Nutella, Nutella...for my little "fella"...

Most of you have probably already seen this cake on my FB page. Believe it or not,although imperfect as you can tell from the slight lopsidednesss I really enjoyed making this cake for my son's 18th birthday. I went with this "theme" because Nutellas is his favorite food group. That's right, I did write "GROUP". He eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I used a vanilla pound cake for the layers and store-brand Hazelnut spread for the filling in between the layers. I must admit, although the spread did initially taste like Nutella I did notice it was thinner which made it easier to spread. However, by the next day it seemed to me the flavor was fading. In the future I will stick to using the real thing. I took the time to give the label a 3-D effect by cutting and creating a piece of toast using real bread and created a knife using fondant and edible paint. The flower is a sugar flower and I also used real hazelnuts. Lastly, can you see the barcoding? Haha! I thought that was a fun touch. All that aside, the cake was a huge hit! It was a great conversation piece at my kids' party and everyone loved the taste and texture.

What the HECK happened to THIS guy!?

Ugh...this is the result of a lack of time mixed with poor planning on my part. A friend of mine asked for a birthday cake for their 1 year old...I knew I was busy with putting the house back together after having a new deck put in as well as having the interior of the house painted. But I love my friends and just could not say no. OK, so I was told the kid loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. It takes a couple of days to clear the house from all of the painting debris, but I get a chance to see the show. Creating the clubhouse was a tall order given time restraints so I decide to attempt (what appears to be) the most popular character on the show, Mickey Mouse. Seems simple enough: I will use my bear cake mold because it has given me great results in the past (see the baby and the little bear cake pix on my facebook page), make some red, yellow and pink fondant and buy some black fondant. I decide on fondant instead of icing so that a 1 year old won't suck down gobs of colored icing. In this case, the parents can just peel back the fondant once it is ready to be served. For the cake we go with a vanilla pound cake with vanilla icing.
First, let me tell you how much my oven rocks! I have made cakes using this particular mold several times in the past and each time, the cake took at least one hour and sometimes even a bit longer to be fully baked. I made the same batter, which is my pound cake recipe and voila! The cake was DONE in only 45 minutes...a savings of 15-20 minutes at least...sweet! The cake cooled. I layered and frosted it, modified the nose to make it more pointy and mousy. I cut the ears off and attempted to reshape his head to make it more round. Lastly, I added two of those fat free devils' food cookies as ears and put it aside to "set". I add a second coating of my "butter cream cheese" frosting and once again, allow the cake to "set". It is at this point that everything seems to run amok and go badly...suckingly bad. After I began to add the fondant I realized this is a difficult task for this oddly shaped cake...perhaps I didn't cut it into the right shape...all I know is everywhere I looked I saw either lumps or seams...not pretty...and WHY does his nose keep falling off? And, WHY won't his arms and hands stay put? UGH! With the help of toothpicks it all works out but the end result is still this "Sponge Bob Mickey" thing that I would not sell, let alone give away to anyone...practice, practice, practice is what I must do...so back to the drawing board!!

The Cakescursion, Part Two...

