Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Left Overs





My daughter Samantha asked me to make a Tie Dye cake for her birthday. She posted a link on Facebook for me to see. It looked doable so I did it. It is made from a white cake mix which you divide into small batches which are then tinted with the color of your choice. Once this is done, you ladle it into the cake pan one color on top of another. It spreads out as you add to it. Simple, but time consuming. I made this the same weekend as the lemon cake and the chocolate cake. So, the day after our trip to Pa., we went to NYC to visit Sam for her birthday. The cake was made, it just had to be frosted. I did not have time to make a new batch of butter cream so I had to use the chocolate butter cream from yesterdays cake. There wasn't enough! I just happened to have a half a can of cream cheese frosting in fridge. ( I had an emergency, but don't worry, I would NEVER use that on a cake for you!) So, I put the two frosting's in a piping bag together and finished icing the cake. Pretty as it was, if you know my daughter, it was too plain. That's why I added the orange spikes which were made of left over royal icing from the shower cake. I also added left over flowers which was a last minute thing. Donald was waiting in the car so I didn't take a picture of the flowers. I also didn't get a picture of the inside because I forgot my camera, didn't want to run back in the house again and figured that Sam had her camera. She didn't. BUT, I did however make cupcakes, which I cut open so you could get an idea of how it looked. The inside of the cake was much prettier.

You asked for CHOCOLATE!


This wonderful cake was made for a friends BBQ. Chocolate was requested so chocolate was made! It was an 8" round chocolate pound cake with chocolate chips, chocolate butter cream frosting with chocolate ganache poured over the top. The flowers are made of royal icing and have been hand painted. This cake was made the same weekend as the lemon cake, along with a cake for my daughter's birthday. You should have seen my kitchen! After we (Donald and I) delivered the bridal shower cake to Warwick, we went to Pennsylvania.( Note to self: never, ever travel on rt. 94 again!) It was such a hot day and I was so worried about the chocolate melting. We kept the A/C on pretty high(which my husband loved) and I was freezing, but the cake didn't melt! You cannot imagine how delicious this was! Really, truly, sinfully good!

Not a Lemon


I can't tell you the hours (or the amount of confectioners sugar and lemons for the frosting) that went into making this cake! Custom made for a bridal shower, it is a 12x12 lemon layer cake with lemon butter cream frosting. The flowers are made of royal icing and have been hand painted to give them some life. They have a soft texture, making them perfect for eating! The week before, I made a sample cake which I brought to a friends house for tasting. The reviews were very positive. Much to my great happiness, the recipient of this cake called to let me know how much she and everyone else loved it. Thank you Lois, you made my day!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Cake for New Town





I was planning a trip to visit my daughter Jessica and thought how nice it would be to bring her a cake. Any excuse to decorate a cake! I was going to make her a banana sour cream cake with cream cheese frosting because she missed the last one I made. Usually I use a yellow cake mix for this but, I only had chocolate. I decided to" go wild" and experiment a little and let me tell you, it was incredibly delicious! Superbly fine! A very good decision to use chocolate. As you can see, there are no flowers on this cake. I am sure you are wondering why. You know what? I just loved the way it looked without them. The simplicity of it was so beautiful that the flowers were not missed. Jessica loved the cake and we had a piece with a glass of milk every night before we went to bed. (did a lot of walking so that deleted any calories consumed)

Aarons Cake

As some of you know, I have sent many cakes into work with Donald and his co-workers have enjoyed them immensely! Recently, we received an invitation from Donald's boss (who was among those who enjoyed my sweet confections) to attend a party at his house, along with a request for a chocolate cake. Aaron, the boss, is a super lover of chocolate. Therefore, I decided to make a chocolate devils food cake with chocolate butter cream frosting, covered with chocolate ganache, with white chocolate ganache piping. When we arrived at the party, the cake was quickly stashed away for later consumption.(there were about 40 people at the party, it was a small cake and it was Aaron's birthday) I heard it was delicious! The design on top of the cake was inspired by the many, many ink doodles I can't stop doing. I have always wanted to try it out on a cake and this was the perfect opportunity. It took way longer than I planned, as most of my projects do. Once again, my husband was pacing as he waited for me to finish decorating the cake; the story of our life together.