My Heart on a Swirl

A quick batch of cupcakes for the preschool bake sale today. The cupcake is a golden vanilla that I dressed up with a bit of almond, butter, and vanilla extract. A silky, salted caramel buttercream swirl topped off each cake, with a sprinkle of red sugar and a disco dusted fondant heart. Pretty parchment baking cups help make each cupcake a perfect little valentine.

Let's Get Ready To RUMBLE!

Start your engines and get ready for some fun! What's better than a big red monster truck to rip through the action at 5th birthday party?

This cake is a white almond sour cream with salted caramel buttercream. A thin layer of dark chocolate ganache topped it off before the fondant was applied. The tires are made from rice krispy treats formed and covered in fondant, making the whole cake edible. Silver luster dust is painted on for a shiny metallic finish.

The truck is elevated on a piece of cut florist foam covered in chocolate fondant. The cake board is coated with chocolate ganache and dusted with graham cracker 'sand' and decorated with jelly bean rocks.

The birthday boy's name on the tailgate and fancy candles in the bed make this cake ready for some big time party action.  The birthday boy loved his monster truck birthday cake--but not so much that he wasn't first in line when it got cut into big yummy pieces!




How do you get a cake to look like a truck? This is how I did it.

First 1/4 sheet cakes were baked, then cut to size based on proportions from my 'model'.

After doing some more detailed carving, a layer of buttercream and ganache is applied then the cake is chilled to create a firm base on which to apply the fondant. 

Instead of one big sheet of fondant over the entire cake, I applied layer and panels to create natural seams. The fondant on the windows was slightly marbled to give the impression of glass. 

Once the base was finished, I applied details such as bumpers, lights, trim and the most necessary hot flames. Tires were hung on a sharpened skewer pushed through the cake board and foam. The entire cake was staked onto the foam for security (and yes, it did almost slide off the base when I turned my back!)

A Birthday on Monday Cake

When your birthday is on a Monday, and after a holiday weekend, a simple cake to celebrate with family is the perfect choice. This was an egg-free Royal Vanilla Cake with All-American buttercream frosting in off white, brilliant aqua, and vibrant red.

The Force is Strong with This One

 

  It is a period of grand birthday cakes. Ambitious bakers, creating from hidden kitchens, have learned skills to master the Fondant Empire. During the battle, baker spies managed to steal secret techniques that give them access to 3D cake sculptures and power to destroy the hold of Costco cakes forever. Pursued by production cake decorators armed with sprinkles and ‘whipped topping’, Sugar Alchemist Lorie races to deliver a very happy birthday treat for the young Jedi, Kevin, and to restore unique sugar creations to the galaxy….   

I can not say how thrilled and intimidated I was to make R2D2 in cake, when my friend posed making this cake a few months ago. Thankfully, there are some truly excellent R2D2 cakes on the internet and I was able to put together a plan from their progress pictures. But of course that is as open-ended as trying to cut your own hair by following the steps online--so it was a leap of faith in my skill level that I could pull it off. 

But it all came together and the birthday boy was thrilled with his 18" R2D2 cake. I didn't get to stay for the cutting, but I hear that they ate his silver dome first, then worked their way down the body.  

This is how he came together

His body consisted of three 8" x 3" cakes split and filled with marshmallow-almond flavored All American Buttercream. Cakes were Triple Chocolate Sour Cream and White Almond Sour Cream--both very moist and dense like a pound cake to hold up to 3D construction. After the bottom four layers, the cake was doweled and a cake circle placed onto to help support the top half of the cake. After stacking the cake was crumb coated and well chilled. 

I now did a layer of dark chocolate ganache on the cake. Not only does it give a lovely layer of rich flavor to both the white and the chocolate cakes, it provides a supremely smooth and firm surface onto which the fondant can adhere. 

 The fondant was half homemade marshmallow fondant and half Satin Ice (all homemade can be too soft for vertical uses, so the Satin Ice helps to keep sagging to a minimum). Because R2 has arms and a paneled body, I was able to apply the fondant in two pieces. 

Once his body was covered, a dome top was applied and the cake was placed on a 6" x 3" foam riser covered in grey fondant. A sharpened stake was driven through the entire cake and into the base to provide support.  Then I went from numerous reference photos to create his paneled and be-buttoned body. The legs were made from sculpted rice krispie treats covered in fondant. 

