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.

Easter Cupcakes

Easter Cupcakes

March 2007

Happy Easter

Erin and I had about 25 of our closest friends over for Easter brunch. And nothing says spring celebration like fluffy whipped chocolate cupcakes (over beat the batter to make it light and airy). I topped them with whipped vanilla frosting and a purple flower. Next year I have to remember to go with cherry blossoms for local color.

It tasted a little like a devil dog, which is not such a bad thing.

What better way to display these cuties than a cupcake tree.

Billy vs. Sprinkles

Cupcake Bake-Off: Billy's vs. Sprinkles

March 2007

When baking cupcakes I've officially been converted to the batter published by Billy's Bakery (of NYC). Even Martha uses the man's Vanilla cupcake! Who am I to disagree? I admit that I do love the regular old box mix and have my own special ways of kicking it up and making it my own. But if I have enough time and the right ingredients on hand- Billy's my guy. Golden and spongy perfection.

However, whispers of dissension have reached my ears. The L.A. bakery set thinks Sprinkles can take on Billy's or even Magnolia (gasp!) any day. The whispers were persuasive enough to convince me to purchase the Sprinkles Vanilla Cupcake kit at Williams-Sonoma and give it a spin for Erin's birthday. Like I said, she's the best roommate ever and living in my kitchen she is forced to taste-test my baked goods all the time. No need to make her work on her b-day.

I'm the first to admit that the best ingredients make the best dishes, and since the ingredients listed had only the normal baking products like flour, bourbon vanilla, salt, etc. I can only imagine that they have some flippin' pixie-dust infused something because those cupcakes were OUTSTANDING. I made my own frosting. It was already a box mix, I can't give up THAT much control in my own kitchen. But I would turn in my right to scramble up recipes if I could make those. They were sweet without being too sugary, had a good depth of vanilla and a nice snap from the signature dotted sprinkle on top (included). Definitely worth the splurge at W-S.

This batch is Vanilla, but in the near future I'd like to give their Red Velvet a spin. Disclaimer: Please do not interpret this as my vote for urban supremacy- my loyalty for NYC runs deep.

Coming Up Roses

Pink Rose Cake

March 2007

Some cakes are just for getting together with friends and laughing. I love my fellows class and they seem open to taking cakes off of my hands. Why the celebration? Because I have finally made some progress in mastering the rose and I really love the color on these flowers.

Inside is a dutch chocolate cake with peach-apricot cream filling. I made the filling using an organic apricot jam, some chunky peach preserves and a bit of the vanilla butter cream frosting to make it smooth and creamy. These roses taste much better than eating dirt pies.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras Cake

March 2007

Nothing says Fat Tuesday like a double chocolate cake with chocolate chunks and thick vanilla buttercream icing.

I love how this Mardi Gras cake came out. It was gorgeous and delicious. Let the good times roll.