Changing Our Name

Hi everyone! I have officially become a WE...My sisters will now be an official part of the business!!! I am very excited to embark on this journey. We will be updating pricing and logo information in the next couple of days. I am going to miss my SWEET ME OFF MY FEET name *tears*, which my sister Yanavith came up with..and now together we have come up with Sisterly Love Bake Shop. We tried to keep up both Sweet Me Off My Feet and Sisterly Love Cupcakes going at the same time and quite frankly it was exhausting. Because of that reason we became Sisterly Love Bake Shop which allows us to merge both entities and offer an array of services.

You can also now find us through our .com which is www.sisterlylovebakeshop.com.

Thanks for your support and please excuse the confusion. We are looking forward to the many more wonderful events and delectable treats to create so please check often!!!!

My beautiful niece!

Trying out some actions and thought I would share some pictures of my beautiful  niece with the world!

Mommy's Birthday

We had never thrown a party for my mom’s birthday before. My sister and I decided to put together a Pink, red, birdie, theme for her. The cake in the middle picture was done by me. I am very proud of this cake. It was some work but I pushed myself beyond my expertise.

We had a dessert buffet that I put together. I baked chocolate chips cookies, mini cheesecakes, chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, cupcakes and sugar cookies. It was beautifully displayed on red plates and platters most of them from Target.

I made pink lemonade, and fruit punch and added strawberries to the drink dispenser. The drink dispensers were a steal from Wal-Mart. For food we had an array of sandwiches with chips.

The centerpieces were made from branches and tissue paper flowers. We affixed them to the branches with glue dots. We had pink table covers and red plates and cups. .We also hung pink and red hearts and tissue pom-poms from the ceiling.

Beach Themed Bridal Shower Cake

I like this cake because it allowed me to be more creative. I had never worked with gumpaste before so I was experimenting. I used ½ gumpaste and ½ fondant mixture. I followed a tutorial online for the flowers. I painted them after with pearl dust but it didn’t work, then I added water to the pearl dust and that was not a good idea either. It did the trick but it made the flower soggy and droopy. For the surfboard I used a cookie cutter. The beach ball and the bathing suit are my favorite pieces.

Mexican Fiesta

I absolutely love the party my sister Yanavith put together for my sister and I. It was a sophisticated fiesta sans the burros and piñatas. She really thought of all the details. Thanks sissy I love you!!!

My mom found a steal at Ross store and grabbed all the colorful margarita cups and goblets. They were in shades of purple, pink, green, red, and yellow. We found some lace table overlays at Wal-Mart and picked them right up. They added an old Spanish flair.

She spent days making the flowers for the centerpieces and the hanging pomanders which are my favorite elements. She designed her concept and I just helped her put it together. The centerpieces were a tall cylinder vase I had already purchased at the DollarTree. The flowers were attached to s Styrofoam base. We finished the centerpiece off with a piece of scrapbook paper and whole punched the edges with a Martha Stewart whole punch. We had one at each tables. The paper plates in different colors were set at each table. We had also scattered flowers on the tables. For favors we had to think quickly on our feet because we forgot about them. We bought some dulce de leche suckers, I think they were 10 for $1 dollar and simply tied some ribbon in coordinating colors.

The pomander balls were the focus and we highlighted them with hanging banners. We cut squares and whole punched them with the Martha Stewart punch and strung them on orange ribbon.

My sister printed a little Mexican Fiesta sign and put it in another Dollar Tree find. The frame had stripes in the coordinating colors.

I love, love this party! Hope you enjoy it too.

21st Birthday!

My sister turned 21 this past October (I’m sooooo behind on blogging!) We hadn’t made a big deal of her birthday for a while; don’t know why we just hadn’t. This year we tried to do something a little more special. I don’t get paid until the 10^th of every month (only bad thing ‘bout working for a school district) so usually she doesn’t get gifts until then. Her birthday is the 3^rd. So yes, we’re often late. This year we were able to get gifts the same day for her to open. She felt extra special and she got some nice gifts.

Since her day was going to be special well then so should her cake right? Right! So I looked on CakeCentral where I like to go for inspiration, and fell in love with a cake that was black and green. I went with a lighter green and incorporated a soft pink. The bottom tier is 4 layers of 10” rounds filled with strawberries, and the top 2 layers of 8” rounds filled with cream cheese and strawberries.

The bottom tier was covered in green marshmallow fondant and decorated with pink and black balls pressed onto the sides of the cake. I wanted them to look more like pearls but ended up looking like M&Ms J The top tier was covered in black marshmallow fondant and decorated with different size circles of fondant. I used a Wilton Impression Mat (Happy Birthday) to make an impression on the top of the tier. I finished it off with a 21 made out of pink fondant and her name, Diana, spelled out with pink and black fondant. The board was also covered with green fondant and a black ribbon border around it.

