Chocolate Easter Eggs...ahhh, Cakes

I bought a brand new shiny Easter pan before Easter, with every intention to use it. But It seemed like every thing happened at once. You were the victim of my silliness just when life gets hectic. The week before Easter. I don't know about you but this little ol' blog was burn en!

First post:
I was gone on a long weekend and was dead tired to start the week.

Second post:
I had a winner to announce from my First Giveaway

Third post:
I got two packages in the mail. The first one was my BBM package from Jesika,


Forth post:
Then there was the First Day of Spring Tea Party. That was a lovely time stuck there in the middle of the week. But I pulled it off!

Fifth post:
The second package was that great chocolate from TCHO.

Sixth post:
I had entered an event called Taste and Create where I made a 50 Clove Garlic Chicken. My dead line for that was up and I had to get that published.

And it was almost Easter and I had a Daring Baker Mission to get to!

I did survive Easter and had a very nice time. I hope yours was lovely. But I still had that nagging desire to use my brand new Easter pan. Even though Easter was over. I wasn't about to wait till next year. No sirree. I was gonna make those little cakes and give them away. So into the kitchen I go. I made chocolate cakes from a mix.Yep, a mix. I know, I know. I didn't care. I just wanted to use my shiny new pan!

I made a chocolate batter and put Chai spice in half the batter. I brushed the warm cakes with raspberry jam and let cool. Then I frosted them with the Poured Fondant from Wilton. The little flower dots were a rolled fondant I bought at michaels. Just roll it out like play dough and cut out the shapes with little cutters. I just pressed them on while the fondant was still tacky.

They turned out so cute and much more 3-D then I thought. I was going to try to stick two together and make one whole egg but It wasn't needed. They baked up perfect!
These little cakes are my entry to Julia's event Easter Cake Bake. All you need to do is bake a cake, or several smaller cakes, with an Easter theme then post about it on your blog. I think these fit that bill! You'll find the round up over at Julia's A Slice of Cherry Pie.

Happily Ever After!

The wedding cake was a smashing success. Here's a picture of the bride and groom cutting eating the cake. My little cake was more then enough to serve everyone with left overs. I calculated 44 servings using the wilton data chart. There were about 55 people and a few kids. We didn't even need a sheet grooms cake. No one had any of the sheet cake and not everyone had cake.






The pink flowers, leaves, and hearts were made from fondant. I didn't know the difference between fondant and gum paste when I was working with it. . I thought they were pretty much the same thing but I was wrong. The fondant absorbs moisture from the cake and becomes soft. The gum paste stays hard. The purple flowers were made from gum paste. I see there were a few thinly iced areas in the pictures. They weren't that noticeable in person. But something I need to be aware of next time. And there will be a next time!










I made a Quick Pour Fondant Icing for a left over layer and it turned out wonderful. I didn't have the almond extract the recipe called for, so I just used Vanilla. I asked the hubby "what color?" Blue it was! This is not the same trial cake as the last test cake. Although they were both blue.
Next time? Chocolate Quick Pour Fondant I thought it would be great to dip cupcakes in. I didn't use the fondant on the wedding cake because I have to have at least one successful trial first, before I make it for other people. And two week notice is not sufficient.
Tip: Don't pour quick pour fondant on chilled cake. It sets up to quickly. Duh!


By the time of the wedding, I was caked out. Here is a picture of my sweet wedding favor. Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Bride and Groom.



And they lived happily ever after!

