This Cake Has Gone to the Dogs...Literally

As you might have read in my early posts, we own a very sweet greyhound named Lina. We adopted her from Austin Greyhound Adoption (AGA), an organization that rescues retired racing greyhounds and tries to place them in a well-matched forever home. If you're looking for a sweet, smart, quiet and low-energy dog, then I highly recommend adopting a greyhound.

Recently, Austin Greyhound Adoption celebrated their fourth year of helping the hounds, so they decided to throw a birthday bash at Austin's Zoom Room (an indoor dog playground/training facility). My husband Ryan and I enjoy donating our time and talents to AGA, so he volunteered to shoot photos (these are his photos) and I offered to bake treat biscuits (greyhound- and bone-shaped sugar cookies) and a birthday cake for the greyhounds to enjoy.

Happy 4th Birthday AGA!

Lina enjoys some cake, well, the peanut butter part at least.

For the dog cake, I wanted to use healthy human ingredients but designed with dog dietary needs in mind, and also, no meat so that it doesn't need constant refrigeration. I found a recipe for a dog carrot cake which uses a few simple and inexpensive ingredients. The  cake itself consists of nothing more than carrots, eggs, unsweetened applesauce, oats and flour. The cake filling is just peanut butter and the outside of the cake is iced with plain instant mashed potatoes. It was pretty simple to make and it's even people friendly, although you wouldn't want to eat it because it tastes like dry and bland carrot bread (yes, I tried a bite of the dog cake for quality control).

A greyhound pup gobbles down his slice of cake

The cake was a hit with most of hounds, but we discovered that Lina doesn't like carrots and would only lick the peanut butter filling out of her piece of cake. That was shocking since Lina will eat anything and everything. Also, I think I created some confusion with my choice of baked goods because I had several people requesting a piece of cake for themselves and wanting a cookie for their dog.

All in all, the party was a blast and AGA raised some money through the silent auction as well as donations, all of which goes to helping the hounds. May they have many more birthdays and rescued greyhounds in their future.

If you would like to donate to AGA or if you're interested in greyhound adoption, visit http://www.austingreyhounds.org.

This greyhound is a true party animal. Roooooo!

Did Somebunny Say Cake?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. We had nice weather to enjoy the holiday with good friends and family. I thought I'd make things a little sweeter with a fun little bunny cake made of chocolate cake filled with vanilla buttercream and topped with chocolate ganache. I decorated the top with a fondant bunny sitting in a patch of buttercream grass. He's surrounded by fondant easter eggs and half-eaten carrots (because hard-working Easter bunnies deserve a treat too). The sides of the cake were decorated with fondant diamonds brightly painted with close-up images of bunny parts, including the face, feet, nose and a fuzzy-tailed bunny butt. I can't help but have a bit of humor in my creations and you just can't help but giggle at a bunny butt. Hoppy Easter!

Who's Your Crawdaddy?

I bet you thought I forgot all about this blog, didn't you? I know it's been a while, but I took a short baking hiatus after all that holiday baking and everyone (temporarily) going on a New Year's health kick. Now I'm back and boy have I been busy! Prepare for an onslaught of blog posts starting with this one. Enjoy!

Every Spring, there is a joyous and magical time called crawfish season and it is a small obsession of mine. If you are unfamiliar with crawfish (aka crawdads, crayfish, mudbugs), they look like mini lobsters and taste like awesome. During crawfish season, people buy big bags of live crawfish and host a boil. You pour the crawfish into a big pot of boiling water, cajun seasoning, potatoes and corn until ready, then dump the goodies onto newspaper-covered tables and get your grub on. I know crawfish look kind of alien and creepy, and yes, the eating process is a tad violent, what with having to split their tails open and sucking out their brains like a cajun zombie. You have to trust me though, you'll get over it and never look back.
 
