Alphabet Cake

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Sesame Street Cake

Filled with fresh blueberries

 Crumb coat of cream cheese frosting

 Border made with sprinkles

Cake toppers made with a Cricut

Cake Decorating Party

Funfetti Cake

Funfetti cake (white cake with sprinkles) for my sister's birthday. 

Funfetti Cake
adapted from King Arthur Flour
Makes 1 2 layer 8 inch cake

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs whites plus 1 whole large egg
1 cup full-fat vanilla yogurt or 1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of rainbow jimmies (sprinkles)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 8-inch round cake pans by lining them with parchment paper and greasing the paper.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Once butter is all incorporated, add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl after the addition of each egg.

In a 2 cup measuring cup, stir together all the wet ingredients. Add the mixture in, 1/3 at a time, to the batter; scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Stir in the sprinkles by hand until fully incorporated. Do not over stir as this will cause excessive color bleeding into the batter.

Poor batter into the prepared pans. Scatter a few more sprinkles on the surface. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from pans and let cool completely on the racks. Frost as desired.

Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes

I can't believe I haven't used my mini bundt pans from last Christmas until today.  I finally put them to use for a quick birthday treat for two of the husband's coworkers.  I always thought that bundt cakes had to be dense; however, I used my go to red velvet recipe and it not only held up well but it came out of the pan perfectly.  Can't wait for another excuse to use my mini bundt pans.

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Cake4Kids.org)

I signed up for another Cake4Kids.org request this past week.  This time I baked 4 dozen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for one of the agencies.  This cupcake combination has been done many times on this blog as seen here and here and even as a comparison here.  I wanted to bring them to light again as I realized how forgiving my go to recipe is.  I made these cupcakes with the milk and vinegar shortcut for buttermilk and I think that explained why there wasn't any differences when I forgot the extra tsp of vinegar at the end.  I also used all purpose flour instead of cake flour and they still came out fluffy.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

The first time I had one of these cranberry bliss bars were when my boss shared them at work courtesy of his wife.  They tasted amazing!  Skip forward a few months, it is a coworker's birthday and one of her favorite desserts are these bars.  I had no idea there were so many copycat recipes all over the web; apparently these are popular at Starbucks every Winter.  My boss' wife was generous enough to share her recipe with me which is a slight adaption of one I found online.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Makes about 30 triangular slices

slightly adapted from Mr Breakfast

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons finely minced candied ginger

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries

Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice

Garnish:

1/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries

1/3 cup white chocolate chips, melted

1 tablespoon oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 9x13 pan with foil leaving an overhang and lightly grease it.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger powder, and minced ginger.  Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla, beat well.

Add the flour mixture to the bowl, beating until smooth.  Stop and scrap the bowl down as needed.

Stir in the cranberries and the chocolate chips by hand.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 20 to 25 mins, or until the cake lightly browned.

Allow the cake to cool.

While the cake is cooling, beat all the frosting ingredients together.  Spread the frosting over the cooled cake.

Immediately sprinkle with the chopped cranberries.

Melt the chocolate chips with the tablespoon of oil and using a cake decorating bag or a ziploc bag with the tip cut open, drizzle the melted chocolate all over the cake.

Remove the cake from the pan using the foil overhang.  Cut the bars and store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve.

Banana Peanut Butter Cake

The bananas in this cake makes it much healthier than other cakes right?  I jest, but everything in moderation, I say.  For my husband's brother in law's birthday dinner last weekend, I made this banana cake with peanut butter filling and cream cheese frosting.

I tested out a new banana cake recipe, which I included below, but I'm not 100% happy with it.  The banana taste was too subtle and I wish the cake wasn't as dense.  Given all the positive reviews, I might go back to this recipe but substituting cake flour and adding sour cream.

Also, I used melted chocolate to pipe "Happy Birthday" and I realized how much I liked the flow of the chocolate versus frosting.  Will definitely use this method again.

Banana Cake

adapted from Allrecipes.com

Makes 1 8 inch cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

2 1/8 cups white sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour 3 8 inch baking pans.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add the vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk.  Stir in the bananas.  Pour the batter evenly among the pans.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it.

Remove from oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack.  Remove from pan and continue to let cool completely on the rack.

Halloween Ideas

I can't believe tomorrow is Halloween already.  Thought I'd round up a few Halloween favorites seen around my blog as I didn't get a chance to bake up anything this time around.

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies


Pumpkin Cupcakes

What are you planning to bake for Halloween tomorrow?

