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!