Ladybug Birthday Cake

I made this cake last weekend for the 1st birthday party of Lydia.  Lydia is the daughter of our friends Ashlie and Matt and she loves the color red.  So appropriately, the theme of the party was ladybugs!  Matt and Ashlie sent me a picture of a cake made by Pink Cake Box and asked that I repeat it.  So I definitely don't claim this design as my own!  It was fun to make, although I did have quite the delivery scare.  The week that I was supposed to work on it, I got sick.  Being sick and making food for 30 people doesn't mix!  So I had to wait until the morning of the party to put it all together.  Eek!  This meant that the cake couldn't be refrigerated to firm up like I would usually do with an all-buttercream cake.  We loaded it into the car, got going, and let me tell you, that thing wiggled and giggled like you wouldn't believe!  I seriously thought it was going to topple over!  But alas, God was smiling on me and we made it there with the cake in once piece.  In the end the cake made it there, although slightly leaning and with some shifted lady bugs.  I heard that it was a hit.  Whew!

Here are the final pics of the cake and Little Miss Lydia enjoying it...

Photo credit : Pablo Alvarez (friend of Matt and Ashlie's)

Brush Embroidery Granny Cookies Tutorial

I was asked to bake something for a recent benefit bake sale for a little girl that has a severe medical condition.  The proceeds went towards paying for her medical bills, so I figured I'd make something fancy looking that might make a few more dollars for a worthy cause.  I've been wanting to try out the brush embroidery technique and thought this would be the perfect time to try!  I like how they turned out.  I thought of naming them "Granny Cookies" because they look like something a granny would eat with a cup of tea.  :)
Here are my finished cookies and a step by step of how I did them.

Step 1:  I iced some sugar cookies with royal icing and let them sit for a few hours until firm.  I also added a white pearl border.

Step 2:  Pipe a flower outline onto the cookie.  Don't worry about it looking perfect here, it can be pretty sloppy and still be redeemed.  :)  You can do one flower in the center or make some hanging off the edges like this.

Step 3:  Take a small paint brush (used only for food, of course) and dip it in a small bowl of water nearby.  Dab the brush on a paper towel to get the excess water off.  Then brush the icing on your flower outline in toward the center to make petals.

Step 4:  After brushing the outer petals, pipe in two or three more petals in the center and repeat step 3 on those petals.

Step 5:  Add a dot to the center of your flower and also around the flowers if you'd like.

And that's it!  I put these in twos in clear plastic bags and tied with ribbon to make them even cuter.  This was time consuming to make 40 cookies, but sooo easy!  Try it!