Lego Dessert Table!

This is it folks. The moment we've all been waiting for. Well actually, it's just the post I'VE been waiting for for a while! This is the big one, one of the things I've done that I'm most proud of. Prepare to have your mind blown.

For my dad's birthday last year, I came up with the idea to do a Lego themed birthday party for him. As I've mentioned before, I inherited my nerdiness from my dad. That being said...we both love Legos. He still has sets in the garage from when he was a kid, I grew up playing with them...and I still have my Harry Potter Lego sets, which I LOVE. Anywho, I knew I wanted to do a nice party with a dessert table after my mom's was such a huge hit a few months before (if you missed the pink and green dessert table I did for my mom's birthday, you can find it here). And I got the idea to do a Lego party after finding these cookies on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. Not only does the post for these cookies have a tutorial, but she even provides a template, folks! It makes the process SO much easier, so get on over there, so you can try these out too!
I used my usual sugar cookie and icing recipes, here are the Lego head cookies in the process:

And here is the finished product. With my leftover scrap dough, I cut out some little rectangles to make some lego bricks to go with my little dudes. And this is just the beginning.

WHOLE. TABLE. FULL of Lego goodies for his party!! Like I said, the cookies were just the beginning! I knew I had to get those Lego candies you see in the candy shops. And of course, after I got the cookie idea, I started browsing the web looking for other party ideas. I found this awesome ice cube tray...in the shape of little Lego guys!! PERFECT to use for a candy mold to make some cupcake toppers!!

Here is my cupcake tower! I made Funfetti cupcakes, plain white buttercream frosting, and topped with red, yellow, and blue chocolate Minifigures!

The Lego candies and some of those Airhead sour belts...I was going for a primary color theme.,

One of the coolest parts about the party was the decorations. Dad let us build and put out some of his old Lego sets, such as this one on the dessert table:

And these cars...

The Lego sets really tied the room together. And the kids loved to look at and play with them!

I HAD to get one of my Harry Potter sets out also...And dad didn't object. =)

Here's the Lego Minifig cupcakes up close:



This was one of the best adult birthday parties we've ever thrown! One that I'm sure our guests won't be forgetting any time soon. And it was just SO fitting for my dad.

See? What did I tell you? Mind blown, right? You're welcome.

Wedding Shower cookies

Good news guys! As of today, I am officially done with the Spring semester of school! And you know what that means....SUMMER! Which means....well, actually for me it means jury duty, two summer classes, and work. Huh. Doesn't sound so exciting when you put it THAT way. But it ALSO means that I'll have a LOAD of goodies lined up between now and August, so keep checking back for new posts every three to four days or so!

These cookies I made for someone I don't even know. Actually, I have no idea who received these cookies. My boyfriend's sweet sister asked if I would make some goodies for a bridal shower she was hosting. She had nothing in mind, just cookies with the wedding colors, pink and blue ("Something cute" I believe were her exact words). So if you know me, you know that one of my all time FAVORITE blogs to visit is Bake at 350. Well I've seen quite a few posts over there where Bridget used this 3-tiered cake cookie cutter, and the cookies are always so cute! So why not do some simple cake cookies for this wedding shower? This was the finished product:

Like I said, simple, but appropriate. Especially when you don't know the taste of the recipients.

Just bag 'em up with some matching ribbon, and they're good to go! I've gotta say, these cookies were freakin' miracle cookies. Due to a miscommunication, I had to decorate these bad boys overnight to have them ready on time (luckily they were already baked), but look at them! Need the cookies decorated and ready for the next morning? Challenge accepted.

I scream, you scream, we ALL scream for ice cream!!

Actually, there is no ice cream. Sorry for the confusion (believe me, I'm disappointed too- ice cream is my FAVORITE sweet treat). What I DO have is ice cream cone CUPCAKES. That's ALMOST just as good, right? Right. So last year my good friend Toni celebrated a birthday (Insert "DUH" here), and I knew I had to make her something special because, well, she's a foodie like me. That's why we get along so well- we'd bond on our lunch breaks at work over (usually junk) food.
I got the idea to do some cupcakes from Pinterest. Everybody's been on Pinterest, right? If you haven't you should go right now and check it out. Actually no, wait until AFTER you finish reading this post, THEN go. =) But seriously, there are so many great ideas on that site. And that's where I got the idea to make these ice cream cone cupcakes, and they were easier to make than I had expected!

Not a great picture I know, but the CUPCAKES were great, and that's all that matters. I used white and pink frosting, in the same bag, and the colors turned out great! I am totally using that technique more often!
And they're just so darn cute, had I brought them over in an ice chest, I would have had her fooled for sure. ;)

The Cake is a Lie!

Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time! I've baked quite a bit since you last heard from me, so be ready for some yummy posts!

