Cakes! Cheese, Birds and Dinosaurs - Latest Creations

Life got ahead of me and I was going to make separate posts for some of the latest cakes, but, that didn't happen so I am going to share them all in one post!

Inspired by Pinterest of course and Food Magazine I set to making cheese cake....well not really.

But a couple little cakes covered in fondant and some little fondant mice....

Holes in cake were made with a melon scooper.

black licorice tails

One sweet little boy!
who also had a birthday!!

His mom and I decorated a dinosaur cake with cupcakes too!

 I also threw in my daughter's wedding shower....

A yummy chocolate and red velvet bird cage cake.

Then, made the the wedding cakes....

See the wedding cake post HERE

 I also made a few cupcakes for a benefit

chocolate cupcakes with vanilla "spaghetti" and cake ball "meatballs" and a little strawberry jam "sauce"

You might think I am sick of cake.....
but I am not, well maybe a little. We had to eat a lot of left over wedding cake! But although I am a complete novice at cake making I still love to create and learn as I go along!

Cake baking Tips

Cake tips from a housewife that attempts to bake cakes. Yep- zero expert advice here just simply a couple things I have learned along the way- that work for me.



Baking-
Use helps like parchment paper and baking strips. 
Lining your pan with parchment gives you even edges and an easy removal.
 Grease your pan and flour it if you don't have parchment- Use flour for white cakes and cocoa for chocolate cakes when dusting.
To better adhere your parchment spray your pan, use as a "glue" to affix paper, then lightly spray again.

Baking strips are available from Wilton, they come in various lengths and when applied to the outside of your pan will keep the cake from rising in the center creating a more dense cake that doesn't require much if any leveling. Be sure and follow directions when using- They MUST be soaked in water first!

Don't over bake or under bake your cakes but.... bake on the lesser amount of time required. What I mean by that is test your cake at the least required amount of time for baking. If they test in the center as done get them out! Any over baking at all begins to toughen the texture.
Always use a cake tester- everyone used a toothpick when I was growing up, feel free to use in a pinch but I recommend a metal one, mostly because when hot from the cake they clean up quickly with a wipe and can be reused eliminating the search for more toothpicks and spilling them on the floor and then jamming them into your feet- not that I have ever done that. Cake testers have a way of disappearing in the drawer so keep it where you can find it!




Let cakes cool!!!!!!
Best ways to ruin a cake you will decorate-
removing from pan too quickly
icing when warm
DON'T DO IT
Let it cool- go make fondant or something- go clean the bathroom- get away from the cake if you have the urge to ice.
Trust me I have done this too many times.
In fact feel free to freeze your cake until tomorrow if you like. Wrap it in wax or parchment paper then seal with plastic wrap.

Use the right cake mix.
If your going to do any stacking, carving, or layering make sure your cake can handle it. A Box cake is great for a simple swirl of icing but if your going to try your hand at a topsy turvy cake- they won't cut it- literally.
Use a sponge or madeira or a trusted recipe from a cake book that specializes in cake making.

I will link some cake books I like at the bottom of the post.




Icing
When working in layers- try to keep them even. When they just are not even- happens to me all the time- use your icing as a filler. Always place an icing edge between your layers and fillings. The icing boarder will eliminate the gap and will keep any raspberry filling from oozing out and mixing with your finished layer.

Make butter cream icing;
1 cup butter, softened
4 c powdered sugar (adjust to consistency needed)
1/4 c milk
2 tsp vanilla
Cream butter, add 4 c powdered sugar, milk and extract. Add remaining sugar until smooth spreadable consistency. Adjust thickness of icing with milk and powdered sugar amounts. 

See the gap here in above photo- This occurs when the cake is uneven and the icing boarder is insufficient. If you refer to the top photo you will see this cake had massive orange flowers on it so I was able to hide the gap. It would have been better to trim  and level the cake!
But when you do......
you get crumbs!!! Lots of crumbs- so what then?

