Showing posts with label Icing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Icing. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Birthday Cakes



One of the things that I don't get to do much anymore is baking, but when I do, I love to go all out.  I make the hard candy decorations at least 3 days in advance so that I am sure that they are completely hardened and typically make a butter cream icing.  

The first cake you see above was for my daughter's 11th birthday. She was going through her Gir phase so we threw her a Gir themed party. You can't see the front of the cake very well, but I made the letters of her name with the hard candy icing. I found the font that I wanted for her name online and traced it on wax paper, then I piped the icing on the opposite side of the paper and left it there to harden.  The Gir face was also copied onto wax paper and once again piped the icing over the outline of the face, then, I just filled in the rest.

The chocolate cake was to die for.  I decided to make my own version of the Chocolate Wasted Cake; I call mine-Chocolate Overdose. -Two Layers of Fudge Chocolate Chocolate Icing -2 Bags of Hershey's Chocolate morsels - Almonds -Bite size pack of Snickers for toppings -Melted chocolate morsels drizzled over the top. If you are a chocolate lover, this is the cake for you!

The white cake is simple and pretty.  It is a two layer butter cake with butter cream icing, strawberry slices and chocolate drizzled over the top.

The heart cake is also a butter flavored cake mix with butter cream icing. The flower and leaves were made a week in advance from hard candy icing.

You can find more cakes I've created on Pinterest and a board with great cake decorating ideas. Don't forget to follow me to stay updated.

From my Creative Heart to Yours.
Michele




Sunday, March 15, 2015

Oreo Chocolate Cream Cake


I enjoy baking special treats, especially cakes for my kids' birthdays, so much so that the only time I have not baked a special cake for a birthday in 20 years was 2 years ago for my daughter because I had back surgery and I just didn't have a choice. 

Yesterday was the birthday of a young man that is like a son to me; his favorite treat is none other than Oreos. Like for my other two kids, I love making something special just for him, so what better idea than an Oreo type cake. I searched online and checked Pinterest and finally found one that caught my attention, but was skeptical about the icing because of the ingredients. Fortunately, the cake came out perfect. It wasn't too sweet and even though it was made from scratch, it wasn't too time consuming.  

If you don't like cakes that are too sweet then I think you will love this. It has just the right amount of flavor and sweetness. I'm sure it will be a hit for anyone that is a fan of Oreos.

You can find the recipe HERE, but just in case something happens to the site, I copied the recipe below. 

Cake
1 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour
2/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (or Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
3 large Eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups Buttermilk

Frosting
1/2 cup Flour
1 1/2 cups Milk
2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
25-30 oreos
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans with butter and flour.
Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, or a large bowl using a hand held mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated and scraping down sides as needed.
With mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. Then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix until incorporated. Repeat until the last 1/3 of flour has been used. Mix until incorporated and then beat for 1 additional minute.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the sides begin to pull away from the edges. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the racks and allow the cakes to cool completely.
While the cakes are baking, prepare the frosting. In a saucepan, whisk together the flour and milk and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens (I would compare it to mashed potatoes). It is very important to whisk continuously so clumps don’t form. This took me about 4-5 minutes, but it’s best to go by texture.
Set milk mixture aside in an ice bath and allow to cool completely.
In a medium bowl, (or bowl of a standing mixture fitted with a whisk) beat together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Add the cooled milk mixture and beat on high for 3-5 minutes. If it looks separated, keep beating.
Cake Assembly
When the cakes are completely cool, cut each cake in half* horizontally. Use 1/3-1/2 cup of frosting to fill between each layer. When all the layers are stacked, set aside 1/2 cup of frosting then use rest to frost the outside.
Using a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin, crush all but 6 of the Oreo cookies. Apply the cookie crumbs to the sides of the cake**.
Use the reserved 1/2 cup of frosting to create 6 swirls on the top of the cake, place a cookie in each swirl.

From My Creative Heart to yours,
Enjoy!
Michele