Care Bear Cake

It's January! That means that my adorable little niece is turning four! My family is always giving me new and inventive cake ideas to push my frosted creations to new levels. This Care Bear Cake was a great first challenge for a new year of cake decorating!

The biggest challenge for this cake was time. A lot happened this week. First it was a whirlwind weekend trip to North Carolina. Then there was the sad news of a high school friend passing. And to top it off there were mandatory work and dance class meetings. Fortunately I was still able to squeeze cake awesomeness in there. Sometimes life just happens all at once.

The only thing that I requested of my sister-in-law when she announced a Care Bear party for her daughter was that I would create anything she liked - as long as it did not include modeling Care Bears. Trademarked items are so hard to recreate! I have seen some true disasters in this area and have decided to leave all that cake jazz to professionals. So my sister-in-law ordered these adorable Care Bear cupcake toppers that worked perfectly for the cake!

Pinterest was the original inspiration for the cake design. I already had the cake stand used in the picture so that was set. Most of the pieces were pretty easy to sculpt by hand. I only had fondant on hand (no gumpaste) so I had to let them dry for several days. The stars were made with a handy cake mold that I got for Christmas (I used a cookie cutter for the stars on the sides of the cake). I didn't cover the cake in fondant since it was a children's party. Most kids just aren't fond of that chewy solid frosting. And parents? Forget about it!

Of course the biggest modeling challenge was the connecting rainbows. Fondant remains pretty soft unless you let it dry for weeks at a time. I didn't exactly allow myself weeks for this cake! Thankfully a 72 hour span seemed to work for this cake's rainbows but if I were ever to make it again I would use a gumpaste/ fondant mixture and let it dry for a week. The other challenge was the swing attached to the rainbow. I initially wanted to hang it from a hook attached to the back of the rainbow but the handle I made for the swing broke. So instead I used toothpicks "glued" in with piping gel. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention!

And so it all worked out. The cake was awesome. The party was awesome (have I ever mentioned that my sister-in-law is an amazing party planner?). My niece turned four with grace and... well.... awesomeness. Here's to a great year of new cakes!

Lego Star Wars Cake

In a workplace far far away.... I was asked to do another Lego cake! This time I was asked to do a Lego Star Wars cake for a nine year old's birthday. Since I have a Star Wars groom's cake in talks right now, I thought this would be a good starting point!

The client asked for an eight inch round chocolate cake with an edible death star topper and the Lego Star Wars logo on the side. They also were going to supply me with some little Star Wars Lego men to put on top. Now some people are talented enough to sculpt these babies, I am not included in this group of talented people! So plastic will do just fine!

The first challenge of the cake was the death star. I decided to use a rice krispies treat base covered in modeling chocolate and finally covered in fondant. Then finish decorating with fondant pieces. I whipped up some rice krispies treats and shaped them into a ball. I let the ball sit overnight to harden. Then I made some modeling chocolate and covered the hardened treat. The modeling chocolate layer helps create a smooth base for the fondant to lay against - don't want a lumpy bumpy death star! Finally I covered it in fondant. This part went pretty well. The death star was looking pretty impressive in my book for a first time attempt of working with rice krispie/modeling chocolate/fondant sculpture.

Then came the decorating.... nightmare! I couldn't get the fondant to go on a sphere and line up! So I decided just to mix it up and put different sizes on there to hide the fact I couldn't get any straight lines on this thing! I wasn't too pleased with the final product but everyone (even non-Star Wars fans) could identify what it was so I decided I was judging myself too harshly. Final touch was the "death ray." I simple took a plastic straw and cut half of it into pieces I could stick around the death star crater. Props to my friend Mike for brainstorming with me at work on this ingenious idea!

Once that was complete, I baked up two delicious eight-inch chocolate fudge cake layers. Whipped up some blue buttercream frosting and put the cake together. Then I attached the death star with some dowels to stabilize and added some "stars" with white pearl sprinkles. Then it was time to do the logo!

I found a copy of the logo on the internet and printed it the size I wanted it. Then I cut out all the pieces and used them as templates to cut out and piece together the fondant logo. I have a crafting knife that is specifically for projects like this. You need something sharp and clean to make exact cuts into the fondant. The logo turned out awesome! It was seriously my favorite part of the cake!

