Flower Pot Cakes for Mother's Day

I worked on two cakes this week, one for my Mom and one for my boyfriend's Mom for Mother's day.

Both cakes are chocolate cakes with chocolate buttercream frosting covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.  The "soil" on the cakes is a mix of crumbled chocolate cake and vanilla cake which my boyfriend suggested; how ingenious!

I only let the fondant flowers dry out for a few hours but I suggest allowing them to dry over night in flower formers or egg cartons to avoid looking so flat.  Also, I wrapped the cake vertically in fondant which I noticed later caused a lot of sagging.  Next time, I would cover the cake upside down in fondant then flip it right side up.

Tool Box Cake

Finally got back into the kitchen to make another fondant cake.  I can't believe an entire month has passed since I made the Nikon Cake. My cousin requested this cake for her husband's birthday.  She didn't have any ideas on what she wanted for him; so I suggested a tool box as he is a mechanic and she let me run with it.

I baked four 8x8-inch vanilla cake layers (adapted from Baking Illustrated) and ended up just using 2 and 1/2 cake layers.  After I filled the cake with kahlua mousse filling, frosted the cake with vanilla buttercream frosting, and covered the cakes with marshmallow fondant, I realized that it looked a lot like a suitcase.  I should've trimmed a bit off from the front!  Speaking of the front, I personalized it by replacing where the brand name Craftsman would've been with the recipient's name.

I made the screwdriver with my amazing new tool, the clay extruder; no more uneven ropes!  Also, for black and red fondant pieces, I have been staying away from dying my marshmallow fondant and have been using store bought fondant instead but I recently purchased some Americolor Soft Gels Paste and it did not disappoint with how vibrant it made my fondant.  Good thing as I'm having better luck working with marshmallow fondant than store bought fondant lately.  All the gray pieces was white fondant covered with silver luster dust.

Burnt Almond Cake, Take 1

A few weeks ago, my friend let me tag along with her and her fiance as they tasted some cakes in search for a baker for their wedding cake next year.  At one of the bakeries we visited, I took home a slice of their infamous burnt almond cake.  It was the best thing I ever had and I had to try to replicate it ASAP.



My go-to sources didn't yield any definite answers on this recipe but I figured it might be a white cake with swiss meringue butter cream and an almond brittle crunch.

I have a favorite go to white cake that I've used here and here with no issues.  But, for some reason I let myself be swayed to use a brand new white cake recipe, the White on White Buttermilk Cake from the Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather.  This cake tasted more like a vanilla cake than a white cake.  It was also moist and dense.  Nothing like what I was trying to achieve.

Then, I was in a rush to get the cake to my boyfriend's family dinner that I slapped on the SMBC while the cake was partially frozen.  The SMBC did not thaw to room temperature by the time it was served.  Cold SMBC tastes like a sweet stick of butter; not a good thing to me.

For the crunch, I found this recipe from Tish Boyle Sweet Dreams.  She said it was suppose to be reminiscent of the crunch on those Good Humor ice cream bars but I felt as if there was too much brittle and not enough almond.

In the end, it wasn't anything like the burnt almond cake I tried at the bakery but it made a good tasting vanilla cake with SMBC and almond brittle crunch.  The leftovers made yummy cupcakes too.

Spongebob Squarepants Cake

My nephew loves Spongebob; so, I had to try and make him a cake for his 9th birthday.  Because it was for family, I experimented with new cake flavors.  It has a layer of vanilla cake (from Annie's Eats), strawberry cake (adapted from Cake Central), and Sylvia Weinstock's yellow cake (from About.com: Home Cooking).  It was frosted with swiss meringue butter cream (adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes) and then covered in marshmallow fondant.

I must've done something wrong as the yellow cake recipe did not win myself nor my sister over.  However, we loved the vanilla cake recipe!  If I can't get my yellow cake recipe right, I might make this my go to.  I almost got my strawberry cake recipe down, too.  I just need to go and buy some strawberry extract to boost the flavor a bit.  I didn't like the italian meringue butter cream I made last time but this swiss meringue butter cream is a bit tastier.  It's still an acquired taste as I'm so used to the sweetness from an american butter cream.

Can't wait to see my nephew's face when I show up with his birthday cake, later today.

UPDATE: My nephew pointed out that I forgot to put the red and blue stripes on Songebob's socks!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I would eliminate the refrigeration after the crumb coat to see if my cakes remain moist.  Well, I needed the frosting to firm up a bit before applying the fondant so I did end up putting it in the fridge.  However, I made sure to saran wrap the cake first and I didn't leave the cake in the fridge that long.  The cake was just as tender/moist as the day I made them.  Success!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Sources: 3 Vanilla Cupcakes from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit and Butter Frosting from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

3 Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Frosting

Sources: 3 Vanilla Cupcakes from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit and Butter Frosting from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book