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Archive for the ‘Entertaining Ideas’ Category

Happy 4th of July!

Thank you to all our troops, both past and present, who protect our freedom and keep us safe!

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I was asked to bring dessert to a bridal shower the other day. The bride-to-be mentioned one of her favorite things to eat was Rice Krispies Treats. So I decided to make her a “wedding cake” out of Rice Krispies Treats with Fruit Roll-Ups for the trim.

It was a lot of fun to make and not hard – it just took some time. You want to give yourself about an hour and a half, start to finish, to do this project.

The cake was a big hit with both the bride and the guests – so that really made my day.

Ingredients

 

Melt marshmallows and butter until smooth.

Add cereal and mix well.

Press into greased cake pans.

 

Make your rosettes out of Fruit Roll-Ups. Cut a strip and start winding it around until it looks like a sweet little rose bud.

 

You need to make approximately a gazillion of these (or three dozen).

Make a bow by cutting a thin strip and looping it over one side then another to make a bow. Trim ends diagonally. You need three bows.

Assemble your cake layers on a cake stand or serving platter.

Wrap a “ribbon” around each layer and finish with a bow and rosette.

Place roses all over the top. They will stick together and stay on if you make sure they don’t get too greasy from the cake.

Give yourself a pat on the back and be prepared for the exclamations of surprise and joy over your creation!

Rice Krispies Treats Wedding Cake

6 tbsp. butter

8 cups miniature marshmallows

12 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

2 boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups

In a microwave-safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for about 3 minutes. I stirred after each minute. Stir until marshmallows are completely melted and smooth. Pour in cereal and mix well.

Grease cake pans. I used two 8-inch pans for the base, a 6-inch pan for the middle layer and a 4-inch pan for the top.

Spoon mixture into pans and press down. Set aside.

Unroll fruit roll ups.

Cut strips about 1/4 inch wide and about 4 inches long. Starting from one end, roll a tight little center for your rosebud. Continue lapping the roll up around that center, pinching in one end with your fingers as you go. Don’t pull it tight as you roll it around, let it wave a bit to make it look like petals. You’ll need approximately half a million rosettes for the cake (not really, it just seems like it!). I think I made about three dozen of them. Set aside.

Place your bottom layer of your “cake” on your serving dish upside down. Put the second half of the bottom layer directly on top and face right side up. Add the middle layer and the top. The treats are sticky enough, they will hold together without worrying about them wiggling around.

On a cutting board cut into 1/2 strips for the ribbon around the cake. Because these are sticky, they are easy to layer the ends to make the ribbon as long as you need. I pieced them together as I placed around the cake. I used them to hide the layers.

Cut 1/8 inch wide strips about 6 inches long for the bows. Just fold to make a lop on each side, trim the ends and press onto the ribbon on the cake. Add a rosette in the center.

When you have the ribbons around the layers, gently press rosettes into the top of the cake. The stickiness of the whole thing holds it together really well.

If you get grease on your fingers from the cake, make sure to wash your hands because the Fruit Roll-Ups do not stick to anything once they get greasy.

Enjoy!

She Who Had a Lot of Fun With This

 

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Yesterday,  Amazon made Savvy Summer Entertaining available for free.

I got pretty excited when it started climbing up the charts yesterday afternoon.

This morning, I am number 98 in the top 100 bestseller list on Amazon! Can you hear my shouts of joy? There may also be a little happy dance going on.

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded the book, offered their encouragement and helped get the word out. A special thanks to Dining Downloads for featuring all three of my cookbooks yesterday!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you haven’t gotten your free copy yet, you can find it on Amazon, Smashwords or on my website. It will also be available soon on Barnes & Noble.

She Who Loves This Writing and Publishing Adventure

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A friend asked me a while ago to bake cupcakes for her wedding reception.

I was both honored by her request and somewhat terrified at the thought of not only baking that many cupcakes, but baking that many edible cupcakes.

Saturday, I spent four hours baking 220 chocolate cupcakes. Actually, there were 227, but seven of them tragically didn’t make the cut and had to be disposed of. (Yum!)

To make 220 cupcakes, I used eight cake mixes which I doctored up with my Grandma’s secret step to making a boxed mix taste fantastic (and I can’t share the secret or it wouldn’t be a secret, now, would it?).

I then made three batches of buttercream frosting which the bride-to-be helped me slather on the cupcakes and top with assorted sprinkles.  It only took us about two hours to do the frosting.

While frosting the cupcakes we learned some valuable information:

• There is a perfect temperature for the frosting that is somewhere between chilled and warm. Too cold and it wouldn’t squirt out of the bag and too warm it was really hard to work with. The perfect temperature lasts for approximately 9.8 seconds.

• Making sure the bag holding the frosting is completely sealed before squeezing it is a vital step in the success of the project.

• Husbands are not so helpful when it comes to frosting and sprinkling, but they are super helpful when someone needs to run to the store and get another bag of powdered sugar so another bowl of frosting can be made in the midst of the project. Thanks, CC for coming to the rescue!

• You can create all sorts of cool frosting designs with nothing more than a Ziploc bag and your imagination.

• Approximately two large jars of sprinkles are way more than plenty to do 220 cupcakes. The other 14 pounds of sprinkles I purchased will have to wait for another project.

• It’s always more fun to do projects like this with a good friend!

Here is the buttercream frosting recipe I used.  It should frost about 60-75 cupcakes, depending on how  much you use per cupcake.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened

1 bag powdered sugar (appox. 8 cups)

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

4 tbsp. cold milk

Beat butter on low speed until smooth. Add vanilla extract and mix then slowly mix in powdered sugar, alternating with the milk. You may need to add more milk, depending on how thick you want your frosting. Chill until ready to use. Store leftovers in the freezer (if you have leftovers).

To make the frosting chocolate, I added 1/2 cup cocoa powder and another tablespoon of milk.

She Who is Cupcaked Out for A While

 

 

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