Somebody call 911!!!

I was asked to make 2 cakes, large enough to feed 150-200 people, one with a Maltese Cross and one with the Star of Life for a birthday/retirement/celebration party.  I was also asked to create replicas (or best that I could, wink wink) of a local county's ambulance that this person volunteer's for as well as a fire truck from an eastern city. 


It was a challenging and exciting task to take on and I'm extremley grateful that I pulled it off!

red velvet cake with cream cheese icing

lemon cake and lemon icing

when I picked up the cake board, the wheel smushed into the writing....  :o(

Valentine's Day Cookies

So.... as we all know I am a fairly new baker/decorator.  That being said, some things happen through trial and error and you learn from your mistakes.  It's like riding a bike, you fall off but you stand up, brush off, and hop back on...(and hope you didn't cut it too close to the time your order needs to be completed!)


With that being said, I attempted to get ahead of myself and bake and ice Valentine's cookies ahead of time for my son and step-daughter's Valentine's Day party at school and daycare.  Cookies were baked, beautifully barely browned on the bottom, and cooled, waiting for a nice solid coat of royal icing.  Double batch of icing was made, 7 colors were mixed, bagged, and ready to pipe!  I  spent the rest of the evening icing cookies.  Even staying up a bit late.  I woke up the next morning and.... the icing looks fantastic!  I gave it the one finger touch test and... MY FINGER STICKS TO THE COOKIE!  Are you serious!?  I worked so hard, and stayed up soooo late!!  I can't believe not only do I have to ice cookies again, but I have to bake them!!!  BIG BUMMER!!!


So after wondering what in the world could have happened, I came to the conclusion that maybe by hand washing my beater and mixing bowl, there may have been an oily residue in the bowl causing the royal icing to not harden!!!  I was chatting with my good friend over at Kooking in Kate's Kitchen, and she recommended wiping my bowls out with white vinegar before making royal icing to ensure there is no oily residue.  Who knew!?!

Thanks to Kate's great advice, I was able to finally complete my cookies , just in the nick of time!!  I think these are my favorite cookies to date!

WELCOME!!

Hi!  Welcome to my blog about my journey through the vast world of baking and most importantly DECORATING!!  I absolutely love making a cupcake, cake, or cookie look like the thought in my head. 

I was asked to begin a blog by my mom due to she and her friends not being able to see my latest creations because of not being on Facebook.  It has taken me a while to get this up and running, but finally I am able to share my goodies with people that I couldn't before.  I look foward to all of the new comments and constructive criticism from the new fans of Fresh Baked!

I'm not exactly sure where I'm headed with this blog, whether it be educational, just sharing pics, or a little of both but I'm excited to get it started and the fun begins NOW!!

P.S.....  Feel free to become a follower of this blog and spread the word!!  ;o)