Orange-Lemon Cake

My husband loves those incredibly unhealthy, gooey, sticky bundt cakes that you can buy in the grocery store bakery.  When we were first married, that is what he requested every year for his birthday.  Eventually we moved to other treats, but he still loves those cakes.  When I saw a picture and link to recipe for Orange-Lemon Cake in this month’s Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazine (LOVE that magazine!), I knew that my husband would love it.  It turned out beautiful, tasted pretty good and he loved it!

Orange-Lemon Cake

You need:

In a mixer or large bowl, mix the first five ingredients together. 

Pour into a pan.  The recipe calls for a fluted pan but I used a sunflower pan with a middle (something I won’t do again…see below!). 

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.  My cake had to bake for about 45 minutes.  Let cool for 10m and put on a wire rack to cool completely. 

After cake has cooled make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar and orange juice.  Pour glaze on cake.  As you can see, the glaze is not the gorgeous white color that it is in the magazine picture.  Does anyone know how to get that beautiful bright glaze color? 

Next time, I would probably use a bundt pan of some sorts.  The sunflower pan has a middle and when I was pouring the glaze, it pooled in the middle of the cake.  When you are finished, you have a beautiful cake that tastes pretty good too!

Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Cakes, icing, In the Kitchen, Jennifer

Anniversary Cupcakes…Completed!

Yay!  The day is here!  The cupcakes for my friend are done and they were a big hit at her anniversary party!  Today I am going to show you the process of putting them together.  This was a super fun project and I cannot wait to try more new things with cupcakes!  I definitely stretched the limit with how many different things you can do to one cupcake, but I think they still looked cute!  I little busy, but still funky and fun.  I was so happy to be able to make these for J on her special day.

First I iced the refrigerated cupcakes (super chocolate with chips recipe…YUM!) with the basic buttercream icing recipe.  One batch was enough to cover all of the cupcakes and still have enough to color pink and put the dollop on the top.  After I put the white icing on, I dipped the top of the cupcake into white sugar sprinkles.  Just make sure to put enough of the sprinkles in a bowl and dip the cupcake top in before the icing hardens.

Next I placed the pink icing I colored into a piping bag with a decorative tip.  Anything with a larger opening will do.  I made a quick pink swirl on the top of each cupcake.  It is so tempting to just swipe those right off with your finger and eat them!

After I put the “cherry on top” I CAREFULLY placed a candy heart in the middle of each cake, gently pushing the long bottom into the cake like a pick.  These are incredibly fragile, so be gentle!

I then put each of the “D and J” fondant pieces on each cupcake, making sure it didn’t over crowd the candy hearts too much! 

Last, but most certainly not least, came the homemade cupcake wrappers!  How FUN!  These were such a blast to make and I think they came out so cute!  I placed them in a white cake box (with a cardboard piece in the bottom) for transport.  The only thing that I really had to learn with this project: make sure your cupcakes aren’t too tall when they are finished!  The hearts were already pushing on the top of the box and then when I had to slam on the breaks on my way to dinner….at least 1/3 of the heart pieces broke.  The great heartbreak of 2010.  So sad…but the ones that were still together were still awesome.

Happy Anniversary D and J!!!

Tags: anniversary, buttercream, Cupcake Toppers, Cupcakes, Hearts, icing, sprinkles

Super Mario Bros Cake

Today marks the completion of my most elaborate cake yet!  I had such an awesome time working on this!  The creation went off really without a hitch.  I did burn one cake because I forgot to put the timer on.  This, of course, went in the trash.  I also made several fondant pieces in advance but did not put them to dry on a curved surface.  I had a feeling this would be a problem, but tried anyway.  The result was a whole lotta fondant that was flat and stiff as a board.  With the inability to flex around the curved edges of the cake, it went in the trash too.  I am still a little worried that Mario might pass out and fall backwards on the cake.  Heat exhaustion maybe!  Really, he is definitely top heavy in the back of his head and I will be very happy to find out that he stays standing all day tomorrow! (see bottom of post for more pictures)

Other than those minor things, it really was an enjoyable experience.  I learned so much about my own abilities and different techniques working with fondant.  I used two different types of fondant – rolled fondant to make the creatures and marshmallow fondant to actually cover the cakes.  I have found that the rolled fondant works much better when it comes to molding things than the marshmallow.  But the marshmallow tastes so much better (in all the opinions of the people I have polled) so I prefer to use it to do the covering.  As usual, I made all of the fondant myself, which I still prefer doing as well.  The extreme heat made it difficult to work with the fondant at times.  I felt like the Cake Boss when the edges of his Empire State Building were falling off in the heat.  My A/C is already working double time with it being 104 degrees outside though, so there was little I could do about it!

