Baking Delights » birthday-cake

Sean’s Chocolate Mint Lego Birthday Cake

Marye Audet — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:10:21 +0000

My kids are challenging when it comes to birthdays…airplanes, horses, cars, legos…So when I asked sean what kind of birthday cake he wanted I was not particularly surprised when he said “Lego”

Lego?

So, I made a three layer chocolate fudge cake with mint buttercream. And then I made it look like a giant lego brick. And I served it with dark chocolate mint oreo ice cream, my own recipe…the kids go nuts over it. O.k..we all do. It is that good.

For the Lego cake use your favorite chocolate cake recipe. I used the same one as in the peanut butter mousse cake only I doubled it.

I baked it in rimmed cookie sheets lined with buttered parchment. Once the cakes were done, and after they had cooled I took them out and cut each cake in half. I stacked three layers with peppermint buttercream and then frosted the cake with wilton frosting. I took the remaining half cake and cut circles out of it for the lego thingies…I frosted it..and then obviously a few kids took licks of the icing before I could take the picture.

The peppermint buttercream was Dorrie’s Buttercream with crushed candy canes mixed in and a little mint extract.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the ice cream.

image:marye audet

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Birthday Cupcakes: Chocolate

Marye Audet — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:11:31 +0000

I don’t like to use cake mixes because, for one, they use a lot of genetically modified foods in them and I just am not comfortable with that. I mean, glowing in the dark would be cool and all but I am afraid of growing an extra foot. My mouth might not be able to handle three of them.

Finding a cake recipe that is good, quick, and moist is one of life’s challenges. I really liked this one. It is from my vintage copy of Farm Journal’s Country Fair Cookbook. It was easy, delicious, and moist. The only problem I had was that it said it made 24 cupcakes and it only made 12. Which was not a problem because 12 was all I wanted.

Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 c cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c buttermilk (I used sour milk)

1/2 c hot water

sift dry ingredients together.

Add water to milk

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and water mixture.

Spoon into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Cool and frost.

Frostings you might like:

Dorie Greenspan’s Buttercream

Cream Cheese Frosting

Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting

Wilton Classic Decorators Frosting

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Classic Yellow Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting

Marye Audet — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:02:51 +0000

There is something comforting about yellow cake. I am not sure exactly what does it for me, the cheerful golden color, the delicate taste? Something. It goes with everything, it is easy to make and if you are in need of a birthday cake it is always a good start. Add a deep, rich chocolate frosting and you have all that is childhood on a plate.
My mother was not much of a cook. She just didn’t take any enjoyment in it. However my best friend lived across the street in the midst of a large, boisterous family. I was enchanted by the activity in that house. The smells that wafted from the kitchen, the freedom they had to do crafts in the den, or to bake cookies or whatever. I was not allowed in the kitchen for fear I would make a mess.
Amazing things appeared in that kitchen, things that I had never imagined existed. Cream puffs, eclairs, marble cakes and cookies to dip in large glasses of cold milk were displayed in their glory on table and counter. One day when I was about six I mentioned that I felt bad because it was my mother’s birthday and I was not allowed to mess up the kitchen. She had not had a cake for her birthday that I could recall and I wanted her to have one.
Mrs Willett, (that was the name of this wonderful woman, and yes, if you are a Willett from Warrington, Pa. I am talking about you) immediately offered the use of her kitchen and her supervision and allowed my friend, Chris, and I to create a cake.
Now that I have 8 kids myself I understand the time sacriifice that that loving act was. I learned that I loved cooking that day and I learned that some things were much more important than a clean kitchen.

Yesterday I tested a yellow cake recipe for Cooks Illustrated. I did not care for it nearly as much as I like this one, which is a good thing because I can’t post the test recipes anyway. By the way, anyone can test recipes for them and it is fun! They often have a link when they are looking for new testers. It isn’t compensated of course but how cool is it to say that you have tested a recipe that you are reading in their magazine?

Classic Yellow Cake

1/2 cup butter
1-1/4 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Grease and flour two 9″ round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter
4 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup cream

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and 1/2 cup of the cream. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add remaining cream, a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved. Let stand until spreadable . Frosting will thicken as it cools.

