Buttercream Swirl

I love simple wedding cakes! I don't know how many times I've said it before.

This cake was made for a small family gathering celebrating a marriage of a seasoned husband and wife joining their two families together. It was a simple vanilla on vanilla cake. 

I frosted the cake with a crumb coat and let it set up in the fridge.  Once the outer layer was covering the cake I began using a small round tipped spatula starting at the base of the cake and lightly started swirling the lines slowly up the sides of the cake, constantly turning the cake stand. I then piped a bead layer around the base of each cake and placed the fondant/gumpaste mixed flower on the top. 

PB & C cake

I made this cake for a YW fundraiser/auction. 

The cake is double chocolate, covered in creamy peanut butter mousse, and slathered in fudgy milk chocolate ganache, topped with peanut butter mousse rosettes. 

Holy Cow! I so did not want to send this but keep it for myself :) 

Fudgy Ganache:

1 cup chocolate chips

3 T butter

3 T cream

*Melt butter and chips over double boiler, then add cream. Mix until smooth. Enjoy!

This is also great over ice cream.

Sweet Scripture Feast

This is not a normal cake post, but many people have asked me for a copy of this so here it is:

    My husband and I decided to create this game for family home evening with his entire family a few weeks ago. We had so much fun finding the scriptures and candy to create clues and answers. It was a Hit! 

Everyone was laughing and having a great time trying to figure out some of the clues. There are some that were purposely easy for the younger family members. The clues are mostly just tidbits of the original scripture for the sake of space on paper (about 4 pages). 

It would be fun with the youth to make it a scripture chase where they have to find the scripture, read it and figure out the clue first! 

If by chance you cannot print this or copy and paste it to Word, let me know, and I can email it to you!

I hope you all enjoy it... we definitely did :)

Sweet Scripture feast

 created By Spencer & Maria Turley

Clue	Candy
1. Mormon 1:18 – “…Gadianton robbers who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery , because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again.”	Butterfinger
2. D&C 88:69 – “Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you.”	Snickers
3. D&C 90:29 – “And the residue of the money may be consecrated unto me, and she be rewarded in mine own due time.”	Pay day
4.  3 Nephi 28:36 – “And now behold, as I spake concerning those whom the Lord hath chosen, yea, even three who were caught up into heavens, that I knew not whether they were cleansed from mortality to immortality”	3 Musketeers
5. Alma 56:48 – “And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.”	Mamba
6. Ether 1:34 – “And the brother of Jared being a large and mighty  man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, “	Big Hunk
7. Ether 2:4 – “…the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not.	Whatchamacallit
8. Genesis 1:17  – “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”	Milky Way
9. John 21:3 – “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing.”	Swedish Fish
10. Ether 3:1 – “…and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass;…”	Pop Rocks
11. Proc. to the Fam. Paragraph 1 – “…marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God…”	Mike & Ike
12. Genesis 27:26 – “And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.”	Hershey Kisses
13. D&C 59:13 – “ And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.”	Fast Break
14. Proc. to the Fam. Paragraph 4 – “We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”	Skor
15. D&C 9:9 – “But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; …”	Airheads
16. 3 Nephi 8:17 – “And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thundering, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth.”	Crunch Bar
17.  1 Nephi 22:8 “And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed;…”	100Grand
18. D&C 25:12 – “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me…”	Symphony
19. 1Nephi 8:10&11 – “10. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. 11. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof…”	Fruit Snacks/Runts
20. Matthew 3:16 – “…and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him”	Dove Bar
21. 2Nephi 28:20 – “For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.”	Nutrageous
22. D&C 77:12 A. – “We are to understand that as God made the world in six days…”	Sixlets
23. D&C 58:28 – “For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.”	Mr. Goodbar
24. 3 Nephi 17:21 – “…and the multitude bear record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.”	Sugar Babies
25. Hebrews 5:13 – “For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.”	Milk Duds
26. Abraham 1:31 – “…therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day…”	Starbursts
27.  2Nephi 12:8 – “…they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.”	Butterfinger
28. D&C 18:15 – “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”	Almond Joy
29. Isaiah 1:2 – “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains...”	Mounds
30. Matthew 13:38 – “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.”	Sour Patch Kids
31. Jacob 5:28 – “And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard and the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did nourish all the fruit of the vineyard	Red Vines/ Twizzlers

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

An old favorite! We went camping and made some dutch oven dinner, then dessert.  

