Mini Gingerbread House Cutter Review

So I recently saw this cookie cutter online and I just had to order it immediately.  I could hardly wait for it to arrive so I could get to baking. It was just so darned cute!!

Well, the cutter came in and I got to baking. The picture to your left was my final results.  The final houses were very cute and got LOTS of attention to the parties I took them to.

If you're looking to make your own mini gingerbread houses, I do have some tips on what worked well for me.

First of all, these little suckers take a lot of time, so don't offer to make (or sell) a lot of these without making sure you have enough time.  If I were pressed into selling these, I think they would be at least $8 per house.

I used the gingerbread recipe printed on the cutter package, and I found that it worked best if you rolled the dough nice and thin.  The recipe they provide held up well, didn't spread too much, an was pretty tasty.  Once the cookies come out of the oven make sure to run knife across all the pieces while they're still hot.  It will save you some grief in the next step.

Once the cookies were baked and cooled, we found that the pieces still weren't exactly the same size and it made the houses go together a little wonky.  What we finally did was hold the 2 opposing pieces (front and back, right wall and left wall, left roof and right roof) together and then used a microplane grater to file down the 2 pieces just to make sure they were the same size.  And for the 2 wall pieces (left and right) we actually found that they were too long for the house to go together just the way we wanted.  So we filed about 3/4 of an inch off of the walls.  That allowed all the pieces to fit together and it allowed the roof to have the overhang that we liked better.

Photo of cutter from Good Cook

We used royal icing to put the houses together and we found that things worked well to fit the front/back and left/right walls together first.  We used a piping bag to pipe inside the house, but expect to get a little on the outside of the house too.  Once the walls have started to setup, then you can glue on the roof pieces.  Once they are all together, let them sit and get nice and dry before decorating.

Now I have an entire bakery full of dragees and sprinkles, but if I had it to do over I would make sure I got some mini candies lined up when decorating.  And don't forget the luster dust and the disco dust (as if you would!!).

Overall, these were fun, albeit time-consuming to make.  These little houses won't fi well on a standard cupcake, you'll need to make jumbo cupcakes if you are going to use them as toppers.  But they are cute and big enough for a snack all by themselves.

A Belated Christmas Gift!

I have several nieces and nephews, but there's only one school-aged niece in the family.  Kaitie's still a tween, and she still thinks I'm sorta cool.  The bad news is that her family lives in Oregon so I don't get to see them a lot.  But when I do, she always wants to see her Auntie Jen and make cakes! So for Christmas, I put together a cake decorating kit with some basic tools, some fondant, some cutters and other stuff and I sent it to her.  She was very tickled with it, but then I get the following pictures in my Inbox this week and I was SO thrilled!

Using the food markers on her leaves

Didn't her leaves turn out great?

The finished product!  Kaitie did excellent!!

 I enjoy passing down any cake wisdom I can, but it's especially fun when it's children (and family)! Have a great weekend!!

Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

Christmas is almost upon us, and even though cakes have been light this month, I ave still been busy making tons of coconut macaroons for some of my seasonal corporate customers.

It's also allowed me some extra time to make home holiday goodies for friends and family.  In fact, when one of my regular customers called last minute just knowing I couldn't make Christmas cupcakes for her I was able to surprise her by saying "I can make them no problem!"  She left the design totally up to me, which is always nice.  I decided I wanted to make some rounded ornament cakes, because I love the look of the rounded fondant toppers on cupcakes, but as usual, I didn't want to use fondant.

So I started playing with mounding buttercream and smoothing it out and honestly, it went easier and quicker than I expected.  I did make the ornament stems from fondant, but those can be picked off easily enough.

When I finished I was so happy that I took a couple of the extras into the house for a mini photo shoot in front of our Christmas tree.  I just love the look of the Christmas lights all blurred out in the background.

Have a great week; I hope Santa is packing up something nice for each and every one of you!

Grandview Cupcake Tree

I have talked about my brother the master woodworker in the past and about the incredibly awesome cake stands he makes for me.  When I called him up and asked for another cupcake stand he certainly didn't disappoint with this one!

This was my first square cake stand, and I really liked the way the cupcakes looked on it.  On the top, we placed a small 6 inch square cake.  Anytime I do a cupcake tree, I like to include some sort of small cake so that the couple can still get the traditional "cake cutting" photo opportunities if they really want them.

When I arrived at the Grandview, the florist had left us some beautiful hydrangea leaves and clusters so I used every last leaf to adorn the tree.

Over the past few weeks, I have been really scouring the Internet for some new design ideas and some new "mentors" to help me grow my craft.  I read an article about Jim Smeal and I was really blown away by his workmanship.  He did a border that reminded me of bamboo that I really, really liked.  I did my own version of it on the small 6" cake topper.

Taking it Outdoors

The neighbors must really think I'm crazy on a regular basis!  Especially when it's pretty out, I can be seen carrying plant stands, end tables, potted plants, or some other odd item from my house throughout the yard looking for the perfect place to snap a shot of some new confection I have crafted.

This weekend I made up a batch of cupcakes for a customer and with the few I had leftover, I grabbed a cake stand, and small table and headed for the great outdoors.  There's just something about that outdoor light and that green grass background that I think just makes for some beautiful photographs.

Hope you enjoy!

What a Wild Weekend!

Wow! What a crazy weekend! On Friday I got a call from my good friends over at The Chattanoogan hotel. It seems an Atlanta bride brought her wedding and groom's cake with her to the Chattanoogan. Her cake didn't really survive the trip and with her cake decorator 2 hours away in Atlanta, she was freaking out just a bit. I grabbed my emergency repair kit and scooted up to assess the situation. Things weren't great, but 2 hours later the cake looked good as new and the bride was tickled pink. That's why all quotes at Cup a Dee Cakes include setup and delivery within a 30 mile radius. Just ask THAT bride, that's one thing you don't want to worry about on your big day.

Saturday started out with a customer standing me up for a large birthday cake (grumble grumble). The rest of the day faired much better. We made our first delivery to Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga, GA. What a nice facility! We had a lot of fun with the bridal couple; they wanted an Alice in Wonderland themed cupcake tree. The best part was they left the design of the topper cake completely up to us! We decided to go with a Mad Hatter's hat cake to top off this whimsical centerpiece. We even made a really cool pocketwatch using gumpaste and a little edible image trickery!! Normally, we don't get that immediate reaction from the bride, but this time the fates put the brides path to the alter right by the cake just as we were finishing setup. She was so excited and happy - it was a very VERY nice end to our crazy little week.