Getting Some Sunshine

I do not like rainy days. It’s dark, the kids are stuck inside, and no one seems to be happy. So, when there’s nothing else to do, why not add a little sunshine to the day? How? By baking Lemon-Blueberry cupcakes, of course! I found this great recipe for a triple lemon blueberry layer cake earlier and had stashed it away for just such a rainy day. And since I was planning on handing out this dessert, I decide to try it in cupcake form. They were delicious!

Mixing the blueberries into the batter

This recipe combines two of my favorite flavors! Plus, my kids love to snack on blueberries (okay, so maybe I snuck a few for myself too). Fresh fruit in a cake is just amazing. The thing that really made these cupcakes work was the combination of sweet and tart. You have the sweet from blueberries and the lemon icing and the tart from lemon curd; when combined, it makes for heaven in your mouth!

Filled, iced, and ready to enjoy

The icing on these cupcakes is love. It has changed the way I think about icing! The flavor is light and sweet, but not so sweet that your teeth hurt after the first bite. I will make this icing for all of my creations from now on. Even if you don’t want to try the cake, at least make this icing!

These cupcakes turned out to be the perfect way to add a little sunshine to our rainy day. I think they will be a staple “comfort food” in our house. What sweet treats do you enjoy when you need some sunshine?

Food Allergies

Since becoming a mom, I have been opened up to a whole new world. One of the bad things that has come with that world is food allergies. When my youngest son was tested, we found out that he had allergies to some of our favorite foods: milk, wheat, eggs, and tree nuts. As a baker, it was my worst nightmare! How could I make him a birthday cake?! But, as a mother (and with the help of some great friends), I knew I would find a solution. And I did! As it turns out, there a ton of allergen free recipes to use, lots of substitutions you can make, and a lot of ways to make really good cake!

Egg-Free, Nut-Free Raven Cake

Here are some examples of the substitutions I use: for eggs, replace with 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce per egg required. You can also you other fruit purees; for example, I made an egg-less strawberry cake and I used pureed strawberries instead of applesauce or eggs. Milk is the easy substitution because you can just use plain water. The cake won’t be as rich, but it will still have a great flavor. For gluten-free cakes, I often just use all-purpose gluten free flour that’s already mixed and packaged.

Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free Teacher Cake

Really, finding the recipes is the easy part of providing allergen-free creations. The hard part is making sure there is no cross contamination. Before I make anything allergen-free, I clean my entire kitchen and put away everything (this is really typical of any time I bake though). I have 3 different mixers: one for all cakes (peanut butter included), one for use with no eggs and no nuts, and one for use with no eggs, no nuts, no milk. Everything I use is stainless steel because it is a non-porous material so it won’t absorb anything that’s put in it. I have separate, color-coded utensils to use with each mixer as well. This way I know what I can and can’t use for the cake I’m making.

It’s a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it to have everyone included at a party. And to make sure that every kid (and kid at heart) can have a birthday cake!

Egg-Free, Nut-Free Angry Bird Cupcakes

A Princess and Her Ranger

Combined birthday parties can be hard. Especially when you the two guests of honor are polar opposites! What better way to do that than to give each child their very own cake! That’s what I did with these two cakes

First, I made this awesome Red Power Ranger cake! This cake is a chocolate cake with buttercream icing that is covered with red fondant. I tried to make it look like the power ranger was coming out of the cake ready to battle! I used fondant to create the border and stars as well. And, of course, added a “Happy Birthday” sign!

Red Power Ranger Cake

The next cake was for a beautiful Princess. This Princess Sophia cake is a white cake that is covered in violet buttercream. I indented the sides with a diamond quilting pattern and then adorned it with my version of fondant ribbon roses (as taught to me by my talented mom). The plaque on the front is a printed image of Sophia the First on white fondant. I also used white fondant to create the pearls surrounding the plaque and to create the border around the top and bottom edge of the cake. I added a princess crown and another “Happy Birthday” sign to the top.

Sophia the First Cake

I really enjoyed working on both of these cakes. I think the thing I love most about the Sophia cake is that the design can be very versatile; take away the plaque, sign, and crown and you could have a wedding cake! Simple, but elegant.

Beginnings

I lived my life telling myself that I was NOT a baker. I loved to cook. Cooking is an art, you can throw things together and be creative and do whatever you want to create a wonderful dish. But, baking, that is science. Follow the directions exactly to get the exact product. You have to use just the right amount of the ingredients to get the correct reactions and end up with a tasty finished product. So when my mom started making cakes, I told myself I could never do that. I would burn a boxed cake mix. It wasn’t pretty.

But I was so intrigued by what my mom was creating. I watched her spend time watching videos on YouTube to learn new techniques. She made a cake for pretty much EVERY occasion, and sometimes for no reason at all. She was hooked, creative, and had a real talent for creating beautiful cakes. And she was determined to get me involved despite my insistence that it would end in disaster.

Practice flowers

To appease her, I decided to sign up for the basic Wilton course at my local craft store. What could it hurt, right? Just going to go in and prove to her that I cannot make cakes. I drank the kool-aid. I had fun. I was a quick learner. And mostly, I really enjoyed myself! I knew that I wanted to do more. I needed to do more. So, I did. I began baking for my friends, doing cakes for their kids, baking for no reason at all!

Fondant rose practice

I have since learned so much. Baking is most certainly an art form! Sure, you do have to stick to recipes, but you can change them. You can alter them to taste better, to be more moist, to adapt to diets, and change them to fit your needs. And, oh! the creative outlet it is. The way I get to decorate the cakes, finding new ways to make flowers or decorations, new piping techniques. I spend hours on Pinterest looking at what other bakers have done and searching for inspirations.

Cowgirl/horse birthday cake

Have you ever had someone encourage you to do something you thought you couldn’t do? What made you decide to go for it? Were you surprised by your abilities?