Cake Wreck!!!

Hello everyone...

So this past weekend, I had a cake order for a rainbow birthday cake to help celebrate a little girl's 1st birthday. Everything that could go wrong with this cake, did go wrong with this cake. Fortunately for me, the customer was extremely gracious and understanding. I forgot to take a picture of the actual birthday cake {See, everything that can go wrong did go wrong! LOL} so I don't have anything of substance to show you, BUT...I can show you my 1st attempt at this cake and share with you the recipe! Even though it is a wreck, it is very tastey and I used the same recipe for round 2, so I'm sure it can be of use to at

least one person out here in cyber space!

Hope you get a laugh at my expense!

Vanilla Rainbow Layer Cake

{Adapted from Sweetopia birthday cake recipe}

Makes 6-9" thin layers or 3 thick layers

1.5 c. Whole Milk at Room Temp

7 Egg Whites at Room Temp

1 Large Egg at Room Temp

1 Tlbs Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp. Almond Extract

2-1/4 c. Sugar

3-3/4 c. All Purpose Flour {or 4 c. Cake Flour}

1-3/4 Tlbs Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

1-1/2 c. Butter at Room Temp

6 Tlbs Shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pans {I use parchment paper and baking spray to grease pans}.

2. Combine 1/2 c. Milk, Extracts, Egg Whites & Egg in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Fluff flour in stand mixer using paddle attachment for 30 sec. Add remaining dry ingredients to include sugar. Mix for 30 seconds. Add butter & Shortening. Mix for 60 sec.

4. Slowly add remaining 1 cup of milk and mix until moist {About 30 sec.}

5. Add milk mixture in batches of 3 and mix for 3 sec. {Scrap sides of bowl after each addition}

6. Pour 2 cups of batter into pan and bake for 20 min. If more time is needed, bake 2 min. longer.

Vanilla Birthday Cake Whipped Frosting

Yields 3 cups

5 Sticks of Salted Butter

5 c. Powder Sugar, more if needed

4-1/2 Tlb. Heavy Cream

1-1/2 Tlb. Vanilla Extract

1. Cream butter in a stand mixer for 8 minutes (will turn white)

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low for 30 sec. Increase speed and mix for 6 minutes.

3. Frost the layers and cake, chill in fridge for 30 min. and frost again. Decorate with remaining frosting!

*Notes* If baking a rainbow cake, pour 1 cup of batter into 6 different bowls and mix with desired food coloring. Then pour colored batter into prepared baking pan. Bake for 12 min. Allow to cool completely before layering and frosting.

**You can also skip a couple steps and just do 2 colors per layer, just be sure that each color uses 1 cup of batter...

Until Next time...

Domestic Tip: Soft Brown Sugar

Hello everyone! Happy Weekend to you all!!!

Want to quickly share with you all a pretty neat trick I discovered this past week while making my Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes!!! When I went to make these, I got all my ingredients out the night before. I noticed I had 3 half bags of brown sugar. Then I noticed why I had 3 half used bags! They were hard as a rock. And I was about to toss them and call hubby to stop at the store on his way home to pick up some more when it hit me...maybe there is a way out of this situation and I can use the left overs!

I went online, but for some reason, the words I was typing in didn't trigger any help from pinterest, yahoo or google. I remember growing up that someone would put all their brown sugar into a container and stick a bread slice or an apple slice to help keep it moist...Well, I've obviously never thought of this because my bags have a chip clip on top! LOL...

So after remembering these tricks of the trade, I thought maybe I could put those tips to the test and see if they can bring brown sugar bricks back to life. So I took 1 brick, broke it up {which was difficult to do and messy} and put it in a container. I stuck a bread slice on top and put a lid on it. Woke up the next morning to brown sugar that was like sand beneath the toes! {Not sure that analogy is accurate as I've never stood in a bag or box of brown sugar, but it's what I imagine it would feel like! LOL}...So now I know, and I hope you will find it useful as well! I wonder how many 1/2 full bags of brown sugar I've thrown away over the years? I know more than $20 worth, that's for sure! No more wasted money over brown sugar!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Kitchen Test: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and quickly share with you some cupcakes I decided to give a try. I found them in an old cookbook I had around the house and decided to adapt them. I will say this, they don't look so pretty when not frosted as they look like they are literally topped with a cookie! to me, that looks pretty cause I like a good cookie, but for some, not so much. I was going to pip frosting onto the top to make more pretty, but I felt that would be too much frosting, plus the frosting wasn't as stiff as I like for piping, so I just used a spatula and frosted. I then topped with a bittersweet chocolate drizzle and some chocolate sprinkles and man-o-man were these things tastey!!! I love testing new recipes! Yum Yum! Anyways, I hope you find them as delicious as my kiddos and hubby did!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Yield: 24 {fill liners 1/2 full}

1 cup Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

6 Tlb. Butter @ Room Temp

3/4 cup Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs @ Room Temp

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Milk

2 cup Mini Chocolate Chip (or regular, doesn't matter)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, set aside.

2. Cream butter & sugars in a stand mixer. Add eggs, one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add Peanut Butter and mix for 1 minute. Add Vanilla.

3. Combine Flour, Baking Powder & Salt.
4. Alternately add Flour Mixture with Milk to batter, beginning and ending with Flour.

5. Using a spatula, fold in Chocolate Chips.

6. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full with batter. Bake @ 350 degrees for 22 minutes.

7. Allow to cool completely before frosting!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Butter @ Room Temp

1-1/4 cup Powder Sugar {more for thicker consistency}

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Whole Milk

1. Cream Butter & Peanut Butter in a stand mixer.

2. Add Sugar & Salt.

3. Add Milk & Vanilla & Mix until smooth.

4. Frost Cupcakes. {For thinner or thicker cupcakes, add more Powder Sugar 1/4 cup at a time or 1 Tlb. Whole Milk at a time}

Chocolate Drizzle

1/2 cup Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

2 Tlb. Whole Milk

1. Combine ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on high power for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat 30 more seconds. Repeat 1 more time if not smooth.

2. If not smooth, add more milk.

3. Drizzle over cupcakes.

Swirly Cakes!

Good morning everyone! Hope you all are enjoying a gorgeous day!

One of my new found loves is baking, and I'd like to share that with you all today. I started baking for my children's birthday's. Then I was asked to make a cake for something or other, then I was asked by a stranger, and that is how things escalated. I didn't really start getting into the baking thing until December 2010. But after I found I really enjoyed it, I just couldn't stop!

I even took some classes this past summer to learn some different flower techniques. The classes were spendy (you had to buy a certain brand no matter if you had the product already)...So I stopped doing the classes and found YouTube! They have absolutely everything to do with baking on tutorial, and I've learned quite a bit from them...

I won't share all the cakes I've made since I started, but here is my most recent order. I constructed a carousel cake using rice crispy treats, dowels, cake, buttercream and Amaretto mousse for the inside. I painted a wood base to match the theme of this baby shower cake. I made sugar cookies and piped royal icing to match the invitations of the party. The order also included 30 cupcakes-half lemon with lemon buttercream and half Neapolitan {white cake, chocolate filling and strawberry buttercream}...



Chat with you all soon!