Wedding Cake Part 2

Last week, I shared this picture of my sister's wedding cake before I brought it to the church.

Here are the pictures of the cake once I got it onto the cake plate at the church. I added more roses around the bottom and had a piping bag filled with chocolate buttercream to fill in any areas that needed it. Three angles below:

This following photo is from their wedding photographer:

Photo Credit: Ahrens Photo Studio

Love and Cake,

Leah Joy

Modeling Chocolate Roses: Wedding Cake Part 1

After much discussion and pondering of cake toppers (probably more on my part than on theirs), my sister, her fiance, and I decided on modeling chocolate roses for the top of their wedding cake. Lots of practice ensued. I also purchased luster dust in silver and blue (their wedding colors), and later some gold, too. To start, I made a partial batch of modeling chocolate each of white chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate colored blue. I then tested the silver and blue luster dust on all the colors, using two techniques (dry dusting or making a paint with lemon extract).

Blue on silver felt like too much.

Silver on the blue was pretty, but we decided it wasn't quite what they wanted on their wedding cake.

I discovered dark modeling chocolate is much stiffer and harder to work with, so this looks rather chunky.

I started running out of practice roses, so I had to start using multiple colors on each one. The painted luster dust was too bold.

Brushing looked better, but made the dark chocolate look a little dirty.

Yep, painted is too bold for this cake.

And then: stunning.

All the above roses I made completely by hand, free-forming each petal using only piping tips (as cutters) and a spoon to thin out the petal edges. About a month or two before the wedding, I was gifted a fondant rose cutter set. The friends who gave this to me had no idea I was making roses for my sister's wedding cake; they just thought, "Hey, Leah likes to decorate cake." Well, it ended up being perfect. I have very warm hands,which makes working with modeling chocolate difficult. The less I had to touch it, the better.

Look how much nicer the roses looked once I started using the cutter:

All the petals still had to be thinned out by hand, but I actually started using the handle of a paint brush (which I greased a little with coconut oil to prevent sticking).

I made white, milk, and dark modeling chocolate and made dozens of these flowers in the weeks before the wedding (because they can be stored for a few weeks). Here they are on top of the cake before I brought it to the church:

See more next week!

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy

Apple Baking Day

Earlier this fall, my mom and I had an apple baking day.  We picked 3 apple recipes off of Pinterest to test.

First up, Apple Crisp Cookie Cups.  This recipe calls for baking oatmeal cookies in a muffin pan, then filling the cookie cups with a homemade apple pie filling.  They're also drizzled with an apple cider glaze (apple cider + powdered sugar).  While these were really delicious, they were also a lot of work. We decided that if we ever made them again, we'd try to make them as bars in a 9x13 pan.

Next up, we made a Cinnamon Apple Crumb Cake.  This was my family's favorite, although mine and Caleb's least favorite. (Least favorite being a relative term meaning still delicious, but less delicious than the other options.)

Our third recipe ended up being my absolute favorite, and probably the only one I'll make again.  Spiral Apple Bread!  Here's a picture without the glaze:

How pretty is that?  We didn't make the caramel apple glaze, and instead just used more apple cider glaze.  And then we ate some before I got a picture. :)

This bread is perfect - it takes a lot of time, but not too much work.  It's delicious and not too sweet.  The recipe makes two pie plates worth.

Love and Apples,

Leah Joy

P.S. Bonus, here's a picture of some chocolate-raspberry cupcakes I made for a friend's birthday.

Birthday Cake

Apparently, there are some people who think it's weird that I make my own birthday cake. To those people: I like making cake, and I make really good cake, so why is it weird?

Ever since learning to pipe frosting, I like to use my birthday cake as a time to try out a new decorating technique.  This year, I hadn't researched any ideas beforehand, so with my piping bag in hand, I just went for it.

My cakes usually have the 1M roses all over, so I kept them on the top, but just piped straight up with my 1M tip on the sides.

I really like how it turned out. It was super easy, but looked very impressive!

Love and Cake,

Leah Joy

Book Clutch

My little sister graduated high school! I'm so incredibly proud of her! To celebrate, I made her this book clutch. I found helpful instructions here and here.

I picked up the book at an used book sale at my local library. The topic seemed appropriate for Chloe.

I found the fabric at Hobby Lobby.

