Cake Batter Fudge

I borrowed this recipe from here after a friend came across it online. Had to try it since it looked so good! I followed the recipe exactly except that I used Cherry Chip cake mix instead of white or yellow. It tasted great! And I used up some of the many sprinkles/sequins/edible hearts/sparkling sugars that I have.

2 cups Cherry Chip cake mix
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cups (1 stick) butter cut into fourths
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4-1/2 cup sprinkles (and just like the recipe says, who measures sprinkles? Just to crazy!)

In a microwave safe bowl, combine cake mix and sugar. Add butter and milk. Microwave on high 2 minutes. Stir until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir again. Fold in half of sprinkles. Spread in to a greased or lined with parchment 8x8 pan. Add remaining sprinkles and press in. Refrigerate to set. Cut into 1 inch squares.

Wilton Course 3

Wilton Course 3. I learned to make fondant/gumpaste bows, flowers, borders and to cover cake boards and cakes in fondant. My final project had everything except the bow. I guess it looks like a hat.

I love making these roses! It is so therapeutic to sit for a few hours and methodically go through the steps.

Daisies are simple but make a big statement.

I hated making this mum, but it is so pretty!

Calla lilies were easy and I love the sugar crystals that make them so realistic looking!

Things might get cheesy...

...when you make a rat cake?

I tried a new vanilla cake recipe since the last one somebody said tasted a bit "cornbread-y". I think it was the buttermilk. This cake is sweet! And light! And fluffy! I like it better and so do my taste-testers.

White Cake
2 cups baker's sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) room temp butter
1 tbsp + 1 tsp clear vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour 2 8" rounds. Cut parchment to size
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture one cup at a time. Beat until combined. Slowly add milk. Divide batter between pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on cooling rack 20 minutes in pan before removing.

Buttercream
6 cups powdered sugar
2 cups (4 sticks) room temp butter
4 tsp clear vanilla
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Cream together butter and sugar, beat on medium for 3 minutes. Add vanilla until just combined. Add heavy whipping cream and beat until light and fluffy.

Easter Cupcakes

A coworker ordered 72 cupcakes to divide between her 4 school aged children's Easter class parties at school. I found inspiration for designs online and by looking at all the Easter merchandise we have currently around the store. We chose 5 designs: a "grass" (tip 233) and "dirt" (crushed Oreos) covered cupcake with jelly bean "eggs", bunny face, chick hatching, dyed eggs, and flowers. I sketched 3 varieties of flowers and 2 varieties of dyed eggs. Due to the time that it took to make them, I ended up only using bunny faces, grass/eggs and the flowers.

Vanilla Cake
1 cup butter, softened
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 tsp clear vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and yolks one at a time. Add vanilla. Alternatively beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture until just combined. Use ice cream scoop to divide batter into cupcake tins with liners. Baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Take this recipe by 3 for 72 cupcakes total.

Buttercream Frosting
12 cups powdered sugar
8 sticks (4 cups) room temperature butter
6 tsp clear vanilla extract
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
food coloring as needed

Mix together butter and sugar in stand mixer for 3 minutes on medium. Add vanilla and cream and beat for another minute. Divide and color. 

3 boxes of 24 each makes 72 Easter cupcakes. 

Shawn's birthday cake

Cake for a coworker. Cake mixes are Betty Crocker Devil's Food and French Vanilla. Alternate scoops of each batter into two 8" round pans, greased, floured and parchment paper cut to size. Use a long skewer and sweep through the batter (not too much) to create the marbling. Since one box is enough to fill two pans, I used the leftover batter for a 18 cupcakes of vanilla and devil's food to take to work to feed the masses. Buttercream is the new recipe I used for the Pumpkin cake and everyone agreed is much silkier than the buttercream I made before. I wanted so badly to use the rainbow sequins I bought.

Buttercream Frosting
12 cups powdered sugar
8 sticks (1 cup) room temp unsalted butter
4 tsp clear vanilla extract
8 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Divide as needed and add food coloring to desired shade.

I made the 1M technique swirls on the cupcakes and topped them and the cake with the rainbow sequins. No pictures of them though.

Jaiden's 3rd Princess Birthday

Princess castle themed cake!

Chocolate Cake
3-3/4 cup sugar
2-1/4 cup butter, room temp
1 tbsp vanilla
9 eggs
6 cups cake flour, sifted
1 tbsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt
3 cups milk
18 oz semi sweet chocolate baking bars, melted and cooled

18 oz of chocolate. mmm. chocolate.

In mixing bowl combine sugar, butter and vanilla. Add eggs and beat for 1 minute. Add melted chocolate. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add milk. In 6x3" round and two 10x2" round baking pans,  spray with oil, coat sides with cocoa powder and line with parchment paper. Divide batter between pans and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. I rotate my pans after 20 minutes to ensure even baking. Cool to room temp on wire rack then move to fridge to chill before frosting. Cakes are leveled and torted with buttercream.

Black Cherry Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1-1/2 cups solid vegetable shortening
1-1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
1 tsp cherry Kool-aid powder
12 cups powdered sugar, sifted
6 tbsp milk

Cream together shortening and butter. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add milk. This makes a pretty pink frosting. I divided it in thirds, added kool-aid to make 1/3 pink, added blue and violet food coloring and more kool-aid to make the purple frosting, the remaining 1/3 was only vanilla, to make green, brown and blue detail work.

The castle turrets are a regular ice cream cone sprayed with color mist, with a waffle cone inverted set into it and attached with buttercream. The waffle cones were painted with melted white chocolate and rolled in pink  and purple sprinkles. The flags are pink fondant cut into flag shapes, rolled onto a toothpick. Allow to air dry overnight with toothpicks threaded in to give them shape.

Baby Shower Spice Cake Cupcakes

The second treat featured at the baby shower were these Spice Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting, blue sugar crystals and cupcake picks. I used blank 4x6" index cards and created the circles and words in Microsoft Paint to make the cake picks. I printed them out in doubles, cut around each circle then glued them together with a toothpick in the middle.

I also created the signs for the treats and folded them in half. I did not get a chance to make fresh cinnamon buns-from-the-oven however, I was too exhausted from two days of baking and decorating to pull that off.

I used the 1M Wilton swirl technique with a 10" decorating bag and a star tip 195 (?). The cupcake stand is a cardboard, assemble yourself Wilton kit that I added some of the same It's a Boy! ribbon to with a hot glue gun.

I grouped the cake picks on each level of the cupcakes and voila!

"Cleo"

Mmm...wedding cake.

"Cleo" was made for my friend Cleopatra's wedding. This was the first cake I've ever made. Pans used were Wilton 10", 8" and 6". Duncan Hines Vanilla cake mix with Vanilla Frosting. The cake measured 10" tall. The cake topper was from WM by Wilton. Stairs were purchased from the bakery department at a local grocery store for $10. Faux flowers on the stairs and the cake from WM floral department. Ribbons and pearl strands from WM. There are also sugar pearls and silver sprinkles on each layer. I served as wedding planner/coordinator and cake baker for this wedding. It was fun and worth it. We priced different things throughout the week for a Saturday wedding and all of the planning started on a Monday. Since it was a DIY wedding with a very tight budget, I knew there was no way she could afford to spend $300 on a cake from Dillon's, nor did we have the time with a 3 week order notice. So I volunteered to bake it since I watch so many cake baking and decorating shows on TV. Who says it wastes your brain? I think I did a pretty darn good job.