Wizard of Oz Cake

My mother's birthday is tomorrow, and I promised her a cake. She LOVES The Wizard of Oz, so I decided to go with that. Back to working with fondant and modeling chocolate, I felt much more at home than when I was working with buttercream.

Wizard of Oz Cake



I did not use any new recipes for this cake. I did make a few changes to some of the recipes, but those will be listed below. It is a banana cake with vanilla cream filling, white chocolate fondant, and white modeling chocolate details (shoes and poppies). I put sliced bananas and strawberries between the layers.

I also used luster dust from Wilton to make the shoes and Emerald City sparkle. I think it added a nice touch.



Recipes

Banana Cake
Vanilla Cream Filling - I added 1/2 cup of butter, softened, to thicken the filling.
White Chocolate Fondant - I used imitation banana extract instead of vanilla extract to give it a slight banana taste.
White Modeling Chocolate

Zebra Cake

My fourteen year old cousin and I have always been very close. He came to stay with us this past weekend, and he asked me to make him a "zebra cake." I wasn't sure what that meant, but I did my best, and he did enjoy the results.



I used this recipe from Food Network for the cake, and I added one box of vanilla pudding to half of the batter and one box of chocolate pudding to the other half, then I swirled them together in the pans. I used these recipes for the buttercream-- with 1/4 cup cocoa powder added to 1/2 of the recipe--and the modeling chocolate (for the zebra). I used marshmallow fondant to cover the cake and for the cake's details.



Classic White Cake



This cake was just the right texture. It wasn't too crumbly for decorating like some recipes are.

Ingredients
-12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 cups all purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-6 large egg whites
-3/4 cup milk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.
5. Alternately add flour mixture and egg white mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
6. Pour the batter into prepared pans. Bake about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
7. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool completely.

Fall Pumpkin Cake

My mother's best friend's birthday was on Tuesday, and she jokingly told her to make her a cake. I decided to take her up on the offer after finding some lovely leaf sprinkles at a party store.

I made a pumpkin cake with cinnamon cream cheese filling and white chocolate fondant.

Pumpkin Cake



I found this cake recipe and the cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe here at The Milkman's Wife's blog. The recipe was originally for cupcakes, but I made it an 8-inch round three layered cake instead. This cake was wonderfully autumnal and moist and tasted like pumpkin pie. I loved it, and so did the birthday girl.



Ingredients
-1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
-1/3 cup granulated sugar
-2 cups cake flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I used 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice in the place of these ingredients)
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I ommitted)
-2 large eggs
-1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
-1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips, tossed in 1 tsp. of flour (keeps them from sinking) (I ommitted)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Sift together dry ingredients in another bowl. Set aside.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Alternately add the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Add pumpkin and beat until smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting



This frosting went with the cake wonderfully. It had just enough spice to compliment the cake well.

Ingredients
-2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
-1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 cups powdered sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add sugar and cinnamon and beat until desired consistency.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am starting to struggle to find new cookies every week for the office. Soon I will have to start doing repeats.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies



These cookies were great. Soft and chewy on the inside, like a brownie, but crisp and delicious on the outside. I also think they'd be great for the holidays if you subbed mint chips for white chocolate chips.

I found this recipe here at Allrecipes and made a couple of changes that were suggested in the reviews.

Ingredients
-1 cup unsalted butter
-1 cup white sugar
-3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
-2 eggs
-1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking soda
-2 cups white chocolate chips
I also added an additional 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Mix in vanilla.
3. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until combined. Fold in white chocolate chips.
5. Drop batter by rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until tops begin to crack. Cookies will still be very soft but will firm up after 3 to 5 minutes. Once firm, move to wire rack to cool completely.

Stepford Sweets--Black and White Wedding Cake

This was the second cake I did for Stepford Sweets, and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It got a little warm on the way and melted a small bit, but it's still pretty nice, and the clients were very pleased with it.



It was white cake with vanilla cream filling and white chocolate fondant. It tasted amazing!

