Saturday, October 9, 2010

Nickie's Mint Chocolate Birthday Cake

For my friend Nickie's birthday, I made her a Mint Chocolate Cake. She loooooooves mint chocolate!!
I had no idea Andes made baking chips! They were in the baking aisle right next to the chocolate chips. From Andes website, I found the recipe for this Flourless Mint Chocolate Cake!
My Ingredients:
12 oz. dark chocolate (60% cocoa recommended)
2 cups (10 oz.) Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips
3 1/2 sticks of butter
5 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
Pre-heat oven to 325° degrees.
Prepare a removable-bottomed cake pan, 9 inches in diameter, lined with parchment or wax paper and buttered.
In a 2-quart saucepan, over very low heat, gently melt butter, Andes Baking Chips and chocolate broken into small pieces.
Stir occasionally until completely melted and smooth.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until mixture becomes three times the original volume (about 3-5 minutes).
Through a strainer, add 1/4 of the chocolate mixture into the bowl.
Using a spatula, mix gently until thoroughly incorporated. Add remaining melted chocolate through strainer to catch any solid pieces and fold in gently until well mixed.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes.
The cake will be slightly soft to the touch, not firm. Don't be tempted to bake it for any longer than this. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan. When cool, cover pan and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Remove pan sides, invert cake onto large plate and remove pan bottom and peel away parchment paper. Invert cake again on another plate or serving platter. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.
And I forgot to take a picture of the finished product :(

Monday, October 4, 2010

40th Birthday Cake

I made this cake for a friend of a friend's 40th Birthday Party!

I think it turned out pretty cute!!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Cardinals Cookies

I love Cardinals Baseball and I love sugar cookies, so I decided to make Cardinals Sugar Cookies!
Cap
Cardinal Bird...so cute!!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Cup Cupcakes

For Jenni & Nickie's combined Birthday dinner I picked up a few cupcakes from The Cup!
BEFORE:
Vanilla with sprinkles, Peanut Butter Cup, Strawberry
Carrot Cake, Chocolate-Chocolate, Red Velvet
We got 6 forks and dived in getting a bite of each flavor! It was delicious!!!
AFTER:

Thursday, September 23, 2010

"That Other" Lemon Cake

"That" Lemon Cake recipe has been in the family for many years. It started out as just a Lemon Cake recipe, but eventually became known as "That" Lemon Cake! I decided to try a variation on "That" recipe and try to make it a bit healthier, yet equally delicious, so I called it "That Other" Lemon Cake!
My ingredients:
1 package of Yellow Cake
1 package of Instant Vanilla Pudding
4 egg whites
1 package of Apple Sauce (about 4 ounces)
1/4 cup of Oil
3/4 cup of Water
Mix together following cake directions.
Spray pan with Pam and dust with flour.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
Mix together:
2 cups of Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup of Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons of Melted Butter
2 teaspoons of Water
While hot, poke holes in the top with a fork or toothpick.
Pour the glaze over the cake. Once cake has cooled, flip over onto a serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar right before serving.
YUM!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Nickie & Matt's Wedding Cake

This past weekend I had the honor of making my best friends Nickie & Matt's wedding cake!

Here is the final product! But first I will go into more details...

3 days prior to Saturday I began baking, and baking, and baking! 11 white cakes (made from scratch may I add) later...
My main workstation during the 3 days of baking! Thank you to my brother-in-law, David, for letting me create a huge mess in your kitchen!




His double ovens---They saved me so much time! Not sure about that Royals apron though!


Cake ingredients...

51 eggs, 10 lb flour, 8 lb sugar, 3 lb crisco, 1 gallon of milk to name a few


Filling ingredients...

3 Jello Mixes

3 quarts of heavy whipping cream


Butter cream ingredients...

1 lb butter

7 pounds of powdered sugar!


Middle tier baking...



bottom tier cooling...

bottom tier stacked with filling...

5 batches of butter cream... icing the crumb coat (or "dirty icing" as cake boss says)


after putting on the second butter cream coating and adding the stencil to the middle tier...

close up on the stencil...













two love birds!!


thank you to everyone who helped this cake happen!!!
my sous chef kelly, mom, dad & aunt erin for calming my stress & transporting the cake
steve for doing a bazillion dishes and for helping me with everything
krista, steph & becky for hanging out (and helping a bit) while I iced the cakes
david for letting me take over your kitchen and making a mess!
nickie & matt for letting me a part of their special day by making this cake!