ICES 36th Annual Convention and Show

Yesterday I went with my friend Heather to the ICES 36th Annual Convention and Show, basically, a cake convention. We really had no idea what to expect, but a few weeks back Living Social ran a special on tickets and there were all different levels you could buy. We got the ticket that included admission to the cakes and competition, so that sounded pretty good, right? Well, to be honest, it was just ok. There were so many other things you could do, but you had to pay separate and we were just not feeling it. I will say that there were some pretty amazing cakes (all display versions, not real cake). I took about 100 pictures and figured I would share some of the ones we really liked. Now I will say, it was interesting to see how things were made and each cake had a card next to it listing what was used, for example "gum paste" or "fondant" etc.

This cakes detail was insane, I know it was a replica of something, but can't recall what:(

This one speaks for itself, how could ya not love it!

With this one I loved the lace look. Apparently it was something you could paint and just lay onto the cake, I kind of wish I took notes, but unfortunately I did not, so not 100% how it was made.

This cake was insane! If you are a Cake Boss fan it reminded me of the one he made for NASCAR, only this one is more fun!

These three had amazing detail!

This was my friend Heathers favorite. In person the detail and color was really pretty.

Loved these for the technique and detail as well.

I could go on and on as there were so many we loved, but I would say of all, the Noah's Arc was fantastic, every tiny detail was on the boat, it was really cool!

So overall, there were a lot of cool cake displays, but I wish we had bought the ticket to see it all. Oh and by the way, there were NO cake tastings at this event- we were totally bummed about that one;)
Hope you enjoy the pics!

Yes, another Birthday Cake! Vanilla Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache and frosted with Chocolate Butter Cream!!!

Another one of my dear friends is having a birthday this week. Since I won't be around to celebrate on the actual day, and I am seeing her tomorrow, I had to get on it and make a cake asap! Now she is a total chocolate girl and I did not want to just do chocolate butter cream, so I decided to make ganache! OMG, it is really good! I got the recipe for the ganache from one of my favorite TV personalities- The Cake Boss!!!

It is quite easy to make. He gave two ways to make it depending on how you were going to use it. I was only using it as a filling for the cake, so here is how ya do that:

1 cup of heavy cream
9 ounces of semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon of light corn syrup
Put the heavy cream in a saucepan and set over a medium high heat. As soon as it begins to simmer, remove the pot from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon to melt. Stir in the corn syrup.

Transfer to a bowl and to use as filling, refrigerate it for about an hour or so. When ready, transfer to a pastry bag and pipe it out.

Now for the Chocolate Butter Cream, I went with a recipe from Food.com- the only thing I did differently, was add in a little whipping cream to make it fluffy!

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 10 mins

1. 1 Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.
2. 2 Add sugar and cocoa, mixing well.
3. 3 Stir in milk in portions, stirring each time.
4. 4 Add vanilla.
5. 5 Spread on cooled cake or other items needing frosting.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-buttercream-frosting-44126#ixzz1QtbbdhWw

I ended up using two square tins vs. round for this cake as I have never done it before and wanted to try it out. I did have to cut around the edges some, but overall it came out pretty nice. Once the cake was frosted, I reheated the left over ganache and with a spoon just splashed it across the cake. I topped it with some colored sprinkles, as it is a birthday cake! ;)

Blueberry Apple Cake

So last night in the midst of my heat exhaustion, I still managed to make a cake! I am having dinner with some girl friends tonight and had not really made anything since the weekend, so I thought why not! Extra blueberries and apples = make something!! So I got this recipe from a friend and she can't recall where she got it from, so this is not something I came up with on my own. I did follow the directions and to be honest, was a little disappointed at how dry the bottom of the cake was, so if I were to make it again, I may only keep it in for about 48 mins vs. 55. It is still quite tasty though!

I think with a scoop of ice cream, it would actually make up for any dryness in the cake and be a hit! I will make it again for sure!

Blueberry, Apple Cake- highly adapted from anonymous!

1.5 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
6 tbsp. of unsalted butter melted
2 tbsp. of cold butter (this will be used on the top of the cake-so you must cut into pieces when ready)
3/4 cup of light brown sugar along with an extra 2 more tbsp. for the topping
1/2 cup of whole milk ( I only had fat free)
2 large eggs
2 apples, a little under a pound. I had smaller apples so I used 3.- cored, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup of blueberries
1/4 tsp. of cinnamon
whipped cream or ice cream to top (optional, but due to the cake being a little dry, I would serve with some ice cream and maybe heat it up a little as well.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Butter or spray your spring form pan (8 or 9 in cake pan would work as well)
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl
In another bowl, whisk melted butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, milk and the eggs.
Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
Arrange apple slices over the batter and then sprinkle the blueberries on top. Gently press the fruit into the batter.
Top with the extra brown sugar, cinnamon and dot the remainder of the butter over the top. (personally if I would make this again, I would mix those ingredients together to make a crumble topping)
Bake until top is golden brown, apples are tender and cake tester comes out clean. But as I mentioned earlier, I think 55 mins was too long, I would check it at about 48 mins.

Enjoy-

Raspberry and Lemon Butter Cream Birthday Cake!

Today is one of my very dear friends birthdays! She is a big Hello Kitty fan and last year I made her this awesome Hello Kitty Birthday cake, definitely one of the best cakes I have made to date!

However, this years cake may have it beat! It was so yummy and I must say very well done, in both taste and decoration-- hee hee. I am becoming quite the professional! ha

I got the idea for this cake after buying a Betty Crocker Dessert cookbook last weekend. I changed the recipe up a little though. I did use white cake mix and added in 6 tablespoons of raspberry preserves in the batter. Now that is not what it called for, but in my excitement to make the cake last night, I did not read the directions clearly! oops! But it turned out in my favor as the cake has a hint of raspberry now! For the butter cream, I used a basic butter cream recipe, but added only 2.5 cups of powdered sugar vs. 3. It also called for three tablespoons of lemon juice ( I used fresh lemon) and two teaspoons of lemon peel. I also added about a tablespoon of whipping cream to make it light and fluffy!

In between the layers I added in fresh raspberries and the lemon butter cream. Delish! The cake was nice and light and I must say adding in fresh fruit really made it! I know Heather was pretty pumped, as you can see below!

And the funniest part of it all was that my aunt Claire was only in charge of the candle, and here is what that looked like!HA

Now, obviously we know that Heather is not four, but I must say she sure does have the energy of someone that age - hee hee ;)
Overall, it was a great lunch with fabulous friends and delicious cake- thumbs up if you ask me! So Happy Birthday again Heather!!!! love you xoxo- Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This past Sunday was a fun filled day with lots of eating and drinking to celebrate this wonderful holiday! And of course it would not be complete without a fabulous dessert! I was a bit rushed, but think it came out pretty darn good! Under that cute little carrot was a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting and carrot cake! Delish! Hope you like the pics as much as I like stuffing my face with the cake!

Birthday Strawberry Cake for Jenny...

A few weeks ago my very dear friend celebrated her birthday! As you already know I love birthday's so what better way to celebrate than to make her a cake that I was dying to try out;) I had yet to make a cake with fresh fruit, so here was my chance! I used the Pillsbury Vanilla Cake Mix and then made from scratch a fabulous, creamy and delish cream cheese frosting! Check out the final results! It turned out amazing and the fresh fruit really lightened it up!