Category Archives: Cakes

Categories for different foods and meals

Take Me Out to the Ball… Park

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For her birthday all Fran wanted was one of my cakes. For the woman who starts counting the days until pitchers and catchers report from the last out of the World Series (114 days) I thought a baseball themed cake would be perfect. I mulled it over for a while, discarding baseballs, gloves and bats before deciding on a baseball park.BB Stadium 3

As I often do, I searched Google images for ideas of a design for a baseball park cake. Not finding any that caught my eye or attention, I designed my own. The first thing I discovered is it is very difficult to make a small cake with any detail. I compromised and used M&M’s for fans and Peanut M&M’s for players. The scoreboard is a Hershey bar (one of Fran’s favs) with a Happy Birthday message piped with royal icing. You can tell I did that, the piping is mediocre and the penmanship is atrocious. The BB Stadium 4playing field is chocolate cake with the outfield carved into a curved radius and grand stands are white velvet cake baked in a bread loaf pan then cut at an angle to make parallel triangular wedges for the grand stands. Everything was crumb coated with white butter cream frosting, chilled overnight and a finish frosting coat added the next day.

The infield was made from green dyed butter cream and piped onto the cake with a grass tip (Wilton #233.) M&M’s were placed strategically around the ball park and the scoreboard on top of the right field grand stand.

Recipes for all cakes, frostings and icings can be found in other posts in my blog.

M&Mmmmmmmm Cake

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M&M 3

If it works, don’t fix it. My chocolate cake is probably the best cake I make (In My Not So HO). The Heavenly White is a very close second, but I really think the chocolate is #1.

Anyway, when invited to Robin’s open house, and knowing Robin has some sort of M&M obsession (in the nicest sense of the word), and being asked to inform them if I was bringing a

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dessert, I had some initial anxiety deciding on a “theme” for the cake (between a Robin’s Egg Blue cake, which could have been Heavenly White, or an M&M cake, which HAD to be chocolate) I ultimately chose the M&M cake. (Please see my Facebook “Chicken and Egg” post for a further discussion of life’s anxieties.)

I used a Wilton’s 3D Egg Pan which I found on eBay for $6. This is a very versatile pan if you want to make egg (bird, chicken, bunny, Fabrege, etc) or football, or even Peanut M&M shaped cakes. It is very important to allow the cake to cool completely. I untied the two pans and left them in place overnight, otherwise they are hard to remove from the pans and will break apart. Crumb coat the ovoid cake with a relatively thin version of the butter cream frosting. Add a little milk if it is too thick. Let the butter cream set for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. After it is set, put on some latex gloves and smooth the entire cake.eggpan 1 small eggpan 3 small

Roll out some red fondant and lay it over the cake, tucking it in and under the sides and smoothing as best you can. I am not good with rounded ends and can never get them smooth enough to satisfy me. If anyone has some tips here I would love to hear them. I do the typical stretch, smooth etc etc etc but it still wrinkles.

To make the “M” use the Rockwell font which is similar to what is found on the candy and print it about 2″ high. Cut the “M” our and use as a stencil. Roll out some gum-paste, lay the stencil over it and cut out the “M” using an Exacto knife. Wet the area backside of the the “M” and stick it in place on the cake.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

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

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour the two Wilton 3D Egg cake pans. 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 into the one half of the egg pan. It should almost overflow. Place the empty half over the filled half, tie both halves together tightly with string and place in the oven balanced on one of the stabilizing ovals.

