White Three Tiered Cake With Fresh Fruit and Flowers

I made this cake for my brother and his girlfriend and 

the grand opening party at Be Yoga in downtown Austin.  

This is a White Cake, with a Swiss Meringue Frosting, both recipes are from the 

Cake Book by Tish Boyle, so yummy!!!  The cake was then topped with fresh fruit and flowers.

The bottom tier is a 4 layer 12" cake, the middle tier is 9" three layer cake, and the top tier is a 6" three layer.

Here is the link to one of my inspiration cakes :white cake with fruit.  I just love pinterest!  I am collecting great cake ideas all in one place.  If you want to see all my cakes or my cake ideas follow me on pinterest!

This cake was huge!  It took about 50 egg whites to make this baby!  Wow!  

Not to mention 5 lbs of yummy butter.  ;)  I had a blast making this cake.  It took me about 13 hours to bake all the layers, make the frosting, prepare and frost the cake.  Once I had that done, I took it to the location and assembled it there.  I added some piping, fruit and flowers after I placed the tiers on top of one another.  

 They had a ton of people come by, so I hope it was enjoyed by all!  

Now I've got to make some pudding, lemon curd, or something!! with all these egg yolks.  

I love you bro!!  Have a blessed week everyone!

Wedding Cake inspired by a Wedding Dress

This is a White Cake by Tish Boyle filled with a raspberry filling, and covered with a Swiss Meringue Frosting also by Tish Boyle.  All of that is then topped with my homemade fondant.

Each tier had 3 layers of cake.  The tiers were 12" and 8".  

The bride knew exactly what she wanted so that made it easy!  I used satin lavender ribbon around the cake then I matched them to go around the cake board.  I even lightly brushed the cake with some luster dust.  

Here is the grooms cake, he is a big fan of golf!  As you can see.  :)  It is Italian Cream Cake, also 3 layers thick, filled with Cream Cheese Frosting, and topped with a Buttercream.  I used the Buttercream on top because I was concerned the Cream Cheese Frosting would melt in the very hot temperatures we have been having here in Texas.  Now that would not have been a good thing!   I added the same lavender satin ribbon around the grooms cake board as well.  

Everyone was very happy with the cakes!

Blessings, Rachel

Raspberry Tarts & Pie~ Recipes!

What says summer better than berries?  My nieces came over to visit with us and one of them says she loves "Pop Tarts".  I decided to make a raspberry pie, and I had a little leftover crust.  So, with the FarmChicks  as my inspiration I whipped up these little beauties!  

First, I made some pie crust (click here for recipe), and made the pie (below).  Then I mixed some frozen raspberries 1 or 2 cups, with sugar 1/2 cup, and 2 tablespoons flour.  I made the "Tart" filling a little thicker than the pie filling.  I rolled the crust out, and cut it into round circles.  I placed about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of fruit in each circle, depending on the size of your circle, brushed the edges with milk and folded the circle over.  I pressed a fork around the edges to seal.  They cooked about 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

My niece wanted them to have a little icing drizzle, I thought that was a fine idea.  I mixed a little fresh squeezed lemon juice with some organic powered sugar.  Oh yes, it was yummy and much better than a "pop tart"!  A perfect summer breakfast!  :) 

I think if I tried it again I would add a tablespoon of sugar to the pie crust recipe.  It was not quite as sweet as my raspberry pie, because it was more crust than filling.  Alternatively, you could put a bit more the sugary icing over the top of the "Tarts".

Raspberry Pie

Here is the raspberry pie I made.  Same crust, the filling was 4 cups of frozen raspberries, 1 1/4 cup organic sugar, squeezed juice of 1 fresh lemon over berries, and 2 heaping tablespoons flour.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Cool for at least 15 min.  Take a slice, and add one scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

You are in heaven!

Happy Baking!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Princess Party Cupcakes. I made Vanilla cupcakes from Tish Bolyle's The Cake Book (see my Favorite Books), with Billy's Vanille Buttercream.  I made the individual crowns with fondant and decorated them with sprinkle "jewels" in various designs.  

After I had the cupcakes safely tucked into their container, I sprinkled pixie dust on them.  

See how they sparkle?  I just love that stuff!

Happy Birthday little Princess!

New Pages!

My new Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BabyCakes-by-Rachel/254972944517218

My New Pinterest Page:

http://pinterest.com/babycakesbyrach/

Come and visit!

Golf Ball Cake, Pineapple Cake with a Pineapple Filling & Recipe!!

My nephew wanted a cake for his dad's 50th birthday.  They wanted a pineapple cake with a golf theme.  For the cake I altered another recipe I have used before and I found a yummy pineapple filling from 

Mari's Cakes.  It's so good!!  Thank you Mari!!

The cake is a half sheet cake with two layers and Mari's pineapple filling.  The Golf Ball itself is a Vanilla Pound Cake from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, topped with Billy's Vanillie buttercream frosting, and wrapped in fondant.

