Sunday, October 16, 2011

Smile for the Camera!

The face of sweet success.

  IT WORKED! You have no idea how excited and relieved I am that this worked! *happydance*
Everyone loved the cakes and not a crumb was left in the end!

  I really have not much else to say on this subject other than that. I'm still just completely ecstatic over that smiley face.

 I am definitely going to make it again.


Here are pictures of the 3 cakes.

Patchwork Cake (had the smiley)


Chocolate Strawberry Delight
Apple Blossom Basket












































=)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Donald Duck

                                                   Cake 2 of 5 is done!
I'm really excited to deliver this cake!

  It's a Lemon Cake with White Chocolate ganache-like frosting covered in Fondant. (the easel is made of wood dowels)
  Mirjam, the person this is for, loves art and especially Donald Duck! She's a great artist and her duck versions of other people are really quite amazing. I'll see if I can get a photo up of one of her works sometime.
  I have one regret with this cake recipe... I can't eat it (eggs) or else I would make myself some cupcakes. D=  It's a fabulous fabulous recipe. The lemon-iest cake, such strong flavor! Luckily I can eat the delicious leftovers of the frosting. =)
  I've gotta say, if you ever get the chance to 'paint splatter' a cake, do it! It's a blast. You may come out of it a bit colorful but that's half the fun!

Lemon Cake
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 large lemon
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice.

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)  Butter, or spray with a nonstick spray pan. 

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
  Add the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice. Mix only until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Bake about 40 -45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Recipe from -> joyofbaking)
---White Chocolate (ganache-like) Buttercream
1 cup butter (softened)
12 ounces white chocolate (melted)
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Using a mixer blend butter and vanilla together. Melt chocolate and add to the butter+vanilla. Blend the sugar into the mix. Will be a thin consistency. If wanting it thicker stick it in the fridge for an hour or so.
(Recipe from -> foodandwine)
(I'm not exactly sure how much sugar I used, quite a lot more than the original recipe called for, {1 cup} It all depends on what consistency you want)
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Enjoy! =)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

5

 That is how many cakes I will have made come Wednesday October 11th. It's probably a record of cakes for others. Not counting that crazy giant cake I made last year for the Eagle Tv anniversary. (Six extra large sheet cakes!)
  I've already made one of those cakes, that being the Sugar+Dairy free one from my last post. 
  The second will be for my dear friend Mirjam who's birthday is this Thursday. I'm not completely positive how this one is going to look, though it is definitely going to have an art+duck theme. Now as for the other 3...
  At Among Mongolia, where my dad works, each month they have day where all the birthdays of that month are celebrated and since we are leaving for Japan to visit my sister soon they chose this next wednesday to have their little celebration. There are over 50 employees working there, thus giving reason to the three other cakes. These three I haven't a clue of what to do with them yet but one thing I do know I will do... A hidden smiley face in the middle to surprise them when they cut into it! I'll use the same method that IAmBaker used for her St. Patrick's Day Cake.
  Even though I'm not completely set on anything except the flavors and random smileys, I'm getting quite excited about the rest of these 7 days since I'll finally have something to do during the day!






This is that giant cake I spoke of.
(right) Me. (left) Natalie.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Here it is... my latest allergy baking challenge to date.
  I volunteered to make a birthday cake for a friend who is lactose intolerant, and doesn't eat sugar. o_o
Luckily I have another awesome friend who happened to have the perfect recipe lying about for me to use.
  This recipe makes the thickest batter. Think carrot cake batter is thick? You could make cookies with this stuff! (Which isn't a bad idea really.)
  The baking went without a hitch and the cake came out perfect. Though finding the right frosting to go along presented itself to be a bit of a challenge....
   With all the credit going to mom for finding the recipe I set to making a cream cheese icing.
  Now wait a minute... doesn't cream cheese have dairy? Yes. Yes it does. Little genius me, being to excited about actually finding a sugar free icing recipe I didn't really stop to think about the other more important banned ingredient. Of course when I finally realized my blunder several of the ingredients had already been added to the bowl. So I ended up making it anyway and storing for a later occasion.
  After slight panicking on my part again my amazing mother comes to the rescue and finds yet another recipe. This time, a sugar and dairy free honey-cinnamon glaze. (This stuff is fabulous) Though I must confess I got a little sick of handling so much honey. I'd used up two jars by the time I was finished with everything! 
  So, it all got done and for a third time the mom helps by suggesting I bring the cream cheese icing in a separate container for those who can have dairy. (genius!) I'm very glad I did this. Several people after having it with their cake just spooned it onto their plates to eat on its own!
  I'm quite happy with the way it all turned out. Sadly I don't have any pictures, but for this cake a picture wouldn't have done it justice. The beauty wasn't in the decorating for this one, it was all in the taste.
---
Apple-Honey-Cinnamon Cake (Dairy and Sugar Free)
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of margarine 
2 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 cups of diced apples
3/4 tsp of vanilla

Cream the honey, butter, and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix. Mix in the apples and the vanilla. Bake at 170C for about 20 minutes. 
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Cream Cheese Icing (Sugar Free)

(This is a thing icing at room temp.)
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey (or less, depends on your sweet tooth)

Blend together in a bowl until creamy smooth.
---
Honey-Cinnamon Glaze (Dairy and Sugar Free)
1 1/2 cups honey
3/4 cup water
1tbsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Let cool for a few minutes then after poking a few holes in the top of cake with a fork coat it with the glaze using a pastry brush.

Enjoy! =)

(P.S This recipe is also perfect for muffins!)