White Chocolate Fondant

This recipe was found here at A Year in the Kitchen. It is a little more difficult to make than marshmallow fondant, but I think it tastes even better, and it was actually more manageable for me. I think it is my preferred fondant recipe.

Ingredients
-1 pound white chocolate
-3/4 cup corn syrup
-4 pounds powdered sugar
-8 Tablespoons hot water
-1 cup glucose
-2 teaspoons vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 Tablespoons shortening

Directions
1. Melt the white chocoalte chips in the microwave or over a double boiler, stir in the corn syrup, set aside until cool.
2. Put powdered sugar in a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
3. Mix water, glucose, vanilla, salt, and shortening together in a saucepan. Heat until shortening is almost melted.
4. Pour into the well of powdered sugar and mix with a flat spatula until incorporated. Add chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. When mixture is too hard to mix with the spatula, take it out and turn on a powder sugar dusted surface. Knead in the remaining powdered sugar.
6. Wrap very tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a ziplock bag. It will get somewhat hard, but kneading it will loosen it up. Use within a month. (Do not refrigerate)

Funfetti Picnic Table Cake

My family has a lot of July birthdays, so we have a joint party every year. I saw a cake similar to this one in Wilton's Celebrate with Fondant book, and I HAD to try it.

Funfetti Cake



For this cake I used this recipe for white cake and made the following changes:

Ommitted almond extract
Added 1 4-ounce box of French vanilla instant pudding
Added 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

I used Wilton's Classic Buttercream (also in the link above) for the filling and marshmallow fondant and white modeling chocolate for the details.



Close up of the cake, burgers, hot dogs, and catsup and mustard dispensers. All made from fondant and white modeling chocolate.



Close up of watermelon.



Close up of ants on the picnic table. When I was cutting the cake I thought they were real bugs!

Three Little Pigs Cake

My sister-in-law's baby shower was yesterday. I did a fun Three Little Pigs cake.



Each tier was a different flavor of cake that corresponded with the colors of the tier. The straw tier was a yellow butter cake (recipe below) with Wilton's buttercream with butter flavoring. The stick tier was chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling. The brick tier was strawberry cake with vanilla cream. All of the tiers were covered with marshmallow fondant. For the chocolate tier, I used chocolate marshmallows and a little bit of chocolate syrup instead of regular marshmallows. The three little pigs and big bad wolf were made with white modeling chocolate.

Yellow Butter Cake

This cake was very moist and a fantastic example of what yellow butter cake should be. I found the recipe here at Joy of Baking.

Ingredients
-6 large egg yolks
-1 cup milk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-3 cups cake flour
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces
I also added 1 4-oz package of instant vanilla pudding.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two nine-inch cake pans and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/4 cup milk.
3. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix (if using). Mix until well combined. Add butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk and mix until well-combined.
4. Add egg mixture gradually, beating well.
5. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a pick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Banana and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake Bites

I had leftover cake after Father's Day, as always. I found some peanut butter flavored Wilton candy melts, so I decided to dip the chocolate chip cake in those. I also ground some chocolate chips up and threw them in with the cake and frosting because the cake I had leftover didn't really have any chocolate chips in it.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake Bites



I thought the peanut butter was a great addition to these. They were wonderful.

Ingredients
-1 recipe Chocolate Chip Cake
-1/2 cup vanilla cream
-Witon's Candy Melts, peanut butter flavor
-6 ounces ground chocolate chips

Directions
1. Crumble prepared cake into crumbs. Mix in vanilla cream and chocolate chips until well combined.
2. Roll cake mixture into small balls. Dip in melted peanut butter candy and cool on wax paper. Drizzle with additional chocolate if desired.

Banana Cake Bites



These were my favorite. I considered dipping them in peanut butter as well, but I only bought one bag and used it all on the others.

Ingredients
-1 recipe Banana Cake
-1/2 cup vanilla cream
-Wilton's candy melts light cocoa and white

Directions
1. Crumble prepared cake into crumbs. Mix in vanilla cream until well combined.
2. Roll cake mixture into small balls. Dip in melted chocolate or white chocolate and cool on wax paper. Drizzle with additional chocolate if desired.

