Easter Cake

Here is my first attempt on a marzipan cake. While the look of fondant cakes is not completely unappealing to me, I definitely don't like the taste and most of the things that go with it. I know that marzipan is an alternative to fondant and so I tried it. The kids helped, hence the cookie cutter Easter decorations. The result was a Georgian Chocolate Pound Cake in 4 layers put together with apricot preserve and then, well, covered in marzipan. It worked better then I thought and I loved the flavor.

Ballerina Cake

I guess it was just a matter of time. My girls have their own opinions about cake. When I asked Amelia what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she was quite specific. I was to be a pink cake, with ballerinas in pink, blue and purple, and she wanted frogs on it. So her it is. A two layer Funfetti Cake with cookies and cream filling. The ballerinas are made of chocolate/candy melts and the frosting is the usual cream cheese frosting.

Cowgirl Boot

My friend Christie celebrates her birthday every year at a line dancing bar and so we thought it appropriate to have a cowboy boot cake. It was a yellow butter cake with (chocolate) cream cheese frosting. The cake was cut out of a 9 x 13 square cake.

Hannchen Jensen Torte

As many of you know, it was my birthday as well. And so I hosted my annual Tea Party. I like to make German tortes for this occasion. My friend Thomas has been raving about the Hannchen Jensen Torte for years now, and so I decided to make it. I absolutely love it. It is two thin layers of yellow cake, baked individually, with a meringue and slivered almonds on top. The filling consists of a layer of raspberries and whipped sweetened cream. Like in many German tortes the top layer is precut, to not completely destroy the slices during cutting and serving.

The result is a complex blend of flavors and textures in each bite.

Indiana Jones Cake, 2nd Edition

Last weekend was Jay's nephew Samuel's birthday. Sam wanted an Indiana Jones Cake for his birthday, too. So that gave me the chance to revisit this "Temple of Doom". I skipped the stratigraphy cake and made it only chocolate, since no actual archaeologists were present this time. And instead of baking the dome in a bowl, I used the Betty Crocker baseball pan, that gives you the option of creating a hollow cake to be filled. Since it was the Temple of Doom, I filled it with sour gummy snakes. I lost the flowers as well and made the greenery more jungle like. I was very happy with the result and I think the half dozen 9-year olds agreed. Compare it yourself.

Indiana Jones Cake

I always wanted to make an archaeologist cake, so Jason's birthday gave me a good opportunity. The cake is made out of pound cake. I divided the dough in three, with a sour cream pound cake with chocolate chips, chocolate pound cake and almond cake. This made for "stratigraphiy" in the rocks. Everything is covered in a cream cheese chocolate frosting. I did not want the strong flavor of chocolate overpower the cake, so I chose a more mellow chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Baby Shower

One of my coworkers is going to have a baby soon, so today we had a baby shower for her. Here is the cake. It is chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling and my cream cheese frosting. The little baby pieces are made from chocolate. The cake was 10' in diameter and weight in at close to 8 pounds!