The next stop really blew me away. A cupcake bakery, plain and simple...this place was not only clean like the other bakery, but it really had its' own whimsical yet cool flair. First, I was impressed with the staff: two young men who knew their cupcakes upwards, downwards and sideways. Their knowledge of the almost 24 assorted offerings really blew me away. This was ALMOST overshadowed by their enthusiasm for the product. Were they owners? Stockholders? Who knows, and who cares?!
Their descriptions of the marvelous flavors of these cupcakes along with their opinions as well as their willingness to offer information was a great surprise!
In five minutes, I knew the flavors of the cakes, the frostings, the prices AND their personal faves!
I also loved their menu presentation: a two-sided card with a picture and captioned description of each cupcake. With all this at hand, Nicole and I had to struggle to select a sampling...how do judges at those freakin' bake-offs do it?!?!
It took a few moments, but we carefully selected: Chocolate peanut butter, Lemon, a "classic", which was yellow with buttercream, red velvet (remember, I am in the South), chocolate with chocolate frosting and a chocolate strawberries 'n' cream...all 6 of these lovely creations (yeah, they looked AMAZING!)were carefully boxed and presented to us.
We, as before, made a mad dash to the car while it STILL was pouring outside. Forks and water at the ready, we dive in to each one: the classic/signature cupcake has a moist yellow cupcake that is, to me, just OK. The buttercream frosting is sweet but has a slightly sandy or grainy texture that is a bit "off. The red velvet cupcake is tastier and moister than the one we had at the prior bakery. Here, Nicole and I had varying opinions...she LOVED the cream cheese frosting from the 1st bakery, which was very rich and cheesy. I much preferred the lighter, sweeter frosting on this cupcake. Their chocolate cupcakes had deeper chocolate coloring and therefore, more cocoa than the cake from the first shop. But, to my surprise, although sweet, still lacked enough chocolate punch to please mine or Nicole's palette. One of our cupcakes had chocolate frosting. The frosting was super light and creamy but we agreed that the frosting from the 1st bakery had a richer chocolate "feel" and flavor. The 2nd cupcake had a very yummy, strawberry cream cheese frosting that I loved. It tasted EXACTLY like mine and even had the little bits of strawberries in it, just like MINE! Wow! This one may be my favorite...the last chocolate cupcake had a peanut butter and chocolate thing going on. Again, quite yummy and creamy frosting and let me say, went great with that chocolate cupcake. I THINK this was Nicole's fave! The last cupcake that was my TRUE favorite was their lemon cupcake. Not for nothing, this cupcake tasted almost exactly like my lemon pound cake, but with lemon frosting on top. This creation had the right balance of sweet and sour going on, down to the bottom of that cupcake! My mouth wasn't singing, but all of my tastebuds had a chorus going on! The frosting was great, but this cake could have gone naked with no problems at all.
This bakery has a great thing going on with their cupcakes, take home menus that are cute enough to post on a fridge and great service. All of these things made the wet, soggy outing and the sweet toothache well worth the while. Wait! Forgot to add: this place is so popular that while Nicole and I were munching away we could see cars coming in and out of the parking lot the whole 30 or so minutes we were there. Each time, folks getting soaked on the way in and on the way out, but happily carrying those cupcakes on the way out! I have been inspired even more and cannot wait to do this!

The Cupcakescursion...

So about three weeks ago my buddy Nicole had a great idea...check out and sample some local "competitors". So off we went on a VERY rainy Saturday. We were hopeful that there would be brochures available that laid out pricing, flavors, sizes, etc...This would alleviate our itch to lie about an upcoming shower in order to pry the information from the owners' grasp. The 1st spot was a fairly popular bakery known here in Atlanta primarily for their cakes sold whole and by the slice. They also sell cupcakes which I felt was the easiest way to sample their goodies. Nicole and I decided on 3 popular flavors that I also bake: Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting...Chocolate cake with (cannot remember the frosting-oy vey!)...and a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Our choices were placed neatly in a box. We grabbed some plastic forks, dodged the pouring rain to run back into our Judging Room (AKA Nicole's car) and chowed down.
Our findings: the red velvet cupcake was moist but we both agreed that although a deep red, was pale in flavor. Nicole LOVED the thick, rich cream cheese frosting while I felt it could have been lightened up a bit with a touch of butter to bring out more of the sugar's sweetness.
The chocolate cupcake was lacking in, well, everything. A pale cocoa color, the flavor was a match. If my eyes were closed I would've though it was a vanilla cupcake. Nicole agreed. At this point, I believe there was chocolate butter cream on this cupcake. I know that was a hit, with just enough chocolate flavor and buttercreaminess.
The vanilla cupcake, which was paired with chocolate butter cream frosting was also just "blah"...again, we both agreed the frosting was a hit. The cake itself was dry in texture and although sweet, really had very little in the way of vanilla flavor.
One thing that caught my eye was the packaging of individual portions. They were all in those clear plastic hinged containers. Yes, they are recyclable but it just seems there are "greener" options for selling cupcakes or cakes by the slice. In any case, we sucked down some water to "cleanse our palettes" and drove onward to the next "stop"...