Lemon Berry Birthday Cake

My mom's birthday close to Christmas, and last year she had a special request for us - she wanted to celebrate her birthday during the summer with a super awesome family backpacking trip.

First thought through my head: Fun!
Second thought: How do I bring a cake on a backpacking trip?

Lemon Almond Spring Cake

Spring weather in Seattle can be a bit capricious. Several sunny days will raise my hopes that summer is finally on its way - but then two weeks of grey drizzle will drown those hopes as I realize that it's still at least two months before summer is really here. My response to one such dreary day was to make this sping-y cake - even though the flowery sunny cake and the dismal rainy spring weather could not be more different.

Baumkuchen (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

I got very excited when I saw January's Daring Bakers' Challenge. So excited, in fact, that I promptly dropped the rest of my plans for the weekend, marched to the grocery store to buy almonds, and began baking. This month's challenge was baumkuchen - a traditional cake throughout Europe that has also become very popular in Japan. The name translates to "tree cake" in German. Usually, the cake is ring-shaped, so the layers look like tree rings. Unfortunately, getting this ring-shaped layering requires some specialized equipment, so my baumkuchen has horizontal layers.

The January 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Francijn of "Koken in de Brouwerij". She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

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!

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!

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!

Earl Grey & Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake

 

It's my mother's birthday again!  My mom loves tea, so I decided to make her a little earl grey cake this year.  Since earl grey is a pretty mild, delicate flavor, I decided to accompany it with a subtle vanilla bean buttercream.

Walnut Carrot Cake

I've always disliked carrot cake.  In my experience, it is often too dense, the frosting is usually too sweet, and it almost always commits what I consider to be a major cake felony - it contains chunks of nuts and carrots right in the cake, which messes with the texture in an inexcusable way (this is totally my opinion - I know lots of people like this). 

I decided to create a carrot cake that I would like: light, moist, and free from chunks in the cake - all without losing the carroty-ness and nutty-ness that defines a good carrot cake.

Chai Tea Roll Cake

I seem to base a lot of my baking projects off of beverages don't I?  From margarita cupcakes to cinnamon latte cupcakes to pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, I tend to find a lot of inspiration in delicious drinks.  In fact, whenever I have a drink that I like, I usually ponder its possibilities as a macaron or cupcake.

Chocolate & Hazelnut Birthday Cake

Does anyone else have something that you constantly think you're out of, but in reality you have vast quantities sitting in the back of your pantry?  My husband and I are like this with Nutella.  We often return home from the grocery store with a new jar of the sweet chocolate spread, only to be surprised to find many more jars in the pantry.  We currently have four mostly-full jars cluttering our shelves and serving as vivid reminders of just how disorganized we are.

Champagne & Strawberries Ombre Cake

It's my husband's and my first anniversary this week.  Our wedding cake was completely eaten, so we did not do the save-the-cake tradition (which honestly we probably wouldn't have done anyway, since year-old cake sounds a little unappetizing).  I thought that instead, a new cake featuring pink champagne and strawberries would be appropriate for the occasion.

Almond & Raspberry Cattails Cake

My dad really likes cattails.  I also like them (although not nearly as much as he does).  I think they evoke an image of a still, quiet pond, on which you while away an afternoon in a boat.  So, I decided to make a cattail-themed cake for my dad. 

Red Velvet Graduation Cake

My cousin graduated from high school!  My aunt asked me to make a cake for her graduation party, and I was happy to do so.  This is a 12" square red velvet (my cousin's request) cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  It's the largest cake I've ever made and I learned a lot throughout the process.  In total, it took me approximately 10 hours to complete (including planning, practicing, calculating, etc), although much of that time was spent desperately trying to recover from some...unexpected challenges (more on that later).  Most importantly, my cousin liked it!  Yay!

Battenberg Cake (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was a type of cake I'd never heard of before: Battenberg Cake.  The first Battenberg Cake was a wedding cake for Queen Victoria's granddaughter and the Prince of Battenberg.  The two-color checkerboard pattern is known as Batternberg markings.  This challenge was very fun (and very British) - my favorite so far!

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Green Tea Roll Cake with Cherry Mousse Filling

Finally, a sunny spring weekend in Seattle.  I guess we had some sun two weeks ago, but I was in California (where it rained).  I was pretty busy enjoying the weather, and didn't spend too much time in the kitchen (at this point, I'm so vitamin-D starved from the long Seattle winter that it was kind of mandatory for my health).

Green Tea Layer Cake with Lemon Honey Ombre Buttercream

Green Tea Layer Cake with Lemon Honey Ombre Buttercream

I have to admit, last time I had green tea cake, I was not a fan.  My husband (then boyfriend) and I were visiting a friend who was studying abroad in Japan over our spring break (this was back in college).  We were staying in this strange hotel over a mall/supermarket, and for reasons I don't remember, we decided to eat every Japanese baked good and sweet from that supermarket.

For dinner.

"Naked" Chocolate Orange Cake

My husband's and my birthdays are so close together that we celebrate them jointly.  This year, he requested orange chocolate for his birthday cake (which is really our birthday cake).  The oranges on the cake ended up matching the brilliant Seattle sunset we had that day.

First Post: Chocolate Raspberry Birthday Cake

My first blog post!  I realized a while ago that I'd become something of a baking nerd.  I also quickly realized that not many people want to hear me relate to them my research on various types of buttercream.  So, I'm starting this blog.  Hopefully, if you read it you are also a bit of a baking nerd and find my baking research and adventures at least somewhat interesting.  I am by no means an experienced baker, so all of these projects are learning experiences.  Some of which succeed (at least mostly) and some of which...don't.  I consider this birthday cake that I made for my mother's birthday mostly a success!  Woot!

My mom requested a chocolate cake (everyone always does).  She later added that raspberries might be nice as well.  I had previously made some cupcakes decorated with chocolate plastic roses that my mom seemed to like, so I decided to make some more of those for her.