Double Birthday Week! Mom's Carrot Cake

This past week, both my mother and brother celebrated their birthdays. My mom turned 60 on Sunday, so I had to make her favorite--carrot cake! I was short on time, but I wanted the cake to have an authentic feel, so I decided to try Duncan Hines' deluxe carrot cake mix. It had a pouch of carrots and raisins to add to the batter!

My mom doesn't like raisins, so I diligently picked all of those pesky raisins out. (so much for saving time, right?) While the cake baked, I worked on a different cream cheese buttercream recipe I had found.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar

1) With a whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy (about 5 minutes).

2) Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix on low for a minute or so.

3) Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix on low to combine after each addition. After all of the sugar is combined, whip the buttercream on high for about a minute or two.

Nice and fluffy!

I chopped up about a cup of walnuts and covered the sides of the cake then I decorated with orange flowers. Then I added the final touch- white chocolate numbers. (beats those number candles!)

My mom loved it!

And the cake was super moist with visible carrot shreds, so it definitely looked scratch-made! One qualm: the cake didn't rise as much as I wanted, so I would use two boxes for a double-layer 8 inch cake.

Lemon-Honey Cake with Vanilla Lemon Buttercream

My mom's birthday was this past Saturday, and I wanted to make her a cake that she actually enjoyed. I recalled a while ago that she had found a cake recipe in Women's Day magazine for Lemon-Honey cupcakes. Well, if a recipe can make 24 cupcakes, it can make 2 8" round cakes. The recipe is as follows:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs

1) Heat oven to 350 and Baker's Joy your cake pans.
2) Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Whisk sour cream, milk, lemon zest and juice in a small bowl until well mixed.

3) Beat butter, honey and sugar in a large bowl (or your Kitchenaid) for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

4) With mixer on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, then the sour cream mixture. Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.
5) Evenly divide batter into cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes (keep checking it, since ovens vary). Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn cake out onto cooling rack.

For the Lemon-Vanilla Buttercream, I used my usual Butter Vanilla Buttercream recipe, but replaced the butter flavor with lemon extract. I chose a light yellow and lavender color scheme for the cake, and used a fail-proof design-- a bunch of roses!

**side note: I am totally aware that I forgot to cross the "t" in yellow icing, but my mom didn't notice it, so it's all good! :) **

Fondant-Free Hobbit Hole Cake!

Ah, yes. The birthday cake for my beloved has been revealed-- it is a Lord of the Rings-inspired hobbit hole cake! I kind of had a choice between Minas Tirith and a hobbit hole, so I went for the hobbit hole! I am not that ambitious just yet, especially after seeing this! So I started with two 8" layers and two 6"
 layers of chocolate cake.

My beloved's favorite flavor combo is chocolate and peanut butter, so I made him some Wilton peanut butter buttercream from scratch.

The recipe is as follows


Peanut Butter Buttercream (makes 3 cups)

• 1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 4-6 tablespoons milk

After placing my layered 8" rounds onto a corner on the board and cut a notch out of my 6" layers, so they could fit snugly. I saved the piece cut out from the notch and placed it between the 8" and 6" rounds to create a slope.

I slathered (oh, yes, I said "slathered") all of the cake in the peanut butter buttercream then set it in the fridge for about 20 minutes. I had also made a regular vanilla batch of buttercream for coloring purposes, so in the meantime, I mixed a LOT of green for the grass.

I spread a block of white on the "front" of the hobbit hole where the doors and windows will go.

I popped the cake back in the fridge for another 15 minutes or so. I covered the top and back of the hill in green with a grass tip (time-consuming!)...

I traced circles in the front for the door and windows.

I used different colors of icing for the flowers and rock detail.

Overall, my beloved LOVED it! I was excited!

On a sidenote: While I was researching the look of hobbit holes, I came across this. This is a real residence in Wales, and I am officially impressed and inspired.