White chocolate cream cheese frosting

I made it as a filling for rainbow cake. It tastes so yummy. If you love chocolate then this might be good replacement to regular butter cream frosting.

Ingrediants

• 4-oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1-oz white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp milk or cream
• 2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar

Method

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and melted white chocolate. Beat in vanilla and milk, then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency (make it a bit stiffer if you wish to pipe it onto the cakes or cupcakes instead of spreading it with a knife).

Classic white cake

I used this recipe as a base for my rainbow cake. The fine moist crumb of this cake complements any type of filling and frosting makes for the perfect celebratory cake. This recipe makes 12 cups of batter enough to fill two 9"X13" pan. So u scale down to your needs.

Ingredients

• 6 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 12 egg whites

Method

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease bottom of pans and line with waxed paper. 

Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and

fluffy. Set aside.

Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.

With a mixer at slow speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with milk.

Beat well after each addition. 

Beat in vanilla extract.

Fold egg whites into batter.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Rainbow birthday cake

I made this cake for my friends son's second birthday. I wanted to share how I made the number 2 rainbow cake. So here it goes...


I love baking from scratch; it brings me a lot of joy and it simply tastes better to me. But if you're not as into baking, you can always use boxed cake mix. Start by choosing your favorite white or yellow cake recipe/mix. I used a classic white cake with white chocolate butter cream filling and butter cream frosting.  Since i was not having number 2 pan i made three 9"X13" cake sheets and carved number 2 from that. Before going into carving just we will see how to make a rainbow cake.


Whatever cake you decide on (white or yellow will take the colors fine!), once the batter is made, divide it equally into six bowls. since i was using 9"X13" pan i made a 6 cups batter so that i will have a cup of batter for each color. Then mix in the rainbow colors -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Gel food coloring works great since it gives more vibrant color than liquid food colors. But surely if u wont have gel food colors liquid will work as fine.

This was the step that mystified party guests. The colors definitely will stay separated so long as you just drop them in; don't try to spread and mix them or else you'll probably create mud! Simply drop a colored batter in the middle of a pan. 

We decided to start with red as the bottom color in a pan. 

As you proceed with each color, just drop in the middle of the pan over colors. 

At the end I rotated a pan between my palms quickly to spread the batter. If you are making in a two 9" or 8" pan just divide batter as three colors per pan starting red as a bottom color in a pan and purple as a bottom color in other pan. So when u fill and stack the cake u will get rainbow color sequence.

And that's it! Once the batter is dropped, simply follow your recipe's instructions for baking and cooling. Look how pretty this came out!

To give a height to the cake i made three layers of a cake. I filled white chocolate butter cream in each layer.I kept the cake in a fridge for an hour so that it will firm up a little and easy for carving as well. 

I downloaded a A4 size number 2 template. Now transfer it onto a wax paper and arranged it on a cake.

Now cut the cake accordingly and arrange it in number 2. I joined the pieces with the help of butter cream and since the cake was bit heavy i inserted a dowel at the joints. 

Crumb coat the cake and keep in a fridge for a hour or so.  Now just frost your cake with your choice of frosting and decorate.

I made a train track and fondant train to go onto the cake. For the bottom cake border i used M&M and arranged them in a particular color pattern. 

When we cut into each of these cakes I freaked out a little. It looked so cool! You can make a rainbow cupcake with this batter too. Just use a spoonful of each color per cupcake.Enjoy...!!

Marshmallow fondant

This recipe has a really nice flavor to it and test alot better than a store bought fondant. I was really scared when i started making it for first time but once done i loved it alot. Now i use this recipe for every fondant cake. Enjoy this great recipe.

Ingredients

16 ounces white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)

2 -5 tablespoons water

2 lbs icing sugar

1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Directions:

1. Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total.
2. 
   
3. Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using.
4. 
   
5. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the counter top making a well like structure and dump the bowl of melted marshmallow in the middle.

1. 
   
2. Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.
3. 
   
4. Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Believe me when i made it first time..at this stage i thought oh god why i ever thought of making this. but over the time u will learn to make it less messy.
5. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.
6. 
   
7. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.
8. 
   
9. Its best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
10. 
    
11. Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
12. 
    
13. MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make a batch on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance.

Baby shower cake

One of my friend ordered a surprise baby shower cake for her friend. Since the mom going to be don't know its a boy or a girl we tried to include all colors. The bottom layer of the cake was a 8' devils food cake filled with  a vanilla butter cream and covered in a marshmallow fondant. And the top layer was a 6'' vanilla cake filled with chocolate whipped cream and covered in a marshmallow fondant. All animals and blocks were made out of modeling chocolate. Will soon try to upload a new post on making modeling chocolate, animals and marshmallow fondant.

Royal icing recipe

                

Made with meringue powder or egg whites, royal icing creates hard drying, long lasting decorations that have a matte finish. royal icing is used to create flowers and trims. This means you can make these decorations in advance and simply place them on your cake when you are ready. once hardened and properly stored , royal icing decorations will not soften or crumble.be sure to keep these decorations away from bright light when storing as color may fade.

Always make royal icing with a stiff consistency so you can achieve sharper details.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons warm water

Makes:

About 3 cups of icing.

Instructions:

Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency. Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).  For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. When using large counter top mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.

Car themed birthday cake

One of my friend asked me to make the race car themed cake for her sons first birthday. It was a devils food cake with butter cream icing. I used 12'' and 8' cake layers. Also baked extra 9''X13'' cake for making a path. For carving the cake i found instructions on cake central. The color scheme was to match there invitation card. I used store bought cars to keep on the cake.

This is the top view of the cake. I prepared flags from gum paste and used black color food marker for checks. I  made them 4 days ahead so that they will be harder to stand up.

This is the right side view of the cake. For signal i used m&m and just stick them in a fondant.

This is the left side view of the cake. Except cars all the decorations were made from fondant.

This was my first attempt of carving a cake so very pleased with the my work.everyone loved it.

Welcome Home Baby Girl...

My friend was blessed with a baby girl so we made this cake to welcome them home.It was a 8' classic white cake with butter cream filling and covered in a fondant. Baby shoes and clothes were made from a gum paste.

Apple cake

It's fantastic easy and delicious cake ever....!! I saw this recipe on food network by Paula deen.You can make it without a mixer...Here's the recipe..

Ingredients

Cake:

• Butter, for greasing pan
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples, i used gala apples
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a pan.

For the cake: in a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract; and mix well. Fold apples, coconut, and walnuts into batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of pan comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours. The time varies according to type of pan just keep eye on cake after 1 hr.

Shortly before the cake is done, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in the sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven. Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

This cake test equally good with or without sauce. Yummy....you should give it a try...

Newspaper cake..!!

This was a surprise birthday cake for my husband. It was a walnuts and date cake with maple cam icing and covered in fondant. all the piping done in a butter cream icing tinted black. For bigger letters i used tip 5 and for smaller i used tip 3 and 1.For writing make sure that your butter cream is thin else your hand will get hurt. My hubby loved it... made my day....!!!

Welcome Home Baby boy...

One of my friend blessed with baby boy so to celebrate that i made this cake. This was chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. I was short of time so used DH moist chocolate cake mix for baking cake. Sometimes its big time saving to use cake mix. Since it is for baby boy all the decorations were in blue colour. I used star tip 16 for the alphabets and tip 3 for making baby stuff like bottle, rattle on the side of the cake. Shoes were made out of butter cream only. I found the instructions for baby shoes on Wilton website. Everyone enjoyed the cake.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