Basic Butter Cream

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup solid high ratio shortening
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract (or extract of choice)
  • 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
  • 2 tablespoons milk

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

Thanksgiving 2013 or Another Step on the Road to Gluttony

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OK, Turkey Day 4 is over and I am officially done. Turkey, sides and desserts 4 days in a row beat me. Of course, it is also Chanukah! I could tell because the one bottle of London Pub Ale miraculously transformed into eight bottles to last all eight days. (Claiming literary license here as I am only drinking one bottle per week these days.) Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Cake The pumpkin pie is actually a chocolate cake in disguise. Use about 1/3 of the batter and spread it out in a pie plate that was baked along with the rest of the batter which was put into two 6″ cake pans with their bottoms covered with quick release silicone sheets, greased and floured. (Only fill the pie platter a little less than half full or the cake will rise over the top.) Make a double batch of butter cream frosting. One cup was diluted slightly to make it easily spreadable and dyed with a mixture of orange and brown food coloring to match the color of the traditional pumpkin pie Fran made. This was spread over the top of the cake. Another cup was dyed to match the crust (more brown, less orange.) Use a #125 petal, or similar,  tip to pipe the darker brown frosting around the edge to form the crust and an open star tip to form the whipped cream from the balance of the white butter cream. (Save a little white buttber cream for later.) Dreidle Cake While the small chocolate cakes are baking, make a batch of chocolate frosting. You will need lots of chocolate frosting. Don’t be afraid to make a double batch here. It will not go to waste. Any left-over makes an excellent side for lunch or even a wonderful breakfast dessert. The two 6″ round chocolate cakes were cooled and one of the layers was cut into two thinner disks. One of the thinner disks was stacked on top of the full layer which was topped with a chocolate frosting cover, then the entire small cake was frosted. The remaining thin disk of cake was crumbled, mixed with a little chocolate frosting, shaped to resemble a turkey body, neck and head and then frozen. Don’t use all the chocolate frosting as you will need more than a cup for the turkey cake. While the oven is still hot make the Heavenly White cake in two 9″ parchment paper bottom lined round cake pans. While it is baking, make another (double) recipe of butter cream frosting. Dye 1/4 cup green, 1/4 cup blue, about 3/4 cup yellow and the rest dark orange. When cool, crumb coat the double layer Heavenly White cake and refrigerate. Use multiple piping bags as some colors will need to be used more than once. Use the blue frosting to pipe the outline and fill the dreidel. Smooth it with a spatula and use a petal tip or other ribbon making tip to pipe one of the Hebrew letters on the blue dreidel. (I made a Hei, it seemed the easiest.) This cake is complete. TurkeyCake1 Add about a tablespoon of milk to a cup of white butter cream and mix well to thin it. Use the thin frosting to coat the white cake with a smooth outer shell. I used a star tip to pipe the outer dark chocolate turkey feathers. Start about 2″ from the edge of the cake. As you squeeze the piping bag move slowly toward the edge then back towards the beginning point, releasing pressure as you go. Repeat as necessary to cover about 200 degrees of the perimeter of the cake. (I am basically a scientist. Deal with it.) Next use the dark orange butter cream and same tip form the next layer of feathers using the same technique. While you have the orange in the bag pipe the perimeter around the bottom of the cake. Pipe some of the yellow frosting inside the orange feathers and save the rest in the bag. Use the green frosting with a #233 grass tip to make the grass. Coat the frozen chocolate turkey-looking-thing with chocolate frosting, shaping it to be a little more turkey-ish. Lay it inside the semi-circle of yellow feathers and across the grass. Use the remaining yellow frosting to pipe the turkey feet. Use some remaining chocolate frosting to make the wings and dye a little left over white butter cream red to make the beak and comb. Taa-daa!

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

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

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. 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 into the two prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 5 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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.

Recipe: Heavenly White Cake

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 egg whites ( or substitute)
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Measure sifted flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times.
  2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold up in soft peaks.
  3. Cream butter or margarine. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in flavorings. Add meringue, and beat thoroughly into batter. Spread into cake pans with parchment paper lining the bottom.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Basic Crusting Butter Cream

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup solid high ratio shortening
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 tablespoon of meringue powder
  • 1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract (or extract of choice)
  • 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
  • 2 tablespoons milk

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

Break The Fast 2013

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BreakTheFast2013InvitationSmall

Ilayne’s Break The Fast Invitation

Each year I make a “themed cake” for Break the Fast. This year, I was so blown away by the incredible invitation we received I decided I had to take homage to Ilayne’s talent. Her invitation used lace for borders and the silverware was punched out of used (and cleaned) soda cans. Absolutely amazing.

