Gingerbread House Decorating Contest

Our town has a special Christmas celebration each year. We've never gone to any of the events, but this year Claire decided she wanted to build her own gingerbread house and enter it in the gingerbread house contest.

We went to an old fashioned candy store and selected some candy we thought would look fabulous on a gingerbread house and I picked up a few other items to have on hand for the project.

After mixing, cutting and baking the dough, we put together the gingerbread house and began decorating. Claire had so many great ideas for her house. I was merely her little helper. When the gingerbread house was complete, Claire was so proud of her work. We stressed that even if she didn't win first place, the most important thing was that she tried her best. This had to be stressed over and over, since winning first place is an important goal for a 5 1/2 year old.

We dropped off the gingerbread house on Friday night for judging, then came back to pick it up and see the results of the judging on Saturday afternoon. We were absolutely thrilled to see that Claire had won first place!!!! She was so excited!! She received a beautiful medal which she displays proudly in her room and shows anyone who visits our house. Way to go, Claire Bear!!!!

Cake

For those of you who don't know, I read tons of blogs -- mostly cooking and baking blogs (Yes, I do realize the irony in the fact that I don't really cook. My obsession with the Food Network is also ironic.) and some mommy blogs too. There is so much out there that really inspires me. I wish I had half of the artistic talent and abilities as some of these bakers. Recently, I was blown away by this cake from I am Baker. It's so beautiful and looks difficult, yet simple. Since we were snowed in AGAIN today, my princess pastry chef assistant and I decided to attempt to make it. I will confess that I used a box mix for the cake (I couldn't find a cake recipe that I wanted to make.). But, the buttercream is 100% homemade.

Our Finished Cake!

 

 

Although the cake doesn't look exactly like the picture we were trying to follow, we are happy with the results. I will be investing in a larger offset spatula soon.

Snowman Cupcakes

I always have these grandiose visions of making artistic desserts, but they never come out as perfectly as I would like (I don't have the artistic ability or the patience!). I won't be winning awards for my baking anytime soon, but these imperfect snowman cupcakes that I made for Claire's holiday party at school are pretty darn cute.

Better picture coming soon!

Bake Something Pretty Playdate

The Treats!!

Lately, I've been having this creative energy. I feel like I need to bake something gorgeous, build something or play some kind of musical instrument. I'm not sure where this need is coming from, but it could be because I read lots of cookie, cupcake and decorating blogs and the masterpieces the bloggers/bakers make are just so irresistible! Also, my cousin, Jaci, is inspirational - she makes beautiful cakes and cookies for all kinds of occasions.

So, after talking to one of my mommy friends (Gillian), I decided to host a "Bake Something Pretty" playdate for my moms group. This was the description:


Bake Something Pretty Playdate

If you've ever been inspired to bake and decorate beautiful cupcakes, adorable cookies or another dazzling, sinful treat, but never had the perfect occasion to serve them...this playdate is for you!

Please bake some delicious, beautiful (or just plain cute!) treats to show off and share. We can all admire everyone's artistic talents, then feast on the gorgeous goodies! The kids can play, eat and make their own adorable "s'more" snacks which will surely impress all of the mommies!

Only four mommies and their kids (7 total) were able to attend the playdate (Claire has a bit of a cold, so some mommies declined to come because they didn't want to catch it and a couple of other kids were too sick to come. It's that time of year!). We had a great time eating Nicole's cupcakes, Gillian's cake pops and my decorated sugar cookies! The kids played so nicely together.

We also made adorable owl s'mores!!! I found the directions here. Irresistible!!

Owl S'mores

My Cookies
Decorating cookies with royal icing is a lot harder
than it looks! This is what I was able to create.
I definitely won't quit my day job!