Killer Whale (Orca) Cake

My coworker's son's birthday is coming up- so she asked me to make him a "whale" of a cake :) Her son LOVES Shamu (the Killer Whale from Sea World), dolphins, sharks, whales, fish- so basically anything aquatic.  He asked for an Orca cake (aka Killer Whale), so I made him a white cake with strawberry filling, vanilla buttercream icing, covered in black and white fondant.

So here are a few photos of the killer whale cake before he headed off to the birthday party!

150 Wedding Cupcakes and a 2-Tier Wedding Cake- Black and White Theme

My cousin Derrick married his lovely bride Rebecca last month, and last weekend was their reception at my parents' house. I was blessed by the happy couple, by being asked to make the cupcakes for the reception!  So I got to play with several flavors of cupcake and flavor combinations.

Due to this experience, I've decided I like making cupcakes much better than cakes! Much less precision is required, and you can make several varieties all at the same time (ok, call me lazy, I'm totally fine with it :) )!  So 150 large cupcakes, 75 bite-sized cupcakes and a two-tier cake later - here are the flavor combos I came up with!

S'mores (including graham cracker crust, chocolate cupcake and toasted marshmallow topping)

German Chocolate

Chocolate with Caramel

Chocolate with Raspberry

Chocolate with Bavarian Cream

Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream

White with Raspberry

White with Vanilla Buttercream

White with Chocolate Buttercream

White with Toasted Meringue

Coconut with Coconut Buttercream and Toasted Coconut flakes

Lemon with Lemon curd filling and Lemon Buttercream

Lemon with Raspberry

 Pictured Above: German Chocolate, Chocolate Chocolate and White with Chocolate

Pictured Above: S'mores, Chocolate Caramel

Pictured Above: Mini Chocolate and Vanilla, and Large Chocolate and Vanilla

Pictured Above: White with Vanilla Buttercream and White with Raspberry

Pictured Above: Lemon with Raspberry

 

Pictured Above: White with Vanilla and Toasted Coconut (bottom)

Pictured Above: S'mores! These were definitely my favorite!

Pictured above: Chocolate with Caramel

Last but not least- the cake! It was a simple 2-tier cake. The top tier was carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream, and the bottom tier was chocolate WASC cake with chocolate buttercream and bavarian cream filling.  Accents were black and white royal icing and silver dragees.

Happy Marriage to the happy couple! Love you both!

PS- here is the recipe I used for the Cream Cheese Buttercream:

Cream Cheese Buttercream

Ingredients:
1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese (I prefer whipped, but regular is fine too)
1 stick butter (softened)
1 Cup vegetable shortening
8 Cups powdered sugar
3 tsp pure vanilla (I use homemade vanilla- I would use less than 3 tsp vanilla in this recipe if you are using store-bought extract)
2-3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream or milk

Instructions:
In an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, mix together the cream cheese, butter and shortening until smooth.  Next add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Next add in the vanilla then the heavy whipping cream (or milk) 1 Tbsp at a time, adding more or less (if necessary) to produce the desired consistency.

Enjoy!!

Dessert Pizza

I was dying for dessert- and happened to have some pizza dough sitting in my fridge that needed to be used so after a little bit of thinking, I decided to make a dessert pizza.

I took a basic pizza crust and rolled it out on a baking stone. I coated the crust with melted butter, then covered it with a cinnamon / sugar mixture.  I baked the crust at 400 degrees F for about 12 minutes, then removed the crust from the oven.

Next I sprinkled chopped up Toblerone chocolate on the crust and let it melt before I spread it on the crust to make a sauce. From there I chopped up strawberries, pecans, and extra chocolate, then sprinkled it on the crust.  Next I added halved large marshmallows (I'd probably use small marshmallows if I did this again), then baked for about 5 minutes until all ingredients were warmed and the marshmallows looked toasted.

I cut the crust then served slices of dessert pizza with vanilla bean ice cream.  My husband even told me I could make this every week for the rest of his life if I really wanted to ;)

Enjoy and happy baking!!

80th Birthday Rose Cake, Slot Machine Cake, Poker Card and Poker Chip Cookies

I was asked to make the cakes and cookies for my great Aunt's 80th birthday party.  I made a total of 3 cakes and 150 cookies.  It was such a joy to bake these desserts for my family!

