Bunny Cake

Easter 2020 Bunny Cake

I've always loved to bake but I've had more than my share of baking fails. In fact, I had a near disaster with this bunny at the very beginning - but more about that in a minute. 

First, I wanted to see if there might be other people out there that like to bake, make and create. If so,  please share links to your blogs in the comments so I can pop over there and see what you're making.

Anyway, I thought I'd share how I made this bunny cake.

First I baked the cakes (3 of them) in 6 inch baking tins. And, right away I had problems. I was trimming one of the tops of the cakes to make them all level and I got distracted because I was boiling eggs at the same time. I was checking on the eggs as I was leveling the cakes and...I trimmed the top off the cake horribly. 

You can see how it broke apart. But I just wedged it back together and used a little butter cream (I've added a link to my butter cream frosting recipe) to "glue" it together. My point is, don't give up because of one set back.

Then I crumb coated the cake in homemade butter cream (which is simply powdered sugar mixed with butter and maybe a tablespoon of milk or cream). I always crumb coat on a silpat so I can easily slip the cake off and onto a cutting board. (Crumb Coating - is simply covering the cake in a thin layer of frosting and then putting it in the fridge to set).

Then I rolled out my fondant on  a little cornstarch - to keep the fondant from sticking to the table. TIP: don't do this on a hot day because cooking is like picnicking. The weather plays a big part in your success. And I've had some fondant fails due to weather.

Then I put the fondant over the crumb-coated cakes and trimmed it around the edge. Adding a ribbon around the bottom makes it looked finished and almost professional.

Then I began decorating.

I used Fondant to make the facial features and "glued" them on using buttercream and  meringue paste. 

The finishing touch was the ears but I had another problem there. I thought I had gum paste but I didn't. So, I took some left over fondant and made ears. I stuck them on bamboo skewers and put the in the freezer to harden up until after dinner. Then I pulled them out off the freezer and stuck them in place. But even then, I'd forgotten about the whiskers until my son pointed it out. Luckily, I had some toothpicks in the kitchen. I sprinkled some jelly bean eggs around the edge and Voila the cake was finished.

The family said the cake tasted good … and I believed them but no one wanted to eat the poor bunny's face. And, probably because the fondant was pretty thick there, just look at the nose and cheeks ;D

So this cake was a fun family dessert that everyone enjoyed - including me ;D I had a piece too but I'm always a little biased so  I like to see what  the family thinks.

But, this wasn't my first bunny cake. Over the years I've made a few other Easter cakes.

These bunny cupcakes are a fun, easy project. This bunny is diving down into the hole. So, he was super simple to make

I was looking back  over the years and I guess I've made more than my share of cakes. If you've made some fun cakes too, please share a link to your blog or send a picture, I'd love to see them.

I hope you all stay well and enjoy some creative days, making, baking and creating :D

Making, Baking and Creating

I love to bake and when one of my kids' birthdays rolls around, I'm all about baking,  making and creating. It's not to say that I'm great at it but I love to do it. So, whenever there's a birthday, you can find me in the kitchen trying to make something sweet for one of my kids, my husband, or a friend ;D

I think baking is easy. All I do is run to the cupboard--like Old Mother Hubbard--but instead of bones, I pull out cake pans and I don't always know what I'm going to make in the beginning but once I get going, something pops in my head.

It's easy to do. All I do is stack layers and cut and shape or simply decorate until I have what I want.

And, I have a BIG family so this fall I made more than a few cakes.

Here's how I did it.

I started with a couple layers of cake (this one was two pineapple upside down cakes that I stacked  together) because my son loves Pineapple... then I covered them with fondant.

And started to decorate.

I was only thinking of pineapple...so this is where I began. But then I had  to add a little bit more.

But Luke's birthday is in October and this didn't seem very Halloweenie . . . and I was thinking of scary eyes...so on the backside I added a couple of Oreo eyes

But that still didn't seem like enough...so I baked a couple more small little cakes...just in case

And I stacked those together to make pumpkins. Then I frosted them with some orange cream cheese frosting.

And to top it off, I used a PayDay Candy Bar as the stem. I guess I shouldn't have added the fondant leave because my husband said that made the cake look like an orange apple. Oh well, I never said I was  great.

And then we sang and ate and ate...oh, but first,  Luke had to blow out his candles.

I think this photo makes him look like he's breathing fire... and that  inspires  me  to make a  dragon cake...next time, I think.

Anyway,  I'd  love to hear about the cakes  you make,  bake  or create. 

 

CAKE-N-BAKE - THEY'RE FUN TO MAKE

Everyone who knows me, knows I love to make fun characters and the easiest way to do that is to bake...

