Ayla's First Birthday Cake

Nick's co-worker, Kristy, had come back to order a cake for her daughter's first birthday.  I was very excited for a repeat customer and happy that she thought of me for another cake.  Her daughter's party theme was jungle animals.  Kristy send me some pictures of the table cloth and party accessories so I could see them for myself.  She also made it easy on me by designing her own cake.  The cake she wanted was two tiers with the bottom tier decorated in stripes and the top tier decorated in dots.  Topping the cake is a giraffe that matched the party decorations and a candle in a shape of a one.  It is a super cute design and perfect for a little girl's party.  As for the cake itself I did vanilla with vanilla buttercream for both tiers and in between the layers.

I had a lot of fun making this cake.  I started on a Friday night with baking all the cakes and making the frosting after which I started on the giraffe.  I have to say making the fondant figurines is my favorite part of the process.  It is time consuming but it is rewarding and relaxing.  I forget about everything that is stressing me out at the moment when I start shaping the fondant into little limbs, figurines and etc... It's a perfect way to end a Friday night.

Overall, the cake took me a lot less time than I usually spend on a cake.  I actually noticed the improvement in my time.  It feels great when you realize for yourself how much you have improved.  I did have trouble when laying down fondant on the cakes.  I really need to figure out my problem with fondant.  Our love and hate relationship is getting in the way of my love of cake decorating.  I pulled through in the end and here is the finished result.

Audrey's Sprinkle Cake

This weekend was my bff's, Audrey, baby sprinkle. I was very excited that I could make it down for the event. Her neighbors and dear friends, Nancy, Liron and Taylor threw her a wonderful party. We had lots of snacks to munch on while we mingled. Played some really fun shower games and enjoyed watching Audrey open all of her presents filled with the cutest and tiniest baby apparel and toys ever! And, for the grand finale we had, you guessed it, cake.

I cannot take all of the credit for making this cake. I had help this time around from Nancy, Audrey's neighbor and friend. Nancy loves to bake and she offered to help bake the cake for Audrey's sprinkle. Nancy is this blog post's baking chef of honor :) I live in Boston and I was flying to Baltimore for the party so bringing a cake along on a plane was unrealistic. So I handed off my recipes to Nancy and she had them ready for me when I arrived to Baltimore. She baked a yellow cake and whipped up vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream (see below for recipe). Nancy had suggested we make a cake that looked like a castle and that we use baby bottle's for the towers. I loved her suggestions and got all the supplies ready to put the cake together.

We met up Saturday and Sunday mornings to put the cake together and decorate. It took us a total of 4 hours. I was so grateful for her help! She did a great job and it was so nice to have someone there to keep me company. I usually make the cakes on my own and after a few hours it can get quite lonely. I had a partner in crime and we had fun tasting the cake scraps and finding any excuse to eat the chocolate buttercream frosting. It is dangerous how good this chocolate buttercream tastes. I almost don't need cake to eat it :) We were finished after all the frosting, fondant and the finishing decorating touches made it on the cake. I must say we made the cutest cake castle.

We also took some pictures with the cake this time. I wish I though of doing this before with my other cakes.  I guess this makes it a unique blog post and I am ok with that. So here we are with Nancy on the left, our baking chef of honor, Audrey in the middle, the guest of honor, and myself on the right.

All the picture taking made us hungry and we dug in. Here is the cake inside out for your eyes to devour.

I know that I enjoyed both of my slices of the cake. I want to thank Nancy for helping and doing such a great job baking. Now we are all ready for Audrey's daughter to arrive hopefully sometime this coming weekend. Why Not?

