Wood Grained Carrot Cake for Billy

Okay so good news is this:

MY FIRST COMMISSIONED CAKE!!!

Carrot Cake with raisins and walnuts and cream cheese icing. The cake and icing are PHENOMENAL!

Bad news is this:

It is nowhere near as perfect as I wanted it to be.

I have only worked with fondant one other time and this was not a good experience. As you can see, I mixed several different colors of fondant in what is called a "marble" color to give it a wood-grained look. Then, I used a wood-like fondant press to give it the look of boards of wood. I like the way it looks, but after I put the fondant on, it cracked. There are a few small cracks and this big one in the back:

I feel so horrible about this. I spent a lot of time on this cake and now I don't even want to charge the lady for anything but the ingredients. This stinks Dollies! There is just no way around that.

Almond Flower Thank You

Today I made an easy cake! I just took a basic White Cake mix, added a 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar and 1 Teaspoon Almond Extract and Decorated it with Basic Chocolate Butter cream and Almond slivers and VOILA!

A beautiful and easy "Thank You" Cake to be enjoyed by my family and friends....

(Yes I agree, the "T" looks awfully like a "J" Oh well)

Spiced Honey Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

1 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Butter

1/8 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (For dough)

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

4 Large Eggs

1 Package Cream Cheese (8oz.) Softened

1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

2 Teaspoons Honey

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (for filling)

Preheat oven to 375F and line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper. (I had to use a cut up paper bag and it didn't work too well).

In a medium saucepan combine butter, water, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

In another bowl mix flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Comine with butter mixture and stir vigorously with a WOODEN spoon (if you use metal or plastic the dough will stick) until a ball forms. Remove from heat for at least 10 min.

After the dough is completely cooled to room temperature, place in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time beating on medium. Continue until the mixture is smooth. Spoon 12 equal sized mounds onto the parchment paper. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes. After cooking let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:

In a large bowl combine sour cream, honey, cream cheese, whipping cream, and remaining nutmeg. Beat on high until smooth. (At first it may look something like cottage cheese but keep beating until smooth) Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Cut puffs open throug the center and fill with your desired amount of filling. Drizzle with honey and serve immediately.

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Cake

Well my nephew Noah had his first Birthday party today (You know, the one I made the frog cake for the night he was born?!?) and the theme was Toy Story. This was my first attempt at an actual character cake and all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think Dollies?

Lemon Poppy Muffins with Raspberry Butter

Sorry Dollies, but my internet has been going in and out so for this recipe I am just going to cut and paste from the Food Network site (where I found it).

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Raspberry Butter, recipe follows


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan or a jumbo 6-well muffin pan.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and lemon juice.
Make a well in center of the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the well. Add the melted butter and use a rubber spatula to blend with quick strokes, being careful not overmix the batter; it should still be slightly lumpy. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest.
Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each well 3/4 full. Bake until slightly puffed and golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Cooking time may be a little longer if you are baking jumbo-sized muffins. Lightly sprinkle sugar over the tops of the muffins, if desired. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve the muffins warm, with Raspberry Butter.

Raspberry Butter:
1 (6-ounce) container fresh raspberries, picked through
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place raspberries in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed. Place raspberry puree in a fine-meshed sieve set over a medium bowl, pressing to extract all the juice from the puree. Discard the seeds and pulp.
Pour the strained puree into a medium saucepan and add the lemon juice and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and cool puree completely.
Cream together the butter, honey, salt, and cooled puree until smooth and well blended. (This may take up to 5 minutes on high speed.) Place butter in molds or onto sheets of plastic wrap and roll into logs. Refrigerate until well chilled and firm.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups butter