More Graduations = More Crazy Cakes!

Early this month two more labmates graduated which meant more cakes for me to make!

Taste wise, this cake was everyone's favorite! I used a boxed Devil's Food cake mix and made a peanut butter version of the fluffy buttercream from my last post. I took out 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening and added a 1/2 cup of peanut  butter. I crushed ~18 peanut butter cups and sprinkled the pieces on top of the middle layer of icing.

For this cake, I used a strawberry boxed cake mix and store bought cream cheese icing that I died green.

Relay For Life

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to from 18 - 24 hours in length.

May 20, 2011 at 6pm in Lake Shore Park, Lake Park, FL

www.relayforlife.org/lakeparkfl

Cupcakes for the Kickoff Party!

Fluffy Buttercream Icing
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (only if using unsalted butter)
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup meringue powder 
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Food coloring
2 cups (4 sticks) soft butter, vegetable shortening, or a combination of both
(I used 1 cup butter and 1 cup vegetable shortening because of the heat and humidity)


Dissolve the sugar (and salt) in the boiling water (I used a combination of the mixer and spatula) and cool to room temperature. Mix in the meringue powder and beat at slow speed for several minutes until the powder is dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Increase speed (Use the "Egg White Beating" setting) until soft peaks (peaks fall over when you pick up the beaters) form. 


Beat in vanilla and then confectioners' sugar. Add the soft butter, a few tbsp. at a time and beat well after each addition. Add in food coloring.
Yields: Enough for 8" cake or 24 cupcakes.


Source: King Arthur's Flour -Fluffy White Buttercream


This is my new favorite buttercream icing! It is not the quickest but it is worth it!

Cookies!

Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with a mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff so blend the last flour by hand if necessary. Do not chill dough. Divide into 2 balls.


Roll out on a floured surface about 1/8 inch thick. Dip cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown.


Source: Wilton (and The Kitchen of Carol Rust)


Sugar Cookie Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Food Coloring


Stir powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more powdered sugar if too thin and corn syrup or milk if too thick. Add food coloring until desired color is achieved.


Source: Food.com - Sugar Cookie Icing by Junebug

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Windsurfing Cake

My first big cake here in Florida was a windsurfing cake for a labmate's graduation.

This was my second attempt at making cakes from scratch.  Half of the cake was "Cookies N' Cream" and half was "Yellow".

Cookies N' Cream Cake
~24 crushed Oreos
2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
3-1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup milk
1-1/2 tsps vanilla
4 egg whites (room temperature)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9" round layer cake pans. Add flour, sugar baking powder, salt, butter, milk, and vanilla into mixing bowl.


Beat on slow speed until blended. Beat on medium speed for 2 min., occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add unbeaten egg whites and beat two minutes longer at medium speed. Gently fold in crushed Oreos.


Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove.


Source: Adapted from About.com Busy Cooks White Layer Cake by Linda Larsen


Yellow Cake
4 large eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup whole milk (room temperature) (can use 2%)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease two 9-inch cake pans with vegetable shortening and cover the pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or wax paper. Grease the parchment rounds, dust the cake pans with flour, and tap out excess.

Beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla with a fork in a small bowl; measure out 1 cup of this mixture and set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I used the regular beaters); mix on the lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With the mixer still running at the lowest speed, add the butter one piece at a time; mix until the butter and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all the butter is added. Add reserved 1 cup of egg mixture and mix at the lowest speed until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the remaining egg mixture (about 1/2 cup) in a slow steady stream, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and the batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds.

Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans; spread to the sides of the pan and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake until the cake tops are light gold and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. (Cakes may mound slightly but will level when cooled.) Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan perimeters to loosen. Invert one cake onto a large plate, peel off the parchment, and reinvert onto a lightly greased rack. Repeat with the other cake. Cool completely before icing.


Source: Adapted from Cookinglight.com Community


Quick Buttercream Icing
1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar (sifted)
2 tbsp milk
Food Coloring (as needed)


Cream room temperature butter until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until fully incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract.


Pour in milk and beat for an additional 3-4 minutes. Add food coloring and beat for 30 seconds until smooth or the desired color is reached.


This icing is definitely not my favorite but can be used if you need something quick. It is really sweet and forms a light crust on the top when left out for a while. Everyone seemed to like it but I felt that there had to be a better icing out there!


Source: Allrecipes.com - "Quick and Almost Professional Buttercream Icing"

Rolled Buttercream Fondant
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
2 lbs confectioners' sugar


In a large bowl stir together the shortening and corn syrup. Mix in the salt and vanilla extract, then gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer use the dough hook attachment. Otherwise, knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in more confectioners' sugar until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.


