Sweet Escape Baking

Just A Girl…Who Loves to Bake

Posts Tagged birthday

A Questionable Birthday

May 14

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Chocolate Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

I really enjoyed making this cake for a few reasons. The first being the challenge of the interesting shape, a new favorite that I will definitely try again. I baked the cakes in square pans and used circle cookie cutters to cut out the edges. It gives the cake a unique shape and adds depth to a usual present themed cake.

The second reason was the challenge of creating question marks for the cake. At first, I was convinced my alphabet cutters included a question mark, but I was wrong, only a exclamation point. I was ready to throw in the towel until my wonderful boyfriend suggested using the “2″ cutter. I did just that, bending the final product slightly to create the question mark. We debated about the little arm and whether it was correct, but in the end I won out.

After putting the cake together, I was a little worried I had just made The Riddler a birthday cake, but was happy to see I was the only one who noticed the resemblance.

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Backyardigans 1st Birthday Cake

Apr 2

Posted by admin in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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Last week was my sweetest, most adorable, most lovable nephew’s first birthday. Backyardigans is one of the only things that can get that sweet, adorable, and lovable boy to sit still for more than a few minutes, so a cake was requested. I used bakeries cake as my model and created away. While it was a very time consuming cake, I have never been happier to make a cake for any reason.

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Pablo is the little man’s favorite character, and therefore the most difficult one I had to make.backyardigans-4
Look at him holding up the dot that is falling off. Yes, I did that on purpose!backyardigans-5backyardigans-6backyardigans-7
A view from the top. I’m very proud of that bow, the nicest one I’ve been able to make. I’m definitely going to keep making small bows just like this!backyardigans-8
backyardigans-9backyardigans-10I used a white cake and dyed each of the three recipes blue, yellow, and green respectively. Then I used the same technique as the rainbow cake for M’s birthday cake. Finally, I filled the cake with the most delicious chocolate frosting. I am convinced every cake needs this frosting from now on.
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Foofa Cake

Jan 30

Posted by admin in Cakes, baking | No Comments

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This week I created a cake designed around the character Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba. I created the character out of marshmallow treats and modeling chocolate.
I made the marshmallow treats and modeling chocolate from scratch. The modeling chocolate was not the right consistency and that caused some problems, including getting the character as smooth as possible and making the arms look normal. I will buy the chocolate recommended by Chris Rossum and his team from my class at the NY Cake Convention to see if it makes a difference.

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The cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I covered it in white fondant and decorated with flowers and butterflies. Overall, I think it turned out great.

I’m looking into taking Wilton classes at my local Michael’s because I want to get the techniques a little more perfected, specifically getting my cakes to lay flat when I tier them.

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A Lucky 30th

Aug 12

Posted by alissa in Cakes, baking | 2 Comments

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The boy’s big brother had a milestone birthday last weekend and I had yet another chance to try my skills at cake making.
A set of dice was requested because of an upcoming trip to Atlantic City. I got to thinking, and was excited to make a cake that represented something fun and playful.

An exciting trip to the cake decorating store with Shirlene and Luka (I’m determined to make his first work “cake”) ended with already dyed red fondant and some really cool chocolate molds.
The next day I got to work with the assistance of Alicia, who was interested in seeing how a cake was put together after I made her this. We rolled, molded, cut, and generally just made a mess out of my kitchen.
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of cake shows on TV (Cake BossandAmazing Wedding Cakes) and have noticed that after they crumb coat the cake they use a pastry bag, or ziploc in my case, to add an even layer of frosting around the edges. After trying this on the last two cakes I have made I have found that it makes covering the cakes easier and allows a bigger buffer zone between the fondant and the cake. Anyway, who doesn’t love extra icing.frosting
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I seemed to have a lot of trouble with the red fondant. At times it was too soft and I would stick my fingers through, other times it was too dry and it would crack. Does anyone have similar problems with pre-colored red fondant?

We finally managed to cover the cakes (one was a mess, but strategically placed chocolate playing cards helped) and decorate with molded chocolate.
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Overall it was a success. Especially the eating part of the cake. Chocolate Sheet cake from Cooks Illustrated and Cream Cheese Frosting with chocolate chips. I think that combination is my new go-to when making any cake.
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Lastly, I have to thank Alicia for the awesome photos! I’m going to have to invite her over more often so I can get more pictures of the process, however messy it might be.

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Happy Birthday to…

Jul 26

Posted by alissa in Cakes | No Comments

ME!!!
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Is it strange to make your own birthday cake?

Is it stranger to make yourself two birthday cakes?

Well, I’m not sure what the answers to those questions are, but I made myself two wonderful cakes anyway. As it turns out, coming up with ideas for cakes for friends, family, and holidays is a much easier task than deciding on a design for yourself.

After much deliberation, and almost entirely giving up on the idea of having a cake for my birthday, I settled on two relatively simple ideas for myself.

My first cake, I decided to use my lovely giant cupcake pan to create my favorite dessert treat.
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I dyed a bunch of white fondant using fuchsia coloring with the hopes to get a hot pink color but ended up with a purplish pink and only hot pink dyed hands. I used remaining bits of fondant to create some sprinkles and a cherry for the top of my cupcake. Simple decorations, easy to make, and a great look. Overall, the boy and I agreed that the colors were more appropriate for a kids party and that some silver dragees (those cool balls) would have looked even better.
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My second cake, I knew I wanted to attempt a square cake and make it appear to be a nicely wrapped present. I originally was going to cover it in Tiffany blue (which would have gone great with my new earrings, Thanks to Shirlene, Zarko, and Luka!) but I used the same fuchsia color as the bottom of the cupcake. I used a small amount of brown coloring to dye some white fondant cream and created decorations.
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I made another bow, this time opting to stack the ribbons facing the same direction. I got more height but found out it was difficult to finish so I used a ball of fondant as my finisher.
I used little pearls of cream fondant to line the edges of the cake and used strips of the cream as the wrapping of the “present.”

The cake looked great, and my family and I enjoyed eating it, even if there was more than enough for just the four of us. :)
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I am really happy with both of these cakes despite the weirdness of making my own birthday cake(s).

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A Very Special Birthday Cake

Jul 12

Posted by alissa in Cakes | 4 Comments

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My cooperative team teacher….let me rephrase that…my very good friend celebrated her birthday this past week and I promised a cake.

Well, I know a lot of a things about this friend, having been trapped in a classroom with her for more hours than either of us care to recall. When we weren’t standing side by side during what seemed like torture via ten year old’s we were learning about each other.

I know a lot of things. But not all of those things are eligible to make it on top of a cake. So I took the basics to make what I think is my best cake so far, her love of nature and the color green.

Oh yeah…I finally did the two-tiered cake (even if it’s a mini version it still counts).

After my 4th of July meltdown I realized I needed to slow down the process of cake making. Thursday night, I baked a delicious lemon cake (courtesy of Martha), let it cool, frosted it with a lemon zest buttercream and let it sit overnight. Friday, I made the ribbon (green this time!) and the roses.

I am very pleased with the way the roses came out. I have not taken any decorating classes and therefore have no actual skill making fondant flowers. However, I came across rolling fondant and creating roses and I decided that was right up my alley. Turns out I’m pretty good at it and despite being interrupted by my building’s fire alarm, was able to make some great adornments.

Success was mine. And thanks to the birthday girl, everyone eating, working, and possibly passing at the Olive Vine Cafe in Brooklyn last night knows about my skills. :)

-A

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