Flag Cake 2015

Happy 239th Birthday America! I made you a cake.

Bunny Cake 2014

I know these posts are very belated, but I thought last Easter's bunny cake was especially cute so I'm posting it. Ditto for the future July 4th flag cake post.

Sugar-filled Thanks

Apple pie with crumb topping, which was one of my contribution to Thanksgiving 2014.

The other was the Pecan Cake with Rum Frosting pictured on the top right below.

It was kind of a monochromatic palette. It was fall.

Flag Cake (Blueberries and Cherries)

The Fourth of July Flag Cake was a little different this year since I used buttercream frosting and cherries instead of whipped cream (or Cool Whip) and strawberries. There was no substitute for the blueberries. I also gave it the right number of red and white stripes, which came out crooked even though I made hash marks. Maybe we'll try it again next year.

Bunny Baking

I was ambitious this Easter and made a bunny cake, Easter egg cupcakes and assorted Easter-shaped cut-out cookies.

I left the bow tie coconut free. Need help assembling your own bunny cake? Click here for video instructions!

My tia gave me some Easter egg cupcake tins that she bought at a garage sale. This was the first time I used them, and they were cute so I might make them again next year. 

Usually cut-out cookies require frosting and decorating, which I've complained about before. I didn't think I could enlist frosters and decorators like I can at Christmas so I sprinkled them with assorted colored sugar before I popped them in the oven. The decorating was complete as soon as they came off of the baking sheet. And they were still pretty and tasty!

Valentine

My eldest nephew's Valentine's Day birthday cake. This year his little brother helped me put some heart-shaped sprinkles on both the main cake and the cupcakes. I thought the fresh strawberries would give it a bakery look. 

As usual, the cake was Double Fudge Chocolate Cake with raisin-size pieces of dried strawberries. The frosting is Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting. The cupcakes don't have any dried strawberry pieces for the crazy few guests who don't like that delicious combination.

The center of the two-layer cake (not pictured) was diced fresh strawberries in a strawberry glaze. I've been looking for a homemade strawberry glaze recipe for years, and it only occurred to me to look for one in a strawberry pie recipe this year. It was sweet and delicious, and I'll never use store-bought glaze again!

Thanksgiving Treats

I've fallen a bit behind on my posts. Hey! Remember Thanksgiving? It's my favorite holiday and not just because of the four desserts we served this year. The goodies are pictured below.

From left to right: apple pie with a crumb topping, pumpkin roll, cheesecake topped with pomegranate arils, and pumpkin pie. I made the apple pie and the cheesecake.

We have a "family" recipe for cheesecake, but I wanted to try a recipe that used a springform pan since I bought one ages ago but have never used it. After reading a few recipes, I chose the Classic Cheesecake recipe because I liked the inclusion of sour cream in both the main cheesecake and the topping. It produced a silky smooth texture in the dense dessert and gave the topping the right amount of tang for a nice contrast. I believe I followed the recipe, but I might have omitted the orange zest (sorry, it's been a while.)

The apple pie recipe came from my King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the crumb or streusel topping so I might try a different version next time.

Devil's Food Cupcakes

These were the dessert for my little sister's birthday barbecue bash, which was also a belated Labor Day celebration. We had ribeye steaks, good red wine and yummy Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. 

Cupcakes in a box

Close up to show color and my nephew's decorating skills

Pledge Allegiance

I've made a flag cake for the Fourth of July and other patriotic holidays, but this year I made cupcakes in the shape of a flag. The cupcake container holds 18 cupcakes, which I didn't think about when I was transporting them without their decorations. I probably should have packed 20 to make a nice rectangular shape.

The cupcakes were yellow cake - basic recipe that I got from a stack of recipes my dad picked up at a garage sale - and the frosting is whipped cream. The frosting of a flag cake is traditionally Cool Whip, but the real stuff is more delicious.

German's Sweet Chocolate Cake

I had never made a German Chocolate Cake, or as it's called in the linked recipe, German's Sweet Chocolate Cake. So after a funny exchange with my Tia about what to make for Memorial Day, I decided to make one for that holiday's dessert.

I don't have three 9-inch round cake pans, so I did two layers and had a lot of frosting leftovers as a consequence. Still, it looked and tasted like classic German Chocolate Cake (I should have taken a better side picture to show the filling between the layers.) The gooey frosting was a perfect match to the sweet and light chocolate cake.

Easter Roll-Out Cookies

I felt like trying a new cut-out cookie recipe for Easter so I took this one off of my box of 101 cookie cutters.

Basic recipe

Tools of the trade

Finished product

The dough was really easy to work with and rolled out very smoothly. The taste of the cookies was different from the usual recipe I use but not better or worse. Actually, it was hard to compare since the last time I made the others was at Christmas. If I use this recipe again I would add more vanilla. The other recipe calls for a tablespoon per batch. That really ramps up the deliciousness.

