Generation 2 for Holiday Tree Cupcakes, yes, please.

Okay, welcome to G2 of the Holiday Tree cupcakes. I was not really happy with G1, it was too plain, not enough whimsy and design. The cake got a bit more Grand Marnier and orange extract. The cake is now filled with Grand Marnier custard with a bit of orange zest + the meringue buttercream has Godiva liqueur. I used a larger tip for piping so the mound looks cleaner and more controlled but overly so. The biggest change was in the cookie, added swags with royal icing + a yellow star as the topper. I think they look better and taste great, DELISH, as my husband said as he scarfed his up as a late night snack. 

What do you think?

Thanks again to Cupcakes Take the Cake!

Many thanks again to the folks at Cupcakes Take the Cake for spotlighting my baking again. Imagine my surprise to see all the uploaded photos of all my "projects" that I was working on yesterday! It's crunch time for me to get a "tweaked" Holiday menu out to all my friends and followers, since Holiday entertaining is in the air for all of us in less than 3 weeks for Christmas (let alone any Open House parties with good cheer and good food!)

Take a look, I promise you won't gain any pounds from looking, though a friend of mine would love to have some "smell-a- vision" with every posted goodie...can you imagine???!?!

http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2009/12/tis-season-for-holiday-cupcakes.html

Turkey at School

The 24 turkeys made it safely to school and had no casualties. ( Their necks were breaking as I was trying to gently coax them in to their boxes AND had to do emergency surgery!)

Good reports that the kids loved them and there are pictures of them trying to "scare" their turkeys and devouring them. For the security and privacy of the children, those photos can not be published.

It does my heart good to help with the kids. No child should be hungry at school and while these treats are a meager offering- their tummies won't growl for one afternoon so they can concentrate on getting excited about learning new things and new ways to look at things. It's amazing to hear stories about their PoV- remember when you were 7 years old and how you viewed the your world? 

 

My next baking day for them is right before Christmas; I wonder what fun things I can come up with for them!