Elmo Cake
I just had to share this adorable Elmo cake that my sister made. She sent me the photos the other day…and I knew it had to go up on the site. I am not entirely sure of the whole story behind this super cute Elmo cake, but I assume it was made for a birthday party.
How cute is Elmo?
My Version of Hummingbird Cake
Baking is a science. Unlike cooking which allows you to add a pinch of this and a tad of that to taste, baking recipes need to be followed to a tee. Otherwise, the result can be disastrous.
I, like many great bakers, borrow recipes and ideas from the pros. There are always certain things you can do to put your signature on a recipe and make it your own. Let’s take Hummingbird Cake for example…there are so many variations of this cake out there for you to try. My personal favorite is Paula Dean’s version of Hummingbird Cake. Her version is delicious as is, but I wanted to make this recipe my own and give it a personal twist.
As a guideline, I never mess with the amount or type of flour used in a recipe. The leavening agents are also something I stay spot on with. When it comes to sugar you can probably get away with adding a bit less, but I wouldn’t recommend changing the actual “type” of sugar. Brown sugar has more moisture than granulated sugar and some sweeteners such as Splenda or Equal don’t translate the same as granulated sugar. I must not forget to mention that calorie-free sweeteners can leave an unpleasant aftertaste in your baked goods as well as cause them not to rise up.
Changes should be subtle…adding a different kind of nut, chip or spice. Making a recipe your own can even be as simple as adding slightly more of one ingredient.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a cuckoo for coconut – it is one of my favorite ingredients to work with. Simply adding a ½ cup of sweetened flake coconut to this Hummingbird Cake created a whole new layer of flavor and a bit more texture.
The next twist I made on this Hummingbird Cake recipe was replacing the finely chopped pecans with more roughly chopped toasted pecans.
***Chefs Note on Toasting Pecans***
To toast pecans simply place them in a dry pan over medium heat. Be sure to keep an eye on them and stir often. Pecans have oil in them that left unattended can burn. And no one wants burnt nuts in their cake. You will know when they are done when they smell aromatic and are slightly browned
The last change I made to this Hummingbird Cake recipe was to kick up the cinnamon. To bump up the warmth cinnamon can add, I increased the amount of cinnamon to 1 ½ teaspoons.
I finished the cake with cream cheese icing, toasted coconut and whole toasted pecans.
I am still learning about the science behind cake baking. For more information on this topic check out these sites:
About.com – Baking Ingredient Science
WilliePrejean’s Baking and Baking Science
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
Serves 12
FOR THE CAKE
FOR THE FROSTING
****(My changes to this recipe include…adding ½ cup sweetened flake coconut, larger toasted pecans and ½ teaspoon more cinnamon)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray and flour three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour; set aside.
2. Prepare the cake; in a large bowl, stir to combine self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pecans, bananas, pineapple, vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs.
3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertips, 26 to 28 minutes.
4. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
5. Prepare the frosting; in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk on medium speed until frosting is smooth. If needed, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to achieve the proper spreading consistency.
6. Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the first layer on the cake plate. Spread the top of the first layer with 1/4 of the frosting. Place the second layer on top and repeat process with another 1/4 of the frosting. Place the remaining layer on top of the second layer bottom side up. Spread entire cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with pecans. Remove parchment paper strips; refrigerate until ready to serve.
Finished Yankees Cake
Growing up in the Cleveland area can be a nightmare for a sports fan. “There’s always next year” is our regular end of season moto. Cleveland has had the longest sports championship drought out of any other U.S. city. 1964 was the last time Cleveland, Ohio saw a championship team, when the Browns won the NFL Championship.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have some very exciting players and make it to the playoffs regularly, but can’t seal the deal. In 1948 the Cleveland Indians last won the World Series…one can see the pattern of our sports teams.
The New York Yankees are a team either loved or loathed by people. This could have something to do with the Yankees leading Major League Baseball in both revenue and titles. 27 World Series titles, 40 American League penants and some of the most celebrated players (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra) is an impressive and intimidating resume. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I was asked to create a Yankees theme birthday cake for a long time fan.
Fondant Mitt and Royal Icing Baseballs
The Yankees cake was decorated using Marshmallow Fondant and Royal Icing. Royal Icing is tempermental in its consistency, but when right it can make the most fabulous decorations. I used royal icing on a few areas of this cake…the stitching on the baseballs and the actual baseballs along its sides.
