Bark, Bake & Beyond

It’s time for a full post on a project I recently completed! My son just turned 11, and for his birthday he requested a Red Velvet Mountain Cake. We moved West to the mountains last year, and he had just finished his first season on the ski team in our new town. I thought it was a great idea for a cake, but really needed some time to figure out the logistics. Mountains are big, so this cake needed to be big! I knew it would require many many layers of cake. Then I also had to think about whether I wanted to cover it in fondant or leave it as a frosted cake. So many decisions. I stood for a while staring at the mountain, as I can see it out the back window at my house. I can name the ski runs from here that we spent all winter skiing down. With a pen and paper I started drawing what I thought the cake might look like. It was a tough one; I wanted to get enough height, but knew I’d be limited by the size of the cake bases that were available. With the expected weight of the cake, I...

You’ve decided to make a cake project that has numerous levels, or tiers, but are unsure how to do it. Today’s post will cover just that! Cake gets heavy real fast - my most recent project as I write this post was well over 20lbs. So, when thinking about a multilevel cake, we need to make sure the cake doesn’t “crumble” under the pressure…..ha ha. Let’s use my son’s 11th birthday cake as our example today. I’ll post the full project soon, but with this post we’ll tackle the stacking portion of the project. He requested a Red Velvet “Mountain Cake” for his birthday. Within the last year, we had moved to the mountains, and he had just finished a season on the ski team at the mountain. Once I baked all my cake layers it was time to think about stacking them. I like thicker cake layers as opposed to thin. Some cake artists like to torte their cakes into many thin layers, but you’ll see thicker layers in my pictures. I do two layers per tier as a general rule, and my layers are about 1....

When I first started working with fondant, everything was new and honestly a little scary. How do cake artists make those cool 3D shapes? Well, I have a really fun and easy project for you today. Trees are a great project for beginners, can be made in many sizes, and work well on many different themed cakes or cupcakes! After you make a batch of fondant (recipe coming soon), let it sit for a couple hours or overnight to harden a little. This will also allow your colors to blossom as well. You can do single color trees, or vary the color slightly between the trees to represent a forest. Store this fondant in a cool and dark place overnight. I make all of my shapes/characters with fondant; I do not use gum paste. I find that fondant is easy to use and shape and dries quickly enough for my needs. Supplies : Click here to view my Fondant Supply list on Amazon.com .  For page transparency: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Large plastic board: Fondant mo...

If you are lucky, you wake up to the smell of coffee in your house in the morning. While I may not be a coffee drinker, I LOVE the smell of fresh brewed coffee. I also really enjoy any dessert that has espresso or mocha flavor in it. So, when my daughter wanted to try a new recipe for a school project, we thought it would be a great time to try out this Peppermint Mocha Cupcake recipe. We looked at a number of published recipes online, made some adjustments to fit our preferences, and crossed our fingers when the cakes and cupcakes came out of the oven. The result was more than we could have asked for! This recipe is amazing. It is moist, flavorful, and great any time of the year. Let's dive right in with a few special notes about some of the ingredients: Baking Chocolate. Why do we need baking chocolate and cocoa powder? Why not? Honestly, this addition deepens the chocolate taste in this recipe, taking it to that next level. Espresso Powder. My favorite ingredient in this ...

What's chocolaty, red, tasty and elegant all at once? Red Velvet Cake! This is a great recipe to have in your arsenal for a variety of events. It makes a great wedding cake, it’s a must have for Valentine’s Day, and its color makes it perfect for Christmas as well. As you may already now, Red Velvet cake is basically a chocolate cake with an added punch of color. The key to getting a nice deep rich red color is mixing the red food color with the cocoa powder to make a paste. The dark brown cocoa with the red food color mixes together to make a deep red that won’t fade. First, as always a few special notes about some of the ingredients: Pure Vanilla Extract. While I do use the clear imitation vanilla extract in some frosting recipes where I don’t want the extra color, it is very important to use Pure Vanilla Extract in this recipe to get the full flavor. Oil instead of butter. You will repeatedly see in my recipes that I use oil and not butter. That is just my preference. I...