Best Cakes of 2012

This is always a fun but difficult post for me. I find myself looking over the past year and it is so fun to see all the cakes that I have created. They bring back so many memories for me. Then I try to chose my favorites...and that is really hard. Every cake I make is special to me. I seriously put a small part of myself into all my creations. I LOVE making cakes. And I am so grateful to my customers for choosing to use me for their cakes and allowing me to continue doing what I love. So with that said here are some of my favorite cakes from 2012.

2012 was an interesting year. It was the year of Pinterest...you may have heard of it. Pinterest brought about many trends in the cakes. When people described the cake they wanted I heard words like, ombre, vintage, ruffles, antiqued, owls. So here are just a few Pinterest inspired cakes.

Ruffle cakes... I have literally made ruffles until my little fingers want to fall off. :)

Ombre...the first time I heard this word, I had NO idea what my customer was saying. Now, I am all too familiar with "Ombre." 

Vintage, and antique are two more words that have shown up in descriptions of cakes. This cake was so fun and I think it definitely has a "vintage" feel.

Unless you have been living under a rock...you have seen an owl this past year. This is one of my favorite owl cake designs. I love its whimsy.

 Along with Pinterest trends, here are some of my favorite cakes of 2012.

I love this cake, because it surprised me. At first I wasn't sure how the colors where going to work. I just wasn't excited about it. Then as I made it and completed it, I fell in love with it. 

I loved the flowers and colors on this cake. Very much my style.

This was for a cute lady who was celebrating being "cancer free." I loved how it turned out, but loved even more what it was representing. 

This cake taught me a new flower, the carnation, which I love.

I LOVE 3-D cakes. They challenge me, and that makes my job fun. 

Here are some of my favorite 3-D cakes of 2012.

My first armadillo cake. It was so much fun to make! And the bride and groom LOVED it!! 

The year of Zombies brought about a few Zombie inspired cakes. 

Loved making them and how they turned out!!!

This was by far my largest cake of 2012. I loved making it for Ebay.

I always love making cakes for my family. This was for my sweetheart Chris and his father. They are avid duck hunters and this celebrated their birthdays and the opening of duck season. People couldn't believe these were cakes...lol!

And lastly, my gingerbread house cake. Really loved how this turned out. 

Thank you all for making our 2012 AMAZING!!! We hope that we can continue to serve you and your family with our "sweet surprises." I am truly honored to be able to be a part of your lives through my creations. 

Sweet Surprises

We hope your holiday season is wonderful. I just love this time of year. I love how everything transforms into this wonderful winter wonderland. This is such a fun time at Dippidee. Come in and see some of our beautiful creations. We have so many sweet surprises that are sure to help make your holidays sweeter.

Peppermint cupcakes

Peppermint Meltaways

Beautiful gifts for those on your Christmas list

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Oreos

This is just a sneak peek of things we have to offer. So stop by or call in an order. And let Dippidee help make your holiday a sweet surprise.

NO NOT A GINGERBREAD HOUSE...

Confession, I don't like making gingerbread houses. Years ago I decided to be all cool and make a gingerbread house from scratch. I envisioned the most amazing gingerbread house. You know the one with towers, steeples, stained glass candy windows, candy brick path ways, sugary snow everywhere. It was going to be amazing... NOPE, it was a nightmare. Gingerbread isn't fun to bake, and definitely trying to get pieces to bake, that then need to connect..so not happening. I couldn't get the walls to hold together. Nothing connected. My royal icing was all wrong, it just ran everywhere. Stained glass candy windows...yeah right...what a joke. The whole experience was a disaster. Ever since this experience I just have it in my head that "I HATE MAKING GINGERBREAD HOUSES." When my kids want to make a gingerbread house, I buy the kit. You know the one you get at the grocery store. Yes, I own a bakery and I buy the gingerbread house kit.

Well today, I got to conquer my fear of the gingerbread house...well sorta...in my own way. I love working with cake. I am not intimidated by it at all. I will try to make anything using cake as my medium. I am sure you have seen some of my creations. So when one of our customers asked if we could make a gingerbread house out of cake...I was like...yeah, I can do that, even though "I HATE MAKING GINGERBREAD HOUSES."

Today was the day, and here is what I made...

I truly LOVED how it turned out. It was so fun to create this cute little house of sugar and sweets. After I was done, I wanted to move in. So throw me your challenge. I would LOVE to create a special cake for you. 

