Beach Birthday Cake

Before I added the white chocolate shells.

All the shells set and dusted with edible glitter.

The birthday girl!

The demolished cake after they dug in.

It has been far too long since my last post so I wanted to make it a good one. This is one of the best cakes I have ever made so I am very excited to share it. It was for my Creative Director's daughter Isabelle's 14th birthday party. He and his wife wanted it to be a surprise, so they came up with a beach themed cake but also told me she liked neon colors so I did a sand colored buttercream frosting with white chocolate shells and then a basic white cake dyed in different shades of blue for the 4 layers. I love using this technique because it makes the inside of the cake really dramatic. They also told me she liked SpongeBob so I found a SpongeBob candle at the party store they added at the party as a surprise; he fit in seamlessly with the beach theme.

I used candy molds from the cake decorating store for the shells and sea horses. Once they were set I then dusted them with edible glitter to add shine and make them look even more realistic. I crushed graham cracker in the food processor for the sand and made the Happy Birthday flag in Illustrator. I prefer using the flags rather than piping the message on the cake so you can easily remove it. For the cake layers I made a classic white cake and then separated the batter into 4 bowls and dyed each one a shade of blue going from light to dark. The cake was a big hit and I am so proud of it. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Graham Cracker Whoopie Pies with Key Lime Buttercream

It was one of the worlds best people birthday on Monday and I was so excited to bake something yummy for her. Jill is another Art Director at The Richards Group with me and along with being an amazing art director she also helps keep me sane in what can be a crazy business, and is always there when I need a friend.

I asked Jill what she wanted me to make this weekend and she had asked for a key lime pie. I was ready to oblige until the weather took a crazy turn for February in May and we were facing 45 degree temps. Key lime pie to me is a summer treat so I had to warm it up a bit. I came up with a graham cracker whoopie with key lime buttercream filling. Of course me being me, I couldn't stop there so I dipped them in chocolate once they were all assembled... its a birthday might as well go all out. These got great reviews, the birthday girl herself even said they are one of the best things I have ever baked! If you like tart + sweet combined this is your dessert. Happy Birthday Jill!

You might remember the graham cracker whoopie recipe from the S'more whoopie pies I made last year, also I have used this same glaze on the Whoopie Pies for Elvis post so check them out for some extra photos and fun recipes.

Graham Cracker Whoopie

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c graham flour - if you can't find this then use wheat flour
• 3/4 c all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter and room temperature
• 4 tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1 c packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place rack in the center of the oven and prehead to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together both flours, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a stand mixer (if you have one) fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, shortening, and brown sugar until light and cream, about 3 min. Add eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined.
4. In a measuring cup, combine milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add this mixture slowly to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low speed until completely combined.
5. Using a spoon or put your batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip or even a ziplock with the tip cut off would work, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto your baking sheet, repeat spacing them at least 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for about 10 min until the cakes begin to brown.
7. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for 3-5 min before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. Otherwise they are likely to break if you try and move them when they are too warm.
8. Spread with marshmallow cream and chocolate ganache, but if you are in a hurry a dollop of marshmallow fluff and a square of chocolate would work fine also.

Makes about 40 two-inch cakes, about 20 assembled whoopie pies.

Key Lime Buttercream:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Key lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons key lime juice
• 1 - 2 tsp heavy whipping cream or milk

1. Beat the first 4 ingredients at a medium speed in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with key lime juice. 1 tbsp at a time. and 1 tbsp of milk, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition. beat in up to 1 tbsp of additional milk for desired consistency.

Makes about 2 3/4 cups of buttercream. I would recommend doubling if you are using this for a cake.

Chocolate glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and stir until smooth. add the butter and stir to blend.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Red velvet with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

The party was AARP themed since the birthday girl was turning 50... she took it like a champ!

