Ok guys, if you have not signed up for our newsletter yet then you are missing out ! Here is the latest project that Susan Carberry put together for The Cake Cottage Newsletter.  We will be putting more and more info in our newsletters so don’t miss out on great projects like this and tip and tricks to help you on your cake decorating skills…..Pete

Bird House Cookie

By

Susan Carberry

The Cake Cottage

Supply List

Sugar Cookie Dough (see recipe and baking  hints)

Bird House Cookie Cutter

Small Round Cutter (to cut out the hole in the center)

Veining Tool

Knife and scriber tool

Fondant : Pastel Yellow, and a very small amount of black

( Call us for availability)

Canary Yellow Luster Dust

Decorator Tips: # 2, # 3, # 5 and #  349

Icing bags

Icing bags

Royal Icing ;’ light blue, electric green, avocado green, yellow and pink

Sugar Birds

General tools, spatula, rolling pin, scissors, cornstarch puff

Sugar Cookie Recipe
Makes approx 3 Dozen 5” Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups Unsalted Butter
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Lemon Extract (or flavor of choice)
5 ½ to 6 Cups All Purpose Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

Directions:

In at least a 5qt mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Then add the eggs, mix.  Add  vanilla and Lemon extract, mix.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Gradually add to the butter mixture until incorporated.  For 3D cookies it is best to hold back a bit on the flour (5 ¼ or 5 ½  cups). Scrape bowl and mix until dough comes together.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll out cookies on parchment paper, cut shapes leaving space between the cookies, then place the parchment paper with the cookies onto a  cookie sheet.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees in a regular oven or 300-325 degrees in a convection oven until golden brown around the edges.

Cookie Baking Tips

1 – Roll your dough out onto a piece of parchment paper.  This way you do not need to place any flour under the dough, as the extra flour can cause it to dry out.

2 – Roll out the dough between two dowels or thick skewers for a consistent cookie shape and size.  Another option is using a wood rolling that has wood spacers on the side.

3 – Place the same or similar sized cookies on the same tray to ensure proper baking times as the smaller cookies will bake faster.

4 – Royal Iced Cookies – Use a Tip #3 and  stiff royal icing to pipe an outline around the edge of the cookie.  Then, thin  down the icing, place in a bag without a tip, cut off end and flood the center of the cookie.  note: For cookies that do not have a lot of detail or small areas, you can spread the icing with a Spatula if it is the correct consistency and you do not need to outline the cookie first.

5 – Fondant Covered Cookies – attach the Fondant using  water, shortening.or Piping  Gel.

Instructions

Step 1

After your cookie has cooled,  knead your Yellow Fondant to give it elasticity (while kneading use a bit of shortening on your hands and work surface to prevent sticking).  Dust your counter with the Cornstarch Puff and place the Yellow Fondant on top of the cornstarch, begin  to roll out the Fondant.

Roll your Fondant approx 1/8th of an inch thick and cut out the shape using your Bird House Cutter.

Brush the back of the Fondant with water, then place the Fondant on top of the cookie with the water side down.  Smooth the surface.

Step 2

Cut out a small whole just below the roof line using the small Circle Cutter.  Roll out a bit of Black Fondant, cut out a circle using the same round cutter.  Brush the back of the circle with water and place inside the round opening on the cookie.

Step 3

Using the Veining Tool, draw lines from the top of the cookie down to the bottom, approximately 1/2 an inch apart.  This creates the wood  planks.  Using  the Knife Tool, draw random lines up and down in various lengths on the wood planks. This will give you the wood grain look.

Step 4

For the perch, roll a small ball of Yellow  Fondant  into a tube shape and attach using water, just below  the Black Fondant .

Step 5

With a dry brush and Canary Yellow Luster Dust, brush the Yellow  Fondant  to give a variation of color.

Step 6

With light blue royal icing and a Tip # 5, pipe a zig zag pattern from one end of the roof line to the other end. Using the same bag and tip, pipe a zig zag on the base the bird house.

Step 7

Use Tip #2 and Electric Green Icing to pipe random vines. Using Tip # 349 and Avocado Green Icing, pipe leaves on the vine.

