Weekly Wonders: July 25th, 2012

 

I love throwing a good party, from Valentine’s crafternoons to Thanksgiving potlucks.  The other weekend, Mom decided to throw a party in honor of my graduation and B’s adoption. She even made me come home from Miami to teach her how to pin things on pinterest because she kept seeing all these ideas and did not know what to do with them. At first the theme was food on sticks, because there are so many cute ideas out there.  Then we realized not everything could be on a stick so we wanted mini things. Pinterest kept filling us with unrealistic expectations for how our party should be (Exhibit A and Exhibit B). All the bright colors made us realize that we wanted more color in our theme, so we went with rainbows. We did not have any actual rainbows just tons of rainbow colors. Later this week, I will show you how we made these delightful cheesecake sticks. They were a hit! Do your parties ever evolve like ours? They start off trying to be one thing and end up being something completely else?

P.S. It was not until halfway through the party, I managed to grab a few pictures, so excuse the half-eaten displays!

Our collection of colorful things purchased/repurposed for the party

 

 

Lego Cake

It was my bf’s birthday last week. I found the cake I wanted to make him about 1 month after his birthday last year. I had it planned out to the T (whatever that means) but then I got stressed and did not have nearly enough time to perfect it. Yet he still loved it, so that’s all that matters right? Anyways, here’s a quick pick.

I just baked a cake in a loaf pan then took Oreos and dipped them in chocolate to the be the top parts. The chocolate sealed in the crumbs making it easier to ice.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway and help a poor lonely blogger! It ends tonight!

Housewarming Gift: Cake Platter

        
  A cake platter can be a great gift, especially if there are some home baked goodies inside. I highly recommend Brie Bites or Strawberry Cookies. I got this cake platter for my birthday, when I got this also! I decided though beautiful the cake platter was a bit to dull for my tastes. It need a touch of gold. And out came my handy dandy paint pen! I watched an episode of trash tv (Don’t judge me on my RHOBH obsession), while carefully painting the outer edge gold. It took a few layers (3) but in the end it gave it that perfect touch of class! Now the cake platter looks more expensive too, and you can’t beat that!



   
   Happy First Day of October! How do you plan to celebrate the coming of fall?

How to: Rainbow Cake Layer and Ice

   
    In case you missed the first part about how to bake the cakes, look right Here. For my inspiration, check out these. Now by no means am I really good at icing a cake, but I can give you a few pointers to make your life easier. A's cake turned out beautifully and tasted amazing, we were quite the hit at the bowling alley! If I ever own a bakery, I am always going to have parties at bowling allies, everyone stopped by to ask who made the cake. I am not a professional baker by any means, but I think it turned out quite nice!




Tips for Layering:

• Level cakes using a serrated knife to make them stack better
• The top layer should be placed upside down so not as many crumbs on the top when you ice it later
• Two people makes work go faster
• Place the cake on a turntable with a piece of rubber to keep it from sliding off
• Plan how you are going to move it (I may have forgotten this until halfway through and realized my cake was taller than my cake carrier)
• Spatulas are amazing, angled ones are BRILLIANT

 
Tips for Icing:

• Simplest is often the best
  
• Buy nice sprinkles, tacky ones will look tacky, no matter how good the icing is
  
• You can buy icing from your grocery store bakery (I bought Publix Whipped buttercream for the filling and buttercream for the outside)
  
• Crumb coats are amazing
  
• Find a tutorial to help, like Wisk Kid
  
• Allow cake to cool before icing and after crumb coat
  
• For my sprinkle effect, take pinches and sprinkle the top outer edge of the cake, then use a spoon to "lift" sprinkles periodically on the side of the cake
  

 
What is your favorite tip for icing a cake? Do you have any preferred way to decorate a cake? Do you use fondant or prefer marshmallow fondant? Have you ever made a layered cake before? Or do you stick to a one layer?

How to: Bake a Rainbow Cake

    
  In honor of Aurora's birthday, I decided to bake a cake. I had a few ideas, seen here. But it wasn't until I stumbled upon the rainbow cake, that I fell in love. How perfect is a rainbow cake for a 10 year old girl? She's never had a proper birthday cake or party, so Mom and I decided to surprise her completely with it. Let me just say this cake was a labor of love. I baked the cakes before and wrapped them up to place in the fridge till I was ready to assemble. Apparently, you do this so the cake firms up and will stack better. By no means am I saying this cake was perfect, but it was pretty darn good in my oh so humble opinion. 


First off here are a few tips for baking:

• Preheat the oven (Too often I forget to do this)
• Cake pans should be buttered and then sprinkle with powdered sugar (it's like the flour trick but yummier)
• Use three bowls and two cake pans and just constantly clean them
• It is SO MUCH easier with two people (Mom cleaned while I mixed and poured)
• Make an assembly line out of the process
• Use an electric beater 
• Make one batter, pour out into three separate bowls, then use the leftover batter to mix with the other box and pour four bowls out of the second box
• Dip a fork into the color, then use that fork to mix the batter, it is almost always the right color 
• Keep one bowl always with batter, so you can just the intensity of the color, too make them all similar shades
• Bake the day before you want the cake
• Set aside two hours to three hours for baking

Ingredients:

-Two boxes cake mix (Duncan Hines is very good!)

-Cake mix ingredients (mine called for oil, eggs and water)

-Butter

-Powdered Sugar

-Icing colors (I bought the Wilton 8 pack and just didn't use the brown)

-Wax or Parchment Paper

-Gallon sized Ziploc baggies

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven. Butter then powdered sugar the cake pans.
   
2. Mix one box of cake mix, pour into three separate bowls and tint each bowl.
   
3. Pour each batter into a cake pan, bake for about 10- 15 minutes
   
4. While baking, mix up the next box of a cake batter.
   
5. Pour into four separate bowls and tint each.
   
6. Allow cakes to cool on a rack before placing on paper and wrapping up.
   
7. Wrap each cake then place in Ziploc baggie. Allow cakes to rest overnight in the fridge before use
   

 
Check back tomorrow for how to ice the cake! What's your favorite cake mix? Do you have a go to birthday cake? Or do you always order your birthday cake?