Scripture Cake

For last month's church birthday celebration I made a cake with the "scripture of the day" from BibleGateway.com.

Time for a Check Up

It was my privilege to make another birthday cake for my dear friend and one of my daughter's favorite friends.  This year's theme - Doc McStuffins.  The cake is a two-tiered stacked cake.  Each tier was layered, filled and covered in Italian butter cream.  The figurines were purchased from the Disney Store, and the rest of the decorations are made of fondant.

It's All Coming Up Roses

I found an idea online (which, of course, I have now seen duplicated elsewhere) that I had been wanting to try. 

Single Tier Rose Cake

This is an 8-inch filled layer cake covered completely in Italian butter cream roses.
  

Double Tier Rose Cake

This is a two tiered, stacked cake.  The top tier is practically identical to the above cake.  The bottom tier is covered in fondant flower petals.

 

Single Tier Rose Petal Cake

This cake is a 10-inch layered and filled cake surrounded by fondant flower petals and topped with an Italian butter cream rose and leaves.

Pie Anyone?

Although I love making and decorating cakes, my baking class over the summer "forced" me to branch out a bit.  In the middle of the summer I had an abundance of apples and peaches.  So, I decided to make individual pies.

Individual Granny Smith Apple Pie

Individual Fresh Peach Pie

Better Late Than Never

The next installment of late postings is my Father's Day cookie basket.  The cookies are standard and chocolate sugar cookies with royal icing.

 

Photo Credit: Rhythm Photography

Who Knew?

Who knew that teaching two classes and taking a baking class at the same time over the summer would be so time consuming?!  And then I started a new job before summer school ended.  So much for free time!  I know I am waaaaaay behind in updating my blog with photos.  So here's the first of many better late than never posts!

Eli's First Birthday

I love doing birthday cakes, especially when it is for such adorable occasions.  Eli turned one at the beginning of the summer and had a "little man" party.  For the birthday boy, I made a single-layer 6-inch cake with whipped frosting.  The rest of the party enjoyed neck tie- and mustache-themed cupcakes and cookies.

 

Photo Credit: Rhythm Photography

The party guests seemed to enjoy it...

Stuff I Can't Sell

My baking class is over, and we made a lot of great stuff.  Abiding by the Cottage Food Law I cannot sell any of these items, but I still wanted to show them off!

Panna Cotta

First is the panna cotta.  This is a stirred custard.  It is kind of like flan, without the carmely flavor.  This particular one has strawberries in it.

Key Lime Cheesecake Flan

This key lime cheesecake flan is a baked custard that was cooked in caramelized sugar.  It was topped with Swiss meringue.

Cheesecake

This New York-style cheesecake is topped with chantilly (whipped) cream and served with strawberry sauce.

Chocolate Cream Pie

The recipe that was used for our chocolate cream pies did not make enough chocolate cream to really fill the pie, so there was more whipped cream than chocolate, but that didn't stop me from eating it!

Pecan Pie Tartlets

Sadly, I cannot even sell pecan pies, because they are considered custard fillings.

Almond Pastry Cream Tartlets

This was actually my final for the baking class.  I am not too proud to admit that I did not share any of them!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

Who doesn't love chocolate covered strawberries?  After my new-found love of Italian butter cream, I decided to try the most perfect combination ever - the chocolate covered strawberry cake.  This 8-inch round is made of chocolate cake, strawberry cream filling, Italian butter cream, chocolate ganache, and, of course, chocolate covered strawberries!

Roulade (AKA jelly roll)

I had a lot of fun in my baking class, and this is one of many things that we made that I had never made before!  The French term for this is a roulade, but you may be more familiar with the term jelly roll.  This is a genoise cake with blackberry jam and cream cheese filling and covered in chocolate ganache.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Some dear friends of ours moved all the way across the country. A going away party was thrown for them, so of course I made the cake.  I was searching for ideas that inspired me, and let me tell you, if you search for going away cakes, you find some very interesting (and not-so-appropriate) things!

Then it dawned on me - a moving box.  If I were to do this again I would use one large sheet of fondant instead of multiple panels...

