Elmo Birthday Cake

Elmo Birthday Cake

May 2007

Who doesn't love Elmo? I was thrilled to make an Elmo cake for Matthew's first birthday party.

This cake is vanilla with a variety of buttercream and chocolate frostings. The most fun was creating his "fur". I used a medium star tip to pipe in a random fill pattern, creating a fluffy base. Then I used the edge of a smooth spatula to break apart the webs and whip it up into a more random furry pattern. The eyes, nose and mouth were piped in and smoothed.

The highest compliment was that when I saw the pictures from the party there was a little girl sticking her finger in the frosting. That's four stars in my book.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Sweet Leadership

May 2007

My time as a Fellow at the National Center for Leadership is ending. To go out with a bang our class planned a thank you dinner for Doug, Kathy and Sarah (our fearless leaders). But how can we possibly celebrate nine months of laughter, challenge, and friendship? I couldn't conceive of a single cake to do justice to the many blessings I've received from this zany group. So it had to be CUPCAKES. German Chocolate Cupcakes, in honor of Doug.

I got a hand from Amanda and Alvin on these while the rest of the crew pulled together one fabulous Mexican Fiesta. Cooking is so much more fun when done together! The looked pretty yummy.

And the tasted good too! The cake recipe is from Magnolia Bakery (2, no 6, no 12, Bakers Dozen!). The german chocolate (German's chocolate... whatever!) cupcakes are topped first with a layer of milk chocolate frosting, then the traditional mound of pecan & toasted coconut in caramel icing, and then finished off with curls of milk chocolate.

Recipes:

Cupcake Batter:

(please check back- i know the recipe with my notes is in my kitchen somewhere!)

Caramel/Nut Topping (recipe credited to Cooks Illustrated):

4 large egg yolks

1 can (12oz) evaporated milk

1 cup (7oz) granulated sugar

1/4 c (1 3/4oz) packed lt. brown sugar

6T (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

1/8tsp table salt2tsp vanilla extract

2 1/3c sweetened shredded coconut

1 1/2c finely chopped pecans, toasted (350 degrees for about 8 mins)

For the filling: Whisk yolks in med. saucepan, gradually whisk in evap. milk. Add sugars, butter & salt. Cook over med. high heat whisking constantly until boiling, frothy and slightly thickened. Transfer to a bowl, whisk in vanilla. Stir in coconut. Cool until just warm then cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate until cold, at least 2hrs but up to 3 days. Pecans are stirred in just before cake assembly so they do not get soggy.

Margarita Cake

Margarita Cake

May 2007

Now that I have recovered from the "beer cookies" incident during the Superbowl it is time to take another crack at "desserts featuring liquor". This margarita cake for Cinco de Mayo is SUCH an improvement.

What you need:

- White cake mix (plus ingredients: 3 eggs, oils)
- 1 can frozen margarita mix

- 1 batch white icing

- sugar sprinkles

- 1 lime (zested)

The recipe is easy. Start with white cake mix, but substitute the frozen margarita mix for the water in the directions. Plus add the zest of one lime. Yummm. (For an added kick I also gave it a shot of limoncello, but that is optional.)

To decorate I used piping gel with a little blue tint for the glass, and green icing/piping gel for the center. It looks more like guac in this picture. Oooops! The most fun was the rock sugar on the rim of the glass to simulate salt on the glass.

Tomorrow I'm taking off for the beach. The perfect place to kick back with good friends and a frosty beverage.