Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Drivin' Down the Road Cupcakes and Smash Cake

Great way to use a number 1 cookie cutter: Gently press the cookie cutter into the frosting and carefully remove it. This will leave the outline of the number 1 and then you can pipe frosting inside the outline. 
Tip - Pipe the number onto the cake first. Then decorate the top of the cake from the center to the edges.
The Road: Pipe four strips of dark gray frosting, side by side, across the cupcake with a #47 basket weave tip with the smooth side up.
The Grass: Use a #67 leaf tip to form the grass on the cupcakes and the smash cake. Hold the pastry bag so that the long slots of the leaf tip are vertical. Pipe and lift to form the grass.
The Road Border and Stripes: Pipe white frosting along the edges of the gray frosting and down the center of the road with a #5 piping tip. 

I used a small, stainless steel pan to make this 5.5 to 6 inch smash cake. 
Decorating the Cake Top
  • Gently press the brim of a large glass into the frosted center of the cake top. This will give you a perfect circle for your track center and road. 
  • Fill in the center with a #67 leaf tip and follow the directions above. 
  • Then pipe the road around the circular edge of the grass with a #47 basket weave tip with the smooth side up. 
  • Having your cake on a lazy susan with greatly help with this part of the decorating. Turn the lazy susan as you pipe around the grass edge.
  •  As with the cupcakes, pipe four side by side strips of dark gray frosting to form the road. 

Candy Bar Car Cupcake and Cake Toppers
  • $3 bag of mini-candy bars - about 27 bars
  • 1 large bag of candy coated chocolate candy - I used about half of the candy. 
  • 1 box of teddy bear graham crackers
  • small amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips. 
  • 1 small pastry bag
Chocolate Candy Glue
I placed about  2 Tbsp. of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a pastry bag and microwaved them at 20 second intervals until they were soft and melted. Then I snipped the very end off the pastry bag. This was my "glue" to hold the candy wheels, steering wheel, and bear halves onto the candy bars. 

I have included the video that I watched before making my teddy bear candy cars.
In the video, it shows cutting the steering wheel candy piece in half and piping on headlights. As you can see, I didn't do this and am perfectly happy with the end results!
For video directions        Click Here

Basic Butter Cream Frosting
This is my favorite butter cream frosting and it will frost 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 - 8 inch cake. For 3 dozen cupcakes and the smash cake I made 2 double batches of frosting and had plenty of frosting for the 6 inch smash cake. The smash cake was cut in half and filled with frosting.
Ingredients
  • 4 Tbsp of salted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening Do not use pre-creamed shortening.
  • 1/2 tsp. of vanilla or other extract
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 lb. of confectioners sugar
Directions
  • Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl.
  • Beat on low speed for 2-3 minutes
  • Add half of the powdered sugar and extract
  • Beat on low speed until the sugar is almost blended with the butter-shortening mixture
  • Add the remaining powdered sugar and the water.
  • Beat at low speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl once or twice. 
You will need to divide and tint your frosting the colors you want.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

A Preview of Teddy Bears Driving a Candy Car Cupcakes and a Smash Cake

Hi, there! 
I will add more to this post when I am done with the smash cake. Plus, I will show you how I made the cars. This is what I completed last night - 30 cupcakes and 15 teddy bear cars. 

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Mom, How Do You Make Your Mac n Cheese?

Food allergies are tough to deal with. 
My daughter Ashley is allergic to yellow dyes: FDC 5, FDC 6, and FDC 10. These three dyes are found in an incredible number of food and nonfood products. Packaged macaroni and cheese always has one or more of these items in the cheese portion AND all types of cheese food products also contain these three dyes. Hence, Ashley grew up eating healthy. 

I made homemade mac and cheese for her entire childhood with white American cheese, Colby Jack, or mild Cheddar cheese colored with annatto. 

Now this daughter did not want to learn to cook from her mom.
No, she was too busy running track, cheering, or participating in band concerts. However, now that she has children and is cooking more meals. I am regularly receiving phone calls that begin with, "Mom, how do you cook..."

Last week, she wanted to know the secret to making my mac and cheese. 
Unbeknownst to me, she had tried and tried to make it on her own and couldn't get it to turn out correctly. 

The "secret" to my mac and cheese is homemade cheese sauce.
When I told Ashley how to make the cheese sauce she exclaimed, " That's IT!"
I valiantly managed to smother my snickering. 
About two hours later I read this post on her social media page:
Yep, this a a proud momma moment and a moment to smile from ear to ear. 

Now you too, can make my homemade Mac n cheese.                         Click Here  for the recipe.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Redeemed Riders Overnight Chick Ride

2016 Photo by Donna Stephens
Info meeting at Cracker Barrel
I know I haven't posted in awhile because my life has gotten crazy busy!
Good news is.............I got to ride my motorcycle this week. One ride was to Sullivan, MO for dinner and an informational meeting of all the gals going on the overnight "Redeemed Riders Chick Ride."

That's right, I am going on an overnighter with the girls!
Dinner at Cracker Barrel was a prequel for some Redeemed Rider sister time.  About fifteen of us converged at the restaurant to talk about our destination and routes to Mountain View, Arkansas.

Are you getting a vision of "Wild Hogs - The Chick Version?" 
Well, not everyone is riding a motorcycle. Riding a bike isn't a requirement to go on our ride. Cars containing some of my sisters will be following the bikes. And we hope that being chased by a biker gang isn't going to be part of our story. lol...lol  

Anyway, I indulged my love of southern food at Cracker Barrel.
Fried okra is one of my favorite side dishes. My momma has raised okra in her garden every year of my life. Bet you didn't know that the Missouri Ozarks includes some southern cooking did you? Anyway, I was perfectly happy with my fried okra, fried chicken livers, cheese grits, and hot buttered biscuits. My mouth is happy just remembering what I ate. lol...lol

Now where was I, oh the meeting.
 There are going to be two groups heading for Arkansas, an experienced rider group and a not so experienced rider group. I am riding with the first group and looking forward to an all-day, scenic ride with a lunch stop in Ava, MO. THEN, I get to eat Mexican food in Mountain View for supper. Oh yeah!

As usual, we talked ALOT. 
In fact, the sun had just about disappeared to the west when I rode out of the Cracker Barrel parking lot on my Harley and started my evening ride home.
2014 Chick Ride - Coming home from the CMA Women's Conference in Springfield, MO
2013 Chick Ride to Women of Faith Conference in Kansas City, MO
Blogger and biker Sallee Bonham riding down the highway in 2011
Chick ride to Hardy, Arkansas in 2008? 



Monday, August 8, 2016

Sallee's Six Favorite Mug Cake Recipes

1.  This is my own decadent and chocolicious Chocolate Extreme Mug Cake! Yep, I was a  top 50 finalist with this recipe in a contest! 
Click Here       for the printable recipe.
2. Applesauce Mug Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce for One
Click Here       for the printable recipe

3. Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Mug Cake from biggerbolderbaking.com
                                                   Click Here      for the printable recipe

4. Chocolate Espresso Mug Cake from kurryleaves.com
                                                   Click Here       for the printable recipe

5. Vegan Sweet Potato Mug Cake for Two  This recipe is originally from Leslie Bilderback, however I found it over at Oh My Veggies.
                                                   Click Here        for the printable recipe
 
6. Lime Coconut Mug Cake from kirbiescravings.com
                                                   Click Here        for the printable recipe

Microwave a mug of homemade happiness today!  SalleeB