a potter wars birthday!

i finished the super scary baking job i told you about last week! 

& i must say, i am a little bit proud of myself.  mostly for accomplishing something that i wasn't sure i could do.  & a little bit because i actually did a pretty darn good job.

first up, star wars cookies!  i used these williams-sonoma cookie cutters.  they were much easier to work with than i expected.  as for the decorating, i have never made royal icing, so this was the ultimate learning experience.  if you want to decorate cookies, ABSOLUTELY watch this video from joy of baking.  it is a super helpful step-by-step instruction.  thank you, joyofbaking.com! 

i also know nothing about star wars.  so i had to look up a lot of pictures.  but they are cute little guys:

 {darth vader.  i did know this one!}

 {& yoda!

blakey always calls tanky "yoda",

so i knew this one too.}

& then a harry potter book cake.  chase wanted a white cake, & delicious white cake with white buttercream, i can do.  since it had to be in the shape of a book, i got to slice off the ends...& then eat the slice.  it was yummy :)

there was quite a bit of fondant work on the cake.  although fondant sounds super intimidating, it really isn't.  once you roll it out super thin {takes some arm muscles!}, it can make a cake look so pretty & smooth.  & shaping little figurines is like working with play-doh.  this cake was so much fun. 

{the awesome feather thing is snitch.
it's a game ball.
& no, the feathers are not fondant.  they are real feathers.
i liked the effect.}

 {harry's wand with the page detail in the background}

 {the sorting hat:

yes, i totally just googled that}

 {harry's awesome black glasses}

{love piping.}

chase, i hope you loved your birthday treats!  it was a huge growing experience for me.  i learned a ton.  & i learned even more about believing in myself.  

love love,

kjp.