I would have to say that Mario was the most difficult to make (go figure, the one I wanted to have the most detail!) and I had the most fun making Yoshi and the mushroom head guys.  My 8 year old was ready and willing at all times to tell me what creatures I should be making, what they should look like, and what I was doing wrong with them!!! :)  Credit is also due to my husband who thought of making the warping pipe (the green thing off to the side).  I had extra cake and didn’t want it to go to waste!  It became a cute way to show that little E is turning 5!

So now that I have sufficiently de-Crisco-d my kitchen, I can officially say I am done!  The cake is ready to go to its Super Mario home tomorrow and I am sure little E will love it.  His mom came over today and she thinks he will too.  That is the most important part and I cannot wait to find out. 

Since I was covered in Crisco every step of the way, I wasn’t able to take pictures of the process.  Probably a good thing since I tried to get the messy parts out of the way while my husband was gone!  The last thing I need is proof of how the place looked!  I will give you a quick run down of how it all went.  We estimated the entire process took about 16 hours from start to finish.  I used:

• 4.5 bags of powdered sugar
• 2 bags of marshmallows
• 1 container of glucose
• .5 containers glycerin
• A LOT of Crisco (makes everything not stick to everything else until you want it to!)
• The equivalent of 4 cake boxes (but I made mine from scratch)
• A lot of icing color
• 1 box of unflavored gelatin
• 12 eggs
• a few cups of oil
• I think that about covers it

I modeled the figures by their colors.  I started with red and made the heads of the mushrooms and the backs of the turtles, etc.  Then picked the next color that I would need on the most things that had red so I could build onto those pieces.  So on, and so forth.  Then I baked the cakes and let them chill before making the icing to top the cake.  I put a crumb layer of buttercream icing on all the layers before putting them together and chilled them until the icing was set.  I then colored and put the marshmallow fondant on top of each layer.  Here is where I built the layers, putting measured and cut plastic dowel rods into the bottom layer which then supported the tiered plastic plate holding the top layer.  After the layers were built I started placing the figures, really wherever they would sit!  By the way, these were all dried by the time I did this.  If I had ten people working for me, I would have tried to do this cake in a matter of hours, unfortunately that is not possible as a one-woman crew!  After it was all done this evening, into the refrigerator it went!

I really do hope little E thinks it is the best cake ever and I hope to get many more opportunities to make such awesome cakes!

I should also say my husband is happy the cake is done because he has felt neglected this week when it comes to my baking.  Apparently, the 36 scones I made him the other day have not been enough to put an end to his baked goods hunger.  Sheesh!

Linking up to:

Tags: Baking, birthday, buttercream, Cakes, fondant, icing, Mario, Marissa, Super Mario Bros

30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 22

  I LOVE raspberry.  Raspberry drinks, raspberries in parfaits, just plain old raspberries out of the plastic container.  I tried pretty hard to find a raspberry cake, with no success.  Lots of cheesecakes and layered desserts with cool whip.  No cakes.  So, I decided to use one of my “from scratch” recipes and put a raspberry twist on it. 

Since a lot of the desserts I found with raspberry in them also involved lemon, I decided to fill the cake with lemon curd.  I heated a small jar of lemon curd, just until spreading consistency, in a small saucepan.  It was just the right amount of filling for the middle of this cake.

Not one to waste materials, I used my marshmallow fondant from yesterday for the topping.  I cut squares out of the fondant using a cookie cutter.  After they were cut I dipped them in sprinkles and made a checker pattern on top.  For the side I used the lemon buttercream icing that I also covered the whole cake with (not the filling) for a crumb layer.  There is a reason why I am only showing you the top of the cake though and that is because it does not look pretty everywhere else!  I didn’t take any special measures like piping a trim around the edges of the cake to make a smooth transition from fondant to buttercream.  Since you are the only people who are going to see it, I didn’t think it would matter much!

I am not going to taste this dessert tonight because I am going to wait until my husband can share in it with me!  I’ll let you know how it tastes tomorrow!