Layer Cakes

Layer cakes are great for any occasion.  This cake is a chocolate sponge cake with cream filling and Italian butter cream (my new favorite frosting, by the way).

Chocolate Sponge Layer Cake

Layer cake cost - $30 (serves 12-16)

Looking for a reason to bake...

OK, so really I never need a reason, but if I bake for no particular reason, then we will eat a lot of cake in our house (gain weight), and waste a lot because we will not be able to finish it.

I have two ideas in my head that I want to try out.  One is for a girly-girl cake.  I need a sweet sixteen, quineanera, bridal shower, frilly baby shower....  any type of girly occasion!

The other idea is a "surprise inside" cake.  This one would be great for a gender reveal party or a fabulous alternative to the "engagement ring in the champagne glass" proposal.

If anybody has any of these occasions coming up (or any other for that matter), let me know!

Sometimes it pays to know your audience...

I found a cake that screamed my brother when I was looking for ideas of what to make for Easter.  Since I was spending Easter with my in-laws instead of my brother, I went with a slightly more traditional design.

I sent the link to the cake to my sister-in-law, but she did not end up making it.  So, I bought some candy after Easter and held on to it for 2 months until my family came to visit (sadly, my brother likes stale Peeps).  My brother and all of the kids were super excited about their cake.  Only a couple of kids were unable to eat all of the candy on their cake.

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cake

After making the Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake, I had to see what else I could do with it. I have a heart-shaped tart pan, so I decided to fill the top with some Kahlua chocolate whipped filling and use the not-so-fluffy frosting to glaze the cake.  The first time I made this cake, the frosting was a total glaze.  As I predicted (because I wanted it to be a glaze this time instead of a frosting), the frosting was thicker this time, but still glaze-like.  It definitely ended up as a delightfully wonderful cake!  My sister-in-law made me cut her a piece out of the center so that she did not have a single bite without the "cream" filling.

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cake

Heart-shaped Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cake cost: $35.00

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My husband loves oatmeal raising cookies.  They are his absolute favorite.  I am not the biggest fan of raisins in my cookies, but these were really good.  When I ate the last one that I had made at school, I had to make him some more.  We didn't have any raisins at home though, so the batch I made at home were just plain oatmeal.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Raisin-less Oatmeal Cookies

Getting all of my ingredients ready before starting to mix:

The final product:

Small Cookies (approximately 1/2 ounce): $0.25 each, or $2.50 per dozen
Medium Cookies (approximately 1 ounce):  $0.50 each, or $5.00 per dozen
Large Cookies (approximately 1.8 ounces): $1.00 each, or $10.00 per dozen

My textbook has a recipe called "Chocolate Indulgence Cookie."  I am looking forward to having some free time to try it out!

Cream Filling

My favorite cream filling is the cheesecake mousse filling inside a Costco cake.  I was trying to recreate that a while back, and I found a recipe that said it was identical.  It wasn't.  The biggest problem that I had with it was that it tended to soak into the cake itself, so you did not get that distinction between cake and filling.  In addition, I cannot use it in cakes for sale because it contains ingredients that are not allowed under the Arizona cottage food law (which is probably just as well now that the temperature is above 110 again)!

As I was searching for recipes for shelf-stable (not requiring refrigeration) fillings, I found one that I am currently loving.  My favorite part - when I cut into the cake there is a distinction between the cake and filling.

Scones

I am officially a culinary student, and this week in class we made scones.  I love scones, and I had only attempted to make them once before.  We made two difference types of scones, and they were both great!  I am looking forward to making more!

Cranberry Orange Butter Scones

Scones - $2 each

Cinnamon Raisin Cream Scones

Scones - $2 each

Polka Dots and Bows

This cake was made for a monthly birthday celebration.  It is a 10-inch round, four layer white almond sour cream cake with chocolate whipped filling, buttercream frosting, and lots of fondant decorations.

