Divine Butter Cake

I had another cake order the other day.

Butter cake with Passionfruit Icing.

I felt a little daring, having my new mix master and all!

The butter cake turned out abosolutely perfect! The recipe was given to me from a work college.

When she got married many moons ago, the book was given to her by her neighbour.

Hint Hint!

I tried a new trick when I cooked this cake. I placed a tent shaped piece of foil lightly over the top of the cake while it cooked. In the past, the tops of my cakes have been a bit hard and brown on top. The foil stopped this!

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it was amazing

After the cake cooled. I sliced it into 3 layers. I was stressing so much!

I'd watched a youtube video of this pro chef doing it. I was terrified I would ruin it!

Luckily, I didn't. I didn't really have time to cook a whole new cake!

I lightly brushed each of the cakes with a sugar/water syrup wash. Hoping this would stop them from drying out.

The icing. Oh the icing!

The royal icing for the letters, was hard. I think it should have been a bit thicker.

First time though, so not too bad!

The buttercream was beautiful. Even my partner liked it and he hates passionfruit!

This was also my first time piping the shell border. I didn't think this through very well, as I used the buttercream from the top and added a bit of royal to thicken it.

Unfortunately this meant the seeds came with it.

So half way around piping, it stops.

Seed caught.

This happened ever 2-3 shells. I'd have to take the tip off, blast it with water to clear it, then try again.

But alas! The end result was perfect!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the layers. I'm sure they would have looked absolutely amazing. I was told the cake was gone in a matter of minutes - no time for a photo!

Working 5:30 til Midnight!

This cake. Took me all night.

Till midnight exactly actually.

The bottom cake was chocolate cake. The top was a white chocolate mud cake.

It didn't really taste like white chocolate though. Which I found a bit disappointing.

Plus it wasn't quite as moist as the chocolate one. I don't know why.

Both cakes were covered with a light vanilla frosting for a crumb coat.

Something about my cakes, I dont know why but the edge of the top goes kinda hard. I wish I knew how to fix this, I think this is why my fondant didn't sit flat.

They were then covered with Chocolate MMF.

Marshmellow Fondant. Which I made from scratch. It was stressful but fun.

And once I had rolled it out and laid it across my cake. It was the best feeling of achievement ever!

Pink fondant around the edge of each of the cakes. With little rolled flowers.

The roses I think are the second best part I was proud of.

I did them the night before to let them set. I think they look rather professional!

Too bad my icing writing wasn't!

RSPCA Cupcake Day

As to my previous post, The RSPCA Cupcake day.

Luckily my boss comes down every month. It's a great cause that everyone particpated in.

Everyone bought cupcakes, and my boss shouted everyone two cupcakes for our monthly meeting.

The cupcakes below. All were chocolate.

Half had a pink marshmellow pouring fondant icing. Topped with chocolate sprinkles.

The other half had a vanilla buttercream with coloured sprinkles.

I love putting a smile on people's faces for a good cause!

Alas!

Alas! I've been very slack when making my delicious cakes. I forgot to take a photo of at least one of them.

This cake was for a birthday at my partner's work.

The order was for a plain cake. A plain cake! How can I be creative with a plain cake!

Well, let me tell you about it.

I cooked a butter cake. Two actually. I have a think about the cakes being big lol.

The butter cake was so moist and yummy! Very difficult for me to make with only a wooden spoon though. Which brings me to the important part.

The icing.

I studied up. I wanted to make a crusting buttercream.

Unfortunately I don't have an icing smoother. I must get one of these! Nor did I have an electric mixer of sorts. Yes. I made the crusting buttercream using a wooden spoon.

It was the most stressful and hard working part of the whole night!

My plan was to cover the cake in a slight lemon buttercream. Decorate with an airbrush stencil saying happy birthday.

Unfortunately my homemade stencil didn't work.

Next time - don't use paper!

So I made a fondant amp. Cord and Guitar. As the person in question was musical and had a guitar interest. I like making the cakes personal.

Hand making guitars out of fondant however isn't an easy take, the better-half helped out on this.

So, you'll have to use your imagination to see that cake unfortunately.

One Step Up

Once again, backtracking.

Going one step up again with the cake decorating.

This cake was for a work college of my partner's. It was meant to have a white chocolate car on top. But alas, my molding didn't work. I still think it turned out alright.

The cake was chocolate mud. Covered with a dark chocolate ganache. Decorated with dark chocolate leaves made from mint leaves. And chocolate sprinkles covering the sides.

As with most of my cakes, I seem to have a slight issue with getting the icing/frosting smooth as silk. I'm such a perfectionist!

Also when I receive these cake orders, It's usually in the middle of the week. So I get home at 6pm and have to make the cake, bake the cake, let the cake cool. Make the frosting and decorations. Crumb coat. Let it set. Coat again. Maybe set again and coat again then decorate....all before I go to bed!

I always end up buying more then I need. I think again in case something goes wrong.

I wouldn't have time to start from scratch or run out to get some more chocolate or something lol.

But, the cake went without too many problems. Everyone loved it.

And my cake was moist again!

Oh what Business I've been up to!

Oh I've been up to quite a bit. I just haven't been bothered to blog it.

Let's start at this one.

I think this was the first cake I made when I started making them for my partner's work colleges birthdays. This was actually for his boss though, as a Congratulations for a charity run. I think it was like 25k or something. Something that I couldn't have done lol.

This cake was two dark chocolate cakes. Chocolate buttercream in the middle. Covered with a light layer of chocolate buttercream as a crumb coat. Then covered in a dark chocolate ganache.

The chocolate curls and the writing were the hardest bits. I still need practise on the writing.

I love getting feedback for my cakes. Everyone loved it. They were very impressed and the cake was moist. I always worry my cakes will dry out.