Beer Can Cake

I made this for extended family as a surprise "beer"thday cake! The cake is a Swiss Roll Cake, Chocolate sponge cake in a jelly roll pan with marshmallow buttercream filling and covered with marshmallow flavored ganache using limited edition marshamallow candy melts. I had to pour the ganache onto a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie tray, in a rectangle 9x8", move it into the freezer for about 15 minutes, then flip the sheet of ganache onto the cake and cut off the excess. I used the back of a knife to press it under the cake.

 I made "ice cubes" out of corn syrup and sugar molded in a mini ice cube tray. I used the brush embroidery technique to do the mountains in the logo.

 The beer foam or bubbles are white fondant rolled into different size balls and coated with gold luster dust. I attached them by piping a stream of buttercream then randomly pressing them into place.

 The top and bottom of the can are white fondant, sculpted and I even made the pop tab open. Sprayed the cake with silver color mist. I hand painted the logo and blue stripe on with color gel mixed with cake flavored vodka.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Who doesn't love white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? I followed this recipe and it was a hit! I believe that it was the almond extract that makes the recipe so good.

1 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and almond extract. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking salt. Gradually mix in. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate. Scoop onto baking sheet using an ice cream scoop for uniform sized cookies. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

It is especially careful not to over cook these as they should be golden brown around the edges and still a bit soft in the middle. The texture is just crunchy enough and just ooey-gooey enough to make the perfect cookie.

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.

Mason's Piñata Cake

White Chocolate Cake
5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
1 cup hot water
2 cup ( 4 sticks) butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. In double boiler, melt together white chocolate and hot water. Cool to room temp. In mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate. Pour into 11x15" sheet pan, bake for 45-60 minutes. 

Buttercream, m&m's and whipped cream frosting in between the layers.






















Whipped Cream Frosting
4 cups heavy whipping cream
8 tbsp powdered sugar 
2 tsp clear vanilla extract 

In mixing bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and sugar. Beat on medium high until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla, beat for 1 minute.

Buttercream Frosting
6 cups powdered sugar
4 sticks (2 cups) room temperature butter
4 tsp clear vanilla extract
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
food coloring as needed.


Cream together butter and sugar. Beat for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, beat for 1 minute. Add heavy whipping cream, beat for 3 minutes, until fluffy.

Frozen buttercream transfers:

Use the mirror image when doing buttercream transfers.

Start with foreground, outline, then fill. Then cover the back with the color of the frosting on the cake, white in my case. Try to get the frosting level. Let freeze until hard (usually about 15-20 minutes) otherwise the buttercream will stick to the wax paper.

Position on cake. Pull wax paper away.

I piped on the tail and filled in any gaps. 

Flag border piping.

Pipe on bridle and reins, wording and bottom border. Voila! 

Good Luck

This cake is a good way to say goodbye!

Sheet 11x15"

White Chocolate Cake
5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 (1 ounce) white chocolate bars, chopped
1 cup hot water
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, room temp
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. In double boiler, melt together white chocolate and hot water. Cool to room temp. In mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate. Pour into 11x15" sheet pan, bake for 45-55 minutes. I made 2 of these cakes and leveled them to have the 2 layers with the strawberry glaze in between. 

Buttercream Frosting
6 cups powdered sugar
4 sticks (2 cups) room temperature butter
2 tsp clear vanilla extract
2-4 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. Doubled to allow for crumb coat and to frost. 

Strawberry Glaze
16 oz fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. In a medium saucepan, add strawberries, sugar and lemon juice, bring to boil for 10 minutes. Stir in cornstarch mixture and lower heat, simmer for 3-5 minutes. I added 1/4 tsp of no-taste red food gel to make sure this came out a true red and not a pink. Strain if desired, but continual stirring will break down any remaining chunks and leave a pulpy glaze, which I like. Refrigerate. 

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.

"Corduroy"

The newest addition!

My best friend had her baby shower today. I wasn't originally set to make her cake but the lady that was supposed to be making it had to back out due to family visiting. I was more than happy to take her up on the offer. I was given the instructions that the color theme was blue/green, the character is Corduroy the bear, and she wanted the message to be welcome baby boy. What could be more fitting than a 2 tier cake with Corduroy and his buttons? I was also told no chocolate; she prefers vanilla, white chocolate, cream cheese and the sort. So I decided on a white chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream frosting. I used the frozen buttercream transfer method to make white buttons for the sides, outlined a white bear, and did the message "Welcome Baby Boy Campbell!" around the top button and even left holes just as a real button would have. I used food coloring diluted with vanilla flavored vodka to hand paint Corduroy on the frozen buttercream. The alcohol evaporates, leaving the vanilla flavor behind. Cakes were torted with buttercream also.

White Chocolate Cake
I used this recipe but for 18 servings. This was enough for one 6x3" round, and two 10x2" rounds*.

3-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
9 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup hot water
1-1/2 cups butter, softened
2-1/4 cups white sugar
5 eggs
1-1/2 cups buttermilk

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In saucepan melt white chocolate with hot water, allow to cool. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in flour mixture alternatively with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate.

*Since I use my Wilton pans, they come with instructions of how much batter to use for each pan. Pans are misted with oil, coated in flour and parchment is cut to fit the bottom. Bake at times listed for pan size 350 degrees.

Vanilla Buttercream
Doubled the recipe to have enough for all the colors, torting and frosting.

1 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp clear vanilla extract
8 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons milk

Cream together butter and shortening. Add vanilla. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping down bowl periodically. Add milk, beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Separate into smaller dishes and add gel food coloring until desired color is reached. I used 1/2 cup for black, 3 1/2 cups white (to torte and crumb coat) and divided the rest into blue and green.

Frozen Buttercream Transfer
Made a large button outlined in black, with green writing that said "Welcome Baby Boy Campbell!", then filled it in with white buttercream. Just follow her directions and remember to use the mirror image!