No longer overlooking Cookies

Monday night was my only night this week that I didn't have some baking or decorating to do, and instead of sitting on the couch and being lazy, I baked Cookies! Earlier that day I kept seeing tons of cookie recipes on twitter and realized that I over look cookies due to all my cake and cupcake baking. I posed a question on my Facebook page asking everyone for their favourite kind of cookie, and indicated that I always love a good ole Chocolate chip cookie; so that’s what I made! I found a quick and easy recipe here on the Nestle website which was delicious! 

I thought I would share a few photos of my cookie baking night with you all; what kind of cookies have you made recently?

Jinxed!

I think I jinxed the weather by calling my last blog post “Hoping for an Indian Summer”, because this weekend the rain arrived in Vancouver! Everyone likes to say that all it does is rain here, but that’s really not true, yes it does rain, but not every day for the entire year, although this past spring lasted a little too long for my liking. But the rain is what keeps our city looking lush and green, and thinking negatively about the rain isn’t going to help anything, except guarantee you a depressing fall/winter and who wants that?!?!

The upside to rain this weekend meant that I wasn’t missing any sunshine by being inside making cakes J

Friday I actually had the day off work from my full time job and headed to Granville Island for a photo walk. My mom and step dad (Denis) purchased a Groupon for me for Christmas and so Denis and I decided to redeem our Groupons on Friday, since he was on holidays and all of her weekend sessions were booked up through to November; of course. I found it very helpful since my photography knowledge is quite low; I can’t wait to have some free time to practice. Here are a few shots I took; practicing light painting.

Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning was filled with cake/cupcake decorating! Started the weekend with Birthday Cupcakes (which I forgot to snap a photo of :S)

Then a Lobster cupcake cake

A wedding of assorted cupcakes and cake topper

Some Sunflower topped cupcakes

A massive baby shower cake

And last but not least a hockey stick cake

I hope you all found some time to cozy up on the couch with a good movie or TV show and enjoy the rainy weekend.

And it wouldn’t be a Cakelicious Blog post without a photo of Hank!!! He wanted to come shopping this weekend, he’s saying “look mom I can fit in the bag, this means I can come right?!”

Hoping for an Indian Summer

What an awesome busy weekend! Two weddings, a birthday cake, a relaxing Saturday night and a beach day; can’t get much better!

Saturday I had two weddings to deliver, both cake/cupcake combo’s but completely different flavours!

Delivery #1 was in Burnaby, this wedding was “candy” themed, complete with M&M cake toppers, too cute! The large cupcakes were Tropical Sensation (Pineapple cupcakes with Coconut Frosting) and the mini cupcakes were chocolate, chocolate chip with Peanut Butter Frosting.  

Delivery #2 was in Maple Ridge, and included mini cupcakes and a large vanilla cake for guest to enjoy. I made Italian Meringue Buttercream for the first time, and it was DELICIOUS! I was super nervous to make it, I’ve read horror stories, but it turned out really well, with the help of my mom of course, having her their when I try a new recipe makes me feel better (cue sappiness….awwww). I used this recipe from Cake Journal and it worked wonderfully, just as I'd hoped! The step by step instructions are great, and the photos are a great help too!

After my delivery's it was time to decorate the princess Jasmine cake for Jada's Birthday. Let me tell you, finding Princess Jasmine figurines is NOT easy. Every other Disney princess can be found in every store, EXCEPT Jasmine!!! I searched everywhere and finally found some Aladdin figurines at the Disney store in Metrotown mall. Did you know they wish you a "magical day" when you leave?  

Saturday night I started reading The Help, I’m only on the 3^rd chapter, but I’m really enjoying it.

Sunday we went to the beach, the weather was amazing, and the water was so refreshing; I love Gold Creek!

M wanted to try on my shades! 

Future photographer in the making <3

And I can't resist posting a picture of Hank; he's just too cute!!! 

Congratulations to both couple's this weekend, I hope your day was amazing! And Happy Birthday Jada, I hope you enjoyed your vanilla cake with Chocolate frosting! 

September Long!

