Week 33 :: Happy Birthday Jill!

Happy Birthday Jill!

A friend of mine had a big birthday this year and this was the cake (and matching cupcakes).

The cake is chocolate with a peanut butter buttercream (yum! yum! yum!).  Here is the recipe I came up with:

Peanut Butter Buttercream
::Ingredients::

• 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 stick Crisco
• 2 lbs. powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup +/- milk or cream

::Directions::

1. Mix together butter and Crisco until creamy, add peanut butter and mix well.
2. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, alternating with milk until you reach desired consistency.

Note ::  If you have a kitchenaid, you can dump the sugar in all at once and let mix on medium speed for a couple minutes, add milk gradually.

Happy Baking!



Week 32 :: Drama Queen Cake!

This cake was made for my preceptor's birthday.  Simple, but I love it.  I mixed white fondant with stabilizing powder to make it more of a gumpaste quality to make the tiara.  Other than that, a straight forward German chocolate with caramel-pecan filling!

Happy baking!

Week 31 :: Cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes!

So over the past couple of weeks I have made several sets of cakes and cupcakes.  I just love cupcakes--they are quick, pretty, and easy to eat.  Cakes--not easy to cut once you've spent 78865 hours decorating it.  I have never felt like they do on Cake Boss--I don't make a cake and then as soon as I get there say "who wants some cake!!"  No, in fact, it is often painful to cut a cake.  So, I began making matching cupcakes.  The first set was for a sweet friend--her father's retirement party.  The pictures below make more sense when I tell you he owned a garage door business.

Close-up of the car bumper and plate:

Matching cupcakes!

Wanna know a super easy way to fill all 24 cupcake lines is <1 minute.  Here it is: the no-drip-super-awesome-cupcake-filler (thanks, Mom, once again for an awesome find!).  Such a breeze.  I don't even think I can remember how I filled cupcakes before.  Seriously.  This tool has certainly made my top-10 tools for bakers.  Get it.

On to more cupcakes I have made this week--red velvet with cream cheese frosting, chocolate-chocolate, and birthday cake with buttercream.  This buttercream recipes makes the perfect amount for 24-generously-iced cupcakes.

 
Happy baking!

Week 30 :: M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Well a big happy birthday to little Maria!

I made this cake for a little one's very first birthday--a big fan of Mickey Mouse.  This was a white cake with caramel pecan filling.  No new recipes but here are a couple more tips:

• When I make a cake with a unique shape, I cut the supporting cardboard to shape before cutting the cake, then cut the cake, a little at a time, to fit the cardboard support
• I put a small straw through the back of the cake after I cover it in fondant to prevent any bubbles in the fondant

Happy baking!