Smith Family Weblog

I am the lucky recipient of this bag of….well, I am not exactly sure what it is, but the directions that accompany it tell me I can make it into bread—eventually. I can’t refrigerate it, and I must not—under any circumstances—stir it with a metal spoon.

On day four and five, I am to “mush” the bag. On day six, I need to add flour, sugar and milk. I “mush” again on days seven, eight and nine, and then finally on day 10, I can bake it, but only after I split the batter into four bags and pass it along to people who promise not to approach the bag with anything resembling a metal utensil. (The four friends I have in this zip code are cringing with anticipation, I just know it.)

I’ll keep you posted.

I made these barnyard cupcakes for Olivia’s birthday. This was the first time I’ve attempted a project like this, and it was definitely a good learning experience. I used a product called gum paste, which I found to be a bit difficult because it dries very quickly and can crack easily. If I do something like this again, I might try marzipan or fondant.

I drew inspiration from a number of sources, including Blue Cupcake in California, and my mom, who was sitting across the table from me during the nearly five hours it took to complete the cupcakes.

I found edible markers at Michael’s—they worked well for the signs and animal eyes.

Ava and I piped the fences with white chocolate.

I made the grass using a special frosting tip, which might just be my new favorite tool.

When I ran out of steam, my mom suggested I add little tufts of grass to “mud” cupcakes. I topped them with two heart-shaped sprinkles to form butterflies.

Doug snapped these close-ups for me. Thanks, Doug!

I think this rooster is my favorite, but it could just be my fondness for it’s helpful and sweet creator…

Thank goodness I had her help–I actually ended up baking two batches of cupcakes.

For the first, I used this recipe, despite the fact it NEVER works for me. I assume at some magical point in time, I will somehow successfully incorporate stiff egg whites into cake batter, resulting in gorgeously puffed white cupcakes.

Until then, the Quik Shop opens at 6 am on Saturday, and they sell cake mixes.

Ava and I made turkey cupcakes for her Thanksgiving party at preschool today.

We had planned to use this recipe from Martha Stewart, but I thought it probably it crossed the line on the teacher’s “no candy or other choking hazards” rule. So, instead we made sugar cookies, rolling the dough out so it was thin and light. Fortunately, I had come across an exclamation point cookie cutter while looking for the number two cutter in advance of Liv’s birthday.  A ribbon of chocolate bark held the three tail feathers together.

While I worked on that, Ava rolled marshmallows in toasted coconut. (She had a little more help that she would have liked.)

Each head got two chocolate jimmies for eyes, a candy corn beak and a heart-shaped waddle.

We made chocolate cupcakes, and Ava topped them with chocolate frosting and more toasted coconut.

Then, we adhered pretzel sticks to the back of the tails with chocolate bark, and inserted them into the cupcakes. We used pretzel sticks to secure the heads as well.

When I told Bryan that I needed to run to the store to buy supplies for little chocolate pilgrim hats, he took away my apron and spatula. Next year…

One highlight of the process—Olivia added “gobble, gobble” to her collection of animal noises, although we hear “I need cake,” far more frequently!