Happy birthday, Jason!

Christina's cousin Jason is turning 26 on May 2nd, and yesterday she attended his birthday bash for which she provided the cake.  Red velvet with cream cheese was what the birthday boy requested, decorated with navy, chartreuse, hot pink, and white as well as some serious pizzazz!  The cake was a hit with all the party-goers.

Happy birthday, Jason!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Tasty Thursday: Strawberry Cake!

Now that spring is here and the weather has turned for the better (we hope), fresh fruit is always first and foremost on our minds for healthy snacks as well as for cake.

Strawberries are always a personal favorite because they can be so juicy and delicious.  And fresh strawberry time is upon us, hooray!  In fact, we love strawberries so very much that we are going to showcase those luscious berries in each Tasty Thursday feature in May!

We've shared our go-to fresh strawberry filling in the past and today we'd like to share a delicious strawberry cake recipe we came across by chance. What we love about this cake is that it doesn't require any frosting, although a scoop of fresh whipped cream wouldn't be amiss on it!

Oh, and strawberries give Christina, our resident kitchen gadget geek, an excuse to use her favorite gadget:  a strawberry huller!  If you don't have one of these, be sure to get one.  They save your berries from being hacked to death and losing out on some of the precious fruit by simply digging out the green stem and none of the ripe, red berry.  Christina's is from The Pampered Chef and can be used to core tomatoes too, when they come into season!

Strawberry Cake 

Adapted from Martha Stewart
recipe courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top of cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan or pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.

3. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Arrange strawberry slices on top of batter. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over berries.

4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 50-55 minutes. Let cool in pan. To serve, cut into wedges. Store cake at room temperature, for up to two days.

Serves 10

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

P.S.  One of our favorite children's books features the strawberry:



And here is a short video clip of the book too!

Wacky Cakes Wednesday!

Ummm...so what's with the dead guy on the cake?

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Terrific Tool Tuesday: Icing smoother!

Sometimes the simplest tool is the best tool to have and works wonders.  An icing smoother is one of those tools.

An icing smoother is a type of scraper, either plastic or metal (usually aluminum), that is used to smooth buttercream on the tops and sides of cakes in preparation for decorating.  Some smoothers even have different sides that can create cool designs on your icing - in that case, it is known as a decorating comb.

We use this smoother by Ateco:



There are lots of brands to choose from so depending on your needs, you can get one that does the job.  Online merchants such as Global Sugar Art carry them. 

Since we got one, our crumb coat for fondant has been the smoothest ever!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Happy Easter (a day late)!

We enjoyed our familial celebrations yesterday and never got to post pictures of our Easter desserts.  This year we decided to go with cake pops, a trend made all the rage by Bakerella.  These lovely little treats are the perfect end to a huge meal when you just want a taste of something sweet.

If you want to learn how to make them, we suggest you purchase Bakerella's book "Cake Pops".  It is easy, full illustrated of step-by-step directions, and many fun projects for the whole family.




Here are some pictures of Christina's family as they made them, as well as a look at Meghan's finished product!

Christina's girls hard at work!

Tim, Christina's husband, adding details to his cake pop!

Maddie, Christina's youngest daughter, painting corn syrup onto her pop!

The finished cake pops all wrapped up and ready to go to Easter dinner at Christina's parent's house!

Meghan's Easter cake pops!

Enjoy and happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Amazing Wedding Cakes - Sneak Peek of the *All-New* Episode this Sunday 4/24!

So we know we said we are on Spring break and wouldn't be posting (and trust us, we are enjoying the time off!) but we couldn't let the weekend go by without our weekly post about Amazing Wedding Cakes.  And you can probably bet we will have something fun for tomorrow's holiday too!

This Easter weekend may be filled jelly beans and egg-decorating, but don't forget to tune-into some beautiful cake-decorating as well with another all-new episode of Amazing Wedding Cakes! Check out the bridesmaids' dresses, winter wonderland and BBQ picnic cakes on Sunday, April 24th, at 10pm | 9c on WE tv!

Here's what's happening:

Robin in Minnesota creates a bridal shower cake that’s a stunning salute to being many times a bridesmaid, and now happily a bride. Christopher designs a wedding cake that’s a twist on a classic BBQ picnic, with checkered tablecloths, watermelon, dandelions and dragonflies.  White Flower in Ohio dreams up dangling snowflakes and rock sugar sparkle.

And make sure to tune in regularly for all new episodes of Amazing Wedding Cakes on Sundays at 10/9c on WE tv:

http://www.wetv.com/shows/amazing-wedding-cakes/episodes/season-4/bridesmaids-dresses-winter-wonderland-bbq-picnic-cakes

  

Happy baking!

Christina & Meghan

We're on Spring break!

As we are both teachers, this is our Spring break week and so we are also taking a break from our cakes.  Be sure to check back starting on April 25th for our regular daily blog entries!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Amazing Wedding Cakes - Sneak Peek of the *All-New* Episode this Sunday 4/17! (VIDEO)

We don't know about you, but we are absolutely loving this season of Amazing Wedding Cakes!  The beach/baby wedding cake last week was a work of art and the friendly competition between the sisters' engagement cake was fun to watch too!

Love is certainly in the air this spring with another all-new episode of Amazing Wedding Cakes this weekend! Be sure to tune in for the cityscape, gift box and rock-climbing cakes on Sunday, April 17th, at 10pm | 9c on WE tv!

Here's what's happening:

Robin of Minneapolis’ Gateaux Inc. meets a couple who want to incorporate multiple cities into their wedding cake, to depict their “Tale of Three Cities” story. Lauren and Marianne of Cleveland’s White Flower Cake Shoppe get to work on a Gift Box cake for a couple having Holiday-themed nuptials, but black fondant fades very quickly in the light, so the team must work in half-darkness to finish the project, harnessing their best night vision! Last-but-not-least, Orange County’s Christopher Garren’s Cakes receives an order for a unique groom’s cake to play up the groom’s obsession with rock climbing.

Check out the sneak peek video clip below and tune in for all new episodes of Amazing Wedding Cakes on Sundays at 10/9c on WE tv.

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan