PEANUT BUTTER INGOTS

This weeks Heavenly Cake Bakers project is Gold Ignots but I decided to do the Peanut Butter Ignots as the recipe was basically the same and I thought the peanut butter would be better. I think these Ignots lacked flavor so I doctored them up with a peanut butter buttercream rosette and chocolate transfer's left over from the cake in the previous post.

I took them to the beauty shop and they liked them. Most of the recipes in Rose's Heavenly Cakes are great just not these Ignots.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

This cake was so good!! The cake was banana and the filling was chocolate pastry cream with fresh bananas in it. It was covered with chocolate ganache and homemade transfer sheet decorations. I put a little gold luster dust on the transfer sheet as I was making them and then I found the perfect gold candles to bring it all together.

The gentlemen I made the cake for was thrilled and called me the next day to tell me just how much he and his guests loved the cake. His inspiration for the cake was a childhood memory of his grandmother's banana cake and being the gracious man that he is he told me mine was better than his grandmother's. Now that is a compliment.

OCEAN THEME CAKE

The flavor of this cake is by far my most favorite of all!! 4 layers of lemon chiffon cake with three different filling layers; lemon curd, lemon buttercream, and lemon mousse. Can you tell I like lemon?
The birthday girl loves the ocean and ocean themes. I made the shells, pearls, and grass out of gumpaste, the coral out of royal icing, and the pebbles are chocolate candies.
The cake is covered with three colors of fondant (green, blue, white) swirled together and is supposed to resemble the movement of the ocean.
Sure wish I had some leftovers of this cake!!

GOLF THEME BIRTHDAY CAKE

This cake was done for a surprise 50th birthday for a man that loved to play golf but wasn't very good at it. His wife bought the golf cart figurine and I designed the cake around it. It was a fun cake to make. The cake was chocolate with my homemade raspberry jam, chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries in it. Chocolate and raspberries are just a perfect match.

TOPSY TURVY CAKE

I made this cake for my accountant's wife's birthday. It was a surprise so I had to sneak it over to their house while they were out.

The bottom tier is a 9" chocolate cake with hazelnut buttercream and ganache fillings. I put callebeaut's new crunchy pearls in the ganache to give it a crunch. The middle tier is a 6" marble cake with chocolate buttercream and ganache fillings, and the top tier is a 4" white cake with vanilla buttercream.

I have decided I love 4" cakes. They are so cute!! I never used to make them because they were hard to cover with fondant but I just love their petite size and I think they balance out the whole cake better than 6" toppers.

I love how this cake turned out. The birthday girls' favorite colors are mint green and peach and she also likes gold. I added the lavender because I thought it went well with the other colors. I used an ivory colored fondant over the cakes.

I sure hope she was surprised when she came home to find this cake, I know I would have been.

CHOCOLATE BANANA STUD CAKE

This weeks Heavenly Cake Baker project is the Chocolate Banana Stud Cake. We were supposed to "stud" the top of this cake with upside down chocolate chips. I decided to shave some chocolate onto the top instead. I had a wedding cake tasting today and decided to use this one as one of my cake offerings. I baked the cake in two 6" cake pans because I needed to put a filling in it for the cake tasting. The bride wanted strawberries, I like banana and strawberries together so I thought this would be a good choice. The flavor of the banana is very subtle and I didn't even tell them it was in there at first. The other cake choices were white cake with pastry cream and fresh strawberries and my all time go to chocolate cake with vanilla bean buttercream.The couple chose the white cake pastry cream combination. They did not love this chocolate banana cake, they thought it was dry. They preferred my regular chocolate cake and I will agree, it is more moist.I noticed after making the chocolate banana cake and refrigerating it overnight that the crumb was a bit crumbly upon torting it. Maybe that is why Rose's suggestion was to make the cake in 1 - 9" round cake pan. I didn't think it was dry just more dense than my other chocolate cake.My husband is eating the leftover Chocolate Banana Stud Cake right now and thinks it is great.

MINI VANILLA BEAN POUND CAKES

After a long time away and many challenges I am happy to be back to participate in this weeks Heavenly Cake baker's project. They are Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes. I wanted to try out this new mini loaf baking pan and this was a good time to use it. The cakes baked up heavenly as do all of Rose's recipes. The cakes have a wonderful taste and vanilla aroma and were very easy to make. The recipe called for a Vanilla Cognac Syrup. I made a Triple Sec syrup because that is what I had on hand.
Check out Rose's Heavenly Cakes for the recipe.

YELLOW ROSE WEDDING CAKE

I have been away for a while, because my little dog Babycakes had to have hip surgery. We had it done in Reno, Nevada by a wonderful doctor that specialized in hip surgery. I have been giving her water therapy by taking her in the pool or bathtub and letting her swim. It is time consuming because after her swim I have to dry and comb her long hair. We do this three times a day. She is getting along nicely, in fact today we went on a long walk and she used the leg like nothing ever happened. I am so happy and relieved that the surgery worked.

I came home to make this wedding cake. It is 4 layers of white cake with 2 layers of coconut mousse and 1 layer of passion fruit bavarian for the fillings. The tiers were covered with fondant. The decoration on the first and third tiers is a copy of the wedding invitation on rice paper. I love the yellow roses!!

ANNIVERSARY CAKE

I made this cake for a client's tenth anniversary. It is a tiny version of the original wedding cake I made for her ten years ago. Her father who is a chef instructor hired me for both cakes. I hand made (out of gumpaste) all the flowers on the first cake and he saved them, wrapped very carefully, and gave them back to me to put on this tiny cake. What a special memory for the happy couple.

The picture below shows a picture of the original wedding cake.

The flavor of the cake and filling is lemon. Yum! one of my favorites.

COWBOY CAKE

This cake was for two little boys and they were having a cowboy themed birthday party. I borrowed a cowboy hat from my friend Laura of Paleo Women http://www.paleowomen.com/ to use as a model for the hat. Just in case you haven't tried Laura's Paleo Women granolas and cookies you should order some. They are delicious and very healthy.

The flavors of this cake were chocolate and raspberry. I spread seedless raspberry jam onto chocolate cake then top it with raspberry buttercream. This type of cake does not have to be refrigerated so can sit out on the table during the party with no problem. If there is any leftovers I would refrigerate the cake covered just to keep it as fresh as possible.

I put a little heart at the back of the hat and one of the birthday boys saw it right away. That made my day.

TWO FAT CATS WHOOPIE PIES

This week's project for the Heavenly Cake Bakers is Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pies. I have been very busy lately and unable to participate in the HCB's but now I'm back and excited to take part.

I love whoopie pies, have made them for years, and these are very good. The cake/cookie holds it shape after baking and is moist and tender. I made mine mini using a truffle scoop and they turned out to be a two bite little bit of heaven. The filling is dreamy. I doubled everything because I wanted to pass them out to friends and clients. This recipe is definitely a keeper, try making these, they are easy, fun and fast. To guild the lilly these could be made with different ingredients added to the buttercream such as raspberry puree, caramel sauce, ganache, mint etc.

BALLET SLIPPERS CAKE

I made this cake for a little 13 year old ballerina. Her mom used to do some cake decorating and could really understand and appreciate the time it takes to make a cake like this.

I sculpted the slippers by hand out of fondant. It is really hard to get two sculpted items to look the same. I started the second slipper about 5 times before I could get it to look the same as the first one.

The cake inside was chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

The little girls favorite color was Tiffany blue so I incorporated a little of it in the flowers. I think it turned out very sweet in appearance.

SUPER SIZED CUPCAKE

The super sized cupcake is banana with vanilla buttercream. The little cupcakes are chocolate with the same buttercream and banana. This was for a very feminine little gal that loves cupcakes!! The little cupcakes were frosted first and then covered with fondant. I love the smooth finished look of these.

JUNGLE CAKE

Wow!! This cake was a lot of work but I love the outcome. The 6" top tier was white cake with cream cheese buttercream, the 8" middle tier was carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream, and the 10" bottom tier was marble cake with cream cheese buttercream. The client loves my cream cheese buttercream so we designed the cake flavors around the buttercream.

REMOTE CONTROL CAKE

This was a fun cake to make. The flavors
were chocolate cake with a filling of raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries. I covered it with grey fondant and painted it with super pearl luster dust to make it look metalic.
It is one heck of a remote control, must be for a manly man!!

