DIY: Sandcastle Beach Cake

Its been a long time since I have posted on my blog. I would like to introduce my guest Tootsabella and the Rose posting the sandcastle beach cake.

Hello everyone!

I am Tootsabella Rose guest posting from Life with Tootsabella and the Rose

Recently, Grandma Bonnie from Grandma Bonnie's Closet and I had made this super cute and tasty sandcastle beach cake.

We had such a great time with this cake that we both agreed that it was the easiest and most fun cake we have ever made. It looks challenging for sure but I assure you the non cake decorating person can do this. If you are interested in making this cake, head on over to my blog for the details and more pictures. Enjoy the cake and have a wonderful day!

Christmas Cup Cake Wreath Made Easy With Signature Brand Products

Disclosure: Grandma Bonnie's Closet has not been compensated for the following product review. I received product samples for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own. You can find the following Signature Brand Products on my Holiday Gift Guide. 

We are always busy during the holiday season. With all the rush it is often hard for me to find the time to make an extra special Christmas cake. I love decorating cakes for any occasion. When I am in a rush cupcakes are simply a better choice for most occasions.
With the holiday season sneaking up on us so quickly I thought I would share with you an easy but fun Christmas Cup Cake Wreath.

Supplies needed:

 Betty Crocker No Fade Baking Cups

The No Fade baking cups are high quality, foil lined, standard size, paper cupcake liners. They not only look great on my cupcakes they did not fade or leak. I just love how pretty they make my cupcakes look. 

Christmas Wreaths Candy Cake Decorations

I found the candy Cake Decorations easy to remove from the packaging. There were 16 pieces in the package. I love the bright colors of each piece. They would be perfect on cupcakes, cakes, brownies and even cookies. 

Cake Mate Christmas Decor Four Pack

The Christmas Decor four pack is perfect for all your Christmas decorating needs. The package includes green sugar, red sugar, Holly Berry Decors and Jingle Mix Nonpareils. Not only are they pretty on cakes, cupcakes, and cookies they are perfect to use for decorating ice cream for your grandchild. 

Lastly, Butter Cream Icing and cake batter. (scratch or box mix your choice)

Red and green food coloring to color your icing.

Fill your baking cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake according to the instructions on your recipe or box mix. 

I baked 24 vanilla cupcakes. I used 18 cupcakes for the wreath. You can use all 24 to make a  larger wreath. 

I iced the cupcakes with a star piping tip.

Decorate your cupcakes with the candy cake decorations and the colored candy sprinkles. 

Pipe a ribbon at the top of your cupcake wreath and you are finished. 

If you are not in the mood to make a wreath you can also make a few Christmas tree, snowflake or Santa cupcakes.

 

 

I hope this will pass along some holiday inspiration. What is your go to dessert for the Holidays? 

Cake Decorating Made Easy With Royal Icing & Ateco Decorating Tube Set

Disclosure: Grandma Bonnie's Closet was not compensated for the review of this product. I received a free product from ShopAtDean.com in exchange for an honest opinion. The opinions expressed are my own.

If you are a long time reader of Grandma Bonnie's Closet then you know that one of my favorite hobbies is cake decorating. I am always looking for new and interesting cake decorating products to play with. I often browse online in my spare time looking at cake decorating sites and supply companies. That is how I came across Dean Supply Online. I sat for at least an hour looking at all their kitchen and baking supplies. Then I came across the Ateco 55 Piece Decorating Pastry Tube Set. I began to dream of all the lovely cakes I could make with this awesome set. I thought why not ask for a set to review. My readers enjoy making cakes for their grandchildren/children. You all do, right!
Dean Supply Online is a family run business of 63 years. If you ever visit Ohio and are in the Cleveland area you might want to visit their showroom on Woodland Ave. Hmm, I bet that would make a good blog post.

On with the review. A little over a week ago I received this lovely 55 piece Tube Set. I was impressed with Dean Supply's friendly service and amazingly fast shipping. That is one reason I like to support family owned and run businesses. A good family business puts their customers first and works to see that they are happy and satisfied. I am indeed happy and extremely satisfied.

The set includes two Rose/Flower nails, a coupler for changing tubes and 52 decorating tubes(tips). Included in the 52 tips are multiple writing tips, string tips, star tips, border tips, and leaf tips. Best of all, these beautiful tubes came in a nice heavy duty case for storage. 

This is a pastry filling tip. Imagine how easily I can fill donuts and cupcakes with custard fillings. I will be testing this tip out soon and let you all know how it works. 

The tube to your left is a grass or hair making tube. The tube at the right makes borders and can be used to make a basket weave design on cakes. (Stay tuned for a basket weave cake post in the near future.)

I found the tips easy to use, easy to clean and fun to decorate cakes with. The important thing about getting tips clean after use is a brush made for tube cleaning or a pipe cleaner. I found the tubes easy to clean with pipe cleaners. The coupler that came with the set makes it easy to fill one pastry bag with icing and easily interchange tubes through out the decorating process.  

