Aladdin and the magic lamp perhaps??

For a lovely young girl who turned 10! Vanilla cake with butter cream frosting. The rope, carpet and lamp are made out of fondant.

A year later!

It's been a year since I last posted...how pathetic!
I have been baking, just not writing about it, so here we go again.

Superbowl was fun and I baked some yummy cupcakes. White chocolate and lime with coconut frosting. The cupcake itself was moist with a fine but dense crumb. I mixed a little cream cheese into my frosting recipe (it somehow gives it a nice creaminess).

Bowling pins!

4 year old birthday boy had a bowling party celebration!
Vanilla cake with buttercream and fondant decoration.

Bambi was for a cute 1 year old (she is 2 today...shows how long ago I should have posted)! This is all butter cream. Bambi was free hand drawn and then piped with star tip.

Dentist cupcakes!

These were made for a dentist friend (quite obvious from the decor). It was a while ago, but I just saw that I had 2 posts that had not been published....so now they are!

Valentine cupcakes!

Every year I bake or make something edible for my husband on this day. I, personally, enjoy this overloaded with love holiday! It makes me feel happy, because there is so much love in the air :)

This year I stumbled upon a blog that had this recipe for salted caramel cupcakes (I apologize, but I cannot find this blog again as I did not save it).... I thought it would be an interesting taste to have salty sweet cupcakes.

I got working on them at night and in a couple of hours , I had myself a dozen cupcakes. Some of them got a tiny fondant heart on them (for the love), and a little sprinkle of brown sugar (it looked like gold speckles) to make them look cute.

Cowboy cake...yee ha!

Made for a birthday party that is 'cowboy themed'. The small 6 inch cake is the centerpiece and surrounding would be the cowboy hat cupcakes. The hats are made out of chocolate, using a mold, and the accessories on the small cake are all fondant. I have tried to paint on the bandanna...lol...not too successful! Do look at my wonderful buckle...an idea from my brother in law :)

Halloween cupcakes

Another fun cupcake making for a preteen having a Halloween birthday! Inspired by what I found on the internet. The cupcakes are chocolate with ganache. The rest of the decorating is done with butter cream and fondant. I used a Ferrero Rocher and gum ball for making the ghosts and the eyes of the mummy is skittles.

This was a lot of fun, and I made something after a while :)

Teapot for a little girl!

1st birthdays are so special, and I wanted the cake to be a memorable one. This is the first time I tried to make one that was not square, oblong or round. I am quite happy with the overall cake. I could have done better with the spout, but oh well,next time! My first compliment was from my 4 year old nephew who thought the cake was made out of play dough!! hahahaha!!

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries were on sale at my local supermarket, so i grabbed a couple of packages. Now starts the search for something to bake with them. I searched on the Internet for a good recipe for muffins, and voila, found one that had simple ingredients. The great part of making muffins is that it only needs a bowl and a spoon to stir with (less things to wash) :). The muffins were yummy...finger licking...yummy!!

I always read the food section of Houston Chronicle on Wednesdays. Some of the most interesting things are written on particular foods, and I have tried many recipes from this section.
Today was a tribute to Tres Leches (a cake soaked with 3 different milks). I have only made this type of cake once. I am going to try this recipe (shown below) that was published in the Houston Chronicle...and let everyone know the verdict. Do not attempt to make this if "weight loss" is part of your vocabulary...its loaded with calories! Doesn't it this recipe make your mouth water???
All credit goes to Houston Chronicle. This is the recipe published in the newspaper and on their website.

TRES LECHES CAKE WITH FRUIT
From My Sweet Mexico by Fany Gerson, to be released fall 2010 by Ten Speed Press

FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups sifted flour
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided use
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 eggs, separated
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
FOR TRES LECHES:
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup dark rum (optional)
Pinch of salt
FILLING AND TOPPING:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup fresh chopped fruit (strawberries and/or canned peaches are commonly used)

FOR THE CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two (8-inch) cake pans. Put a circle of parchment paper on bottom of each pan.
Mix flour, half of sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl with a whisk until thoroughly combined. Using a whisk, beat vegetable oil, yolks, water and vanilla.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks, add cream of tartar and continue beating until you reach stiff peaks but whites aren’t dry. Add 1/4 of the beaten whites to the yolk mixture and fold gently. Add 1⁄3 of the dry mixture and fold gently. Repeat, alternating, finishing with egg whites.
Pour into lined pans and bake in middle rack until top springs to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and unmold. Remove parchment paper and return to pans.
FOR TRES LECHES:
Mix evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream, vanilla, rum and salt in medium bowl. Pour half of mixture over one of the cakes and remainder over other cake. Allow to soak in refrigerator.
FOR FILLING AND TOPPING:
Using electric mixer on medium speed, beat heavy cream till it slightly thickens. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and continue beating until it is thick and fluffy. The whipped cream should be stable and smooth.
TO ASSEMBLE CAKE:
Remove cakes from pans and place some of the whipped cream in the center of one. Put the fruit on top, making sure to spread them evenly. Top with other cake and cover with rest of whipped cream. Decorate with fruit as desired.
Makes 14 servings, each 560 calories (52.9 percent calories from fat), 33 g fat, 210 mg cholesterol, 290 mg sodium, 57 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 10 g protein.

Pondering???!!

It's my birthday...and am wondering whether baking for myself would be a desperate move :)My Facebook wall is filled with lovely wishes and cake comments...hahaha! nah, I think I will hit a bakery with some friends and devour something with caramel...yummmmmy!!

Red Velvet

This sure was one RED cake! I found the recipe on a website after doing research on what a red velvet was. I assumed it would be more chocolatey in taste, but I couldn't be more wrong. It had a yellow cake like taste with its distinct red coloring. It does contain cocoa, but in a very minimal amount. The cake is popular with the Southerners. Typical frosting would be a butter roux icing, but I used cream cheese frosting and had strawberries added in between the layers.

The pictures show the deep red color achieved by using red food coloring.

Boston cream cupcakes

I had made these after watching a Martha Stewart show. These were wiped out at my home...2 at a time :)

Architect's birthday cake

A friend of mine asked me to make an architect cake. I was excited to do this one as it allowed me to play with fondant. This is my first sheet cake. It's not easy finding an idea for architect cakes. My friend sent me a sketch for the blueprint idea and I added the architect tools to it. I think it came out to be a nice overall cake design. I hope the Aquarians like it, although I must say they will get a kick out of my sketch of a building...LOL!!

The tools and blueprint are all fondant with gel paste writing, cake is chocolate espresso, center is raspberry swiss meringue buttercream and the covering is choclate flavored swiss meringue buttercream.

Baseball Birthday cake

I have had a baking few days, and loving every moment of it. This cake was made for my nephew who turned double digits (10yrs) and loves sports, esp. baseball! Its chocolate cake with american buttercream tinted to match the colors I needed.

Tiara cupcakes

Yahoo...another order for a birthday girl turning 3 (I think)! I was not given any theme on this order, so I had a lot of fun creating this look...the tiara and flower is royal icing, lavender buttercream with vanilla cake, with fondant cutout tiny flowers. I hope the birthday girl enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed making them.

cupcakes in a pot!

Another cupcake arrangement for a friends daughter!

Gumpaste flowers

In August I took a gumpaste module class with Cake Craft Shoppe in Sugar Land, TX. What amazing stuff I learnt! The instructor, Sheila Brooks, taught us many different flowers. The class was fun, informative and I came out making and understanding how to make the flowers. The pictures show the creations I made.

Daisy and butterfly

This is a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. The cutouts are fondant with edible lustre on the daisy. The cupcakes were for a girl's birthday.