Graduation Cake

I have recently made a few graduation cakes, These 2 were for the same girl.  Her class flower was a white rose with yellow tips, so I made some of those out of fondant.

They were pretty easy to make, just really time consuming!  After I let them dry I took the steamer to them.  It gives them a nice shine and also makes them almost feel like glass.

I then covered the cakes in fondant --I didn't get it quite as smooth as I would have liked, but really I decided it didn't matter too much.  I was making the cakes for them at a loss, pretty much; and most people probably wouldn't notice.  So I went with it.  I didn't feel like peeling it off and starting over.  I also felt like the cake needed a little more.  Something to tie it into the other cake.  So, I added a little more:

I think the yellow helped. 

The next cake I made was a full sheet cake.  

It turned out okay, but I can't get over that I didn't get the seams perfect where I connected the cakes.  Next time I think I will cut off the corners instead of trying to fill them with frosting.  Oh well... live and learn.

A close up of the bulldog I drew on the cake.  

Surprisingly the large cake didn't take me too long to join together and decorate.  Only about an hour and a half.  It was so big though that it needed more support, my dad made me a really nice cake board.  He is such a perfectionist, he even put little legs on it, a support system on the underside, and he varnished it.  I'm lucky to have such a great dad!  

Well, I'm off to do dishes now, the hubby should be back from golfing soon.  I think we're just going to spend time together and watch a hindi movie or something.  We don't get a lot of time to just hang out together, so we have to make the most of it!

The husband with his new golf bag and clubs I bought for him!

Fishing Birthday Cake

Just a pretty simple cake with a fondant fish jumping out of the "water". 

My first attempt at making a fondant person.  I need more practice, but I think I'll figure it out.  He's supposed to be fishing.

What I made for Easter...

I, unfortunately, had to work on Easter.  So, the night before I made a couple things for my husband to take to my grandparents' house.  He even got there early to help Grandma get everything ready... isn't that nice?

Anyway,  I decided I was going to make a carrot cake and homemade buns.  I'll post the recipes sometime later (the carrot cake recipe needs some tweaking.  It's not quite the texture I wanted, yet).  ...The buns were absolutely amazing!!!  They were like buttery little pillows of deliciousness. 


Here's some photos!

Almost ready to take out of the oven...you should have smelled these!

Piyush and I had to sneak one fresh out of the oven to share...That's when they're the best!

Mmmmmm....

All ready for Easter dinner

Just a really quick decorating job on the carrot cake using homemade cream cheese frosting.

A really yummy carrot!

My grandpa liked the cake so much he had 3 pieces and thanked me for making "real food" and not "that healthy crap."

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

The tale of the cursed cake and why I don't bake with silicone.

Wow! This past weekend was really busy.  I feel like I didn't get hardly enough done, but I think that's just how the holidays make me feel.  I have so much baking and cooking and cleaning and wrapping to do, and on top of it we have a sick cat. 

My great-grandpa turned 87 years old this weekend, and we had a little party for him.  My grandma usually makes the cake, but she had bought a silicone Christmas Tree baking pan and she really wanted me to try it out. I usually really hate those molded pans.  I'd rather cut the shape I want out of a giant sheet cake.  But, grandma really wanted me to use this pan, so I had all sorts of ideas about how to make it look really neat.  ...I could make two of them and stand them back to back and then cover them with fondant, it'd make a neat centerpiece.  I mixed up the cake, just a normal white cake---nothing too special, then greased the pan according to what the directions said.  I kept some of the batter aside because I decided I was going to marble the cake with green batter ---it is an evergreen tree afterall.   I put the cake in to bake and about 40 minutes later I realized I had a problem.  The edges of the cake were done.  In fact, they were almost more than done, and the center was still jiggly.  I turned the timer for 10 more minutes, checked it...same thing!  ...What the heck.  I decided this cake was cursed.  Finally after like one hour and 20 minutes!!!!!! the cake was done.  The sides were a little overdone, but they weren't quite throw-away ready... and I was making it for my family, so I didn't feel quite so bad.  Haha, is that wrong?

I took the cake out, let it cool, and when I went to unmold it I realized I had another problem.  The cake didn't want to come out!  Now I was going a litltle nuts.  I didn't have time to make a whole new cake and I definitely wasn't going to try and make another tree cake.  I called Grandma and freaked out a little, she calmed me down...  and then I glued my cake together with frosting. 

I've got to say, it turned out as good as it could have with what I had to work with:

I won't be using that tree pan again though.  It really is cursed...

When Piyush took the cake to the car to transport it to the party he put the box on the car seat, which is at an incline.  The cake slid right into the box and it smashed the whole side of it.  It's actually kind of funny.  He came running back up here screaming "Damage Control!" ...and I decided there would be no damage control.  They'd just have to deal with a smashed cake.  We were already running late anyway.  I wish I had a picture of the end-product because I'm sure it'd make someone laugh.  Or cry.  hahaha

Christmas Baking, Part one

A couple weeks ago I did a lot of cookie baking.  I packed up all my baking supplies, my cookie sheets, my bowls, my stand mixer and even my wooden spoons.  My husband and I went to my grandmas house and met up with my mom.  I wanted to do a lot of baking but I knew that our apartment was just too small for the amount of baking I had in mind.  I didn't have enough room to cool cookies and I definitely don't have enough room to store cookies.  I unfortunately didn't take pictures at the time, but don't you worry...I will.  This weekend I'm pulling some of them out of the freezer for my great-grandfather's birthday party. 

