Category Archives: Birthday

Field of Dreams

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As they say, “Build it and they will come.” Dan and Frances built it and they came. It was our granddaughter Grace’s 7th birthday party and she requested FunFetti cupcakes as her party dessert. With an anticipated attendance of 100 kids and parents I figured 10 dozen cupcakes would be plenty. Well, I was wrong. They managed to eat only 40 cupcakes and we gave away an addition couple of dozen. Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!

Kitchen at lift off
Field of dreams
Fun!
Ready for delivery
Cupcake tower
Dessert table
Ready
Set
Go!
A little known fact. The candle was lit with a blowtorch!

FunFetti Cake

makes one 3-layer 8″ cake or 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
CAKE:
• 2 ½ c AP flour
• 1/4 c cornstarch
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ c sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 c vegetable or canola oil
• 1 Tbl clear imitation vanilla
• 3/4 c whole milk (2% OK)
• ½ c rainbow sprinkles (artificially colored cylinders)

Pairs nicely with Edna’s Crusting Buttercream or Italian Meringue Buttercream or Less Sweet Buttercream.

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºf. Grease and line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans or line 24 cups of two muffin tins.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.
  3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the oil and the extract.
  4. By hand add the dry mixture and the milk in two or three alternating batches and mix until just barely combined, using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sprinkles until they’re evenly distributed. Distribute the batter among the cake pans or muffin cups, spreading it out evenly if using cake pans.
  5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (~200 F. Do not overbake!) Begin checking for doneness at 20 minutes for cakes and 15 minutes for cupcakes.
  6. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Buttercream Frosting – Less Sweet

For 3 cups of buttercream:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened slightly
• 2/3 cups (208g) light corn or glucose syrup
• 1 1/4 cups (141g) powdered sugar (unsifted)
• 1/8 teaspoon fine salt (to taste, start with a pinch)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-6 tablespoons of heavy cream, room temperature
• purple gel food coloring (optional)

METHOD

  1. Add the softened butter to the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until it’s paler in color and slightly more voluminous.
  2. Add the corn syrup in 3 to 5 additions. Stop the mixer, add a little bit first, and mix it in at medium speed (still using the whisk attachment). Repeat until all the corn syrup has been added. Scrape down the bowl a couple of times to ensure everything is mixed well.
  3. Once all the corn syrup has been added, mix at the highest speed for two minutes. This is an essential step, so make sure to time it. You need the butter to emulsify the sugar syrup, which won’t be visually apparent because the syrup is clear. If you under-whip at this step, your final frosting will have an overly buttery (fatty or greasy) feel. Proper emulsification will ensure that the syrup integrates evenly within the butter, giving it a much more pleasant texture.
  4. Now give the frosting a taste. It should be smooth, creamy, and very buttery, with a slight sweetness. This is to gauge how much powdered sugar to add in this step. Notice how glucose (the sugar type in corn syrup) is not as sweet as the sucrose in powdered sugar.
  5. Add the powdered sugar in a few additions, mixing on low speed to reduce the mess.
    Once all the sugar has been added, mix on high speed for 30 seconds. Give it another taste. Do you want it sweeter or need a firmer consistency of buttercream? Add more powdered sugar.
    You can add as much powdered sugar as you like. This buttercream can handle more, but remember that the more you add, the sandier the finished frosting will be.
  6. Now let’s flavor and color the buttercream. Add the vanilla, a pinch of salt, and, optionally, a toothpick’s end of purple food coloring (to achieve a whiter shade). Mix on high speed for another minute.
  7. Give it a taste. If it’s too buttery, add some heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until you like the consistency. Whip it in on high speed for at least one minute when you like the texture. (See my footnotes about this below.)
  8. Switch over to a paddle attachment and run the frosting on low speed to get out any large air pockets. The finished buttercream will have minimal air bubbles and be ready to use.

Funfetti “Practice” Cake

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Those of you who follow this blog know I almost always make a practice cake of any new bake. My almost 7 year old granddaughter wants a “FunFetti cake” for her birthday in a couple of weeks. I found this recipe and method and tried it this morning.

I think I over-baked the cake by about 3 or 4 minutes and know I over baked the cupcakes. I’ll try again making only cupcakes (as that is what we will serve at the party.) 80 cupcakes!

