My friend turned the big 3-0 today! And I had the honor of making her cake. She requested carrot cake with a buttercream frosting. I found a great recipe by Alton Brown (of Good Eats fame) and proceeded to make the cake. But when I took it out of the oven, I realized it was way too small to for the importance of the event! 🙂

So I quickly made a second one (luckily I had enough of everything to make it). Admittedly as a four-layer cake it was rather imposing!

While the second cake cooled I made the vanilla buttercream and planned my decorations. The buttercream is simply butter – lots of butter – confectioner’s sugar, a little heavy whipping cream, and a vanilla bean.

I decided to pipe carrots onto the cake and reserved some of the buttercream to color orange and green (carrots and leaves). I had a little extra orange and green, so I decorated the bottom edge of the cake as well.

The end result was pretty impressive, and one of the tallest and heaviest cakes I’ve ever made!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHIA!!

… without actually making a chocolate cake, did you? However, since it is just the two of us at home, we really don’t need a whole cake (we would eat the whole thing!). So I made half of a chocolate cake recipe (and used dark chocolate cocoa powder) and made two small cakes, one for us and one to share with a friend:

Instead of just making a chocolate buttercream, I made a chocolate honey ganache, borrowed from another chocolate cake recipe I made over the summer (recipe here – this cake is AMAZING too!).

I put the cakes on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and carefully sliced the very tops off, so I’d have a really flat top. And then I poured the ganache over the cakes. The cookie sheet collects the excess (and you can save it for another day, and trust me, you won’t want to waste a drop) and keeps the mess off the counters.

Once the cakes were completely enrobed, they went into the refrigerator, still on their cooling rack/cookie sheet contraption, for a few hours to chill and allow the ganache to firm up and get a nice shine.

I can’t wait to dig into this one. Happy Chocolate Cake Day everyone!

OK, this isn’t an “official” holiday, but it is recognized as a funday. And what’s more fun than chocolate cake. So I urge everyone out there to find some chocolate cake at some point today. Make it if you have the inclination, but just get some CAKE!

To celebrate, here’s a picture of a chocolate cake I made a few years ago, decorated with macadamia nuts and chocolate shavings:

And here’s one (I believe this was another Jinny birthday cake!) garnished with fresh raspberries and almonds:

These were early RedHead Bakery cakes so not quite as polished looking, but they still tasted really good! Enjoy Chocolate Cake Day my friends!

My first foray into fondant (I admit, I was initially scared of it) coincided with my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. Not only did I throw them a surprise party with all the local family – and one surprise guest – but I made a small three-tiered wedding cake as well. I knew they’d had sugar bells on their original wedding cake, and was lucky enough to find some at a local cake decorating shop.

I added small, pearl beads one by one by one all around the seams of each layer.

Then topped it with a retro-looking cake topper.

The cake was a yellow cake with lemon zest and juice and covered with a vanilla buttercream . Each tier was a double layer, with seedless raspberry jam between the layers. “Bride and groom” were suitably surprised and the party was a lot of fun. Plus, I got over my fear of fondant! Here’s one more picture, because they turned out so well!

In 2008 a dear friend turned 40 and threw a huge party. I offered to make the cakes … enough for almost 100 partiers!! This is the only image I have of all seven (yes, I made seven different kinds of cake. And in just three days!) together.

They are, from left to right:

Chocolate stout (yes, made with real beer) with chocolate ganache
Yellow with chocolate whipped cream and sprinkles
Flourless chocolate dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder
Choco-cherry with fudge buttercream and amaretto cherries
Coconut cake with coconut buttercream and toasted coconut
Orange cake with orange buttercream and candied orange slices
Carrot cake with classic cream cheese frosting

My friend loves (and I do mean truly adores) shoes. For her birthday at the office I made her another shoe cake (sadly, I have no pictures of the wedge sandal I made a few years earlier) – a pink clog!

The cake was chocolate with a vanilla buttercream, colored pink and was a huge hit at the party.

I made this bumblebee cake for a friend’s birthday in 2005 or there abouts. The cake was a basic yellow 2-layer cake, but I used the zest of a lemon and lemon oil.

The frosting was also lemon-flavored and made use of the lemon juice. Chocolate licorice made up the legs, stinger, and stripes.

I used a piping bag to make the bee look “fuzzy” … just like a real bumblebee! It was tasty, too.