Cake Class

I taught my first cake decorating class tonight and it went way better than I thought it would. I've been running around like a mad woman this week and didn't quite have my thoughts together before the class started and I was worried I wouldn't have enough butter cream and supplies. I also had to bring my kids with me and even though my little sister came to help watch them, I thought they'd be awful and distracting. Luckily I was wrong about everything. Some how the class seemed to flow pretty well, there was exactly enough butter cream, and my kids were angels! I taught a group of super fun ladies and had a blast! We worked on butter cream cakes and I demonstrated the fondant. This is the cake I made for the class. I wanted everyone to try a fondant cake to see how cool fondant can be and that it's not as horrible tasting as people say. I promised to post recipes on here and I plan on it but I'm exhausted! Hopefully I'll get it done within the next couple of days. Thanks to everyone who came!

Easter Cake

So I finally made a sculpture out of fondant (actually, the bunny is gum paste but close enough). It was midnight when I made it and my 3rd cake for the week but all things considered, it turned out pretty cute.

I practiced with a carrot cake recipe and I think I found a winner. I made a few modifications but for anyone who likes carrot cake, give this recipe a try-

4 eggs
1 C Veg oil
1/4 C applesauce
2 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 C finely grated carrots
1 C chopped pecans

Oven 350, grease two 8" rounds. Beat eggs, oil, sauce, sugar and vanilla. Mix in all dry ingredients until just blended. Mix in carrots. Fold in nuts. Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick clean. Cool on wire rack.

Now, try it with my cream cheese frosting (I use this recipe with all my cream cheese filled cakes). I eye-ball a lot of the ingredients but here's a rough idea and you can make it how you like it.

1/2 C butter (room temp!)
8 oz cream cheese (room temp!)
1 tsp vanilla
4 C powdered sugar

If you couldn't tell, it's very important to make sure your ingredients are room temperature before mixing. Cream butter and cheese together well. Mix in sugar and vanilla. Yum!

I plan on sharing all of my recipes that I discover to maybe save others the headache of finding them. I'm pretty caked out from trying recipes that are perfect enough for my standards. I think I also have a winner chocolate and vanilla that I'll post later. I'm tired and happy to have a break from cakes this next week! I need to make up some serious play time with my neglected children.

Safari

So cool! I wish I could take credit for the idea because it is so creative. Ever since I saw this cake, I wanted to make it and I finally got the opportunity. This was for my friends sons 3 year birthday party. The cake went perfect with the safari theme. I think this may be my new fave! Thanks Chels!

Zebra & Pink

How fun is this cake? I'm loving the black and pink together. This was actually my first red velvet cake and it was another order with no specific request. I'm starting to like that because I can experiment more and practice with ideas. You can't tell in the picture but I pearl-ized the cake (my first time) and it came out way cool. I'll probably be using that a lot more often. I still need to work on that piping-grrrrrr!

Man's Gamer Cake

By far my favorite cake to-date. I think I loved the cake more than the customer did. :) Anyway, my BFF (how's that D? :)) wanted an all chocolate cake for her hubby's birthday. When I asked what he likes, she said board games, basketball & football. It really didn't take me too long to think of this idea and I didn't even do much research like I do on a lot of my other cakes but I was skeptical that I would pull it off. I just have to say, I had a blast with it! I love the cake being ALL chocolate. Even the cake itself is chocolate with the cream cheese filling (seems to be the popular combo lately). I did learn from this cake that water doesn't dry on fondant. :( The top pic is the back and the other is the front. Can you tell what age he is turning by looking at the front? So fun!