Cakes Lately

Here are a couple cakes I've done this week - not much to it, but just thought I would share =) 

Miss Barbie Cake
This is The Best Chocolate Cake Ever frosted in Vanilla Buttercream.  It is covered/decorated with homemade Marshmallow Fondant.  The pearls are sugar.  I made this for a little girl's 7th birthday. =) 

Mardi Gras colored Birthday Cake.  Made for a co-workers birthday celebration.  It is Red Velvet Cake frosted and decorated with Cream Cheese Buttercream.  The flowers are fondant. 

Close up of the writing - I'm getting better! YAY! 

This is just my favorite picture of this cake =D 

Well, thats it guys! No crazy stories or anything, just a couple fun cakes!

Happy Baking!

Christmas Tree Ruffle Cake

The other day, I was looking around for inspiration for all these Christmas cakes I am baking over the next week or so, and I ran across this post by I Am Baker.  I fell in LOVE with her blog (I will be following it, for sure), and I really wanted to try that ruffle cake - its so darn cute!

Now, my cake doesn't look like the one by I Am Baker, but it is still super cute! I wanted to put my own touch on it (not to say that I didn't try those trees on the side, waaaay hard to do, btw ... maybe my cake wasn't tall enough for them), so I mixed some white and green together for the sides and did the tree on top.  For the ruffles, I used tip #125 for the sides and #104 for the tree.  

I wanted to try something 'out of the box', and I think I achieved it!  The poinsettias are just silk; I added them for a pop of color and the decorations on the tree are edible pearls.  The cake is The Best Chocolate Cake Ever - seriously, it really is the best ever - and I realize I have never shared that recipe with you, so here it is (be very excited!):

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever: 

1½ Cups Sugar
½ Cup Brown sugar
2 Eggs
¾ Cup Cocoa
1 Tsp. Salt
1¾ Cups All-Purpose Flour
1-1.4oz Chocolate Pudding, fat free sugar free
1½ Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Instant Coffee
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Buttermilk
½ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Boiling Water

Method:

Sift all dry ingredient together into a large bowl - make sure to really get after that brown sugar or it will make lumps.  Add in the eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and oil.  Mix together on low speed for about 2 minutes, or until it all comes together.  Add in the boiling water and stir with a large spatula until it all is combined.  Pour batter into two prepared (greased and floured) 8" or 9" pans and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs - about 28 minutes in my oven.  Prepare to be overcome with joy at the smell this leaves floating around your kitchen! Chocolate cake lovers unite! 

I used vanilla buttercream on this cake; I don't have a recipe to share yet, because I haven't really nailed down the 'perfect' ratios.  My buttercream is something that is always changing just a little.  I think I may have shared a recipe in an earlier post, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the one I used here - I'm trying to incorporate some different, more luxurious, ingredients like cream, real butter, pure vanilla ... anyway, I could go on forever, but I won't ;-) When it is perfected, I will share with you guys ... promise! 

I will have many more cakes to share over the holidays - Christmas time is a bakers heaven! 

Happy Baking! 

More Holiday Cakes!

I made a couple more Thanksgiving cakes for a friend last night - here they are!

Rustic Fall Trees
Chocolate Cake with Cookies-N-Cream filling.  Frosting and 'rustic' decorations are buttercream.
* This cake was inspired by Bakingdom's blog *

Fancy Thanksgiving Cake
Vanilla butter cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and scroll work.  Topper is silk. 

Last night was my very first "off" night when it comes to caking ... many lessons were learned and mistakes corrected! I guess it happens to everyone ;-)  I'm very happy with how these turned out and I hope my friend and her family enjoy them!

Tie Cupcakes inspired by Men's Wearhouse

This evening, I made some cupcakes for my husband to take to his new job.  Since he started his job, I have had lots of quality alone time - he has been working 12 hours days all week!  I miss him and, I guess, baking is what I do to make myself feel better.  I had these cupcakes frozen, so I sat them out to thaw this morning.  They are a mixture of White Velvet cake, White Almond Sour Cream cake, and White Almond Sour Cream cake with berries.  They are each iced in white chocolate buttercream and the decorated with homemade buttercream fondant. Recipes will follow in a later post; here are some pictures:

Happy Baking!