I really love this cake. It was sooo much work but sooo worth it. Enjoy leave me some comments, I love to hear from you!!!

Baby Shower Rattle Cake

This rattle cake was a last minute order. It was for a baby girl. I decided to go with a pale pink and bright yellow. Despite the time crunch it was a very cute cake.




1. The first step is to bake the cake and level it. I baked a 12 in and 6 in cakes.

2. In an electric mixer I whip the PuraWhip I use for almoslt all my cakes. (I love this because its light and the perfect sweetness to it) I pick this up at Smart&Final for about 3 dollars.

3. I wrapped a Wilton stacking tube with yellow ribbon and set it aside.

4. I sliced about 4 pints of strawberries..it was a pretty big cake.

5. Mix all your strawberries with about 4 cups of the whipped cream you just whipped.

6. Fill the cakes with the strawberry and whipped cream mixture. Not to the edges leave about 1/4 of an edge..that way when you frost it you dont get any strawberries spilling out. When you frost it then fill in the gap :)

7. Color your icing the desired color...this case pale pink. I used Wilton Rose Color.

8. Frost the cake...I use a piping bag 16-18 in ones from Wilton. I also use a large tip No. 789
to frost the cake...also a turntable is a must!

Finishing touches

Smooth it out..as much as you can. I added a shell border at the bottom and a star border on top. I also used a round tip to write It's a Girl! I also used edible pink pearls that I had to put on every star I made on the top. I also added them to the letters. I inserted the middle rod and tied a pink ribbon to finish it off.

Some more Disney

This cake was fairly small cake, nothing fancy, a single tier, yes some decoration but nothing off the wall. Well for being such a small cake it came with BIG problems. For starters the fondant didn't come out the yellow I wanted, and the fondant was tooooooo soft. I had to keep going back to add more sugar, which set me back some time, but it was all worth it. I love how it came out!

The pot originally had a lid, but since the fondant gave me so much trouble it didn't make it. I think it looks way better without the lid. The pot itself was carved from two eight inch round cakes. The cake was cold so it made it easier to carve. Once carved I covered it with strawberry jam, and then with a think layer of brown marshmallow fondant. I added a rim on the top and bottom made from fondant. The Wilton Alphabet Cut-Outs were used to write "hunny" just the way Pooh writes it. The layer of yellow fondant to look like honey was just rolled out as messy as possible. The honey was the last thing I added.

The round cake was a 10'' round cake filled with strawberries, which is my favorite if you hadn't guessed by now, covered with blue fondant. Again the fondant was tricky and laborious. I used the Wilton Cut-Outs three piece set to cut out the flowers. I also used the round three piece set to make the balls around the cake. I used the cutter to sort of get the same size balls.

The pooh face was the easiest part to do. Using the Pooh Cake Pan and Wilton Candy melts in white, and their Pooh Collection Icing Color pack. I died the white candy melts using the Pooh Color set, i dyed some yellow, and some black. I then used a piping bag to pipe in the black chocolate on the facial features like eyes, mouth, nose and eyebrows. Then once that dried a bit I piped over and filled in just the face portion of the cake pan with the yellow, popped in the refrigerator and 10 min later I had a Pooh chocolate face. I then just affixed it to the cake and the cake was finished.

Hope you enjoyed the cake! XOXO

Mickey Mouse Cake

Who doesn't love Mickey? Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time. I recieved a request for a Mickey cake, and well, I have no drawing skills. So, drawing Mickey's face was out of the question. I researched cake on Cakecentral, one of my favorite spots for inspiration.

This cake was inspired by some of the pictures from wonderful bakers who are kind enough to share their creations. The Mickey cake was a two tiered stacked cake. All decorations were made from marshmallow fondant and colored with Wilton color. I also cut out the stars using Wilton's star shaped cookie cutters. The Mickey head was baked using a sports ball 3D pan also from Wilton.

This yummy cake was filled with strawberries on one layer and peaches on the other. The strawberry layer was lemon cake, and peach was just white cake. It was really fun to make but lots of work. Thanks Nadine for helping me :)

Quinceanera

My brother-in-law’s sister just turned 15 years old, and like in most if not all Hispanic families they have a Quinceañera. A Quinceañera is a coming of age ceremony that occurs when a young girl turns 15. Well, this celebration is a big deal to these 15 year old girls. When she asked me to create her invites and her favors I wanted to do something a little different. Usually the invites are a little cheesy I think. They have a huge picture of the young lady, and a list that almost eats up all the invitation space of who bought what and who the attendants are. I really think that we should stay away from that and seek a cleaner, sleeker and more sophisticated approach.

