Category Archives: Celebration

Hats Off Graduate 2018

Posted in Cakes, Celebration, Chocolate, Custom, Ombre, Recipes, Sweet by

I don’t take commissioned baking orders very often as they can be challenging to schedule with busy-as-usual-life and a full time day job, but every now and then I jump at the chance to make something special for someone 😉 This was a fun high school graduation cake for one of my co-worker’s daughters, and I am happy with how it turned out.

EVENING 1: Research recipes, select final recipe and shop for ingredients

The request was for a chocolate vanilla marble cake, and I’d never made one before, but felt happy with this recipe I found online. Granted, I wasn’t able to make the party, so was not able to taste it and critique the texture, moistness etc. but I hope the guests were pleased.

EVENING 2: Bake the cake layers and cover completely to chill overnight in the refrigerator to be firm enough to frost

Instructions: Vanilla > Chocolate > Vanilla > Marble with knife 🙂

EVENING 3: Trim and level the cake layers and prepare to stack, crumb coat, frost and decorate!

I didn’t realize the marble effect would be so visible after trimming the cakes in preparation for stacking them – so beautiful!

After mulling over the direction the decoration would take, and having gone through several iterations in my head, I landed on a simple ombre-like effect from red (as red as I could get this frosting! Also–one of the high school colors) to white, a medley of sprinkles (of course!), and some fun starburst-flower-like piping! I’ve seen many cakes use a similar piping technique, and it always seems a bit whimsical and loose and still each one unique.

First round of decoration finished and chilling in the refrigerator… I considered stopping at this point, but decided that a high school graduation cake should have more pizzaz! I also knew what the custom cake topper looked like and decided that it should have a more hefty supporting role below 🙂

Final product! <3

And the custom cake topper that would be united with its cake at the party!

Happy Halloween 2017

Posted in Celebration, Cupcakes, Holiday, Sweet, Themed by

A Mummy Halloween to you! I’ve made these little guys before, but made double batches again this year both for a neighbor’s party as well as a work potluck – Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese mummy frosting and sugar eyeballs 🙂

I actually initially made two batches of the same recipe I’ve used multiple times before and was not happy at all with them! I’m not sure if I did something different, or it was the difference of our convection oven… so found a new recipe and I was much happier with how they came out.

From plastic container….

… to full on fall layout! I love the oranges and greens in this image, along with the warm walnut stained display box that my Dad made for our wedding cupcakes 🙂

RIce Cream Krispie Treat

Posted in Celebration, Chocolate, Custom, Sweet by

I spotted this idea online somewhere recently, but when I went back to find it again, I couldn’t! But the idea is pretty simple – sculpt rice krispie treats into the fun shape of an ice cream cone!

I chose to keep it simple this time and used regular rice krispies and cocoa krispies cereal, but you could add some color and/or flavoring to the marshmallows for other options. For example, pink for strawberry or pale green and chocolate chips for a mint chip ice cream look 🙂 The possibilities are endless! I considered making a red fondant cherry for the top, but ended up only using some sprinkles to add color and festivity to this cheery birthday surprise 😀

First I sketched out my approximate size and shape on white parchment paper over a half sheet pan…

Then covered the sketched parchment paper with a clean parchment sheet and taped it down/used non-slip squares to help when spreading/sculpting the krispies. It was a bit tricky to sculpt as it hardens fairly fast and is also hot off the stove. But butter up your fingers and stay calm and it will work out 🙂 They did remain slightly malleable even at the end for some minor adjustments.

I wanted two cone drips, but ended up settling for one once I got sculpting! Keep an extra pan nearby for the rice krispie mix that you don’t use and ask a helper to take care of that while you put the finishing touches on the design.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this RIce Cream Krispie Treat turned out, and I am eager to try some other “flavors” and maybe even shapes! Donuts? Flowers? Letters? oh my.

April {Baby} Showers

Posted in Celebration, Cupcakes, Fruit, Sweet by

Back in mid April, my department at work hosted our friend and co-worker an office baby shower! The shower was Norwegian themed to honor the Momma’s heritage and I baked orange cardamom cupcakes for the occasion. The Real Simple recipe I used called for a chocolate sour cream frosting, but in the end I felt like the chocolate was too much and overpowered the cupcake flavor. I ended up just making a simple cream cheese frosting and I think the combination was successful. Yum!

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