Quin's T-Rex

Quin's red velvet T-rex took a little nibble of his blueberry birthday cake. Thank you for letting Aunt Molly make your cake Qui!:)

Chanel Bag!

My two loves meet. Purse plus cake...what could be better? I had too much fun making this!

6 year old sweeties!

A sweet cake for Mabry's kindergarten class BFFs. Pink for Miss Rebekah and blue for Miss Hanna. I snapped this photo before Little Pet figures were added to the layers. Love you girls!

"Lola"

A beloved race car turned into a birthday cake for her driver.:)

The real Lola:

Grill Cake

This was such a fun cake to make. All of the food is fondant and the charcoal is mini marshmallows painted with black food coloring! The cake itself was cookies and cream with Oreo buttercream filling.

Zach's Beach Cake

Yikes! I am really behind with posting pictures. Here is Zacher's 6th birthday cake (from November!) He gave me a list of every item he wanted on his cake: palm trees, beach, himself, crabs, fish..... I just created his imaginative vision!

Happy birthday sweet Mabry (and a recipe!)

Mabry turned 6 last month! For her party this year she wanted a dog and cat theme in pinks and leopard print. As much as I thought I was keeping things simple this year and doing lots ahead of time. I found myself scrambling the night before and was saved by my sweet Rachel just as I have been for every one of Mabry's parties. I threw all of the decorations and treats I had been making/accumulating over weeks at Rachel and, as always, she did a far better job of arranging and decorating than I could have. Meanwhile, I made Mabry's cake. I first covered each tier in dark ivory fondant, placed a band of pink around the bottom of each tier, then a ribbon of darker pink around the centers. I applied edible glitter to the dark pink fondant ribbons and bows and hand painted the leopard spots using a small paint brush with brown and black gel paste food coloring which I diluted with clear vanilla extract. For the flavors this year she wanted chocolate and vanilla. So I made 2 layers of each flavor per tier. I've already shared the chocolate cake recipe I used, as well as the buttercream; but have not yet blogged about my yellow cake recipe. It is one of my prizes! It took a lot of trial and error to create and I'm excited to share (see end of this post!)

More dessert table shots:


Earlier in the week I made and froze pink iced bone sugar cookies and white chocolate dipped Oreo cat pops:

It was a VERY special day for Mabry spent with her family, friends, and even her kindergarten and mother's day out teachers!

Kitty cat Mabry with Auntie Rachel.

And now as promised, my yellow cake recipe!

Until finding this recipe I was disappointed with each yellow cake recipe I tried. The problem with homemade butter cakes is usually the texture. They may taste great; but are often have a crumbly, cornbread like texture. Many professional bakers actually use cake mixes for yellow or white cakes! This recipe comes from cake queen Sylvia Weinstock; but I have modified it to make it easier with, at least for me, more consistent results. The original recipe can be found here.

Yellow Butter Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 sticks of butter (room temp)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs (room temp)
2 t vanilla
1 cup sour cream (helps if at room temp)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour (or spray with Baker's Joy) two 8X3 baking pans or one 12X3. Line with parchment.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and baking powder and continue to cream until fluffy and light (I cream for at least 10 minutes).

Add the eggs one at a time on low speed, until each is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of bowl between additions. Add the canola oil and mix on low or by hand until well combined.

Sift 1/3 of the presifted flour into the bowl and stir by hand until just combined . Stir in 1/2 of the sour cream until just combined. Repeat until you have incorporated all of the flour and sour cream.

Pour the batter into prepared pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake for 60 min for the 12 inch or 45-50 for the 8 inch. Test for doneness with a skewer or toothpick.

Should I post this?

I feel a bit guilty. Underneath the fondant, I assure you the horns were sawed off! Gig 'em! :)

Wrestling Mask Cake

An unexpected bonus to making cakes...one stays current on what is popular with the kiddos. This Rey Mysterio mask cake was for a 9 year old wrestling fan. It was really fun to make. I think it actually turned out kind of surprisingly pretty.

Hot Pink Zebra!