To create the baseballs, I piped royal icing onto a silpat and let it dry overnight. Before lifting the baseballs with an offset spatula, I detailed them with a bit of red royal icing stitching. Marshmallow Fondant was used to make the Yankees logo and baseball mitt. The mitt was hand sculpted and painted. This Yankees cake was perfect for any sports fan’s birthday and could be transformed to represent any team…even the Cleveland Indians.
It's delivery...no, it's a Pizza Cake!
A hot trend in cake decorating right now is creating a cake that mimics something from everyday life. Food shaped cakes are some of the most popular.
My brother-in-law, Joe, just celebrated a birthday… and what better excuse to bake a cake than for a birthday! Joe, like everyone else in my family, has a love for great food. He and my sister have traveled and ate their way around the globe. However when it comes down to the basics, pizza is his go to food. With that information in hand, I decided a pizza cake was the best bet for him. This was a fun cake to make simply because…who doesn’t like pizza?
I started with size and shape. I knew the cake would be round, but how just how big of a round? I opted for a 12” round not because there were going to be a ton of guests, but because I thought it would be the most realistic size for a pizza shaped cake.
Cake baked, cooled, and sliced; I needed to get busy with my plan for decorating the cake to look like a pizza. It had to look realistic. So I started with the obvious…crust first. In order to give the cake a great crust, I piped a very thick wavy line of buttercream all around the edge of the cake. After the buttercream was piped, I placed it into the fridge to set up while I worked on the fondant.
A thick, wavy piping of buttercream helped form the "crust"
I have been making my own marshmallow fondant for some time now and find that it works well for me. Plus, the cost of making your own fondant compared to purchasing fondant is like night and day. Not to mention, marshmallow fondant tastes much better than “regular” fondant – which is normally inedible.
Once the fondant was rolled, I brought the cake out and went to work covering it. The crust of a pizza is a multitude of colors and shades. To give my pizza cake this illusion, I watered down some brown gel food coloring and started sponging it on with a crumpled paper towel. The crust ended up turning out great; it looked just like a Papa John’s pizza crust.
Sauce was my next task. I chose strawberry preserves to which I added a dash of red food coloring. I spread the “pizza sauce” edge to edge.
The pizza "sauce" is strawberry preserves.
On to the cheese – most people’s favorite part! I have seen cheese done several different ways, my way was to melt white chocolate and drizzle it in a caddywampous pattern over the top. Then, it was back to the fridge to set up.
Now on to the toppings! So many to choose from, where do I start? Of course I chose pepperoni, the classic pizza accompaniment. Since Joe is a meat lover, chunks of sausage made sense. I added black olives for their round shape and unique color. And finally, green pepper, to add a hint of green which rounded out the overall look.
Anyone order a pepperoni, sausage, black olive and green pepper?
All toppings where made out of marshmallow fondant and then hand painted with gel food coloring. A more random arrangement worked best when it came to the toppings. The end result was a super realistic pizza cake which everyone adored.
My good friend Sherry decided to host a surprise 40th birthday for her husband Scott. The party was to be a casual gathering amongst close friends. I, being the girl who bakes, was in charge of all things CAKE related. I got busy thinking about the cake…size, flavor, and of course, the shape.
When baking a cake for a friend or family I always want to give it a personal meaning. Scott, like many men I know, has an affection for sports and beer, Heineken Beer to be more specific. What better way to celebrate such a milestone than with a beer inspired birthday cake?
I set out to surf the Internet for ideas for this cake and I couldn’t believe how many I found! There were bottles of beer cakes, ale flavored cakes, bottle cap cakes, beer can cakes and of course, cakes shaped like beer kegs. I turned my attention to the bottle cap designs thinking this would be easier than some of the others to pull off. Sweet Retreat was an incredibly useful website, giving me clear step by step instructions on the process of building this cake. Click here for their step by step Heineken Beer Cap Cake instructions.
Heineken Beer Cap Cake
I did choose to modify a few things in order to give it my personal stamp. Another difference, I don’t own an airbrush…yet. I had to hand paint the cake which is nice for certain things but was not ideal for coloring this particular cake.
I also decided to change up the lettering. To do this, I looked for the Heineken Beer font online, downloaded it, installed it on my computer and then printed the letters in my desired font size. From here I took the printed letters and covered them with sheets of wax paper, whipped up a batch of royal icing and began piping.
When piping letters, be sure to pipe more than one of each letter as they will break every once in a while. I let the letters dry overnight. The next morning I lifted them off of the wax paper using an offset spatula and placed them directly onto the cake….great effect! The cake was a hit and the party was too much fun.
