Pretty in Pink Birthday Cake

 Hello, all! First, I must say, I finally got a kitchen scale.

Yay! It's so shiny and new! Now to find a fancy recipe to try it on...

I recently made a very pink and girly cake for a really good friend of mine, Violet. She loves everything pink, and even had pink in her wedding! I've made her a pink cake before, but I wanted to make it special-- inside and out. I started with a white cake mix with almond emulsion. Then I stirred in a few shakes of pink nonpareils to add a little extra something. They melt into the cake, so don't worry about crunchiness. Also, don't stir too much or the sprinkles will start to melt into the cake.

I divided the batter into one 6" pan and one 8" pan to make a mini 2-tier cake.

After the cakes were baked and cooled, I iced the tiers in white and stacked them (with a few dowel rods to prevent any sagging).

I rolled out some pink fondant and used my diamond cutter set to make a pink harlequin design on the bottom tier.

 On the top tier I added some fancy scrolls and matching roses. I finished the cake off with a pink "26" made of white chocolate.

Violet loved her cake and she said it made her day, so my mission was accomplished. :) Happy birthday, Violet!

Once Upon A Time Cake!

Evening, all!

So I am a new fan of the ABC series Once Upon A Time. It has all of the classic fairy tale characters-- plus a twist. I love it! So when I was commissioned to make a cake with this theme, I was all for it!

 I started with my now- trusty chocolate cake recipe (the cake was to be a 6" cake, so I used the rest of the batter to make 24 yummy mini cupcakes). Then I filled the layers with my trusty cream cheese buttercream recipe. I planned on using an edible image, so I iced the cake in regular white buttercream.

After a bit of thought, I went with a few key symbols from the show: The evil queen's mirror, her bowl of apples, Snow White's poisoned apple (complete with a little bite), the Mad Hatter's hat, and the fairy tale book that started it all called Once Upon A Time. I added some black swirls on the side (which my friend pointed out looked like the mayor's office), and voila!

I must add that my scrollwork has greatly improved. I feel like I've added much Caking XP to my repertoire-- perhaps enough to gain a level. :)

Side note: I'm, super excited about the second season that premiered this past Sunday. Can't wait to see how the story unfolds!

Oh, and look out for some delicious fall flavors soon! ;)

Day of the Dead Cake!

Hello, all! As some of you may know, October 31st through November 2nd is deemed El Dia de Los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). It's a holiday of Mexican origin that focuses on remembering loved ones that have passed. One big (and recognizable) characteristic of this holiday is the intricately-decorated sugar skull.

I wanted to capture that in my Beloved's birthday cake, since his birthday is so close to Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebration. After looking up many different beautiful designs, I settled on a red and black style that incorporated scroll work and spider webs. I started with a basic chocolate cake and filled it with cookies and cream (Oreos crushed up and mixed into vanilla buttercream). Yum!

I also wanted to add a topping of ganache, so I looked up a recipe and got to work! I started with 12 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips in a bowl and 1 cup of heavy cream on medium high in a saucepan.

Then I waited until the cream came to a boil...

Then I poured the boiling cream onto the chocolate chips!

 And I stirred until the chocolate completely melted and had a glossy finish.

Yum!

 I ran the ganache through a strainer just to get the little bits out.

Then I poured the chocolate over the cake that I had put the scroll detail on already.

I added a fondant sugar skull on top, some white chocolate numbers, and it was ready to be devoured by my Betrothed!

He loved it!

And so did everyone else at the party! :)

Mmmm so good with vanilla ice cream

Made with Love

 In recent news, my Beloved has now become my Betrothed! :) I'm very excited and I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a special little cake. One of his favorite things to eat is sour cream (he could probably eat a whole tub in five seconds flat), so I found Paula Deen's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake. I cut the recipe in half because I wanted to make a small cake:

• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp orange extract ( I used vanilla)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract

1) Preheat oven to 350. Then grease two 6-inch round pans
2) Cream butter and sugar together then add sour cream.

3) Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with the eggs, one at a time.
4) Add extracts and stir to combine.
5) Pour into pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes then turn them out into cooling racks.

"But wait!" you might interject, "why is there a square cake up there?" Well, during the turning-out step, I lost some cake, so I had to ice between the layers and cut them down (the cake waste was still tasty!) It's all good-- no shame in it. Hmph.

So after the sides were cut down, I iced the cake, smoothed it a bit, then chilled it in the freezer to set the buttercream. Then I used a handy-dandy Wilton spatula to get really straight edges.

The hardened icing made it really easy to shave down any bumpy parts.

ooooh ahhhh

I wanted to keep things simple, so I used some black icing to make a little swirl pattern and a snail trail border. And voila!

My betrothed loved it! The cake was quite moist and I loved how it paired with my Butter-Almond buttercream. Yum!