BreaktheFastCake2013 InvitationSmall

Dave’s 2013 Break The Fast Cake

The cake I made was a simple white velvet, two layer 9′ x 13″ cake, roughly the same aspect ratio of the invitation. I used a crusting dark chocolate frosting, substituting 6 tbs dark cocoa plus 3 tbs vegetable oil for 3 bittersweet chocolate squares to darken the color of the frosting. Nuke the chocolate, oil and 1 cup butter until almost melted then add 1 tsp vanilla. Stir 1 cup of milk into 2 lbs confectioners’ sugar, add the chocolate mixture and stir. The frosting will harden as it cools. Add more milk to make it spreading consistency. (Warm the milk if you think you need more time before spreading the frosting.)  Frost the bottom layer, stack the second layer and frost completely. To evenly smooth the frosting, heat a long spatula in boiling water, wipe dry and use the warm spatula  to smooth the top and sides of the cake. (Thank you Patty Beck for that great hint.)

BreaktheFastCakeLace2013 InvitationSmall

Gum Past Lace

Roll out white gumpaste to a large thin layer. Cut one piece into a strip 1″ wide and 13″ long and allow to dry flat. Cut another piece into an isosceles  triangle 4″ high with an 8″ base and allow to dry flat.  (In Euclidean geometry, the isosceles triangle theorem, also known as the pons asinorum, states that the angles opposite the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle are equal. It is, in essence, the content of proposition 5 in Book I of Euclid’s Elements.) When dry, cover the cut, white gumpaste with a lace paper doily and airbrush with black edible airbrush paint. (Use alcohol as the solvent. I use vodka, purchased in the little bottles airlines use. They are inexpensive and do not require much storage space.) The round place mat was cut from the same gumpaste using two round lids as templates. The larger circle was airbrushed silver, the other left white. The words “Dig In” were sugar sheet punch-out letters. I wish I could have done script, but I only had block letters and my piping skills are not adequate to small script lettering.

BreaktheFastCakeSilverwarewith template2013 Invitation

Gumpaste Silverware and Template Image

Make the silverware by cutting gumpaste in the shape of a knife, fork and spoon. Lay the cut gumpaste on a similar sized real knife, fork and spoon so the gumpaste utensils conform to, and 3 dimensionally take the shape of the real silverware. (Note 1: 3 tines are much easier than 4.) (Note 2: Do not set heavy objects on the dried, completed gumpaste silverware. It causes bad language to be spoke out loud.)


RECIPES:

White Velvet Cake (Requires two cakes this size)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ pan. Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour into the 9″ x 13″ inch pan.
  • Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing. Each finished cake should be 1″ to 1.5″ high, slightly dense and very moist.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 tbl dark chocolate cocoa
  • 3 tbl vegetable oil
  • 2 pound confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 – 1.5 cup milk

Directions

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and 1/2 of the milk. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add remaining milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.
Let stand until spreadable (frosting will thicken as it cools).

I was working on the railroad…. err kitchen, yeah!! that’s the ticket… kitchen!!

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Remember the yellow cake with meringue frosting from a couple of weeks ago. I bet you didn’t realize that was just a practice cake! The real one was for Fran’s work where they are working on a strategic plan. I used David’s Yellow Cake (that is just a name. It could just as easily been Ralph’s Yellow Cake, its just someone named David published the recipe first) as the basis of a commemorative cake for the City of Tamarac.Tamarac Cake

The difference between this cake and the original Yellow Cake is I used fondant to cover this cake and gum paste to make all the emblems and logos. I cheated and used sugar letters to spell “Team 4 Information Management”. My piping skills to write that much just aren’t there… yet. As usual, everything is cake or candy and edible.

