BEE Cake Pop

I wish I could credit the creator of this adorable BEE Cake Pop, but alas, it was a gift and I don't know where it came from! It was BEELICIOUS! And, an inspiration!


I tried my hand at making some (below)... a little more practice will make perfect, but I was pleased with my first attempt. I got some good advice from my daughter, who had made cake pops before. She suggested I freeze the cake pop for about 15 min. prior to dipping. Also, I dipped the stick in the melted frosting before poking it into the cake ball. I used one bag colored candy melt wafers plus one TBLS. shortening and melted in a glass measuring cup placed in a pan of nearly boiling water. For the cake balls I used as little frosting as possible to make the cake crumbs stick together. This method worked very well for me....none of the balls fell off the sticks and the frosting went on very smooth when dipped, spinned and quickly placed on wax paper.

Sugar Cookies with Marbelized Frosting

Decorating these sugar cookies using a marbelizing technique was a GREAT activity for the end-of-year party for ART CLUB students. I made the cookies and frosting ahead of time. After a 5-minute demo the kids went wild experimenting with the designs they could create by simply dragging a toothpick across the surface of the' royal icing' frosting.

ROYAL ICING FROSTING

2 TBLS. Meringue Powder *

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

4 TBLS. Warm Water

Mix at medium speed for 10 minutes

* Meringue Powder is powdered egg whites with minimal additives used to increase shelf life. If you don't have merinque powder you can use one egg white for each TBLS of meringue powder. Of course, you will reduce the water needed to create a frosting texture that is slightly thicker than Elmers glue. The frosting will dry hard within a few hours. It can be stored in a sealed container in refrigerator.

Blue Scilla for Woodland Settings

BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE

Scilla and Chinodoxia in tiny bottle/vase

One of my favorite springtime flowers is SCILLA. This small star shaped flower grows in profusion in woodland area's and throughout the border garden in my zone 4-5 backyard. Since it is one of the first flowers to bloom it does not compete with other varieties planted in those beds. By the time the other perennials are emerging, the scilla dies back. Scilla can be purchased as bulbs and planted in fall. The blooming plants will spread (profusely) from seed. I have noticed some scilla growing in the nearby lawn, however once it is mowed it disappears. When it gets too thick in the garden bed it is easily removed.