 Anyhow, our friend Michael decided to host such a party and so I decided to bake a bunch of festive crawfish-shaped sugar cookies in honor of the annual sacrifice these tasty little guys endure. No animals were harmed in the making of these cookies. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the ones in the boiling pot. But their so damn delicious!

A Slice of Joe

My parents LOVE coffee, so naturally, I decided to make them a coffee-flavored cake for their birthdays. Their birthdays are only a few weeks apart, so we usually celebrate them together since it's an hour-and-a-half commute to visit them. This year I made them a vanilla cake with coffee-flavored (and speckled with fine coffee grounds) vanilla icing and small chocolate decorations. Let me tell you, the coffee in there was quite potent. Just smelling it could give you a little caffeine buzz, but that was just how they liked it. Plus, I had plenty of leftover icing to make a batch of coffee cupcakes (cuppa-joe-cakes?) for my friend Jen's birthday that same weekend. I don't know if anyone got any sleep after eating these, but at least they went to bed happy!

Visions of Sugar Cookies Dance in My Head

The Christmas season just begs for baking, especially in Texas since it's finally cool enough to want to turn the oven on. I baked a big batch of snowflake sugar cookies to give as little tokens of gratitude.

I iced the little snowflakes in wintery shades of white and pale blue, then added a few sugar beads to glam them up a bit. I gave a batch to the staff at our veterinarian clinic for keeping our furry family happy and healthy. I also gave some to our dentist's staff (they do eat sugar!), my husband's coworkers,  the lady who cuts our hair and, of course, some for our friends. When the snowflake cookies ran out, I baked a batch of snickerdoodles for anyone else who looked like they might enjoy a cookie. The next batch will be gingersnaps for Christmas Day. I've never made them before, but I do enjoy a good gingersnap with their gingery bite and subtle sweetness. So good with coffee!

So if you expect to run into me in the next few days, remind me to bring a cookie for you too. Happy holidays!

Lemon Curd in the Written Word

I am now officially a published baker! My friends at the newspaper that I used to work for needed a baking story for their holiday guide. Naturally, they asked their former graphic designer, blogger and up-and-coming baker to choose a holiday recipe to write about. I'm always happy to help the old gang, so I gladly accepted.

The hard part was choosing a recipe. It's easy to fall back on the usual holiday treats like sugar cookies, gingerbread or pies but that would be boring and too expected. Besides, people usually already have  recipes for these desserts because they've been made for years as a family tradition. I decided to offer a quick and easy recipe that isn't typical for the holidays but will fit right in and can be served in bite-size portions for parties or full bellies. I chose lemon curd tartlets in an optional no-bake graham cracker crust.

Sure, lemon is reminiscent of summer with its sunny color and citrus taste but that's what makes it such a refreshing alternative during the months of spices, apples and such. Plus, it only takes about 20 minutes to make enough curd to fill dozens of tart shells. The holidays are a busy time so it's nice to have a homemade recipe that is both quick and delicious. You really can't go wrong with lemon curd tartlets!

Wedding cake tiers, not wedding cake tears

Wedding cakes are stressful! My worrisome nature has left me ill equipped to handle the pressure of all of the potential disasters of making a wedding cake. And believe me, my brain has gone over every conceivable cake tragedy that could happen in a one-week time span.

What if I get sick or somehow end up physically unable to bake that week? What if I trip while carrying the cake? What if a stupid driver hits my car while I’m trying to deliver the cake? What if I somehow deliver to the wrong location? What if cake burglars try to steal it? Just kidding, but you get an idea of how my brain has been (mal)functioning all week. I dream cake, I speak cake, I AM cake.