I used the coupler in this pastry bag. Just drop in the first piece of the coupler. Then add the tube on the outside of the bag and place the ring over the tube. I dropped the bag into a glass and folded the bag over to make it easy to fill with Royal Icing. I then covered my cake in white fondant. I selected a few interesting tubes to test. 

First I used tube #070 for the draped border on the top edge. Then tube #32 for the bottom edge. Next, I tried the rose tube #127 with the large rose/flower nail. It took lots of practice to get a few flowers to even begin to look like a rose. Well, at least they resemble a rose of sorts. Finally, I used tubes #34 and #4 to make leaves and vines. 

Now, I have a surprise for you. This is my first attempt at a YouTube video. I would love for you to watch this short video. I am demonstrating the use of the above tubes while decorating a cake with Royal Icing. It is a short video and I do appreciate your support. Thank you for watching.

I hope you enjoyed the video. Follow Dean Supply Online with Facebook and Twitter. 

Easter Bunny Cake

While off visiting my grandsons we had the enjoyment of making an Easter Cake. My grandson loves to help when ever I am baking so he was right in their learning how to frost a cake. I don't think I have ever taught a three year old how to frost a cake before. The experience was pure joy. Now I have made many nice Easter cakes before but I think this one was so easy and fun for my grandson that I will be making another this week with my granddaughters.
We used a cake mix. I normally make my cakes from scratch but it was much easier for my grandson to use a box mix. we prepare the cake as instructed on the box. I baked the cake in a 13 x 9 inch pan. When the cake was cooled I cut to pieces for ears and the remaining cake I cut in half and stacked.

My grandson iced the cake with butter cream frosting. we then covered the cake in shredded coconut. Last, we decorated with our favorite candies.

Have you decorated any cakes lately? What dessert do you have planned for Easter?

Update On Painted Kitchen Counter

It has been about four months since I painted my kitchen counters and I thought it was time for an update on how they were standing up to all the use they were getting. If you have not seen the before post and pictures you can check them out here.

Painting the cupboards was the worst part of redoing our kitchen. I found a paint color I like at the hardware store. It was in the Valspar signature collection. The color was Terra and had an earthy marble affect when applied. I specifically asked the paint mixer at the counter if the paint would work on my kitchen cupboards. I was assured that it would work fine. As I knew once a paint is custom tinted it could not be returned. At $45 a gallon (we needed two in the end) I wanted to be sure it was right. Once we had put the first coat on the cupboards I realized the paint was not washable. Not to get to detailed here I was extremely angry.  After a trip back to the hardware store the solution was to paint a clear coat over the cupboards. 

Now on to the walls. If you remember the wall paper was white and printed with green leaves and burgundy flowers. I painted the walls the color Imperial Sand. 

Last to be done was our counter-tops. This is the paint I used.

Before

After

I found the Rust-Oleum counter-top paint to be easy and fun to use! I like how it with stands the abuse of my husband and son. They are both very hard on surfaces. I thought there would be a problem with the paint scratching and peeling. Well, I have not found one scratch and no peeling after four months. 

I have only one problem with the counter paint. When water sits on the surface for a while the spot becomes white. Now I know this is a water spot that can sometime happen on furniture. Like I said before my guys are rough on the counter and get it wet all the time. They do dry off the counter when they get it wet but often times they miss a spot and that's when it gets a water spot. The spots do fade away once the surface is let to dry. I did some research and what I found was the paint needs to cure over time. Once it has finished curing the water spots will no longer happen. 

I have a couple tips that might help if you decide to paint your counters.

1. Make sure your counters are clean and free of dust, grease or dirt. 

2. Sand each and every inch of surface as instructed then wash again. 

3. Tape off and cover all surfaces that will not be painted. This paint is thin. It can splash and drip easily. 

4. Wear goggles & gloves. Have a spare pair of gloves available for quick change. The paint will stick to your gloves making all your fingers stick together. Lol, lesson learned.

5. This paint dries very quickly. All needed supplies should be at your finger tips. Believe me there is no time to find a smaller brush or a wet rag. 

6. I found the sponge brushes worked best for me. I first tried an expensive foam brush and foam roller. The foam brush left bubbles on the surface. A regular brush left lines. I was very lucky to have a couple cheap sponge brushes and rollers I had intended to use on another project just laying near by. It would have been bad to let the paint dry with bubble or streaks on the surface I had already painted. I suggest having a few types handy for your project. I believe the surface might have something to do with how the paint and brushes react together. 

7. Make sure the work area is well ventilated. This paint has a very strong odor. 

More before and after photos.

I enjoyed working on my kitchen and am mostly happy with the results. We have a lot more work to do before it is complete. For now I need a break from the kitchen and I am contemplating starting on the guest bedroom or bathroom. I am not sure which to do next. Have you painted anything lately? I would love to hear about your projects.

DIY: Decorating A Pumpkin Cake

Around this time every year I like to make a pumpkin cake for my son's birthday. This has become a tradition in our home. The cake you see here was made by myself, my daughter in law and my daughter.

Today I had to make my son's birthday cake on my own. I used the same technique as the above cake with just a little difference in the final touches.

First pour the cake batter into two stainless steal bowls (Pyrex glass bowls can be used) of the same size.