I should have posted this Wednesday or so, but it was a hectic week, so here it is now!!

How was everyone’s Labour Day long weekend?

Mine consisted of my step brothers Football game, a night out with the girls, wedding cake making and delivering, and a night camping on Harrison Lake.

I’ll start with the football game. My step brother plays for the Ridge Meadows Knights and they were taking on the Abbotsford Falcons. Saturday it was scorching hot, but the stands at the Abby field were covered which was nice; although I did come prepared with SPF and a tube top to avoid any weird suntan lines. It wasn’t a high scoring game, but the Knights were down by 5 in the 4^th quarter. With only a few minutes left in the quarter they scored a touchdown for 6 points and then kicked a field goal for another 2 points (I know usually it’s 1 for a kick and 2 for a conversion, but in this league it’s the reverse) so that meant the Knights were up by 3, so the Falcons needed a touchdown to win, not just a kick. The falcons had the ball, but the Knights intercepted and kept control for the last few minutes of the game, it was a pretty cool ending! Knights  11 –  8 Falcons!! Aren’t you all impressed with my football knowledge? ;)

I told my friends I was going to pretend I was part of an episode of Friday Night Lights, I absolutely love that show, and I’m so sad it’s over, but anyway beside the point, all joking aside, Friday Night Lights is a pretty good representation of what the football world is like, no word of a lie the Abbotsford Falcons have a Smash Williams on the team, and the Knights have Coach Taylor for a Coach!

Sunday morning I packed for camping and loaded the car with my wedding cake order for the weekend. I walked into Old Orchard Hall and it looked amazing, exactly what I feel the bride envisioned, at least based on what she described to me. I met with the bride a few days before the wedding and she let me in on a little pre midnight snack surprise she had planned for her guests. Can you guess what she had served at the reception?  McDonalds hamburgers and cheeseburgers!!!! How brilliant is that?!?!?

I headed straight from the hall to pick up my friend Jessica, she was coming camping with me to Harrison. We met with friends who were already set up at Cogburn Beach on Harrison Lake, let me tell you, if you’re ever taking a trip near Harrison, you must stop in, the lake is incredible!!!

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend, and this fabulous weather we’ve been having in the lower mainland, September is making up for where July fell short!

Blackberry Cheesecake for Heartlink

I feel like this year is the first year my business seems real. I know I’ve been making cakes for the last three years or so and even as a hobby before that, but this year Cakelicious has made a real push. I joined twitter, learned about networking groups and events, and started this blog, all of which have played a part in the growing success of Cakelicious.

I wanted to touch on networking groups and events today, more specifically Heartlink. I’ve attended a few local networking groups, but Heartlink suits my needs the best. If you’ve never heard of it before, it was founded by a woman named Dawn Billings, and she wanted to create a group which would help women in business succeed and develop great professional relationships. I think the best part about this group is the format; the night consists of dinner, dessert and a more casual setting. Also the fact that it’s in the evening time works great for me!

I’ve been attending the group since February, and last night was our monthly meet up for August. Since the night includes dinner and dessert, and I’m the cake/treat maker of the group, I provide the dessert every month. I’ve made cake pops, cupcakes and cake before, but this week I made Blackberry Cheesecake and I thought I would share my recipe and a few photos with you. I had blackberries on my mind for the last few weeks and when I started thinking about what to make for the Heartlink meeting blackberry cheesecake came to mind. The recipe is super easy and you can find it here. I actually received the blackberries from Janelle at Alouette Fresh. I tweeted her to see if they sold blackberries and she said no, but that she had picked way too many and would be happy to give me some, how sweet is that!?! If you haven’t already been down to Alouette fresh for one of their amazing ice cream cookie sandwiches or tasty smoothies don’t wait any longer, they’re delicious!!!

The cheesecake was a big hit and delicious if I do say so myself.

If you haven’t heard of Heartlink and you’re interested in attending a meeting send me an email and I’d be happy to share more information with you and put you in touch with our Ridge Meadows area leader, Sarah!  

Since joining I feel so much more in tune with our community and I’ve made some great friends! 

Heidi

P.S - this is my first mid week blog ;)