To use, roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners' sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick. Drape over frosted and chilled cake.


Source: Allrecipes.com - "Rolled Buttercream Fondant"

I really liked this fondant. It tasted a lot better than a marshmallow fondant recipe I tried in the past. To paint the fondant, I read to mix vodka or lemon extract with your gel food coloring, however, I felt that it did not come out dark enough so I painted the gel food coloring right onto the fondant and it turned out dark and shiny.


You can find individual colors of Wilton gel food coloring at Michaels. They are pretty inexpensive and you only really need a small amount because it is so concentrated. Don't forget to print out the 40% off coupon!

Homemade Strawberry Cake - Yum!

This was the first cake that I made from scratch and I was really surprised how well it turned out!

Katie’s Strawberry Cake

3/4 cup strawberry puree, room temperature (directions follow)
1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened (not melted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8 inch pans (I used 9 inch): line outside with heavy duty foil or Bake Even Strips (I did not use either and it turned out perfectly even) and spray inside with baking spray with flour.

In small bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended (I used a whisk). In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. (For the flour, I sifted it into a bowl and then re-measured before mixing. I found that I had more than I needed this way).  Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds. Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth tops. (Eventhough it might not look fully mixed be careful not to over mix! It is better to undermix than overmix.)

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - time will vary. Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely (about 2 hours). (Be prepared for your house to smell very good!)

Yields: 2 8-inch round cakes

I made a 3-layer cake so it was necessary to go through this twice. You can make cupcakes with the second half of the second recipe. I also used 9-inch round cake pans so they turned out a little bit thinner.

Source: Good Things Catered (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Classic White Layer Cake) via Confections of a Foodie Bride

Strawberry Puree 

24oz frozen strawberries, thawed*

*I actually used fresh strawberries that I hulled and sliced before letting sit over night with 2 tsp. of sugar in a closed container. You can also let them sit at room temperature for a couple hours with sugar instead before you are ready to bake the cake. 

Pour sliced strawberries into a fine strainer placed over a bowl and let sit. Lightly toss the strawberries occasionally to remove any pockets of excess liquid. Reserve the liquid for another use or discard. Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and puree.

Use leftover puree to fill the cake or fold into the frosting, if desired. 

Yields: Approx 1 1/4 cup strawberry puree

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride 

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 (1-lb) box of confectioners' sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixture for approximately 30 seconds. With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar. Add vanilla and beat on medium speed. Continue to blend until frosting is fluffy (approximately 1 minute).

*I doubled this recipe to make sure that I had enough frosting. I also mixed a small amount of strawberry puree with the frosting to create a filling for between the layers.

Source: The Martha Stewart Show, April 2008

First Layer

Cake Assembly

I piped a small amount of of icing around the perimeter of the bottom cake with Wilton's tip #12 in order to prevent the filling from seeping out. I then spread the strawberry puree/cream cheese icing mixture inside the circle (it will be a little bit runny but can be thickened with more confectioners' sugar).

Notes

The only drawback to this cake recipe is that the icing will start to melt if the weather is too hot, which was the case when I made it. I've read that you can substitute shortening for butter so that the icing will hold up in warm weather but I am not sure how it will affect the taste of this recipe. 

My First Cake Creations

With shows like "Ace of Cakes", "Cake Boss", and "Food Network Challenge", who wouldn't want to try and create an amazing cake that looks almost too good to eat? A little over a year ago, I decided to give it a try for two of my labmates' birthdays.  They both liked to golf so it was only fitting that I should make part of a golf course.

For some reason I decided to jump from this rather small cake to a gigantic one. With the help of a labmate I was able to make a dead deer as a graduation cake.

It started with a head and a bullet.

Then came the finished product!

Do to relocation of our lab, my baking and cake designing was put on hold for a little while.

The Beginning

My baking career began at the age of 3 when I received a "Kitchen Set" for Christmas. 

Best Christmas Present Ever, Thank You Mom & Dad!

As you can see, I didn't waste any time and began making cupcakes right from the start. I always enjoyed helping my Mom bake, especially when it came time to make Christmas cookies (nut horns, nut roll, thumb prints, sugar cookies, buckeyes, snow balls, black bottom cakes etc.)! It feels good knowing that you may have made someone else's day with something as simple as a cookie. 


Now that I am on my own, I thought it would be nice to have an easy way to share recipes that I come across with my Mom, friends, and whoever else is interested.  We have never believed in keeping recipes a secret because if it's that good then why not let others enjoy it? So this is the purpose of my blog, along with sharing pictures of my latest baking masterpieces. Enjoy!