Something completely different...

This blackberry jam filled lattice braid is a reminder that I really love to eat cake. I might make things that aim to look good, but my prime goal is always, that things taste great. For me taste always comes before looks, because we all had those awful grocery store decorated flower cakes, that after one bite remind you, why you never wanted to eat those again.

Paula's Cakes

My friend Paula had a big birthday this week. For her Saturday party I made a two tier Chocolate Cake filled with Chocolate Buttercream and covered in ganache. It was every chocolate lovers dream.

For her small intimate dinner we had an almond cake filled withan apricot-mandarin cream, covered in cream with coconate flakes and white chocolate confections.

Crocodile

Marlene's friend Zoey (not to be mixed up with Amelia's friend Zoey) wanted a crocodile cake for her birthday. We searched the web and finally found a good idea for a crocodile. We have the darn good chocolate cake again. The animal is cut out of two 9 x 13 cakes. As frosting we have my favorite cream cheese frosting, with accents of chocolate. The eyes and nose are made out of marshmallows.

Benefit

One of my coworkers asked me to do some cakes for a benefit. And I think I finally perfected my chocolate cake. I forgot to take pictures before she picked up the cakes, so here are only some fridge pictures. We have the darn good chocolate cake filled with chocolate butter cream and covered with ganache. The little seahawk is made out of chocolate, too (Yes, i know, it points in the wrong direction).

The other cake is a yellow cake, filled with mandarin oranges and a citrus butter cream.

Halloween 2007

This year the girls wanted a haunted house cake again. We searched for ideas and this is what we came up with. We had the Georgian Chocolate Pound Cake as a base and a vanilla pound cake as the house. Milano cookies are always great for tombstones and this year the door, windows, and ghosts are made of chocolate. I think I prefer chocolate over royal icing.

The brain cupcakes were a great hit at two parties and the leftovers vanished really fast at Jay's office.

Six Cake Wedding

Jenine and Josh decided to have six separate cakes instaed of one stacked cake. We did two chocolate, two pumpkin, and two lemon cakes.

Pink Princess

Ever since Danielle had seen the princess cake I had made for Lomani, she wanted one, too. So today was the big day. The only guideline was, that she wanted a pink princess. But I really love colors, so we added purple, then orange, and with the hearts we added red. I like the color combination. The cake itself was a mix of white cake and pound cake with a cookies and cream filling alternating with chocolate frosting.

Here is a quiz: What hair color had the other princess?

Chocolate Bugs

Last week was Amelia's friend Zoey's birthday. For the occasion I made cupcakes. They were just very simple yellow butter cake cupcakes with an Italian Meringue butter cream. As decoration I made various bugs out of chocolate. Since there has to be chocolate I offered my triple chocolate cupcakes with ganache on the side.

Hawaiian Birthday Cake

Marlene had a Hawaiian birthday party this year. So we had to have a beach cake. It was a pound cake with chocolate chips and just the regular cream cheese frosting. I ventured into fondant modelling and made the palm trees, but the surfer and the dancers I had to buy. Maybe next year I will attempt to make people.

A Fall Wedding?

Finally a new cake. Ever since I first read this recipe I wanted to try it. Here we have a Pumpkin Cake with crystallized ginger, walnuts, and dried cranberries. It is filled with a cranberry butter cream and covered with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Tie-Dye-Swirl Cake

Here we have a Banana Cake with a French Custard Filling. As Frosting I used my favorite Cream Cheese Frosting. The tie dye coloring is done with six different colors put in big spots on the cake and later fused with a hot spatula.

Flowerbasket

A friend asked for a small birthday cake. Since I have just taken a Wedding Cake class, I wanted to do something in that direction. So here it is, a 6" and 4 " two tier cake topped with butter cream flowers.

Cupcakes

I noticed, that even thou I make cupcakes nearly every week, I have very few pictures of them. I love cupcakes. They are so versatile. They can match every theme. Well, here are just some of them. My signature are probably the triple chocolate cupcakes with ganache. Here you see two versions. On the top they impress with simple dragees, then further down adapted for a (boy) baby shower. I prefer dipping the cupcakes in ganache over simple chocolate frosting. So there is an example of peanut butter cupcakes with ganache and ground up peanut butter cups as decorations. I already showed the Halloween cupcakes, but I just love those little skeletons. One Easter I made these variety boxes for my friends. There is vanilla and chocolate with various frostings and decorations.

Grown-Up Cakes

These are cakes for various occasions. Some are very "American" with lots of frosting and flowers; others are comparatively simple, but shine through their flavor and sophistication.

Adventures in Sports

This cake I made for the Super Bowl XL Party, when the Seahawks lost to the Steelers. Even though the refs stole the game from Seattle, the seahawk cake was the winner. The frosting was real cooked butter cream. It was my first attempt on butter cream. I love the taste, but it is definitely not one of the easy frostings to work with.

Children's Birthday Cakes

These cakes I made for children, but off course they are for anyone. Who would not love to have a Princess Cake? I made a castle for Marlene's 4th birthday. The base was a Georgian Chocolate Pound cake and the top was a Classic Yellow Cake. As frosting I used my standard cream cheese frosting which is ever popular with the kids. What surprised me most that day, was that the little ones not only ate the frosting, but the cake as well, which you don't see very often.
A more advanced Princess Cake I made for the daughter of a friend of mine. Here the dress is the actual cake and the top is a half-doll.
For Marlene's 5th birthday we had a pirate party. It was the year of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" . The cake is a simple chocolate cake in a loaf pan, frosted and decorated.
For Zoey's 1st birthday I made a flower bouquet. It was a chocolate sheet cake with vanilla cupcakes in two sizes. We made fondant bees and added (store bought) ladybugs.

Marlene had a "Bug"-Party for her 3rd birthday since she had seen a picture of a Ladybug Cake. It looked great and was easy to make.