Funfetti Cake

INGREDIENTS
CAKE:
• 2 ½ c AP flour
• 1/4 c cornstarch
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ c sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 c vegetable or canola oil
• 1 Tbl clear imitation vanilla
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 3/4 c whole milk (2% OK)
• ½ c rainbow sprinkles (artificially colored cylinders)
FROSTING:
• 1 3/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 ½ c powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1 ½ tsp clear imitation vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (omit for nut free)
• 2 Tbl whole milk

METHOD
CAKE:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºf. Grease and line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans or line 24 cups of two muffin tins.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.
  3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the oil and the extracts.
  4. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry mixture and the milk in two or three alternating batches and mix until just barely combined. Do NOT over beat!.
  5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sprinkles until they’re evenly distributed. Distribute the batter among the cake pans or muffin cups, spreading it out evenly if using cake pans.
  6. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 20 minutes for cakes and 16 minutes for cupcakes. (Depends on your oven.)
  7. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
    FROSTING:
  8. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Add the salt, extracts, and milk and beat to combine.
  9. Frost the cake or cupcakes as desired and enjoy.

Snow White Themed Birthday Cake

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I realized I didn’t post at least a picture of my Snow White cake. I made this cake for my DIL Frances’ birthday last week. It’s an Extreme Chocolate Cake with buttercream frosting. (I am not the best at frosting smooth buttercream cakes.) The apple is real, but the leaves on the top are gum paste.

The ribbons, yellow crowns and red apples are also gum paste. The figurines are all purchased, but I thought my granddaughters would like to play with them.

Raspberry Chocolate Cake V1.1

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Another week, another birthday cake, except this one wasn’t a themed cake, just a plain cake. Whew! Deep breath.

Today is my son Dan’s birthday. This summer I made Grace’s “Galaxy Cake” and Vivian’s “Princess Aurora “ and Mommy Frances’ “Snow White Cake.” Today was just plain Daddy Dan’s birthday cake. Let me say up front, there is and has never been anything “just plain” about Dan. I don’t have adequate adjectives to describe what a fantastic person, father, husband and son he is.

The cake is my Extreme Chocolate Cake, which is everyone’s favorite. This time I frosted it with marshmallow frosting (my favorite.) A light dusting of freeze dried raspberry powder added a nice tart contrast to the cake and frosting. I made the 10” Round Cake size which perfected filled three 8” cake pans. Wrapping them with wet cake pan strips kept the cakes from doming.

The filling between layers was home made raspberry jam. I piped a ring of buttercream to dam the raspberry filling in place. I used the rest of the buttercream to crumb coat the cake. (Not the smoothest crumb coating. It was fixed after setting in the fridge for a while.)

This is Version 1.1 because after I baked the cakes QC asked if I put jammy bits into the cake. What a great idea, a couple of hours too late, but never fear, there will be another chocolate cake and will certainly have jammy bits included in the batter!

Extreme Chocolate Cake

(Sorry, this blog software doesn’t let me create nice columns.)

INGREDIENTS

Cake 10” ROUND CAKE

9” ROUND CAKE                                    Or 11”x15” or          HALF Sheet Cake (18”X13”

  • 2 cups white sugar                                3                                  4
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour                   2 2/3                            3 ½
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder        1 ¼                              1 ½
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda                  2 ¼                              3
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder              2 ¼                              3
  • 1 teaspoon salt                                     1 ½                              2
  • 2 eggs                                                  3                                  4
  • 1 cup milk                                             1 ½                              2
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil                             ¾                                 1
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract                     3                                  4
  • 1 cup boiling water                                1 ½                              2

 

Frosting

  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups (125g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 5 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar 624g (1c confectioners sugar = 117g)
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. (SEE QTY FOR 10” CAKES, AND SHEET CAKES)
  2. Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly (1000g in each 9” cake pan) into the two prepared pans. (For cupcakes, portion ¼ scant cups in each cupcake paper.
  3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or 205 internal temp. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
  4. To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa and confectioners’ sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency. (This recipe will frost 36 cupcakes.)
  5. Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally, cover the top of each layer with frosting, then stack them onto a serving plate. Frost the outside of the cake.

 

NOTES

  1. Do NOT let the internal temp exceed 210 deg F or the cake will be overdone.
  2. Fill cupcake papers 2/3rds full. This will allow space for the cupcakes to expand and create a nice domed shape.

Marshmallow Frosting

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 egg whites
  • 5 tablespoons cool water, plus more for the double boiler
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 egg whites, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD

  1. Pour about 2 inches of water into a saucepan to create a double boiler. Bring the water to a gentle simmer.
  2. In a clean, grease free large mixing bowl, combine 5 tablespoons of cool water, cream of tartar, sugar, egg whites and corn syrup. Place the bowl over the simmering water. Turn off the heat. Use an electric hand beater to whip the mixture. Do not leave mixture unattended and do not stop beating any time during this process.
  3. After about 3 minutes, remove the bowl from the heat and quickly take the temperature of the egg whites. They need to reach 140 degrees F. If the mixture is less than 140 degrees F put the bowl back over the water and resume beating until they are finished, an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. Remove the bowl from the water and fold in the vanilla extract. It should look like marshmallow fluff. Allow the frosting to cool. Frost and serve immediately

The Beautiful Sleeping Aurora

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Finally I made the Princess Aurora cake for my granddaughter Vivian’s birthday – 20 Covid days late. The extra days gave me extra time to obsess and agonize on the design and execution. The original design was to be 4 layers of 10” cake for the base and 3 of 8” for the top and serve 60 people. We are down to 9 people and a scaled down cake.

