Category Archives: Recipes

Baby’s Birthday Cake Recipies

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It’s so much fun when  you’re having a baby. You get to buy all these little cute clothes and shoes. A shower is usually thrown in honor of your new little arrival. Than there comes the cake, usually a few. There are one or two for the shower, than once the baby is born, a party cake for the introduction, and then finally the first birthday party. Here I will try to help you figure out what you would like to do as far as a figuring out recipes for a baby’s birthday cake.

Usually, a first birthday cake has a few elements. They usually are vanilla cake, vanilla icing, a cute picture of the baby, and a number one candle somewhere.  I like to add a smash cake for the baby. It is usually a small four or six-inch one layer cake made to resemble the big cake. This way the main cake can be any flavor the host would like to serve. A lot of time people get some form of chocolate cake. Chocolate is usually a flavor babies are told to stay away from until they are two, however some people don’t take that advice.

Recipes for baby birthday cakes I like to use are vanilla based with color added to them. This way, once the cake is cut open the baby sees pretty colors of pinks or blues or whatever color you would like. Theses colors also make for great pictures with colored cake all over your babies face. I also sometime add colored sugar or colored sprinkles to the mix of vanilla cake. There is just something that I like about making a confetti cake as we call them here.  My bakery has always had luck with the flat round sprinkles as opposed to the long one. The long one always seem to melt during baking.

Lots of time my baby cake recipes call for fondant icing. Some parents do not want their children to get all messy with colored buttercream, so this is a great option for them. There is a lot of misconceptions about fondant. Most people feel that it does not taste good, that’s because they are not a little kid anymore. Kids just love the fondant we make. Yes, we do make our own fondant! We use a base of marshmallows and sugar. It is sweeter than others but come on, who doesn’t love marshmallow?  Our customers love it especially with chocolate cake and maybe some graham cracker filling. Smores anyone?

It is pretty easy to come up with recipes for baby birthday cakes assuming that you  would just like a basic flavor. I mean you could go all out, but would your baby really enjoy it or even remember it? Chances are no to both. Babies enjoy trying new things, as long as it is not too much for their young palettes to deal with. We do not want you to get a flavor where your babies would not want to eat the cake. Or would you?

birthday first

Recipe for chocolate cake

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chocolate cupcakeSuppose you are asked to bring a special cake to a get together, you think what should I make? Then you think about all those great recipes for chocolate cake you have.  Should you bring one of those,  or try to find something new.  Here, let’s tak about the best recipes for chocolate cake. There are numerous ways to add flavor to cake batter, even if you’re using a boxed mix.  A boxed mix is a preferred method of baking for most of America.  However many of these people add flavor to their batter making it their own.  My preferred recipe for chocolate cake includes a box mix too, at least when I’m baking from home. It is just easier and quicker to use a box. I add multiple ingredients to my mix. Usually I start out by switching the oil for butter, I think it has an overall better taste. You would just use the same exact measurements:  1/2 cup oil for a 1/2 cup melted butter. It is always important when switching out ingredients to keep them in the same form as originally called for, so if it’s a liquid,  keep it a liquid. I generally never add more liquids to my chocolate cake recipes than is called for. Cake batter can be become too moist or dense with too much liquids.  In my recipes I like to add solids like chopped up popcorn, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and even sometimes fruit.  I may suggest when adding fruit to be careful of what kind of fruit you are adding. Pineapples, peaches, and blueberries can add too much moisture during the baking process, in turn making your cake not rise properly. On the other side of things, you can leave your chocolate cake recipe alone, bake it like the directions say and add flavor to the fillings or buttercreams. You may have also noticed the wave of flavored cupcakes out there, which have carried over to cake flavors. These cakes are made by just taking a basic chocolate cake recipe and adding a filling. Fillings basically can be anything you want but may I suggest to keep it in a semi solid state, something like pudding or a mousse. You would be amazed at the possible flavors you can come up with by just starting out with a vanilla base and adding flavoring out of a bottle or some lemon or lime peel. Liquors are also a good additive. Some people cook them to take the alcohol out of it, I just brush on the flavoring right out of the bottle onto my cake. Finally, we come to the best part – the topping of our cakes. The buttercream, mousse, or whipped cream can all be enhanced to create a special flavor. I like mixing buttercream and mousse together, it gives me the best of both. It has the lightness of mousse but the stability of buttercream. Customers at my bakery really enjoy this combination, we call it fluffed buttercream. The topping just adds another layer of flavor to your cake. So no matter what recipes for chocolate cake you have, you can always make it new and different. Enjoy!

Crusting Buttercream recipe

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crusting buttercream recipeThis is a variation of my crusting buttercream recipe that I use. It is a variation because it changed due to the weather conditions. In the summer i make it a little stiffer and in the winter a little thinner. The only difference I see with it, is that it take a little longer to crust in the winter time. However, it is one of the quicker crusting recipes that I have used over the years.

 

7 1/2 cup shortening

7 1/2 cup 10x sugar

4-6 oz of coffee creamer (1:1 ratio creamer to boiling water)

Flavoring to taste

This recipe makes enough icing to ice a few cakes fully. I prefer my icing to be a bit on the thinner side so I add most of the liquid to it. I would suggest adding less at first and then making it a consistency you like. I whip my icing for about ten minutes on a high-speed. I try to make  sure that my paddle is completely covered by the buttercream. This way, I prevent air from being introduced to the mixture. Remember the smoother it is in the bowl, the smoother your finished product will be!

