Cakes Created by Me!

Toy Story Birthday Cake

Minnie Mouse Cake & Heart Cookie Pops

Clouds, Rainbows & Babies Cake

Hello Kitty Cake

Quick Garden Cake

Zebra Stripes Cake

Clown & Popcorn Cupcakes

Common Loon Retirement Cake

Whimsical Graduation Cake

Pretty Pink 15nera Cake

Great site for some awesome ideas!

http://cakecentral.com/

How to Get Smooth Icing or Frosting on a Cake

Buttercream Icing-Wilton.com

One of the best buttercream icing recipes to use that will be just the right consistency to achieve that nice thick layer you need to cover your cake evenly, and that will hold your fondant in place. Also it's very tasty! You can add any flavor to this!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Makes:

About 3 cups of icing.

Instructions:

step 1

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

step 2

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

step 3

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

step 4

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

Tres Leches Cake Recipe-Food Network

Tres Leches (Three Milks Cake), Latin America
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2002

Prep Time:1 hr 0 minInactive Prep Time:4 minCook Time:1 hr 0 min
Level:
Difficult
Serves:
1 cake, about 10 servings
Ingredients
Cake:

6 large eggs, separated
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream topping:

1 14-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
Icing:

3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg whites
1 ripe mango, peeled, seed removed, and thinly sliced
1 ripe papaya, peeled, seeds removed, and thinly sliced
Directions
To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes.

To make the cream topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, pour the cream mixture over it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

To make the icing: Once the cake is completely chilled, in a saucepan combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 to 240 degrees F. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. While beating, add the hot syrup in a stream. Beat until all the syrup has been added, the mixture cools, and a glossy icing forms.

To assemble: Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spread the icing evenly across the top. Arrange the mango and papaya slices over the top and serve.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_21054_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html?oc=linkback

Doctoring Regular Cake Box Mix to Make it Thicker

Here is another recipe from livestrong.com on how to doctor up regular cake box mix to thicken it up to make your cake easier to work with. Another great recipe we should try. 

Thicker cake batters work best for some recipes because they stay in place easier. Especially if you are preparing a cake with different layers of different colors, a thicker batter is necessary. Thickening the cake batter is as simple as adding two other ingredients and reducing the liquid content until you achieve the result you need for your cake baking project.

Step 1

Place the dry ingredients for the cake batter recipe into a medium bowl.

Step 2

Pour the contents from the box of pudding mix into the bowl. Choose a pudding variety that is appropriate for the flavor of the cake. For example, if making a chocolate cake, use chocolate pudding, or if making a white cake use vanilla pudding.

Step 3

Stir together the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until they are well combined.

Step 4

Pour the wet ingredients from the recipe, excluding the water, into a separate medium bowl.

Step 5

Add one egg to the bowl with the wet ingredients.

Step 6

Mix the wet ingredients together with a wooden spoon or hand mixer until they are well combined.

Step 7

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix them well with a wooden spoon or hand mixer.

Step 8

Pour the water into the batter slowly while mixing the batter with a wooden spoon until the batter reaches the consistency you desire.

Step 9

Prepare the cake as directed by the recipe directions.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/502075-how-to-thicken-cake-batter/#ixzz2j2TZtcCZ

Pound Cake Recipe-Paula Dean

I'm posting a pound cake recipe, only because pound cake is the thickest cake that there is out there. Thickness is needed because it holds up well especially when using fondant because fondant can be very heavy.  Also, it is the best to shape and form into different figures. (I will post up examples later) We should try this recipe mean while. 

Paula Dean's Pound Cake Recipe


Total Time:
1 hr 45 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
1 hr 30 min
Yield:
16 to 20 servings
Level:
Easy

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/mamas-pound-cake-recipe/index.html

Judy Cakes

Hello! I'm making blog for those of you who are looking into learning how to make and decorate your own cakes. Over time I will be posting recipes, tutorials and ideas to help you along with yours. Hope you learn a lot and enjoy! :)