The first item on the menu is a cake I made for my boyfriend Broc's 21st birthday. Now, something you may not know about Broc and I....we're kind of nerds. And by kind of I mean (among many other reasons) he spends most of his free time playing video games, and to be honest, I would probably join him more often if I could.
One of our favorite video games is Portal. It's this really innovative puzzle game that requires a PORTAL GUN to solve the puzzles. NEED I say more? Anyway, anyone familiar with the game knows that the cake is a lie. It is. And actually I'm not sure why, so if you're not familiar with the game...sorry, I can't help you out on that one. Talk about the blind leading the blind. So when the time came for me to decide what deliciousness to make for Broc's birthday, the end scene of the Portal game came to mind:

Yes, a simple chocolate cake surrounded by companion cubes. AND I had just received my Think Geek catalog, which gave me the perfect idea!! So, on the day of his birthday, I went over to his house, and set up his cake on the table. And this is what he came downstairs to:

Complete with his own companion cube pillow! Can you say major girlfriend points? I know, I'm so modest. But seriously, not only was this one of the simplest cakes I've ever done, but along with the companion cube, one of my favorite "themed" cakes!

The only problem is...How do I top this THIS year? No pressure...

My Cookies Make Their Professional Debut

Yes, you heard right. I had my first actual order recently. Like, GIANT cookie order, and I got PAID for it. It was such a different experience, and so exciting! So here's the scoop: We have a family friend, Krista, who works for JMS Industries, which is a company that provides portable toilets for special events. Well, they were having a ribbon cutting ceremony, and Krista came to me and asked if I'd make portable toilet cookies as favors for the event! I cut and decorated 75 cookies for the event, the biggest batch I've ever done. It was a lot of work, but I planned it out better than I usually do and made sure to make extra time for them (I didn't have much room for error, it's not like it was just my family eating them), and they turned out pretty cool! I've never seen port-a-potty cookies before (believe me, I tried searching them on the internet)!


Ta-da! Here it is! These were actually a lot of fun to make, regardless of the amount and the pressure of doing them for a professional event. All the hard work paid off though, I'm told the cookies were a HUGE hit! I'm so glad to get such positive feedback from such an unbiased source!

Thank you Krista, for thinking of me and letting me contribute to your event!

Mom's Birthday Dessert Table!

These days, it seems like themed parties is becoming all the rage, especially with dessert tables. They're ALL over the internet. And they are SO. DARN. CUTE. I don't know if you've seen any personally, but there are so many cute and inspirational party idea blogs out there. Kara's Party Ideas and Gordon Gossip are my personal favorites. I highly recommend you check them out. I'll be very surprised if you don't spend hours obsessing over them. =) On that note, I decided to give a dessert table a try. We had a small get-together for my mom's "22nd" birthday, and I drew inspiration to do a pink and green theme from this super cute birthday banner my mom made, you can check it out here. So this is my dessert table I put together: It's not a lot, but it was so much fun to put together. And after all, it was only family and a few friends, it's not like I needed to provide a feast (thank goodness). It came together quite nicely, if I say so myself. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I made my usual cookies, white, pink and green flowers: I also made a cake at work. We got new fondant dots and gumpaste bows at work, and they made a SUPER cute little cake. The bow isn't edible, but the fondant dots are, and although I didn't expect them to taste very good (I'm not a fondant fan), they actually didn't taste bad at all!

I made some chocolate covered Oreos. Making these was SO much easier than I anticipated! You just buy some Wiltons candy melts and melt those bad boys down, dip the cookies, and BAM! You have chocoalte covered Oreos. Then you just melt down some colored candy melts and drizzle them on the dried cookies. So simple!

And finally, I made cute little lemonade bottles. We emptied A BUNCH of Starbucks Frappuccino bottles for these (24 bottles of coffee in 4 days? No problem!) and made super cute wrappers for them. Then we filled them with pink lemonade and topped it off with pink and green straws and bows for the ultimate cuteness.

It all turned out quite cute, and was quite a hit! I totally recommend doing this for a birthday party or shindig, it's sure to be a crowd pleaser. It's an effort, but totally worth it in the end!

Happy 1st Birthday Ashton!

Hey all, I know I've been slacking. Not to worry, I have a good 2 or 3 posts lined up for you in the near future. The first is the train cookies I made for my cousin Ashton's first birthday. They're made with my usual cookie and icing recipe, and the design is pretty simple. They went really well with his primary color train themed party! And here they are, all set up on their little plates (really cute setup, isn't it?)! Initially I wan't thrilled with the turnout, because they're a bit plain compared to my other cookies, but they were pretty popular at the party. Not my favorite work, but they did grow on me in the end.

I loved the way the colors turned out on these cookies. And although he didn't get to eat one, the birthday boy liked looking at them, too. Isn't he the cutest little conductor you've ever seen?