Spritz Butter Cookies

I've had a cookie press for nearly a year. This is the first time I used it, but I LOVED it, so I think it will get much more use.

Spritz Butter Cookies



I found this recipe here at Allrecipes. The only real complaint I had is that it was nearly impossible to get the cookies off the sheet without breaking them unless they were actually below room temperature. So I stuck the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes before trying to remove them. I thought they were a little dull on their own, so I drizzled the cookies with white and milk chocolate. I also threw some chocolate cake bites in because I know how much Walter's co-workers love them.

Ingredients
-1 cup butter, softened
-3/4 cup white sugar
-3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
-1 teaspoon almond extract
-3 cups cake flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
I also added melted chocolate and white chocolate.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add the beaten egg yolks and almond extract. Mix until well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually sift into the butter mixture and stir until well combined.
4. Chill dough for 1 to 3 hours, or until firm.
5. Using a cookie press, press out cookies onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool completely on cookie sheet. Drizzle with chocolate if desired.

Stepford Sweets: Half-Life Groom's Cake

This was the first cake I did for my business, Stepford Sweets. I also included a small batch of chocolate cake bites. The customers loved the look of the cake and the cake bites, as well as the white chocolate details. They did say that the cake was a little dry, which I am taking into account and will remedy in the future. But overall, the bride and groom were both satisfied with the look and taste of the cake, so I definitely consider it a job well done.

Half-Life Groom's Cake



Half-Life is a post-apocalyptic video game. The bride suggested it for the groom's cake because the groom was playing the game in his dorm room the first time they met. Headcrabs are common monsters in the game, and the crowbar is a common weapon used by the main character.



I used this chocolate cake recipe, these recipes for chocolate fondant and chocolate buttercream, this recipe for the modeling chocolate headcrabs and crowbar, and this recipe for the marshmallow fondant (the orange detail on the cake). I used Wilton's Fondant Icing Writers mixed with orange food coloring for the writing on the cake. The filling of the cake was a self-created chocolate cream recipe (see below).

Chocolate Cream Filling

This was delicious and smooth. The recipe makes far more than required for filling the cake, but I definitely didn't complain.

Ingredients
-2 cups heavy whipping cream
-1 bag (about 20 squares) Hershey's Cacao Reserve Milk Chocolate Squares
-1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup

Directions
1. Melt chocolate squares.
2. Combine all three ingredients and whip cream until smooth and fluffy.

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Cake Bites

New neighbors moved in next door. To make them feel welcomed, I made some cake bites for them.

Chocolate Cake Balls



Nothing new here, except my local Michael's has started carrying Colorburst melting chocolate. See below:



When I saw it, I knew I had to buy it. I think it would be especially fun with some "funfetti" cake bites. Because of my failure at taking a decent picture of the cake bites, it is impossible to see, but the white bites are flaked with red, green, and blue spots.

Ingredients
-1 recipe Martha Stewart's Chocolate Cake (see below)
-1 can milk chocolate frosting
-Melting candies/chocolate in desired colors

Directions
1. Crumble prepared cake into crumbs. Mix in frosting until well combined.
2. Roll cake mixture into small balls. Dip in melted chocolate and cool on wax paper. Drizzle with additional chocolate if desired.

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Cake

This recipe came from the May 2009 issue of Everyday Food from Martha Stewart. It is the chocolate variation of the Versatile Vanilla Cake. I think it is my favorite chocolate cake so far...it is incredibly silky and moist, and I was quite pleased with it.

Ingredients
-1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups plus 4 Tablespoons cake flour)
-1/2 cup cocoa powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 larg eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two eight inch cake pans and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
4. Alternately beat flour mixture and buttermilk into butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
5. Divide batter between pans and smooth tops. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until pick inserted in the cake's center comes out clean.
6. Cool cakes in pans for ten minutes, then invert to wire racks until cooled completely.

