There's No Place Like Home!

Here's a Wizard of Oz cake for a little boy's 4th birthday.
 

What little boy doesn't love the part when the witch gets squished by the house?!?

 

 

A view from the flying monkeys!

 

Of course there is a rainbow and yellow brick road!

 

Happy Birthday Cole!

 

Smiles!!!

Glam Cake

I had the privilege of making a birthday cake and the cake pop party favors for the sweetest girl.

She was having a Hollywood movie party so we went for the "glam" side of Hollywood.

 

Don't the ribbons on the cake pops look great with the cake?

Her colors were red, black & white.

Close up of the back of the cake.  This is one of my favorite photos of the design. 

Party favor cake pops.

Happy Birthday sweet Sophia!!

You are a beautiful girl, inside and out!

(Just like your momma!)

 

Smiles!!

 

I'm going to share this party cake with some of the parties found on my sidebar.

Lego Ninjago Cake - Kai

Just some photos of the Lego Ninjago Cake from Jack's party.

 

Hand lettering in the image of the Ninjago font.

 

"7" was on the three other side of the cake.

 

 

Gotta have "Happy Birthday!"

 

Close up of the 7.

 

Stay tuned...the rest of the party will be up soon!

 

Smiles!

 

Will be sharing the cake with my bloggy friends at the parties on the side bar=>

Polka Dot Birthday Cake

I'm a little behind getting this posted...par for the course as of late!

The birthday girl wanted a polka dot cake for her DJ party (what a fun party idea, right?)

To finish it off, mom topped this fun cake with an assortment of brightly colored pink & aqua daisies.

Happy belated Birthday, Lakin!

 

Smiles!

Baby Shower Cake

This little cake was made for a sweet baby shower.

It was red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Stay tuned...tomorrow I'll show you a few cute ideas from the shower!

Smiles!!

Indiana Jones - The Cake

This had to be one of the easiest cakes I've ever done!

I baked all of the layers earlier in the week and stored them in the freezer.  The night before the party, I put the cake together and frosted it with mostly chocolate frosting.  To add some depth to it, I added some darker chocolate as well as some vanilla frosings.

(front)

The morning of the party, I began decorating with simple black cracks, green vines and green grass.  The steps were bite size Twix candy bars and the rocks were chocolate rock candy! 

(right side)

The plastic palm trees were purchased from the bakery at the grocery store.

I also had a few left over from the Curious George Cake I made a few years ago.

(back)

(top)

The topper was created in a a print shop program and simply glued to two skewers a few day before the party.

(left side)

Indy and Mutt were Ebay purchases.

That's MY cake!

Some of the comments from the kids were so precious!

They all thought it was so cool!

One little boy just couldn't understand that I actually made it!  So funny!

Want more Indiana Jones Party Ideas?!?

CLICK BELOW:

Invitations

Satchels

Treat Boxes

Party Activities

(will add link soon!)

Inspiration for this cake and all other Indiana Jones Party ideas were found at the following sites:

Tip Junkie

Sippycups are for Chardonnay

Party Wishes

I'm Topsy Turvy

Paper & Paint

Disney Family.com

The Busy Bird

Roots and Wings

Green Jello

Other Kids Pack Lunch

The Frog and Snail Society

Mom's Toolbox

More Than Mulberries

A Lemon Squeezy Home

Bella Deeva's

Em-agination

Embellishing a Fabulously Flawed Life

If you have an Indiana Jones Party post that is not listed above...let me know!  I'd love to add it to the list to share with others!

Linking to:

Market Yourself Monday

Just Something I Whipped Up

CraftoManiac Monday

Handmade Tuesday

Get Your Craft On

Lincoln Cake - Recipe & a little history

(please excuse the photo...rush job...bad lighting...etc...)

A friend of mine needed a Lincoln Cake for
  a large debate event.  She checked with several bakeries, but the icing was the deal breaker...my guess is because it had candied fruit in it.

Just in case you haven't noticed, candied fruit is a little hard to come by in June.

She asked me if I could do it...well, you know where this is going...

She gave me a recipe and then I did a little research about this cake on my own.
Kim O'Donnel, author of A Mighty Appetite column of the Washington Post.com, had some interesting information:

The story behind the cake, says Newman, goes something like this: Back in 1825, the esteemed Marquis de Lafayette was paying a visit to Lexington, Ky., home to the upper-crust, slave-owning Todd family. In honor of the auspicious occasion, a French baker, by the name of Monsieur Giron, was commissioned to bake a cake. The almond-scented vanilla cake was such a hit, says Newman (who credits “The Lincoln Table” by Lincoln impersonator Donna McCreary for the cake story), that the Todd women “begged him for the recipe which became part of the family’s repertoire.”


