Friday, January 30, 2009

Show & Tell Friday -- Birthday Cakes

**Update -- In the comments someone wondered if I would share my modified recipes so if you are interested in one or all email me and let me know and I will email them to you. The four I make are: carrot, pumpkin, applesauce, and of course chocolate. Two are with cream cheese frosting and the others are with a cooked whipped frosting which isn't as sweet as buttercream.**

I really enjoy baking, especially taking a recipe and modifying it to make a more healthy version with whole wheat flour, alternative sweeteners, etc. In the beginning of this process I ended up with dry cakes or really flat cakes but over the years have perfected four cakes that I regularly make for birthdays that are very moist and tasty.

In addition to that I enjoy decorating birthday cakes. I grew up with birthday cakes that my Mom beautifully decorated each year and thankfully she has passed on her talent to my sister and me. I have carried on that tradition but only wish that I wouldn't have ever given the boys a choice of which cake to make. They typically find one on one of my favorite websites on my sidebar called "Coolest Birthday Cakes". It also is a little more difficult in that we have two birthday parties where I need to make more than one cake and that slightly decreases the fun of it. For the three boys birthday two weeks ago my sister was a sweetheart and offered to decorate a cake for Tank as I had been very tempted to buy one. It turned out beautifully and Tank loved it!

I am going to share the cakes from the past few months.


Our fall birthdays from the beginning of November. I was going to make Baby Boy a #1 cake but time got away from me so I just quick decorated the pumpkin sheet cake. (Not as if he cared). Missy Blue had a "dolly" cake in her favorite color.

I used an old Storybook Doll pan that my Mom used for one of my cakes.

Pete and Re-Pete selected jeep cakes. I wanted to make one large one but they couldn't agree on a color or flavor so I made two smaller cakes (one carrot and one pumpkin). I have found piping the icing on works great as it hides imperfections, although it also hurts your hand after awhile. My Mom helped me finish the orange one as I always run out of time. :( The black frosting was a pain and I found that it is better to start with chocolate frosting but I made cream cheese so ended up adding a bit of cocoa to make it black rather than the dark purple it was. It sure stains teeth though!

Here is the Thomas the Train cake my sister decorated for me. (Thanks so much Sara!) She decided to make it more exciting than the picture he had seen and so she made the tunnel out of rice krispy treats covered with frosting.


If you would like to see more Show & Tells visit Mary at Raising 4 Godly Men. Today she shares a spelling program that I have also found to be of great help.

11 comments:

Sandpiper said...

I enjoy making cakes for my kids too.

Those jeep cakes are so cool! I'm scared to show my boys or they'll want one!

CelticMom said...

Oh, YUM!!! These look delicious, but better, they look FABULOUS!!! Hats off to you and your sister and mother for the lovely jobs! We love baking and decorating here too, so I especially enjoyed seeing what other's do. =o)


Have a lovely weekend!

Kind Regards,

Shani

Anonymous said...

Great job the cakes are all beautiful. I am going to have to remember the jeep cakes for my twin boys when they get older.


http://newlyweds.wordpress.com

subbertfamily said...

I took a cake decorating class before we came to Japan. Its enough that I can decorate the kids cakes and not have to spend $35 for a half sheet cake (yep, that's how much it is) that takes really bad and cool whip frosting (which I had-needs some sugar!)

Take care and have a wonderful day!

Michelle

Haflingerhorses said...

I see what you mean when you say that your mom passed on her talent to you and your sister. Those are some really impressive cakes!

Considering that your someone that has been baking a long time, you probably already know what I'm about to suggest, but you mentioned that you try to make your cakes healthier - the other day Rachel had no oil for a chocolate walnut cake she was making for her dad. I told her to use applesauce (the same amount that the recipe called for oil). She was really surprised (I was surprised that I even remembered this, I rarely bake). The cake turned out good and you wouldn't have known the difference!

Antoinette

sahmto4orMore said...

Those are amazing!

Your children are blessed.

My kids must never see this post, lest they get ideas about what a cake "should" be. Really, when you can't use eggs it is hard to get a cake that doesn't fall apart. I suppose I could do better in the decorating department, though. My kids are thrilled if I use Skittles to write their name or age on top of a sheet cake!

5atkins said...

I second the vote that this lovely post shall never be shown to my kids! Wow! The jeep cakes are so amazing and the dolly as adorable!


I agree with sahmto4ormore, my kids were thrilled with the candy topped cake that I made. Not healthy but more exciting than normal! :)


My youngest two have birthdays coming up in March. Mary said she wanted a cake with Hook's ship on it! (We had recently listened to Peter Pan on Librivox.) Sorry but not going to happen!


I enjoyed your post on your Sunday school teacher. It made me cry. What a light for God!


Blessings, Eva

Anonymous said...

Oh, these are so beautiful. A lovely S&T of the year's collection of cakes.

Query....I see your background. Did it come from the Cutest Blog on the Block site? I use those for my blogspot blog, but where in the HSB template do you put them? I have an HSB blog that is way overdue for a remodel. :-)


www.suzyscribbles.blogspot.com

Canadagirl said...

These are AMAZING cakes ! I really want to keep improving my cakes and make them more fun. I will HAVE to check out your link for cake making. [0= Thank you soooooooo much for sharing. I think you should link this post to my Tightwad Tuesday ! I know a lot of gals would love to see it !


PS: Could you PLEASE share how you did your blog template ! I am soooooooooo wanting to know what you did !


Blessings and ((HUGS)) my SSiC

In Him<><

-Mary

littlecreek said...

Oh I love the cakes! I'll have to show them to my mother in law (she's the cake decorator) and my kids birthdays are coming up. :-)


I would like to know too about your blog template. I also have a background similar to yours at my blogspot that I use for business.


Have a good weekend! :-)

Jenelle

basketflat said...

Those are absolutely stunning cakes. I love the creativity and I bet your kids feel very special to have such individualized cakes made by someone they love so much.


Cathy

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