Delicious Rum Cake!

I made a chocolate rum cake a while ago which turned out so moist and delicious. Last weekend, due to a rum cake order, I made another rum cake for the family and, again, delish! I used a bottle of really good Haitian rum . My husband didn’t want me to use that rum b/c it was from a place that supposedly was shut down after a hurricane and will never produce that rum again; whatever I used anyways and I will make many more rum cakes with that rum; until it’s all gone!! It’s better than getting old inside my liquor cabinet, right?

So, here it’s how it’s done – no big top secrets like many bakers make it sound. Just use a good yellow cake recipe, and if you want to make it on the light side; replace the oil or butter with unsweetened apple sauce; double the amount. If you have ½ cup butter then use 1 cup of the apple sauce. Also, instead of using sour cream you can use low fat Greek yogurt (more protein and less fat). Now, I rather use milk instead of water like many recipes call for. But, I use low-fat milk. You can even use the fat-free organic milk from Organic Valley, it’s a little more expensive but delicious with a no fat.

For the glaze, I used Domino dark brown sugar, rum, and ½ stick of unsalted butter.

TIP: you can use this same glaze to make bananas foster; another delicious dessert!

You can even make a gluten free version of a Rum Cake with a gluten free cake mix or using the various gluten free flour options.

Rum cakes are great with coffee and just because, after all it has rum and it might even give you a little buzz!

Vanila Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Cream Icing

This cake was delicious. I made a sheet vanila cake with chocolate chips. Then, cut it into 4 rectangles and stacked into a 4 layer cake with 3 layers of chocolate cream and chocolate ganache over it. Then, added some strawberries an voila!

For this cake, you have to use the same steps I used in my last cake, the Tripple Chocolate Cake - where you can also find link to get the recipe for the chocolate cream and ganache.

Red Velvet Cake & Pumpkin Pie - My Thanksgiving Desserts

For Thanksgiving, I was in a mood to make a Red Velvet cake; that is because I have made two pumpkin pies in the last two weeks and I haven't baked a cake in almost a month. I actually planned on making only red velvet cupcakes but there is always batter left over, so I used my heart shaped pan for the cake. The picture above is a slice of the red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and raspberries on top - so pretty! and really good.

The picture at the top is a slice of the red velvet cake and my mascarpone pumpkin pie cheesecake. The slice doesn't really show the mascarpone layer on the bottom, but it's there.

So, I ended up with 24 cupcakes and a cake. It was my first time making the red velvet recipe and I must say I love the color. I guess the thing with this cake is mostly about the color; so red and rich looking. Even though the cake is good it doesn't really has a distinct flavor. I used a recipe that called for 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa and I thought I would get more of the chocolate taste, but not really. There were other two recipes I found in my books that called for only 2 tsps of cocoa. I am glad I went with the 1/2 cup, recipe I don't think I would like the other one.

The red velvet cake batter -beautiful rich red

Red Velvet Cupcakes just out of the oven

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing and Raspberries

Here is a good tip when you are making a homemade pie crust with gingerbread cookies, as I did.
Pie Crust Tip - use a measuring cup wrapped in plastic wrap to press the crust on the pie dish. You will get an even crust and no messy hands.

Double Chocolate Rum Cake

Today I baked my first rum cake; and it turned out delicious. I used a recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor, I got the book yesterday and decided to try it out. The cake was very easy and fast to make, the consistency was tender and moist. It calls for 1/2 cup of gold rum which I thought it was going to be too much, but it was just enough to get the rum taste; plus the raspberry rum sauce gives a little extra - delish!

I just tried this recipe for now but I will bake some others. I love the way this book shows the cake pictures right at the beginning of the book with the page for the recipe. It makes it very easy to pick and choose what you want to bake.

PB&J Cupcakes

Last weekend I decided to turn one of my husband’s favorite sweet treats, PB&J sandwich, into a cupcake.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 box of white cake mix, you can also use butter cake mix
• 2-3 cups of Peanut butter spread; I used Jiffy’s reduced fat
• 3 eggs
• 3-1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (oil substitute)
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of milk (water substitute)
• Grape or strawberry jelly
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
  

Directions:

1. Cream about ¾ cups of peanut butter with ½ stick of butter
2. Just follow the instruction of the cake mix box, but make the substitutions listed above.
3. Add to creamed peanut butter - cake mix, eggs, vanilla extract, 1 stick of butter, sour cream, milk
4. Fold in chopped peanuts
5. Bake according to cake box instructions
   

After cooled, inject the jelly into each cupcake with a piping tip and voila! Now, it’s ready for icing.

Peanut Butter Icing

Mix about 1-2 cups of peanut butter with 2 cups of confectioning sugar; taste it to make sure it’s not too sweet and make sure it stays at a good consistence for decoration. Not too hard and not too soft.

Well, it turned out delicious and I even had extra for a little cake.

If you like PB&J sandwiches, this is a must. I am sure you will love it!

Strawberry Banana Cake

Last Sunday I made a delicious and moist strawberry banana cake with Coconut Swiss buttercream; then, sprinkled some coconut flakes on top.

The recipe was a mixture of a semi homemade magazine strawberry cake recipe and my usual recipe. But, instead of using a strawberry cake mix I used a white cake mix and added strawberry gelatin to give it color and flavor and it made it really moist, this was the recipe from the magazine. Then, just added butter, milk, eggs, sour cream, vanila extract, and a pinch of salt. After it's all mixed up I added the fresh chopped strawberries and bananas. Baked at 350 for about 40 minutes. Then, voila! !

Let the cake cool for about an hour then frost with the Swiss coconut buttercream - DELISH!

BTW- I took the Swiss buttecream recipe from cupcake recipe book .

