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Birthday Layer Cake {Milk Bar Monday 6/18}

June 18, 2012 By 19 Comments
birthday layer cake

Hello everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the guest post recipes this week. I know I have!

Today we are taking a little break… I am back at it with our next Milk Bar Monday installment! Our host for today was Audra and she chose the Birthday Layer Cake.

Christina Tosi’s goal with this recipe was to recreate the funfetti boxed cake mix flavors in her own way.

slice 2 Birthday Layer Cake {Milk Bar Monday 6/18}

The bf & I thought her recipe was spot on. We both loved the cake crumb layers in with the frosting layers. It reminded me of when I used to get the crunch layer in my DQ ice cream cake.

Compared to some of our past recipes I thought this was a relatively easy one. I was able to get it all done in one go and freeze it overnight.

You can easily make this at home (with the help of a cake ring) and impress your loved ones on their next birthday.

Want your own copy of the Momofuku Milk Bar book to bake along with us? Get it here so you don’t miss anymore Milk Bar Mondays!

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Mincemeat Cake {Guest Post with Bakingaitch}

December 24, 2011 By 8 Comments
mincemeat cake

Hello friends! Thank you for stopping by. Today I have my final guest poster, Helen Jones. You can find her at blogging over at Bakingaitch or follow her on Twitter @bakingaitch. Today she is sharing her Christmas traditions with us, and I thought what a better day to share this with my friends than Christmas itself? Enjoy!

This year Santa Claus is definitely coming to our house! And the reason? I am mother to a 2 year old girl! The whole package is making her so excited…whether it is putting up the Christmas tree, wrapping the presents or spotting Santa Claus wherever we are.

But the thing that makes me smile the most is the question that she keeps asking as she looks up to the sky, “Santa…are you listening?”

Evie on Christmas Day 2010 Mincemeat Cake {Guest Post with Bakingaitch}

Until this year, my little one has been too little to understand about Santa…but this year she knows that he is coming and that he will bring presents (if she’s good of course – a promise I have been using, like every good mummy, since October!)

This of course just adds to my excitement! I love Christmas because of all the food and the social aspect of having family and friends over. Also because I love to entertain and feed people.

I love thinking about what food I am going to serve, whether that be traditional or new ideas. I pour over recipe books and Christmas magazines for the perfect starter, vegetable side dish or a lovely cake.

Our Christmas tree will go up with my old decorations which do not match my living room, but I don’t care because they are mine! We will add to them with the homemade ornaments that my little one will bring from nursery, the one that I have bought her with her name on and the ones I have carefully made by hand.

Starry Mince Pies1 Mincemeat Cake {Guest Post with Bakingaitch}

I always love to make mince pies, which is of course a traditional English Christmas food.

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Secret Recipe Club 8/22: Quick Chocolate Cakes

August 22, 2011 By 26 Comments
cake with ice cream 2

Check out my latest post for Secret Recipe Club! This month I was assigned Wendy from La Phemme Phoodie. Want to know more about Secret Recipe Club? Find out here!

August was a whirl wind of a month. It came and all of the sudden it is the 22nd! It wasn’t until the 17th that I realized I still needed to bake for this month’s SRC. I was looking through Wendy’s lovely blog and I came across a Cardamom Lavender Honey Caramel Peach Pie. It sounded so delicious with the local lavender honey, but I did not have enough peaches and I was pressed for time. And then my mind wandered to her Strawberry Balsamic Jam, but knew I wouldn’t have the time to do the jar sterilization. And finally I landed on her Too Much Chocolate Cake.

IMG 0576 1024x682 Secret Recipe Club 8/22: Quick Chocolate Cakes

I was happy to find her recipe because I don’t have a chocolate cake that is quick and delicious. This one is perfect if you have a chocolate craving, or just in the mood to bake something decadent.

Wendy baked her cake in 1 bundt pan, but I did mine in these 2 that I found for a dollar a piece at Goodwill. Wendy also suggested topping with chocolate sauce or powdered sugar. I decided to serve mine with a scoop of homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. This is perfect for a special occasion or holiday due to is quick prep time and delicious results! It also has endless topping or serving compliments. Ice cream, chocolate, caramel, fruit, whipped cream…you can be as creative as you want.

IMG 0614 682x1024 Secret Recipe Club 8/22: Quick Chocolate Cakes

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The Love Bug Cake

May 21, 2011 By 20 Comments
no eyes

This year in one of my classes I was required to make a cake for a project. And this class was no baking or foods class. Oh no, this was my Entomology 105 class (aka: bugs class).

