A Wedding Cake For Friends

Photo credit: About The Day.

Last year, Mr. Buttercream and I were delighted to hear that a great friend from college was getting married to his awesome girlfriend. The couple initially asked me to help them with a dessert table for their wedding reception, but then decided they really wanted a tiered wedding cake.

I was nervous! Even though I've made many, many cakes in my day, I've never tried putting one cake on top of another (or made one this big). To prepare, I spent many weekends this summer planning, researching, and practicing. Ultimately, I learned a lot, the cake turned out well, and (most importantly) my friends loved their cake!

Pastel de Tres Leches (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

Pastel de Tres Leches...this is one of those cakes that's been on my cake backlog forever even though I'd never eaten it before and I had no idea whether or not it was any good. The concept of this cake - which involves soaking sponge cake in milk - is so novel and interesting. When I saw that this was the subject of the September Daring Bakers', I was beyond excited.

Inma of la Galletika was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy.. just plain delish!

Lotus Paste & Peach Candy Mooncakes

Thursday is the Mid-Autumn Festival...that means it's time to make mooncakes! Last year, I made mooncakes for the first time and filled them with an easy, pre-made red bean paste filling. This year, I was determined to make lotus seed paste for the filling. Then, because my new mooncake mold was peach-shaped, I decided to add a non-traditional twist and place a homemade peach gelée candy at the very center of my mooncake.

How to Make Gum Paste Lilies (Tutorial)

Shortly after returning from China, some good friends asked me to make a wedding cake for their August wedding. I agreed to take this on, and the rest of my summer weekends were dedicated to practicing, preparing, and practicing. I'll post more about the wedding cake later (in the rush to deliver the cake I forgot my camera, so I'm waiting on the pictures from the professionals), but in the meantime I wanted to post a tutorial on something I got pretty good at over the course of making the cake - gum paste lilies. The couple had asked for yellow "lily-ish" gum paste flowers, so I decided to make bright yellow (with a hint of pink) Asiatic Lilies.

Blueberry Pie

It's been a while, hasn't it? I have spent the better part of the last month on vacation in China! I was only able to do a small amount of baking while I was away (many people don't have ovens in their kitchens, but a relative let me use a portable one to make a cake) so I was eager to get back to baking as soon as the jet-lag wore off.

Luckily, the opportunity presented itself pretty quickly. I found myself in possession of about 8 pounds of blueberries after a morning of productive berry picking, and had no doubt about what to do with my delicious haul: blueberry pie.

Green Tea & Strawberry Prinsesstårta (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

Once again, the Daring Bakers' Challenge has introduced me to an awesome cake that I had no idea even existed. This cake is known as Prinsesstårta (Princess Cake) and its back-story is just as adorable as the cake itself. It was originally called Grön tårta (Green Cake), but the name was changed because it was a particular favorite of the daughters of  Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland. Traditionally, the cake is covered in green marzipan and topped with a pink marzipan rose.

Korena of Korena in the Kitchen was our May Daring Bakers’ host and she delighted us with this beautiful Swedish Prinsesstårta!

Caramel Mocha Brownies

I was overcome by a desire to bake something last Sunday afternoon. After pushing around various food items in my pantry for several minutes, I decided that I had all the ingredients for brownies. Then, because I love coffee, I decided to make them mocha brownies. Then I decided to throw in some caramel. Usually, my baking projects are well thought-out far ahead of time. These brownies...not so much.

Espresso Savarin (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

Has it really been a month since my last post?!  Bad blogger!  Well, Mr. Buttercream and I are still getting settled in the new house (we're still missing some key bits of furniture) - that's my only excuse.

This month's challenge was to make Savarin, a yeasted cake that is really more of a bread.  The cake itself is pretty much all-bread, and it is then soaked in a sweet syrup and filled with something delicious. I decided to soak my Savarin in a espresso-cinnamon syrup, and fill with an espresso pastry creme.

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

Beet Mini Cakes (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

A couple weeks ago, while out at a restaurant with friends, I tried a chocolate beet cake for dessert.  It was ok - it tasted nice and chocolaty, but it didn't have any beet flavor, which left me a little underwhelmed.  A couple days later, I discovered that the Daring Bakers' challenge for this month was to use vegetables in our baking.  I knew what I must do: create a beet cake that does taste like beets, and see if it is any good.

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers' challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

Olive Oil, Lemon, & Orange Cupcakes

It's late winter, and I've been craving something tangy, sweet, and above all, colorful.  These cupcakes fit the bill on all three counts.  The cupcakes themselves are olive oil and orange.  They're filled with a deliciously tart lemon curd, and crowned with a whipped orange cream cheese frosting.  Bam!  The cure for winter in a tasty little cupcake-shaped package.

Raspberry Cheesecake (A Late Valentine's Day)

 Whew!  My husband and I are mostly moved into our new house...mostly.  Well, at least we've unpacked essentials like pillows, blankets, the computer, the cat, and the Kitchenaid.  I'm getting used to the new kitchen, which has a gas oven instead of an electric one (weird).  So far, I've managed to tackle a couple small baking projects, and I'm finally ready to post about a scrumptious raspberry cheesecake, which I originally made for Mr. Buttercream for Valentine's Day.

Gevulde Speculaas (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

The first Daring Bakers' Challenge of 2013 was a traditional Dutch spice cake: gevulde speculaas.  The outside is a slightly crunchy pastry, full of all sorts of delicious spices, and the inside is a creamy almond paste.  Yum.  Excellent challenge!

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!

Pecan Macarons

These macarons are the tasty result of a fortuitous mistake and a hungry husband.  Originally, I intended to make a macaron version of one of my favorite winter desserts - a buttermilk pecan pie.  Instead, I ended up with a super-delicious pecan punch-to-the-face in macaron form.