Rainbow Doodle Birthday Cake I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with feasting, family, and friends. I know we certainly did! We celebrated Easter as well as our little Reese’s 4th birthday. On Saturday we went to “The County,” where Grant grew up, to visit his dad (Grandpa), step-mom Kathy (Grammy), and family at the farm. When Reese first saw the Rainbow Cake on Whisk Kid’s blog, she fell in love with it, and rightfully so–this cake is a kid’s dream come true with its 6 vibrant rainbow-coloured layers and tons of buttercream! I told Kaitlin that I think the fact that she left her buttercream Rainbow Cake white on the outside was complete brilliance and perfectly executed. What I absolutely love about this cake is the element of surprise and the wow-factor, when the first piece is cut and served. Here’s our little birthday girl full of love, laughter, and life . . . Just sitting around being cute and, well, four. An unexpected birthday highlight at the farm was driving Grandpa’s tractor for the first time.
Monday Morning Mmmm: Snickerdoodle Cake — Giving Up on Perfect Thanks for visiting Giving Up on Perfect ! You can find more recipes weekly at Monday Morning Mmmm . And don’t miss another post by subscribing ! I wanted to make something new over the weekend. Since my friends and I would be celebrating a birthday, a special cake (instead of my usual, go-to dessert, brownies from a box) seemed to be in order. I was nervous, not sure if I was up to the task. And it wasn’t. (Finally, I have a reason to get this gorgeous cake plate . Snickerdoodle Cake with Buttercream Frosting 1 package yellow cake mix 1 cup milk 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup applesauce 3 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp cinnamon Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 4 oz. cream cheese 3 1/4 cup powdered sugar 3 tbsp milk 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon Preheat oven to 350. This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday , Tasty Tuesday , Tuesdays at the Table , Tempt My Tummy Tuesday , 33 Shades of Green , Foodie Friday , Friday Firsts , Sweet Tooth Friday and Food on Fridays . share
How To Make Banana Cake I’ve had plenty of banana bread in my day. But it always seems like more of a cold weather food. Go figure, a tropical fruit that makes a cold weather bread. Doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it is. This cake, though, is lighter than any banana bread I’ve ever had. Ingredients 2 cups sugar ½ cup butter (1 stick) 2 egg yolks 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 3 crushed bananas 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 egg whites, beaten Metric conversion (estimate) 500 g sugar 60 g butter 2 egg yolks 375 g all-purpose flour 7 g baking powder 4.7 g baking soda 2.4 g salt 235 ml milk 3 crushed bananas 5 ml vanilla 2 egg whites, beaten Directions Combine the sugar and butter and beat on low speed until completely combined. Add the egg yolks and beat on high speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt — and whisk thoroughly. And that’s it. Loading ...
Zebra Cake | The Whimsical Cupcake Animal prints is something I never really got behind. It was something that I only saw on 75 year old blue-haired ladies that are way cooler than me or on kids who looked like walking cheetahs. Not really the look I go for. Lately everywhere I look, there’s something with some form of animal print on it and I find myself liking it. I’m not sure what kind of demographic I reach out there in internet land, animal print lovers or haters, but I’m sure your love or hatred won’t apply to this cake. I said it. This is a simple cake needs no pillowy frostings, no fancy ganaches, and no whippy creams. Zebra CakeAdapted from King Arthur Flour Yields one 9″ or 8″ round cake Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar 4 large eggs 1 cup milk (whole, 2% or 1%) 1 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons Double Dutched Dark Cocoa Directions: 1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. 5) Now for the stripes. Like this:
Lemon in the limelight: taking a break from chocolate. I’m continually surprised at the number of folks here at King Arthur Flour who DON’T immediately reach for the “chocolate-whatever” when we’re serving treats. I mean, chocolate is so ever-present, so in-your-face. Every restaurant menu has an assortment of chocolate desserts, one of which will inevitably be prefaced by “decadent.” Strolling the cookie aisle at the supermarket brings you from Oreos to Chips Ahoy to Mallomars, Chocolate Pinwheels, and Milano cookies, to name just a few. And then there’s the whole sub-set of brownies. And hot fudge sundaes. Still, there are those who actually prefer a good peanut butter cookie or Snickerdoodle to a chocolate chipper. I recently made a birthday cake for my 88-year-old mother-in-law. Surprise! And the cake verdict? With Christmas just around the corner, I’ll be making this cake again in a couple of days. Thanks to Maida Heatter, doyenne of cakes (and desserts in general), for this recipe. This recipe is simple as simple can be. Like this.
Crêpes Cake with Chocolate Meringue Frosting This cake is insane! I love it. But first, let me set it up. I’m a wuss. I first came across the idea of making a cake out of crêpes back in 2005 while reading a copy of House Beautiful (yes, House Beautiful. As I stood in my kitchen I was excited. So, as I thought about what I do for my next blog entry, I found myself debating whether I should reattempt what has come to be known as The Great Crêpes Cake Disaster of 2005. Devil Figure: He can’t do it. Angel Figure: Yeah, that was a while ago. Devil Figure: Ok, don’t blame me if he embarrasses himself and us. With doubt bouncing around in my head, I decided to try it again. With a plan in hand I set out to make ‘The Great Crêpes Cake Disaster of 2005. The cake has a rich and chocolaty flavor (the icing alone, makes it a dream). The second little surprise comes from the first bite. In my humble opinion, this cake is just a beautiful marriage of flavors and textures. I hope you enjoy it! For Crepes (adapted from Lady M Mille Cake Boutique):
Vertical Layer Cake Tutorial I really need to preface this tutorial with... I am sorry. I am SURE there are easier ways to do a Vertical Layer Cake. But I was being a brat for my birthday. I wanted real cake, and not sponge cake. I wanted two different flavors. I wanted massive amounts of frosting. Hence, I bucked every traditional mold I had seen for a vertical layer cake and made my own. Sorry. The second time making the cake I was surprised by how quickly everything went. Huh. Anywho... Here is an important step... I then placed the cut parts together. The reason I do this is: 1. 2. 3. If you have a 5in deep cake pan and can successfully bake a 5in cake then just do that! Now! We will begin to cut out our layers! I simply used a cardboard cake round as my guide. I am now going to cut off the outside circle. Place the template back on the cake. Follow the template as close as you can. You are going to do this with BOTH cakes. Now I cut off another circle and started the process again. Do this to both cakes. 1. 2. 3.
Leprechaun Trap Cake This may look like a perfectly innocent cake meant to lure a leprechaun to the top but it has a few secrets. Secret #1: Beneath the pile of gold coins are fragile bars, when the leprechaun approaches to grab the coins he’ll fall into the pit and be trapped. Secret #2: There is a rainbow hiding inside the cake. The leprechaun will discover this as he eats his way to freedom. Have you heard of Leprechaun traps? I hadn’t encountered these until this year, and I am completely charmed by them. I decided that my angel food cake pan, with the hole in the middles, would make an excellent shape for a leprechaun trap. To read the complete how-to for this cake please click on MORE. To form the rainbow in this cake I used the method shown here at Omnomicon which is very simple — separate your cake batter, color each section, then pour it into your cake pan one color on top of the next. So this is what I did. This makes for pretty dishes. First pour the larger amount of white batter into the pan. Notes:
Rainbow Cake For Cake: 2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces) 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature 2 teaspoons almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces) 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon table salt 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring For Frosting/Filling: 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar 10 large egg whites 2 pounds (8 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, softened 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 pound best-quality white chocolate, melted and cooled Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your cake pans by first liberally buttering the pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Butter the rounds and set aside. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended. Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes.