Lumberjack Cake

This week one of my swim coaches asked me to make her a lumberjack cake for her birthday. My first reaction: .....what?? But of course I agreed. A few google searches later, I realized that a 'lumberjack cake' is definitely not a common thing. What a perfect way to make sure my blog turns up at the top of the list! Never again will anyone wonder to themselves, "What does a lumberjack cake look like?" Well, in case you were wondering, it looks like this:

That is 6" of pure rugged lumberjack-ness right there. The plaid flannel shirt is made out of icing and gumpaste, those are gumpaste logs on the side and a variety of mustaches along the backside. 

Did I mention that this cake is incredible on the inside too? Three decadent layers of Guinness chocolate cake, filled with espresso buttercream and a spiked whiskey caramel drizzle. It's Irish heaven.

Happy 24th Birthday Robin!! Thanks for the unique opportunity and assurance that my blog will now pop up on all 'lumberjack cake' google searches.

Winter Cake

I made this cake for my family's Christmas dinner in December. The cake is a 6" sweet potato spice cake with walnut streusel filling and brown butter frosting (absolutely killer...). I made a cupcake version back in October to debut new seasonal flavors that I had been experimenting with. Both are delicious, but this cake made an excellent centerpiece to our holiday table! The snowflakes are made from tempered chocolate that I piped out by hand onto wax paper and let harden The sides of the cake are accented with chopped walnut, and those are pretty rosettes on top. Inside, there's four layers of cake and three layers of filling; the standard anatomy of one of my cakes. This is the perfect size and design for a winter bridal shower, brunch, family gathering or birthday!

One Special Lady

Last week I said goodbye to one of the most amazing women I have had the fortune of knowing, my great-grandmother, Louise Schreck. Not only do I blame her for my addiction to coffee at an early age (sneaking me cups when my parents weren't looking...) but I also attribute my love of food and cooking to her. My family has gone to her house for Thanksgiving ever since I can remember. Even when she was well into her nineties, my Great Grams would make a large chunk of the dinner- complete with pecan, apple, and pumpkin pie...and I don't mean the kind from the can! She taught me the value of fresh ingredients over cutting corners, and how food brings people together even today, in a world of technological disconnection. This is why I love to cook and bake. To give people who don't have the time or talent for it something to share at the table when they are gathering with family and friends; to be a part of the stories that bring people together and make them who they are. Because a wedding without a cake is like Thanksgiving dinner without the pie. My Great Grams will live forever in my recipes and the story that makes me the chef I am today. At 102, she was pretty close anyways! Here's to a long life well lived, and eating real cream and butter!

In December 2009, Great Grams turned 100 and we threw her a birthday bash to celebrate. I made her a lemon-filled sheet cake per her request, and here it is:

Count 'em- FOUR generations of amazing women in my family. 

Cake-Off

I competed in my first cake-off last Thursday and let me tell you, I have never been that nervous! The service club at my college organized the competition as a fundraiser for the Hunger Project. Cake, competition and community service...I'm all for it. We had 45 minutes to decorate a spectacular cake of our choosing, but we had to use the cake and icing they provided (which accounted for most of my nerves...). My amazing roommate Cassie stepped up to be my sous chef and I could not have done it without her! I've never attempted to make a tiered cake under a time constraint before but because I had her help, we finished with about 4 minutes to spare. The theme of our cake was school spirit, which at Washington College means good 'ole George and the Gus the Goose, our mascot. There were three layers of cake on each tier frosted with what I'm assuming the dining hall intended to be buttercream. I was allowed to bring my own decorating supplies so we used fondant for the polka dots, cherry tree and George head and gumpaste for the cherry blossoms. We won best overall cake!

Right before the clock started

Cassie dyed, rolled out and cut the all the fondant

 Finished product.

 The George cookie cutter came from a 'presidents' set my sisters and I had as kids. My mom gave it to me when I decided to go to Washington College but I honestly never thought I'd actually use it.

A cherry tree for George Washington...

Wish I had known that I'd have 4 minutes to spare when icing this tier...it could use some TLC

With our school mascot, Gus the Goose

Cassie and I are both Spanish Majors, our name meant 'Little Cookies' in Spanish

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Continuing my mini-blog series on fall flavors, this week I'm introducing you to the sweet potato cake. Sweet potato is one of my all-time favorite fall ingredients. This cake reminds me of Thanksgivings with my Great Grandmother, and her sweet potato casserole. It was like having dessert for dinner, which of course I am all for! Only slightly sweet and spiced up with cinnamon, cloves, ginger and all-spice, this cake pairs perfectly with the brown butter frosting on top which has a deeply sweet caramel flavor and super smooth texture. Topped with freshly topped walnuts,  this cake is perfect for a Fall bridal shower, birthday or Halloween party!

Fall Flavors

Back from my hiatus! College was taking up too much of my time due to my annoying habit of over-loading myself, but I finally found some time in the kitchen. Thank God for fall break! The thing I look forward to most about fall (besides boots and scarves) are the flavors that come with it. It's like one morning you wake up with frost outside the window, and immediately start craving cinnamon, pumpkin, apple cider, caramel, and cranberry...okay, well I do. I've been working on a few new cake flavors to share this weekend, and this is the start of a series of tantalizing fall cake flavors starting with (drum roll, please):

Caramel Apple Cider: [insert yummy noise]

These are a crisp apple cider pound cake topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Hiding in the center of each one and drizzled over the top is homemade caramel. Hope that gets you excited for Fall this Monday morning!

Piping Designs

I had a bunch of leftover frosting from the wine cake so I used it to practice some new designs:

[Filigree-y]

[Paisley, a flower and some random circles]

[Lettering]