David’s Yellow Cake

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No, no no!! Not ME David!! David someone else from AllRecipies.com. I needed a yellow cake recipe for our staff pot luck lunch and decided to try this as a test. The final will be quite different but I wont make it until next month. This recipe was moist, flavorful and a great texture. Here is the yellow cake.

12 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Cook Time: 30 Minutes

IngredientsYellow Cake Meringe Frosting 1Small

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round pans.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.
  5. Cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.

12 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped. Cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.
  4. I used my torch to lightly scorch the meringue to give it some contrast and that slightly smokey taste.

 

A Plague of Frogs… and its not even Passover!!

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Some time ago Fran bought me a book on decorative cakes and cup cakes. A week or so ago she sort of threw down the gauntlet and more or less challenged me to make something from the book. Here is the result – a family of frogs. They are made with white velvet cake that was lightened some by incorporating some meringue into the batter (I took one egg white and 1/3 of the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and beat them into a meringue which was added at the end of mixing.) Otherwise the recipe is the same as listed elsewhere. The frosting was store purchased vanilla dyed with the appropriate shade of green. The adults eyes are yogurt covered raisins and the kids eyes are white jelly beans. The eye pupils are dots of chocolate cake decorations. Warts are either the ends of green jelly beans or the ends of dark chocolate coated raisins. The lines around the eyes and mouth darker green dyed frosting which was piped from cutting the corner from a zip-lock bag. Next time I would use a real piping tip to make the lines smoother.

Two sets of cupcakes are made and the tops cut off squarely. The wrapper (should have been green) was removed from one and it was “glued” onto its mate, upside down, and frozen. After about 20 min in the freezer the tops were cut slightly to round off two opposing sides to shape the head. The cupcake was dipped into dyed and slightly nuked frosting (to make it about the consistency of whipped cream) and the eyes, warts etc were added. Cut a wedge about 1″ deep to make the mouth and glue some red fruit by the foot which was cut into semi circles into the opening. Another piece with the ends cut was put in the mouth for the tongue.

Break the Fast 2012

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Welcome to 5773! Did anyone else see the giant matzo ball slide down the tower into the huge bowl of soup in Tel Aviv last week? Totally awesome this year! Great light show, spectacular music! Don’t miss it next year!!!

Following tradition Fran and I broke the fast last night at a bagel dinner with friends, hosted by Ilayne and Amy. I was asked to bring a cake, so keeping with the dinner theme, I made a bagel cake. This cake is white velvet frosted with crusting chocolate butter cream and filled with a combination of white and “salmon” colored butter cream frosting. The lettuce is thin rolled gum paste where the edges were rolled with a round ended modeling tool. The lettuce and flowers were airbrushed in the appropriate colors. The spices on the top of the cake to make it look kind of “ET”ish (onion, garlic and seeds) are Duff’s Smores Sugar Sprinkles

Brinnnnggg… Brinnnnggg… Brinnnnggg… No wait!

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It was a bee-dup, not a brinnnngggg, yeah thats right bee-dup. Hold on, it wasn’t a bee-dup either it was definitely a deedle-deee, yes that’s it, a deedle-dee. Marc send me an email not a phone call or text, requesting a cake for his mom’s 80th birthday party. He wanted one cake shaped like an eight and the other like a zero. After some serious investigative questioning of the client I discoverer his mom likes hazelnut and black and white. So the plan was set. One chocolate cake shaped like an eight with hazelnut butter-cream frosting, and one round white cake for the zero with white hazelnut cake and butter-cream frosting. Through various devious and nefarious means I also discovered the cake would need to feed about 45-50 ravenous 80 year-olds.

Now that the cake(s) were designed, the logistics needed to be planned. I decided one two layer 12″ cake for the zero and two 8″ two (I love numbers) layer cakes with the bottoms of each cut off and the flat sides set together to make the eight.