The last 2 pictures do not do it justice to how good it was. 

Recipe:

2 cans peaches (diced)

1 yellow cake mix

1 bar of butter

Butter dutch oven. Pour in peaches. Sprinkle cake mix on top. 

Cut butter into small squares and place over cake mix. Bake in dutch oven about 45 min. 

We used a 10 inch oven- 13 briquettes on bottom and 7 on top. MmmmMmmm good!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

These were sooo good! FYI I did have to double the glaze. Here's the recipe:)

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Makes: 2−3 dozen doughnuts

Raised doughnuts:
2 pkgs. regular or rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105−115 degrees)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all−purpose flour
Vegetable oil
Creamy glaze or chocolate glaze

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2−quart bowl. Add milk, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat on low speed scraping bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until smooth. Cover and let rise in warm place, until double, 50−60 minutes. (Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.) Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2−inch thick with floured rolling pin. Cut with floured doughnut cutter.

Cover and let rise until double, 30−40 minutes. Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees. Slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula. Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil (do not prick surface); drain. Dip the doughnuts into creamy glaze, set on rack, then when slightly cooled spread chocolate glaze on top. Can dip in sprinkles or other toppings after chocolate if desired.

Fashion Week Spring 2012

One of my favorite cake designers uses inspiration from couture fashion and I love some of the couture cakes ( http://www.lvcc.co.uk/ ) she has created. I also love seeing the latest fashion on the runway and thought I would share http://www.mbfashionweek.com/photos_and_videos/spring_2012 , one of my fav's is
B Micheal America... check out his photos.

Sweet Vanilla Flower

I tried a couple of new recipes

swiss meringue buttercream... very smooth & silky from scratch vanilla cake, I adapted a recipe found in the cake boss' new book It was delicious!
I recommend this book for beginning decorators as well as the seasoned.

White chocolate clay

I found a recipe for chocolate clay online ( 10oz chocolate to 1/4 C corn syrup melted together). I tried it and I love it. I worked with it on a marble slab and it held up beautifully!

It tastes sooooo much better than most fondants and looks just as fabulous.

Roses are Red

I was asked to make a bouquet for bridal pics because the florist was unavailable the day of the photo shoot, it was pretty fun. The bride requested the jewels in the bouquet, I thought they were pretty cute in it :)

Springtime Blues

I realized the last few things I made were all about the same shade of blue. This is fitting considering its almost the end of April, still chilly and occassionally still snowing!!!! Give me some warm weather and a whole lot of sunshine!

Happy Easter. These were made in muffin tins, topped with green coconut & jelly beans and finished off with a piece of pull-n-peel twizzler.

Ok, so I got bored one day. I had been trying to figure out how to bring the concept of a dress form into cake and I finally figured it out. Two large cupcakes, 4in & 6in cake pans and a dowel down the middle. This is obviously a very rough try on this idea but it still turned out pretty cute. I made it really fast, now that I know how to make the base for it, I will definitely take my time and make it a lot more professional looking on the next one.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was wonderful thank you, I do recommend you all seeing the new movie HOP, very cute! I unfortunately had to go to school last night and decided to be cheesy and make cupcakes to take. You have to understand though, we were watching a movie, having our final review, and were told to bring treats/snacks .They were well recieved!

Chocolate Dessert Cups

I was playing on the internet and discovered this fun way to make

elegant chocolate dessert cups and thought I would share.