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
prep time: 10-15min


Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream


Preparations:

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. 
Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. 
Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla/almond extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. 
If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Makes about 3 cups of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

The Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Tonight I was baking for my coworker, Kara. She is leaving my lab for a new job and tomorrow is her last day. I wanted to do something nice for her before she left and as always I baked. I don't know anyone, who doesn't appreciate a sweet freshly baked homemade treat, so it has been always my go to. Although my blog is supposed to be about cake, I made an exception for these absolutely delightful brownies! I made them a couple of times in the past and they are a hit even with the most picky eaters. I love when I find a dessert like this one. A dessert that's very easy to make but tastes as if you slaved in the kitchen all night. It's easy to see why everyone raves about these brownies when you see the pictures.

Believe me that they taste as delicious as they look. I found the recipe on Pinterest from a fellow blogger, who came up with this genius combination. Here is a link to the recipe, her pictures and thorough instruction on how to make  The Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cup Brownies . Enjoy! And, I am off to find a new way to distract myself so I don't eat the entire batch of brownies I just made sitting on my kitchen counter.

Nick's Cinco de Mayo Birthday Cake

My husband Nick is turning 30 years old Monday, May 7th. Since it's a big birthday for him and it also happened that Cinco de Mayo was on a Saturday this year, we decided to have a party to celebrate. I had fun planning the cake for this fiesta. I wanted to make something simple yet colorful to fit the party theme. I came across a rainbow cake on the internet and loved how colorful and fun it looked. The recipe I found called for a white cake but I wanted to do something related to the holiday so I decided to go with a margarita cake recipe.  And, for the frosting I chose lime buttercream. It's the perfect compliment to the cake. We had bought party supplies earlier in the month for the party. There were two pinatas: a cactus and a sombrero. It was my inspiration for making the cake into a sombrero with a pinata on top. 

The cake didn't end up looking much like a sombrero but I still love all the fun designs. It looked very festive. The pinata on top I made earlier in the week. It is completely edible because it was made out of fondant. He, we named him Pedro, matched the colorful cake on the inside. The rainbow cake was delicious. It tasted very refreshing and everyone was really impressed by how colorful it turned out. It was really easy to make. Before baking I split equal amounts of the batter into 6 bowls. Then I dyed each one a different color. Next I put about a half a cup of batter of one color into the center of the pan followed by putting a half a cup of batter of a different color into the center of the batter already in the pan. I felt like I was doing an art project. I am really happy with the result.

In the process of looking for cake ideas online I came across the cutest idea for cupcakes. They looked like nachos. I had sometime to fit them in so I went for it. I am glad that I did because they turned out adorable. They were perfect for a Cinco de Mayo party.

Ayla's Baptism Cake

The Baby Shower Cake for Lindsey was a hit. The pictures of the cake made it around to most of my friends and coworkers. That is how I got a request from my husband's coworker, Kristy, for a Baptism cake. Her little girl, Ayla Grace, was getting baptized this past Sunday April 29,2012. Kristy looked around on the internet for Baptism cakes she liked. And, she decided on a cake in a shape of a cross with some roses and lace detail. It was a yellow cake with strawberries for a filling. To make the cross I used 6 8 by 8-inch cakes. The frosting was my favorite version of buttercream for decorating (see below for recipe). Even though I set out to make a cake that could feed a group of 20-30 people, I think the cake could feed twice that amount. Hope everyone enjoyed their generous slices of cake at the party!

Buttercream Icing Recipe

prep time: 30 min

Ingredients:

This icing is good to use for icing cakes and cookies as well as for borders and art work on cakes. It also makes a good tasting filling between layers of the cake and under a Fondant Icing. You can make roses out of Buttercream Icing, but the drying time is 3 or more days depending on the humidity. 

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
2 cups Crisco shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter flavoring (Wilton’s makes the best flavored version)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I use Wilton’s Clear Vanilla)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 pounds powdered (confectioners') cane sugar, divided*
1 tablespoon meringue powder (optional but the texture will be smoother)** Water or milk as necessary (I usually add about 2 tablespoons but you may need more or less depending on the humidity in your neighborhood)

* 2 pounds un-sifted powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar) = about 8 to 9 cups.

