LL's Sweet Stuff

I had a lot of leftover cake from the new arrival cake I did, so I had to make another cake!  This one I used some of the techniques from some of the Craftsy classes I’ve watched.  It turned out pretty cute, I think!  It’s also a Neapolitan cake filled and iced with Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with fondant.  It took me all afternoon, but I had fun doing it!  My husband appreciates it and will enjoy it when we finally cut into it!

I really wanted to try a tutorial I found for baby sneakers, and needed an occasion to bring them.  A cousin of mine is expecting at the end of June.  Since we were going out together for dinner, I decided to bring a gift-cake  And got to try the baby shoes!  This cake is a Neapolitan cake.  I made each layer separately of chocolate, strawberry and yellow butter.  I tried a new buttercream recipe too!  Swiss meringue buttercream is now my new go-to buttercream!  It hardens in the fridge the same way butter does.  It makes putting fondant on a cake so much easier!  And it tastes heavenly!  Much nicer than the buttercream I have been using.   It reminds me of the buttercream my Tante used to make – I’m thinking Dad will love this one!  My cousins were very happy with the surprise!  They just loved the cake!  Well worth the effort!

I’m so happy with how the inside of the cake looks that I have to show it off!

I made a cake for a family get-together!  This is one I saw online, and really wanted to try it!  I think it’s a cute bunny-butt cake!  :)  What was nice is that my brother and his fiancee were here for Easter dinner as well as my husband’s extended family  He said to his girl “This is the top tier!  I’m even tolerating the goopy stuff in the middle!”  (The goopy stuff being the chocolate mousse I used to fill the chocolate cake – My brother doesn’t like anything that is yogurt-consistency…)  The cake went over really well with my family!

I have watched some videos on how to use royal icing.  I think I’ve finally figured out the proper consistency and ingredients to make royal icing work the way it’s supposed to work.  Yay!  I decided to give piping a try, and I just love butterflies, so I tried making royal icing butterflies.  They turned out pretty.  I needed a cake to put them on, so I made a new chocolate cake recipe (which is delicious!), with a dark chocolate-butter filling, iced in Bailey’s Irish cream buttercream covered in white fondant.  I had a lot of fun making this cake!  I brought it into work to share with my coworkers.  I guess they really enjoyed it since I had to rescue a piece to make sure I brought one home for my husband like I promised him I would!

My husband asked for cupcakes this weekend, so I made strawberry cupcakes with lemon icing.  The lemon is a little sour, but the cupcakes are lovely!  I really like these strawberry cake recipe!

I purchased a set of peony cutters awhile back so I could try making a peony.  I was so pleased with myself that I managed to make one.  I forgot to post about it though!  It turned out splendidly!  I’m annoyed that my dog got at it before I had a chance to make a cake to put it on  Oh well.  Here’s a look at my first peony!

I have been baking, honestly!  I have made several batches of cupcakes with lots of icing done in swirls on top.  Not really practicing for sugar flowers or new recipes.  Will just loves my chocolate Bailey’s icing though!

Anyway, today, I really felt like working on some sugar flowers.  Daisies – just because they’re so darn cute.  And I bought some new butterfly cutters that I thought I’d try.  Painting with food colouring is tough.  I think I will have to do much more practicing with food colour paint before I get myself comfortable enough to put them on a cake I want to display!  Maybe next time I’ll try the colour dust for food.  It’s a much different consistency that may give me more control over the product and end result.  Here’s my attempt!  I’ll be making the cupcakes to put them on tomorrow!

I made a chocolate mint cake for our family Easter get-together.  Unfortunately, due to some forgetfulness on my part, I left the cake at home.  Oops!  So, I brought it to work for my coworkers to enjoy.  Lots of lovely compliments on this cake!  One coworker mentioned that if she were getting married closer to town, she would have me do her wedding cake!  One mentioned that my family really missed out on this cake!  And the best was the last 2 pieces I brought to my husband – “Wow!  That’s the best cake you’ve ever made!  I think it’s the best one I’ve ever eaten!”  The second piece did not last for lunch today…

I made a cake for a cousin’s night. This one is a chocolate cake with a white chocolate filling and Bailey’s Irish cream buttercream. Yum! It turned out so well that both sets of cousins were eager to take a piece of it home for later. I had another cake in the fridge from the same batch, so my hubby had some of the extra too . Glad I’m finding some fantastic recipes to try out for the wedding cake! I did make a little screw up though… I need to remember to wait until my cake is completely cool before I fill and frost it… The top half slid off the bottom on the way to our cousins place. Oh well. At least it tasted wonderful!

After I brought the daisy cake to work, one of my coworkers asked if I would make her one of my practice cakes for her friend’s birthday, and she would pay me for it.  Of course I said yes!  She wanted it for a Thursday, which makes things tough for me since I’m so busy in the evening on Wednesday.  I made the cake and black icing colour on Tuesday (if it sits in the refrigerator for 24 hours, the black actually looks black!), and iced, filled and decorated Wednesday night.  I felt rushed.  It turned out ok, but by the time I was done, I was exhausted, and had to get up early for work the next day.  Ouch!  She told me she was happy with it since it was exactly what she asked for.  I’ll get better at these character cakes as I practice!  Working with fondant covers so many mistakes!  Buttercream is not as forgiving…

This one is a yellow butter cake (new recipe), filled with raspberry, iced in vanilla buttercream with the black being dark chocolate buttercream (yum!).