Raspberry Lemon Cake

• 2 1/3 c. unbleached flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/2 c. oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 c. raspberry syrup (I buy mine from Starbucks)

Lemon Buttercream Icing

• 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp milk

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Mix in oil, then eggs, then milk, then raspberry syrup, mixing only until blended each time.  Our batter into 2 greased 8” round pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Spread lemon curd as filling in between cake layers and top with lemon icing.

For lemon icing: cream together shortening and butter. Add lemon juice.  Mix in powdered sugar until well blended.  Add milk until you reach desired consistency.

******UPDATE*******

The raspberry cake was actually pretty good!  I finally tried it today and was presently surprised by its tastiness!  I am, however, torn on whether I LOVE the lemon curd filling, or HATE it! :)  I think I probably prefer the cake all by itself, so next time I will be putting them in cupcake form with a simple cream cheese icing on top.

Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Cakes, icing, Marissa

30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 21

 The Great Chocolate Melt of 2010!  Today was what I would pretty much call a dud.  I wanted to continue with my “technique” work.  Turns out it didn’t work so well.  For the sake of ease and productivity, I used the cupcakes I had previously frozen from the pink and green day.  After I defrosted them I covered them with store bought cream cheese icing. Tough, I know!

The special part of today was supposed to be the toppers for the cupcakes.  I thought I would practice free form chocolate melting.  I went online and found a bunch of typical clipart pictures.  Things like shells, hearts, animals, stars, etc.  I printed the pictures out on a couple pieces of paper and taped them to a cookie sheet.  Over the top of the pictures I taped a piece of wax paper.  The idea was that I would trace the outlines of the shapes with a piping bag filled with chocolate, creating the shape to put on the cupcake.  Easy enough, right? 

Well, the chocolate melting went fine.  The tracing even went fine after I practiced a bit (I do not have the steadiest hand for details like that).  I chilled the chocolates and took them out to put on the cupcakes.  I literally could not get more than one on a cupcake before they all started melting!!!  I tried sticking my hands in ice to keep them cold.  I put the spatula on ice that I was pulling them up with.  It didn’t matter.  Even when I perfected the method to get them off the cookie sheet and onto the cupcake, they still continued to melt.

I think the best thing to do to try to remedy this would be put the ICED cupcakes in the fridge before ever putting the chocolate on.  That way, the chocolate will stay cold as soon as it touches the cupcake.  But still, doesn’t that mean the cupcakes will ALWAYS have to be cold?  Won’t the chocolate still melt as soon as you take it out to sit for an event?  Anyone have the answers for me?

I am also attributing the melting to the fact that the chocolate is so thin.  But that is the whole point of the free form melting.  Oh well.  As you can see in the pics, the chocolate pieces I tried to stand on their ends melted and kind of flopped over.  If I laid them flat on the cupcake it seemed to work better…for the most part!

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Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Cakes, chocolate, Cupcakes, frosting, icing, Marissa

30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 20

 I took a departure from baking again today to do some more decorating practice.  I have a friend whose son is having a birthday soon and she asked me to make the cake.  Her boy is a fan of the Mario Bros and is having a party with that theme.  Since I have never made Mario Bros figures before, I thought this would be a good place to practice.

Please ignore the colors!  This was a practice in MOLDING not in COLORING!  I really didn’t want to waste my icing colors on pieces that will never actually get to sit on a cake.  Especially since these need to be some pretty intense colors.  Bright red not pink, beige not brown (skin), black not blue (Bullet Bill) and I know Mario’s hair should be darker.  Those of you who color icing, you know how much it takes to make black and bright red!  So for all intensive purposes…pretend!

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For the most part it was just a matter of shaping the figures by rolling the fondant into balls and molding it the right way to make it look like the character.  I was able to take a few shortcuts.  To make the clouds I used a flower cookie cutter and cut the flower in half.  To make the bullet (which is blue here, not black) I used a football cookie cutter and just cut one end off.  Last but not least, of course, a square cookie cutter for the question mark block.  I know Mario looks like a monkey disguised as a trucker.  In my defense, I had problems with the fondant being a little too malleable when I made him.  The balls that create his head and body kept sinking and making him way too short and fat. Easily remedied, but I wasn’t going to redo him tonight!

Overall, I am pretty happy with the little buggers and glad the first time making them went so well!  I know I need to get some play doh to practice or something, but a lot of my issues are usually just in how to make the FONDANT do what I want it to do.  It would be pointless to practice with something else that doesn’t act the exact same way.

Tags: Cake Decorating, Cakes, fondant, icing, Marissa