Find Out How Baker Sugar High Score Created These Impossibly Cute Sweet Treats
This content is brought to you by Potion Explosion.
If you love board games and super cute desserts, you definitely need to follow Sugar High Score, a mom and baker who makes beautiful baked goods inspired by gaming.
We chatted with Sugar High Score to find out her baking history and how she transforms games like Potion Explosion into delicious cookies and gets the whole family involved.
Sweety High: How did you come to create cakes and sweets on a professional level?
Sugar High Score: Before I started my business, I loved making gingerbread houses. I remember seeing an advertisement for the local gingerbread house contest and anxiously signing up. I spent an entire month learning sugar art and creating my gingerbread house entry. I won the contest and most importantly discovered that I have a passion for sugar art.
(via Sugar High Score)
I then began immersing myself into the baking world by taking as many baking and cake decorating classes as I could. A year later, I started my own professional baking business where I baked cakes and sweets for birthdays, baby showers and weddings.
I'd been running my business successfully for three years when my husband was offered a job in Shanghai, China. After much deliberation, we decided to close my baking business to start a new two-year adventure in China.
(via Sugar High Score)
SH: Once you took a break to focus on your kids and move to China, was there a time when you weren't baking as much?
SHS: Yes, it is incredibly difficult to find American baking ingredients and supplies overseas, so we found other hobbies to occupy our time—one of which was board games. Our collection of board games started growing and so did our love of spending time together, playing and learning new games as a family.
SH: What was the inspiration behind your first set of board game-inspired cookies?
SHS: My first set of cookies were inspired by a board game called Karuba. I initially created the cookies to get my kids away from the TV and back to the table playing games. The cookies did the trick and we now have a new family tradition of having board game-inspired treats on family game night.
(via Sugar High Score)
SH: What's the typical process behind each of your board game-themed treats?
SHS: Most of the time, my family and I will play a game and then brainstorm ideas for our next board game night. I will admit that the notion of what would make an enticing dessert plays a prominent role in our game selection.
(via Sugar High Score)
SH: How long have you been sharing your board gaming treats on social media?
SHS: In September of last year, after some coaxing from my husband, I started a Twitter page called Sugar High Score where I began sharing my board game treats. Suddenly I was getting all kinds of nice feedback from board game fans all over the world. I am amazed by how welcoming and supportive the board gaming community has been.
SH: How did you come up with the name Sugar High Score?
SHS: The name Sugar High Score is a combination of two of my obsessions—sweet treats and gaming!
SH: Can you tell me about your Potion Explosion-themed cookies?
SHS: After playing Potion Explosion for the first time, I instantly knew I had to recreate the whimsical potion bottles in cookie form. The sugar cookies were flavored with lemon and topped with royal icing.
In the game, the potion bottles are very detailed and colorful, so I first piped the different colors of icing onto the cookies, allowed them to dry, and then I finished them off by hand-painting the details with food coloring gels. There are eight unique kinds of potion bottles and I wanted to make sure each one was represented.
(via Sugar High Score)
SH: What do you and your kids love most about both the board game and app versions of Potion Explosion?
SHS: When it comes to family games, Potion Explosion is at the top of our list of favorites. The artwork and graphics in both the app and board game are what first attracted us to the game, but what keeps us returning is the unique game play. Pulling marbles out of the dispenser and creating potions is thrilling. We even made up our own rule—each time you use a completed potion, you get to take a bite of a cookie!
SH: Tell us about your 11-year-old daughter and how she helps with the baking.
SHS: When I'm in the kitchen, my daughter is always there hanging out and learning a trick or two from me about baking. We have shared many moments in the kitchen from tasting different ingredients to a brownie catastrophe. She is a fantastic cupcake and cookie-maker, and she once set up a booth at her school to sell her own decorated cookies.
SH: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to make cute, unique baked goods like you?
SHS: First, bake because you love it and it will never feel like work. While I enjoyed my time as a professional baker, some of the work I have been most proud of was done for our own family or for charity.
Let yourself be inspired by the smallest things, like the shape of a box, the colors of a game piece or the artwork on a single card.
And lastly, details are important, but don't sweat the small stuff. Look at your piece as a whole from a few steps back and allow yourself to take in the entire piece before trying to correct a small mistake that won't seem to go away.
Inspired by Sugar High Score's potion explosion cookies? Click HERE to find out how to make your own tasty mocktails inspired by the game's potions.