Pineapple Cake Recipe

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup apple sauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 oz can of crushed pineapple (drained)

Center a rack in the over and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Flour and grease a 9x13" pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Working with a stand mixer, and a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth, thick and pale.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition.  Mix until you have a light fluffy batter.  Reduce the mixer to low and beat in apple sauce.  This might curdle the batter, and that's ok.  Add the pineapple and mix on low to blend completely.  Add dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.  

Pour into pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy this fun tropical summery flavor!  Sweet goodness!

Double Swim Birthday Extravaganza!!!

My sweet girls are June babies and we had a big fun swim party to celebrate their birthdays!  I went all out for this fun party.  Not without help though!  My dear friend Mrs. W, made the cutest designs for both girls.  She made a Dolphin design for my oldest and Mermaid design for my youngest. 

My girls and I had fun crafting away with the designs!

First of all we made bottle cap necklaces for each guest, some with the mermaid design and some with the dolphin design.  I placed them on a black pan and set them in a stand for each girl to select their necklace at the party.

Then I made tote bags for each guest.  For the older girls I monogrammed their initial on cute polka-dotted fabric and then sewed it on the tote.  For the guests of my younger daughter, I had the mermaid digitized by my friend Elsa (who does an amazing job!!)  and sewed that and their names on the bags.  I embellished the mermaid totes with a little ribbon.  

Mrs. W designed water bottle labels and thank you cards to match the invites.  My girls glued them on the bottles.  We included these in the tote bags.  That way each child had a drink for the ride home!  

Oh, isn't this a cake blog?  :)  Here are my cakes!  We had a Mermaid cake for my youngest.  I decorated the top with chocolate rocks, yummy and very rock like!!  I also made cute sea creatures out of fondant to sit in the waves.  The mermaid cake was a swirl chocolate vanilla cake from the Cake Book, topped with Billy Vanillie Buttercream.  Unfortunately, the cake was a bit dry, and that is the first time I've had trouble with one of her recipes.  :(     

  Here is the back of the cake showing our cute little octopus.  It was so hot here, close to 100 degrees, that the cake was beginning to melt!   I only use real butter, and when it gets that warm you better eat it quick!!  

My other daughters cake the Dolphin cake was a Deeply Dark Devils Food Cake also from the Cake Book with the Billy's Vanille Buttercream.   This cake was deliciously moist and very chocolaty!  Yumm!

 The poor cake was melting in the heat, but it was so good!!

Happy Birthday my sweet darlings, I love you!!!

Graduating Tooth Cake 2011

My little sister just graduated from UNM .  Yep, that's right!  She is a Rock Star in my book!!  :)  She is going to be a dental hygienist, did you guess?  We (my husband, my sister Nicole, and I) flew out to see her graduate, and of course she needed a cake!  She didn't want a square cake with a tooth picture on it, she wanted the real deal, 3D cake.  Just for her, I made one.  :)  

She was wearing this cute t-shirt from school, with a tooth on it.  I said "We should make that one!"  Turns out my stepmother Claudia designed the shirt!  Perfect!   Once I figured out the design, I needed a base to make the tooth on.  My awesome stepmom said she could make one.  Really? Wow!  She and my Dad went to the workshop and came back with a wooden base to build the cake around.  

I covered the bottom half of the base with rice crispy treats (actually they were fruity rice crispy treats, yumm!).  I baked four 10" round Italian Cream Cakes  to make the top portion of the tooth.  Once I had the bottom the way I wanted I covered that in fondant.  Then, I worked on the top.  I carved the top to make it look more tooth like.  Once that was completed, I covered the top half in fondant and made the face.  We were cracking jokes all night.  I was doing root canals, and fillings.  So silly!

The base was a premade cake board, but it turned out not to be strong enough to hold the cake, so we placed a pan under it. 

 I used fondant to do the lettering, 

and covered the edge of the cake board with pretty silver dotted black ribbon. 

The final details: We found a "cap" at the craft store, and they just so happened to have a giant red toothbrush in the house, go figure!  Claudia made the arms and the dental tool to match the t-shirt picture (did I mention she is a very talented artist?) and attached them to the cake.  You can kind of see her cute t-shirt on the right side of the cake with the tooth image on it.  

My Rock Star Sis and I.
Congratulations Melissa!!  I'm so proud of you!!

Pony Birthday Cake for Courtney!

My friend Carrie sent me a picture of the cutest cake and asked if I could make a similar one, for her daughter Courtney.  What a fun cake!  We love MLP at our house.  :)  She wanted a 10" Sweet Strawberry Cake with a Strawberry Filling and Strawberry Buttercream.  

Perfect for someone turning 6!  

Carrie picked up the Ponies she wanted to use on the cake and delivered them to my house.  I delivered the cake to her party and assembled it on location.  I was too worried about traveling with all those pieces sticking out!  Unfortunately, we did have a casualty with a crack in the rainbow as I placed it in the cake.  Some tape and cloud cover, all is well.  Carrie was very gracious about the whole thing!!  Thank you Carrie!!

I added fun edible sparkles to the stars, and a pearl dust to the clouds.  Ponies love bling!  :) 

Complete with a water fall of course!

Happy 6th Birthday Courtney!!