bakingdecoration

Ladybug Birthday Cake After a long summer break (we spent the summer abroad), I finally got the chance to make a birthday cake again. The customer requested a special birthday cake for her daughter. I received a picture she found online, I believe in was from CakeCentral.com, and requested a similar ladybug cake. The color theme was pink and light green, which looked so cute. It was a two tiered round cake with a ladybug cake on top. This was the first time doing a tiered cake, so I informed... Read Full Story

I finally had the time to sign up for the third and last course of the Wilton Cake Decorating classes, which is Gum Paste and Fondant. During the second course of Flower and Cake Design we were already introduced to gum paste and I was looking forward to working more with this fabulous material. I also was excited about learning to work properly with fondant. The possibilities with fondant and gum paste are endless and you are able to decorate cakes in any shape or form. The first thing we... Read Full Story

I always loved the combination of bananas and walnuts. I baked Banana Walnut Muffins years ago and they were so delicious, but never attempted them again. Why? No clue. I just got wrapped up in making cupcakes, but no muffins anymore. Something I really have to change. Muffins are easy to bake and make a great on-the-go breakfast. So many times I found very ripe bananas stored in the kitchen and I had no idea what to do with them. I ended up making banana milk shakes, but baking is so much... Read Full Story

Here is a great recipe for a very yummy German Marble Cake. I tried several recipes before I found this one and it is a keeper. I use a Bundt cake pan to make this German Marble Cake. This cake is great by itself, but can also be decorated. I, for example, used a Bundt cake as the top of the Barbie cake you can find in my earlier posts. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com which is such a great resource and just tweaked it a little. German Marble Cake Ingredients: •    1 cup butter •    1 3... Read Full Story

Once more it was time to design a final cake for the fourth and last class of the Wilton Flowers and Cake Design course. I decided to make a small rectangular cake. I baked a carrot cake from scratch in a 9×13 inch pan and cut the cooled cake in half. As filler I used chocolate buttercream. I whipped up some regular buttercream, following the Wilton recipe for basic buttercream. We needed to ice the cake at home, so I covered my cake in a light purple frosting. The rest of the decoration was... Read Full Story

For Christmas we made rolled sugar cookies using cookie molds. My mother brought along a German recipe for the cookies which she has made for decades. They are easy, fast and delicious. Rolled Sugar Cookies If you want to give it a try, here is the recipe (you may need a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients): Ingredients: 250g flour 150g white sugar 2 eggs 1 tbsp baking powder 1 pack vanilla sugar 125g butter Directions: Mix flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar in a small bowl. In a... Read Full Story

In the third class we completed the Wilton Rose. We needed to bring already prepared royal icing. This time my icing turned out perfectly. The trick was to add much less water than the recipe asks in the beginning. As you mixed all the ingredients you slowly need to add water, about ¼ tsp at a time. That way you make sure the royal icing does not get too thin, which is almost impossible to reverse. Wilton Course 2: Daffodil Next we piped a daffodil. What fun it is to pipe those flowers when... Read Full Story

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It is almost Christmas and, of course, it is the time for baking. Cookies, cakes, cupcakes…you name it. As always, I signed up to make cupcakes for my daughter’s preschool Christmas party. I wanted to pipe a Santa Claus face on the cupcakes. After searching the internet for some techniques, I was ready for my own design. I baked cupcakes following a delicious recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes. Instead of using red food coloring I used green one. They... Read Full Story

Wilton Course 2 Class 2 For the second class of the Wilton Flower and Cake Design course we had to prepare royal icing for the first time. I never mixed up royal icing before so this was a new challenge for me. Following the recipe was not difficult, but it turned out that the icing is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. When I prepared the royal icing at home I had to cover the bowl with a wet towel while I colored some of the icing. Royal icing dries very fast. Therefore it is used... Read Full Story

Fall Cake with Gumpaste Leaves During my last Wilton class I learned how to form flowers using gumpaste. I really liked rolling and pressing out flower parts and I found it easier than piping icing flowers. After searching the internet for new cake decorations I came across several ideas for fall cakes. I decided I would try making leaves out of gumpaste and place them on a brown cake finished with a basketweave on the sides. I baked a three layer cake with two layers of chocolate cake and... Read Full Story