** You can purchase meringue powder at your local grocery store under the brand name of Just Whites.

Preparation:

In the electric mixer, combine butter, Crisco shortening, and salt together to incorporate, about 5 minutes on low.

Add butter, vanilla extract, and almond extract; mix together well. Add about 1 pound (4 to 4 1/2 cups) powdered sugar and the meringue powder; mix until incorporated.

Add the remaining powdered sugar (1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time), and mix until you get the consistency you want. You may not need to use all the powdered sugar.

Add a little water or milk (a teaspoon at a time), if necessary to thin the frosting. Blend well on low for several minutes.

Use immediately or cover and refrigerate. NOTE: Buttercream Icing will last for weeks as long as it is well sealed.

Makes about 3 1/2 pounds of Buttercream Icing.

Lindsey's Baby Shower Cake

The first cake of 2012 is the baby shower cake I made for my friend, Lindsey. She is expecting her first baby in April and I was happy to attend her Baby Shower. She looked great and is ready for the little guy's arrival. Lindsey picked a farm theme for her cake.  Her husbands' family owns a farm stand and apple orchard so we decided this was the perfect fit. So her sister, my friend and neighbor, Maribeth, and I came up with a design we created from images found on the web in order to make the perfect cake for Lindsey. We decided on a three tier cake (she had 50 people coming to the shower).  The top 6 inch blue layer will have a  red barn, the middle 9 inch yellow layer  will have apple trees and finally the bottom 12 inch green layer will have a fence and haystacks. The cake will also have farm animals and a truck around it, which will complete the look. This also happens to be my first blog entry for 2012 and I hope it's not my last since I have been trying to get blogging unsuccessfully for a while.

To keep myself on track, I started out by creating a sketch of the cake. I felt less stressed because I had a plan which I could rely on. I began with making the decorations going on and around the cake. These little guys need time to dry so all the parts can bond together. I decided based on the size of the cake to go with three cows, one horse, three sheep, one dog, five haystacks, one truck, three pigs and five ducks. Since I was rusty it took me a while to make all the animals but when finally finished they came out super.

They are all made of fondant (I like to think of this stuff as edible play dough for adults), the details are drawn on using edible marker and they are totally safe to eat! Throughout the process of making these little guys you can't help but bond a little with your work. So you pick favorites and it somehow feels wrong but I always end up having one. This time it was the dog. Maybe because it was my first or maybe it was because he came out so cute. 

Having three tiers is very helpful when deciding between cake and frosting flavors. It eliminates choosing vanilla over chocolate or vice versa since you can make both! The two top tiers were chocolate and the bottom layer was going to be vanilla. After doing some browsing on the web, I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to make the bottom layer a strawberry shortcake.  I salivated at a recipe I found on a blog. The blogger made a recipe from a new cookbook by the Pioneer Woman and after looking at the pictures she posted of the cake I was sold! I also thought it would be a perfect recipe to get into the spirit of spring. It was an abnormally warm week here in the Northeast and it inspired me to make a cake that helped people enjoy the warm weather. 

After baking the cakes, I frosted  them  and then covered each layer with fondant. Next I added the barn, the clouds, the trees, the apples and the fence to each tier.  It is always easier to put the cake together on site, so we transported the layers separately. Once the layers were stacked  and the final touches were added we were finally ready to eat the cake!! 

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the cake after it was cut. So I cannot post any images of the scrumptious chocolate layer covered in chocolate buttercream or the refreshing strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream. Although, without a doubt I will be making both recipes again and will be posting pictures in the very near future.

It took me about 20 hours to complete this cake including all the time I spent during the week making the farm animals.  In the future, I hope to cut that time down to about 10 hours. I am on a constant look out for shortcuts and ideas to help cut down on the time. I think my best bet is to practice making the cakes and working with fondant more. My goal is to take on new projects every week or two to help hone my skills. Why Not??