Transformer Cake!

Oh my goodness, what a weekend! I got my first wedding cake order, and I decided I needed to practice.  My sister had asked me to make a cake for her and some of her friends this weekend, so I thought it would be a great practice opportunity.  Wow, was I in for a night of surprises and lessons (learned the hard way). Would you ever guess that these two cakes are, actually, THE SAME CAKE?

Yep! This is the same cake.  The first picture is the final product (obviously), and the second picture is what I attempted to do last night.  I woke up this morning to a crack and droopy fondant circles! It was horrible. After reading around on cakecentral.com, I figured out what I had done wrong and decided that I was going to fix it.  SO, I disassembled the whole cake (dowels and all!) and started over.  I removed the broken layer, which is why the final cake is shorter.  I must say, that even though the final cake is not what my sister asked for, I love it.  The maroon fondant on the cake turned all the icing a nice shade of pale pink ... so I just went with it!

The recipe I used rendered horrible results, and I believe that it was the reason for the cake's downfall.  The cake took forever to finish in the middle, but the outside formed a hard crust that had to be carved off.  Even after baking over an hour, these cakes were still mushy in the middle.  Three out of four of them sunk. The difference in the soft middle and the hard outer edges made for discourse within the cake, resulting in the crack.  When I took the cake apart and removed the faulty layer, all was well again!  Needless to say, I won't be sharing the recipe I used until I make some adjustments ;-)

This adventure gave me LOTS of practice and I feel a lot better about my buttercream skills on the final cake - all those youtube videos I watched while trying to figure out what I did wrong the first time really  helped! Here are some more close-up pictures:


Pretty monogram and reverse shell border



Royal Icing Roses

 Happy Baking!

Lemon Walnut Cupcakes!

 I have done it! I have found the one 'sweet treat' my husband adores!  He is not much on sweets, but he has raved about these cupcakes (especially the lemon buttercream), and I must admit, that is a good feeling for his wife, the 'baker' =)  This recipe is adapted from  1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Tempting Treats - a book my Daddy gave me for my birthday this year (thanks, Dad!). It is a grown-up cupcake, and tastes like an absolute dream.  The lemon mixed with the walnut just does it somehow.  This is the first time I have made buttercream with actual butter instead of Crisco in a long time, and I had forgotten how much of a difference it makes.  I am excited to get to do this more now that it has cooled down and the humidity won't melt the butter! The only complaint I have about this recipe from the book is that it only made enough batter for 6 cupcakes, where the recipe said it would make 12.  Now, I like a "full" cupcake, but even if I had only half filled the papers, I don't think I would have gotten 12 cupcakes.  SO, next time I will for sure double the recipe. 

Lemony Walnut Cupcakes Recipe (adapted from the 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Tempting Treats 'Moist Walnut Cupcakes' recipe):
heaping 1/4 cup chopped walnuts*
4 tbsp butter, softened and cut into pieces
1/2 cup sugar*
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup self rising flour (1/2 cup all purpose flour + 1/4 tsp. salt + 3/4 tsp baking powder*)
2 eggs
6 walnuts for decoration*

Lemon Buttercream Recipe:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar + a little to adjust thickness*
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp. lemon juice*
1 tsp. milk*

*Changes I made to the recipe - I chopped my walnuts instead of putting them in the food processor, used regular sugar instead of superfine, used a self rising flour substitute because I did not have self-rising on hand, and only had to use 6 walnuts because the recipe only made 6 cupcakes, not 12.  In the frosting, I had to add a little more sugar, extra lemon juice and some milk to get it to the consistency I like.

Method:
 Chop your walnuts into small pieces.  Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time until completely combined.  Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until just combined.  Line 6 places in a cupcake pan with papers and fill about 2/3 full with batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely.
For frosting, beat butter, juice, and milk together until smooth.  Add sugar and beat until an icing forms. I frosted using a 1M star tip to make a swirl on top.

The recipe in the book said to chop the walnuts in the food processor and then add the rest of the ingredients to the processor and pulse until a batter formed.  While this would be faster, I prefer my method. Plus, my food processor is a big mess to use and clean, and it was late =)

You MUST try these! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Happy Baking!

