Vanilla Cake + Chocolate Hazelnut Filling + Chocolate Frosting =

Happy Birthday to my sister, Lauren!!

After I started taking my cake decorating classes, my sister asked if I would make (and decorate, of course) a cake for her birthday. Of course I said yes! Then she saw the drunk clown cake and demanded that a drunk clown grace the top of her cake. Haha, okay, of course that can be done! Err, so I thought. I was pretty pressed for time yesterday as I was trying to run errands and get packed for vacation (incidentally, this post is brought to you courtesy of Charlotte Douglas Airport :)). I didn’t want to chance a clown catastrophe, so instead I gave her a cake of crooked writing and a martini glass. That’s drunk, right?

Oh, and I added polka dots to the sides:

When I asked what flavors she wanted she said a yellow cake, chocolate frosting, and some type of hazelnut-flavored filling. The cake is a classic yellow cake, made using the Fluffy Yellow Cake recipe from Cook’s Illustrated (recipes for the cake, filling, and frosting follow below). I decided to torte the layers for a more “sophisticated” cake, and between them is a very thin layer of chocolate frosting topped with a hazelnut ganache.

I was really happy with this cake except that I would have poured the ganache into the cake and let it set there instead of at room temperature, as it got a little too hard and was nearly impossible to work with between the cake layers. Everyone thought that the flavors of the cake were great, and said it was really rich, so if you want to make something a little less rich, I would suggest not torting the layers and instead going with a traditional 2-layer cake.

TWD: Fluted Polenta Ricotta Cake

This week’s recipe selection comes to us from Caitlin over at Engineer Baker. I have to be completely honest - at first glance, this recipe didn’t seem all that appealing to me, but my mom and grandma thought it sounded fantastic, so I decided to make it and give it to them to enjoy. As I was putting the cake together, it smelled absolutely fabulous! Definitely a distinct Mediterranean aroma, and as it baked the smell only got better.

More about the cake and the recipe after the break…

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake Pops

Or, in my case, Cheesecake Truffles.

And squares.

I love cheesecake. It’s my favorite dessert, and I will eat it in just about any form. Rolled in a ball and dipped in chocolate? Bring ‘em on!

More about the challenge, and the recipe, after the break…

Wilton Course 1, Class 4

I “graduated” last night from Wilton Course 1: Discover Cake Decorating. I had so much fun with this class, and was very pleased with my final cake:

When we learned “THE ROSE” last week in class, I was awful. I couldn’t remember which way to hold the tip or spin the flower nail and as a result, well, they weren’t the prettiest So I made a batch of icing for the sole purpose of practicing the rose. I probably made upwards of 40 roses just to practice, and it really did help, as I think I definitely improved! A closer look at the rose spray on my cake:

Last night, in addition to putting together our final cake, we also learned how to make sweet peas and leaves. I loved them both! The sweet peas are so cute and the leaves were a lot of fun to make. A close up of one of my sweet peas:

I have already signed up for Course 2 and will be starting when we get back from vacation in a few weeks (the instructor was nice enough to push back the start date of the next class so that I only missed the first overview class!). I can’t wait to learn all of the different flowers!

An Anniversary… but no TWD

If you came in search of carrot cake, you’ll have to keep cruising the TWD blogroll because you won’t find any around these parts today. Today is our 2-year wedding anniversary. These last two years have absolutely flown by, and yet at the same time I can’t believe we’ve only been married for 2 years. It’s hard to remember not living in this house together (which is a good thing!). I honestly couldn’t imagine a sweeter life.

My original plan for today was to use Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake (which we made for the March Daring Baker challenge), but to alter it to mimic our wedding cake, which had a mango filling. I made the mango jam, but then Nick suggested having dinner at my very favorite Italian restaurant. This is where my plan hits a snag. I cannot go there and NOT order tiramisu for dessert. It would just be, well, wrong. The planets may fall out of orbit. And so it goes… I might still make our pseudo wedding cake when we get back from vacation, but tonight it’s going to be all about the Italian and the tiramisu.

Not to leave you totally disappointed, here’s a picture of our wedding cake (white cake, mango filling, vanilla buttercream icing), which I loved to look at, loved to eat, and for which we received many compliments. Happy Tuesday everyone!