Winnie the Pooh Cake

I am so glad the shower is over. It took me a week to complete this cake, and then it melted on the way to my mother's house. It looked perfect and fantastic when I left the house, but in 80 degree Missouri weather with no air conditioning, it was droopy by the time I got there, and the fondant was tearing a bit on the top tier, causing the strawberry cream to leak out...everyone said it looked good and that it tasted fantastic, so I guess I am being too hard on myself. But I was nearly in tears at the fact that it melted so much, and I am almost embarrassed to post it on here given how horrible I think it turned out. Regardless, I have a number of pictures of it and its details. I will go ahead and post the pictures first, and then I will post the recipes for the fondant and strawberry cream.

EDIT: I am much more impressed with myself and this cake than I was last night. I have decided that if everyone else in the world thinks it turned out okay, I must be the one in the wrong. :) Thank you so much to everyone for your support.

Winnie the Pooh Cake

This cake was a white cake that was filled and frosted with a strawberry whipped cream and covered in marshmallow fondant. The cake and modeling chocolate recipes I used can be found here. All of the detailing (except the clouds, which were fondant) was done in white chocolate. I used food coloring to color the layers of the cake different colors:



Front of the cake:



Side of the cake:



Back of the cake. Pooh is caught in Rabbit's door...I foolishly put him on the cake before I left home, so he sagged quite a bit:




Winnie the Pooh:



The door to Pooh's house:



Winnie the Pooh, stuck in Rabbit's door. As you can see, he melted and got somewhat squished on the ride there:



Rabbit:



My sister:



The sign for Rabbit's House:



Tigger:



Eeyore:



Close up of Eeyore's tail:



Piglet:



Strawberry Cream Filling

This recipe is an adaptation of the Cookies and Cream Filling I used here, which I found at Annie's Eats.

Ingredients
-1 1/4 cup heavy cream
-2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 cup strawberry puree

Directions
1. Combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mix until all sugar is incorporated. Whisk until stiff peaks form. Mix in strawberry puree until well combined.

Marshmallow Fondant

This is a delicious and easy recipe that I found here at Skinny Food by Amy. I think I will be using it for all fondant cakes from now on.

Ingredients
-1 cup mini marshmallows
-1 Tablespoon water I replaced 1/8 teaspoon water with 1/8 teaspoon strawberry oil in one batch of fondant--I made about 6 batches)
-1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Place marshmallows in microwave safe bowl and add water and candy oil (if using). Microwave for about 20 seconds, just long enough for marshmallows to puff up.
2. Stir marshmallows until liquified and soupy. Add powdered sugar and mix until well-incorporated and no longer sticky.

Red Velvet Daisy Cake

My sister was supposed to visit this Saturday, and this was to be a reconciliation cake. However, she couldn't make it, so I gave it to my cousin instead.



This is the first cake I have made with fondant, and I am so thrilled with how it turned out. There will be three recipes here. The Red Velvet cake, found here on The Nest, the cream cheese filling, chocolate buttercream frosting, and the chocolate fondant, which were all found here at A Year in the Kitchen. The daisies on the cake were made from white modeling chocolate, which I blogged about originally here. I planned on doing them in white chocolate fondant, but I ran out of powdered sugar.

Red Velvet Cake

This cake is moist and fluffy, and the color is fantastic. Once again, I found this here.

Ingredients
-3/4 cup butter, softened
-2 1/4 cups sugar
-3 eggs
-6 Tablespoons red food coloring
-3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk
-3 1/3 cups cake flour, sifted
-1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease three 9 inch round cake pans and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl, whisk food coloring, cocoa and vanilla. Add to batter and beat well.
5. Stir salt into buttermilk. Add to batter in three parts, alternating with flour.
6. In a small bowl, stir together cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to batter and mix well.
7. Divide batter among 3 pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cool for 1 hour. Remove from pans and frost.


Cream Cheese Filling

This is a fantastic filling for this cake. I love cream cheese and nearly ate this filling alone (if only I weren't lactose intolerant). Again, I found this and the following recipes here.

Ingredients
-1 8-ounce brick of cream cheese
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 cup milk

Directions
1. Cream together all ingredients, beat until smooth.
2. Use a serrated knife to level the top of each cake layer. Spread filling between layers.