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design Final Cake

Tonight was my last class for the Wilton Flowers and Cake Design course.  We learned the basket weave and got to use our flowers on a cake.  Since my birthday was yesterday, this is my "Day Late Birthday Cake" for myself, so, naturally, it was chocolate!  Due to lack of time, I used a cake mix (gasp!) that I doctored up, and it turned out wonderfully. 



Devils Food doctored cake mix with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting



Close up of royal icing roses (made during the Greys Anatomy premiere last week!)



View from the top - I LOVE the reverse shell border!



Our class manual told us to bring 3 cups of frosting, needless to say, it wasn't enough - only half my cake got the basket weave!  My teacher was really surprised that the  manual thought 3 cups would be enough, I guess now we know! You can see where I had the rest of the cake marked for the basket weave.

 Doctored Chocolate Cake Mix Cake:
1 package of Devils Food cake mix
1 package of Dream Whip
1 tablespoon of Meringue Powder
1 small (individual serving size) container of applesauce
1 cup of water
4 eggs
Method:
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat on medium low speed for 5 minutes and pour into your prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe filled my 8x3 round pan very nicely, but would be plenty for two 8x2 pans, as well. 
**After much experimentation, I have learned that greasing and flouring your pan and lining the bottom with parchment paper makes for the PERFECT cake release!

This doctored cake mix saved me SO much time - I baked, cooled (in the freezer), made frosting, and lightly iced this cake in just 2 hours. Next Monday, I start the Fondant and Gumpaste course - I am so excited!

Happy Baking!

Barbie Cake!

Earlier this week, I received my first ever real cake order! My mom often takes my left-over baking adventures to work, and a lady that works in the office (and has sampled my work), asked me to do her little girl's birthday cake.  The little girl, who is turning 7, wanted a Barbie cake.  I have never done a Barbie cake before, but after watching many videos on assembly and looking at lots of pictures, this is the final result:

Chocolate cake with buttercream icing, covered in and accented with homemade marshmallow fondant

The assembly of the cake was much easier than I expected it to be.  I baked two 8x2 round cakes and one dome shaped cake in a Pyrex bowl.  (Note: when baking in a Pyrex bowl, do not overfill and allow for 15 extra minutes baking time).  I used the same chocolate cake recipe from Dad's Tuxedo Cake (found a couple entries down) for its stability and tastiness. I cut a round hole in the middle of each cake, for Barbie to go in later. Then, I stacked the two 8x2 cakes on top of one another, using buttercream frosting as filling, and then stacked the dome on top of that.  I made sure the cakes were very very cold before assembly and this made it much easier to work with.  I had to trim up the sides a little bit because the round cakes were wider than the dome. I then covered my skirt-shaped cake in a crumb coating of buttercream frosting, put Barbie in the center (her bottom half is wrapped in plastic wrap) and let it set up, in the fridge, over night.

I made the marshmallow fondant earlier this week, using a basic recipe I found on cakecentral.com:
16 oz mini marshmallows
3 tablespoons of water
2 lbs of powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- Melt the marshmallows and water together in the microwave.  Add the vanilla.  Coat your hands, the bowl, and the counters in Crisco. Add the sugar and stir until you can not stir anymore. Dump the fondant out on your greased counter and kneed like you would a dough until it forms a stretchy yet solid ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it set at least overnight before use. -

I tinted the fondant pink with Wilton gel icing colors and rolled it out.  Then, I cut a hole in the center of the round of fondant for Barbie and dropped it over the cake.  Very quickly, before the fondant stretched too much, I pinched it all together in little gathers at the top of her waist, to form the pleats. The natural fall of the fondant formed a pretty skirt.  I filled in the open places at the bottom with buttercream ruffles, to look like a petticoat.  The rest, just kind of came to me as I did it, therefore, I can't really give specific instructions.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me! =)

Here are some pictures of Barbie from every angle:

The petticoats are my favorite =)

The back, with a flower bow at her waist

The fondant fell and made pretty, natural looking fabric

The little frosting star pillows are for candles - there are 7.

I wish my writing was better.  Practice, Practice, Practice!

Well, there she is!  I'm really happy with how Barbie turned out, and I really hope the family enjoys their cake.  Lets all keep our fingers crossed that delivery goes smoothly!

