Rose Cake

I saw a cake like this on I am Baker, and thought it was absolutely gorgeous....as well as something I must try! I found this lovely little cake stand at T.J. Maxx, and needed something to put on it, so I decided to try my hand at this decorating technique. I used a chocolate cake mix to get my cake layers made quickly, and whipped up a batch of Kahlua Buttercream, and went at it.

I prepared this like I would any other layer cake- froze, filled, crumb coated, and frosted. I put the cake in the fridge to set the base layer of frosting, so I could wipe off any mistakes if I needed to (which I did...a few times). Once I got the hang of it, I realized that Amanda of I am Baker is a genius. This is a really simple technique that when finishes leaves you with a stunning cake!

I will send you to Amanda's site, I am Baker, as she has wonderful step by step instructions on how to make this cake. I promise, it IS as simple as it sounds. The rest of her site is amazing as well- I try a lot of recipes I find here. If you find yourself with a few minutes, nose around. You won't be sorry!

Kahlua Buttercream

2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
4 tbsp Kahlua or Kahlua flavored creamer
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter in bowl of stand mixer using whip attachment. Add powdered sugar in small additions, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla then Kahlua (or creamer) 1 tbsp at a time, using more or less to achieve the desired consistency.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Fun with Fondant

Just have to share that I finally tried covering a cake with fondant- and it doesn't look horrible!

This is a test run, I wanted to get used to the feel of rolling fondant and covering a cake with it before I attempted the birthday cake the Cooker Boy has requested. We spent hours looking at pictures of Spiderman Cakes on Flickr a few weeks ago when we were both home sick, and this is what the Cooker Boy has decided his 4th birthday cake must look like:

from FredBarnie on Flickr

I certainly wasn't going to try to make something like this without playing with fondant first! Now that I've got the feel for it, I can't wait to see how this cake turns out next weekend!

Wish me luck...

Awesome cakes for awesome friends! Part Three..

Putting the cakes together

I'm going to start off by saying up front that I really underestimated how much work would go into making two party-worthy cakes that would look even half as good as they would taste! In doing so, I had zero time to take pictures of the process, so I'll give you links to some blogs that made this process go 100 times smoother than if i just faked my way along  i used as resources- they have fantastic step by step photos for cake assembly and decorating!  I relied heavily on Smitten Kitchen's page of Cake Layer tips. I don't think I would have ever thought of most of these tips on my own. Like the wax paper strips to keep your cake boards clean...genius!

The assembly and decorating was the fun (albeit time consuming- 8 very long and  messy hours) part of this process. I made my cake layers a few days before the actual reception, and I used a flash freezing method to freeze them. I've never frozen cake before, and honestly, I think it made the cakes even better!

To flash freeze: Each layer needs to be in the freezer, unwrapped, for 30-45 minutes or until it is solid. I put the cakes in the freezer on the cooling racks still in the pans for about 15 minutes, then turned the layers out onto plastic wrap on the cooling rack and threw the whole rack back in the freezer for the 30-45 minutes. At that point, I wrapped each layer in 3 layers of plastic wrap, and placed them back in the freezer separated by cake boards.

When it came time to assemble and decorate my cakes, I made my fillings first so that they could chill if necessary while I was making the buttercream. The assembly part isn't difficult, but I did find another great tip that worked wonders to keep the filling out of the buttercream. Savory Sweet Life's How to Frost a Cake post, while it sounds obvious, was an absolute lifesaver! SSL's site will be much more helpful to you than mine will be!

Here's the short and sweet instruction list:

•  Use a cake board with a  dollop of frosting in the center to hold your bottom layer in place.
•  Place wax (or parchment) paper strips under the cake layer to protect your cake board.
•  Unwrap the first frozen cake layer, and place it on the cake board.
•  Level the cake with a serrated knife, if necessary. (This is SO easy with frozen cake!)
•  Brush top of cake with a sugar water mixture. Bakerella clued me into this, and i think       this added another excellent dimension to my cakes.
•  Pipe a 1/2 " dam of frosting around the top of the cake (check out the Savory Sweet Life page)
•  Pour or spoon your filling into the dam, taking care not to spill over the edge.
•  Unwrap second frozen layer, lightly placing on top of the first. Check placement from all sides- even though you used the same size pans, somehow the layers won't be uniform!
• Trim if necessary (Yay for frozen layers!)
• Push down on layer to make sure everything sticks together.
• Repeat above steps with 3rd layer.
• Once your cake is stacked, run an offset spatula around the edge- you'll have bits of your frosting dam that have squished out.
• Crumbcoat with a light layer of your frosting- this helps keep the crumbs where they need to be, and you've got a smoother surface to work with for your final layer of frosting.
• Refrigerate for 45 min- 1 hour to set frosting.
• When you can touch the cake without frosting sticking to your finger, it's ready for the final coat of frosting.
• Plop your frosting on top of the cake, and spread on top and down the sides. Add more if necessary. Smooth frosting around the sides with the offset spatula. Decorate any way that you'd like- I just played with the piping tips I had and improvised.

Here are the resources I used, again, for good measure. They're awesome- and have great pictures and more in depth instructions.

Smitten Kitchen's Layer Cake Tips

Savory Sweet Life's How To Frost a Cake Tutorial

Bakerella's Sugar Water Spray ( The sugar water directions follow the yellow cake recipe)

Enjoy!