Chocolate buttercream frosting

This is another thing I just wanted to eat straight. It was so smooth and creamy.

Ingredients
-1 cup butter
-3/4 cup cocoa powder
-6 cups powdered sugar
-1/4 cup milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 teaspoon salt

Direction
1. Cream butter. add in cocoa powder and mix together on low. Add vanilla.
2. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
3. Keep refrigerated until use.

Chocolate Fondant

The reason I never used fondant before was I had never had fondant that tasted good. I had also never made my own. But when I found this recipe, I was overjoyed. This tastes fantastic! The original recipe called for a stand mixer, but I did it all by hand because my stand mixer does not have a dough hook attachment.

Ingredients
-1 pound dark chocolate candy coating (I used semi-sweet chocolate)
-3/4 cup corn syrup
-1 cup Cocoa Powder
-3.5 pounds powdered sugar
-8 Tablespoons hot water
-1 cup glucose (this is a liquid measurement)
-2 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 Tablespoon shortening

1. Melt the chocoalte chips in the microwave or over a double boiler, stir in the corn syrup, set aside until cool.
2. Put 3/4 of powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
3. Mix water, glucose, vanilla, salt, and shortening together in a saucepan. Heat until shortening is almost melted.
4. Pour into the well of powdered sugar and mix with a flat spatula until incorporated. Add chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. When mixture is too hard to mix with the spatula, take it out and turn on a powder sugar dusted surface. Knead in the remaining powdered sugar.
6. Wrap very tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a ziplock bag. It will get somewhat hard, but kneading it will loosen it up. Use within a month. (Do not refrigerate)

Chocolate Cake Bites

I had so much leftover cake from the castle cake that I thought I would put it to good use!

Chocolate Cake Bites



Walter prefers these to be called "Chocolate Cake Bites" when he brings them to the office...of course. So, instead of "cake balls," they have now been renamed. Cake Bites sounds cuter anyway. ;)



Ingredients
-1 recipe Easy Chocolate Party Cake
-1 jar Pilsbury Milk Chocolate icing
-12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
-12 ounces white chocolate
-1 bag each desired color Wilton colored melting discs

Directions
1. Prepare cake according to recipe. Cool. Crumble cake into a large bowl.
2. Stir in jar of icing. Mix until combined and all cake is moistened.
3. Roll cake into small balls, about 1/2 an inch in diameter.
4. Melt chocolate (keep colors separate), stirring often, until smooth. Dip balls in desired color/flavor and cool on wax paper (if desired, cool in refrigerator to harden more quickly).
5. Once cooled, use colored chocolate melting discs to drizzle each bite with color, if desired.

Princess Castle Cake: Kamryn

I was unsure about this cake all the way up to the end, when I added the green grass, vines, and writing. And even then I was not completely sure about it until it turned out much better in pictures than in real life. :P Overall, I am much happier with this cake than I was with my last, but I still have lots of room for improvement. Oh well...practice makes perfect!



The recipes for the icing and modeling chocolate are the same as the ones I used here, but I used butter flavoring in the icing instead of vanilla (and recommend that. It tasted much better this time). The cake recipe was from Country Living. The only requests I had from the girl receiving this cake were to make it chocolate and pink. I think I succeeded at both of those things.

My favorite parts of the cake are the path leading to the castle and the princess:



I used Wilton sparkling gel icing for the vines and flower shaped sprinkles for the flours (obviously). All of the other details were made from modeling chocolate.

Next, I am making an Easter basket cake. Hopefully it is even better!

Easy Chocolate Party Cake



This cake was incredibly moist and delicious...a little too moist, as it crumbed HORRIBLY when I frosted it, but it was still fantastic. I would recommend it with a chocolate frosting instead, to hide some of the crumbs, but it was still great. In order to make my cake, I made the recipe about four times--each recipe will fill one 8 by 8 square pan.

