Making Wishes Come True One Cake at a Time

When I took the Wilton classes a few years ago the instructor let us know about a way to practice and give back to the community at the same time. The non-profit organization is called Bake A Wish. As the website states, Bake A Wish relies on volunteers to "make birthday cakes for neglected/abuse/abandoned children and also the elderly/disabled that would not otherwise receive a birthday cake. Its more than just cake delivery, though; it's the message that someone cares."

I decided this year was the year to finally sign up to volunteer. And I chose to volunteer to make a young boy a Cookie Monster cake. I mean, who doesn't like Cookie Monster? And on top of it, this kid wanted a chocolate cake with strawberries. He has awesome taste!

The cake was way easier to make than I expected. I looked online to get some inspiration, but otherwise, I just winged it. The two hardest parts were 1) Getting the frosting the right color blue and 2) making the eyes.  I would love to share how I achieved the color blue, but it is pretty much a random mix of Wilton black, royal blue, cornflower blue and sky blue. As for the eyes, it took me a while to achieve the right size. I made three separate pairs of eyes until I got the right size. 

The inside: Two layers of a simple chocolate cake with mini chocolate chips and fresh cut strawberries tossed with some honey in the middle of the two layers. Simple and delicious!

The outside: My goal was to make the whole cake delicious (no gumpaste or fondant). I crumb-coated the cake with the blue tinted doctored buttercream recipe (a buttercream recipe that at I have used before). I then outlined the mouth with a toothpick. I knew if I messed up, I would  be able to smooth it back out and /or cover it up with the "fur." I filled in the mouth with Oreo cookies that were crushed in the food processor (cookie part only, no cream). I then used a Wilton tip #233 with the blue buttercream and just went to town piping a "fur" effect all over the cake. The beauty of using this tip for this technique is that the fur did not have to be perfect. It made piping the cake fast and fun. I did learn, however, that some of the tiny holes in the tip got clogged with dried buttercream. I had to run the tip under water 5 times by the time I covered the whole cake. 

The eyes were made out of melted white chocolate and melted Wilton black Candy Melts that were spooned on to parchment paper in the shape of large and small circular disks. And I as mentioned previously, this was one of the hardest parts of the cake. But I managed to get the right googly-eyed look that Cookie Monster is known for. Finally, what's a cookie monster cake without cookies? Because I'm lazy, I bought Toll House slice-and-bake cookies. But then again, I also don't know anyone who doesn't like them so it was a win-win. I tore some up to use for the mouth, as if they were being eaten by the Cookie Monster (the leftovers went in to my belly). And then for fun, I threw a few more cookies on the side. And voila! A pretty easy and delicious cookie monster cake. 

I delivered the cake to the receptionist at the non-profit organization who would be organizing the young boy's birthday, so I was unable to see his reaction. But just knowing that I will make some kid smile is all I really need. Maybe I should change my nickname to the baking fairy :o)

A Cupcake Birthday Bouquet for Mom

The spring is a busy time in the Morgan household. We start off with Rodeo Houston weekend combined with my my father-in-law's birthday, then we are back for Easter a few weeks later and then back again for my mother-in-law, AND brother-in-law's birthday. This means lots a trips to Houston. And this year, it also means lots of baking.

Unfortunately, you can see my reflection as I try to take a picture. 

For my mother-in-law, I decided to make her a floral birthday bouquet out of cupcakes. My flower making skills with buttercream are a little rusty, so I thought this would be perfect to brush up on techniques. The final result was pretty, but boy, did I make a mess in the kitchen. And there were several cupcakes that went straight into my husband's stomach :o) Also, I realized I'm in dire need of practicing buttercream roses. I remembered I never quite got them down in the class I took. Oh well, I'll have to practice again on someone else.

The outside: Basic doctored buttercream recipe with food coloring to make a variety of real and invented flowers. I also used pearl dragees and chocolate sprinkles.

The inside: Oreo cupcakes...yumm. It was my first time ever to make these and I debated between placing a whole Oreo at the bottom or just have half with the cream side up. I went for half with the cream side up to make it smoother and not so crunchy on the bottom. I then poured the cake mixture over the top of each Oreo. The cake batter consisted of an Oreo a mixture of basic white cake with lots added lots of vanilla, sour cream, vanilla pudding and broken up Oreos. These are like lick-your-fingers delicious!

Oh and just for kicks, this time around driving back to Austin from Houston, we finally got out of the car to take pictures in the bluebonnets. It's my first time ever in the five years I have been living in Texas to do this. So pretty :o)

Chocolate Three Ways Petal Cake

So this post is really about another fun cake I made. But before, I promised to follow up on how my father-in-law's cake tasted and looked on the inside. So I give it a 9 for looks. When cut into it looked exactly like hunting camo. As for taste, I hate to not say anything negative about The Pioneer Woman, and maybe it was my own fault, but the moisture level was not even...the bottom was more moist than the top. It was still delicious but just not the same level of moisture throughout. If anyone knows how to keep the moisture level throughout the cake let me know. I wonder if soaking the whole thing would help. Hmmm...

Anywho, this post is about a petal cake I made for two friends whose birthdays fell back to back. The difficult thing was it was for a boy and girl. The neutral zone I determined was chocolate.

The outside: This decorated cake is called a petal cake that I learned about from the Hungry Housewife, but I did my own take on it. Instead of ombre, I used three types of chocolate frosting: white chocolate, nutella, and dark chocolate. I started with a giant batch of a doctored buttercream recipe and added 1/2 cup of melted white chocolate (room temp) to one batch, 1/2 cup of nutella to another bacth (or more if you are like me and LOVE Nutella), and 1/2 cup dark chocolate (room temp) to the final batch.

The inside: The boy like chocolate, the girl funfetti. So I made a five layer cake with two layers of chocoloate chocolate chip and three layers of funfetti cake with sliced strawberries and white chocolate buttercream filling. The cake was dense and decadent from adding pudding and sour cream to the cake mixes. I stacked them in a hurry so my only issue is that the cake turned out slightly lopsided...oh well.

The result, everyone gobbled their piece of cake...no crumbs left :o) SUCCESS!

Getting Back in to Baking

So a couple of years ago I took some Wilton Cake Decorating classes with a close friend and loved it! And why wouldn't I.  I always loved being in the kitchen.  At age 9 I was making pizza from scratch for family dinners and they actually ate it! I also made some concoctions that made people sick, but I'll spare you all the details.

Any ways, getting back to the cake. I made a lot of cakes after those classes. I learned about gum paste, buttercream, fondant, torting cakes, and filling cupcakes. I even self-taught myself how to use isomalt. I also learned I'm incapable of keeping my kitchen clean when I bake. Its literally impossible. My most prized cake was the one I made for my boyfriend's birthday. It was a beer barrel cake with a Texan logo and was so much. It was fun, and even more fun seeing his face. Little did I know he would become my husband in almost one year later. 

Everything is edible, except for the bottle caps and labels. I didn't have time to recreate those with edible paper.  

So yeah, cake became a passion of mine. But when we got engaged, life got busy. Wedding planning tends to do that to you. But 5 months after become Michelle Morgan I have decided that it is time to start back up.  And what better reason that for a family member. I made my father-in-law this cake for his upcoming birthday. Its a mix of a tres leches cake from the Pioneer Woman (love her!), a camo-inspired cake and this other image of a cake from Sugar.

Hunting Camo Cake

My messy and tiny kitchen

Final Product

Not sure how it tastes, but I'll follow-up with another post after this weekend.