A fun cake for sweet Kyleigh who recently turned 15! Thanks Susan asking me to make this.:)

Kyra's Carnival

Please excuse the background (it's the back of my car!) This cute cake was for a little girl celebrating her 4th birthday with a carnival themed party.

Close ups:

Fondant popcorn!!!

Mod Monkey

This first birthday cake was inspired by the "Mod Monkey" plates and decorations used for the party. The birthday boy's mom emailed me a link to the plate and we went from there. The top and bottom tiers were vanilla and the middle chocolate. I also delivered a little vanilla smash cake iced in buttercream so that the birthday boy could make a big mess! Happy 1st birthday Logan Gage and thank you to your sweet mama for letting me make your cake.

Antique Rose Cake

After having such fun making gumpaste anemones last week, I decided to try one of my favorite flowers, a pink peony. I think it turned out more like a garden rose, which I also love. I decorated the cake with some left over ribbon from the wedding cake I did the weekend before and some royal icing piping. The leaf of the flower was rubbed with bronze luster dust which I also brushed along the edges of the petals for a sort of antique look.

It's my party and I'll have 3 cakes if I want to...

I was so lucky this year to have 3 cakes for my birthday! On the left a moist almond cake with whipped cream, almond paste, crushed Heath bar, and Brach's nut goodie filling by Lacy. In the center (by me and compliments of left overs from Laura's wedding cake fillings from the weekend before) a vanilla butter cake with passion fruit curd, blackberry preserves, and buttercream fillings. Finally on the right prepared and decorated by Chef Mabry: peanut butter cake with peanut butter cream and dark chocolate ganache with salted peanuts.

Thanks to my 3 cakes I have 3 extra pounds! Unfortunately Lacy has left; so now I'm the only one eating them. Next year only one cake!

Thank you Lacy and Mabry. I love you so much!

Cake completely decorated by Mabry. I just gave her the fondant and she made the flowers all by herself. I was so proud. I think she definitely has a future in the cake biz!

Mabry putting the finishing touches on her masterpiece.

Alvin, Simon, Theodore....and Shamu???

This was Quin's request for his 3rd birthday cake. It took me a while to figure out how to incorporate the 4 characters on to one cake; but, anything for sweet Quin.

Quin and Lacy at the party. Oops! Looks like Shamu had a little accident (thanks Uncle Justin)!

Zach and Mabe having fun at Chuck's.

Yum! Whale tail.

Zach's Scooby Cake

Zacher recently celebrated his fifth birthday and I had the honor of making his cake. Lacy makes amazing cakes. In fact last year she made an adorable Curious George; but this year I was so happy that she asked me! He wanted something involving Scooby Doo and the vision I immediately came up with was Scooby looking at a traditional birthday cake. For the round cake I used this strawberry cake recipe with cream cheese icing and fondant decorations. After reading rave reviews of the recipe on several blogs, I hate to admit that I wasn't terribly impressed and wouldn't make it again. I found the texture a bit dry and the flavor unremarkable.

For the Scooby cake the first thing I did was model the basic shape of his head and neck out of Rice Krispie treats. I saw this technique on Cake Boss and figured if the pros are doing it that it might work for me. It took 2 batches of the standard Rice Krispie treat recipe. I used a tablespoon less butter than the recipe called for and added several additional cups of cereal to make a firm modeling material. I crushed up the cereal a bit as I added it to the melted marshmallows and butter and continue to crush the mixture as I mixed and modeled it in hopes of making the head as smooth as possible. Once I had the basic shape I wanted, I covered it in chocolate candy coating hoping that his would make the head more sturdy and stable. (I could invision the big nose starting to separate from the head.) I also shoved a dowel through the nose and one through the top of the head.

Rice Krispie head covered in chocolate:


For Scooby's body I baked my favorite chocolate cake (recipe at end of post) 3 times to make a total of 4 rectangular cakes and a couple of small square cakes. I stacked the 4 rectangles with a basic powdered sugar buttercream layered between and sculpted Scooby's body.


I frosted the body and head with chocolate butter cream before applying fondant. I used chocolate icing so that in case I had any tears in the fondant, they wouldn't be as noticeable with brown icing underneath.