Awesome thing about this project = I get to make a cake, and it is going to be judged at a little cake competetion for Purdue’s Bug Bowl.

Bad part about this project = my cake has to look like, or relate to insects. (Just to clarify…It does not have to include insects in the recipe, just relate to them.)

I figured I was responsible for making an awesome cake. I had told some of the people in my group about my blog, and I think they too were expecting something amazing.

My cake is by no means amazing. But, I would say it was cute. It’s just a little lady bug cake that I made with a heart shaped pan to make “the love bug cake.”

with eyes The Love Bug Cake

It’s not completely finished in any of the pictures I have… But this is what it looked like before adding antenna

This was an easy to make cake. It took a long time, but the work was easy and relaxing. I did make the mistake of starting this at 8 PM…so I was up until about 2 or 3 AM putting on the finishing touches and realizing I had even forgot a few things.

Let me tell you, at 2 AM when you have to be somewhere at 8 AM the next morning, you will not be a happy camper to realize you forgot something.

red fondant 300x199 The Love Bug Cake fondant cut outs 300x199 The Love Bug Cake

The steps for this includes:

  1. Make the fondant. Clean up, I promise there will be a huge mess.
  2. Make the cake. And allow to cool fully.
  3. Make the buttercream (or use the store bought stuff like I did…)
  4. Roll out the fondant, and cover the cake. Decorate as desired.

I’ll post some of the other cakes submitted at the end of the post!

Ingredients

Cake recipe from JoyofBaking.com

  • Marshmallow Fondant
  • 1 can of buttercream
  • Items to use for the eyes, antennae, and legs (if you desire)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup sifted cake flour (175 grams)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 stick of butter, softened (113 grams)
  • 1 cups white sugar, divided (200 grams)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF and butter and flour the cake pan.
  2. Separate the egg whites and yolks. Don’t discard either one.
  3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Beat together the butter and 3/4 cups sugar for 3-4 minutes. Add in the yolks 1 at a time. Mix in the vanilla.
  5. Alternate adding the flour mix and milk, beginning and ending with flour.
  6. Make a meringue with the egg whites by beating the whites until foamy, then adding in the cream of tartar. Gradually add in the 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks form.
  7. Gently fold the whites into the cake batter.
  8. Pour  batter into 2 cupcake liners, and pour the rest into the cake pan.
  9. Bake until a tester comes out clean. (for 2 9 inch cake pans, about 20-25 minutes each and about 10 minutes each for the cupcake).

 

Allow the cake to cool. Then using the 2 cupcakes make a giant cake ball by crumbling the cupcakes and mixing with a big scoop of icing until it forms a ball. Allow the ball to hard in the fridge.

Spread a thin layer of frosting over the cake to do a “crumb coating” or capture all the little crumbs that want to come off.

Allow the frosting to set, then repeat with another thin layer of frosting.

Roll out the fondant, and cover the cake. Carefully smooth out any bubbles or uneven areas. Using another coating of fondant cover the head of the bug. Cut out circles (or in my case hearts) for the spots and continue to decorate how ever you feel appropriate.

ant cake 682x1024 The Love Bug Cake

This was from the “adult” category. I thought this one of the best of the day! So life-like.

catepillar cake The Love Bug Cake

Sorry, I don’t have better pictures. It was a rainy day in one of the older buildings on campus.

lindas cake The Love Bug Cake

This was one of my friend’s cakes..I thought she did a wonderful job with the shape of the ladybug, and the scenery is very cute!

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Chocolate Cake with a Blackberry Buttercream

February 14, 2011 By 13 Comments
front of finished cake

My parent’s anniversary is Feburary 12th. How sweet is that? They can celebrate Valentine’s Day and their anniversary all in one!

Since I knew I was going to be home for it this year, I wanted to make them something special.

I went with chocolate cake. Nothing is quite as good as chocolate cake when it comes to celebrating a special occasion.

I found this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s website. Her recipe sounded like the best, and I wanted this to be an unforgettable cake. The original recipe was in grams and milliliters so I had to convert it. I was so nervous I was going to mess something up and not have the right ingredient amounts in my cake. But I think all went well, the cake tasted great.

written recipe Chocolate Cake with a Blackberry Buttercream

I decided to skip the extra chocolate and use a blackberry jam to make a buttercream. I thought it would be pretty, and festive. If you don’t have blackberry, strawberry or another flavor jam would work wonderfully.

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