Apparently, the white cake was part of Mary’s seduction tactics while she was courting one Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill. in late 1839. Did Abe like the cake? “Well, he did marry her," says Newman. The couple tied the knot in 1842 in Springfield.


Newman believes that the cake remained a mainstay in the Todd Lincoln household in Springfield and even when the family moved to the White House in 1861. “She [Mary] had to do all her own cooking in Springfield,“ explains Newman. “Lincoln was poor, so they couldn't afford servants, and she came from a family that had slaves. So she had to learn how to cook on her own and take care of her house on her own.”
To read more about Newman's book, click here.


The Recipe:

1 C butter
2 C sugar
3 C flour
1 C milk
1 C finely chopped almonds
3 t. baking powder
Whites of 6 eggs
1 t vaniila

Cream butter and sugar, sift flour and baking powder together 3 times, and add to butter and sugar, alternating with the milk.

Stir in the almonds and beat well.
(Just wanted you to see how finely chopped the almonds were...can you imagine doing this by hand?!?  Hats off to you Mrs. Lincoln!)

 Then fold in the stiffly beaten whites and the vanilla. Pour into well greased and floured pan. Can be large tube pan or 2 9x 1 1/2 inch round pans. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour or the cake tests done. The tube pan can take longer. Turn out on wire rack and cool. The tube pan makes a large cake. Then frost with white icing.

Frosting for Lincoln's Cake

2 C sugar
2 egg whites, beaten stiff with pinch of salt
1/2 C diced candied pineapple
1 C water
1 t vanilla
1/2 C crystallized cherries, cut in halves

Boil sugar and water until syrup spins a 5-inch thread (242 degrees on your candy thermometer.) Fold in slowly to the well beaten whites adding a tablespoon at a time until 4 have been used. Now add the remaining syrup slowly pouring it in a thin stream. Beat by hand until all is used and the mixture stands in peaks. Add the flavoring and fold in pineapple and cherries. Spread on the cake.

How to Make Crystallized Cherries

How to Make Candied Pineapple

Linking to:
Prairie Story Recipe Swap
Its a Keeper Thursday

Dual Graduation Cake

Our city's favorite swim teacher contacted me to make a dual graduation cake for her son, who was graduation from college, and for her daughter, who was graduation from high school.  It was such an honor!

The daughter wanted chocolate cake with raspberry filling.

I added a little a LOT of chocolate/raspberry ganache on top of the raspberry filling.  Oh how I wish I could have tried the cake!

Did I mention this cake was for this area's most amazing swim teacher?

Can you guess that her son went to college on a swim scholarship?

And that her daughter is active on the high school swim team?

Who would have thunk it?!?

Congratulations to this wondeful family!

Thank you so much for the honor of making your special cake!

Smiles!!!

Purple & Yellow Cake

Again, I was honored to be asked to make a birthday cake for a new teenager!

Her favorite colors are purple and yellow.  Though I am no LSU fan, I was happy to oblige her request.

The cake is made from Red Velvet cake.  Each tier is comprised of two layers cut horizontally in half and then filled with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Yummy!



Happy Birthday, Miss A!

Smiles!!

***REMEMBER***

THE PRETTY PACKAGES PARTY

starts this Sunday!

Linking to:

Tater Tots and Jello
Saturday Spotlight
Not Baaaad
Sundae Scoop
Whatcha Got Weekend
K.I.S.S.

Ladybug Cake

Don't Forget to Link Up to THE PRETTY PACKAGES PARTY!

This cake was created for a sweet little girl's Ladybug Birthday Party.

It was a classic white cake with classic French buttercream frosting and filling.

This little ladybug is a little love bug!

Little ladybugs crawling around the 2nd tier....just where are they going?!?! 

Ruffles and lace give a lovely foundation for this sweet cake.

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Smiles!!

Linking to:

Frugal Friday

Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday Spotlight

Sunday Showcase

Market Yourself Monday

Making the World Cuter

Get Your Craft On

Just Something I Whipped Up

M.M.M.at CRAFT

Whatever Goes Wednesday

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Hoos Got Talent

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Oh Martha!  You've done it again!

Have you received your March issue of Living yet?

There is an article on coffee cakes and it doesn't disappoint!

My whole family LOVES coffee cake....especially homemade, (though my brother has me hooked on the Cinnamon Cream Coffee Cake at Corner Bakery!)

Anyway, Martha's recipe for Cinnamon-streusel Coffee Cake is similiar to many sour cream coffee cake recipes, but its better!  And I think I know why.  She uses COARSE salt in the topping and in the cake.  It adds a little crunch in the topping that gives it a wonderful salty sweetness that I just LOVE.

