Monogrammed Birthday Cake

 

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make an elegant yet simple monogrammed cake. I made this one for my friend Ket.  I used her favorite colors red, pink and gold to match her ultra-feminine style :-) 



After I covered the cake with rolled fondant, I measured halfway up the sides of the cake and marked it with paring knife. I mixed together some red food coloring and a little bit vodka then applied it to the bottom half of the cake. This is the same painting technique as the one I used for my birthday cake and the mini wedding cake. I added some more vodka to the red food coloring to lighten the color and applied it to the top half of the cake.

I made some fondant scrolls and attached them to the sides of the cake. Some of the scrolls were lined up straight and some were tilted just a little.  I thought it would make for an interesting design but I think it was so subtle that it wasn't even noticeable. Oh well. I still like how it turned out.

My sweet friend Maggie came over to visit while I was decorating this cake so I gave her a quick lesson on how to paint the fondant scrolls. I showed her how to mix together the gold luster dust and vodka then she painted the scrolls with a small paintbrush. She did a fantastic job!

I used the same monogramming technique I used for my cousin's wedding cake. I painted the round plaque with red food coloring before placing the monogram on top. Then I painted the monogram with gold luster dust. 



Voila! The finished cake :-)

The Twilight Cake

With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse out in theaters this week, I thought it was about time that I finally write about the cake I made last month. It was for my dearest friend, Juls. She's the biggest Twilight fan I know and so when her birthday came around this year, I just knew I had to make her this cake. 

Since I'm not too familiar with the Twilight series, I had to do a little bit of research.  I looked at the book covers and tried to figure out how to incorporate all the elements into one cake. The black background was the first thing that jumped out at me so that became the main color of the cake.  I decided to make the symbols on the book covers out of rolled fondant and place them on top of the cake. As for the flavor, there was no debate; it had to be a red velvet cake.



I thought it would be a cool idea to write popular book quotes on the side of the cake. I didn't want to ask Juls because I wanted it to be a surprise so I just searched for them online.  I used a small paintbrush and a mixture of silver luster dust and vodka to write the quotes onto the cake.

Here are some of the book quotes I decided to use:

"And So the lion fell in love with the lamb.
What a stupid lamb.
What a sick masochistic lion."

“If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.”

"I promise to love you forever, every single day forever; will you marry me?"



For the scrollwork pattern, I made fondant scrolls and attached them around the base of the cake. I painted them with the same silver luster dust/vodka mixture as I did with the book quotes.



For the apple, I rolled some fondant into a ball and gently pressed around the top with my thumbs.  To create the stem, I just rolled a tiny piece of fondant and attached it to the top of the apple. I painted it red and brown using Wilton icing colors.



For the ruffled tulip, I used the tools in my Wilton Flower Making Set.  I cut out a piece of rolled fondant and pressed it inside the leaf mold. Then I ruffled the edges using the foam pad and one of the sticks. I made two more petals using the same technique.  For the falling petal, I used a small rose petal cutter. I arranged the petals so they would look just like the ruffled tulip on the New Moon book cover and used a very thin paintbrush to color it red.  For the stem, I just took a skinny piece of fondant and painted it green.



For the ribbon, I took a long piece of rolled fondant and cut it into two pieces.  To create the frayed edge, I used a paring knife and basically dragged the knife across several times.  I shaped the ribbon to look like the Eclipse book cover and then painted it with red food coloring. 



The chess pieces were basically shapes made out of rolled fondant that I stacked on top of each other.  For the pawn, I made three round discs on the bottom, an hourglass for the middle and another round disc and a ball for the top.  The queen was made pretty much the same way except for the crown. I took a strip of rolled fondant and used a rose petal cutter to shape the top of the crown. I wrapped the strip around a ball and placed a tiny ball at the very top. I used my FMM geometrical cutter set to make four white squares for the chessboard. I arranged them in the center of the cake and placed the pawn and the queen across from each other using two of the white squares.



When Juls saw the cake for the first time, she was absolutely blown away. She loved it so much that she couldn't bear the thought of cutting it.  Seriously, she really didn't want to cut her cake.  Eventually, I managed to convince her to finally cut it because I promised her I'd make her an exact replica in a fake cake.  She decided to display her fake Twilight cake on her bookshelf next to her Twilight series :-) 

Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake

For this Valentine's Day, I decided to draw inspiration from another one of my favorites from Hans and Harry Bakery. On a previous post, I shared my homemade version of their famous fresh fruit strudel. This time around, I've created an egg-free version of their equally popular fresh fruit cake.  It's a rich vanilla butter cake layered with Bavarian cream and topped with fresh fruit.

You might have noticed the even though the recipe makes two cake layers, I only have one layer in the photo. My son was hovering around me, smacking his lips and eagerly waiting for this cake.  So I just quickly arranged the fruit on top and let him eat his Valentine's Day cake :-)



Here's another variation of my fresh fruit cake with only strawberries (see, I got to use two cake layers for this one). Feel free to use any fruit you'd like and it doesn't necessarily have to be fresh fruit either.  Sometimes I use frozen fruit (like blueberries or raspberries) and canned fruit (like pineapple and peaches).



