New Blog!

       So I decided to start a new blog just for the things I like to make.  As I tried to come up with a name for this blog, many ideas, not very good ones, came to me.  First I thought, Kate's Kitchen.  David has said that someday I'm going to have a restaurant because I cook so much good food.  Whenever I make something he particularly likes, he says, "Add this to the menu!" and he means the menu for this restaurant I'm going to have in the future.  :) But I couldn't have that name for my blog because it wasn't available.

So then I thought Katherine's Kitchen, but no, it wasn't available either.  How about Katherine's Kitchen Kreations, nope.  Then I'd be the KKK.  Not good, so I decided to call it what it is to me--my creative outlet.  Making food, desserts, hair bows, and clothes helps me to have an outlet of things I can do and feel good about.  Sorry, cleaning house doesn't always make me feel like I've accomplished something, sometimes, but usually I just get it done so the sight of it doesn't give me a nagging feeling in the back of my brain.

Making things that taste good or are pretty and that make other people happy makes me feel like I am accomplishing something.  Especially since I never thought I could do these kinds of thing.  I find that I really enjoy it and I'm kinda good at it.  When I was younger I always wished I could make cakes that were as beautiful and tasted as good as my grandmothers.  I also always wished I could sew pretty dresses like my mother used to make for me and my sister.  Now that I am home, I've had the time to try these things out, and voila! I can do it!  And it's not as hard as I thought it would be so I'm going to share what I've learned so maybe you can try it to! (by the way, I don't come up with these things on my own, the internet is a wonderful source of ideas and knowledge)

Back to School Cupcakes:

White Good and Plenty candy

Red Runts

Chocolate covered mint cookies

Pretzel sticks

White Frosting--dyed yellow, brown, and green, leave some white for the letters

After baking your favorite cupcake recipe, I used angel food (I'll describe that later), frost them with the yellow frosting.  

Then poke two pretzel sticks into the back of the cupcake almost strait up and down.  Then lean the cookie on the pretzels.  

Place the two pieces of candy in front of the cookie.  

Put the white frosting in a ziploc bag and press the air out.  Then cut off a small piece from the corner of the bag. Pipe the letters onto each "chalkboard."  

In another bag, put the brown frosting and cut a little bit larger hole out of the corner of the bag.  Pipe the border around the cookie.

In another bag, put a small amount of green frosting and cut a tiny hole in the bag.  Pipe the apple leaves.

And there you go!

Basket (or Bamboo, as my cousin says) Cake

Frosting (dyed whatever color you want)

Favorite cake mix

4 containers of Pirouette cookies (I bought mine at the dollar store)

ribbon or tulle

Just make your favorite round cake and frost it all around, even the sides.  Put extra frosting on the top for the texture.  Take a spatula and dip it gently into the frosting on the top and pull it toward the center.  Go around the whole cake.

You can either have your cookies the same size or different sizes like I did here.  If you want them the same size, you need more cookies.  Take a serrated knife and saw through the cookies.  Place them side by side on the cake.  Take a ribbon or tulle and tie it securely around the cookies. (this helps them stay in place and look pretty too!)

Sprinkle "fairy dust" on top.  It's edible and sparkly and I love it.

So have fun and enjoy eating (and sharing) your cakes!