At this point in the process my father-in-law came into the kitchen and I asked him to guess what shape of cake I was making to which he replied "hmmm...a turkey?". Kind of does look like one, don't ya think?


After all of this it was time for the real fun: covering him with fondant. I did his head separately and covered the seam between his head and neck with his collar. After I applied all of the fondant details and painted the eyes, nose, eyebrows and spots with diluted black gel food coloring, I thought I had achieved Scooby perfection...or at least as close as I was gonna get. When I woke the next morning (the day of the party), I was disappointed to see that Scooby's head had started to lean forward caused some cracking and sagging of the fondant underneath. He made the 2 hour drive to the party with a cup propped under his chin to support the weight of his head. Fortunately Zach didn't seem to notice or mind!

Birthday boy Zach with Mabry and Quin:


My Current Chocolate Cake

I have been using Rebecca Rather's Tuxedo Cake recipe for most chocolate cakes that I make because it is so easy, so good, and makes so much cake. The only modification I make is to add a bit more salt.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups water
1 cup canola oil
4 cups sugar
1 cup [high quality] unsweetened cocoa powder (I just use Hershey's)
4 cups flour
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (I use 1 tsp.)
1 tbsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of three 9-inch or two 10-inch cake pans with parchment paper, grease with butter and dust with flour (or spray with Baker's Joy).
2. Combine butter, water, and canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together sugar, cocoa, and flour. When butter has melted, pour the butter mixture over the sugar mixture; whisk until smooth. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, then whisk in buttermilk. Whisk in baking soda, salt, and vanilla all at once. Transfer batter to prepared pans.
3. Stagger cake pans in the oven so that no layer is directly over another.
Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Layers may be done at different times; monitor carefully.
4. Remove cakes from oven, cool about 15 minutes before inverting on to baking racks. Cool the cakes completely, at least 2 hours, before frosting.

Happy Birthday to Diane!

We love the Grammar girls! We were so happy to have Diane at the lake for her birthday. Knowing that she loves chocolate, I made her a cake that featured chocolate in several of its yummy forms...chocolate cheesecake with an Oreo crust, chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cake. The creation was covered in ganache and decorated with a bit of fondant.

Mabry is 5!!!

I can hardly believe my sweet girl turned 5 last month! Where has the time gone? She was stuck on the idea of a "little pets" cake this year. We looked at several little pets cakes on line and she liked the ones with actual toys on them. I don't know, maybe it was all a plot to get some new little pets. Anyway, aside from a cake with new little pets that was chocolate and vanilla, she left the rest of the design to my artistic discretion! So, I went with her favorite colors, pink and purple. She approved!

Butterflies!

Mabry and I had so much fun making butterfly cupcakes to take to Laura on her birthday. I made a butterfly wing template that we placed under parchment, then piped dark chocolate around the border, and filled with purple candy coating melts. Mabry was a great helper!

Drake's Ironman Cake

For the last couple of years I have gotten to make Drake's cake for the annual 4th of July boys' birthday extravaganza. Last year it was a speed racer car and this year he requested Ironman. After figuring out who Ironman is (a Marvel superhero), my first thought was to do a sculpted cake that looked like him. In the end I scrapped that plan for something simpler but that the birthday boy still loved. I simply covered two round tiers in red fondant and placed chocolate bars cut to look like buildings around them. I used royal icing to pipe windows and placed a toy Ironman action figure on top. There was an LED light at the base of the action figure so that at night Ironman glowed!

Just as last year, Drake once again did not want to cut his cake. Rather he took it home with him. So glad he liked it that much! I heard that he kept the speed racer car for a week after his party last year! Luckily I made a HUGE cheesecake for the adult birthday boys! (Not the best picture)


On a side note to myself and any other bakers the 3 Cities of Spain Cheesecake recipe from Epicurious is the best! No water baths or starting the oven at 500 then reducing temp required. This time I tripled the recipe and baked it in a 12X12X3 pan. It baked for about twice the time the recipe specified; but still had no cracks and a perfect texture!

Happy 7th Drake, happy 20th Alex, and happy 4oth Tom! I love you and can't wait to make your cakes next year!!!