Over the past year the world of cake decorating has gotten great exposure due to television – especially the Food Network. I am like a moth to a flame when one of these shows are being aired. Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Amazing Wedding Cakes, Food Network Challenge, the list goes on from here. These programs have given people like me the tools and inspiration to try cake outside the box.
This past month in cake has been fantastic! Many fun and creative confections have come from my kitchen in the past couple weeks. Here are a few of the highlights.
First on the list was a beach inspired birthday cake. Nilla Waffers were the perfect ingredient for making sand, not to mention they taste great too. The palm tree, beach ball, starfish, coconut, and shark fin were all crafted out of marshmallow fondant. When finished, I couldn’t help but smile.
Beach cake with Nilla Wafer "sand"
A 59th birthday cake was next on the list. This one needed a bit of edge to it, something to laugh about. I had made a few cakes for this couple before and knew my boundaries. After much research, a decision was made – a toilet bowl. What better way to say it, “Another Year Down the Shitter”. I was there for the grand unveiling of this masterpiece and you would have thought they won the lottery by their expressions. It was a sure fire hit!
Lovely isn't it? Yep, that is a toilet.
The most recent cake to come out of my kitchen was for a dear friend’s surprise birthday party. When baking a cake for a close friend I try and give it some personal meaning. Immediately after hearing about the party, I knew what I was going to make. Kristy, our birthday girl, hates the sight of bare feet. What better way to say Happy Birthday than a gnarly foot! The look on her face was priceless and I’m sure we’ll be talking about it for years to come!
Really, we don't want to gross you out.
Baking gets me in my happy place, it allows me to be creative and put a smile on someone elses face. I find with every new challenge I become more confident and comfortable with this craft. Keep’em coming – I can’t wait for the next challenge! If you are interested in ordering your next cake from Frosted, please email me at Jody@LifeWithCake.com.
Jumbo Chocolate Cupcakes
Our Basic Cupcake Making Tips
Downsize your favorite cake…
You can turn almost any cake recipe into cupcakes. I recently decided to turn a chocolate cake recipe that was a success into something even more spectacular – cupcakes. King size cupcakes that is, which in turn equals about 2 ½ regular cupcakes. Almost any cake recipe can become a cupcake – jumbo, regular, or mini. Just be sure to keep watch over your oven; baking times vary. The safest bet is to a keep your eye on them.
What to do after baking…
After baking I am quick to remove my cupcakes from the pan, maybe a bit too quick. I fear by letting them sit in a hot pan they will “over-bake”. Once they are out of the oven, I use my offset spatula to pop them right out. Then I immediately place them on a cooling rack.
I must admit, I am a “last minute” kinda girl and have often been tempted to frost early…this is a no no! Unless your recipe calls for it, do not try frosting before the cakes are completely cooled – it never ends well, trust me.
The subject of frosting…
Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, you can frost. A generous amount of frosting is always good, but don’t go overboard. Frosting tends to be extremely sweet, so a little goes a long way. Try to create a balance of cake and frosting.
Directly after frosting, I get the cupcakes into the fridge. This helps set the frosting. Buttercream, in my opinion, tastes best when it’s not too cold. It can become hard and unappealing if it’s too cold – it is butter, after all.
It is best to keep your cupcakes chilled up until 15-30 minutes before serving. Letting them come to room temperature will ensure that the frosting tastes its best.
The cupcakes pictured are chocolate cake with a decadent chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, topped with a chocolate covered strawberry, YUMMY!
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This past week the cake hotline rang with a request for a birthday cake. This cake was for a young man with simple tastes who was turning 14. I took a moment to figure out the cake plan.
Chocolate and Strawberry are two flavors I knew he enjoys; this one was going to be a cinch! A rich chocolaty layer cake filled with sliced strawberries and Swiss meringue buttercream, frosted with a sinful chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and some homemade chocolate covered strawberries. No frills, simple and classic, the kind of cake you might see in a coffee shop bakery cabinet. It is the perfect cake for any occasion.
Sliced strawberries and Swiss meringue buttercream fill this chocolate cake...
My sister presented me with a copy of Martha Stewart’s new cupcake cookbook…love it! I made her classic Swiss meringue buttercream and then jazzed it up by folding in some melted, cooled chocolate. This frosting is so good you could serve it all by itself!
