Recent cakes I've done!

As an amateur cake maker who only bakes for family and friends, I don't get to do cakes very often.  However, when I do, it's riotously fun and enjoyable.  Here are some of my recent creations!

Smash cake (left) and full size cake for a 1 year old boy- my first time baking without dairy.

Cupcakes for my sister's birthday.

Detroit Red Wings jersey cake for my husband's birthday.  Logo is hand painted.

Tree stump cake for a girl's 5th birthday.

Ballerina cake for my grandmother's 80th birthday.

For my dad and stepmother- my first wedding cake.  Italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting, cream cheese-pineapple filling.

Thomas the Tank Engine cake for my cousin's little boy's 3rd birthday.  Hand painted.

New Year's Eve Seafood Dinner with Rum Cake

My husband and I started a tradition when we were first dating of staying home and making a fancy dinner instead of going out for NYE.  We also always get a bottle of Asti.  In years past, we've made prime rib- delicious slabs of herb and garlic crusted beefy goodness.  We decided to do a seafood dinner this year.

My husband suggested shrimp two ways (peel-and-eat with cocktail sauce, and scampi), crab legs, crab cakes, garlic bread, and baked potatoes, plus dessert.  "Holy shit," I said to myself- there's no way I can eat like that and still respect myself on New Year's Day.

I wound up getting all the fixins and suggesting a two-part dinner.  In case we got seafood overload on the first round, we could always have the rest the next day.  That wound up being the case.  We had the peel-and-eat shrimp (sans cocktail sauce- in all my grocery planning, I neglected to write that one down) and the crab legs with baked potatoes and dessert.  It was delicious.

For dessert, I went with a traditional favorite from my family- rum cake.  My great-grandmother, Lucy Castle, a sweet and much-loved lady, was known for her version of the decadent, boozy cake every holiday season, and I was very fortunate to inherit both her recipe and her actual Bundt pan.  I'm not a religious or even "spiritual" person by any means, but I do have a fondness for the idea that personal items can have good mojo.  I feel good and have good memories of Grandmother Castle every time I bust out that pan.

For tonight, I'm feeling too lazy to go get the newspaper clipping and type out the rum cake recipe, but it's readily available online so I'll give you the guidelines.  It's simple enough, and uses a yellow cake mix.  (Oh, the horror!)  This is one of the very few times I can bring myself to use a cake mix.  I pride myself on scratch baking, but since it was good enough for Grandmother Castle, it'll be good enough for me.



Rum Cake
Serves 12-14

Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup each cold water, vegetable oil, and dark rum
Generous cup of chopped pecans

Glaze:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 325º.  Grease and flour a Bundt pan, or spray with Pam baking spray that contains flour.  (The spray works great, is less messy, and avoids a floury crust.)

Dump the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, vegetable oil, and rum into a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk or electric mixer.

Place chopped pecans in the bottom of the prepared Bundt pan and pour cake batter on top.  Smooth batter and bake cake for about an hour, until a toothpick or skewer just comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool for about 15 minutes before inverting it out of the Bundt pan onto a sheet pan with a cooling rack inside.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the water and sugar.  Boil for about 4-5 minutes, or until the sugar has melted.  Remove from heat and carefully stir in the rum.

Using a fork, gently prick the cake all over.  Pour the glaze over the cake, cool completely, and serve.




My pint-sized helper took a photo of the cake ingredients in the bowl before she used the electric mixer on them.





A generous cup of chopped pecans goes into the well-lubed Bundt pan.  I use Pam baking spray with flour.



She liked the rum cake batter a little *too* much.  :D

  

Soo...much...food...



Unglazed rum cake.



After being stabbed repeatedly but gently with a fork, the cake is glazed.



Hello, sexy!



One piece was never enough.



Day Twenty-Three: Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake

Day 23 of Operation: Expand Horizons brings a tasty dessert- Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake from the June 2008 issue of Everyday Food.

This simple dessert comes together quickly and tastes fantastic. I've always loved the combination of coconut and pineapple, and this cake is just right. I would make one small change next time. The recipe calls for toasting all of the coconut, a portion of which is scattered on top of the batter before baking. Because it was already toasted, some of the topping coconut got a bit over-browned for my tastes. Next time, I'll toast the coconut that goes into the batter but leave the topping as is, allowing it to toast while the cake bakes.

This cake is quite tasty the next day as breakfast! :D

Day Fourteen: German Chocolate Cake

Day fourteen of Operation: Expand Horizons was a bit of a cheat. We had dinner plans at a restaurant to celebrate my brother's Master's degree completion, so I wasn't going to be cooking. Additionally, I was tapped to provide a cake. When my bro requested German chocolate, I decided to try a version from America's Test Kitchen that I had not used yet.

ATK hasn't failed me yet with their über-tested recipes, and this cake was no exception. It was delicious! The recipe says it serves 12-16, but I cut thin slices of this 4-layer monster for about 15 people and had cake left to spare.

Normally, German chocolate cake only has frosting between the layers. The outside chocolate frosting is my addition to pretty it up for a party. The "Perfectly Chocolate" frosting on the side of a box of Hershey's cocoa is a great basic recipe, and it's what I used. I added additional powdered sugar to make it stiff enough for piping.

