Joyce Gourmet

Winter continues in VA.  It snowed again but hopefully for the last time of the winter season on March 30th.  So what do you do when life throws you granny smith & fuji apples?  You make Granny Fuji Apple Pie!  This was of course Claire's request and she did a fabulous job helping to roll out the dough, mixing the cinnamon-y-sugar-y sauce, cut out the lattice strips, and eat her portion. Happy-Last-Day-Of-Winter!    

  What do you give to a friend who is turning 35?  Chocolate covered Chocolate Cake Pops,  on a custom made & painted cake pop board!! Happy 35th Birthday, Sly!

I received a request for a Mickey Mouse Cake for her son's first birthday.  The mother had seen a previous cake I had created and asked for the same design.  The hardest part of this cake -- acquiring this 1995 Wilton discontinued cake pan -- was already taken care of with my first request for this cake.  The rest (piping a gazillion stars) was a piece of cake -- pun intended! :-) Cake: Marble (Vanilla & Chocolate) Cake Icing: Vanilla Buttercream Happy 1st Birthday, Kaiden!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The year has gone by too quickly, I can't believe it is already mid March! And it's still snowing!!  To brighten the day/week/month, I decided to make some Chocolate Rainbow Cake Pops, with Chocolate Cake! :-)

I was asked to make a Japanese Strawberry Shortcake for a very special 40th Birthday, along with 3 dozen cake pops.  The 4 layer cake was filled with 3 layers of fresh strawberries and whipped cream, which ended up being 5 inches tall.  Then I decided to top the 10 inch diameter cake with 40 strawberries, and make a variety of designs for the 3 dozen cake pops.  Her favorite color being yellow I made yellow cake pops (Vanilla Cake) with white swirls and white cake pops (Chocolate Cake) with yellow swirls, all tied with a little white ribbon.  The other 2 designs were a blue ombre (Vanilla Cake) made with layers of fondant ruffles, tied with a little blue ribbon and pink sakura (cherry blossom) flowers (Chocolate Cake) for the spring season, tied with a little green ribbon. Cake: Japanese Strawberry Shortcake Filling: 3 layers of fresh strawberries with whipped cream Frosting: whipped cream Topping: 40 whole fresh strawberries Cake Pops: Yellow with white swirls: Vanilla