Under Pressure

The upside to such a worrisome nature is that I am extremely careful during every step of the process and I’m prepared to avoid a wide range of ridiculous cake disasters. You might think I’m a bit silly, but it’s hard not to worry when it comes to wedding cakes. Wedding cakes come with higher expectations than most other event cakes. They are more than just dessert, they are symbolic of the wedding couple, a centerpiece for the celebration and immortalized in wedding albums for years to come. If you can’t rise to the occasion, you can ruin the once-in-a-lifetime special event that people spend months (sometimes years) and thousands of dollars planning to perfection. If something happens to their cake mid-delivery, there is no plan B. You can’t just whip up a three-tiered wedding cake in an hour or swing by the store to pick-up a mediocre substitute. It is a scenario that I am happy to have avoided but have feared all week. No pressure!

It's a Nice Day for a Blue Wedding

Phew! The cake is done and delivered safely, so now my nerves can finally unwind and I can now reflect on how happy I am with the results of my very first wedding cake. The cake was done in the style of Wedgwood china and pottery. Wedgwood products are known for their trademark shade of light gray-blue with ornate white detailing, often with a Greek- or Roman-inspired design. It’s a very elegant and luxurious style that has bold visual impact using muted colors.

The cake consisted of three-tiers — a 10-inch white cake on the bottom and 8- and 6-inch chocolate cakes on top. They were filled and iced with vanilla buttercream and decorated with fondant leaves and pearl dragées. As for the trademark Wedgwood blue color, I used Wilton gel paste coloring in Cornflower Blue and it’s almost a perfect match for the shade without having to worry about mixing colors. That’s important when you want to be consistent in color, but have to make more than one batch of buttercream. It can be difficult to duplicate an exact shade when you are blending two different colors on separate occasions.

I’m also finally starting to get better at achieving a smoother buttercream icing. It’s still not quite to the point where it’s so flawless that you can’t tell if it’s fondant or buttercream, but it’s certainly better than when I first started out. It’s harder than it looks and I tend to be a bit obsessive-compulsive about it, so I probably spend way more time on it than I should. I’m determined to get it as smooth as I possibly can, but I’m never quite satisfied with it, so I have to accept my limits at some point or I’ll never finish the cake!

I just hope that I met the expectations of the bride and groom and helped make their wedding day a sweet and memorable occasion. Congratulations to the newlyweds and I look forward to making their first anniversary cake.

Welcome to the Jungle

I love making birthday cakes. They're just so much fun and there are always lots of opportunities to add whimsical details. The latest cake was for a jungle-themed birthday party for a little boy.

I was given artistic license to do whatever I wanted with the design, so long as it went with the theme and the inside of the cake consisted of the ever-popular chocolate and buttercream combo.

I figured what little boy doesn't like monkeys? They're like nature's clowns (hmm, maybe that's why I don't like monkeys). Anyhow, I took off with the monkey idea, which naturally led to bananas. I thought the banana bunches (along with the grass) gave the cake a nice three-dimensional aspect in contrast to the flat monkey and jungle leaves.

It may be a jungle out there, but it's just tasty cake in this jungle.

Nine Sweet Years of Wedded Bliss

My husband and I celebrated our 9th (!?!) anniversary yesterday. I can't believe that we've been married for almost a decade now! It has been a very wonderful nine years and I can't imagine life without such a sweet and loving husband.

To thank him for being such a great companion, I baked him a mini-anniversary cake. It was his favorite, chocolate cake filled with buttercream and draped in ganache. I decorated it with white fondant flowers and leaves, then added sugar pearls around the flower cluster.

Happy anniversary and here's to many more sweet years together!

Year of the Tiger

 I'm honored that I was able to contribute a groom's cake to a very sweet and beautiful wedding. My friend (and ex-coworker) Lauri asked me to make a chocolate cake covered in ganache and surrounded by chocolate-covered strawberries for her soon-to-be husband, Duan. She wanted a tiger because his Chinese zodiac sign is the tiger. Of course, I said I would love to make the cake as my wedding gift to them.