First I made two rose cakes with a lavender "8" and a "0" on individual cakes.
One cake was lemon with lemon curd filling, and the other was white cake with strawberry filling.

The last cake was a slot machine cake. It was made of chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream with a bavarian cream filling. Unfortunately there was a slight accident with the cake during transportation to the banquet hall- a car cut me off and the cake fell over :(  But it was still salvaged and tasted ok when all was said and done.  Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to make a slot machine cake in the future to redeem myself and make the cake I really wanted to see served to someone. 

Added to the cake at the banquet hall was a set of candles (one for each birthday person ages 80, 77 and 82!), and had a photo of each of the birthday honorees in rice paper on the slot machine reels. There are also 80 "gold" chocolate coins coming out of the front of the slot machine for the "winners" :)

Lastly was the cookies! 150 poker card and poker chip cookies- the numbers were made in royal icing, with colors drug through in colored royal icing to make the numbers and symbols. 

Happy 80th Birthday Tia Anita!!

Vanilla Extract- 3 Months Later

Hello Vanilla Lovers!

This post is to follow-up to my original post 3 months ago titled "Vanilla Extract-a-Palooza." To recap- I had 7 different types of vanilla beans, and made 7 different types of extract.  The original photo looked like this:

And 3 months later the same bottles look like this:

Unfortunately I wasn't able to duplicate the lighting of the first batch- but I'm going to try to get new photos at a different time of day for documentation purposes.

About 2 months ago I added in slightly more vodka to fill the bottles completely to the top as a slight amount evaporated during the first month, leaving the tips of the beans slightly uncovered.

As you see all bottles got much darker,  but the Tongan vanilla was the least darkened in the 3 month time period.  The darkest extract was the Madagascar vanilla bean.

And here is the final packaging we gave to family members as gifts:

Strawberry Shortcake House

Here it is! The house of Strawberry Shortcake.  It is made of White Cake and Strawberry filling with a Vanilla Buttercream icing, all covered in Fondant. The best part of making this cake was when I bought a Strawberry Shortcake doll to sit on top, and opened the package to smell Strawberry Shortcake's hair- and it still smelled like strawberries- just like it did when I was a little girl!

The White Cake I made was modified from the recipe at Food.com. I also Quadrupled the recipe to make the 4 layer cake.

Ingredients:
1 C Sugar
1/4 C Butter
2 Eggs
1/2 C Sour Cream
3 tsp Vanilla Extract (I use homemade vanilla)
1 1/2 C Flour
1 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 C Milk (or Almond Milk, or water if milk is not available)

Instructions:
1) Blend sugar and butter until fluffy.
2) Add eggs, vanilla, Sour Cream and half of the milk.
3) Add in dry ingredients, mix until combined.

Mixture will be thick. If it does not pour well, add another 1/4 C of water or milk.
Bake in a preheated oven of 350 F (I bake at 340 in my oven because it runs a little hot).
Original recipe quantities will make a 9x9 cake. Quadrupling the recipe made 4 x 6" cakes.
Bake for 30+ minutes (time will vary depending on your pan size).

Red Robin's "The People's Burger" Contest- I Need Your Help! :)

I've entered a contest with Red Robin for the "People's Burger". I created a Spicy Shrim Po Boy sandwich (think Forrest Gump when you say it out loud :) ), but I need your votes! I'm in the top 60, and I have until September 11, 2011 to beat out the competition! So please vote for me daily (all you have to do is click this link: http://www.thepeoplesburger.com/my/Spicy_Shrim_Po_Boy , and click "Vote")!  If you can pass this on to friends and family on FB and Twitter or wherever you want to on the Internet, I would be very appreciative!

Thanks so much and happy Cooking and Baking!

Bits of Kibble- Cookies

I recently hosted a book club where we read the book Running with Scissors- a memoir written by author Augusten Burroughs.

 

In this witty and insane memoir Augusten reveals that his "family" likes to eat kibble- yes, puppy chow- as a snack because it is "tasty."  

