Tuesday 6 November 2018

Cookies, Cakes & Catch-Ups 15: SO MUCH CAKE!





Hey Internet!

What the heck is poppin'?!

I feel like I am out of excuses for why posts are taking so dang long - I am still as overwhelmed with business things over at The Perfect Bite as ever  ALSO I am expanding to offer some cute new things that I think I will maybe detail in another post? It will be a line of hand-crafted/hand personalized items. What does that mean? WHO THE HECK KNOWS! But I am excited to offer more gifting options as the primary purpose of my business is in events. Like Halloween. See spoopy cookies below.



Why not just open another business because I am already drowning in work WHICH has then lead to me accomplishing nothing. Is anyone else this way? If someone gives me a million tasks I have no issue. If I have to decide those tasks myself I instead choose to re-watch the Office for the 100,000th time because Pam and Jim are real to me. I have no regrets.

Also something fun is cakes. Would you like to see them? Would you like me to make videos of me making them? I have wanted to take that leap forever and so I decided to film some videos. Where are they - you ask? LOLOLOLOL.


They all turned out pretty dreadful, actually. It took me an entire day to film 20 minutes. After editing I barely had 1 minute of usable footage. Is that what is supposed to happen or am I a special breed of old and technologically defunct? COOL.

ANYWAYS CAKES!






I realized that the most pinned items from this blog were a couple stand-out recipes that got shared on some high-traffic pages. And one other cake. My Kinder Egg Explosion Cake from this post. SO I may as well share them here, too!





 Fun fact I thought this was a Cardi-B party... But that is a short form for the couples name. Good thing I didn't announce that when the cake was picked up haha






This cake was my first time working with fresh flowers on a cake. YES I KNOW WHAT?!?!? WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?

I was terrified because I didn't know what to do and I read so many articles about how fresh flowers are covered in chemicals and doo-doo and god knows what else.

So I bought a florists book and decided to take the time to do it properly because I am literally always at Indigo or Homesense (I like to divide my time evenly so nobody gets jealous). Et voila. I now do fresh floral cakes.. lol



I like GOLD. A LOT!

I also like flowers. A LOT! I know it's wrong but if it's themes I like working with I am just happier about how the cake process goes in general.


I love fondant cake toppers. Unless I forget to make them ahead of time - then I hate them because they are floppy disastrous messes. SO LESSON LEARNED. If you want your fondant accessories to stay hard (lolololol) then you need to let them dry! Lots! The longer the better! If they need to be flexible like to form to the curvature of a cake - then they will crack if they have dried too long. #droppingcaketruths. 









 MORE CAKES TO FOLLOW!

Monday 16 April 2018

Lemon + Berry Protein Muffins




HI!


IT HAS BEEN A LONG ASS MOTHER FREAKIN' TIME SINCE I BLOGGED A RECIPE!

But here I am. This is my unofficial official quasi maybe probably return to blogging.


I had written about my transition into baking as a full time business in previous posts - but then a whole lot of dramatic life events happened and I kind of temporarily lost my mind (lol but not really but kind of) AND got a part time job to help keep me alive when business wasn't as consistent. And biggity bam - a whole lot of time went by in sort of a blur where I felt carried through the days by some force not of my own will.


It's difficult when life happens. But what I learned is that you have to 'fake it until you make it' in those moments. Action creates motivation sometimes - and not the other way around.


Why am I back? WELL. I think that I have a lot more to offer with blogging now. I have the experience of a business under my belt, experience at a bakery - and just plain old EXPERIENCE - that I would love to share with other people to help them out both in and out of the kitchen.


PLUS - I track my macros pretty consistently and find that eating can be an annoying struggle when I am trying to get in more protein at the expense of other macro-nutrients. Creating recipes that are healthier and also delicious has always been what this blog was about - but now I have so much more to offer to you!






ALSO --- I am not *super* thrilled with the macro-friendly options out there in the world. If you follow me on instagram (@Summerbakes88) then you will know I am going to start doing reviews. Lord knows I spend a crap ton of money trying different snacks - some healthy - some not! And I think I have a pretty good palate for criticisms ;)


A lot of the protein options out there are BLECH. JUST UGH LIKE WHAT. Sorry Lenny and Larry but I am lookin at y'all.




You will always have more control over food when you make it yourself. Don't like lemons - cool! Don't add that. Hate blueberries? No problem! Add another fruit. Trying to gain weight? Add in some chopped nuts/seeds and make them a bit more nutrient dense!


SO PROTEIN MUFFINS - That is after all why you are here - these are just a tweak on my gluten free muffin recipe - and ooooweeeee Rick! These are delicious. So soft and moist and rich. I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T LIKE MOIST THEY ARE OK!

Fruit and chocolate chips aren't integral to the recipe at all - so you can swap those items out. I have posted the macro breakdown in the recipe below!