LiveSTRONG with Cheddar Corn Chowder

When I saw that winoesandfoodies.com was hosting the LiveSTRONG blogging event, I knew immediately that I wanted to participate. The only problem was trying to figure out what I wanted to make that was yellow! This blogging event is something a little extra special in the blogging community and was created to remember how cancer affects each and every one of us, to remember those loved ones that are no longer with us, support those still fighting, and celebrate with those who have won the fight.

The A Taste of Yellow blogging event invites food bloggers to make yellow food (and blog about it) to show our support for LiveSTRONG Day 2008, which is on May 13, 2008. My entry is submitted in memory of my dad, David, who lost his battle with cancer of the blood on April 4, 1999.

His story and Cheddar Corn Chowder after the break…

Wilton Course 1, Class 3

Ahh, the clown cake. I realize that I have great difficulty keep my tip straight up and down and as a result, my clown looks a little drunk. HA. My cake is kind of a mish mash of all the different techniques we learned last night - of course the clown, two different types of drop flowers, dots, and the shell border (oh and writing, since we learned that last week but I didn’t use it on last week’s cake). I wish I had more of a creative mind - the cakes that a couple of women made were just beautiful! I’ll have to work on that. Or just buy a book of ideas

Some more pictures:

(closer shot of my shell border)

(close ups of two drop flowers that I made)

TWD: Marshmallows

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was chosen by Judy over at Judy’s Gross Eats. She chose homemade marshmallows, which were surprisingly quick and easy to make! I had just caught a segment on the Martha Stewart Show not too long ago on which they were making homemade marshmallows. It didn’t seem all that hard, but I probably would have never taken the initiative to try them myself if this Dorie recipe hadn’t been chosen, so thank you Judy!

These marshmallows turned out lighter and fluffier than any store-bought marshmallow that I have had in the past, and were completed with minimal effort. It took me less than 30 minutes from the time I started prepping the pan until the marshmallow mixture was poured in to set. That’s not too bad! I’m thinking that this year in place of my customary Christmas tins for friends and family, I might do some homemade cocoa mix with homemade marshmallows.

Be sure to check out the blogroll on the Tuesdays With Dorie blog to see all of the other marshmallow creations!

Last week: Fresh Orange Cream Tart
Next week: I am taking a pass on TWD and will be *attempting* a cake for our anniversary (that happens to fall on Tuesday) that mimics our wedding cake (at least in flavor!).

Marshmallow-making tips and the recipe after the break…

Wilton Course I, Class 2

For our second class we were to bring in a baked cake (either one high layer or two separate layers), a filling, a ton of icing, and all of our tools. We started out by learning and practicing stars, curved lines, tight zigzags, and writing in print and cursive.

After we got warmed up we leveled the top of the cake and then torted it (I made an 8×3 cake so that I could practice both the leveling and torting). I think my favorite part of this class, even more than the decoration, was creating a cake that was so level and straight with layers so even. Who knew a $3 cake leveler could do so much?! Once the cakes were torted, we piped a “dam” barrier around the outside of the bottom layer and then filled it (I used raspberry jam). We put the top layer on and iced the entire cake. Wow, a turntable can make a world of difference! Hello smooth sides!

We did not have to make the “Rainbow Cake” as we were able to bring in cookie cutters to imprint a design of our choice onto the cake and fill it in. I chose a spring-like flower, and then practiced my tight zigzag around the top border and a crinkled star around the bottom border.

(I had some bad lighting when I came home last night and the cake didn’t last until today without a sliver being taken out of it, but you can envision an entire cake ;-))

Next week we make the “Clown Cake” and learn and practice the… duh duh duh… ROSE!

I’m loving this class and can’t wait until next week! I’m actually toying with the idea of making a cake JUST to decorate between now and then

I am a Hero… A CUPCAKE HERO

This was my first month entering the Cupcake Hero event over at quirky cupcake because, well, truth be told, I don’t consider myself very good at being creative in the kitchen. I can follow a recipe to a T, but when it comes down to creating something on my own I don’t feel very confident in my abilities (or my creativity). So imagine my shock when I open the round up and see that I’ve actually won!

The cupcake that I submitted was an Ambrosia Cupcake. This was created to adapt the popular salad that includes fruit cocktail, miniature marshmallows, coconut, and Cool Whip. We always had it a lot growing up, and it was one of the first things that I thought of when I thought of marshmallows!

I’m so very excited to get a tshirt with the ubiqitous Cupcake Hero logo on it, and will be sure to model it for everyone!

Head on over to the Cupcake Hero roundup to see what 51 (awesome turnout!) other people did with marshmallows and cupcakes!