ST PATRICKS DAY CUPCAKES

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Sorry for my absence, I've been busy baking but also exercising/dieting to get ready for summer.

I made these cupcakes for an Irish client's party. I used Rose Levy Berenbaum's marble cake recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Frosted them with vanilla buttercream and covered them with fondant. The polka dots are royal icing.

The pansies are from my garden. We are now entering my favorite time of year SPRING!!!

DAISY CAKE

This cake was ordered by the nicest man for his wife's 40th birthday. He found me on the internet and he lives locally so I was able to make the cake and deliver it to him at his work. From talking with him over the phone, to plan the design of the cake, I got the feeling he was a loving father and husband. He was so excited to do something special for his wife. I love meeting nice people.

It was a white cake with white chocolate mousse. The flowers are gumpaste. His wife loves the fleur de lis symbol so I put them on the side of the cake and dusted them with luster dust to make them pop.

I love the way this cake turned out, I love the colors and the design. Thanks WR for letting me make this cake.

FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE

My Grand Niece had her first birthday party today and this is the cake I made for her. It was white cake with white buttercream frosting. There were about 25 kids and their parents at the party and it was held at My Gym in Palm Desert. The theme was rock and roll baby so I decorated the cake with guitars, records, stars and music notes.

Here she is getting ready to dig into the cake.

BIRTHDAY CAKE W/HANDMADE TRANSFER SHEET

I have been doing a lot of experimenting with cocoa butter painting to make my own transfer sheets for decorating cakes and truffles etc. For the one you see here I painted white and red cocoa butter onto acetate, let it dry then spread tempered dark chocolate over the painting. I let the chocolate partially set up then marked off squares with a sharp knife. I sandwiched the scored acetate between two sheetpans and refrigerated them for about an hour.

I really like the way it turned out. Making your own transfer sheets can save money and it is much more fun to make your own. The possibilities are endless.

BABYCAKES BIKE RIDE

Just had to share this picture of Babycakes on our last bike ride. I love riding bikes either a Road Bike or the Beach Cruiser and now I have a companion to go with me on the beach cruiser. She absolutely loves riding. As we are sailing through the air she bites at the wind, it is just too cute.

I have her strapped in so there is no chance of her jumping out. The basket can be removed from the bike so if we stop for coffee she can go with me after we lock up the bike.

NANAIMO BARS

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

We had the option to make these non-gluten free and that is what I did. I did not want to buy all the different ingredients for a one time shot of gluten free baking.

These bars are very good but a little time consuming because you must first make home made graham crackers. The remainder of the recipe is quite easy. I cut them in small pieces because they are very sweet.

I took mine to the beauty shop and a Canadian woman was there. She tried the Nanaimo's and said they were really good and just like she used to buy in Cananda.

Here is the recipe the way I made it:

Graham Wafers

2 ½ Cups plus 2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed

1 Teaspoon Baking soda

3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

3 ½ Ounces Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)

1/3 Cup Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover

5 Tablespoons Whole Milk

2 Tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit .

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

For Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer

4 Ounces Unsalted Butter

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

5 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa

1 Large Egg, Beaten

1 1/4 Cups Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)

1/2 Cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)

1 Cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
Middle Layer

4 Ounces Unsalted Butter

2 Tablespoons + 2 Teaspoons Heavy Cream

2 Tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)

2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Top Layer

4 Ounces Semi-sweet chocolate

1 Ounce Unsalted Butter
Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and powdered sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

4. Cut into desired size bars.

CHOCOLATE TWEED ANGEL FOOD CAKE

This weeks heavenly cake baker project was the Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake. It is your basic angel food cake with unsweetened chocolate folded into the batter before baking. The cake is then cut into 3 layers and filled and frosted with whipped cream. Rose suggested we put bittersweet chocolate and ground almonds into the whipped cream and then stud it with chocolate chips. I decided to frost it with plain whipped cream and decorate it with chocolate vermicelle because I think it made a more attractive presentation.

In my opinion as well as my husbands this cake was just OK. If I ever made it again I think I might add some orange zest to the batter and use bittersweet chocolate instead of the unsweetened. A little espresso powder might be nice too.

