A look back at our Valentine's Day

I managed to find the time to bake and mail out quite a few Valentine's sugar cookies (lemon & almond) just before Valentine's Day. I sent them out as DIY gifts to friends and family back home. I miss them all so much.

Here are a few photos of my beginner's endeavours.

I used the sugar cookie recipe from Sweetopia, as well as her Royal Icing recipe. The icing works like a charm, and although I did experience some spreading with the cookies, I'm fairly sure that it's due to the higher elevation where we live.

Dark Rum Chocolate Cake Balls

(Can also be used to make cake pops)

Cake Balls:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake Mix

(any ingredients called for by cake mix directions)

½ cup Dark Rum or Kahlua (I used Kahlua last time & it was great) which you will substitute for ½ cup of the water called for in the cake mix

1 teaspoon pure Vanilla

Icing (use the recipe below or you can always use 1 cup pre-made, but honestly the one below will make your cake balls much better).

Icing:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. Mascarpone cheese at room temperature

1/3 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup Honey

1 tablespoon dark Rum

Coating:

1 large package chocolate Almond Bark-Melted (I also used a vanilla flavored candy coating for the white cake balls, which can be colored with Wilton’s gel edible food coloring for variety).

Any other sprinkles or decorations you would like to add.

Directions:

Preheat oven as directed. Follow cake directions on the back of your box, but reduce water & add additional ingredients. Bake cake according to directions. Remove & cool on a large rack. Once cooled, remove cake and crumble into fine crumbs in a large mixing bowl, removing any crispy or hard edges.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, mascarpone, cream cheese, confection sugar, and honey together. Once combined, add rum. Set aside 1 cup. The remaining icing can be refrigerated and used at a later date. Add icing to cake crumbs, mixing well, until the entire cup of icing has been absorbed by cake. Set into freezer to chill for at least 20 minutes.

Remove and measure out equal scoops of cake mix to obtain uniform measurements for cake balls. Once all of your cake balls are measured, roll and form into smooth balls, and set onto parchment paper, and allow to chill in the freezer while you melt your candy coating or Almond bark. Remove cake balls from freezer, and dip into candy coating. I found that setting each cake ball into the coating, then scooping in onto a fork while the excess coating drips off, then pushing it carefully into the parchment paper with a skewer stick cut in half, was the best technique. Add any sprinkles or decoration now so that it will set. I stored the cake balls in Tupperware overnight, but they are good at room temperature, covered for up to 2 days. Enjoy!

Hand Piped Candy Designs-Part 2

I hand drew these designs with a style similar to the fleur de lis, and then piped melted colored almond bark (Vanilla) into a disposable icing bag, with a Wilton tip #7 onto the design covered with Parchment paper. Because I piped over the design I was able to repeat it multiple times by just adding a new piece of parchment paper.

As soon as I finished the piping, I sprinkled it with Wiltons edible glitter, and transferred the sheet to a large rounded coffee can. Try to find something that has the same circumference as your cake, otherwise it will dry into a shape, and will start to break when you attach it to your cake.

Mine wasn't perfect, and did break in some places, but since I had just iced my cake which was setting in the fridge, I was able to fix it, and reconnect the pieces by pressing them back into the icing.

Chill the designs in the freezer for about 2-3 minutes, then gently remove from your parchment paper & press into your cake. These can be done in any color or style.