This was the first wedding-related cake I've had to do, so I was a little stressed out about getting it just right and making sure it looked good enough to sit on the wedding cake table. Since I'm relatively new to the cake decorating world, I still get a little nervous about each cake I make but I'm gradually getting much more confident about my abilities. I haven't experienced any big cake problems yet, so I don't know why I tend to get a bit of cake anxiety. I think it's just a personality quirk, but I need to learn to relax and trust my own skills to make a successful cake.

Anyhow, the lovely bride adored the cake and gave me a big thankful hug. The wedding was fantastic— a joyous celebration of love, family and friends. It makes me happy that my little tiger cake was a part of such a beautiful and special day. Congratulations Lauri and Duan!

Happy (Foxy) Birthday to...Me!

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and figured, why not make my own cake? For a while now I've been wanting to make a cake of two of my favorite things: autumn and foxes. I knew just how I wanted it to look, but I needed a reason to make it. My birthday was the perfect opportunity.

The cake is chocolate filled with vanilla buttercream and topped with marshmallow fondant. I then made marshmallow fondant in autumn colors to make the leaves. I used a leaf-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the leaves, then etched in the veins of the leaves and texture on the acorns. I then sculpted a little red fox out of fondant so it can sleep among the leaves.

I adore this cake and still haven't figured out what to do with the fox since I don't have the heart to destroy the cute little guy. I'm just glad that I finally got to make the cake that I've been thinking about for quite some time and it came out just as I'd imagined. Now if only the autumn theme would help usher in some cooler weather and end this scorching-hot Texas summer!

Gotham City Just Got a Little Sweeter

The Lego Batman birthday cake is complete! It was a lot of work, but it was a blast to make. The two-tiered strawberry birthday cake is like a story in itself. A little fondant Lego Batman sits atop the Lego cake, overlooking a sugary Gotham City. Batman's foes have written graffiti all around the fondant buildings. Catwoman's paw prints. Riddler's trademark question marks. Joker was here indeed. Never fear! Batman won't let Joker's antics foil a kid's birthday cake, so he stands vigilant while wishing the birthday boy a happy birthday on a nearby billboard. Knowing that Lego Batman stands watch, I'm sure it was a great birthday after all.

Sock Monkey, That Funky Monkey

I just finished the sock monkey first birthday smash cake, the first of my four upcoming cake projects. I have to admit that I don't really like monkeys and generally find them sort of creepy. I've seen too many movies where monkeys play the villain, take over the world or start epidemics (zombie or otherwise) to find them precious. However, this monkey is a definite exception to the rule. How can you not like a bashful little sock monkey with a birthday hat looking demurely festive? Plus, he tastes like marshmallows! I bet even "Planet of the Apes"-era Charlton Heston would be hard-pressed to call this sweet little guy a dirty ape. Too bad this poor little monkey will soon reach his demise by being smashed by the eager hands of a one-year-old. It's almost like King Kong in reverse. How ironic!

Season of the Cake

August and September have me busy and baking with four different cake requests. They all vary in style, theme and complexity so I'm pretty excited for the challenge. I've posted preliminary sketches of the cakes here and will post photos of the finished products over the next two months.

Sock Monkey Smash Cake

My first cake will be a sock monkey smash cake for a first birthday party this weekend. For those of you who don't know what a smash cake is, it is a small personal birthday cake for a one-year-old to eat as messily as he or she pleases (there is a separate cake for guests). This provides amusing photo opportunities of the birthday kid grabbing fistfuls of cake or eating it face first. I'd never heard of this tradition until I started getting into cake decorating. I must say I kind of like the idea of the cake destruction, but not so much the clean-up afterward. This will be a simple cake filled and iced with buttercream and topped with a fondant sock monkey holding a number one. I think this cake will be a smashing success. Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!

Lego Batman Birthday Cake
I love the concept of this one and I can't wait to get started on it next week. We are still working out the details on the design, but you get the general idea.