Wedding Cake Update

Ahhhh! The groom wanted to double the size of the cake. Now he's expecting 75 people and he wants to freeze the top tier of the cake for the one year anniversary. Well, I must say that put a little pressure on me. So at first, I lost the word *no*. I was going along with the idea but totally stressing. What happen to my safety net? What if the cake slides all apart? With 75 people watching!
But first, can I tell you about an awesome blogger. Glamah16 from Coco Cooks was there to calm my nerves. She gave me her e-mail and her phone # in case I needed to ask questions. She was right there answering e-mails as quick as I was sending them off. She said "You can do this"
Thank you Glamah. You Rock!
Back to this cake thing. The next day, the groom and I talked again. I had come to my senses. I told him I would do the larger cake but I was just a home baker. Don't expect a professional looking cake. I can do pretty, but it is homemade!
Plus, I didn't have the larger cake pans, or cake boards. And the ingredients had doubled and he had to buy me some butter and sugar.
OR: We can go back to the original cake plan, (smaller cake) using the top tier (no frozen cake on the anniversary)and get a sheet cake for a grooms cake.
That's exactly the plan now! Stress relief!
That day I baked a test cake, twice. I took a doctored up cake mix recipe for chocolate cake and switched in vanilla. You know, vanilla cake mix and vanilla pudding mix. It called for sour cream and extra eggs, oil and water. Sounded simple! Not so simple!
The first time I thought maybe I left out the water or something and made it again. It just did not work. Here's a picture I took for your amusement. Eggy middle all stacked up there to show you some real texture. really bad texture. So I switched recipes. I went with a Wilton Butter Cake recipe. I made a small cake with the white chocolate filling and I got 12 cupcakes.
The cupcakes were frosted and accessorized and went to some lucky taste testers. I actually tried some fondant on the cake. I frosted it and then applied my rolled fondant. Even the hubby was in the kitchen helping getting in on the fondant action. I didn't have enough of the fondant to cover the whole cake but it was a test cake so I tested. It was getting late so all this was done with the cake at room temp. One of the tips Courtney gave me was to freeze the layers. They were alot easier to work with. I could see what she meant the next morning when the cake was completely chilled. Much more manageable.

Here is a picture of the little cake. Not fully dressed for the Ball but she's working it. I put a dowel in the middle for stability. And as embarrassing as it is, here is a rear picture of my test cake. Remember, I knew I didn't have enough fondant to cover. I was just playing! It looks half naked but tasted oh so good!. (insert snicker) The cupcakes and the piece of cake in the top picture look good. Right?

Here's a few things I've learned.
1. Fondant doesn't get hard on the cake. It marries with the frosting and becomes one. (I didn't know)
2. Freeze cake layers. So much easier to work
3. Flowers are so easy to cut out of fondant and dries hard. And they are adorable!

So the actual wedding cake you ask. I have the bottom tier in the freezer and I'm making the top tier right now. Tomorrow they will be cut, filled, and crumb coated and back in the fridge for more chilling. After my root canal.



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Fondant and a Wedding Cake

I've been thinking of fondant a lot lately. I've never used it before or even tasted it for that matter. I saw CakeJournal decorate sugar cookies with rolled fondant and Love-Sweet-Love made some awesome looking homemade marshmallow fondant. I was thinking it was time for me to take the dive. The fondant dive. Well about diving time, I got a phone call. My friend is getting married in 2 weeks (that was a week ago)and will I make the wedding cake. I've always wanted to make a wedding cake! (it's a small wedding) So to my sheer delight, I said yes! But, I did reserve the right to go buy a Costco cake if mine flopps. A little safety net if ya know what I mean! So I took a little trip to the craft store. $85.00 later, I was ready to dive in.


Remember, I'm a fondant virgin. Baby steps for me! I went with simple flowers to start with. I tried a rose, but they will take a little practice and frankly, I don't have the time to perfect roses before this wedding.


My plan for this wedding cake is a two tiered cake with each tier having 3 or 4 layers. I won't know till I assemble the cake if 4 layers will be to high or not. The bottom tier will be a 9"vanilla cake with a white chocolate cream filling and the top tier will be a 6" vanilla cake with lemon filling. I'll decorate with pastel yellow and pink fondant flowers. And pretty pastel pink hearts aroung the sides of the bottom tier. I bought a little wedding cake topper for the top.


We made lots of little flowers on our first try today. We will use some of these to decorate some cupcakes I will bake tomorrow. I'll be making more flowers for the wedding cake. It was just like playing with play dough. Roll, cut, and shape with this little stick tool. Easy!

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