Martha also wants you to wait until it cools (yeah, right) before cutting it.  We didn't and it was DIVINE!  I also skipped the glaze and just dusted it with some powdered sugar ala Corner Bakery.

The picture above is of one of the last pieces (after it cooled.)  Very pretty!

She also gives a banan-coconut version, but you'll have to go pick up the magazine for that one!!  (Let me know if you tried it!)

Without further ado, here is the recipe!

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Streusel Topping

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup light-brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Mix together first 4 ingredients.  Cut in butter using a pastry blender or your fingers.  Stir in pecans.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Streusel Center

1/4 cup light-brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Mix all 3 ingredients together.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

Butter a 9-inch tube pan with removable bottom.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and coarse salt into a bowl.  (My sifter wouldn't sift the salt...may want to sift first 3 ingredients then mix in salt.)

Beat butter and granulated sugar in mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy (about 2 minutes.)  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla.  Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour.  Continue to beat until well combined.

Spoon half the batter into pan.  Sprinkle streusel-center mixture evenly over batter.  Top with remaining batter, and spread evenly using an offset spatula.  Sprinkle streusel-topping mixture evenly over batter.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.  (I didn't...still good!)  Remove cake from pan.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar or make a simple glaze out of 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 teaspoons whole milk.  Drizzle glaze over cake letting it drip down the sides.

Serves: 12

Enjoy!!

Smiles!!!

Linking to:

Show and Tell

Strut Your Stuff

Its A Keeper Thursdays

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Show Off Your Stuff

Hoo's Got Talent

Recipe Swap Thursday

Under $100

Thrilling Thursday

Hooking Up with HOH

Get Your Brag On

Fresh Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake was created to celebrate a 40th birthday.

The birthday girl's only request was a stawberry cake with cream cheese frosting.  It didn't matter to her what it looked like, she just wanted it to taste good.  Well, tasting good is always my top priority, but I really like for it to look good too!

If you know anything about my cakes, you know I just hate to deliver a short cake...don't know why, I just do.  Tall cakes just look prettier to me.

Soooo, to make this two layer cake have a little more impact I made it a four layer cake.  (To those new to baking...I'm not a magician, I just sliced each layer in half horizontally...really, someone would send me an email asking me how to do it...which is ok, just saving myself some time on the front end.)

I added fresh strawberries between layers of cream cheese frosting between layers of cake.

Rumor is that it was the best strawberry cake they had ever had.  

Poteet Strawberry Festival Cake

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 3-ounce package strawberry gelatin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 10-ounce package frozen sliced, sweetened strawberries, thawed

(or 1 pint fresh berries, sliced and mixed with 1/2 cup sugar)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.  Beat at medium speed for 2-3 minutes until well blended.  In two greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans, pour the batter and bake 30 to 40 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.  (Use toothpick method to check for doneness.)  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. 

Serves 12 - 16

Food Processor Cream Cheese Frosting

Enjoy!

Smiles!!!

Linking to:

Show and Tell

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Sugar & Spice

Hoo's Got Talent

Show Your Stuff

Strut Your Stuff

Recipe Swap Thursday

Under $100

A Crafty Soiree

Its Keeper

Get Your Brag On

Thrilling Thursday

Hooking Up with HoH

Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday

Its a Hodge Podge Friday

Frugal Friday

Feature Yourself Friday

Frugalicious Friday

Fun W/Food Friday

Weekend Wrap-Up

Sundae Scoop

Saturday Spotlight

Sunday Showcase

Twilight Cake

Client requested white "sparkly" cake with a tent for her Edward figure.

She also wanted the three birthday "girls" names on the cake separated by hearts.

Please don't throw stones, but I have never read or seen the Twilight series.

I was a little anxious that I might miss the mark on this one.



Fortunately, the client is super sweet and reassured my this was exactly what she had wanted.

Happy Birthday to the Twilight Girls!!!

Smiles!!!

Coconut Almond Cake

~Coconut Almond Cake~

(Southern Living Recipe)

Ok, so its not the most professional of pictures (taken p.b.; pre-blog,) but you get the gist of what the cake will look like.  Its a beautiful cake in person.  It looks especially striking on my Mem-maw's Fostoria cake stand.

I made this cake for the first time at Thanksgiving several years back.  We had lots of friends and family get together and everyone gave it a thumbs up.  (I like to try new recipes when there's a crowd.  You get an honest review by how much is left over!) 

This isn't a quickie dessert.  I make the cakes ahead of time, wrap them well in saran wrap and freezer bags,  and store them in the freezer.  To help the cakes retain their shape in my FULL freezers, I put them back in their pans after the saran wrap.  This way you won't end up with a big dent somewhere on your cake that you have to "fix" with extra frosting!