Her colors were a deep “purpleish” plum color, which I loved because again it stays away from the pastels that although beautiful they had their time to shine. As I looked for inspirations on the web, there are more options catered towards the Quinceañera. When I was planning my sisters we had many limited sources because it wasn’t as mainstream or important to pop culture. With MTV bringing these festivities to a broader audience business began to realize that there is a need for more products.





I chose to create the invites myself in Photoshop. I used a 4x6 template I got at Overnightptints.com, which is also were I got them printed. I printed 100 of them for about $20 dollars. The invitation has a logo that I made using a Photoshop shape. It is ornate yet simple. I used Copper Alt Caps Expert font (I downloaded somewhere just Google it you should find it for free!) for her initials J.Z. added the number 15 with a small tiara to finish off the logo. I also purchased pocketfold invitation from Paperandmore.com a store that I love and buy from all the time. I also got their white precut base paper. I layered the invitation and used two sided tape to affix it to the pocketfold envelope.

For the favors I wanted to tie in the invitation theme. I ordered cake transfer sheets from Funcakesforyou.com and Holly did an amazing job she even sent them pre-cut. She printed the logo I sent her via e-mail and sent them back to me super quick. I used the logo on some delicious sugar cookies. I iced them with white royal icing, immediately put the logo on them, once dried I added a border around them with white royal icing. I bagged the cookies up and tied purple and white ribbon on them.

Happy Birthday Nick!!

OK, I have to let it out. My friend Nick is a Mets fan, so for his birthday I wanted to surprise him with New York Mets cookies. Well after hours of baking and decorating (and I do mean HOURS!!!) I come to find out he doesn't like birthdays. First of all, Who doesn't like birthdays? Weird? Definitely. But what could I do, the cookies were baked and decorated. I never gave them to him because they were intended to bring a smile to his face not a sour pout. No hard feelings Nick :)

So let me go into detail on how I decorated them. My favorite, as hard as it is to choose, is the NY logo. This was the hardest to make too. It took me several attempts to get it just right, I had to bake about 8 and only got 2 that I liked enough to keep. The word Mets is a close contender to the favorite title followed by the State of New York one. All of these three cookie cutters were custom ordered from Sweet Shapes. I just love her work sooo much!! She is awesome, she has fast turnaround times too.

All cookies were outlined in white royal icing first, then flooded with the desired color. Once those steps were completed, I simply added the decorations and writing. The big NY was outlined again in orange and then orange sugar was poured on it to give it that gorgeous look. Make sure your cookie is completely dry before you add decorations like sugar, and sprinkles to the edges because it will stick.

The baseball cookie cutters and the cake with a candle are from Sweet Shapes also. The letters to spell out N-I-C-K are from Martha Stewart's Alphabet Set purchased at Macy's.

I suggest you practice your writing and design on parchment paper before attempting it on the cookies. Once you get it down go ahead and try on a cookie. I always bake extras just in case I mess up or my niece puts her finger in them LOL! She's my biggest fan!

Now just individually wrap them and tie them with matching ribbon. I use Wilton's Medium bags they come in a package of 100.

Enjoy!!!
*Click for Sugar Cookie and Royal Icing Recipe.

Dodger Fans

Well, I made it. Yay! This is my second entry this week. After finding out that the person who interviewed me for a teaching position was a Dodger fan, my wheels started turning and a simple thank you card would not be enough. So naturally I decided to bake him these delicious sugar cookies. I used the same recipe for the sugar cookies and royal icing as always. I did a batch of the cookie dough, and three batches of icing (depending on how many cookies you are making a single batch can be divided into separate bowls and colored) a brown, white, and blue one.

The California State cookie cutter is from Sweet Shapes. The state cutter is not a custom order but if she no longer carries it you can always request it and Viola! you have California. The baseball glove, bat and cap are from Sweet Shapes as well. These are part of her Baseball Set.

I always outline my cookies with white royal icing (medium consistency, but not runny) first, this creates a dam of sorts. Once the icing dries I flood the cookies with the desired color of icing (this is runny but not watery, about the consistency of white glue) making sure it doesn't overflow. You don't want it to go over the dam you already piped. Now we wait several hours, sometimes overnight if necessary for the cookies to dry. Once dried you can add the design or writing on top of the smooth icing.

For the marble affect on the baseball bat I added white lines of runny icing (about 2 thin lines) as soon as I had flooded them (don't wait until they dry) and using a toothpick I swirled the white in with the brown.

Now all there was to do was individually wrap each cookie with coordinating bow and I had the perfect thank you! They looked really great! So go on don't be shy and bake your Dodger fan some cookies.!!!