I've made so many different types of cakes, cookies and cupcakes

I even love to make "Finger" food

But my latest cake was so much fun to make

My son loves to play the guitar...so you guessed it, for his birthday I had to make a guitar or like a friend told me, "It's a bass" but I never claimed to be musical. I just love to bake.

It really was simple. All I did was cut out the shape of a guitar on a piece of paper and lay it on top of a sheet cake. I cut it out and then laid the fondant over the shape. I was in a hurry because I had a bunch of people coming for dinner so I didn't have much time to throw the cake together. Plus, I suddenly had to frost a cake for my daughter too. (My 34 year old son and my 30 year old daughter share a birthday). I thought we had someone else bringing my daughter's cake but they had a "cake disaster" in the car. Luckily, I had a couple extra layers of cake in the fridge and simply had to frost them.

And look at that candle on top...it was sparktacular!

Look at the differences in the flames from the candles on Jake's cake and Kara's cake.

But no matter the flame on the food, it looks like someone liked the flavor

Because that food was finished in no time.

(Are there any other bakers out there in blogland? I'd  love to hear what you're making, baking or creating.)

Cake Fail for Easter

Everything doesn't always turn out.  We all have failures in life and this can apply to writing, working or even baking. And sometimes I have absolute fails and I've had my share when it comes to making cakes. I like to think it's just because I tried to do too many things in a day. But that's just an excuse because after putting in the time to bake a cake and  attempting to decorate it...well,  let's just say it's not fun to have a fail. But it happens.

The last two cake fails I had were because I tried to add something to the recipe and obviously it didn't work out. The one above was because I cored out a portion of the inside to add a pudding filling for that fun-family surprise. But the hole damaged the "structural integrity" (yeah who even says that when they are talking about cake...I guess just cake nerds--like me) and the cake started to implode. Of course my son said,  "didn't you learn from the last time you did this?"

I guess not.

He is right. There was another cake fail where I added pumpkin to the batter...and not just a little but a LOT. That extra-added pumpkin damaged the structural integrity of my bear cake...(see below).

Not so pretty but he tasted just fine.

Still I had to remake him because he was for a birthday party.

But that's not the only cake fail I've had. There was also the sad turkey cake for Thanksgiving.

He sure didn't look happy for our festive family feast. So I had to take another do-over. This time with cupcakes because they sure cook a whole lot faster than an entire cake.

Luckily, those little guys turned out pretty cute, at least in my mind. 

But there are still more fails in my past. Like the time I saw something on the Food Channel and  thought, "hey I can do that". 

"Not!"

Sculpting a person out of rice krispies sounds EZ Smeazy but, take it from me, those people on the Food Channel are there for a reason. They have talent. Something I must be lacking because look at this sculpted figure of my brother-in-law Bo.

Yeah,  it doesn't look anything like him. At least I had the Bee and the Hive cake as backups and they turned out ... sort of. . . so we still had a party-with cake--for his birthday. 

Plus he was interested in the Beekeeping book, so that took his mind off the horrible fail...I hope.

I'm not saying all my cakes have been horrible fails. Some have actually turned  out. 

But it's always the fails that keep me striving to get better. Like this cake fail, where I tried to make my fondant out of marshmallows...yeah marshmallows - what was I  thinking?

Okay maybe it doesn't look so bad from  far  away but let's  get a  close up shot so you can really see.

Okay,  so maybe this one should be called a "fondant fail" because at least the cake  tasted good. And that cake in the background really did turn out...so 1 out of 2 isn't so bad...I'm hoping.

So, what is the point of this post? I just wanted all the homebakers out there to know that you aren't alone in your burnt, botched or under-baked disasters. We all have them...at  least I hope so. Otherwise, I'm the only one who has those disasterous moments in the kitchen. But just to prove that the motto "If at first you don't succeed,  try-try again," is a good one to keep in the back of your brain anytime you're testing new recipes at home, I wanted to show you that I took another do-over to make my little Easter penguin (yep, Easter penguin) cake and he actually turned out--at least  I like  to think so. (Okay the nose is a little large, but so is mine, nothing wrong with having a BIG nose... right?

And, if you want to see  how I  made him,  just keep on reading.

First I baked the cake in a pan shaped like a sphere

Then I cut off all the excess and used it to cut out little feet and wings ... and that BIG penguin nose. I used some frosting to glue the two halves together then I started frosting the ball.

And I kept frosting...

And frosting. . . until:

Plus it doesn't hurt (at least that's what I think) to throw those white chocolate penguin pops on the table,  to prove sometimes things turn out for me...even if the penguin cake does have a BIG nose.

(And, if you want to see how I made the penguin pops...come back later this week to see how EZ those little guys are... and, if you like to bake, or write,  or read you might want to think about subscribing to my blog so you will get notified when I have a new post ;D )

Thanks for taking the time to read about my Easter Fail. I hope it gave you a smile.