Lego Cake

So I got the order for this cake on Thursday. Sort of a last minute thing. A guy who I work with has a son who is turning eight today. He had gone to several grocery stores asking for a Lego Cake but they all told him that they didn't do custom work. They wouldn't even make a cake and plop some Legos that he would have provided on it! A little ridiculous if you ask me. So he was discussing this problem at work and another guy who I am making a cake for in December sent him my way. At first I thought... I have one day to make this cake... I better do it up simple. Maybe one large Lego? That would be easy enough, right? And then I remembered the candy blocks at the Amish market and all the cool Lego cakes I have seen online. I could do better than that! Of course the first thing I did was ask the guy for artistic leisure on the design. He gave me the go ahead! Then I called up my husband to make me a stencil Lego pegboard to make the top of the cake. I was inspired!

Unfortunately the next day my daughter got a nasty stomach virus. The poor kid got her first unpleasant experience of regurgitation... in the refrigerated section of Walmart. So this cake was a lot harder than it should have been. I was shaky on the actual plan of attack and was running back and forth to check on my daughter and try to coax fluids and Tylenol into her. By the time my husband got home I was completely frazzled! I finally calmed myself down and thought - what is it I want to do with the design? I wanted to build up a Lego wall around the cake and then have the top appear to be a flat pegboard for further building. I also wanted it to look like it was under construction. Little Lego men builders and such.

First I frosted an eight-inch square chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Then I tried to "glue" the bricks to the side. No good. Then I tried building the wall into the side of the cake. No good. By this time it was 7:30pm and I was really beginning to panic. I had no Lego cake and I had to drag my butt into work the next day! I took a breather and vented some frustration to my husband who quickly jumped into action and went to buy me some Lego construction pieces. It was just enough of a break and vent session for me to get it together and decide a new plan of attack. Build the wall first and then slide it up against the side of the cake. Eureka!

Of course I left one wall slightly undone... for two reasons. First of all... I ran out of candy blocks - but it worked to my advantage because I wanted the cake to look like it was under construction. So I tore down part of one wall, using some of the blocks to finish the edging on the cake and others to sprinkle around for the loader construction vehicle. Next I rolled out some green and brown fondant and used the stencil that my husband made for me to make it look like pegboards. Then I put it on top of the cake with the dump truck. Finally I spelled out the birthday boy's name with some more of the candy blocks.

And there you have it. A Lego cake. I think this design will go a lot smoother (and neater) now that I have done one and know what I am doing! It would be fun to do some different ones and customize it to the type of Legos that the birthday child likes! I also think that Lego cupcakes would be amazing! I just hope that it blew the socks of the birthday boy! I don't have much experience with designs for boys but I definitely would like to have some more in my cake portfolio. I have another Lego cake on the books for December. We'll see how that one goes! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Apple Cider Cupcakes

 

It's official. I have gone cupcake crazy! Mini cupcake crazy to be specific. I, like most people obsessed with baking, have tons and tons of cake recipes that I am just dying to try. Cakes, cheesecakes, cookie cups - you name it! But I am shy about baking all that delectable goodness. Cakes go to waste at my house. Three people just don't want to eat a cake every week... or even every month! Family and fellow employees are always willing to take some off my hands but the transportation is a nightmare! So how will I ever get through all these delicious recipes to weed out the good from the bad? In cupcakes of course!

I know that they take a little more work to bake and decorate each individual cake but in the long run it is a win situation. First of all cupcakes are baked in liners making clean up much more efficient. Second they are already "pre-portioned" to take the leftovers to work the next day (I find most people shy away from cutting a piece of cake but cupcakes are a nice grab and go for people). Not to mention decorating is a lot easier and I can eat a single serving to see if I like the recipe or not and then give the rest away. All in all... I totally get the cupcake crazy right now!

