Fall Cup Cakes

Category: Cakes > Butter > Cup Cakes > Fall Cup Cakes

I'm really surprised that this is my first time posting about cupcakes - especially given the current popularity of cup cakes. I like cakes because you are given a bigger canvas to work with but you can do some pretty darn fancy things with cupcakes too.

I'm actually becoming more and more of a cup cake fan these days just because I love the portion control in them. I think health is very important and as someone who loves to bake, you have to be really careful about how many of your sweets you eat. I've been thinking about posting about this topic for some time and I just might. Hehe, but today's post is about cup cakes - Fall Cup Cakes.

Anyways, the real reason I made these up was just as I stated a few posts back. I had left over buttercream icing and fondant I wanted to use up. So I baked up a batch of plain yellow cup cakes.

I had almond flavor red, orange, and brown left over from the Fall Cake so it was a no brainer that these would be Fall themed cup cakes. I even threw in a few Halloween ones.

These are plain star tipped orange, red, and brown cup cakes. The one in the upper corner is a Halloween one. I have a close up of it below.



This is a mixed group. Yes, those are suppose to be pumpkin faces but I wasn't too pleased with them. One has a red leaf on it and the other two are multiple colored star tipped cup cakes.



After I ran out of all the almond flavored red, orange and brown, I pulled out the little bit of remaining mint chocolate icing I had. I also used some new mini fall cut outs to cut out some fondant acorns and leaves.



This is the close up of the Halloween spider web cup cake. I think it turned out pretty cute and I could see myself makes a whole batch of just these for Halloween!



Oh and while I'm thinking about it - tip when using mint extract. Use less of it than you would of other flavors. I used 1 tsp. and it made the icing a bit too minty. 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. would have been much better.

Fall Cake

Category: Cakes > Butter > Decorated > Fall Cake

Last week there was a pot luck lunch at church which my grandmother was going to attend. My mom asked me to make a cake for the event. I decided "Fall" was going to be my theme. I sat around for a little while before brainstorming this idea. I was really pleased with how it came out.

Everyone suggested leaves and stuff to decorate the cake but I really didn't want to bust out the gumpaste and do anything that fancy. I just wanted to make a pretty plain old buttercream icing cake. This cake was Triple Chocolate Fudge with chocolate pudding filling. It was covered with almond buttercream icing (pretty much because I already had some made up that I wanted to use ><)

Marble Cake

Category: Cakes > Butter > Marble Cake

So, what is a marble cake? A marble cake is a yellow/white cake mixed with a chocolate cake. They are mixed together in a swirling fashion that makes the cake resemble marble. Hence the name.

It is similar to a checkerboard cake in that it is a good choice for people who love both yellow and chocolate cake and can't make up their mind. Plus, it looks really cool with you cut into it.

Baked Marble Cake:





If you purchase a Marble Cake cake mix, you will get a packet of yellow cake mix and a smaller packet of chocolate cocoa. You make the yellow cake up like normal. Then you take a cup of the yellow cake and put it into a smaller bowl and mix the cocoa with it. You pour the yellow cake into your cake pan, spoon the chocolate batter on top of the yellow cake and then use a knife to swirl/cut/mix the two.

If you didn't have a marble cake mix, but are just dieing for a marble cake, you can mix a regular yellow cake up and just mix a cup of the batter with about 1 cup cocoa powder. Basically the same thing!

These are marble cupcakes that I covered with almond buttercream, followed by almond fondant and topped with little royal icing flowers.

Halloween Cake

Category: Cakes > Butter > Decorated > Halloween Cake

I had left over fondant from the pillow cake that I wanted to use up. I decided to add some orange to the "ivory" to make a nicer orange and use it with the purple for a Halloween Cake.

I used closed cookie cutters for the cut outs on the cake. The reason they are as thick as they are is because if the fondant wasn't that thick the imprint didn't appear.

The cake itself is a devil's food cake with chocolate mint buttercream icing. The cake tastes like a Girl Scout "Thin Mint" cookie.





I still have a little purple fondant left that I'll need to find something to do with. Hmm, I also have left over almond and chocolate mint buttercream icing. Maybe I'll make up a batch of cupcakes to use all the icings up.

Pillow Cake

Category: Cakes > Butter > Decorated > Pillow Cake

I received a free copy of the 2010 Wilton's Yearbook because I signed up for their new cake decorating class. One of the cakes pictured was this three tiered pillow cake. It was amazingly cool. I purchased a set of the pillow pans and wanted to try my hand at making the cake. I decided to only make the smallest tier because who needs all that cake.

I have to admit, it was an ambitious cake to set out to make. It wasn't as easy as the instructions led you to believe. The seams wouldn't stay on the cake despite using a ton of toothpicks to hold it in place. The tassels wouldn't form correctly and I had problems getting them to stick as well.

I was disappointed in the shade my "ivory" fondant come out. It was more orange than ivory. I must have used too much food coloring. And the dusting powder they suggested we use to give stuff a golden shine didn't work as well as I thought it would.

Of course, having made this cake once, I learned a bunch of stuff that I should do different to make the cake look better. I also have a better idea of how the dusting powder really works, as this was my first time using it.

So, this is how it turned out. Not great, but not terrible. The fondant is an almond flavor. The buttercream underneath is also an almond flavor. The cake itself is a marble cake.



Some Tips:

• If you purchase the pillow cake pan set, the smallest pan holds half a cake mix.
  
• When you place the fondant on the top half of the pillow, make it so it over laps and covers the seam. That way, when you put your seam on the side of the cake it doesn't matter if it slips down a little bit.
  
• If you mix some gumpaste with your fondant for the seams and tassels, they will hold their shape better.
  

I want to make this cake again but with only buttercream instead. I am curious how it would turn out!

August Birthday Cake

Category: Cakes > Butter > Decorated

A while back when I was talking about some cakes I made I mentioned making another cake for my father's colleague. The cake I made for my father was the chocolate covered one.

The white cake was made for a neighbor. She came by and asked if I could have a cake ready for her that evening. >< I decided to mirror this design since I didn't really have time to come up with something new at the last minute. I was working the whole day and finished just as she came by to pick the cake up! But it turned out really cute.

Both cakes are dark chocolate fudge with a chocolate mousse filling. It is a really really yummy cake. It is iced with buttercream and the covered with gumpaste flowers. The cakes are exactly the same except the colors are reversed.