I especially liked the Lego symbol. I almost didn't do all the layering of the colors for it - boy am I glad that I changed my mind!

I attached the fondant logo to the cake with some more blue buttercream frosting. Then I piped a traditional border around the bottom, added a few more stars and positioned the storm troopers on top. It was complete! Definitely going to need to work more on this modeling medium. Thank goodness I have a few months to practice for the Star Wars themed groom's cake! Of course I'm going to need him to settle on a design to be able to practice...

So that's all for now. I hope that everyone has wonderful holidays and a stupendous New Years! Next cake on the books is a Care Bear Cake for my adorable niece's fourth birthday. See you in the new year!

Rice Krispie Treats Cupcakes

My daughter, Lana, is three years old and in her first year of dance class. She takes ballet once a week and absolutely loves it. Her ballet class is having a Christmas party this week and the parents are responsible for bringing in goodies to share with the class. I wanted to make something that tied Christmas and ballet together so I decided to make these cute little cupcake treats!

When you are making baked goodies for children there are several things that need to be considered. Allergies being the most important to think about . Young children who have allergies are not always old enough to think about what they are getting ready to put into their systems. Peanut allergies, soy allergies, there are a ton of them to think about! I thought Rice Krispie Treats would be a perfect treat that I could make little hand friendly as well as tummy friendly!

The Original Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats Recipe

(from the Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook)

3 tablespoons margarine

1 package (10 ounces, about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows

6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal

Vegetable cooking spray

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using a buttered spatula, press mixture evenly into 12 cupcake cups coated with cooking spray. Let cool.

4. Once the bars are cool, remove each treat from cupcake pan and place into a cupcake liner.

5. Decorate!

I decided to decorate my cupcake treats with two-toned buttercream frosting and sprinkles. I wanted to tie in a little ballerina (pink) with Christmas (peppermint swirl). Happy holidays everyone!

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

I am on a new mission. To discover the most delicious cake flavors, frosting and fillings in order to make my cake creations as tasty as possible! I have about a dozen cake books and magazines featuring all kinds of sugary goodness. I decided to grab one and start from the beginning - making all the recipes that I think would work well in a very diverse taste test group (thank goodness to all my family, friends and co-workers)!

First on the list was Mexican Chocolate Cake with Carmelized Sugar Frosting. I had never made this type of frosting before and it looked glaze-like in the photos so I decided to switch it out with some Browned Butter Frosting for some stability. I had planned to place a seashell chocolate garnish on top and needed something I knew wouldn't slide!

While we are on the subject, let's talk garnishes. The joy of cupcakes is their vastness in garnish ability! From exquisite chocolate curls to simple jimmy toppings and complex fondant modeling - the possibilities are endless! I want to experience it all! I went for the simple chocolate mold garnish this time but watch out! The more cupcakes I produce the more toppings I get to experiment with (and being a biologist in real life you know how I love to experiment)!

So what makes a chocolate cake a Mexican Chocolate Cake? A small addition of cinnamon to the chocolate cake batter! The cake ended up being really moist with a hint of the cinnamon. And Browned Butter Frosting? If you haven't had it yet - make it now! A little goes a looong way! Super rich but super worth it! These were so fun to make that I even got my daughter in on the decorating. Here's a picture of her super cuteness for you. She had just decorated a cupcake and held it up and said "Mommy, it's my first cupcake!" We were both so proud :)

Here's the recipe for all of my fellow baking comrads!

Mini Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

(from Betty Crocker's SuperMoist cakes  for all occasions publication)

1 box Betty Crocker Supermoist devil's food cake mix

1-1/3 cups water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350F. Place paper liners in mini cupcake pan.

2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide evenly among cupcake liners. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Frost cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting (recipe follows). Top with a fun garnish!

Yield: 6 dozen mini cupcakes

Browned Butter Frosting

(from The Cupcake Bible)

Melt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until light brown. Remove from heat, let stand 10 minutes. Combine browned butter, 5-1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup milk, 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, if frosting is too stiff. Makes about 4 cups.

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!)