Silver luster dust and shine was then applied to give him sparkle and depth. I made the body panels free hand by pressing into the fondant with a wooden skewer then painting the edges of the panels with luster dust. The camera eye is the only non-edible part of the cake and is a milk carton lid covered with fondant and painted with silver luster. 

Left side, some details are out of scale and/or missing because I'm a cake maker, not a model maker! 

Right side 

The back side, not at all accurate, but the best I could do without a detailed model. 

And it wouldn't be a special occasion cake, if the birthday boy didn't have a call out on the board. 

Happy 5th birthday Kevin! May the Force be with you.  

This "Best Ever" Chocolate Cupcake has a Dirty Secret

I'll admit it. When it comes to baked goods, I'm a classist. If it isn't made with butter, eggs, and sugar--it just doesn't qualify as a decedent treat. I have even openly laughed in coffee shops that feature "vegan" baked goods. Isn't vegan supposed to equal some lofty dietary goal?  And when chocolate calls me to be indulge, I'll go with the devil and brush that angel right off my shoulder. 

So in that sense, this cupcake changed my life. 

Moist but not sticky. Dense but still tender. Dark as the new moon in a deep chocolate dream. And {gulp} it is completely vegan.  This cupcake rockets to the front of my recipe box as the 'go to' for chocolate cupcakes (maybe even layer cake, once I test it out in regular pans) even when I don't have dietary restrictions to work with. The recipe is also the perfect size for one, 12-spot pan of cupcakes--which is really all you need.  The frosting recipe I chose is not vegan, though I suppose vegan substitutes could be made (not believing lightening strikes twice in the same place, I went traditional). 

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1tsp white vinegar

1 cup water

In a mixer bowl combine all dry ingredients with whisk to throughly blend. Add oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water and mix to combine. Blend on medium speed apprx. 2 minutes. Fill 12 cupcake liners in pan and bake for apprx 15 minutes. 

Not Vegan Chocolate Pan Frosting 

1 cup white sugar 

5 Tbs butter

1/3 cup milk

2 Tbs corn syrup

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, butter, milk and corn syrup and bring to rolling boil. Boil for one minute then remove from heat and add chocolate and vanilla. Stir to melt and combine. Frosting will set quickly, so have cooled cupcakes and any deco sugars at the ready. As frosting cools it will begin to set and get a glossy finish, so you will have to work quickly.  Scoop warm frosting by the heaping tablespoon onto cupcake then swirl to evenly distribute. Finish with sanding sugar or dragées. 

New Kitchen Cupcake Love

First cupcakes in my new kitchen (yes, I could say 'our' new kitchen, but who am I kidding?).  This quick two dozen were for the cake walk at my son's preschool Fall Festival.

White Almond Sour Cream marbled with chocolate topped off with a hearty swirl of All American buttercream frosting.  A fondant mod flower with pearl dragée finished the simple decor. I bagged each cupcake in a cellophane bag with a sheer chocolate brown bow.

Yes, I am loving my new kitchen and the bountiful counter space on the new island. Can't wait to tackle a big cake project once I settle in a little more. 

 (And I'm also working on finding my best natural light window photo to shoot near. These were taken at 11:30 p.m., which studies show is the most common hour in which school-required cupcakes are completed. )

Oh Baby!

Little pink sneakers almost--and just almost-- make me want to try adding  a sweet little baby girl to the family.  But for now, I'm content bringing some sweetness to friends' baby showers. (but those shoes! the shoes!)

This cake is a six inch atop an eight inch Princess Sour Cream cake with raspberry filling.  Each cake is torted into four layers. The Princess flavor is courtesy of a special baking emulsion that imparts a light citrus and vanilla flavor--more oomph than a plain vanilla but not so strong as a full-pucker lemon.  The cakes are frosted in All American buttercream with fondant accents. 

The shoes are made from a sugar dough of fondant and gumpaste.  Working from a patter, dough is rolled out and then cut into each of the shoe pieces. After a bit of drying time to firm up, the pieces are placed together and held with a 'glue' of vodka (yes, a little for the shoes, a little for me was the rule).  Being sugar, they are  fragile and susceptible to humidity, so they are placed on the cake right before display.