I decided to make my own version of kibble for my book club guests to enjoy.  I made sugar cookies using my favorite sugar cookie recipe- and added a little bit of red, brown and orange food coloring, then made tiny balls of sugar cookie to make it look like kibble. Some of them have miniature chocolate chips inside to add a little bit of variety. These were a fun variety of sugar cookie and helped tie in some of this book's insanity to bring a bit of levity to our get-together :)

Sugar and Spice Baby Shower

 This baby shower was thrown for my younger sister by me, our mom, and our aunts in January, and I'm FINALLY getting around to blogging it.  The theme was "Sugar and Spice" and the colors were brown and pink.  It was such a fun shower!
 

 The dessert bar contained cupcakes from a local bakery, and various cookies baked by me in the "Sugar & Spice" theme: Orange Spice, Brown Sugar and Spice, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Spice, Snickerdoodle.

 A better view of the super-cute cupcakes!

The diaper cake and a view of the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling- not edible, but added a beautiful touch!

 The drink bar included the Sugar & Spice theme and the Brown and Pink: Pink and brown water bottles, sugar rimmed glasses for the strawberry lemonade, and Vanilla Chai Tea with cinnamon sticks.

-----------
Food included: Tomato Pesto Croissants, Turkey / Ham / Roast Beef Sandwiches, Chicken Salad, Potato Salad (traditional family recipe used), Green Salad with Romaine / Spiced Nuts / Cranberries and Raspberry Vinagrette, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, a Vegetable tray with various dips and Baked Brie covered in Honey and Spiced Pecans served with an assortment of crackers.

The first favor was a brown and pink box filled with Hershey's kisses.

 

 The second favor was a tealight candle with a poem written on it - to encourage the recipient to say a prayer in the baby's name when she was born.

 

The third favor was "Seegars"- chocolate cigars from Sees Candy.

 

We had a fondue table with homemade marshmallows, rice krispy treats, sponge cake and various fruits.

The Flavored milk bar with: Chocolate, Regular and Strawberry milks.

Onesie Sugar Cookies :)

 The Mommy-To-Be chair with an adorable banner found on Etsy.

 Mommy-to-Be's reaction when she first saw the house (standing right next to her Aunt- one of the hostesses)

Mommy-to-Be in her first "real" photo of the day.

Mommy-to-be with her(our) mom.

Mommy-to-Be with Me (Older Sister).

Onesie / Washcloth Cupcakes- used for various table decorations.

Paper lanterns everywhere!

More paper lanterns and a view of the Sugar & Spice sign.

Another Sugar and Spice Sign in Pink and Brown.

Such a fun event- the entire family chipped in, worked hard, and put on a fabulous event.  My niece was born on March 5, 2011- such an adorable baby- I love her to pieces.  Congrats to my lil' sis!!!

Navy and Silver Wedding Cake

It was such a joy making this cake for a wonderful couple! Their colors were Navy Blue and Silver- they wanted their cake topped with gorgeous blue roses from Ecuador, and a two-heart topper.  This photo doesn't do the roses justice, but you get the idea!

The Happy Couple! Congratulations to you both!!

The bottom layer was dark chocolate WASC cake with chocolate filling and chocolate buttercream. The base of the layer was lined with navy blue ribbon, and the details were hand-piped royal icing dots accented with silver dragees.*

The middle layer was a white almond sour cream cake with a raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream. The base of the layer was lined with navy blue ribbon, and the details were hand-piped royal icing scrolling accented with silver dragees.

The top layer flavor was a repeat of the bottom layer, and the details included navy blue ribbon, hand-piped royal icing dots accented with silver dragees.

The chocolate buttercream I used was my take on the Wilton Buttercream recipe- it held up great in the 90+ degree heat!

Crusting Chocolate Buttercream:

Quantities used were to cover a 16" square cake and an 8" square cake- split recipe as needed.

 

2 1/2 C Vegetable Shortening
1 1/2 C (3 sticks) Butter
3 C Cocoa powder
4 teaspoons vanilla
16 C Confectioner Sugar
1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream or Whole Milk

1/2 - 3/4 C Water (depending on the consistency you're trying to achieve)

1) In a stand mixer (you can use a hand mixer, but it can get difficult with large quantities) Blend the shortening and butter together.

2) Slowly add in the cocoa powder and vanilla.

3) Mix in the Confectioner (powdered) Sugar alternately with the whipping cream/milk and water until you achieve the desired consistency.

4) Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

*Dragees were used for decoration only.