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Birthday cakes

Marye Audet — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:01:30 +0000

I used to love doing fancy cakes. I did my daughter’s wedding cake and groom’s cake but really since then I have not done many really fancy cakes. And Ifound I missed it. Alot.

I don’t know…It is just a creative outlet for me, like drawing or sewing. Anyway, we have 3 birthdays in the first 2 weeks of July and this year I was a bad mommy and did all three together. No easy feat since the birhtdays were for a 15 yr old boy, a 7 year old boy and a 4 year old girl! Yes, you guessed it …two cakes. We ate cake for a week. Anyway, here are some pictures, and yes I am VERY out of practice-I told you it had been a long time.

So this is my rendition of Strawberry Shortcake. Kyrie liked it. Much better than the spiderman cake her brother had suggested. :/

This is the boys’ cake. 7 candles on one side, 15 candles on the other. I don’t know what I was thinking when I chose colors….John Deere?

The pans are Wilton, of course! There is alot of good information on that site as well as inspiration if you want to learn to do decorating. I also found a ton of websites with cool ideas.
Cupcakes Take the Cake- I especially liked the strawberries and raspberries on chocolate…One of the kids leaning over my shoulder liked spiderman.
Dave’s Cake Gallery …checkout the Goodnight Moon cake!
If this blog does not inspire you, nothign will! Pink Cake Box
cake art I have no idea HOW they did the sewing machine but ..WOW.
Not that these are even in league, but here are a couple of tiered cakes I have done in the past, about halfway down the page.
Life’s a cakewalk, huh?

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Tropical Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese

Marye Audet — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:30:00 +0000

The original for this can be found at Epicurious. I changed it up a little bit because the first time I made it I wanted a little more intensity in the flavor. I really love this but it is a bit more dense even than a normal carrot cake..the buttercream… What can I say about that?…oh my.
I made this for my husband Marc’s birthday which we are celebrating today. He loves spice cake and I expect that this carrot cake will disappear in an enthusiastic burst of activity….similar to the termites in the old Looneytunes cartoons. The cake serves 8-10 but we are having friends over that are bringing 4 of their boys so I am cutting thinly and planning on this serving 14. Be sure and chill the frosting thoroughly, and keep cake refridgerated until one hour prior to serving time. I am making lemon ice cream to go with this..but I think that a mango ice cream would be awesome. I also have added more frosting in my adaption because the amount of frosting they called for was a bit thin for my liking.

Tropical Carrot cake
2 1/3 c all purpose flour (don’t use cake flour, I did that and it is just too light to hold the ingredients properly)
1 c sweetened flaked coconut
1 c dry roasted macadamia nuts
3/4 c chopped crystallized ginger
3 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

2 c sugar
1 vegetable oil (organic coconut oil works really well, adding a touch more coconut flavor)
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 c finely grated peeled carrots
2 TBS finely grated fresh ginger
2 8 oz cans crushed pineapple VERY well drained.

Frosting

24 oz cream cheese
1 c unsalted butter
2 2/3 c powdered sugar
1 c sweetened cream of coconut like coco lopez
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tbs monin Macadamia nut syrup

Reserve some whole macadamia nuts and crystallized ginger for topping if desired.

Be sure to read recipe through before starting.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 3 9″ round cake pans and line with parchment. Combine 1/3 c flour, and next 3 ingredients in processor.process until nuts are finely chopped. Whish remaining flour, baking soda, salt, spices, and baking powder in a bowl to blend.
In an electric mixer beat sugar and oil and add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each throroughly. Beat in vanilla. Beat in flour-spice mixture. Stir in macadamia mixture and then pineapple, carrot, grated ginger mixture.
Divide amoung pans. BAke until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans for one hour. Run knife around edge to loosen cakes and turn out. Let cool completely..In fact, putting them in the freezer for a bit at this point is helpful in the frosting process.

Frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar, then cream of coconut and both extracts and Monin macadamia nut syrup. Chill until firm enough to spread, about half an hour.

Place one cake layer, flat side up and spread with about 3/4c frosting. Add next layer and so on, finishing the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting. Chill thoroughly. Use the rest of the frosting to put another layer of frosting over the top and sides and chill until 1 hour before serving time.

Here is a picture of it in layers, before tI frosted the sides..See? I like thick filling…

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