Friday, July 27, 2012

Skeleton Cake Pops

I have a feeling the birthday boy is going to love his skull cake pops.  I formed them by hand and used black gel for the eyes and mouth.  The gel gives such a cool glassy effect, but never sets so if it bumps up against anything, it will smear.  I take my chances though for the sake of how cool it looks.








This is my first attempt at making a cake for someone other then my kids.  I am definitely no professional, but was asked last minute and thought it turned out ok.  I think it's going to taste awesome.  He wanted a chocolate peanut butter cake.  The cake is chocolate and each layer has peanut butter.  Love this website that posts copycat recipes and found one for the inside of a reese peanut butter cup.  http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Reeses-Peanut-Butter-Cups-Recipe.html  I used a little more confectioners sugar so it would spread easier.  


Happy 30th Birthday Justin !!!!



In case anyone is looking for an over the top, fantastic chocolate cake.  This is what I always make and everyone loves it.  I personally use a simple vanilla buttercream and have never tried the chocolate frosting that is supposed to be made with cake.  If anyone has tried it, please let me know what you think.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake Recipe (by Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html


Ingredients

  • Butter, for greasing the pans
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
  • Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch roundcake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubberspatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting:

  • 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients

  • 3 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

How exciting!  Divine Party Concepts used my olympic cake pops on their website.  My business is fairly new so someone finding my creation and placing it on their website is a big deal to me :)  Check it out.


http://divinepartyconcepts.com/2012/07/26/olympic-foods/

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

Total success!  Abigail loved her Hello Kitty themed birthday party.  It was a lot of work, but all worth it.  




















Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hello Kitty Cake Pops

It's our daughter's birthday this weekend and she requested a Hello Kitty theme.  In preparation for her day, I purchased a silicone mold on Etsy last month to try and save time.  Later find out it's coming from China and takes something like 28-30 business days to get here.  I had been psyching myself up once I realized they would have to be formed by hand.  Surprisingly, they were pretty easy.  Nothing like a good youtube tutorial to help guide you through.  Oh, and please excuse the background clutter.  These were done with my iphone at 2am and I was not about to pull out the Nikon for more professional pics :)



Monday, July 16, 2012

Ombre Cake

Practiced a little bit this weekend on my daughter's birthday cake.  I love this ombre effect.  Didn't turn out the way I wanted it, but that's what practice is for right?!  There were 9 icings total and only 6 made it.  Her cake will be 3 small levels with 3 colors going on each one.  I may even try to hand pipe icing onto some cake pops instead of dipping them into chocolate.  Creating the colors were far easier than I had anticipated.  Red is tricky, but I had seen a post from someone who said adding brown gives it a deeper color.  The bottom layer was supposed to be hot pink, but didn't go on right so I just added the red instead.  I will post more pics after her birthday....with hopefully a much prettier cake :)


Color scheme is hot pink, aqua and red.


Practicing for Abigail's 6th Birthday!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Happy 4th of July

My daughter and I are walking in the local parade tomorrow with her gymnastics group and she is so excited.  I made around 160 cake pops to hand out !   I was specifically told to put 2 aside for my husband and son.  They never seem to get any leftovers because I make exactly what is needed for each order.  The Carbone family wishes everyone a very safe and happy 4th of July.