I made this cake for one of my friends birthday. I made this eggless cake so that my vegetarian friends can enjoy this too.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups Flour 
• 1 cup Sugar 
• 3 tbsp. Cocoa powder 
• ¾ tsp. Baking powder 
• ¾ tsp. Baking soda 
• 1 cup Water 
• 1 tbsp. Vinegar 
• 1 tsp. Vanilla essence 
• ¼ cup Vegetable oil 
• ½ tsp. Salt 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour the 9'' round pan.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda & salt together. Add the water, oil, vinegar & vanilla essence to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth and pour the batter into a greased & floured tin.
Bake at 350F  in a pre-heated oven for 30 mins or the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let it cool in a pan for 10 mins and then transfer it on a cooling grid and allow it to cool down completely before frosting.
Here i used a Wilton butter cream frosting tinted green. The cake was yummy. Everyone enjoyed it.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 1½ cups Flour 
• 1 cup Sugar 
• 3 tbsp. Cocoa powder 
• ¾ tsp. Baking powder 
• ¾ tsp. Baking soda 
• 1 cup Water 
• 1 tbsp. Vinegar 
• 1 tsp. Vanilla essence 
• ¼ cup Vegetable oil 
• ½ tsp. Salt 

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour the 9'' round pan.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda & salt together. Add the water, oil, vinegar & vanilla essence to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth and pour the batter into a greased & floured tin.
Bake at 350F  in a pre-heated oven for 30 mins or the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let it

Princess castle cake

I made this cake for my daughters first birthday. It was a classic white cake with buttercream filling and covered with marshmallow fondant. for bottom two layers i used 10''and 9'' hexagoanl cake pan and 4'' circle pan for the top layer. For pillers and window i used romantic castle cake set from wilton. I covered the pillers with the fondant. I dont have brick impression mat so i used scale and knife to make the impressions. This was my first attempt of tired cake but managed very well. Everyone loved it.

Chocolate cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for our one day trip. They turned out so good soft and very moist. My daughter loved them alot. So here's the recipe. This recipe makes around 16 to 18 cupcakes depending on the size of cupcake pan.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.I used Wilton butter cream frosting. And decorated with gum paste and royal icing flowers from the decorating class.

Wilton buttercream icing

A great icing that I used in Wilton Cake Decorating Class. Would produce amazing results every time. Thinning is done easily by adding water. This recipe makes about 2 and 1/2  cups of icing.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract or any flavor
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 7-8 teaspoons milk or water or coffee creamer
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder (optional)
• pinch of salt (optional)

In large bowl, cream shortening, flavoring and water with electric mixer. Add meringue powder and 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. Continue to beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

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.

This recipe makes "stiff" consistency. To make "medium" add one teaspoon of milk or water for each cup of icing or 2 and 1/2 teaspoon for the full recipe. To make "thin" icing (perfect consistency for decorating a cake with the basic coating) add two teaspoons of milk or water. For full recipe add 5 teaspoons of water or milk. 

If you want pure white icing, which is the perfect base to tint, use the white Crisco shortening and any clear vanilla extract (Wilton makes a great one). Using any others will give a faint creamy color that may affect the shade you try and tint with.

Meringue powder is an egg white substitute in baking so if u have egg allergies or don't eat egg should avoid it.Using water will give you a stable product that needs no refrigeration and the icing will keep indefinitely in the fridge if you keep it in a covered container. If it dries out in the fridge you can always just add a bit of water to bring it back to the consistency you need. If you over thin at any time, just add more icing sugar to thicken. Very versatile product! I loves it...!

Wilton cake decorating course cakes

After making my first cake i wanted to do the cake for my daughter's first birthday so i joined Wilton cake decorating course at Hobby lobby store. All he courses i did were amazing i learned so many new things u can do with icing, fondant and gum paste. 

This was the final cake for buttercream cake decoration course. I used a chocolate cake layer between two vanilla cake cake layers filled with raspberry preserve and covered with buttercream frosting. This time also i used store bought cake mix for baking cake.The recepi for frosting tought in the class.

                                         

It was a carrot cake covered in a fondant. all the elements were made out of fondant and gum paste mix. I really liked the fondant and gum paste they are just like a play dough u can do anything.

My very first decorated cake....

I made this cake for my wedding anniversary. First time i was going to bake a cake so i used store bought cake mix and a box of frosting. While icing the cake i thought oh god its so hard to decorate a cake...!I took complete 2 hrs to decorate this cake. But at the end everyone loved it so it made my day.

My first decorated cake......!!

Wilton Cake decorating course