Week.....

Ok, I am only 2 weeks behind in posting now. I have a couple things I will be making next week. You see, I have been MAKING my weekly orders, just had not had time to post them. Now that I am caught up (at least though the start of April) I will be working on getting all caught up completely. TY all for your understanding.

Week 9

This was made for a physical trainer's birthday at a gym. The cake is a chocolate fudge and had espresso in as the water that was called for. The icing is a peanut butter/buttercream icing. This was different, I had to make a batch of cupcakes to have my neighbors taste test for me, you see, I can not stand the taste of coffee! OOPS!

The 'S' on the end of Carlos got a little close to the edge of the cake, this was only a 6 inch cake. It was however, 3 layers!

Week 8

I had a birthday cake request for a cake that incorporated hot wheels. This is a half sheet cake that I made from 4 9x13 inch cakes. I made 2 cakes green and 2 blue (the birthday boys favorite colors). I then leveled the cakes, sliced them in half, and layers them 4 high in alternating colors. I did not get a pic of the inside, but it still looks great!

Week 7

I have started practicing the Basket Weave. This was my very first attempt and I believe it came out pretty well. I also had the primroses I have made out of royal icing. They were a little tricky at first, but got the hang of it!

I also attempted the reverse shell on the top border.

Week 6

I know this is SUPER late. But life, as it always does, gets in the way at times. For St Patrick's Day, I had a couple requests for Baily's Irish Cream cakes. So I put some things together and came up with this:

The filling is a vanilla/irish cream and I also mixed in the liqueur into the frosting. I used Wiltons Scroll impressions  to help with the scroll work. I freehand wrote the wordings. Everyone loved it! There was not a crumb left!!

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Week 5

This week I made a Bailey's Irish Cream cake for St Patty's Day. It was a white scratch cake with some Bailey's brushed on the tops, I made a Bailey's vanilla pudding filling and even added some Bailey's to the Buttercream icing. I piped some scrolls and vines in green and a shamrock on the top. Here is the photo

I really enjoyed making this cake. I hope my friend enjoys it too!

Week 4

I know, I missed posting this. Have no idea how I forgot, but I did. So on to week 4. I FINALLY got to make my first tiered cake. It was for my BFF's daughter. She turned 9 and loves pink and zebra print. I started out by special ordering Zebra print edible image borders from someone online (can't remember who). They were 3 inches wide and 7 inches long.

I baked 2 10 inch chocolate cakes and 2 8 inch chocolate cakes a few days in advance. You can freeze a cake (unfrosted) for about 2 weeks. You will need to wrap them in clear plastic wrap 2-3 times and make sure they are MOSTLY cooled and there is no air in the wrap. By having them slightly warm they will remain their moisture when you thaw them.

On the day before delivery, I took the 10 inch cakes out and put them on the counter. I started making 4 batches of butter cream frosting. I use crisco and clear vanilla extract so the frosting is a bright white. By the time my frosting was done, the cakes were about halfway thawed. This is the best time to trim the top. Using a long serrated knife, I topped the cakes so they were flat and even in height. I took my piping bag and put Wilton tip #12 on it and filled it with the frosting. I piped a dam around the edge of the cake (cut side up) and then used chocolate frosting for the filling. I took the 2nd cake (cut side down) and carefully placed it on the first one. I pressed it down slightly so the frosting dam in between them reached the edges. Then I used the white frosting to completely frost the cakes.

As soon as I had a smooth frosted cake, I placed the edible border image around the side of the 10 inch cake. This took 3 full strips and about 2 inches of a 4th. I then cut, filled the 8 inch cakes the same as the 10 inch, although I had colored the remaining frosting hot pink first. Then I took the pink frosting and placed a bottom and top border on the 10 inch cake and a top black border on the 8 inch cake.

I colored some fondant black and some pink. I cut out stars and use tip #3 to pipe the letters of the birthday girls name on the stars. I also made extra stars to place on the cake the next day. This was all I could do this day.

I took the cakes (in cake carriers) to my BFF's house to assemble and finish. Very carefully, I 'dropped' the 8 inch cake on top of the 10 inch cake. I did a black border around the bottom of the 8 inch cake. I placed the fondant stars on the cake and it was finally done!

Week 3

Tonight was my final for the Wilton Basic Cake Decorating class. We were to bake, level, stack, frost and completely design/decorate a 2 layer 8 inch round cake. I had no idea what design I was going to do because I was so scared to do the roses. I had yet to even ATTEMPT these. Believe it or not, they were very intimidating and I was scared, lol. So once I made a couple in class, I decided they were not so bad. I mean, with practice I can get these down no problem!

So I made a few roses, piped in some leaves and monogrammed my business name (CSE= Custom Sweets & Eats). I made my border icing a little think and had some trouble getting the dots to round off right, but overall I think I did an okay job. Later this week, I am hoping to do the Zebra cake I mentioned previously as well as a Chocolate Espresso cake with peanut butter butter cream frosting and chocolate glaze drizzled over the top. Till next time,

HAPPY BAKING!



Week 2

It looks like I may have 2 deserts a week, lol. I just made some lovebug cupcakes for my daughters preschool class tomorrow. The icing came out more pink then red, but did not want that funny taste you can get by using to much coloring. So instead of LADYbugs, they are LOVEbugs. :-)

I made 18 of these little guys and they were really fun. It is getting late so I was making them in a bit of a rush, so some are not as neat as I would like. But they are 2 yr olds, I don't think theu will care! lol. Anyway, hope you like them!



Week 1.2

Ok, I know I just posted a cake for week 1. But here is the cake I made at my decorating class tonight. I am very proud of it. It is a strawberry cake with Wilton's buttercream frosting. I used tips 12 and 3. This was a lot of fun tonight!



Week 1

Ok, so I am going to attempt to create 1 dessert a week. Something new, whether it be the actual recipe or the kind of decorating it has. I am new to baking for other people and have a HUGE project that will be done next week. But as for week 1, here goes.

I started the afternoon off with a run to Michael's Craft Store. I picked up a 10 inch round pan, a cake leverer, and some pan coolies. The coolies are AWESOME! You soak these strips of oven safe fabric in cold water (run fingers over it to remove excess water), then wrap around and secure with a T pin to the outside of your baking pan. Pour your batter and pop it in the oven. The wet strips let the cake start cooking in the center before the edges cook. This gives you more of a level cake and a lot less waste when you top it. The bottom and sides of my first cake where NOT browned! And the cake was super moist!

I let the cakes (2 8in rounds) cool completley and then topped them with the cake leveler. This thing is totally cool too! A definate MUST have in the kitchen. When you place the first layer on your cake board, you want to put it cut side up. Then pipe out a dam with tip #12 in the cake frosting you will be using to frost the cake. You may now fill the inside of the dam with your choice of filling. Now, when you place the 2nd layer on, you want to put it cut side DOWN. This will help keep the crumbs down.

I used the large icing tip and a #16 disposable bag to pipe the frosting on the cake. I then used an offset spatchula to smooth the frosting. If you have some rough spots, just wait till the frosting is no longer 'sticky' and you can put a piece of parchment paper on top and use your hand to lightly rub over the frosting. The heat from your hand and the pight pressure will smooth it out for you.

Now I got all my frosting colored as the cake was baking so it was all ready to go when I got ready to decorate. (I did sprinkle some candy sprinkles on the top for my hubby when the frosting was still sticky) I then used tip #12 to line the bottom edge with little balls of frosting, although I was using a soft frosting, so they do not look as good as they should. This cake was really fun and I can not wait to cut into it after dinner with the family!



Next week: 2 tier chocolate cake with zebra stripes in fondant and hot pink frosting!