ta-Da!!

 This is one of those cakes that I feel should not have been as difficult as it was. And the fondant work on the box was still not very clean. But it worked for this situation. I'll definitely allow more time if I ever do another.

 If you see cakes alot, you might notice that several people do gumpaste heels. Well this was specialized for my mom! And she does not usually wear heels. We're flats kinda girls :) Therefore, I pull out one of my pairs of flats. I made a template (using saran wrap, aluminum foil, and card stock paper) from my shoe, trying not to touch my shoes to what-will-be the tempate. My template could probably use some perfecting. Learning all the time....

I used fondant for the sole. Mistake no. 1. I know I should've used gumpaste, but I already had black fondant and did not want to make black gumpaste. So I had trouble with getting it completely dry. But I knew this and it was ok for this. Then I mixed fondant and gumpaste for the green. Again, probably best to use 100% gumpaste, but I had some pretty green fondant leftover that I wanted to use. Trying not to waste.

It was interesting trying to form these. Especially doing two to compliment each other. I did the first and it was ok, but I saw details that I'd prefer to change. Then I made a few others... that first one started looking way better!! Haha! I made the sole for the second one. I kept re-doing the green part and once I finally got it somewhat decent, I realized that I should've remade the sole. I think it ended up being larger than the first one somehow so it was throwing off matching the other. I was running out of the fondant/gumpaste mixture and I knew if I made more it would most likely not match the color I had made -- I wasn't even sure what I had used to get that color. So that was that. Eh, it was my first go-round.

 I couldn't figure out how to make it without the seam in the front :( I hated that.  

 I wanted to write something on the box, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to position the shoes; therefore blank. And I should've used a bigger cake board, but I knew it needed to go in the fridge, so I stuck with the smaller.

Was that enough pictures? I know they're basically the same but I'm leaving them posted. It doesn't take long to flip through pictures anyway.

And in case you wanted to see the pictures I couldn't get to post last week, here you go :)

I'm feeling surprisingly well after the surgery this morning. But I've been warned it's worse the second and third day. Oh dear. Thank goodness for pain medicine!!

Double Dessert

I have two recipes for you guys today!! :)


There are a few people at our church who will have lunch at the church after services. A friend of mine asked us last week why we hadn't been there. She mentioned there had been no desserts. Ha, of course that's what I usually contribute :) So I thought I'd make up some desserts!! My mom used to make what we called "Dessert Pizza." It's a sugar cookie covered with a cream cheese frosting and topped with fruit. Since not everyone would like that (such as my husband - he dislikes fruit), I decide to make a second option. With my husband's input, we choose a delicious recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.


Of course, I didn't think of all this during the 5 or so hours my husband was at a friend's house. No.... I figure it all out once my husband is home and we're having dinner and watching a movie. And all I can think about is going to make the desserts.... weird?? Probably. But true. (Note: I didn't know he was going to be gone for that long!)


So which to start with?? Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Don't worry, I'll type out the ingredients. But isn't the recipe card adorable? The recipe book is too! I got it at Hallmark. It's just for desserts. Perfect!


1 roll (16 oz) refrigerated sugar cookies
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg yolks
1 cup Mini (the new Tiny ones) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups


I can chocolate frosting plus 2 tbsp of peanut butter for topping

• Begin by lining a 9x13 dish with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
• Press the sugar cookie dough evenly on the bottom and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

• While that is baking, mix the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolk, peanut butter, and vanilla until smooth.
• Fold in the mini Reese's cups

 **Warning:
If you like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, beware. The minis are also very delicious and so easy to pop in your mouth.

• Spread the mixture over the crust carefully. The mixture is kind of thick and the crust is still warm. Just pay attention when you're spreading it.
• Bake 20-25 minutes. 20 worked for me.
• Allow to cool. It took a little while to cool. It was still warm by the time I decided I was going to do the topping and hit the hay!
• Take the chocolate icing (lid and aluminum wrapper OFF) and heat in the microwave for 10 second increments until pourable but still thick. I did 2 - 10 second rounds and 1 - 5 second round.
• Mix in the 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and pour over bars. I spread it around to make it even.
• Place in refrigerator to set and once firm, remove foil and cut in squares.

 See the mini Reese's Cups??

 There you go. Ready for the next dessert??

Dessert Pizza

I followed a recipe my grandmother gave me, but there are variations. I know recently Lauren from Crave. Indulge. Satisfy. did a similar post. Definitely check it out!!

1 package (16.5 oz) refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

Your choice of fruit toppings

Simple enough?

• Spread the cookie dough on a 12" pizza pan. I sprayed mine with non-stick spray but it still kinda stuck. You could line with aluminum foil.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes.
• Cool to room temperature. It didn't take very long, but maybe that's because I was distracted with other desserts.
• Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and blended. Spread over cool cookie.
• Wait to add the fruit until you are about to serve. Store in refrigerator until then.
• Choose whatever fruit you prefer. Cut to bite size pieces. I find it harder to cut pieces when you are also trying to cut pieces of fruit. 
• Arrange on "pizza" however you prefer!!

My pan is huge so I used this pie crust mold to try to keep it a neat circle 

 Decorate!! It's so colorful; I love it!

 The kicker? They didn't have a meal at church today. So if anyone wants some dessert, head over to my house!


After two recipes, you'd think that'd be it, but no! I want to share more if you can take it. In my free time yesterday I decided to practice my gumpaste rose. I just have some pictures for you.

 (can you tell I love my China?)

I also tried out a few little blossoms with the new Wilton Gumpaste  Kit I got. I really wanted to try some new flowers from there, but (annoyingly) the "kit" didn't actually include everything you need! Ha, how do you like that. (Answer: not very much at all...). But I plan on getting the additional supplies in the near future to practice! In the mean time, it won't hurt to work more on those roses.


Guess what?? No, there isn't any more... right now. I have a cake to do this afternoon! So I plan to share that with you as soon as I can.