All posts by Melissa

Nurse Cake

Nurse Cake | Lil Miss CakesThis cake has become pretty popular since I made it, yet I have not gotten around to posting it here until now. Better late than never though! I wish I had shared it here earlier because now I cna’t remember exactly how I constructed it. I definitely made a paper template to carve the cake because I still have it, but I don’t exactly remember which size cakes I baked. Oops sorry!

Fondant Stethscope | Lil Miss Cakes

I covered the whole cake in this pretty light green fondant. I think I used mint green and a touch of sky blue gel color to create this color. I love making these edible fondant stethoscopes. I’ve made a few doctor cakes (you can see them here and here) and I always include them. I start with gray fondant for the metal parts. Then after shaping and placing on the cake I paint them with silver luster dust to give them some sparkle.  The black parts are just black fondant that I buy pre-colored. I also added a little name tag that I cut out of fondant. I piped the lettering on with some black royal icing.

Fondant Pockets | Lil Miss Cakes

At the bottom of the cake I added two pockets. To make the pockets I cut a rectangle out of the same green fondant. Then I folded part of the rectangle down and used a quilting tool to add some stitching detail. I added that same detail on the sleeves. I couldn’t leave the pockets empty so I made a scissor pop out of one side and a blister pack or medication on the other.  The scissors are just two “P” shaped thin logs of fondant. The medication was also simple to make. I rolled out a thin piece of gray fondant and cut it into a rectangle, slightly rounding the corners.. Then I used the same quilting tool and detailed around the edge. I also made two straight lines down and a few across to create a grid. Then I cut the pills out of red fondant using the end of a straight piping tip. I glued them on with a little sugar glue. That’s pretty much it-simple yet fun!

Spiced Apple Cider {Recipe}

Spiced Apple Cider | Lil Miss Cakes

There is nothing cozier than a soft blanket, cold weather and a warm drink. I came up with this recipe last year as I was prepping my turkey for the oven. I wanted to be able to serve my guests a warm holiday drink, but I wanted it to be enjoyed by everyone, adults, kids, and pregnant moms alike. I also wanted it to stay warm throughout the Thanksgiving meal. I occurred to me that I wouldn’t be using my slow cooker that evening, so that is exactly where I prepared my cider. The best part about this recipe is you can prep it in the slow cooker early in the morning and then forget about it while you prepare the rest of your meal. And what would spiced cider be without a little rum though, right?! I leave the bottle of rum off to the side and let my guests add a bit to their mugs as they serve themselves. Cheers!

Spiced Apple Cider {Recipe}
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12 cups
 
Ingredients
  • 12 cups apple cider
  • ¼ cup silan (date syrup) or maple syrup
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • ½ tsp. ground all spice
  • ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • peel of one lemon
  • peel of one orange
  • rum to taste, optional
Instructions
  1. Pour the apple cider into a large slow cooker. Add the silan or maple syrup, cinnamon sticks, all spice, and nutmeg and stir. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the lemon and orange and add to the slow cooker. Cover and set the slow cooker to low. Cook for 2-4 hours until warmed through. Turn the slow cooker to warm and serve.
  2. Optional but recommended: Add a bit of rum to each mug of cider.
  3. *This can also be made in a pot on the stove. Just bring the cider to a boil and tun it down to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Thanksgiving Place Card Cookies

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Last year I had some great Thanksgiving cookie ideas. One was the easy to decorate 2 part layered turkey cookie and the other was a turkey platter (original design by the great cookier Sweet Sugarbelle.) I almost didn’t post both ideas at that time becuase I didn’t think I would come up with anything cuter. But I shared because I couldn’t hold back. Luckily, a great design popped in my head just in time for Thanksgiving! I had this idea for a cookie stick that could be used as a place card to decorate your holiday table. I thought it would be so festive to help decorate your holiday table if each guest got his or her own cookie. I baked my perfect sugar cookies and I used royal icing to decorate mine and just wrote a simple holiday message, but they could also be personalized with names or initials. I wanted to design one that could work horizontally and one vertically, but it seemed like it would be confusing to offer 2 different cutters. I figured I could probably make each design work both ways if I tweaked it enough and it totally worked!  These cutters are so cute and user friendly.

Thanksgiving Cutter Imprint | Lil Miss Cakes

The cutter cuts a nice clean edge and then leaves an imprint of the design on the cookie. After it is baked, all the outlines are there for you-there is no guesswork or extra stenciling to get the perfect design. I decorated my cookies with royal icing but to demo how the cutter cuts I used fondant. That gave me another idea! I think if you used fondant to cover your sugar cookie, you could use edible markers to decorate them. The kids would love to decorate these as well! Imagine each guest at your table getting a cookie with his or her name on it decorated with love by your kids. Super cute idea! This is especially great if you aren’t so good with royal icing or if you simply don’t have the time. These would be cute on each guests plate or even standing up in a glass! Those are just some of my ideas, but I can’t wait to see what you come up with! You can find all my holiday place card cutters in my shop.