The 12″ cakes should take about 90 minutes to make and bake, then another 30-45 min to cool. (Wrapped in the heavy duty plastic wrap I use it will stay fresh for at least a week.)  The chocolate cake is pretty easy, but as I only have three 8″ cake pans I knew I would have to make 2 batches. If I had one set of cakes made and cooled, I could frost/decorate it while the other cakes cooled. Make one cake Thursday, one Friday and frost/decorate Saturday, no problem.

I made the hazelnut cake Thursday night after work in one single LARGE batch. Friday night I made two of the four chocolate cakes before dinner and the final two after. Saturday morning I leveled the first of the two 12″ and would you believe it the *#&%#@ of the  12″ cake wasn’t cooked at all. *#&%#@ !!. It’s Saturday morning and now I have to make two more *#&%#@ 12″ cakes, cool them, frost and decorate before 5:30 when its time for our traditional New Year’s pizza and a movie. I decided to make the hazelnut cakes one at a time, it takes longer but is safer and I didn’t have time for any more *#&%#@ errors. *#&%#@. While the first cake was baking I made a double recipe of butter cream frosting, crumb coated and cut the chocolate cakes, putting them in the fridge to set. I baked the second set of hazelnut cakes at a lower temperature for a longer time, covering the cakes with aluminum foil to keep them from over-browning. (While the first cake was cooling and the second was baking, Fran and I went and upgraded our iPhone 3’s to iPhone 4s’s, a good move at a great price. The new phones are much faster and we probably wont complain about the speed for a month or two.)

After lunch (note Wendy’s cup in one picture) I frosted the two now cooled hazelnut cakes which were baked perfectly. The white cakes did not need a crumb coat (thankfully) so I could frost and decorate them fairly quickly. My piping is definitely improving, but as I can barely read my own handwriting I do not hold out much hope for my lettering. The ribbons and flowers really set the cake off nicely.

Now, for the mechanics: White Hazelnut Cake

Ingredients (for one 12″ round cake)

  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 1-1/2 cups butter
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup of hazelnuts. (I used a blender on “food processor”) level and beat the *#&%#@ out of them, then sifted the lees through a strainer leaving essentially hazelnut flour)
  • 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 cups milk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12 inch round cake pan. Fran bought these exceptionally cool silicone liners which i cut to fit the bottom of the cake pan, parchment paper will also work and both make the cake release from the pan very easily.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. (Be sure they are well creamed, 7-8 min at level 2 on my KitchenAid mixer. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, alternately add these dry ingredient and milk to the creamed mixture starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60 minutes, covered with aluminum foil, in the preheated oven.  To keep the bottom from over browning try setting the cake pan in an inch of water as it bakes. I did not try this, but will next time.

Chocolate Cake and Butter Cream Frosting

Both are described elsewhere in abatteredoldsuitcase so I won’t re-iterate here. I did substitute 3 oz of Frangelica for the vanilla to give the frosting the hazelnut flavor.

East is left and West is right

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and who-da-thought they would meet for Thanksgiving at our house in 2011. Faced with the dilemma of having Republican political consultants and still newly weds Daniel and Frances home for Thanksgiving and tree-hugging lefty pinko liberal Fran’s birthday the same week, what cake do I make for their anniversary and birthday? Not having been born just yesterday I realized I needed to make two cakes.

The elephant cake for Daniel and Frances was my standard chocolate cake crumb coated with butter cream frosting and covered with white fondant.

The donkey (see how nice I am to use that descriptor?) was white velvet again crumb coated with butter cream and covered with fondant.

The emblems were carved from fondant and painted the traditional colors.

The stars both on the emblems and around the base were piped with red, white and blue colored butter cream frosting

The white velvet cake recipe are found at: I am not on the white velvet ropes yet!

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

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

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.
  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 into the two prepared pans.
  3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.