I made most of the decorations a few weeks ago and kept them safely tucked away until now. All the flowers and birds are gumpaste. The roses were made using the typical technique of adding several rows of die cut petals. The other flowers were also die cut and while still flexible placed on a slightly crumpled sheet of parchment paper to give them some contour.

The letters fondant, rolled thick and cut with a die. A sharp knife cut the pattern into the letters which were airbrushed gold and dusted with glitter. The picture frame was cut from rolled gumpaste, allowed to dry and the edges were painted gold. Gumpaste glue stuck the picture to the frame.

The drapes and dress are darker pink dyed, rolled fondant and dusted with silver petal dust. The crown is gold airbrushed gumpaste cut in the shape of Princess Aurora’s crown. Gold glitter was dusted on the still slightly wet crown. The “4” is tempered dark chocolate, airbrushed with gold and dusted (too heavily) with gold glitter. (The fingerprints are mine.)

The top two 6” layers are white cake and the bottom three 8” layers and my extreme chocolate cake (family favorite.) I am not a fan of this white cake. (I constantly and this far unsuccessfully search for a recipe that is light and moist.) The frosting is a simple buttercream with 3:1 butter to shortening ratio.

Many techniques, lots of time, tons of fun making this cake.

Tender White Cake

INGREDIENTS
• 326g (2¾c) Unbleached Cake Flour Blend
• 333g (1⅔c) sugar; superfine sugar is best
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 170g (12Tbl) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs whites plus 1 whole large egg
• 227g (1c) whole milk (2% plus 4Tbl Heavy Cream)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare two 8″ x 2″ or 9″ x 2″ round pans; a 9″ x 13″ pan; or 2 standard cupcake pans (20 to 24 cupcakes) by greasing and flouring; or lining with parchment, then greasing the parchment. Note: Make sure your 8″ round pans are at least 2″ deep; if they’re not, use one of the other pan options.
  2. Mix all of the dry ingredients on slow speed to blend. Add the soft butter and mix until evenly crumbly, like fine damp sand. It may form a paste, depending on the temperature of the butter, how much it’s mixed, and granulation of the sugar used.
  3. Add the egg whites one at a time, then the whole egg, beating well after each addition to begin building the structure of the cake. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt (or milk) with the vanilla and almond extracts. Add this mixture, 1/3 at a time, to the batter. Beat 1 to 2 minutes after each addition, until fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes for 8″ or 9″ rounds; 23 to 26 minutes for a 9″ x 13″ x 2″ sheet cake; or 20 minutes for cupcakes. A toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean when done. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan, if desired (not advisable for a 9″ x 13″ sheet cake), cool on a rack, and frost.
  6. Yield: Two 8″ or 9″ round layers; one 9″x 13″ x 2″ sheet cake, or 20 to 24 cupcakes.

Basic Crusting Buttercream

INGREDIENTS:
• 1/2 cup solid high ratio shortening (1/4 cup Crisco, ¾ cup butter)
• 1/2 cup butter softened (see above)
• 1 tablespoon of merengue powder
• 1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract (or extract of choice)
• 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk
METHOD

  1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer.
  2. Add vanilla and milk.
  3. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating on a slow speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
  4. Keep bowl or covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks.
  5. Don’t over whip or it will bring air to the icing and will be impossible to smooth.
    NOTE:
    If you have a kitchen Aid use white attachment, not whip attachment.
    YIELD: Makes about 3 cups.

In a Galaxy Far Far Away…

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Grace’s sixth birthday is a space themed extravaganza so I made a galaxy cake. It’s more of a solar system cake, but not our solar system.

The cake is a six layer stacked extreme chocolate cake. A cardboard cake board separates each two layers to make cutting and serving easier. Each layer is a 9” round cake, and the “internal” cake board is 8” to allow a smooth buttercream transition between layers. The small white stars are tempered white chocolate made with a silicon mold. The larger stars, around the base, are various colors of white chocolate, again formed using a silicon mold.

The planets are white chocolate made with a variety of hemispherical silicon molds and painted with decorating colors mixed with vodka. Some of them were fused together to make spheres, the ones on the side of the cake were left as hemispheres. Slightly melting the edges of the hemisphere or the bottom of the spheres helped them adhere to the blue buttercream.

Before adding the planets I splattered the cake with white food coloring. The “space woman” was purchased and a printable decal image of Grace was pasted on the silver faceplate of the space suit.