Easter Treats

I can't decide what to make this weekend; so I rounded up a few ideas just in case you're looking for some baking inspiration for Easter as well.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake  

Lemon Bars  

Carrot Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Desserts for a Bridal Shower

The week following my first wedding "cake", my sister, again, talked me into doing something I have never attempted to do.  I helped her put together SEVERAL different desserts for her friend's bridal shower.  The theme was Fall In Love sprinkled with Disney; given the wedding would be in September and the honeymoon in Disneyworld.  Over a span of two days, my sister and I worked together to make the following desserts:

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Leaf Shaped Fondant Toppers

Lemon Cupcake with Raspberry Frosting

Caramel Apples

Candied Apples

Candy Dipped Pretzel Rods

 Minnie-esque Sugar Cookie Favors (Pictured w/o the Personalized Names)

On top of all of this, my sister with the help of a friend also made all of the decorations; from the banner to the tissue pom-poms to the food label cards with Disney Characters on them.  She even went as far as making leaf shaped tortilla chips!  It was a lot of work but definitely a lot of fun helping put together a full on themed party.

Hello Kitty Baby Shower Cake

For those following my progress, I've made a baby shower cake before and a Hello Kitty cake, not once but twice before.  So, it couldn't be long before I made a combo of the two, a Hello Kitty baby shower cake!

I had a lot of fun decorating this cake.  I absolutely love Pink Cake Box's work. So, this was definitely inspired by their baby shower cakes; especially the ones with the cute bows!  I did make it my own by handcrafting a baby Hello Kitty topper for my friend (the receipient) who loves Hello Kitty.  I also added a bunch of teddy bear cutouts onto the cake.

 

The tiers were made from carrot and chocolate cakes with cream cheese frosting and peanut butter frosting.  Everything was covered and decorated with homemade marshmallow fondant.  I'm sharing the peanut butter frosting as it was ridiculously good for something I just threw together because I was too lazy to go to the store to buy more butter and powdered sugar.

Peanut Butter Frosting
A Baked By Jen Original
Makes about 3 cups

1 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of butter
4 oz cream cheese
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons of milk


Cream together the peanut butter, butter, and cream cheese until smooth.


Add the vanilla extract.


Slowly mix in the powdered sugar.  Scrape the bowl down often.


Add the milk.  Beat until light and fluffy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes Comparison

With Valentine's day around the corner, I noticed a lot of red velvet cupcakes posts popping up around the blogosphere lately.  I have a pretty good go to red velvet cake recipe; however, I noticed a lot of people were praising Cakeman Raven's recipe.  Because I had a tub of cream cheese frosting begging to be used soon, I decided to do a quick comparison.

The two recipes are nearly identical except for the use of cake flour vs all purpose flour, oil vs butter, and teaspoon vs tablespoon for cocoa powder.  I did a smashup of the two recipes and came up with the following to compare BUTTER vs OIL.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
A Baked By Jen Original
Makes about 24 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vinegar


Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 muffin baking pans with 12 standard size baking cups.


Sift dry ingredients together and set aside.

Place butter/oil and sugar in bowl of electric mixer and beat at medium-speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Dissolve the gel paste into the vanilla. With the mixer on low, add mixture. Add vinegar.

Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape bowl and mix just long enough to combine. 

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of cupcake comes out with a few crumbs clinging to the toothpick.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then place on cooling rack to cool to room temperature.




butter vs oil - top view


butter vs oil - side view


butter vs oil - inside view

The batch made with oil looked a lot better, a nice dome and even appeared to look more moist with the shiny top.  However, in my opinion, the batch made with butter was much more superior in taste.  Also, the cake was fluffier, more tender with a tighter crumb.

Photo Credit: Dennis Ha Photography
(Disclaimer: Patches didn't actually eat the cupcake.)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

My nephew was over at my place on Saturday and I used his request to bake something together to finally tackle the infamous whoopie pies.  I've been bookmarking so many whoopie pie recipes that I knew I needed to just own the book, Whoopie Pies.  Was so excited when my brother's girlfriend gave me a copy as a thank you gift for a cake I made.

First recipe out of the book and it was a hit.  I don't know why I waited this long to make my first whoopie pie.  Expect to see a lot more soon!

First Birthday Cakes

I don't know what I was thinking. The last time I agreed to making two cakes in one weekend, I told myself to never do that again. I guess I thought I could really do it this time with very minimum stress, hah!!!




The jungle theme birthday cake actually didn't give me too many problems. It was a chocolate cake with oreo mousse filling and chocolate buttercream frosting covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.  All the fondant animals were secured to the cake with tylo glue.  I loved how it turned out!








As for the Baby Elmo theme birthday cake, it almost broke me.  I didn't even want to take a picture of it but in the end I did a quick snap of it in the box right before delivery; hence the bad quality picture.  I went with my go to carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.  The plan was to wait for the cream cheese frosting to crust in order to use the Viva towel method and skip the fondant covering.  I'm one of those that don't fridge fondant cakes and believe anything dairy should be refrigerated.  However, I couldn't get the cake layers on the top tier to stop sliding; so, I just skipped putting it on the cake and focused on the bottom tier.  And then, the carrot cake was so moist and all these crumbs were getting pulled off and stuck in the frosting.  I did do a crumb coat but I was slowly entering the wee hours of morning (and losing my sanity) and probably didn't give it enough time to crust.  I slapped everything on and crossed my fingers that it would stay put.  The only thing I liked about the cake was the baby elmo, the number one, and the sesame street sign made of gumpaste which I made days in advance!