The Cake Chica

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Cakes and Frostings

Cassie

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Ok, last minute cakes are getting to be my specialty. Here is another last minute cake. I think I found out 4 days before it was due. So after work for the next 3 days I worked on this cake. It was for my Father-in-Laws wedding. I went off of what the bride told me over the phone. No pictures and my best guess of simple and classy. Here is what I came up with. The colors of the wedding were dark red and cream. The plan was to make the cake a cream color and do the piping in white. So I looked at my gel colors and saw a Wilton one that was Copper, and noticed it had “(light skin color)” next to the color, perfect for a cream color, or so I thought. Yeah it came out a very light pink lol. Oh no. I diluted it as much as possible hoping the bride wouldn’t notice or care. When I got the cake topper I thought PERFECT! It really goes well with the cake color. And then when I saw the bride the cake matched her dress!!! PERFECT!!! What a happy mistake.

Now, I had some problems with the bottom tier of buttercream. I kept messing it up so that’s why its not as clean and straight as the top. I tried to do an even ribbon of buttercream for the base and well it looked horrible. I decided to do the round dots. And you know what those looked like?…….. the brides pearl necklace!

Congratulations to Cassie and James!!!

Lacey

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I named this cake Lacey for obvious reasons. I did this cake more as a practice cake. At work we had a Halloween Costume Contest, and thought it would be cute to go basically as myself when I am not at work. So I went as The Cake Chica. I didn’t win but I am very happy with this practice cake. This was not as easy as the last few I have done in the passed months.

I usually try to use the SPS system for transporting a cake. If you have ever used the SPS you know the cakes have to reach a certain height, because the columns are already measured out. Well mine didn’t bake up as I wanted, but that’s ok I bought a saw to saw off what I needed. Well I was about to stack the cakes and notice the SPS plates were bigger then my cake!?!?!?! I still don’t know what and how it happened, but my cakes shrunk 1/2 from the sides and couldn’t use the SPS System at all. I ended up just using the bubble tea straws and the worked just fine. The fondant was also a hassle. I’m not used to rolling out big pieces of fondant, so I had to roll it out a few times, and then it starts drying out and then cracking at the corners. Ugh!!! I had a big hole on the “back” (I made it the back due to the huge hole) that I had to cut a peice of fondant just to make it less obvious.

Once I finally put it all together I was very happy with it. The scary part: Transporation. IT MADE IT!!! I put the gumpaste roses on at work (my first time making these by the way!) and did the finishing touches on it. Every one loved it. Most people thought it was fake!!! I said NO WAY!!! Someone even asked if I bought it ?!?!?!?!?!? (A little insulted). I told him “I don’t buy cakes!” LOL.

The size is 10 inch, 8 inch, and 6 inch. The bottom tier is Vanilla Caramel Cake, the top two layers are Pumpkin Spice Cake. Both are new recipes and are keepers! I used black Satin Ice fondant. The topper is just a trinket box I found at Hobby Lobby. The pearls in that box or just plastic. I tried attaching the lace with crisco but it wasn’t working so I used a little bit of piping gel. It worked like a charm. See more pics below. Thanks for looking. 🙂

25th Anniversary Cake

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Another last minute cake order, but I was able to get it done. It was Dark Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Filling. 8 inch and a 6 inch round cake. I didn’t have much time to do much with decorating in buttercream flowers. I was able to just do what I wanted for this cake, which sometimes makes it harder to decide, but this is what I came up with. I put real ribbon around the edges. I did use wax paper to prevent the grease from the frosting from going through, but as you can see it did anyway, so I am going to have to work on another trick for that one. I did use a new buttercream recipe and I LOVE IT! It’s the Sugarshack recipe. It’s not as perfect as her is in the DVD but it’s the smoothest my buttercream has ever been. Thanks for looking.

Amaretto Bundt Cake

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This is one of the first recipes I made when I was just starting out baking in 2005. It’s still as good as I remembered it.

