Happy Birthday Hubby! 2017

My husband recently turned 30 (on the heels of our 2nd wedding anniversary!) so we celebrated with a party at home, and invited plenty of family and good friends. He always requests the same cake (4 years in a row now!) and it's a simple, but delicious ricotta vanilla cake. I typically whip up some fresh cream with a little vanilla extract, and top the frosting with some fresh berries or sliced fruit. My husband doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so he enjoys natural sugars versus artificial flavors.

Recipe link is here!

Smash Cake - The Test Run!

Oh, the ever-so-popular smash cake trend! I had never heard about this until after Giuliana was already here, but since I am a baker at heart, I immediately jumped on board with the concept. If this is relatively new to you, you can read about the trend here!

The idea is fabulous - make (or order) the baby a tiny, beautifully but simply frosted and decorated cake so that he/she can destroy it, or alternatively, eat it with glee while you snap photo after photo!

I am a baker, but also a perfectionist, so two months before G's first birthday party, I just had to try out the recipe to see if the smash cake would be worthy.

In order to make the smash cake, which is typically 4 inches tall, I went to Target to buy three tiny springform pans by the Wilton brand.

They are adorable! I cannot wait to re-use these and make small cheesecakes or even small birthday cakes for people in the future. I can forsee these coming in handy! I just love to make mini, or individualized desserts.

Next up was finding a healthy but fun recipe. I used a cake recipe from the lovely blog, Oh Everything Handmade. I found a fabulous frosting recipe from the uber healthy website, Our Haven Hill.

I made two batches of frosting - one I left white from the cream cheese, and the other I dyed pink using natural dye made from boiling beets (you can find out more about this process here).

Applying the base layer of white frosting.

Using a spatula to get the smoothest finish, since I am too lazy to buy a metal offset spatula to do the job!

Piping flowers/swirls using the Wilton 21 tip.

All piped out and ready to go to the fridge and not melt all over Grandma's kitchen table!

Frosting settling nice and coldly.

Mini Vanilla Bundt Cakes With Chocolate-Amaretto Glaze!

At some point over the last three years, I purchased this adorable mini Bundt cake pan.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Mini-Cavity-Fluted-Pan/dp/B0045Y17JU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432822003&sr=8-2&keywords=mini+bundt+cake+pan

I've used it a grand total of once before this past weekend. To make (of all things) cheesy spinache quiche mini Bundts. Why? No idea.

Last weekend, I FINALLY put it to good use, and made mini vanilla Bundt cakes, and topped them with a chocolate Amaretto glaze.

Recipe: http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2012/06/amaretto-glazed-chocolate-cake.html

Ricotta Yellow Cake!

My boyfriend's favorite cake is Ricotta Yellow Cake. I've made it for him three times, and he always requests it for his birthday. The recipe is very simple, and I always use the same one from Allrecipes. This year I decided to make it in two tiers and decorate with a simple whipped cream frosting and blueberries. Happy 26th my love!

Bake-a-palooza!

Today is a big day - my last day at work (I start a new job next week) and it's also my boyfriend's mom's birthday. I want to go out with a bang, so I went over to Michael's and picked up some adorable colorful Chinese takeout-style boxes, and decided to bake cookies to give to my co-workers.

For my boyfriend's mom, I wanted to create a cake reminiscent of the famous Italian cookie, the rainbow cookie. To do this, I made three separate cake tiers, two vanilla layers and one almond-flavored layer, and colored one layer green and the other red. I sandwiched them with vanilla buttercream in between the layers, and then frosted the whole thing with more vanilla buttercream, and dusted the top with rainbow sprinkles. It's a departure from traditional rainbow cookies to use vanilla frosting (chocolate frosting is normally used) and the rainbow sprinkles were my addition as well (as a play on the name of the cookie).

Finally, the third baked good I made were gluten-free and HCG diet-friendly coconut macaroons. I had never made coconut macaroons before, and I wasn't really a fan of them to begin with, but this 3-ingredient recipe was surprisingly delicious! I will definitely be making them again - they are so easy to make.

Vanilla cake, batter recipe from Annie's Eats!

The dyed cake layers, stacked with vanilla buttercream, recipe also from Annie's Eats!

 

 Cake inspiration: Italian Rainbow Cookies!

Completely frosted and decorated!

Chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and walnuts, recipe from All Recipes!

Coconut macaroons, from HCG Diet Recipes!

The finished product!

Cookie and Cake Sandwiches

My lovely blogging friend Ann has a fantastic blog, At The Patisserie and another one discussing her amazing 11 week service trip to Ghana, Serving in Saboba. I decided to make her recipe for Mocha Choc Chip Cookies and turn them into cookie sandwiches with some leftover whipped cream from my Victoria Sandwich-inspired cake (see below).

Made on 03/10/12.

Variations: I halved the recipe (as I tend to do). To make the filling, I whipped 1 cup of heavy cream with 2 tbsp white sugar, 1 tbsp confectioner's sugar, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Delicious! 

Vanilla Rum Cake Sandwich! From The Pioneer Woman! Made on 03/10/12.

Variations: I made this cake in two pans so as to be able to sandwich them together. The cake halves are vanilla rum flavor, and they are sandwiched with cherry jam. The frosting is whipped cream and topped with blackberries!

One afternoon's worth of baking! Whew!