While most parts of this clutch are glued together (E-6000), I still took the time to topstitch many of the pieces. I like how neat and tidy it makes everything look.

It's not perfect, but it's still very pretty!

Inside, I included 3 pencil cases and some coupons for emergency cupcakes.

For her graduation open house, I also made 235 cupcakes! It was a blast! (And exhausting!)

I totally forgot to get a picture of all of the cupcakes at the end, but after Day 1 (of baking, technically Day 3 of the whole process), this is what it looked like:

Now double that... :)

Love and Raspberries,

Leah Joy

Fun Adventures in Baking

A couple weeks ago, I decided to test my chocolate cake and chocolate frosting recipes with different kinds of cocoa powder, just to make sure I was using the kind I liked best.  I've always used Nestle, mostly because it's the least expensive at our local grocery store, but it also tastes very good to me.  However, I decided to test out my recipe using Hershey's and a Dutch-processed cocoa, instead.

The results?  For the cake, I couldn't really taste much difference, although there was a color difference in the Dutch-processed cocoa cake.  For the frosting, I was surprised to find that Hershey's left a bitter aftertaste.  The Dutch-processed cocoa frosting was still delicious, but I do still prefer Nestle.

While I was experimenting, I decided to try out my new piping tip: the Wilton 1A.  While this is a great tip, and a great technique, I did discover that I should never again use this technique with chocolate frosting, as the results resemble poop a little too closely for my comfort. :)

Cupcakes with Hershey's cocoa

Cupcakes with a Dutch-processed cocoa

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy

Baby Shower Food

My sister and our friend recently threw a baby shower for me (and Caleb and Baby).  Perhaps it was nontraditional, but my sister asked me to make cupcakes for the shower, and I whole-heartedly accepted!

I figured if there was ever a time to use my cute, pink sprinkles this was it.  However, I wasn't prepared for how super girly these cupcakes looked when I had a whole tray of them.  I had to take a picture: 

Chloe and I also made (finally!) rainbow Jell-O.  And you know what?  It's not that hard, nor does it take quite as long as I thought it would.  Also, using these 9 oz cups and small boxes of Jell-O will only yield 12 cups of Jell-O.  So basically, I've been putting off making rainbow Jell-O for no reason at all.

But it's pretty!  And it tastes good, too!  I thought it might taste cacophonous, but all the flavors blended well. 

We ended up doubling the recipe (so two small boxes of each color) to make 24 cups.  (Yes, you could also just use one big box of each color, but we had already purchased a little box in each color.)

Here's a picture of some of the food:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any other pictures, but Chloe and Cara did a very lovely job decorating.  And Chloe rounded up enough mismatched teacups/saucers for everyone to use one!  They were super cute!

Love and Cupcakes,

Leah Joy

New Favorite Cupcakes

Apple Cider Cupcakes with Nutmeg Frosting.  Yep.  I found this recipe (guess where! guess where!) several months ago and knew I had to make them this fall.  So I did. (Wow, cool story, bro.)

Regardless of my story-telling abilities, these cupcakes are amazing.

Original recipe here!

Cake and frosting should taste like what it is.  That sounds obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I've tried a recipe for a raspberry cake (for example) that didn't taste anything at all like raspberries.  For my bakery, I only have flavors on my menu that I know pack a punch.  There is no doubt about the flavor when you bite into a lemon cupcake (or when you even just smell it).  Sometimes, I don't even want to try new cake recipes because I'm afraid they won't have strong enough flavors.  I'm so glad I tried this recipe, because man, do they pack a delicious, fall-flavored punch!

The cupcakes themselves smelled like doughnuts when I took them out of the oven, which was a good sign.  I tried one without the frosting and loved it so much; the apple cider flavor was so strong.  The buttercream, however, helped bring out the spices in the cake even more.  The cake and frosting flavors complemented each other perfectly.  I know I sound like a snobby gourmet right now, but these cupcakes really are that amazing.

I did stray from her recipe in two ways.  First of all, she gave instructions to add vanilla to the batter, but not an amount, so I added 1 tsp (well, actually 2, but that's because I doubled the recipe).  This guess seems to have worked out just fine. Secondly, I edited the buttercream by adding milk, more powdered sugar, and more nutmeg.  I needed it to stretch to 24 cupcakes, but I didn't want to add more butter.  (2 sticks of butter in frosting really should cover 24 cupcakes easily.)  Again, this worked very well and the frosting was delicious.