The crumb coat-

If you don't crumb coat, now is the time to start!
Ice your cake in a thin layer- Do NOT worry about how it looks or all the crumbs in it!
Now put it in the fridge for 30 minutes up to a couple hours.
 Ice your cake when the cake is cool and all those nasty crumbs are fixed in place. You will have a much smoother and easier time icing now.

crumb coat

icing over crumb coat

Fondant-
If you like to use fondant you can place it directly over your crumb coat. It is best to chill your cake before applying fondant like you would between icing layers.
Fondant can be bought at cake supply stores or where ever you find Wilton cake decorating supplies.
 Home made Fondant-
See recipe for marshmallow fondant HERE

Non marshmallow homemade fondant
2 pounds powdered sugar
5 tsp powdered gelatin- Like Knox unflavored gelatin
1/4 c water
1/2 c corn syrup
1 1/2 TBS glycerin- sold in Wilton aisle

Stir gelatin and water together in a sauce pan, let set for 3 minutes to bloom.
Stir in corn syrup and glycerin and heat on med until gelatin is dissolved, stir constantly- mixture will burn.
In a large mixing bowel place powdered sugar and mix in gelatin until well combined.
I do not have a powerful mixer so I do most of my fondant mixing and kneading on a silpat mat. I also use the Wilton fondant mat. Be sure and place powdered sugar onto surface to prevent sticking .
Tip- if mixing on a mat or counter, grease surface and hands with crisco then place large amount of powdered sugar and make a well, pour in gelatin and begin incorporating.

Some of my favorite cake books- not exclusive these are just some I have and use.

click Here for info



Info



info


info


info

All things Wilton

Home made Yellow Cake Mix

 Now cake mixes are cheap enough  but if you want to stack you cupboards with some yellow cake mix that does not come with preservatives here is a good recipe from Chickens in the Road
  

For each mix
place in a large bag or container
2 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 c dry milk powder- (this can be expensive so you may omit and substitute milk for the water when mixing)
Mix these and store until use. On the bag I  wrote the instructions...just in case I loose them, not that I loose things. pfft!

When mixing the cake
1 bag of mix
3/4 c water ( or milk if substituting)
1 tsp vanilla (see home made vanilla recipe here)
1/2 c room temp butter
3 eggs, room temp
Spray or line pans with parchment and bake according to pan size.

I used two mixes for the above cake, and had enough left over for 4 mini cakes. You can see a recipe for home made fondant HERE

Reeses Cake

 My daughter turned 22, she is on the right and my son's girlfriend turned 18, a day apart....which means...make a big cake!

 I have seen this idea on a couple cake blogs like Cakewalk, that do it well. Since I am VERY new to anything other than icing out of a store bought can....mine, well it tasted good and passed for looks but it definitely had some issues. So here is how you make it and avoid some of the dumb mistakes I did.
 First for this cake I used Chocolate cake, Chocolate fudge icing...click HERE for those recipes.
I made two batches and baked 2 -  9X 13 and 2 -  6 in round cakes.
Make a double batch of fondant, recipe HERE. Dye 2/3 brown, 1/3 yellow of one batch and the other batch dye orange. Use Wilton cake decorating coloring and for the brown you will need quite a bit.

 We scanned and enlarged the logo and cut it out of yellow fondant.


 Cake layers are filled with peanut butter, powdered sugar and enough milk to make a smooth spreading consistency.
Ice cake and let it dry a little....here is big mistake #1 and I knew better!!! my icing is too wet! I thinned it because it was too thick and went too far the other way. GRRR I was so mad because I knew better and proceeded on anyway. This just complicates how the fondant rests on the cake, if too wet it will be too soft, too dry and you may have trouble sticking to cake.

 Mistake #2 I rolled the orange too thin and too small. when you roll fondant make sure it is about 1/4 inch and even. And be prepared to waste it! Roll it too big so you can adjust and then trim. I also really could have used a second set of hands with my wet icing.....result fondant that ripped and had to be mended causing ugly looking spots and goofy surface not smooth because of the wet icing.

 well after some ugly thoughts, maybe an ugly word and a bit of a pity party....I proceeded.
Icing used to pipe on the milk chocolate and amusing 1.5 ounces, we never weighed the cake...but yeah, I am thinking it weighed a little more than that.

 Yes it tasted wonderful....yes we ate it all. Yes I ate way too much myself! Yes I would make it again....and hopefully not repeat my mistakes.

Never let fear of failure stop you from trying!

Joining
Foodie Friday
WOW
Under the Table and Dreaming
Funky Junk
Sweet as Sugar Cookies
HodgePodge Friday
Nifty Thrifty Things

Cake Balls

well everyone has a post about cake balls. The recipe is so simple that the fun is in the decorating and eating!
Simply bake a cake according to package directions. Cool and crumble into a bowl, mix in one container of ready made frosting and form into balls. You can make small ones like  red velvet truffles,  

or you can make large ones. One recipe made 12, size shown on this post.

  Chill or freeze balls until firm. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and dip, let set on wax paper until firm.

  Another option is wrapping in fondant. Recipe here.
Cut circle large enough to cover entire ball. Pinch top together forming a gathering.

 Dig in!! because the frosting is in the cake, these are so moist and yummy!