German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Serves 12-16

FILLING:

1 ½ cups pecan halves, toasted in a 350º oven and cooled

4 egg yolks

1 – 12 oz. can evaporated milk

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

¼ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. table salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Whisk egg yolks and evaporated milk together in a medium saucepan. Add butter, sugars, and salt. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until bubbling and foaming. Pour into a bowl and add vanilla and coconut. Let cool to room temperature, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cool and thickened. When ready to fill the cake, chop the toasted pecan halves and fold into cooled filling.

CAKE:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ cup boiling water

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

¾ tsp. table salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¾ cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray two 8” round cake pans with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper and spray again. Coat the bottoms and sides of pans with flour, tapping out excess.

Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over the mixture, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Whisk together flour and baking soda.

In a stand mixer, beat butter, sugars, and salt for about 4 minutes until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down mixer bowl and blade in between. Add vanilla. Whisk chocolate mixture and add to creamed mixture. Blend well.

With mixer on medium-low, alternately add flour mixture and sour cream. Don’t overbeat. Finish incorporating by hand. The batter will be very thick. Divide evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula.

Bake in 350º oven on the center rack for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Cool cakes in pans for about 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks that have been sprayed with nonstick spray, peel off parchment paper, and allow to cool about 1 hour.

Split layers in half horizontally and spread about 1 cup of filling between each layer and on top.

Leftover Chocolate Cake Trifle

Baking my cousin's groom's cake left me with an extra 9" square of chocolate stout cake, but no frosting. On a whim, I decided to turn the cake into an easy dessert.

I used about 3/4 of the cake and cut it into 1" cubes, and whipped and sweetened some heavy cream. If you've never made homemade whipped cream, WHY THE HELL NOT? It's super easy and much tastier than the frozen artificial crap in the tub, or the greasy stuff in the aerosol can.

Chill a small glass bowl and the beaters from an electric mixer in the freezer for about ten minutes. When they're icy cold, deposit about half a cup of heavy cream, a tablespoon or so of sugar, and a half teaspoon of vanilla extract into the bowl, attach the beaters, and beat the ever lovin' tar out of it. Taste it halfway through and adjust sugar if needed. You don't want to add sugar after it's fully whipped, or the sugar won't dissolve. When you can hold the bowl sideways or even upside down without spilling, it's done.

Once I had my sweet whipped cream and cake cubes, I put a layer of cake pieces on the bottom of a small round casserole. I drizzled some cold leftover coffee over the cake, spread on a layer of whipped cream, generously drizzled on some Hershey's chocolate syrup, and repeated with a second layer of cake, coffee, whipped cream, and syrup.

I chilled the whole mess for about 20 minutes before scooping some out into bowls. Delicious!

Day Eight: The day I skipped in favor of cake.

Day eight of Operation: Expand Horizons fell on the day of my cousin's wedding, for which I had been asked to make a groom's cake. I was more than happy to oblige. My daughter was the flower girl as well, so other than decorating cake and getting us dressed, I didn't do much that day.

The groom's cake was two 9 x 13 sheet cakes together, plus the sleeves, which were carved from a 9" square. The cake flavor was chocolate stout, but I substituted coffee for the Guinness the recipe calls for. This is one dense, delicious cake. I iced and decorated it with homemade vanilla buttercream.

The cake recipe is available from this link at Epicurious, and was originally published in Bon Appétit in 2002.

All cake, all the time!

I figured it was about time to get off my lazy rump and update my blog, considering I gave the address to a news crew this afternoon. "What?!?" you exclaim. Yep, I'll be on camera tonight on my local 10:00 news, talking about legislation moving through my state that will allow home bakers and cakers like me to bake for the public out of our homes. Right now, it's against the law.

I love making and decorating cakes, so I do it for my rather large family's birthday parties, graduations, and other causes for celebration. Although I usually get reimbursed for expenses, I'm certainly not making any money in this endeavor. I also stay at home with my 3 year old daughter, and she is my #1 priority, so working in a bakery is out of the question. When I got a phone call yesterday from the owner of a new cake supply shop in town asking me to show up for a news crew's coverage of the pending legislation, I was all over it. I gave an interview in favor of the bill.

In the interim of getting the bill enacted, I'm going to continue making cakes for fun. Here are some pics of recent cakes I've done for my family.

Pistol Pete cake for my younger sister and her friend. They are both Oklahoma State Cowgirls.

SpongeBob and Patrick cake for fun, requested by my uncle for his office.

Birthday cake for my brother-in-law's girlfriend.

Groom's cake for my youngest brother's wedding. He and his wife are both Oklahoma State graduates. Some well-meaning soul stuck daisies on the cake board before the photographer came by. I could kick her for that.

I've also decided, in addition to the occasional family cake, I'm going to adopt a local nursing home and donate a birthday cake every month for the residents. I grew up with all of my grandparents and several of my great-grandparents in my life, and I have a soft spot for "the greatest generation" and old folks in general. It'll give me a chance to do something nice for some nice people in their twilight years, and I'll get to practice the old-school techniques like frilly borders and flowers that I don't usually do on cakes I design.