Once the cakes cool stack them together. Using icing between them to secure the cakes together.

Now apply a thin crumb layer of icing over the cake. At this point I laid foil (wax paper would also work) on the cake stand up against the bottom edge of the cake to catch the drips from the icing. This makes it easier to clean up the cake stand after icing.

The following step is my technique for getting smooth icing on a round cake. If you are using canned or homemade icing you will need to heat the icing in the microwave for a few seconds. You can also heat the icing on the stove in a double boiler. I heat it only to pouring consistency. Using a measuring cup pour the icing over the cake.

Once you have finished covering the cake you can spoon icing onto the lower half of the cake. This is where I changed my cake up this year. I used my cake spatula and pulled the icing up over the cake in single strokes. It made a textured pattern some what like a pumpkin.
Making the stem is very simple. I used a chunk of cake and spooned warm icing over the piece. Then lifted it onto the cake with a spatula.

This is my favorit part of making the cake. Decorate the cake with fall leaves. Using a piping tip and leaf tip decorate your cake with vines and leaves. Or just use fall leaves from a craft store.

Both cakes were easy and fun to make. It is nice to be able to make a cake with out buying a special pan. I have also made this same cake using a bunt cake pan. I did not like the results as much as I do using a mixing bowl. Do you have a cake decorating technique you would like to share? I would love to share your ideas with my readers. 

Decorating a Tangled (Rapunzel) Bedroom

I would like to Welcome My Daughter-in-law to Grandma Bonnie's Closet. I hope you all enjoy her post.
Hello, I am from Tootsabella and The Rose and I am guest posting here today at Grandma Bonnie's Closet. You can visit my blog at tootsabellarose.blogspot.com. My husband and I recently bought our first home. It is perfect in every way for our family. The girls each have their own bedroom for when they are older. They share one now because they are so young and want to be in the same room. The other room serves as a toy room. One thing about the house is that the paint job is terrible. I always joke with my husband that the 4 yr old who lived in the house before us painted it. Regardless, we are in the process of repainting the home to make it us. We started with the girls room. After all, it was the biggest eyesore in the house. My four yr old didn't even want to redo the room because it was so ugly. She didn't realize you can transform a room. This is how we did it. We had to figure out a theme. Both of my daughter's like the movie Tangled which is the new Disney Rapunzel movie. We now have a theme. I really got into it, designing every little detail. Everything in the room represents something from the movie. I am really glad we set this theme because we can put modern flair into it, give it some ambiance, and humor all while keeping it geared towards a younger age. The best thing of all is that we kept it Disney and cartoon like without making it gaudy. Our creation is not finished yet. There is still more to be done. I have many more ideas up my sleeve for this amazing space. Enjoy our pics!


This is what the room looked like when we bought the house. Who would have thought to make a blue room with that nasty fan!!



Working on the paint job.

Under the pascal ceiling light pic type "The first thing we did was  rip that fan out. Unfortunately it had to have a pull string, but we worked around that setback and it looks great!"

For more pictures of my girls' Rapunzel room, visit my blog at tootsabellarose.blogspot.com. There you will find more detailed pictures and more things found around the room that you haven't seen yet. Wait till you see the windows and doors!!! Hurry over. Thank you for visiting Grandma Bonnie's Closet and reading my guest post! Remember, I will be updating my blog as it is being finished. I also will be posting more rooms in our home as we repaint and decorate our new home. Thanks again for visiting!

Simple Cake Decorating Tip: Icing With Out Crumbs

I started decorating cakes when my daughter asked me to make her Wedding Cake. I did a lot of practicing when I first started. I would like to share with you some of the easy techniques I learned along the way. My first question was how do I keep cake crumbs out of the Icing while I am frosting my cake. Have you ever frosted a cake and been aggravated with the crumbs getting into the icing making the surface speckled with bits of cake. I can not stand crumbs in my icing. The answer I found that worked for me was to use the two layers of Icing method. The first layer is called a crumb layer. The second is the finishing layer.

Chill the cake before you begin. I usually set it in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes. Now dust any crumbs off the cake. Your icing should be room temperature.  This will make it easier to spread. Use a spatula to spread a thin layer of icing over your cake. Try not to let the spatula touch the cake. Once you have the first layer of icing on the cake let it sit to air dry for about 5 minutes.  Now spoon a large amount of icing in the center top of the cake. Using the spatula spread the icing out to the edge. Do not allow the spatula to touch the crumb layer. Use a sweeping motion from center to edge. Lift the spatula taking the excess icing off. Scrape the icing off the spatula returning it to the bowl. If there are any crumbs on the spatula or icing clean the spatula off with a paper towel.  Now you can frost the sides with icing. Cover the sides with icing. Hold the spatula straight up and down. Hold the edge of the spatula against the cake smoothing the icing as you turn the cake. Any excess build up of icing can be returned to the bowl. Continue until the sides are smooth. Sorry I do not have any photos of this process.

  This is a photo of a smooth cake top. It was taken before the top was decorated. ( one of my first practice cakes)

This is the same cake with the sides decorated.