Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

This cake was for my sister-in-law’s friend’s little girl’s Elmo’s World themed 2nd birthday party! MacKenzie is all about Elmo’s World, and I had to admit I didn’t even know Elmo had his own world, so I had to do a little research for this one. It has a lot to do with crayons! You can’t see it well in this picture, but the side of the cake has the Elmo’s World logo and lots of crayons all around it. The cake was one layer of Chocolate Fudge and one layer of Golden Yellow, with Vanilla Buttercream filling in between. I think the birthday girl enjoyed it–she said “Elmo!” when her mom showed her the cake, haha! Happy birthday MacKenzie!

 

Daring Bakers April Challenge!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Mmm, cheesecake! I loved this challenge, because we got a lot of freedom of choice to play around with the recipe. I have been wanting to try a candied caramel apple cheesecake recipe that I got a few months ago from my mom, so I used the basic challenge recipe, but made it in a pie plate (because I totally could not find the right kind of disposable pan at the store!) and used ginger snaps instead of graham crackers for the crust, and then added the apple pie filling, toffee bits, and walnuts that were called for in the candied caramel apple cheesecake recipe my mom gave me. The result? Delicious! I especially loved the ginger snap crust (and a few of the leftover ginger snap cookies, hehe!). Can’t wait for next month’s challenge!

 

Kevin’s 2nd Birthday!

This cake was for my nephew’s Spongebob-themed 2nd birthday party! The cake was Fresh Strawberry with Chocolate Ganache filling, and covered in Vanilla Buttercream.  The idea for this cake was inspired by one made by pink_apron.   I think this one was one of the most fun cakes I’ve made, I especially enjoyed the little pink jellyfish on the sides, haha!  Happy Birthday Kevin!

 

Happy Birthday Dad!

I made this cake for my Dad’s birthday in March. The cake was Decadent Banana with Caramel filling, and it was covered in a thick, swirly layer of Chocolate Buttercream. I put lots of banana chips all the way around the bottom and all over the top of the cake, and it went over really well with everyone! Happy birthday Dad!

 

“Whoopee!” Pies

I have heard that Whoopie Pies are the “new” cupcake, so when a little congratulations were in order at home, I made these “Whoopee!” Pies from a Martha recipe. Mine certainly were not as perfectly smooth as hers (really, whose are?), so they looked more like Whoopie Orbs in this case–but they were still incredibly tasty. These are chocolate with a peanut butter filling, and I put cute little “Hooray!”-type sign picks in each for fun! I’ll have to try and perfect my whoopie cookie technique next time so they won’t be as fluffy, though!

 

Super Mushroom! Jordan’s 22nd Birthday!

I know, I have been so lacking on posting the cakes that I have been doing lately–it is hard to fit in blogging between grad classes, ongoing thesis research, and the MA comprehensive exams coming up in (gasp) less than a month! But this cake I just could not wait to post–it was for my “little” bro’s 22nd birthday! Last year I made him an NES cake, so I think I’ve started a theme–I’ll have to come up with some other Nintendo-fied cake for #23 next year, haha!

He got to choose the cake and filling–and he picked Thick Fudgy Brownie with Chocolate Mint filling, which I make with either chopped up Andes mints or York Peppermint Patties–and he went with the Andes mints. The Super Mushroom design was a surprise from me! I think he enjoyed it! Happy b-day Bub!

 

Daring Bakers’ February Challenge!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.

We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I made my Chocolate Valentinos in a muffin pan using Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chocolate chips… and they came out perfect! Little personal-sized Valentinos that tasted *just like* the chocolate. Mmm. To go with, I chose Cappuccino and Chocolate Swirl ice cream, and topped off the cake with whipped cream and extra Ghirardelli chips. And, we ate them for Valentine’s dessert! Can’t wait for next month’s challenge!

 

Daring Bakers January Challenge!

Apologies to anyone who has been keeping up with the blog lately–it’s been “on vacation” since Christmas break, various long-distance road trips, Spring term starting again, the ice storm, and my camera deciding to crash and burn! Whew! I do have some really fun cake pictures to share, once I can figure out how to get them all extracted from the dead camera… my favorites being two groom’s cakes that look like pepperoni pizzas!

And *somehow* I managed to crank out this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge–and borrow a camera to take the picture (which is why the photo is tiny and looks a little wacked out)!   This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. The challenge was to make the Tuile cookies, and accompany them with something fresh and light. I decided to make lemon poppy seed Tuiles, and to top them with fresh strawberries and vanilla whipped cream.

Such a brief post after such a long break, but don’t worry–we’re back in action!!

 

Daring Bakers November Challenge

It’s Daring Bakers time again! This month the Bakers have moved back to the sweet side of things in time for the holidays. And what better way to celebrate than with cake?! The challenge this month was to make Shuna’s signature caramel cake, and it’s hosted by Dolores, Alex, and Jenny.

So the rules were that we had to make both the cake and the carmelized butter frosting, but we could make it any size and shape we liked. So, I made a Bundt! I love Bundt cakes, they’re just too cute, and I think they’re seriously under-rated. Maybe it’s because most people I know are frosting junkies, but I personally enjoy more of the actual sponge, which is what you usually get with Bundts—more cake!

The cake was incredibly wonderful, super-fun to make, and certainly daring (for me!). First I had to make caramelized syrup, which later went into the cake batter (mmm!), and then for the buttercream, I had to brown butter—neither of which I have done before! Okay, so both making the syrup and browning the butter were totally easier than I thought they would be, but it was still daring that I took on trying a new challenge!

I probably should have doubled the batter recipe, because my Bundt came out a little on the short side, but then again I was making it just for us at home, so it’s not like we need a huge cake. I then microwaved the carmelized butter frosting a bit so that I could drizzle it over the cake, and then drizzled some of the extra caramelized syrup over top as well. It was so delicious! The buttercream was quite sweet, so I don’t think I would completely frost an entire cake with it, but drizzling it over top was perfect. And the cake itself was lovely—moist and dense. I would definitely make this again!

This month’s challenge was great—can’t wait for December’s!

 

Justine’s First Birthday!

Hip Hip Pooh-ray! I made this fun Pooh-themed cake for a friend’s little girl’s first birthday party! The cake is Classic Yellow, with Chocolate Buttercream filling. I just love to do first birthday cakes, they’re always so much fun. Happy Birthday Justine, hope you enjoyed your special day!