These are definitely a seasonal item, but a recipe to which I will return every fall!

Love and Cloves,

Leah Joy

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

For Chloe's birthday (in May), I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but I also made some chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting.  For my baby sister's birthday, I went all out and decorated with fresh raspberries.

They didn't all go up at her party, so she got to take them to church the next day and be the most popular person in youth group.

Chocolate cake with raspberry frosting is becoming one of my best-selling items in the bakery. :)

Love and Pink,

Leah Joy

Red Velvet Cake

I really don't like Red Velvet cake.  Here's why:

1. It's not chocolate and it's not vanilla; it's in some no-man's land in between.  Just pick a side!

2. No one wants to consume an entire bottle of red food coloring in one sitting.

3. Most people only think they like it because it's super trendy.  There are Red Velvet scented candles, for crying out loud!  What do they smell like??  Mostly nothing, with the merest pathetic hint of chocolate, if you ask me.

4. There is a traditional frosting (which I don't like), but most people make it with cream cheese frosting (which I hate, because it makes me throw up).

5. The historical versions of Red Velvet cake did not use food coloring, but rather a chemical reaction.  They had a significantly less garish shade of red, but people also probably didn't die from toxic waste intake.

Okay, so you understand that I really don't like it.  Then why on earth did I make it - twice?

Well, a fellow library employee was leaving our branch after about six years of employment there and my boss wanted a party - with cake.  "Yes, we want cake!" hinted all the other employees, but not one of them volunteered to make the cake or even buy it.  So I did.  "What's her favorite cake?" I asked, innocently hoping it would be chocolate, like any sensible person would choose.  "She LOVES Red Velvet cake!" was the enthusiastic reply.

So, I had to learn to make Red Velvet cake.  I started with cupcakes the weekend before, and they actually turned out pretty well.  I chose a recipe with less food coloring than most.

I will say this for Red Velvet cake - it has an amazing texture.  And I guess if you really like the 'hint of chocolate' thing, then I can't begrudge you this cake.  However, if you only like it because it's trendy and/or colorful, I'm judging you.

I topped them with a vanilla buttercream, because I can't eat cream cheese frosting, and that was the perfect choice.  Except for where I just wanted to eat the frosting because it's way better than the cake.

For the actual party, I made two 9x13 pans of cake: one Red Velvet and one chocolate.

(Yes, I am aware that I'm not that great at writing on cakes.)

And for the record, the chocolate cake was gone much sooner than the Red Velvet cake.  Probably because I make a kick-butt chocolate cake.

My favorite part of the day, other than eating chocolate cake and then eating pizza, was that everyone kept saying what amazing cream cheese frosting I made!  I agree - the best cream cheese frosting is one that has no cream cheese! :)

Love and Cocoa Powder,

Leah Joy

Rose Cake with Chocolate Letters

This weekend, I made a chocolate cake for a girl who loves pink.  It's kind of impossible to make pink chocolate frosting, at least it is if you're avoiding vats of chemicals.  I could make a chocolate cake and put pink roses on it, but then the roses wouldn't be made from chocolate frosting, and I don't really like it when there are two flavors of frosting on a cake.  My solution?  Pink chocolate letters!  I melted white chocolate and added some red chocolate coloring (which actually makes pink).  I piped the letters onto wax paper, let them chill in the fridge, and then carefully placed them on the frosted cake.

Isn't it beautiful?  It's so girly and fun, just like Claire!

And this rose design looks so complicated and stunningly beautiful, but is the easiest way to frost a cake!

Bonus: It also tastes delicious. :)

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy

My Birthday Cake

Learning to pipe frosting has been on my 101 Things list for a long time.  I was happy learning to make nice swirls on cupcakes, and I really don't have a desire to do anything super fancy, but I did want to learn to make buttercream roses.  I decided that once I could make a buttercream rose, I would have achieved my goal.

(Sorry, it's hard to get good pictures in my kitchen at 9:00 PM.)

I used these flowers to decorate my birthday cake!

My cake was basically one big experiment in techniques, so it's a bit of a mess, but it still tasted delicious. :)

The cake and frosting were both lemon, although the roses were made from leftover vanilla buttercream from another cake.

So, I can officially check that off my 101 Things list!

Love and #1M,

Leah Joy