Oh my ganache, look at those stars!

This small cake packs a big punch of chocolate! Everything was super rich - chocolate cake with chocolate ganache with chocolate decor. It was made for a 60th birthday celebrant with a strong sweet tooth.

Ganache is nothing but bittersweet chocolate and heavy cream. DO USE A DOUBLE BOILER to melt the chocolate slowly while stirring to prevent burning. If you do not have a double boiler, you can use a heat-resistant glass bowl over a boiling water. To add a bit of flavor you can add rum or vanilla to the recipe. Once ready, pour the mixture portions at a time and spread with spatula. DO USE A COOLING RACK with a baking sheet underneath to catch spillage. While still 'wet' we pressed the chocolate sprinkles on the edge and used those that fell onto the baking sheet.

The stars were by far my favorite part! Using the same technique as the Yogi Bear cake, we piped chocolate (candy chocolate chips, not ganache) onto wax paper into stars and swirls. Then once dried, we brushed on luster dust to make them shimmer.

This turned out to be a simple, elegant cake appropriate for the occassion!

Hey, Boo Boo, whatta bout buttercream!

We made this cake for a Surprise 21st Birthday celebration. One of the most fun cakes to make... so far! Our friend of a friend, Michelle, wanted a special cake for her boyfriend, JR, Yogi themed!

We mulled about doing a fondant cake, but settled on buttercream as it could allow us to draw the characters with more detail. Another consideration was drawing with chocolate. We recently read a cake decorating book (can't recall! will post later) with amazing, intricate designs using chocolate. We tested and scrapped that idea (the outlines were not defined enough), but you can see we used chocolate for the birthday "flag" and the trees on the side.

First lesson in buttercream - DO MAKE MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED, so you do not have to go back to the mixer to make additional batches. Remember for a 11 x 9, 2 tier cake there's the filling (2 cups), the crumb coating (1 cup), the decorating layer (3 cups), and room for error. DO ALWAYS CRUMB COAT. Crumb coating provides a base, so the cake does not show through and the outer frosting does not mix with crumbs - hence "crumb coating." We did quite a bit of this layer to get crisper edges. Typically you only need one thin layer, then refrigerate to harden the coat. DO USE A SCRAPER! If you are a perfectionist, the smooth straight edge will save time and frustration. You can use a paint scraper from your local hardware store or a pastry scraper (my preferred choice).

Yogi and Boo-Boo look pretty nifty, huh? As much as I'd love to say we free-handed it, we didn't. We printed out the images and traced them onto wax paper. Then, we piped the outline with black buttercream and pressed the image onto the cake. We colored in the outline with buttercream. It sounds complicated, but was a great technique. We learned it from the book with chocolate designs and adapted it to buttercream! It worked perfectly!

2 Layers

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Buttercream icing between each layer

Colored Vanilla Buttercream icing for the background and designs

Chocolate "Happy 21st Birthday, JR" sign, Pine trees around the sides, and little flowers

Lesson in fondant. The engagement cake.

This is a cake we made for Lea and her fiance, Patrick, for their Engagement Party! It was out first tiered cake and it proved a challenge. We were pretty nervous, not only because it was our first endeavor at a vertical cake, but because Lea is probably our toughest critic and this was a tryout for her wedding cake! They wanted it plain and simple, chocolate and chocolate. That was easy enough. The outside was a different story.

Fondant was another first for us. Wilton is the normal "go-to" for any amateur baker as it has a lot of elasticity. Personally, the taste is a bit off-putting. We ended up serving the cake without it, which is what some people do (so we've heard....). Simple instructions for fondant? Knead, roll, cover, trim. Not so simple. The fondant quickly became tough as we did microwave it to soften. DO NOT MICROWAVE. Your hands will warm and soften it as you knead it to a play-do like consistency. DO MEASURE YOUR CAKE before rolling fondant. Have a ruler or a pastry mat (inexpensive on Amazon) handy to save the headache. Measure the circumference and roll out appropriately. We did run short quite a few times and had to re-roll it out making the fondant tougher. The more you rework fondant the less it becomes useable. Also, the fondant should be about 1/4 inch thick. Too thin and the cake's bumps will show through or the fondant might rip. We also recommend watching the many youtube videos on covering a cake with fondant. "Skirting" and "pulling" become common words in your vocabulary.

We decided to do a dark red color for the cake, since that was the intended scheme for the wedding. Instead of adding dye to the fondant, we decided to "paint" it. The main reason was that a whole lot of dye is needed to achieve a deep red and the taste of the dye can come through. There is "no taste" red dye available, but it takes an amalgamation of browns and blacks to get a darker shade. The "paint" we used is made of lemon juice and red and brown gel-dye. We brushed it on with an ordinary art brush found in any craft store. The glassy sheen was a plus. Mistakes can be positive! For the leaves, we also mixed lemon juice with gold luster dust. The paint, fondant leaves, and ribbon were all part of the plan, but they were also cake-savers by covering our fondant mess!

Besides teaching us valuable skills in fondant, it also taught us time-management in the cake world! We spent 3 hours decorating (not including baking time) and made it to the party with minutes to spare! But......other than the happy couple, this cake was the center of attention.

PS We passed the try-out and are commissioned to do the wedding cake. Eeeeeeek!

3 Tiers

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate buttercream frosting between layers

Rolled Fondant dyed orange

Fondant leaves handpainted with gold dust

Burgundy handpainted effects

Orange satin ribbon

Fresh Flowers on top