All posts by Melissa

Pickup Truck Cake

Celebration Cakes

Pickup Truck Cake | Lil Miss Cakes

I am finally over my fear of car cakes!  I have made a few in the past, but each one gets better and better.  This one got me nervous because the truck needed to be driving up a pile of dirt.  I usually decorate cakes as I go along, I don’t often do a lot of planning, but car cakes need to be planned out.  I designed a template for the shape of the truck and used that to carve out the whole cake.  I have carved cakes by eye in the past and they never come out realistic enough.  They looked cute, but not to scale.

Pickup Truck Cake | Lil Miss Cakes

This cake was made for the boss of a company so the license plate read “Boss” which I love. I made the whole truck and then built a styrofoam ramp to prop the cake up.  I added the wheels once the truck was propped up on the ramp.

Pickup Truck Cake Side View | Lil Miss Cakes

The wheels were always the toughest part, so a few years ago I invested in a silicone mold set of wheels to have on hand.  I’m so happy that I did!  The wheels look round, detailed and were easy to make!  I made the wheels out of black fondant and then added a circle of white fondant to the center and then painted that silver.  The car handles and bumpers were also painted silver.  The only thing that could have made this cake better would be working lights!  Maybe next time.

Preschool Of Rock Birthday

Celebration Cakes, Cookies,

Drum Cake | Lil Miss Cakes

I love when people get creative with their birthday parties!  This party theme was “Preschool of Rock”; how cute!  All the desserts were made to match the party invitation.  The birthday boy loves music and loves to drum, so the cake was made to look like one.  I’ve done a toy drum cake before, but this one was completely different!  This design was super simple, so I used color and texture to add interest.

First Birthday Drum Cake | Lil Miss Cakes

I made the drumsticks a few days before so they would have time to dry and keep their shape.  I used some stencils to emboss stars on the stars and a herringbone pattern on the number one.

Music Cake Pops | Lil Miss Cakes

The cake pops were red velvet cake to match the color scheme.  I dipped the pops in blue candy melts and then allowed them to dry before piping the musical notes on.  I used paper straws instead of the usual lollipop sticks to keep these even more fun.  I’ve done a similar cake pop before, but I always like to change it up.

Electric Guitar Cookies | Lil Miss Cakes

I was asked to make guitar cookies, but I wanted to make a completely different design than I’ve done before so I designed myself an electric guitar cookie cutter (you can purchase it here) and made these!  I really love this color scheme, it’s perfect for a first birthday party.

Pumpkin Chai Hamantaschen

Cookies, , ,

Pumpkin Chai Hamantaschen | Lil Miss Cakes

I can’t believe it took me this long to come up with this hamantaschen flavor!  I love pumpkin and I love chai, but I guess since this isn’t pumpkin season, this idea hasn’t hit me-until now.  And I’m so happy I thought of it!  I always have Oregon Chai tea concentrate on hand because I love making my own chai tea lattes during the winter.  I use the chai tea concentrate as the liquid in the dough, and to further bring out that flavor I  make my own chai spice blend.  The spice blend has a lot of ingredients, but they are all so amazing, once you own them, you will find yourself using them in sweet and savory dishes!  I love pumpkin but don’t really like pumpkin pie.  But this hamantaschen recipe needed a pumpkin pie filling, so I was on the hunt for a filling even I would love.  I remembered seeing a recipe I thought I would like by Bakerella (one of my idols and the inventor of the cake pop).  She uses cream cheese along side the pumpkin in her pie bites recipe; so I did the same thing but used dairy-free tofutti cream cheese and spiced it with my chai spice blend. Holy deliciousness!  My dough is soft, tender, and so easy to work with.  The dough needs no refrigeration and doesn’t lose it’s shape.  These cookies are packed with flavor and freeze so well.  The dough and filling can even be prepared the day before, just wrap and chill in the fridge.  The next day, just shape and bake.  I’m not sure which hamantaschen are my favorite anymore.  These are definitely on par with my cookies n’ cream recipe, but a bit more sophisticated than my funfetti hamantaschen.  Just try them all!

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Pumpkin Chai Hamantaschen
Serves: 3 dozen
 
Ingredients
Dough
  • ½ cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2½ cups flour
  • ¾ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp. chai spice mix
  • 3 Tbs. chai tea concentrate (such as Oregon Chai)
Pumpkin Filling
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 4 oz. dairy-free cream cheese (such as Tofutti)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. chai spice mix
Chai Spice Mix
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • ¾ tsp. ginger
  • ¾ tsp. cardamom
  • ⅛ tsp. clove
  • ⅛ tsp. nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp. black pepper
Icing
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 3-4 Tbs. cold water
Instructions
Make the spice mix
  1. Stir the spices together and set aside to use in the dough and the pumpkin filling.
Prepare the dough
  1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening with the sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and mix until combined. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and spice mix and slowly mix on low speed. Pour in the chai tea concentrate and mix until a dough is formed. You can use the dough right away, but if the dough is too sticky, wrap and chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Prepare the filling
  1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth and no longer lumpy.
  2. Mix in the pumpkin, egg, and spices.
Form the hamantaschen
  1. On a lightly floured surface, or on a floured sheet of parchment paper, roll out a piece of the dough until thin. Use a round cutter (2½ to 3 inch in diameter) and cut out circles of dough. Fill each round with 1 tsp. of filling and pinch the seams together to form a triangle. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet and bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool before drizzling the icing.
Icing
  1. Mix the confectioners sugar with a little bit of water and mix until combined. Keep adding water until the desired consistency. I like a thick and opaque icing. Drizzle the icing on the cooled hamantaschen and allow to dry.