 

Cake fillings

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Fruits, jams, jellies, peanut butter, fudge, whatever you can think of usually can be put inside of a cake. Everyone likes a surprise filling inside that pretty white iced cake. How you fill your cake depends on what you are filling it with. I recommend if you are filling you cake to first add a circle of icing to the outer edge of your cake, so nothing leaks out. Some people like to add a entire layer of buttercream in the middle than a thin layer of peanut butter or jam over it.  Some people just want a thick layer of fudge or mousse with no icing under it.  So it is basically up to you how much of the flavor you would like in the center of your cake on what you do.

Flavoring Buttercream

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Flavoring buttercream is not hard to do; all it takes is a bit of patience, a good extract, and a great buttercream. Place the buttercream into a bowl and add the extract a bit at a time and taste as you go along to find your right formula. Where I work we add 1 ounce flavor to 3 pounds buttercream.  Once you find that perfect combination, always remember to write it down so you have it for next time!

Rice Pudding Recipe ~ Lactose Free

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This recipe can use any type of milk, it does not  have to be lactose free….

Add all the ingredients listed below into a bowl and place over a double boiler. Simmer the bowl over boiling water stirring occasionally for about an hour and a half or until it reaches a consistency you like. Remove from heat and add any extra ingredients such as nuts, raisins, or cinnamon. Enjoy!

1 cup rice

2 cups water

4 cups milk

1/4 cup splenda

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon  salt

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Fondant

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I like the simply white design on this cake against the dark background. However, as far as the flowers go that is where you can add color. I suggest either having a brown and white cake or going heavy on color flowers and forgetting the white all together.  Chocolate Fondant

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

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I must say this icing is one of the best things I have ever made! I’m not a huge fan of buying store bought icing because I personally do not like the taste. However, I gave in the other day when I did not want to make my own cream cheese icing. Not to my surprise, I opened the container and did not like the taste so much that I did not want to use it on my cake. So I though maybe if I combined it with the dark chocolate ganache I made it would be better; well it was. I add about 60% ganache and 40% cream cheese icing and blended. When I finished blending the icing, I wanted to eat it by the spoonful. Needless to say everyone who ate the cake agreed and this icing is going on the menu permanently!

Marshmallow Recipe

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There is nothing like fresh marshmallow. Once you have it, you will never want the store bought marshmallows again. It is easy to make and definitely worth the time to make it. Place a 1/2 cup of water in your mixing bowl and add the gelatin on top. Let the gelatin dissolve into the water until it become thicker. Add the rest of the water, sugar corn syrup, and salt to a heavy sauce pan; stir until the sugar dissolves than stop. Than only touch the pan to brush down the sugar crystals that form with a wet pastry brush. Heat the sugar mixture until it reaches a firm ball stage (244 degrees). Once the sugar reaches firm ball stage remove it from the heat, turn on the mixer at a low speed and slowly pour in the sugar. BE CAREFULLY the sugar is very hot.  Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer to a higher speed. The marshmallow will now start to grow with the incorporation of air. It will triple in size. Now that this has happened get a 8×10 pan and spray it with some non stick pan spray and pour your marshmallow in. After a few hours your marshmallow will firm up and will be ready for cutting. When you cut your marshmallow, make sure you remember to dip it into the 10x sugar that we did not use yet; so the marshmallow will be a little sweeter and not so sticky. Enjoy!

 1 cup water2 ½ Tablespoons unflavored gelatin1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoon vanilla extract

10x sugar for dusting

Fondant vs Buttercream

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Choose fondant 95% of the time! Fondant makes your cakes look perfectly iced, whereas with buttercream icing you may see lines from the decorator trying to get you icing smooth. Also you may see air bubbles because the icing was over whipped or to cold when your cake was iced. Fondant will give you a perfect look with the exact details you are looking for in your cake. While with buttercream nothing will be exactly be the same because everything is being done by hand.

Everyone says fondant taste horrible well that’s just not true! Maybe they have just never had good fondant or even decently priced fondant for that fact. What they sell at convenient stores probably does not taste good, but bakeries do not buy that  stuff. Most bakeries pride themselves on having their icings and fondant tasting good. They do not want to hear that people just peel off the horrible tasting fondant. So if the owners would not eat it, I’m sure you won’t find it at their place. Fondant is like buttercream everyone has their own recipe.

Fondant will cost a bit more than buttercream, however it is not a significant difference. Most bakeries charge an additional $1-2.00 per person for fondant depending on decoration. Now not all cake should have fondant on them. If your cake has a ton of piping or flowers that will cover most of the cake just get buttercream. There is no reason to get a perfectly smooth cake if your going to cover it all up.

Marshmallow Fondant

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For those who do not like the traditional fondant why don’t you try marshmallow fondant?  This fondant taste good and is able to be used just like regular fondant. The only downside is that it is not sold in regular stores.

16 oz  mini marshmallows

3 Tbs water

2 Lbs 10x sugar

Melt the marshmallows and water together in the microwave; if you do not have mini marshmallow, regular ones will be fine.  Once the marshmallows are melted add the 10x gradually. I start out mixing the melted marshmallow and 10x with a spoon but once it forms a ball, I use my hands. You should knead the dough until all of the 10x is dissolved and it is not sticky anymore. You may not need to use all of the 10x depending on your desired consistency. Wrap your fondant ball in saran wrap or place it in an air proof container for future use.