See more strawberry cake at http://lapetitebaker.blogspot.com/2009/07/starwberry-cake.html

Orange Peel Cake

Saturday I made a delicious orange peel cake. And, I made it out of a moist yellow cake mix. I like to sometimes mix my recipes, it’s a bit dangerous because they say baking is a science and you need to follow the measurements to have it all come together. But, it’s fun to experiment and see the results, plus you can also learn along the process.

So, even though the orange cake tastes it shrunk about 1” or 2”, from when I took it out of the oven. My husband thinks it need to bake longer; I don’t agree because I did the tooth pick test and it came out dry so it was time to remove from the oven. I think that the one possible reason the cake shrunk is because I opened the oven once and actually moved the rack out of it to check o nthe cake; and I read in this other web site http://www.baking911.com/ that you are not supposed to do that. Oh well, live and learn. I won’t do it next time. My husband likes the taste but still think he can taste the dough; I think it’s because the cake is really moist. I added orange juice, a whole orange, orange rum, and milk; so a lot of liquids.

Here is the recipe:

1. 1 box moist yellow cake


2. Eggs, follow cake mix instructions


3. ½ stick of unsalted butter


4. 1 cup of sour cream


5. 1 tsp vanilla extract


6. 1 tbp orange rum


7. ½ cup of milk – 2% is ok
   
8. ½ cup of orange juice
   
9. 1 whole orange, ground in food processor
   

Follow cake mix package instructions for oven temperature. Grease 9” round pan; I use Bakers Joy. Also, follow instructions from cake mix for mixing ingredients, you will be replacing the oil for the butter and the water with milk and the orange juice, add the vanilla and rum orange extracts. Then, add the whole orange.

I made a creamcheese icing for this cake, but you can also do an orange glaze, or no icing at all.

Once it’s done, let it cool and enjoy!

Wedding Cake

Wedding cake customer testimonial below (about 75 guests):

Hello,
That cake was huge. Do you know that every one had a piece and we still had leftovers of the cake. That by far was the best cake I had ever had and prettiest! I think the shells just made the cake. Dave loved the fondant and the chocolate in the cake. I will be sending you pictures of the wedding. Thank you again.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth L. – Dec, 2008

Now, on my end, I had fun making this 3-tier cake but it was soo much work! Since I was doing in my own kitchen sometimes the space was somewhat limited. Also, I can't just keep going and not cleaning after each step - I am a Virgo and with a little OCD - but, in the end it was great!

But, next time I would go for fresh flowers vs fondant.

Chiffon Cake Recipe Video

Video recipe from The Culinary Institute of America. Get the full Chiffon cake recipe on the CanolaInfo website

Sunday Baking - Chocolate Cake

This Sunday I wanted to try a chocolate cake from a box with coffee; to give a deeper taste. I have been using box cake mix lately but adding a few different ingredients to make the taste better and almost like all homemade; it just saves a lot of time and you get almost the same. I wouldn’t do it if it was a special order, but just for us at home it’s really perfect. I still bake homemade cakes once in while but why not take advantage of the box mix and save time.

Anyway, the replacement and extra ingredients are:

• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1/3 cup of real butter
• 1 cup of 2 % milk
• In this cake, I also used strong coffee (½ of the liquid ingredients)
• Chocolate chips (optional)
• Cocoa powder (1 tbsp)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  

The cake came out delicious and I just used some butter cream icing I had from my last cake, plus added some Nutella to cover the sides and embellished with berries and whipped cream – DELICIOUS! I even added a chocolate design on top.

Here comes the bride, wedding cake, and carved watermelon

This weekend I went to friend’s wedding. I was one of the bridesmaids and could not be involved in making that cake. Also, the bride’s cousin was already in charge of the cake. Surprisingly enough I did not take a picture of the cake, but I did take a picture of the carved watermelon. It looked so cool with their names carved on the outside and roses carved inside. The top was carved out of yellow squash.

The wedding cake was a 3-tier square chocolate cake with butter cream icing only and fresh flowers, plus a coral ribbon around each tier. If I was making the cake I would use fondant to give it a more sophisticated look and I would also make a richer chocolate cake; perhaps adding espresso coffee or even chocolate chips. I have a book called Confetti Cakes that has a great chocolate cake recipe. Overall it was an OK cake, but nothing too special. I guess most people have very high expectations for wedding cakes and it’s easy to be let down.



Well, cake aside, the important thing here is that I had a great time and I am very happy for my friend and her now husband. Congrats!

Chocolate Cake with Swiss Run Buttercream Icing

This was a cake I made for my husband's birthday. I took a delicious cupcake recipe from this book and turned into a small cake. The Swiss run butter cream icing was soo delicious. See more at http://webbyzard.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/delicious-chocolate-cake/

Strawberry Cake with Kiwi and Coconut

This cake turned out delicious, I made an strawberry Swiss buttercream icing. I do have to say that I used a different brand butter and the icing has a little bit of butter taste to it. But, not as much after the first day. The fresh strawberries and kiwi makes it even more scrumptious! Ah- and the chocolate shavings just give it a fancy look too ;-)

Key Club Chocolate Cake

Soccer T-Shirt Cake

Heart Cakes

D&G Purse Cake

Purse Cake

18 year old birthday cake for my girl-friend's daughter.

Gift Box Cake

I made this this cake for my boss's birthday; she loved and so did I. It's great to make someone smile when looking at something you made; plus I had so much fun doing it! It was a chocolate cake with coconut butter cream icing. Ans, for this icing I used coconut milk instead of water or just coconut extract; it made the icing very light and fluffy - delicious!

Then, decorated the outside of the cake with colored fondant; I only use Satin Fine fondant. See steps on how to use decorate a cake with fondant

The Pink Bow Cake