This will be a two-tiered strawberry cake covered in marshmallow fondant. The bottom layer will be a fondant skyline of Gotham City with a billboard that says "Happy Birthday". The second tier will either be hand-painted Batman villains, another level of city skyline or perhaps something else. The top of the cake will have Lego-style pegs so that the whole top tier looks like a Lego piece. Also on top will be Lego Batman standing in front of a full moon featuring the Batman symbol. 

I've always loved playing with Legos as a kid (well, okay, as a grown-up too) and I find the Lego video games unbelievably adorable. I had to resist getting too carried away with this design, but I was so inspired by the theme!

Year of the Tiger Groom's Cake

In September, I get to make the groom's cake for my friend's wedding. Earlier this year I did a mini-version of the chocolate cake filled with buttercream and topped with ganache for her to sample and to make sure she liked my design style. The top of the cake is decorated with a thin disc of marshmallow fondant and hand-painted with a Year of the Tiger symbol since that is her soon-to-be-husband's Chinese zodiac sign. That was my first time doing such a cake, so the actual wedding day groom's cake should look even better than this sample one. If I had more experience, I might have offered to do the wedding cake as well. However, I need a LOT more practice before I venture into the realm of flawless and precise wedding cakes.

Black Labrador Birthday Cake

Wrapping up the end of September bring a fun dog-themed birthday cake. Considering how much I love dogs, I was thrilled by the chance to do a cake based on their pet labrador. We are still working out the details of this cake, but it should look something like the sketch. Someday soon I'll make a cake inspired by our adorable greyhound, Lina. I think that will have to be sometime after this busy cake season though.

Snickerdoodles, Macaroons and Other Silly Words

I've had a little cake break recently, which gave me some free time to bake a few non-cake treats. During this time I turned to my personal favorite dessert — cookies. I decided to bake my first-ever batch of snickerdoodles and coconut macaroons and both turned out quite delicious. Maybe a little too delicious. I need to be sure to schedule in some extra treadmill time to undo the cookie snacking. Oh little tasty cookies, you are my dream and my curse...but I love you so!

Snickerdoodles

For the longest time, I didn't even know what a snickerdoodle was and imagined a Snickers candy bar stuffed into cookie dough or something similarly disgusting. In reality, snickerdoodles are fairly simple and not too sweet — basically a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar. However, this recipe was slightly different than a traditional snickerdoodle because it was cakey and had a slight saltiness that blended beautifully with the cookie and balanced out the sweetness. I've always been a fan of the salty/sweet combo (sea salt caramels, chocolate-covered pretzels, etc.), but I'm not sure if others enjoy that sensation in their cookies as much as I do. So if you are a fan of the salty/sweet combo, then I recommend using course salt instead of finer-grained table salt in your cookie recipe. When I want a cookie, I don't normally think of the plain and simple snickerdoodle. However, after tasting this batch, they just might be my first choice.

Coconut Macaroons

I don't often think about coconut, but I always enjoy its unique taste and texture when I happen upon a coconut dessert. I decided to whip up a little batch of coconut macaroons since they seem like such a perfect summer dessert with its tropical vibe. They are surprisingly easy to make, require hardly any ingredients and have kind of a festive feel. You can serve them plain or garnished with chocolate, nuts or both.

Bite My Shiny Metal Face

I recently got a request to make a birthday cake with some sort of Futurama theme. I'm a fan of the show so I was super excited to make this cake. I decided to make a chocolate cake version of Bender's head (the favorite character of the birthday girl). I did this by stacking four 6-inch chocolate cakes plus one mini-layer to create the rounded dome shape on top of the head (all of which are secured by a dowel for stability). Between each cake layer is a layer of vanilla buttercream and the entire head is covered with buttercream as well.

The face and antennae were made from fondant to help give it a sort of three-dimensional feel. I really love this cake and had a blast making it. Unfortunately, the eyes started to crack down the center of the black part when I put them onto the cake. The eyes are kind of heavy, so I carved a little shelf in the cake layer to help support the weight. Pushing the eyes back into the shelf is what caused it to crack. However, the buttercream helped prevent it from cracking any further and is also holding the crack closed. The crack is still visible, but not too bad. I'll have to use extra caution next time.