Step 8

Flowers ; using  Tip #3 and Pink Icing, pipe a small  balloon shape for each petal (hold the tip at a 45 degree angle and slightly off the surface, pipe and let the icing build up moving the tip up with the icing but still keeping it slightly imbedded in the icing, Once the icing  has built up a bit, then lower your tip, relax your pressure and drag  the tip at the end). Pipe five petals for each flower with the small ends of the balloons meeting in the middle.  Fill a small bag with Yellow Royal Icing and cut a small amount off of the end.  Pipe centers of the flowers with the bag at a 90 degree angle to the surface.

Step 9

Attach the sugar bird using a bit of royal icing. There you have it. Now go show your friends and watch them be amazed……..!!

Ok…the legal stuff….limit of 100 free cupcakes a day( but we probably won’t run out so don’t think that you will miss out) and must be 18 for free cupcake, one cupcake per person for event duration.

Custom Easter Cupcakes at The Cake Cottage

Also, everyone that spends $20.00 with us from now through Saturday will receive a FREE,  7 1/2″ tall, Bunny Cookie Cutter…….hey, you can’t beat that….lol…..Pete

Free Bunny Cookie Cutter

We have a whole bunch of new classes for you on our schedule. Everything from kids classes to cupcakes classes to fondant classes to topsy  turvey classes even a leap year class ( remember  though that this one only comes around every 4 years so don’t miss out…..lol)  so check out the schedule and see what catches your eye and will make your family and friends awe at your talent…..lol.

Ok, I have spoken to some of you about entering your cakes into shows to make you a better cake decorator. Let’s face it, when you put a cake out there to be judged then you will really bring your “A Game” to make it the best you can and believe me, this really makes you focus and concentrate on your cake and it will really help to make you a better cake decorator. It is also lots of fun to see what other cake decorators of all levels are doing these days all in one location. It is always better to see the cakes in person than just seeing pictures on the web.

So, on Saturday and Sunday March 10^th and 11^th , the San Diego Cake Club will be holding  it’s 29^th annual Cake Competition and Artistic Display, at the La Jolla Village Square Mall, called CONFECTIONS FOR A CAUSE. It is the largest show of its kind in California. This is a great show and how Susan herself really got launched into the sugar art world. There will be around 150 cakes on display, hourly FREE demonstrations, prizes, decorate a cupcake corner and most proceeds will benefit the San Diego Ronald McDonald House , so really, everyone wins. You can find more info at   www.sandiegocakeclub.com I HIGHLY RECOMMEND  that you put in a cake just to see what happens, heck you never know who will see it ( many times cake magazines also show up at this show , so who knows, you might even end up in a magazine ). But even if you don’t put in a cake you should at least go and see the cakes and the demos and get to mingle with lots of other sugar artists…….it is really fun!

For those of you not in our area keep a look out at Susan’s  out of area  class schedule to see if she will be teaching near you. I know that she is travelling  a lot this year so we will be updating her schedule often.

Don’t forget to join us on Facebook,    since that is where we will be putting most of our specials and sale announcements this year…..it is really the best way to keep up with what we are doing , new products that we get in, first look at new class projects and you can interact with us and let us know what you like and what you don’t ……hope fully it is more of what you like…..lol……you can find us at  http://www.facebook.com/thecakecottage

So, go have a look at the new classes coming up, find one or two that you can’t live without….lol….and give us a call here at the shop and we will get you all signed up and ready to go !

To all our veterans and active military we here at The Cake Cottage would like to say thanks. It is people like you that make it possible for folks like us to be able to have the freedom to do what we do. So in honor of  Veterans  Day,  this Friday and Saturday all Veterans  and active military will get 10% off on their purchases just for showing your military ID. That’s 10% off of supplies, classes, cupcakes, tools, cake boards, air brushes, icings, fillings, you name it….10% off…….and that’s 10% off the entire order…..but you will have to show us your military ID and it is this Friday Nov. 11 and Sat. Nov 12^th, so stop on by and save.

Also, don’t forget about our Free Demo Day on Sat. Nov 26^th, Susan will be back from England with lots of new ideas, there will be Free Cupcakes, Popcorn, Free Gift, Raffle, just an all around fun day. We still have a few seats left in the afternoon session so give us a call and sign up to make sure you get a spot as seating is very limited.

Thanks,

Pete