Happy Valentine's Day!

Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake
Makes 2 layers (6 1/2 cups of batter)
Allergy Note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients

cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cups butter, melted
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups warm milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

cream:
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon flavored liqueur (optional)

cake syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam 

strawberries, cut in half
mandarin orange segments or peaches
blueberries

for the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, vegetable oil, milk, vinegar and vanilla extract. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix till smooth. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely. Level and trim the top of the cakes.

For the cream:
Using an electric mixer, whisk together instant pudding mix, milk and whipping cream (and flavored liqueur) together until thickened.

For the cake syrup:
Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 to 2 minutes on HIGH. Stir till the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.

To assemble the cake:
Drizzle a little bit of cake syrup over the cake. Spread half of the seedless raspberry jam over the cake.  Spread half of the cream over the cake. Repeat for the second cake layer. Top with fruit. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Quick and Easy Crema de Fruta

My dad asked me if I could come up with a quick and easy recipe for Crema de Fruta so he could try his hand at making it. He's gotten the baking bug recently and wanted to start out with some simple recipes first then work his way up to more challenging ones. So I experimented with a few ingredients and came up with an incredibly effortless version.

As I mentioned on a previous post, crema de fruta is a Filipino dessert that is very popular around the holidays. The traditional version that I posted last year was made with sponge cake and stirred custard. This quick and easy version that I created for my dad is made with vanilla cake mix and instant vanilla pudding mix. Yes, you read that right. Now how can you get any simpler than that?

A lot of my friends and family have quickly embraced this easy recipe because it's pretty much foolproof to make. I have a feeling a lot of them will be making this for their family gatherings in the next couple of weeks. The best part about this recipe is that it will fill two party trays. Hooray!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Quick and Easy Crema de Fruta
Makes about 24 servings
Allergy note: contains eggs, wheat and dairy

cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 cup milk
1 cup oil
4 large eggs

crema:
2 boxes Jello instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
2 cups whipping cream

fruta:
2 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin (1/4 ounce each)
1/2 cup water
2 30-oz. cans fruit cocktail in heavy syrup (DO NOT drain the syrup)


cake:
Mix together cake mix, milk, oil and eggs. Pour into two rectangular aluminum pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

crema:
Using an electric mixer, whisk together instant pudding mix, milk and whipping cream together until thickened. Pour over cake and spread evenly.

fruta:
Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over the water. Let the gelatin absorb the water and expand. Microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the gelatin melts. Mix into the fruit cocktail and pour over the crema.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

My Red Velvet Valentine

To all my red velvet cake fans out there...this one's for you.

What is it about red velvet cake that makes people's hearts go pitter-patter? Is it the rich red hue of the cake? Is it the combination of light chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting? Who knows.
All I know is that ever since I started making this cake, I've pretty much stopped making my other cake flavors. This is the ONLY cake my friends and family ask for over and over again.

What is red velvet cake? Well, my best description would be it's a moist vanilla cake with a hint of chocolate. It's tinted red and typically covered with cream cheese frosting. It's not clear where the cake originated from but it's been very popular in the southern part of the United States for decades. I think the recent buzz surrounding red velvet cake has to do with all the celebrity weddings and the fact that Oprah featured the cake in O magazine.

I started making this cake last year when my cousin asked me if I could make a red velvet cake for his wedding. I tried several recipes from books and online, but I wasn't very happy with any of them. So I finally decided to create my own recipe.

I strayed a little bit away from the traditional ingredients used in red velvet cake, but I found that these changes made a big difference in the taste and texture of the cake. I used butter instead of oil because, honestly, it tasted better. I initially started using buttermilk but I switched to whole milk vanilla yogurt because it was less tangy yet it made the cake just as tender. Lastly, I completely omitted vinegar because I felt that the yogurt had just enough acidity in it for the baking soda to react with.

I hope you and your loved ones fall in love with my red velvet cake just as much as my friends and family did.

Red Velvet Cake
Allergy note: contains eggs, wheat and dairy

1 1/2 cups butter, softened to room temperature*
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 ounce red food coloring (liquid or gel)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract*
3 1/4 cups flour
3 Tbs. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans or line three muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Combine yogurt, red food coloring and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Alternate adding the yogurt mixture and flour mixture into the large bowl. Pour batter into prepared pans or lined muffin pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes (15-20 minutes for cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.

*UPDATE (3/31/10): Instead of vanilla yogurt, I've also tried using 1 1/2 cups whole milk mixed with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and it has worked just as good if not better.
Also, I've discovered that switching from 1 1/2 cup softened butter to 3/4 cup melted butter plus 3/4 cup vegetable oil gave the RV cake a light texture and kept it moist.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

Alllergy Note: contains dairy ingredients
16 oz. (two 8 oz. bars) cream cheese, cold

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened to room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon extract (optional)

7 cups powdered sugar, measure then sift

With the mixer on a low speed, beat the cream cheese and butter till blended. Mix in vanilla and lemon extract. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time. Once all the powdered sugar is added, increase to a higher speed to whip up the frosting till light and fluffy.