Birthday Cakes

Here are a couple of the cakes that I have done since January.

The first one is a birthday cake for my Brother-in-law Blake.  It is a Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream.

 The second cake was for a friends daughter.  She loves Pug's so I got creative with some candy.  It is a Chocolate cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream. The grass is a Vanilla Buttercream.

Yellow Cupcakes with Holiday Jam Buttercream

I was going through my pantry and found some Holiday Jam from Stonewall Kitchen. I bought it a few months ago at Macy's, and I must have forgotten all about it!  So I made an extra stiff Vanilla Buttercream and added the jam to it. I then made some yellow cupcakes, since I didn't want to take away from the buttercream.  They were the perfect base for the Holiday Jam Buttercream which has pears, cranberries and raspberries with a little orange liquer.  They are so yummy.  Brandon is bringing them to work today for everyone to try.

You can see the pieces of fruit in the frosting.

Boomer is always watching me in the kitchen :)

French Macarons

I always see the colorful macarons at pastry shops and they make me smile everytime. They are so colorful and cheery looking. I wanted to attempt to make them, so I researched on the internet. Well, my first try ended up in one big white puddle on the pan. I knew that I beat the batter too long, so my second try I wanted to add some color. They were cute and pink, but tasted like scrambled eggs.

So I decided that my best bet was to go to the book store and buy a book on Macarons.  I read it front to back...twice. I didn't want to mess it up again!  I followed the directions and what do you know, they turned out pretty good.   I decided to color them green since I had some left over green buttercream and chocolate buttercream from a birthday cake.

They were really good!  Crunchy on the outside and moist in the inside.

I was so happy with the outcome that I went out and bought some flavorings to make more.

Next to try: Blueberry and Raspberry.

First Ever Blog!!

My name is Samantha Baker. I am currently a stay at home animal mom! I have 2 adorable cats and 1 loveable Great Dane.  My husband and I were married August 2009.

I was going to Culinary School for a year and half, when I realized that I didn't want to do that anymore.  It just wasn't for me.  I loved to bake and I was always trying new things, but wasn't sure if I wanted to go to school for it.  So I quit school and worked for awhile at a car leasing office.  My husband and I decided that I should stay at home and concentrate on my baking skills. I am currently teaching myself how to bake and decorate from home.  I am having a lot of fun doing it as well, since I can go at my own pace.  I decided to start sharing my creations because I needed to have some constructive criticism, and I couldn't eat everything all the time.  That is how I started to sell my items.  This blog is going to be a way to keep track of my progress and a way to show off what I can create.  I named my bakery, LaMare after my mom.  Her name was Laurie May Reid and she passed away June of 2007.  She was a beautiful person and will always be my inspiration and motivation along with my loving husband.

I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear your thoughts.  Everything can be improved!