Kermaine's Raider Cake

Javier's friend and co-worker, Kermaine, ordered a cake for his brother, Jerry's, birthday. It was a half sheet chocolate cake and he wanted a Raiders theme. At first I was nervous to be honest, but when he sent me a picture of what he wanted, I knew I could do it. This was my first half sheet cake and I was excited to finally find a half sheet pan. I bought it at Surfas Gourmet Restaurant Supply in Culver City. This place has quickly become my go-to for all things cake and bake! Their prices are great and they really do have everything.

I was up super late making this cake so there are only a few pictures of the process. But I was really happy with the cake and Jerry looked pretty happy too. That is what makes me want to do this. Being a part of making someone's special day even more special.

Happy Birthday Jerry and thanks Kermaine!

The finished cake.

I tripled this recipe but should have only doubled it. I had a lot of extra batter.

The base coat at about midnight!

Fondant football and lettering.

The logo is fondant and the man is royal icing. I printed out an outlined image off the internet.

Jerry looking pretty happy :)

Intermediate Cake Class #2: Chocolate Wrapped Cakes

Today was my second Intermediate Cake Class. My first one we learned how to make royal icing flowers but we did not make a cake so I did not have any pictures to share. Tonight was a different story! Pictures galore! We learned how to make chocolate wrapped cakes. It was so much fun and a skill I will surely put to use in the future.

We made two 6" cakes for this class. I decided on chocolate since I was already making a chocolate cake for another cake order. I used the recipe from the America's Test Kitchen CookBook and used good quality Valhrona Dutch Processed Cocoa. This cake came out moist, rich, and oh so tasty! For one cake I put a mango puree filling that I bought, and the other was a Nutella Hazelnut filling.

I chose dark chocolate and a white chocolate discs to use for my cakes. I wanted them to look more elegant and fancy. The first one I made was a swirl design and the second was a flower solid wrap. These were fun and pretty easy to make once you got the process down. I also took pictures of the other student's cakes with my new HTC Aria phone. It takes better pictures than my Canon point and shoot. I would never take Javier's camera to class, it is just too scary for me! I would hate to get frosting or chocolate all over it. Anyway enjoy the pics and let me know if you want a chocolate wrapped cake for a special occasion!

Javier's Amazing Cake Photo Shoot.

The first cake with mango puree.


I was in a hurry that day and did not crumb coat as you can see. But I figured the cake would be covered anyway.

I chose Nutella for this cake since I have a huge jar of it that someone left at one of our parties.

Big jumbo jar of Nutella!

At class, the woman next to me made a Halloween scene for her cake. It was so awesome!

One side of it.

The other graveyard side.

Other students in class making their cakes.

This is how her cakes came out. So pretty!

These were our instructor's cakes.

Another Halloween themed Spider cake. We ate this one, it was chocolate with peanut butter cream cheese. Mmmmmmm!!

My first cake. Came out pretty good!

This was my second cake.

The inside with the hazelnut filling. This cake was awesome! I will be sending them both to work with Javier tomorrow.

Cupcakes Galore!

Javier's job is creating a new business for me. Every week they provide me with lots of orders and this week was cupcakes! His boss ordered 3 dozen for everyone and then his co-worker, Luz ordered another dozen. I ended up making Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes with Cinnamon buttercream, Chocolate Chip cupcakes (Martha Stewart Cupcakes) with my own dark chocolate buttercream, and Red Velvet cupcakes (Martha Stewart Cupcakes) with cream cheese frosting (my own recipe). I have been having a terrible time finding a cream cheese frosting that is pipeable but my brain worked tonight!!! Meringue Powder!!! Cha-ching! Worked like magic, bring on the cream cheese frosting orders! Here are just a few pics of the finish products:

All the cupcakes ready to go!

The Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, red sanding sugar, and white chocolate shavings.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream, chocolate powder, and white chocolate shavings.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with white chips, Dark Chocolate Buttercream , and white sprinkles.

Blondies for a Good Cause

My friend Vanessa asked me to make some treats for the Lakewood Special Olympics Bake Sale. I love the blondie recipe I found on Bakerella's Blog. Every time I make them they are an instant hit, so it was a natural bake sale choice for me. I made a double batch which resulted in 24 generous bars. Vanessa said they sold out by 9am!!! It is something I make a lot so many of these pictures are from previous blondie bakes.

The ultimate gooeyness!!!

Vanessa's pic captured the packaged gooeyness :)
Yeah!!! For good causes!!!! Good luck to all the athletes!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. Every year she always wants the same type of cake for her special day. A vanilla cake with pink buttercream frosting. She says it reminds her of the cakes she used to get from her childhood. So I made it this year. I found a really awesome vanilla white cake recipe in one of my books, so I decided to use it for this cake. I also used the Vanilla Frosting recipe that I am starting to love from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.

I decorated the cake to look a little retro, however the pink came out REALLY PINK! Almost on the neon side. Oh well, at least it tastes great!! Love you mom!

Happy Birthday!!

The layering process

View from the top.

The cake tasted phenomenal!!

Welcome Baby Damian!

This weekend I made another cake for Marisol's baby boy, Damian. This time her sister, Neida ordered it for her family baby shower. I made a chocolate devil's food cake with fresh strawberry filling and whipped cream. I had to make a thick vanilla buttercream to achieve this level of piping. This was one of the biggest cakes I have made yet, 14 inches! This was the first basket weave cake I had made too. I think it came out pretty well. I really liked how the colors came out, so bright and clear.

Filling the inside with strawberries and whipped cream.

Covering with whipped cream.

I was happy how easily the cake took shape without having to do any carving.

The crumb coat.

It has been pretty hard to manage filling an 18" piping bag without an extra pair of hands, so I had an idea! I used a tall container to handle it for me :)

The base coat of frosting.

Practice, practice, practice . . .

Adding a layer of blue icing for the background.

Where it is baby going to go?

Beginning the basketweaving . . .

Halfway there . . .

All done!

And the final product, a view from the top.

Javier had to go to work so I took these pics, all by myself!

With the writing. I thought the cake came out super cute, and Neida was really happy with it.