The filling also needs to be made ahead of time.  The day before you are going to serve it, you can put the cake together with the filling and put back into the fridge.  I like my cream cheese type frostings to be fresh.  Make it the day you plan to serve it.  Frost and garnish your cake, then leave it out long enough for the layers to thaw.  Cakes are best at room temperature so you can fully taste all of the components and textures.

So, for your next special occasion, I hope you'll give this cake a try.  Your friends and family will adore you for it!

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup sliced almonds

parchment paper

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whipping cream, at room temperature

1/3 cup coconut milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon almond extract

Coconut-Almond Filling

Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Bake coconut in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 minutes.  Place almonds in a single layer in another shallow pan; bake, with coconut 7 to 9 minutes until almonds are fragrant and coconut is lightly browned, stirring occasionally.  (Stay by oven during this time.  If you can smell your almonds away from the oven, they're probably too brown.  They can go from PERFECT to unusable very quickly!)
2. 
   
   Line 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with parchment paper.  Grease and flour paper.
3. 
   
   Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a very large bowl.
4. 
   
   Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating until blended.  Beat 8 minutes or until fluffy, scraping bottom and sides of bowl as needed.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 30 seconds per egg.)  Stir in whipping cream and next 3 ingredients.
5. 
   
   Gently fold butter mixture into flour mixture, in batches, just until combined.  Pour batter into prepared pans.
6. 
   
   Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour.)  (This is the point where you can wrap the layers and place in freezer.  It is absolutely crucial that the cakes are COMPLETELY cool before placing in freezer.)  When ready to finish putting cake together, continue on to step 7.)
7. 
   
   Place 1 cake layer (no need to thaw first if frozen,) on a serving plate.  Spread half of chilled Coconut-Almond Filling (recipe follows) over cake layer.  Top with 1 layer, pressing down gently.  Repeat procedure with remaining half of Coconut-Almond Filling and remaining layer.  (Again, this is the point where you can wrap the entire cake and place in refrigerator.)  (On the day you plan to serve cake, finish with step 8.)
8. 
   
   Gently spread Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting on top and sides of cake.  Press toasted coconut onto sides of cake;  sprinkle toasted almonds on top.

This cake serves 12 very generous servings. 

(It would easily serve 18.)

ENJOY!!

Coconut-Almond Filling

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/4 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups loosely packed sweetened flaked coconut

1/4 cup sour cream

1. 
   
   Stir together cornstarch, almond extract, and 2 Tbsp. water in a bowl.
2. 
   
   Bring whipping cream, brown sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat, and immediately whisk in cornstarch mixture.  Stir in coconut and sour cream.
3. 
   
   Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting

 Beat 2 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened and 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended.  Increase speed to medium, and beat in 1 Tbsp. cream of coconut and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth.

Click here to check out some of my other recipes!

Don't forget to come back October 3rd thru October 9th for the Pretty Packages Party!

<a href="http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5023605241_1582ff7084_m.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="The Blackberry Vine" /></a>

Castle Cake

Castle Cake

This cake took the longest for me to create and the results were less than stellar. 

Putting the cake together took some time, but seemed to look pretty good prior to frosting.  (I used butter cake...next time I will use a pound cake as this cake became so soft as it thawed that one of the turrets started to lean...augh!!)

Next I put on the crumb coat...it was a little difficult with all of the corners, but not so bad.  Things are looking good at this point.

Then the next morning I started to frost & decorate.  To my horror, the buttercream icing began taking on a lavendar color the more black paste I added to it...and of  course, I kept adding more thinking, "this time, it will take on a dark gray color."  It didn't.  I flipped.  THIS IS A BOY'S CAKE!!  He would not be interested in a purple cake....and I'm running out of time. 

Well, I just went with it and changed my decorating plan.  After covering the entire cake in this awful purplish frosting, I decided to just lightly add a touch of black to the buttercream and make light gray stones for the castle.  This looked better, though this is the point where I noticed one of the turrets starting to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa...aughhh!  If it was my kid's cake, it would have been fine, but I was making this for a friend AND she was paying me.  Panic started to take hold.  I was afraid I would run out of frosting (luckily I had plenty.)

Well, I got it done, added some grass and pennants and took a look.  Not too bad.  Until I realized there was NO DOOR!!!  I became so distracted by the purple frosting that I totally forgot to leave room to create the door.  Have I lost my ability to make cakes?!?  Maybe this was a sign?  Luckily the mom showed me LOTS of grace.  She was going to decorate around the cake with Lego knights and she happened to have a Lego drawbridge door she could press into the side of the cake.  I haven't seen pictures yet, but my fingers are crossed it all turned out ok.  At least I know it tasted good!

Smiles!