Archive for December, 2008

The key to this cake is the pan. You can find these at wonderful stores like William-Sonoma. Once you have the pan, here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

• 1 white cake mix (plus items box calls for)
• 1 can (6.4 oz) Betty Crocker Easy Flow pink decorating icing
• 1 cup round colored candies
• 11 banana-shaped hard candies or Runts
• 11 candy wafers (aka melting chocolate)
• ½ cup pillow mints
• 2 rolls of Smarties
• Candy coated gum
• Crazy curl candles
• Pam baking spray with flour

And here’s how you do it:

1. Preheat your oven and generously grease the (NordicWare Castle Bundt) cake pan with Pam baking spray with flour.
2. Prepare the cake mix according to the box and bake. (Use a toothpick to ensure the cake is completely cooked before removing from the oven, but be careful not to burn it.)
3. Allow the cake to cool inside the pan for at least 10 minutes.
4. Lightly tap the exterior of the pan with a wooden spoon around each tower to ensure the towers didn’t stick.
5. Turn the cake pan upside down onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool for at least an hour before starting the decorating process.
6. Line your cake plate with tears of wax paper that can easily be slid out from under the cake once you’ve iced it, and then place your cooled cake in the center.
7. Pipe pink icing around the base of your castle and place round candies in three rows as shown in the picture. Also add round candies to the top of the castle as desired.
8. Outline each window with pink icing. Top the window with a banana-shaped candy to form an arch. Push one candy wafer, flat side up, into the cake at the bottom edge of the window to look like a windowsill.
9. Outline the door, roof and entrance of the castle. Place mints and Smarties in icing at the entrance to look like the walkway. Use gum to the rooftop to look like shingles and top each tower with a candle.

Remember, it’s your little princess’ day so let her help. No perfect cake is worth a wasted memory.

I just approved a new design and lovingly named it “pink petals.” And since it is so adorable we’re also going to have a “blue petals.” We have a few more things to wrap up and within days you’ll be able to get these beautiful new designs under girlfriend gatherings for baby showers and under birthdays for our little girls.

I’ll tweet and post as soon as they’re available. Not following me on twitter, you should; I often post discounts! Check out the one I posted today: http://twitter.com/celebshoppe

So how many of you can go the season without a little peppermint bark? When I was in corporate America we would get huge tins of it from vendors, so believe me… my family has eaten their weight in it over the years. So when I thought of giving gifts “from the heart” and from the kitchen this year, I thought of peppermint bark. Here are the ingredients from MarthaStewart.com: (This makes about 2 ¼ lbs.)

• 2 pounds white chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 12 large candy canes
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil

And easy steps:

1. Line an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet with parchment, and set aside.
2. In the top of a double boiler, melt white chocolate, stirring constantly.
3. With a chef’s knife or meat tenderizer, cut or pound candy canes into 1/4-inch pieces.
4. Stir pieces of candy canes and peppermint oil into the melted chocolate. Remove from heat, and pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet; spread evenly. Chill until firm, 25 to 30 minutes. Break into pieces, and serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.