My sissys 25th Birthday Dinner Favors

Well it has been a while since I last blogged. School and work and life in general has been hectic. Since I'm on a break right now I have dedicated some time to blogging. I have several projects to show you so stay tuned for more. I am attempting to post something everyday this week. So wish me luck :)

As time consuming as they are I love making cookies. My favorite part is decorating them. The pink and black cookies I made for my sister's 25th birthday dinner hence the 2 and the 5. I had them all packaged up so nicely. I wish I could find the pics of the packaging (sigh), but I don't know where they are at. The favors where a hit, I got so many compliments!!

The black icing took a long time to get it that black I think I used about 2 of the black Wilton colors (yikes). The hot pink was fairly easy to achieve, I used Wilton's Icing Color in Rose.

I used a the number cookie cutters from Wilton 101 Cookie Cutter Set. They are about three inches. The candles are from a birthday set from Sweet Shapes. I love her cookie cutters. She also makes custom ones all at affordable prices. I have bought several from her and they are of great quality. You will see the cookies I have created with them later this week. Finally, the Y shape (Yanavith is her name) is from Martha Stewart's Alphabet Set. I picked it up at Macy's and not sure if its still available. If you need some Sweet Shapes has a great set!

The recipe for the sugar cookies is from Wilton. This recipe works great and the cookies keep their shape beautifully. I usually make two batches since I'm always making at least 100 at a time.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon No-Color Almond Flavor or Pure Vanilla Extract
• 5 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Makes: About 36-42 average sized cookies.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together
3. Add eggs and flavoring, beat until fluffy.
4. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately to creamed mixture with milk.
5. If mixture is too sticky, add flour, a little at a time, until dough is easy to handle.
6. Roll dough 1/8 in. thick.
7. Cut out cookies, dipping cutter in flour before each use.
8. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

The royal icing recipe that I use is from Karen's Cookies but whatever recipe you have and like you can use.

Ingredients

• 3 T. meringue powder
• 4 cups (1 pound) powdered sugar
• 6 T. water
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white icing)
• ¼ tsp.

Directions

Beat all ingredients together until stiff peaks form (about 10 minutes). To vary the consistency, add water to thin and add powdered sugar to thicken

Strawberry Cream Cheese Champagne Cupcakes

Hope all of you are gearing up for Valentine's Day! This recipe was supposed to be my Iron Cupcake submission but I missed my deadline due to my Internet, its horrible! I'm sad, but I got some great cupcakes out of this challenge! These cupcakes are sooo moist and delicious. When you scroll down to the recipes it may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't and its a fairly fast process!

What I did:

1. Cut up a pint of strawberries about 25 whole strawberries, put them in a container and fill them with the champagne you want. Let the strawberries absorb the champagne until you are ready to use them. Its to OK to eat a few ;)


2. Then in your mixer mix the cream cheese frosting and set aside.


3. Now puree your strawberries in a food processor is ideal, but since mine hasn't arrived yet, I used my blender. It should be really smooth. Add the champagne to the strawberry mixture, you can also add more than the suggested champagne amount. (Save some to drizzle on top at the end)


4. Now, just combine the cream cheese and the strawberry mixture, add a little of the strawberry mix at a time, until you get the consistency you like.


5. Now mix the white cake mix recipe and grease your pans, I used Wilton's Jumbo Cupcakes Pan and their Easy Release.


6. You will need about 1 cup of batter for each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees and remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean.


7. With a fork make holes to the top of the cupcakes.


8. Then in a saucepan put the 2 cups of champagne and 1 cup of confectioners sugar, bring to a boil and let it reduce to about half.


9. Now add the mixture to your cupcakes, just drizzle on top. I put 3 tablespoons, but you can put it as much as you would like.


10. Now you can assemble your cupcakes. Add some of the champagne infused strawberries.


11. Then add some strawberry cheesecake frosting a nice big dollop.


12. Now just top it off with some of the puree strawberry mix.

This is really, honestly, not as involved as it seems don't be afraid to try them out, they are soooooo good. Bon Appettit!!!

Make these:

White Cake Mix

Ingredients

1. 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
   
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar


3. 2 cups all-purpose flour


4. 2 teaspoons baking powder


5. 1/4 teaspoon salt


6. 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)


7. 3/4 cup milk


8. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.


2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


3. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.


4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often.


5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans.


6. Bake cake(s) about 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

Champagne Syrup (to be added to the cupcakes/drizzled on once baked)
Ingredients:

• 2 cups champagne
  
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done.


2. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more.


3. Keep adding to taste.
   

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1. 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2. 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3. 2 cups powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.


2. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.


3. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   

Puree Strawberries (adapted to make this Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting)

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of frozen strawberries in sugar


2. 1/3 cup of Champagne
   

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed and fold in to cream cheese frosting


2. Add the Champagne and mix.


3. Add a little of the mixture into cream cheese frosting, until desired consistency is reached. Refrigerate until ready to use.