Cakes April-Dec

I've been a super slacker on the blog. Here are the cakes I've made from April to December.

Transformers side view

Transformers Top view

First Birthday Argyle

Army Helmet

Hamburger and Cake fries I helped a friend make

Smashed sheep cupcake topper

Puppy on fondant rug

Monster cake (eyeballs not inserted yet)

Birthday cake for my frilly, color-loving 6-year-old

Green Zebra cake

Purple Zebra cake

UNC cake #2

Last year I made this University of North Carolina basketball cake for Corby when he turned 15.

This year he wanted to have another UNC cake for his 16th birthday. This banner was the inspiration.

And this was the cake I made him.... It looks pretty simple but we spent hours cutting all those little letters out of modeling chocolate.

Happy Birthday, Corby!

Owl cupcakes

These cupcakes and smash cake turned out cute... SO cute. The end.

Oh. My. Ganache!

Happy Birthday to me! 

That's right... I make my own birthday cakes... I LOVE to bake! Last year I made this amazing cheesecake for myself. This year I wanted to make something that was completely centered around my favorite thing: chocolate.  And it was SO incredibly easy, I thought I'd teach you how.

I forgot to take pictures of the ganache while I was making it... sorry. To make the whipped ganache, put your desired amount of chocolate chips in mixing bowl. Take an equal amount of heavy whipping cream and boil it. (I used 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (because I couldn't resist eating a few handfuls) and 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream + a little vanilla). Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate chips. Let it sit about 2 minutes then stir in the vanilla and whisk it til shiny and smooth. Then let it cool. (I chilled mine in the fridge to speed it up.) Then I whipped it with my trusty KitchenAid for a few minutes and it turned into a delicious fluffy bit of chocolate heaven. 

I spread it around on a single layer of cake (and made a little bit of a dam around the edges to catch the ganache in the next step) and covered that with a nice layer of fresh raspberries. Then I stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes to harden for the next step.

I made more ganache (1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup cream + a little vanilla) but  this time I didn't whip it... and then I smothered the raspberries.

Then I added another layer of chocolate cake and covered it with the rest of the whipped ganache. I put a little in a piping bag and made a dam to hold the rest of my pour-able ganache.

This time I poured the ganache first, then I stuck the raspberries on top. See! SUPER EASY!

I chilled it over night and then ate a rather large and super delicious piece for my birthday. 

P.S. It tastes best if you let it come up to room temp a little before serving...

Zebra Hello Kitty Cake

I've kind of been avoiding making cakes for a while... this whole having 3 kids thing is still throwing everything off. Add in a few weeks of potty training a little boy and it's been sort of crazy around here.

But when I got asked to make a zebra cake, I got excited to do another cake. I have a slight obsession with zebra print. I think it turned out pretty dang cute!

Angry Birds Cakes

My little buddy, Ethan, is turning 5 and LOVES Angry Birds. 

I made him 3 single layer cakes, two 6" and an 8". Two of the cakes are chocolate and the other is vanilla, all covered with delicious vanilla buttercream frosting. The decorations are all made with modeling chocolate.

After I made the big birds and pig, I realized I made too much modeling chocolate. So I decided we should make some tiny, bite size characters. I made Brady help me. I made the ugly ones (the ugly red and 2 black birds) and he had WAY too much fun making the rest. I'm pretty sure his favorites are the pig with the hard hat and the one with the mustache... both turned out awesome!

Click on the picture to see the zoomed version!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Yep, I said it, Cookies and Cream Cupcakes!

OH. MY. CUPCAKES!  YUM!!!

I don't usually like to put lots of swirls and globs of frosting on top of my cupcakes, but for these glorious diet wreckers, I decided to make an exception.

And look! There's a surprise inside!

I got the idea here and made them minus the cream filling.

  Note her recipe says to finely crush the Oreos for the frosting. I made the mistake of crushing mine by hand- they looked finely crushed. But the few little chunks that were hiding in there refused to go through my piping tip and I had to make a whole new batch of frosting. (Dang it! Now I have tons of cookies and cream frosting in my fridge just begging me to eat it by the spoonful! I can't just throw it away and WASTE it!) SO, if you decide to try to make these and want to pipe some pretty swirls, definitely finely crush the Oreos in the blender.

Tangled Cake by Brooke

My neighbor, Brooke, asked me if I could help her make a cake for her daughter who was turning 5. I love Brooke to death, but (as we lovingly joke) her cake decorating skills are about the same as mine where when I was 10.... haha! So we found a cake here and decided to try and do a little replica. I did some of the work, she did a lot. And I think it turned out cute!

Here's a slightly closer view of the cake. Check out those lovely strands of hair! And Brooke did all the flowers!

To be honest, it turned out WAY better than my original Dora cake. I'm so proud of you, Brooke!