This week I tried Apple Cider Cupcakes. This recipe calls for an apple cider spiked spice cake topped with apple cider buttercream frosting. The spice cake is really moist. I would recommend using paper liners instead of foil. I used foil and the cakes were popping out of the liners before I could get them frosted! The frosting was a little tricky as well. The cider does not blend well with the butter until you get some of the sugar in there. Make sure you use all four cups of the confectioners' sugar! I somehow forgot the last cup in mine and my buttercream frosting was a little soupy and impossible to pipe onto the cupcakes. It was still tasty though!

Apple Cider Cupcakes

(recipe from The Cupcake Bible)

1 package (about 18 ounces) spice cake mix

1-1/4 cups apple cider

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, plus additional for garnish

Apple Cider Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 standard (2-1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups.

(For mini cupcakes: Line 6 dozen mini muffin cups with paper baking cups).

2. Beat cake mix, apple cider, oil and eggs in medium bowl with electric mixer at low speed until blended; beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Stir in 2 cups chopped walnuts. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

(For mini cupcakes: Bake 10 minutes and cool in pans for 5 minute before transferring to wire racks).

4. Prepare Apple Cider Frosting; frost cupcakes. Garnish with additional chopped walnuts.

Makes 24 cupcakes or 6 dozen mini cupcakes.

Apple Cider Frosting: Beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter and 1/4 cup apple cider in medium bowl with electric mixer at low speed until well blended. Gradually beat in 4 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Makes about 3 cups.

I wanted to make my cupcakes a little more fancy so instead of the walnut garnish, I cut out some maple leaf and acorn nuts out of refrigerated pie crust with some wonderful pie crust cutters that I got for Christmas a few years back (they are from William and Sonoma and I love them!). Brushed them with an egg wash to get that nice gold color and popped them in the over for 13 minutes at 375 F.

And there you have it. Beautiful fall cupcakes made easy! Enjoy the leaf piles and wonderful weather now - winter is fast approaching and holiday baking is soon to commence!

Martha Stewart Style Halloween Cupcakes

First of all I would like to say that I know it is technically November and I am posting a Halloween-themed dessert. Due to Hurricane Sandy our Halloween Farm Party got pushed back a week. The hurricane wasn't too awful in this area, we did have three or four leaks in the house, and lost power for 2.5 days, but I was thankful to still have the house mostly intact and everyone safe and sound!

So have you ever seen those annoyingly perfect Martha Stewart-style cupcakes? You know , the ones that are all individually decorated with perfect embellishments that are probably made just for her show and don't exist in the real world? I have always wanted to make those types of cupcakes! And it just so happens that I stumbled across some fancy Halloween sprinkles at William and Sonoma on sale when I was out for my birthday a couple weekends ago! It was time to get down to business!

I choose to bake mini cupcakes instead of regular ones. Our farm party was for the kids and since they are all on the younger side right now - mini is better. I mixed up a batch of yellow cake mix which ended up making about 6 dozen cupcakes. Then I tinted up some buttercream frosting and got to decorating!

I choose purple frosting since most of the sprinkles were white, orange, green and black. It contrasted nicely. I used a large swirl flower tip to get a nice base for the decorations. The Halloween sprinkle kit had bones, bats, large pearls, regular sprinkles, large dots, bat and pumpkin sprinkles - it was awesome! And even after 6 dozen cupcakes I still have some left over for future Halloweens!

They turned out so cute! The kids and parents enjoyed them and I even had enough leftovers to take a tray of them to work the next day. Work people are always appreciative of left-over baked goodies. One thing I do not lack is taste-testers for all my creations!

I wish I had gotten some better pictures of them on the cake stands. I didn't even get a chance to snap a photo of the fancy cake stand I borrowed from my Mom for the party! Oh well, I am sure she will let me borrow it again for another creation! Another baking wish to cross off my baking bucket list!

And now comes my favorite time of the year! Holiday Baking!!! Stay tuned for more deliciousness!

(PS - I'm staying strong on the diet! Down six pounds and hoping to get through these next few months dropping some more! I have gotten extremely picky with my deserts since I can only have one a week. Forget Snickers bars and Oreos - I need cheesecakes and gourmet cupcakes if I'm going to waste calories!)