Love, Marcee

Holiday Pricing

Thanksgiving Pie

I don't know if you were able to join me Monday November 12, 2012 on CW30 Daily Dish and ABC4 Good Things Utah, if not, here are the recipes I shared. You can also see the video of my appearance online. Click here for Dippidee's Foolproof Pie Dough and here for Laura's Old Fashioned Buttermilk/Chess Pie. And thanks for watching!

Dippidee’s Foolproof Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon table salt

2 tablespoons sugar

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup cold vodka

1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until a  dough starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. Pulse a few times until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Dump dough from processor. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

  

Laura’s Old Fashioned Buttermilk/Chess Pie

2 large pie shells, unbaked (See Dippidee’s Foolproof Pie Dough)

6 eggs

3 ¾ cup sugar

½ cup flour

Beat eggs. Mix flour and sugar together. Add to eggs. Mix until incorporated.

Melt one cup of butter. Add to egg mixture along with a pinch of salt, 1 Tblsp. vanilla and 2 cups buttermilk. Mix all together

Put filling in pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

 Makes 2 large pies.

Any questions about the recipes feel free to email me, Marcee@dippidee.com

November 2012

TV Appearance

This past Monday I did a Guest Chef appearance on CW30 Daily Dish and ABC4 Good Things Utah. It was a really fun experience, and I am so looking forward to being on each month. The following are the recipes I shared on my segment. The recipes are really easy, and taste really great. Both are perfect for the holidays. If you have any questions feel free to email me. Also, I will post the links to the video clips where you can see me make the items, that may help. Hope you enjoy! -Marcee

This is for the Creamy Caramel Apple Dip:

http://www.cw30.com/content/news/dailydish/story/Creamy-Caramel-Apple-Dip/VhMlNAh_eUuNbNrZiABSKw.cspx

This is for the Pumpkin Cheesecake Caramel Trifle: http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/gtu/recipes/story/Pumpkin-Cheesecake-Caramel-Trifle/t50DkepnkUyatqWiDRsDGQ.cspx

Creamy Caramel Apple Dip

Easy Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce (recipe below)

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Spread (recipe below)

5-8 Sliced Large Granny Smith Apples (soaked in ginger ale soda to prevent browning)

On a platter spread a nice layer of Marshmallow Cream Cheese Spread. Drizzle Easy Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce all over the cream cheese layer. Right before serving, put sliced apples all around the platter surrounding the cream cheese caramel dip. Serve.

Easy Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup hot heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Stir the sugar, 1/8  teaspoon kosher salt, corn syrup, water and lemon juice together in a 2-cup microwave-safe measuring cup or medium glass bowl. Microwave until the caramel is just barely starting to take on some color, 5-8 minutes (depending on your microwave). This is the point where you really need to have faith - don't be tempted to keep heating the caramel in the microwave until it is darker. 

Place the measuring cup on your counter and just let it sit undisturbed. Over the next few minutes the caramel will darken to a nice amber color.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, heat your cream in a microwave safe measuring cup or small glass bowl until it is hot, usually about 1-2 minutes. If you add cold cream to the caramel sauce it will seize up, and though you can fix it by setting it over low heat and stirring, it's easier to just start with hot cream.

Once the caramel reaches the right color, add the hot cream, a few tablespoons at a time. It will bubble up intensely, but it won't overflow. After you've added all of the cream, stir to incorporate then add the butter, vanilla and remaining kosher salt. Once the caramel cools you can store it in the refrigerator (it is good for a few weeks). Gently reheat it when you want to use it.

Cream Cheese Spread

1 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)

1 large jar marshmallow fluff

1 teaspoon vanilla

In standing mixer beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add marshmallow fluff, beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, beat until incorporated.

Sliced Granny Smith Apples

Slice 5-8 large Granny Smith apples. Soak in ginger ale soda for ten minutes. This process keeps the apple slices from turning brown, and keeps the apples tasting like apples. Dry apples off and place on platter.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Caramel Trifle

Pumpkin Cake (recipe below)

No-Bake Cheesecake (recipe below)

Easy Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce (recipe below)

Fresh Whipped Cream (recipe below)

Ground cinnamon

Ground nutmeg

In a glass trifle dish layer pumpkin cake, cheesecake and caramel sauce until bowl is filled. Decorate the top with fresh whipped cream, cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve.

Pumpkin Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 can (15 ounce) pumpkin

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and serve, or store in the refrigerator.

No Bake Cheesecake

1 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tsp pure vanilla

Beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk. Beat until smooth. Add ¼ cup of lemon juice, beat until smooth and starting to thicken. Add vanilla. Beat until incorporated, cheesecake will thicken as sets up.

Fresh Whipping Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla

In large mixing bowl beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Don’t overbeat…or you will have butter. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until incorporated.