You need:

small to medium sized balloons (not water balloons, they pop in the chocolate :)

favorite brand/flavor of chocolate for melting, I used Guittard extra dark chocolate here

Cookie sheet covered in wax paper/parchment paper

scissors

1) blow up balloons to the size of an orange

2)melt chocolate & remove from heat

3)Dip balloon in chocolate, roll on 3 sides for tulip effect

4)lift from chocolate and let drip then place on paper to cool

Place in refridgerator to harden for about 10 minutes.

Then set out for a few minutes after hardened.

Snip the top of the balloon, let it deflate then pull out of shell.

These are great for icecream, fruit, sorbet, mousse...
pretty much anything cold you can think of.
(Vanilla icecream and strawberry pictured here.)


Enjoy!

Cake doughnuts

She was so careful with putting on the right amount of sprinkles.

Very proud of herself, as she should be!

My 4-year-old wanted to make some donuts the other day. We found a recipe in the Family Circle magazine and they were really cute. Savannah decided she wanted both chocolate and vanilla donuts (chocolate were softer) and that she would decorate them with purple frosting and pink sprinkles. Not too bad for a 4-year-old I must say!

White Cake

I am not a fan of most 'from scratch' recipes for vanilla cake. A friend of mine sent one to me to try and I love it. I'm need to figure out how to get it to work for a cake that I would tier. This one sunk in the middle (my fault) but it tasted delicious. It's a little thicker than a box cake and a little softer than a pound cake, great flavor & moist. I made some thick cream cheese frosting and decided to serve it next to the cake like icecream. Thanks for the recipe Jenna... it was great!

Carrot Cake

This was a carrot cake for a RS birthday party we had at church. Very moist with crushed pineapple added and cream cheese frosting topped with chopped pecans, mmmmm!

A lot of people signed up to make cakes, and I thought I wouldn't do anything to fancy...

I didn't want to feel like a show-off!

Silly me, my cake was probably the least fancy one there!

How cocky of me to think I'm the only one I know who can decorate a cake and make it look store bought. The cakes there were all beautiful & delicious.

I award the best looking cakes there to:

Lisa Chin, because I have a bias to the cake she made ;)
Markae Evans, even though she bought it- it deserves and award for looks & taste!
AND the top award goes to....
Jaime Anderson for her Lemon Cake, it was amazing...candied lemon slices on top, wow!

Candy Coated

It's been a while since I've baked just for fun. I found a cute idea in a cake book from the library the other day and decided I would have some fun with it. I made a chocolate cake, and some chocolate frosting. I cut the cake into individual squares, frosted each side and layed each side in candy pieces. Three different flavors, Andes mints, Butterfingers, and toffee pieces. They were very rich! The toffee was really sweet & crunchy, the Andes mints were creamy and smooth, and the Butterfinger was just a little crunchy and it was probably my favorite. It took me a while to cover the sides of six little cakes, so after a while I just did the tops, they turned out great too!

Red Velvet Cake

This seems to be the popular flavor lately, but I will say it is probably my favorite. (It does have chocolate in it. ) My mother-in-law actually baked it, and asked me to make it look cute for a dinner party she was having. I love the swirled frosting look! By the way, it was sooo yummy!

Flour Snob!

I have officially become a flour snob! First it started with powdered sugar, I didn't believe my neighbor Jill when she said name brand makes a difference, but it does!!!!!! Then I ran out of my good flour, which came from Cortez Milling Co. and I went and bought a bag from my neighborhood wholesale warehouse, it was horrible! I mean it works ok, but it was clumpy and dense, just not good. So I decided after trying some name brand grocery flours, and warehouse flours that Cortez Milling Co. is the best! I'm not just saying that either. I bake a LOT and flour makes a big difference... I've decide it's time to return to Cortez and stock up on some serious flour. My cakes are not the same without it! ps last time I was there, we got these cute vintage looking flour bags...love them:)

Blue Swirls

I was trying out a new recipe for lemon cake and decided to have a little fun with some left over frosting, it turned out quite cute! The cake tasted delicious too!

Chocolate Rose

This is a chocolate rose made out a chocolate fondant like recipe. It was fun to make and how gorgeous would it look on a chocolate cake!