Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Cupcakes

Ghost: Chocolate cherry cupcake with chocolate glaze
Boo: Touch of The Irish cupcake brown sugar cupcake with Baileys Irish Cream butter cream
Candy Corn: Spice cupcake with apple filling and maple butter cream
Pumpkin: Gimme S'more cupcake graham cracker cupcake with chocolate glaze and homemade roasted marshmallow
Snow Man: Chocolate with vanilla butter cream
Santa: Vanilla with chocolate butter cream
Reindeer: Spice with maple butter cream
Holly: Chocolate with Andes mints in center with mint butter cream
Joy: Chocolate cream chocolate with chocolate chip cream cheese filling and vanilla butter cream

Veggie Tales


If you like to talk to tomatoes,
If a squash can make you smile,
If you like to waltz with potatoes,
Up and down the produce aisle
Have we got a show for you!.........
Larry and Bob are fondant covered rice crispy treats
I wasn't sure how to make Veggie Tales girly...so I added a few flowers

Birthday girl with every bite of her smash cake said
"Oh No Bob! Oh No!"

Elmo

This was a fun cake to make. It was for a first birthday. Just a vanilla cake with butter cream frosting and marshmallow fondant. Elmo is made from fondant coverd in butter cream for fur.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mmmmmm Good!

Recently our church secretary retired, and I was asked to make a cake for the party held in her honor. Kathy said she loved raspberries, so I incorporated raspberries into this cake. It is a white cake with raspberry and white chocolate filling. It was really delicious!

White Cake
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup of milk
 5 egg whites
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Spray bottom of cake pan with nonstick spray.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking powder; set aside.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy; add vanilla and beat well.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk; beat well after each addition.
Add egg whites one at a time; beat well after each addition
Makes about six cups of batter
pour into cake pans and bake 35-40 min (maybe more depending on cake pan size; less for cupcakes)

Raspberry Puree Filling (from Cake central)

1 12oz bag of frozen raspberries, thawed. (or fruit of your choice)
1/4 c granulated white sugar
3 TB cornstarch mixed withe equals parts COLD water to dissolve.
lemon juice- to taste
2-3 TB raspberry chambord (french liquor- preservative).

Thaw berries. Puree them in blender. Press though a sieve to remove seeds.
 Place berry puree in a pot on the stove over medium/low heat.
 Add sugar and dissolve cornstarch.
Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly so you will not have lumps.
 Once it thickens nicely, remove from heat.
Allow to cool, add chambord.
Chill for a few hours, then fill your cake.
Don't forget a thick icing dam!
the chambord will not change to flavor as it is made from raspberries, herbs and honey

White Chocolate filling
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese (soft but still cool)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
In the top of a double boiler (or microwave), combine the white chocolate and milk.
Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the chocolate is melted.
Let cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, and vanilla.
 Gradually add the cooled chocolate and beat until smooth.
Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours before filling cake

Once the cake and the fillings are ready, it's time to assemble
Tort the cake
In between the layers add the white chocolate filling and the raspberry filling.
you can combine both fillings in one  layer or alternate between layers.
when that is done frost the entire cake with butter cream and decorate

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Let the music play


This is a life sized Les Paul guitar that I was asked to make.
German chocolate cake filled with German chocolate frosting. Covered in German chocolate butter cream. Decorated with marshmallow fondant. I would have to say that this cake was fun to make.

My playdough


I enjoy doing birthday cakes. Especially for kids! Especially when I can create out of fondant!!!! It's my "adult play dough"  


I have two birthday cakes that so far are my favorites! One was for a girl who loves littlest pet shop toys. She gave me a bag of her favorite ones and wanted them on her cake. Well I had to try didn't I?  Not having sculpted like this before, I pushed up my sleeves, pulled out my "play dough" and went to work. The birthday girl was happy! 

my turtle next to toy


The other favorite birthday cake of mine was for twins. They were having a carnival themed birthday party. This cake was so much fun to make! Handmade popcorn balloons, candy apples and of course a clown. It was a big hit! I don't know who loved the cake more..the twins or me!


Getting started

Creativity has not always been my strong point. I had always been more athletic. When my oldest turned 10 and my youngest 5 (two weeks apart) I decided that I would try to make their cakes. My son's cake was a mystery theme and my daughters a princess theme..I decided then while it was more satisfying to make my own creations I did not really enjoy it. Over the years I made cakes for all three of my kiddos, and occasionally for other people. I mostly felt stressed and overly critical of my work.
Last summer I decided for my son's 16th birthday I was going to go all out for his big birthday bash. Ahhh that must have been fueled by the boredom that came from loosing my full time job. I created a DJ turn table cake that was complete with a cake stand that had working LED lights and a revolving disco ball (made by my husband)! I have been busy decorating cakes since then.
I am completely self taught, I have never taken any classes. If I want to learn something I ask the people I know who can give me advice. I read books and do Internet research.......Oh and lots of trial and errors :)
I now love decorating cakes, and coming up with new flavors and fillings!
I have decided to create a blog to share my learning experiences and cakes.