The Cake So Good...It Ate Itself

One of my favorite women turned 50 this month and I was asked to make something simple and elegant to help her celebrate this milestone birthday.  After throwing a few ideas around we settled on this layered velvet cake covered in rosettes of cream cheese icing.  The cake was light, moist and delicious and the icing was absolutely divine.  Unfortunately, it was so delicious it decided to eat itself i.e., collapse and I had to remake it in just a few hours.  

After a few tears of disappointment from me and a little rushing, the cake was delivered directly to the restaurant, in order to make it in time for dessert.  Everyone enjoyed the cake and I was told, "That cake didn't stand a chance!"  Check out all the photos below.

Original Cake

Once it started to eat itself...

The Remake

The remains...

Rainbow Cupcakes

This assortment of cupcakes included vanilla, sweet potato and strawberry cupcakes. They were made for a baby shower with a primary color theme, so I swirled a little color in the icing.

Happy Birthday in Blue &White

This simple birthday cake was made with red velvet cake, frosted with cream cheese icing and trimmed with blue and white cream cheese. Simple but tasty...

Snowman with Penguins

This is a cake I made for my very first cake competition. The mountain mountain was carved out of coconut cake and covered with homemade marshmallow fondant. The penguins were cake balls covered in chocolate with the eyes, beak and bows piped with icing. The snowman was carved from coconut cake, iced with cream cheese icing and coated in coconut. The original intent was for the snowman to have a hat, but the hat didn't make it.

Key Lime Cake Covered with Fondant

Key lime cake is a favorite of one of my coworkers, but when I searched for a recipe, it seemed they all contained box cake mix or lime jell-o.  I'm not one for using box ingredients, so I altered my vanilla cake recipe by adding lime zest and lime juice to create this moist and delicious key lime cake.  I frosted the cake with a lime cream cheese frosting and covered it with my homemade fondant.  Although making fondant is fairly simple, it is an extra step, but I think it's well worth it since store bought fondant doesn't have the best taste.  The daisies, flower stems and pearls are also made using fondant.  

Although this cake is green, it doesn't have to be.  For those who stray away from dye and food coloring, the green can certainly be left out.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Birthday Cake

This is a three layer strawberry cake was baked using fresh strawberries and filled with strawberry cream cheese. The cake was frosted with cream cheese icing and decorated using black cream cheese icing and pink fondant. This was my first attempt at working fondant. I had to make the bow twice, but thanks to Edna (http://www.designmeacake.com/id67.html), I had a step by step tutorial that was easy to follow.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Baby Shower Cake

How cute is this?  Daddy and mommy with baby duck in tow...

Not only was this cake cute, but it was tasty too.  This three layer strawberry cake was baked using fresh strawberries and filled using a strawberry cream cheese.  Finally, the cake was frosted with cream cheese icing.  All of the bubbles were also made using cream cheese icing.  To add final touches to the cake, I used a little family of ducks which was perfect for the young couple expecting their first baby boy.

Ribbon Wedding Cake with Roses

This wedding cake is made with vanilla pound cake and frosted with cream cheese icing.  The decorations were kept simple with ribbon and roses.