Lego and LaLa

2 cakes for my coworker, one for her son and one for her friend. The Lego cake (which BTW, was harder than I thought it would be) was vanilla with oreo filling and the other is my Monkey La La cake topped with a Baileys-Kahlua infused chocolate glaze.

New Cake Flavors

Playing around with chocolate cake recipes, and different flavor combos. Here are two:

First - chocolate pound cake from Warren Brown, filled with raspberry-Amaretto Swiss Meringue Buttercream and toasted almonds, and topped with the same and a little bit more of a raspberry drizzle.

Second - Chocolate mud cake from Planet cake filled with a Brown sugar-caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream, caramel sauce and toasted pecans and topped with the same.

I love my new flavor combos. Not at all crazy about the cake though. I will sub in my good 'ol Devils food recipe that so far, cannot be beat.

Practice....

Just practicing with some decorations for an upcoming wedding cake. They want ribbon and cascading flowers. These are silk on the dummy cake....Like I said, I'm practicing.

A couple of Cakes....

The cake with the cherries is my mai tai cupcakes in cake form....I really liked this cake, it's one of my faves...Dark rum pound cake with an extra brushing of rum syrup after baking and a 50-50 combo of ABC and SMB flavored with an actual mai tail...yum.

The other cake is tinkerbell. It's 3 layer vanilla with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream. I wanted a piece of this one too, but alas, it wasn't for me. LOL. I used a scrapbooking tinkerbell sticker and placed it on a gumpaste then glued it on a stick. I liked the effect.

The Cake Slice Bakers Present....Red Velvet Cake!

Yes....more red velvet. But this time in cake form. The recipe comes from Nancie McDermott's cookbook, "Southern Cakes". I think I like this recipe the best out of all I've made so far...not so much oil, but yet moist and with the benefit of the traditional vinegar and soda at the end. I baked it with a pan of water in the oven, as I really think that helps add moistness to a cake.

The other upside to this cake is the frosting, a switch from cream cheese, but also very traditional to Red Velvet. It's a Boiled Milk frosting, and it's one of my favorites (This frosting makes a very good vanilla filling inside cupcakes BTW). With the addition of pecans and coconuts, it's stellar good.

I decorated this cake with fondant, and royal icing stencils because I needed the practice for an upcoming cake. I tried stenciling with the phone in the crook of my neck....so perhaps I would've done a better job otherwise. LOL!

Red Velvet Cake
(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

For the Red Velvet Cake
2½ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (see note below)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp red food colouring
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

For the Coconut Pecan Icing
1 cup milk
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Method – Red Velvet Cake
To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line them with waxed paper to kitchen parchment. Grease the paper and flour the pans.

Prepare three separate mixtures for the batter. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl and use a fork to mix them together well. Combine the cocoa powder and the red food colouring in a small bowl, mashing and stirring them together to make a thick smooth paste.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at low speed for 1 minute until creamy and soft. Add the sugar and then beat well for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl now and then. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until the mixture is creamy, fluffy and smooth. Scrape the cocoa-food colouring paste into the batter and beat to mix it in evenly.

Add a third of the flour mixture and then about half the milk, beating the batter with a mixer at low speed. Mix only enough to make the flour or liquid disappear into the batter. Mix in another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and then the last of the flour in the same way.

In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar and stir well. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to quickly mix this last mixture into the red batter, folding it in gently by hand. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes until the layers are spring back when touched lightly in the centre and are just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towels for 15 minutes. Then turn them out onto the racks, remove the paper and turn top side up again to cool completely.

Method – Coconut Pecan Icing
Combine the milk and flour in a small or medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking or stirring often until the mixture thickens almost to a paste, around 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and scrape it into a small bowl to cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat the butter with a mixture at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar in thirds, beating well eacg time until the mixture is creamy and fairly smooth. Add the cooled milk and flour mixture and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides now and then to combine everything well. Using a large spoon or spatula, stir im the vanilla, coconut and pecans, mixing to combine everything well into a thick, fluffy, nubbly icing.

To Assemble
Place one cake layer top side down on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread a third of the icing on top. Place the second layer, top side up, on top. Frost the sides and then the top of the cake with the remaining icing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to help the icing set.

NOTE: If you can’t find buttermilk, stir 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar into 1 cup of milk and leave to stand for 10 minutes before using.

Sweet 16 Princess.

Chocolate cake filled with whipped ganache, iced with ganache and covered in Jennifer Dontz's white chocolate fondant. The idea is from Sharon of Sugar Shack. The tiara is gumpaste. It was supposed to be painted silver, but I didn't have silver/platinum glaze so I dyed it greyish then sprayed it with pearl luster spray.

Turtle Cupcake Recipes...

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream, I simply used Brown sugar instead of white sugar...

1 cup dark brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cubed into Tbsp chunks
1 tsp vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla that had been steeping in Rum)

Over pan of simmering water mix sugar, eggs, and cream of tartar. Whisk until mixture hits 160 degrees (or until you cannot feel sugar crystals any longer).

Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl and beat on high with whisk attachment 8 - 10 minutes until bottom of bowl is cool. I can tell when my meringue is ready when I take the whisk out and the meringue trail looks like an eagles beak off of the whisk.

Attach paddle and on med start adding the butter 1 Tbsp at a time, letting the butter incorp after each addition. When all the butter is added, increase speed to med high and beat for approx 3 minutes. By now, you will have seen a change in the consistency of your frosting, and also hear a change in how the beater sounds. It will sound more like a slap, slap. It's ready. On low, just add in your vanilla until blended.

For The Caramel Sauce
(I found this on the internet, and did not write down where, and now I don't remember...so I cannot give credit to original poster..I'm sorry)
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. heat sugar on moderately high heat in 2 or 3 quart pan. As sugar is melting stir, As soon as sugar starts to boil, stop stirring! swirl pan as necessary to keep sugar from burning.
2. As soon as sugar is melted, add butter to pan, whisk until butter melts.
3. Take pan off heat and count to 3. Slowly add cream and whisk to incorportate until smooth.(I had a few difficult lumps that I had to strain out). let cool for a few minutes, then pour into class mason jar and let sit to cool.
4. refrigerate. warm in microwave for 10 sec prior to use.