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Amaretto Bundt Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 16.5 oz. boxed yellow cake mix
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 3.4 oz. package vanilla instant pudding
  • 6 tablespoons amaretto, plus 1/2 cup amaretto, divided
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 teaspoons almond extract
  • 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
  2. Combine cake mix, eggs, instant vanilla pudding, amaretto, water, vegetable oil and almond extract; blend together well. Pour batter into
  3. the prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove cake from oven and while it is still
  5. hot poke holes in the bottom and pour the amaretto icing over the bottom of
  6. the cake. Let the cake cool for at least 2 hours before removing from the
  7. pan.
  8. To make Amaretto Icing: Sift the powdered sugar and combine it with the
  9. remaining 1/2 cup amaretto. Blend until smooth.

Courses Dessert

Cuisine American

 

 

My First Bridal Shower Cake

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I did this cake for my sister in law who was getting married. It was a Tiffany & Co. themed shower. The top 2 tiers were WASC Cake and the bottom tier was just a dummy. Overall I was pretty happy. It was my first time using the SPS system in the cake for the support so there happened to be a gap between the layers so I just made some fondant roses real quick to hide the problem, but I have learned from my mistakes since then (2008) so I hope in the future this won’t happen. Anyway, the SPS system is awesome and I would recommend it to everyone. I had a long way to travel with this cake so I needed a good support system and I can tell you this cake didn’t move at all and was very sturdy. Thanks for looking.

Creamsicle Dreamsicle Cupcakes

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Creamsicle Dreamsicle Cupcakes
This was an experiment and I am happy to say it turned out delicious.

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Creamsicle Dreamsicle Cupcakes

Yield 28

Ingredients

CAKE

  • 1 box orange cake mix
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/8 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp real vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 large whole eggs

FILLING

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 3.4 oz. vanilla instant pudding mix

GRAND MARNIER BUTTERCREAM

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, slightly softened
  • 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp orange oil
  • 1/4 tsp Flori di Sicilia or orange extract
  • 1 tbsp Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur

CANDIED ORANGE PEEL

  • 3 oranges, scrubbed with a vegetable brush
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

SUGAR COATING

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

CAKE

  1. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a
  2. wire whisk.
  3. Add the remaining cake ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2
  4. minutes.
  5. Pour into cupcake liners in cupcake pans, filling each pan a little over
  6. half full.
  7. Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.
  8. Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.
  9. Baking time is about 30 minutes. Check at 20 minutes just to be on the
  10. safe side.
  11. Cool completely.

FILLING

  1. Mix all filling ingredients in mixer.

GRAND MARINER BUTTERCREAM

  1. Pour 1/2 inch water into a large skillet and bring the water to a
  2. simmer; reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, egg whites, and
  4. water. Place the bowl in the skillet of water and whisk gently until the
  5. mixture reaches 160 F on an instant read candy thermometer. Transfer the
  6. bowl to the mixer stand and, using the whisk attachment, beat at medium-high
  7. speed until the meringue is cool and forms stiff, shiny peaks, about 5
  8. minutes.
  9. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a
  10. time. Beat in the vanilla extract, orange oil and orange liqueur and beat at
  11. high speed until the buttercream is smooth, about 1 minute.

CANDIED ORANGE PEEL

  1. Using a sharp paring knife, remove the peel of each orange in vertical
  2. strips, trying not to include any of the bitter white pith. If any of the
  3. pith remains, place each strip, pith side up, on a cutting board and use the
  4. paring knife, with the blade parallel to the board, to carefully slide it
  5. off. Cut the zest into fine julienne strips.
  6. Half fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Add the
  7. strips of zest, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer for about 15
  8. minutes. Drain and rinse the zest.
  9. In the same saucepan, combine the sugar, water and cream of tartar and
  10. bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Add the zest,
  11. cover the pan, and reduce the heat to low. Let the zest simmer for another
  12. minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely.
  13. The zest can be stored in its syrup in an airtight container for up to a
  14. month. When you are ready to use it, drain well and toss it in the
  15. granulated sugar, breaking up any lumps of sugar with you hands. Spread the
  16. zest out on a baking sheet and let dry at room temperature for at least 2
  17. hours before using.

ASSEMBLY

  1. Fit a pastry bag with tip #12, fill the bag with the filling. Press tip
  2. into the middle of each cupcake and pipe desired amount of filling into
  3. each.
  4. Frost cooled cupcake tops with Grand Marnier Buttercream and garnish
  5. with Candied Orange Peel.
  6. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Courses Dessert

Cuisine American