We made:

Peanut Butter Blossums

Molasses cookies

Sugar cut-out cookies, glazed

Chocolate Crinkles

Gingerbread Men, decorated

I still have a lot of baking to do.  I want to make a couple Indian sweets and some Peppermint Bark.  I also have a couple cakes and Piyush requested Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies again.  They are his favorite.  If you've never made them, you must!  I'll definitely be blogging about them this weekend!

Anyway, today Piyush had a little holiday party at his office, so last night after I got home from work I had to make a cake.  I really wasn't in the mood, but he promised them all a cake and I wasn't going to let him go out and buy a cake.  That'd be blasphemous!  I told him I wasn't going to do some awesome decorating job, just something really quick and easy.  I only did 2 coats of frosting, and only let my crumb coat sit for like 10 minutes.  I usually wait quite a bit longer and do 3 coats just to make sure it's nicely coated. It took me maybe 20 minutes to actually decorate.  I wasn't all that pleased with it, but Piyush liked it though.  I was glad, because I was tired.
This is what the cake turned out like:

I drew a stocking on the top of the cake and just filled with stars.  This was exciting.  I used a #14 for the red and a #16 for the white.  I wanted the white to look fluffy.

I piped some wreaths on the side of the cake using stars.  I then made a ribbon using #104.  I need some practice making small ribbons sideways.  These were a little difficult to make look right.  but it turned out decent, I guess.  I can make big ribbons like it's no body's business though.  Those are easy as pie.  I put some little red dots on it too, for berries. 

To make the little trees, just use a #14 tip and pipe using even pressure, tapering off towards the top.  I then used a #1 tip to decorate the trees.  I was too lazy to mix up more colors, but it'd look cool if you had yellows and blues and made them look like real christmas trees.

I sprinkled the top with clear cake dust so it looked like snow and wrote Happy Holidays...and it was done!

Yay!  2 more cakes to go.  I'm so caked out. haha

Cake Time!

I don't have a lot of time right now because I have to get up early to work tomorrow but I wanted to post some photos of the cake I made today. 

It's not really my best work, but the cards were kind of stacked against me.  I think it turned out okay though.  I had used the candied lemons once before, on my grandmas cake back in november:

and I thought they were kind of pretty...and they tasted awesome!  I'll post a neat little tutorial sometime on how to make them.  I've had them turn out really nicely, and I've had them turn out kind of wet and mushy.  But I think I've figured it all out now, and I'll gladly share so no one out there will have to throw away lemons (and waste the hour or so it takes to get them just right).

On to the cake!  It was Dorie Greenspan's recipe for her "Perfect Party Cake"

From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

Makes 12 to 14 servings

For the Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk (both Dorie and I suggest the buttermilk).
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.


To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

The frosting was a simple buttercream.  I chose to go with my own recipe instead of Dorie's.  I'm sure her's is great, I just was pressed for time and wanted something easy, reliable, and familiar.  ...and I know what it tastes like.  It's good!

• 2 c. crisco (not butter flavored)
• 1 2lb bag powdered sugar
• Pure lemon extract, to your taste
• Pure vanilla extract, to your taste
• Enough water to get the right consistancy.  Start with a few tablespoons.

1. Cream the crisco and the extracts for a minute or so until they're well mixed and the crisco is smooth. 

2.  Add the powder sugar a little at a time, Adding water as neccessary.  Do this until you get your desired consistancy of frosting.

The filling of the cake was also really simple.  I took some raspberry preserves, probably about a half a cup and mixed it with Chambord liqueor in a small saucepan.  I heated it until the preserves were smooth enough to spread on the cake.   This part was my favorite!  Chambord spiked jelly sounds like a pretty nice breakfast to me!

Well I'm off to bed... Tomorrow I'll tell you all about how I came home from the bridal shower deal and made my husband a huge pot of Jambayala at 11:00pm.  He plays chess for his work team on Friday nights and doesn't get home until late, and he's been talking about jambayala forever, so I thought...  How hard could it be?  It's actually a really quick and tasty recipe! And he gave it an A+, which is unusual! 

Goodnight!!!

A Small Wedding Cake

I was asked by one of my co-workers to make a wedding cake for her son, last minute.  She just wanted a small one because it was going to be just a small, intimate wedding.  I had all sorts of ideas in my head, but being I didn't have a lot of time I decided to go simple and sweet. 

I made a butter chocolate marble cake with buttercream frosting and then covered it in white fondant.  I used simple green ribbon to wrap around the bottom of the teirs and then used some orange/red lillies to top the cake.  Quite simple.  I also had to make a cake for my Grandma that same day for her birthday too...I'll post that one later.  It was a busy cake day!