Bakes by Beth

It's finally *almost* May! Thank goodness! I think I can speak for most everyone that April and it's variety of weather was just unrelenting and... I'm not too sorry to see it go. Peace out, April. You teased us early on with a couple beautiful, warm, sunshiney days and then you brought the ugliest, rainiest, coldest weeks that just kept repeating themselves. But May, well, I have high hopes for May and if these bright, fun Cinco de Mayo cookies have any say about it... it's gonna be awesome! Pinatas, hot peppers, cactus, sunshines, limes and margaritas... what's not to like?! I put a bit of granulated on the margarita glass rim to give it a little something extra. And let's be honest, a margarita with no "salt" on the rim just isn't a margarita, is it?  I'll be honest about those margaritas. I didn't have any kind of glass shaped cutter but I did have a trophy. So I trimmed the handles off the trophy and thought, yea, that

Cakes and cookies for a gender neutral baby shower! I was commissioned to do about 4-dozen cookies and a two-tier cake for a friend's sister's baby shower. Gender neutral is hard to do when picking colors. I wanted to do something unique and fun.  Orange, yellow, teal, and gray. I wasn't originally sold on the gray but loved it by the time I was finished. Onesies are so fun to decorate, so many different things to do but again, wanting to keep it gender neutral I stuck with dots and stripes and some solids with either buttons or the random heart. Cutest baby bottles! I wish I had a close up of this cake, guys. It turned out beautiful! Top tier is chocolate and bottom is white both with chocolate frosting between the layers. Covered in buttercream rosettes, feathered strokes, and various sizes of swirled color. May be my new favorite look!!

It was awfully chilly this morning, so after I got one sent off to school, my daughter and I decided to craft a bit. I also enjoy sewing and decided that I needed to kick up my boring old apron. I actually never wear this one because it's just plain white and grab a bright pink and green Vera Bradley one instead. My mother-in-law gave it to me years ago and it's still my favorite... but it might be a tie now! We did some laundry, we mowed the grass, and then... we baked... Remember those roses, Mason jars, and polka dot sugar cookies from earlier in the week... well, it was time to knock out the cake to match! I hope the guest of honor loves this as much as I do. It looks like a springtime bouquet! One more to whip up tomorrow, I have an idea in my head, we'll see if it works out to plan!

In March I had the pleasure of baking for my sister's wedding. She was probably the easiest person ever to bake for (perhaps because she is my sis and because she's been eating things I've made since we were kids... admittedly probably some better than others!) She was so relaxed and laid back. She had a few ideas but mostly let me run with it (I did get confirmation from her about what I was planning, I'm not that crazy to anger a bride!)  She requested cookies and cupcakes. Fortunately the cookies freeze awesome, so I was able to bake and decorate the 180 cookies ahead of time and pop them in the freezer to later concentrate on the cupcakes. The navy royal icing tinted great, no after taste that sometimes quite a bit of food coloring can make.  Navy, light blue, white... yellow flower accents. Love! I just love the "dot" accents around the perimeter of the designs. Cookies drying everywhere awaiting wrapping! We found these awesome wr

Baking for a 95th birthday party coming up and the request was for "polka dots" and "pastel colors". I aim to please and am super pleased with results. I think the customer will be as well! Stay tuned for a springy, pastel cake to match these tasty little treats. Hello, spring time! Love the jars, love the roses! I'm hoping the leaves on the roses survive ;)

For me, baking has been a treasured past time. My mother is an excellent cook and wonderful baker and where I learned quite a few of my cooking chops. Growing up and through the 4H program the only project I took every year for ten years was "foods". Cooking! Baking! Creating! All my favorite things. Sidebar: while I love being in the kitchen, I despise the clean up! My mom, my sister, my aunts, my mother-in-law... all excellent house keepers... me, not so much. We all have our skills and that just isn't my area.  I digress. My grandma bought me my first cookbook, as a child. What kid wants a cookbook for their birthday? I was pretty psyched about it. And honestly, this is still one of my favorite books for the amount of information in it. There are a couple recipes I still have flagged in there, but the tables and the conversions, I know exactly what page they're on, it's my favorite. And a handwritten note on the first page of the book, well, I'