Tuesday Toppers: Would you like some Cheese?

This week, unfortunately I didn't get the time to make Wallace like I had wanted for this weeks topper. Instead I choose this quick and easy piece of cheese:D. If you've ever seen any of the Wallace and Gromit movies, you know that Wallace has a slight obsession with the pungent dairy product. Wensleydale to be exact, and although i'm not really sure what Wensleydale looks like, here's my impression of the cheese and here's what you'll need to make it:

-Fondant smoother
-Ball tool
-Small ball of yellow fondant

-Using fondant smoother, flatten ball slightly.

-Using your fingers, pinch one end to form the start of a triangle

-Turn piece on its end to flatten the back side.

-Using fondant smoother again, flatten the back..

-and sides.

-Next Pinch all of the egdes to make them more pronounced.

- Then using the small end of the ball tool, make small and large holes all over the cheese.

-MMM cheese!

Happy Tuesday everyone:D

Tuesday Toppers: Wallace and Gromit Cupcakes

Last week I made my dear hubby a Wallace and gromit cake for his birthday, but I did that for him on the weekend. So for his actual birthday I made him some wallace and gromit cupcakes. I just love wallace and gromit so I had so much fun making these! For this weeks topper I decided to show you how to make Shaun. Every morning the hubby and my youngest daughter love to watch the shaun the sheep cartoon together before he goes to work so I thought it would be perfect to show you how to make him! Here's what you will need:

-Fondant smoother
-Ball tool
-Leaf veining tool
-Paintbrush and water
-1" and 1/2" ball of black fondant
-3/4" ball and small amount of white fondant

-On a side note, I recommend doing the white first, otherwise you will end up with some of the black color on your white! Now take the larger ball of white and roll it just a slightly into a log .

-Take the small end of the ball tool and make indentations all over to imitate the wool.

-Take the smaller ball of fondant and make two eyes.

-For the face take the bigger ball of black and roll it into a cylinder with the fondant smoother.

-Take the fondant smoother again and flatten it slightly.

-Pinch one end gently to for the top of the face.

-Using your finger round off the corner of the wider end.

-For the ears roll out the small ball of fondant into a rope about 1/4" thick.

- pull off the two ends and set aside the center piece.

-taper the rough ends.

-Take the leaf veiner and make an line in each ear.

-Curve them slightly. Then take some of the excess black and make very tiny balls for the eyes.

-All of the pieces.

- To attach the ears, use the leaf veiner and make a hole on each side close to the top of the face.

-With a small amount of water attach the top knot and ears.

-Using the small side of the ball tool, make two indents for the eyes close together.

-Place the white balls in the indents you just made and then the black and press very gently to flatten the black out. For the nose, take the leaf veiner and make two indents and the bottom of the face.

Have a baaautiful day everyone :D

Aunt Rosie's Banana Bread and Mixingbowl.com

Today's post is a two sided post. First I thought I'd share one of my most favorite recipes, my Great Aunt Rosie's banana bread recipe that I've adjusted just a touch (I can never leave a recipe alone, lol). We've been making this recipe since I was a little girl and it was the way we always used up the "icky" bananas that had gotten too ripe. By adding a cinnamon sugar topping before you bake it, it makes the yummiest crust, and I've been known to pick it off before eating the bread :D.

The second part of the post is to talk about mixingbowl.com. I love this site. Its a great place to find and share recipes and it has an added bonus of contests! Who doesn't love contest, and this is where I need your help! I've entered this banana bread recipe into The Best Banana Bread Challenge over there and to win you need to get people to vote for you. Your friends, your family, your third cousin twice removed, you get the picture. So if you could please head on over to www.mixingbowl.com and vote for Aunt Rosie's Cinnamon Banana Bread I would be forever grateful. While your there check out all of the great recipes and maybe enter yourself into on of the many contests they have!

Aunt Rosie's Cinnamon Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2c. butter or margarine
1 c. sugar, (I usually use brown sugar instead)
2 eggs
1 c. ripe banana, mashed (approx. 3 medium)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk + 1/2 tbsp vinegar or 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp cinnamon (this wasn't in her recipe I just like it, and its optional)

Cinnamon sugar topping (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

If making your own buttermilk put 1/2 tbsp vinegar in 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk, set aside.

Spray two loaf pans (8" x 4") with cooking spray or line two muffin pans with cupcake liners.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add in mashed banana, egg, and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mixing the rest of the way by hand, add half of dry ingredients and mix and then half of the milk and mix. Do the same with the other half of dry and wet. Do not over mix!

Evenly divide batter into loaf pans or muffin tins.

Combine the 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar and
sprinkle top of loafs or muffins generously with cinnamon sugar before baking.

Bake at 350F. For loaves bake for 50-55 minutes or muffins 25-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Tuesday Toppers: Monkey Cupcakes

In this weeks edition of Tuesday Toppers I'm bringing out some cupcakes that I made for my daughters class as an end of the year treat. Most of the teachers at her school have classroom themes and last year her teacher did frogs and this year it was monkeys. So I went to work on a topper that was cute, but didn't take too long to make, mainly because I had to make 30 of them! They ended up being a huge hit so I thought I'd share them with you. Here's what you will need to make them (unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the items needed ):

-Rolling pin
-leaf veining tool
-1 3/4" circle cookie cutter
-Small metal icing tip (doesn't matter which one)
-Large metal icing tip (doesn't matter which one)
-Knife
-Black edible marker
-1 1/2" 5 petal flower cutter (i used a wilton one that came in a rose making kit)
-Paint brush
-Brown and tan fondant

-Roll out the brown fondant to 1/4" and Using circle cookie cutter cut as many circles as you need.

-Take the circles and stretch slightly to form an oval.

-Roll out some of the tan fondant to 1/8" and using the large piping tip cut out circles for the mouth.

-For the eyes take some of the tan fondant and roll out very thin. Then take the flower cutter and cut out pieces with at least two of the petals.

-Take the knife and cut off any excess pieces

-All of the pieces ready to assemble.

-Take the eye pieces and with a touch of water attach them to the face.

-Do the same with the mouth.

-Take some more brown fondant, make a thin rope and cut small pieces for the nose.

-Shape the pieces into tiny triangles with your fingers and attach to the face.

-Using the black edible marker make two dots for the eyes.

-And a small u for the mouth.

-For the ears, take the small icing tip and cut out some circles.

-Cut the circles in half.

-And squeeze the flat edge to make it narrow.

-Using leaf veiner, make an indent in the ear and attach to the back of the face. If you'd like to make the bows just roll out what ever color you want and using the small icing tip cut out a circle and pinch it the center and you have a super simple bow!

Now your ready to do some monkeying around :D

Have a great Tuesday everyone!