Archive for the ‘Desserts’ Category

Currently Jeremy and I have two children. Every year I have so much fun making them a special cake for their birthday. Each year with practice and tips from other bakers I get better and better. I truly enjoy doing this and seeing the happiness it brings to my childrens’ faces. Hopefully soon i’ll be able to create special cakes for more than just my own children and share the love a homemade craft brings.  Here are all of my cakes so far and tips and tricks to make them unforgettable! Don’t forget to jot down the buttercream frosting recipe as it is way less expensive to make yourself and much more tasty.

Buttercream Frosting recipe:

1 cup crisco (do not buy butter flavored as it is very yellow in color)

1 stick soft salted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites

1/4 cup milk

2lb (32oz) bag confectioners sugar

Add egg whites to soft butter and crisco with handmixer/kitchenaid mixer (yes eggs whites if you want to have a real, crusting buttercream frosting you can work with…no you will not get sick I use them every time in the frosting)

Add milk, vanilla and slowly incorporate the powdered sugar.  Color with food coloring as desired and refrigerate till use.

princess/castle cake

I made this out of  four 8in square cakes.  I always bake my cakes one day before decorating.  Heavily spray your cake pans with pam before pouring in batter.  After the cake cools turn them out onto wax paper and wrap in wax paper then a healthy layer of tin foil and put in freezer for at least 8 hours.  It is essential when you are carving/shaping and crumb coating a cake for it to be as cold as possible.  The cake is 3- square cakes stacked upon each other  and the top is two quarters of the last square cake stacked  leaving you with half of a cake as scrap. Cake cones and sugar cones are used to make the towers.  I connected the cones with frosting and rolling them in white chocolate and pink sprinkles; they set up overnight in the fridge.  Decoration is purely a personal preference.  I wanted Ave’s cake to have a “candyland” look so I choose more traditional candy.

Next on the list was my little man’s cake and I saw this idea online and thought i’d try it. 

the birthday inchworm

All you need to create this cake is a bundt pan and one box of cake!!  Of course freeze cake after it is cooled.  Then when ready to frost, cut cake in half then cut the remaining half into two pieces.  Sets up very easily on a cookie sheet.  I used vanilla wafers, gum drops, and Boston baked beans to decorate this littler “bug”er   Another easy tip: add 1 cup of pudding into every box of cake you make.  It makes it so much more moist. You can add banana pudding to a white cake and totally change the flavor. 

Here’s my latest and greatest Barbie cake that I made about a week ago for my daughter’s third birthday.  I have to admit, this cake was the most daunting and I was afraid to make it up until the last minute.  Once I got started it actually wasn’t all that bad.

Baking the cakes was easy, two 8 in rounds and with my handy dandy 40% off coupons for Jo-Ann Fabrics I purchased the Wilton Sports Ball pan for only $7.99 and I have about a dozen or more ways that I can use this pan in the future!!  I used two boxes of cake and filled both 8in rounds and both sports ball molds.  The sports ball pan is pretty much like two 6in bowls that once baked you can put together to make a ball; instead I used one half for mini barbie and the other mold to top the full sized barbie cake to have a perfectly rounded top on her dress.  When using the 8in rounds as a base to the full size barbie cake you will need to carve the cake to achieve an even look.  This was the part I was afraid of, but as long as you use a serrated bread knife with frozen cake, it was easy!!  I did two layers of icing on barbies dress doing the first as a simple crumb coat, then into the freezer and back out for one las smooth even layer of frosting.  I used the rose tip and some sugar flowers from the Wilton line that I also purchased super cheap with my coupons at Jo-Anns. 

My son’s birthday is on Thanksgiving this year, so his farm animal cakes will be updated here in about a month or so!! Can’t wait to make these either

Star Wars cake/cupcakes for 5yr b-day

3yr old birthday party dalmation puppy, all edible.

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