Happy Baking!

Wilton Class #4 - Final Cake!

Tonight was my last class of the Wilton Decorating Basics Course, and I learned how to write on cakes and the Ribbon Rose (my favorite!).  The writing was a lot easier than I expected, but the roses took some practice and getting used to.  At the request of my husband, I did a very brightly colored cake with lots of orange:

Two layer marble cake with buttercream icing, decorated with a 'bouquet' of
 ribbon roses and a shell border.

For the cake, I wanted something different, so I did Martha Stewart's Marble Cake.  It has a hint of coffee in the chocolate that I love!  Marble cake feels fancy to me (it is what I had at my wedding), but it was surprisingly easy to make. 

Martha Stewart's Marble Cake:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder, for mocha layers
* This recipe makes 3 1/2 cups of batter.  I doubled it and had enough for two 8 inch round pans + 12 cupcakes.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Combine milk and cream in a small bowl; set aside. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time; mix well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with flour. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a medium bowl; add espresso powder. Stir 1 cup cake batter into chocolate mixture. Fill prepared pans with spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter to form a checkerboard pattern. Run the tip of a paring knife or a wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake at 350 degrees until tops are golden - about 30 minutes. Let cakes cool completely in pans on wire racks.

The inside of the marble cake.

 The next Wilton course starts in September, and I will be making some much more complicated flowers - I absolutely can not wait!  Next up this week - 2 birthday cakes and my first 'Daring Bakers' challenge.
 
Happy Baking!

Florida State University Cupcakes!

This weekend marks a very bittersweet occasion for my family - my youngest sister is leaving for college ... talk about feeling old! She is going to FSU, which, thankfully, is only 2 hours from me; not too far for lots of visits =)  I'm super duper proud of her though, and I know she will do just great!  Anyway, I am going to Alabama this weekend to visit family, so I wanted to send her to school with something from me, since I won't be able to help her move in.  Meeting new roomies can be stressful, so what better way to break the ice than delicious cupcakes with a little school spirit, and they just had to be chocolate because chocolate makes everything more fun!

To create these cupcakes, I used gold foil cupcake papers and an adaption of the classic Martha Stewart One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  I topped the cupcakes with maroon-colored buttercream icing, sparkly gold sprinkles, and a cute little FSU logo.  I think I achieved the 'garnet and gold' look I was going for.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (adapted from Martha Stewart):
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 + 1/8 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. baking powder
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1 tsp. meringue powder
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 + 1/8 cup milk
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 + 1/8 cup warm water

The best part about this recipe is that it is 'one-bowl'!  Simply sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, coffee, and meringue powder.  Add the eggs, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and warm water to the bowl, and beat on low with an electric mixer until the ingredients are just blended (about 2 minutes).  The batter will be very runny and you should see little fizzy bubbles on top.  Fill your prepared baking cups about 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.  TIP: When baking in foil cupcake papers, make sure you spray everything very well with nonstick spray or the liners will stick and the cupcake tops will be ruined!

The cakes baked up perfctly - firm enough to hold the icing, yet they had a light and fluffy texture

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (from Wilton, medium consistency):
1 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla flavoring
1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
1 tsp. vanilla latte coffee creamer
9 tsp. milk or water
1 tbsp. meringue powder
1 lb. powdered sugar

This buttercream recipe uses Crisco because this summer heat tends to melt butter.  The Crisco holds up  much better, and the butter flavoring gives the yummy taste we are all looking for! To make the frosting,  cream together the shortening, flavorings, coffee creamer, and milk with an electric mixer.  Add the meringue powder and powdered sugar and beat until creamy.  I used one small container of  Wilton Christmas Red and 1/2 container of Wilton Burgundy icing colors to create the garnet color. To make the swirl, fill a disposable bag with icing and fit it with the 1M star tip.  Start at the edge of the cupcake and work around in a circle, applying firm pressure.  For these cupcakes, I left a little room around the edge so I could press in the sprinkles.

For the toppers, I cut out little FSU logos and taped them to toothpicks - super easy!

I just can't wait for my sister to taste and share these cakes - GO SEMINOLES! And, of course, Happy Baking!