Happy Birthday

Today was actually my 27th birthday, but I didn't make this cake for myself. I made it for my coworker whose birthday is also this week. It's fun for me to bake and decorate, so it's like a gift to myself AND a gift to my coworker :)

Fall Cake Ideas

Here are some cakes I did last Fall, but thought I would re-post them in case you needed inspiration :)

Chocolate Cake Contest

Some of my cakes were featured on "Cakes We Bake" and also entered into the Chocolate Contest:



Please stop by Cakes We Bake and vote for any of the cakes above at: http://www.cakeswebake.com/photo/photo/listFeatured

Thanks!

My Father's Day Cake

While this didn't turn out quite like I had planned, it still tasted pretty good.

I tried a new caramel icing recipe, which didnt stick to the sides of the cake at all, so I had to frost the sides with butter cream, and I tried to make the top resemble a baseball, so this was the end result:

Strawberry Shortcake Rendition

A spontaneous strawberry shortcake cake:

Father's Day Cake Ideas

I saw these cakes online, and they inspired me to make my father a very unique Father's Day Cake. . . so I wanted to share them with you:

NOTE: I did NOT make these cakes.





What great ideas!!! I'll post photos of my Father's Day Cake when it's made (in June)

HAPPY BAKING!

Argyle Cake

My husband's 29th bithday cake - to satisfy the preppy man in him!



This cake is covered with chocolate fondarific (brand of fondant-like icing)



Diamonds are made by using cookie cutters and cutting out shapes in rolled fondarific/fondant.

Guess the game

SCRABBLE!

Cupcake Wreath

Easy Chocolate Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolage Ganache Frosting:

Cupcake Recipe:

- Devil's Food Cake Mix

- 15 Oz Canned Pumpkin

- Semi SweetChocolate Chips

Mix, pour into cupcake pan, bake at 375/400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until done.

Ganache Icing:

- 8 Oz. Semi-sweet chocolate

- 1 Cup Heavy Cream

Melt chocolate and milk together (I use low heat setting in microwave), let cool until it can be piped out onto cupcakes. . . or you can dip the cupcakes into the runny ganache for a smoother look

To make the leaves I used a Leaf chocolate mold, and swirled several colors of chocolate together with toothpicks. Chocolate can be bought by the bag at craft stores like Michaels/AC moore. Let cool and pop our of mold.

To make the acorns: Use caramels, roll into shape, dip one end in chocolate and then roll in cookie crumbs.

Fall Housewarming Cake

The Recipe:

CHAMPAGNE CAKE RECIPE (taken from here)

2 3/4 c. sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 bottle (2/5 pt.) champagne (3/4 c.)
6 egg whites

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. Cream shortening with 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Blend flour mixture alternately with champagne and mix to a smooth batter. Beat egg whites until stiff and soft peaks form. Fold about half the meringue into the batter, mixing thoroughly with whisk. Gently fold in remaining meringue. Turn into two greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until test done. When cake has rested 10 minutes, turn out to cool. When cold, put together with coconut filling.



For the buttercream icing border, I used a Leaf Tip, and put a red stripe in the piping bag, filled it with buttercup yellow icing, and squeezed out leaves all around the cake. The red stripe gave it a more authentic fall leaf look...wouldn't you agree?

The leaves on the side were ordered through fancyflours.com and they are just sugar.