Cake And Cake

The last two cakes I made were not new recipes, but I'm posting pictures because they were decorated with the help of my littlest nephew. 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

decorated with green sanding sugar and shamrock sprinkles for St. Patrick's Day

Yellow Layer Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

decorated with red and blue sanding sugar, fresh raspberries and white chocolate chips

Chocolate Heart

Another Valentine's Day birthday cake for my oldest nephew's golden birthday. Double-fudge chocolate cake with dried strawberries inside. Chocolate glaze and fresh strawberries for decoration.

I had to improvise a container to hold the cake since it was too big for any of my normal carriers. I used a cardboard shoe (boot) box. It's a good thing I don't have delicate feet!

Bûche de Noël

This year's New Year's Day dessert was inspired by my sister. She mentioned it more than once while she was home. I guess she and I made a Bûche de Noël in French class when we were in high school, but I don't remember baking one. I do remember that we made brioche rolls that were très jolie. 

Yule Log

Chocolate-filled

There were plenty of recipes from which to chose, but I thought the yellow cake/chocolate filling/chocolate icing combo was the most appealing. I followed this recipe, but I switched the darker frosting to the outside and used the fluffier lighter-colored frosting for the filling. It just made more sense. I didn't have time to make any marzipan mushrooms, but I think it looks like a log, nonetheless.

Guest Baker

Up until recently, I didn't have a camera or good mobile phone to take pictures of baking and other blog-worthy items. I tried to get others to take and send me pictures but that didn't always work. Case in point: Thanksgiving 2012.  I baked red velvet cupcakes and dinner rolls this past holiday and thought someone snapped some pics but the supposed photog could not be found.  So as a special treat, I'm posting the gorgeous pictures of the pecan pie and chocolate cake my sister made for her Thanksgiving celebration.  

Apparently they tasted as good as they look. I forgot to ask her which recipe she used for the pie, but I'm pretty sure the cake is "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake and Frosting, which I usually make as cupcakes.

French Bread

I've been meaning to expand my baking experience to include savory items and yeasted products in particular. I'm not against sweet yeasted doughs, but I'll get to those later. My first foray into artisan bread-baking were two loaves of French bread I made for Christmas Eve dinner. I followed the recipe from my Kitchen-Aid mixer.

Formed (after some confusing directions about rolling and rolling) and rising.

Doubled and ready for baking.

 I forgot to take pictures of the loaves once they got out of the oven, but here's 

how one looked after it was sliced.

One loaf was made into garlic bread. Perfect with lasagna!

Christmas Time is Here

The usual lineup. Grandma KooKoo's Swedish Sugar Cookies on the left. Gingerbread People, Coconut Thumbprints, Chocolate Chip, Pecan Tassies and Kiefels on the right. It looks like someone swiped a Chocolate Chip Cookie before I could snap the picture.

Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

These were desserts for a Labor Day barbecue  I've never made a Boston Creme Pie, but I was inspired to make these when I was flipping though the "Our Favorite Cupcakes" slideshow on Martha Stewart's website.

The whole gang! 

Artsy picture, courtesy of Quinn.

I'd recommend watching the video before making these cupcakes since the recipe isn't quite as specific as it could be. For instance, the cupcake recipe should be made with the whisk attachment of the mixer.  Also, the main recipe links to a recipe for the vanilla cream filling, but doesn't specify that you need 3 cups of filling (a double batch) for 2 dozen cupcakes.

Black and White

These cupcakes were dessert for Memorial Day.  Both are Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes.  The one on the left has Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting, and the one on the right has a simple vanilla buttercream frosting (6 T butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 t vanilla, milk to thin it out.)

The cupcake paper on the right is supposed to look like a flower.  I like these type of "fun" liners, but their size tends to be a little bigger than a standard cupcake tin. I made some in my jumbo tin and some in the regular one, which worked well enough.

I make these chocolate/chocolate cupcakes a lot since they are easy and delicious so I was just going to make chocolate/white cupcakes. But, I made two frostings since at least one person in my family prefers chocolate/chocolate to chocolate/white.   

Bunny Cake

Back when I was a kid, we made this cake a lot.  At least it seems like we did.  I don't know if we actually did.  But every year when Easter rolls around and I don't make it, my tia asks me why; like it's a tradition that I'm not upholding.

The cake is made from 2 8-inch round cakes.  One is left intact and the other forms the ears and bow tie.  The cake is Special Birthday (yellow) cake and the frosting is whipped cream.  The face is sprinkled with coconut, but the ears and tie are left plain.  My nephew and tia helped me decorate with silver dragees, jellybeans and a candy carrot.