DIAMOND & PEARL CAKE

Here is my latest cake. The client's theme was diamonds and pearls. The flavor of the cake was Carrot. Everything was edible on the cake except the crown on top of the pillow.

50TH BIRTHDAY CAKE

Just wanted to show a picture of this 50th birthday cake I did recently. The flavor of the cake was banana with a pastry cream filling and fresh bananas in it. I love the pink and brown colors with the pearls.

TENNIS COURT CAKE

Delivered this cake today to the Country Club where I used to work. It is a chocolate cake with hazelnut crunch, vanilla buttercream and french silk mousse as the fillings. Covered it with Vanilla buttercream and fondant. The tennis racquets and tennis balls are made out of gumpaste.
The netting is royal icing and the poles are gumpaste. Piped the net, let it dry over night and the next day I turned it over and piped it again just to make it extra strong

WHIPPED CREAM CAKE

This weeks Heavenly Cake is the Whipped Cream Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. It was fast and easy to make with a light moist crumb. It has a vanilla flavor and needs no icing accept a dusting of powdered sugar. The fat in it is whipped cream that you whip before adding the eggs and vanilla. I used 40% fat Manufacturers Cream which Rose recommended. It also calls for cake flour which helps to make it even more tender. Many of the other heavenly cake bakers used beautiful bundt pans. I only had a generic one so I didn't even take a picture of the baked cake right out of the pan. I had just bought some berries so I cut them up, added a little sugar and vanilla and served them with the cake.

In the name of research I had a slice this morning with my coffee just to see if the cake dried out. It did not, so I guess I will have to try it again this evening to see how it is aging? This really is a wonderful cake to have any time of day. Hubby loved it too!!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COCONUT TARTLETTES

These tartlettes are white chocolate, dried cranberry, mineola zest, & coconut. I zested two mineolas and infused the zest with heavy cream by bringing it all to a boil and covered it for about 1/2 hour. After that I brought it to a boil again and poured it over white chocolate and stirred to melt the chocolate. I then added chopped dried cranberries and toasted coconut to taste. The recipe for the white chocolate ganache/glaze is here.

The tartlette shells are made from a standard short dough recipe but could also be made from pie crust. Bake the shells, let them cool then fill them with the filling while the mixture is still liquid. The filling will set up to a truffle like consistency when left at room temperature for a few hours.

These are a great petit four as they do not need refrigeration and are fast and easy to make.

BABYCAKES

This is our new puppy Babycakes. She is a babydoll faced Maltese, she weighs in at a whopping 2 1/2 pounds and she is 15 weeks old. I have been waiting a long time to get another maltese and now Babycakes is here and taken over our lives.

FRUIT CAKE

Well this is the kind of fruitcake I really like. It won't last as long as the traditional fruit cakes made this time of year, but in my opinion it tastes way better!!! I made this cake last week for my hairdresser. She was giving it to the owner of the shop where she works for his birthday. It was a chiffon cake with pastry cream filling. Frosted with whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruit. The berries this time of year are not as flavorful as they are in the summer so I glazed them with a sweet neutral glaze.

They were thrilled with the cake and even called me from the beauty shop as they were eating it to tell me just how good it was.

CLASSIC CARROT CAKE

The Classic Carrot Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes was simple to make and has a lovely white chocolate cream cheese frosting that is easily made in a food processor.

The kumquats are from my garden, I candied them a couple days ago.

I make carrot cakes all the time so I was anxious to try Rose's recipe. My recipe calls for crushed pineapple, Rose's uses raisins. My carrot cake has some spices like cinnamon, allspice and clove, Rose adds cinnamon and cocoa powder.

The flavor of the cake is great, my husband loved the raisins. I put walnuts around the outside and on top because he loves them too.

We both enjoyed this cake, I don't think I will abandon my regular recipe but this is a nice alternative and I loved the white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Getting into the Christmas spirit making decorated sugar cookies.

FRUITS FROM MY BACKYARD

Just picked this beautiful Mineola off my tree in the backyard. They are sweet and delicious and I feel so nutritious eating one right after plucking it from the tree.

Next I need to candy some of these kumquats.