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes about 6 cups
Ingredients:
Directions:
1. Beat butter with electric mixer until fluffy and pale. Transfer to small bowl.
2. In double boiler over simmering water, whisk sugar and egg whites until warm and sugar is dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to clean bowl of electric mixer; beat on high with whisk attachment until fluffy and cooled, about 10 minutes.
3. Reduce mixer to medium-low; add butter a scant 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate.
4. Switch to paddle attachment; beat on lowest speed 3 to 5 minutes. Leave at room temperature if using same day. Or store airtight in refrigerator up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature; beat until smooth.
Happy Birthday Paul!
Old Fashioned "Ice Cream" Cake
I am always curious when someone provides a new unique recipe to try. I had overheard my friend Katie talking about her father’s favorite childhood cake, an Old Fashioned Ice Cream Cake. Katie’s Aunt Theresa sent her the recipe and she was going to surprise her Dad with this cake for Father’s day.
Typical me, I asked for a copy so I could make it too. The name alone intrigued me, Ice Cream Cake, yet there was no sign of ice cream. The recipe was originally pulled from Readers Digest and soon became a fan favorite with my friend Katie’s family.
Old fashioned cake recipes always appear to be simple to make, this was not the case for this cake. The prep and process proved to be anything but easy. I started the same as always when trying a new recipe - First, I make sure I have read through the ingredients and steps a few times. Second, I pull all ingredients out. Third, I get the oven heating and grease and flour any pans I may need. Ready to work!
It would be wise to start with the Ice Cream Cake Frosting (boiled milk frosting) if you plan on making this one…it needs time to cool. Constant stirring is the key to avoid large lumps. Do not skip the straining part! Once frosting base is made, set it aside to cool and start sifting the flour…seven times that is. I am assuming the flour needs to be sifted so thoroughly due to the fact there is no leavening agent in this cake, and it is eventually folded with egg whites. While the sifting marathon is going on, I had my egg yolks beating with sugar in a stand mixer until they where a ribbon consistency.
This cake recipe only calls for the juice and zest of one lemon, although next time around I would zest two lemons for extra pizzazz. There are so many eggs in this cake that it has a very eggy taste and smell; more lemon may have offset this. Texture-wise this cake was lovely, light and airy. Taste-wise, I felt it was missing something. I had a piece for breakfast the following day, it tasted like a whole different cake – it was much less eggy and the lemon flavor was much more apparent. Conclusion…make a day ahead and store in the fridge before serving!
Aunt Theresa’s Ice Cream Cake
Preparation:
1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.) Prepare two 10 inch cake pans with butter and flour
3.) Beat egg yolks and sugar until they are thick and lemony yellow.
4.) Add lemon juice.
5.) Add lemon rind to sifted flour.
6.) Add flour one tablespoon at a time.
7.) In another mixing bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
8.) Fold in about a tablespoon of flour.
9.) Fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture.
10.) Pour into prepared cake pans and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes. Cool on racks.
Fresh out of the oven...
Ice Cream Cake Frosting
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1.) Boil ½ cup milk in a saucepan.
2.) Meanwhile mix remaining ½ cup milk and ½ cup flour in bowl with a whisk.
3.) Add mixture to boiling milk. Whisk thoroughly, cooking until thick.
4.) Press through a strainer to ensure smooth filling.
5.) Cool completely.
6.) Cream butter and sugar together until smooth.
7.) Slowly add milk and flour mixture…blend till smooth
Nathan celebrates his birthday with an Old Fashioned "Ice Cream" Cake!
My Food Finds - Unique Cakes, Cupcakes and Cookies
Check out Clever Cupcakes for ideas for your next party. Or, even better - order some if you are ever in the Montreal area.
Creative Cake Art
You won’t believe these cakes and cake toppers! Sarah Cowell of Melbourne, Australia is a true cake artist to say the least. Her ultra-realistic chameleon cake is just one of the many cakes in her portfolio that will have you ogling.
Her cake portfolio includes life-like replicas of her clients, creepy characters, bachelor party cakes and much more. Check out her incredible cake portfolio.
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Adorable Bridal Shower Cookies
Marian, from Sweetopia, is a master of cookie decorating. I love the combination of green apples and blushing brides. The detail in these cookies is incredible; the white line down the apple to accentuate the curve, the jeweled details and disco dust on the brides dress – so perfect!
Her cookies are little works of art. View all of her decorated cookies here - the Rainbow Tea Party Cookies are colorful masterpieces as well.
Sweetopia's Green Apple Bridal Shower Cookies