Custom cake cost: $100                    Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

The fondant decorations really drive up the price on this cake, because there is just so much there.  Here are some possible variations:
Same cake without the bow (buttercream swirls and dots all the way around the top): $70
Replace all fondant (10-inch round, four layer cake with buttercream or whipped frosting): $40

Surf's Up

The other graduation cake that I made last weekend was for a girl who loves to surf and is planning on studying marine biology in college.  Her cake was a hexagon-shaped, two layer, strawberry cake with strawberry filling and whipped frosting.  The wave is made from rice krispy treats, and the surfboard is fondant.

Custom cake cost: $35                        Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

The girls that these graduation cakes went to were actually cousins having a combined party, so here are their cakes, ready to be boxed up for delivery:

Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

Bon Voyage!

Last weekend I made a couple of graduation cakes.  The first one was for a very fortunate girl whose grandmother is sending her to Italy for a graduation trip/ gift.  I was asked to make a cake that looked like the Coliseum.  At first I thought, you have to be kidding me.  Fortunately I had plenty of notice and time to think about how to make it happen.  The end result was not Cake Boss quality, but I still think it looked good!
This cake is an 8-inch round, two layer white cake (with part of another cake to produce the ruins effect) with chocolate whipped filling, buttercream and fondant.

Custom cake cost: $60                 Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

More Cupcake Fun

I keep thinking that life is going to slow down, but it never seems to!  I made 3 cakes last weekend that I am looking forward to posting.  In addition, I started the busiest part of my summer this week!

With my leftover batter, I made some cupcakes.  For the graduation cake on May 18, I purchased bake-stable dulce de leche filling.  Since it was bake-stable (meaning that you could cook with it in your cake batter), I decided to bake some into a cupcake to see just how well it worked!  Here is a cross-section of the cupcakes:

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes with Whipped Frosting

I placed the filling in the middle of the cupcake batter, and it sunk all the way to the bottom, so the next time around, I dropped it right on top of the cake batter before baking.

Dozen Dulce de Leche filled cupcakes: $24

Since the Dulce de Leche was labeled as bake-stable, I decided to see what would happen if I baked the other fillings right into the cupcakes.  They turned out great as well!  This time the filling was dropped on top of the batter, and they looked beautiful.

Rich Chocolate-Filled Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting and Fondant Decoration

 Dozen filled cupcake cost: $24     Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

A very satisfied customer!  Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

Strawberry Paradise Cupcakes with Strawberry Whipped Frosting

 

Dozen filled cupcake cost: $24      Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

Dozen filled happy hour (Daiquiri or Pina Colada) cupcake cost: $30

Another satisfied customer!   Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

 Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

Happy Hour Just Got Happier

I found a recipe for Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake.  I just had to try it!  The recipe had a corresponding recipe for "fluffy" chocolate frosting.  In reality, it made a chocolate glaze.  It worked fine for the cake, but I think it would be even better with cupcakes!

8-inch round cake cost: $35
Dozen cupcake cost: $24

Feeling Tangled?

The second cake that I made for Saturday was for a(n almost) 4-year-old's Tangled-themed birthday party.  They gave me free reign to make whatever I wanted, and they were not expecting me to show up on their door step with a tower on the cake!

This entire thing is cake (except for the structural components.  It starts with a 10" square single-layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling, whipped frosting, and fondant flowers.  The tower is make of 4" and 6" round almond cakes covered in fondant.  Even the spire on the top of the tower is edible!  In addition, I included floating "lights" made of fondant.

Custom cake cost: $75   Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

Graduation Time

It has been a busy weekend for Sweet Pea Gourmet Treats.  I had 2 cakes to make this weekend for the same day!

The first one was for a high school graduate who is moving on to film school.  The cake is 13x9" chocolate with dulce de leche filling.  I covered the entire cake in red fondant, to not only symbolize a red carpet but also one of the school colors.  On top is a graduation cake and a reel of film.  Around the sides of the cake I wrapped strips of "film."

 Custom cake cost: $75   Photo credit: Rhythm Photography

I also made cupcakes for their party.  The cupcakes are Dulce de Leche cupcakes, with butter cake, dulce de leche filling, whipped frosting and a fondant decoration.

Dozen cupcake cost: $24   Photo credit: Rhythm Photography