Surprisingly, it actually wasn't very hard to make this cake compared to some of the other, more detailed cakes I've made. I'll have to make another one sometime or perhaps some other fun Futurama theme. I'm envisioning Nibbler nibbling on a cupcake. Hmm...next time.

A Cupcake a Day Keeps the Dentist Away?

My dentist requested an order of cupcakes for her daughter's birthday. She's only turning two (her daughter, not my dentist) so she wanted a simple mix of chocolate and white funfetti buttercream cupcakes with sprinkles. Done and done! It's a little odd pushing sugar to your dentist, but if the party attendees get cavities then she gets new clients, right? I believe that is called a symbiotic relationship. Just kidding! Being a dentist, I'm sure she'll be handing out toothbrush goody bags or something. Gotta keep up the smiles of the future!

Red (Velvet), White & Blue

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with a patriotic batch of red velvet cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing and festive sprinkles? This was my first  red velvet cake and I was very happy with the flavor and the lovely color.

That being said, I never realized just how much food coloring goes into red velvet cake. Something about that kind of grosses me out despite the fact that it was delicious and a gorgeous color. Plus, that requires two bottles of red food coloring and I don't typically see food coloring sold in individual bottles.

It's surprisingly difficult to find a recipe with a more natural means of providing the red color. Some people use beet juice as an alternative, but I've never tasted a cake using this method so I didn't want to test it at a Fourth of July party. Plus, I don't like beets and wouldn't know what to do with a whole can of them after using just two ounces of juice. Perhaps if I puree two ounces of strawberries or cherries, but I wonder if that would alter the flavor too much. If anyone knows of a better alternative, please share your wisdom with me.

Anyhow, the cupcakes were fun and delicious (even with the food coloring) and were a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Buttercream Trampoline

I had the honor of making my niece's third birthday cake last week. The theme was trampoline because the party was being held at Powersports Gymnastics in College Station and our niece loves to bounce and somersault.

The cake was two-tiers with the top tier made of strawberry funfetti cake and the bottom tier made of white funfetti. Both tiers were filled with strawberries and buttercream and the whole thing was iced in vanilla buttercream. The flowers and butterflies surrounding the cake were made of fondant and gave the cake a very girly and colorful look. The trampoline was made with piped buttercream and a fruit roll-up on the top (can't see that in the photo though) to give it a springy look like a real trampoline. The bouncing birthday girl on the top was made of rice krispy treats and covered in fondant. My niece and her parents loved the cake as did the rest of the birthday party crowd. Hooray! There's nothing like helping to make a birthday party just a little bit sweeter.

Wonder Pets on a Buttercream Adventure

This weekend I completed a fun and very colorful Wonder Pets birthday cake for a friend's daughter. When she asked me to make the cake with this theme, I can honestly say that I was beyond excited. If you've never seen the Wonder Pets children's show then you are missing out on the cutest television show ever. Basically, it follows the adventures of a duck, guinea pig and turtle as they travel in their little red flyboat and solve problems using teamwork. Like I said — adorable beyond words.

The birthday cake was a two-tiered funfetti white cake filled and iced with vanilla buttercream. The boat and the Wonder Pets trio were made of fondant-covered rice krispy treats. It took a while to create the little critters but I'm really happy with the end result. This was my first stacked cake so I was a little nervous about stacking it correctly and having enough weight support. Once I inserted the cake dowels and stacked everything without any problems, I finally relaxed and could easily transport my very stable stacked cake. Phew!

So what was the best part of making this cake? Probably when the birthday girl gave me a big thank you hug for making the cake that she had been anticipating for days. Moments like that are why I love making cakes!

Next weekend I will have a trampoline-themed cake for my niece's third birthday. I can't wait!