Ingredients
-2 cup(s) all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups and 4 Tablespoons of cake flour)
-1 1/2 cup(s) whole milk
-2/3 cup(s) granulated sugar
-2/3 cup(s) dark brown sugar
-1/2 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
-3/4 cup(s) butter
-3 large eggs
-2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon(s) baking powder
-1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine all ingredients and mix on medium speed until smooth. Pour into greased cake pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until middle springs back lightly when touched.

Princess Birthday Cake--Maddie

This is the first cake I've decorated. It did not turn out as beautiful as I would have liked because the crown was hard to frost. In hindsight, I should have used royal icing to make the crown instead of cake, but it still turned out okay. And the recipient was two years old, so she did not particularly care what the cake looked like.

It was a white cake with vanilla icing. The butterflies and hearts were made from white modeling chocolate. I also used Wilton's edible glitter.



1-2-3-4 Cake
This recipe came from the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour box. I used one and a half recipes for two 9-inch cakes and two 6-inch cakes (which I cut the centers out of with a circle cookie-cutter for the crown).

Ingredients
-1 cup butter, softened
-2 cups sugar
-3 cups sifted cake flour
-3 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 eggs
-1 cup milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pans and set aside.
2. Cream butter, gradually adding sugar, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt.
3. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings to creamed butter, beating after each addition until smooth.
4. Pour batter into cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on wire rack.



Wilton's Classic Buttercream Icing
I got this recipe from the Course Book for the first Wilton cake decorating class (which I have yet to take, but I bought the book separately).

Ingredients
-1 cup solid white vegetable shortening
-1 teaspoon flavoring (Vanilla, Almond, or Butter) (I used vanilla)
-2 Tablespoons milk or water (I used milk)
-4 cups powdered sugar
-1 Tablespoon meringue powder
-Pinch of salt (optional) (I ommitted)

Directions
1. Cream shortening, flavoring, and milk. Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until thoroughly mixed. Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy.
2. This recipe is for stiff consistency. To make thinner, add one teaspoon of milk per cup of icing until desired consistency.



Modeling Chocolate
I found this recipe in a cake decorating book I checked out at the library months ago. If anyone knows where it came from, please let me know.

Ingredients
-12-ounces chocolate (your choice of flavor)
-5 Tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions
1. Chop chocolate and combine in bowl with corn syrup.
2. In a double boiler (or a bowl over a pot of boiling water), melt chocolate, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat and continue stirring until it cools enough to handle.
3. Knead chocolate continuously until it feels plasticine, or similar to modeling clay. This is very oily work, so wipe your hands occasionally if you feel the need.
4. Once chocolate is of desired texture, use as you would desire. White chocolate colors well, but as you knead the color in it will bleed on your hands.
5. Store at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap tightly. Keeps for up to two months.

Peppermint Cake

I LOVE this recipe. I sent it in for the WC Nesties holiday sweets exchange. Can't wait until the other Nestie tries it...and I hope she likes it!

Peppermint Cake



This recipe comes from my favorite Food Networker, Paula Deen. It can be found in the November/December 2008 issue of Cooking with Paula Deen.

Ingredients

-1 cup butter, softened
-2 cups sugar
-4 large eggs, separated
-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
-1/3 cup sour cream
-1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
-1 recipe White Chocolate Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick baking spray with flour (I used three cake pans instead of two this time).
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in peppermint extract.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, alternately with cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in sour cream and crushed peppermints, just until combined.
4. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peak forms. Gently fold into batter.
5. Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Wrap cake layers in heavy-duty plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
6. Using a serrated knife, cut each layer in half horizontally to make 4 layers (I did not do this since I had three layers already). Place 1 layer, cut side down, on a cake plate; spread with 1/2 cup White Chocolate frosting. Repeat procedure with remaining three layers. Spread sides and top of cake with remaining frosting.
I also garnished the top of the cake with more crushed peppermint pieces.


White Chocolate Frosting

This is the best frosting I have ever tasted.

Ingredients
-8 (1-ounce) squares white chocolate
-3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
-3/4 cup butter, softened
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-9 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine white chocolate and cream. Microwave on High in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 1 1/2 minutes total). Let cool completely.
2. In a large bowl, combine chocolate mixture and butter. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add vanilla, beating until combine. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.