Chocolate with peanut butter buttercream and chocolate peanut butter sauce

One of my favorite co-workers commissioned me to make 50 cupcakes for another awesome co-worker of ours and of course I was super excited. After talking it over we settled on three flavors:

1. Chocolate with peanut butter buttercream and peanut butter chocolate fudge sauce
2. Classic yellow cake with dark chocolate cream cheese frosting
3. Red velvet with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and red velvet crumb topping

I had made all of the icing and cakes on their own and some together over the past few years but I had never used the cinnamon cream cheese frosting in the past and it was so good that I had to share it with you all. This is crazy simple, and really nothing fancy but it ads a whole new delicious layer to a red velvet cake. It's so subtle that you can't really pinpoint what it is but when you do it is such a surprise that it makes everyone smile. Try it on you next red velvet cupcake and I promise you wont be disappointed.

-K

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (you can also use nutmeg)
• 1 tbl heavy whipping cream (this is optional but I find it helps the frosting to be extra fluffy)

1. Cream the butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Slowly add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and heavy cream mix until well combined.
2. Add the cream cheese and beat on high for about 5 min or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Try not to over-beat.

4 Layer Birthday Cake

Whew, I am home! It feels like it has been a long time since I have been home baking and blogging. The past few weeks I have been to New York, Las Vegas, Las Angeles, Dallas, and back to Las Angeles! As of 1:00 am Dallas time today I am back in my own home and ready to blog. Don't get be wrong, my travels have been for work and I had a blast, I am one lucky girl to have a job where I get to go to such amazing places and do what I love.

Since I have been traveling up a storm my Beagle was fortunate enough to go to my good friends Tracy and Jeff's house. Taylor dog loves to visit them since it means she not only gets a ton of love but she also gets to play with their sweet lab Maya. As a thank you to them for taking such good care of my baby when Tracy came to me and asked if I could make a birthday cake for her brother I was so excited to help out.

After speaking with Tracy about what sort of cakes her brother liked I landed on a 4 layer classic yellow and chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate sauce and dark chocolate cream cheese icing. Pretty much a classic birthday cake elevated to the next level. You can make this cake with your own cake recipe from scratch or you can use Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge cake mix and their classic yellow cake mix, just as amazing only a bit easier. I made this one using 8" cake pans which makes for a nice high manageable cake. You can make it as large or as small as you like.

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing: (Recipe from the lovely Miss Bakerella)

• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
• 1 box (1 lb) confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-3 Tbsp milk

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer.
2. Add the cocoa and vanilla.
3. Add the confectioner’s sugar in small batches and blend on low until combined.
4. Scrape down sides with each addition.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the consistency you desire

Chocolate sauce: (original recipe from the Smiths Family 12 layer cake)

• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder , preferably Dutch process
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut up
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. To make the sauce, bring the sugar, cocoa, butter and evaporated milk to a full boil in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the icing has thickened slightly (it will resemble chocolate syrup but will thicken as it cools), about 3 minutes.
2. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Let the icing cool until thick enough to spread, but still pourable.

To assemble cake:

1. Place your first completely cooled layer of yellow cake down on your cake round or stand. I like to assemble my cakes on a lazy susan so that when I ice them it is easy to rotate the cake. Using a flat end spatula cover your layer with the dark chocolate cream cheese icing forming a layer about 1/2 inch thick.
2. Cover with your next layer of chocolate cake and carefully pour a layer of the chocolate sauce over top. Be careful to keep it centralized in the center of the cake round because once you put the next two layers on top the sauce will be forced out to the sides.
3. Place your next layer of yellow cake and cover with another 1/2 inch thick layer of the dark chocolate cream cheese icing.
4. Top the last of the 4 layers off with your last cake round of chocolate cake.
5. Start icing your crumb coat on the cake using a flat end spatula making sure to cover all the parts of the cake with a thin layer of icing. Place it in the fridge for 20-25 min. Finish coating the cake with about 1/2 inch thick layer of icing all the way around.
6. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large tip like a #806 pipe small rounds all the way around the base of the cake, followed by 3 layers starting at the outside moving in on top of the cake. I then piped one large round in the center to place a flag which I wrote "Happy Birthday Stefan" on.

crumb coat - ready to ice

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream and Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

I was inspired by Coco Cake and decided to make a cake last week. I am all about using what I have in the cupboard these days and since I had made Nigella's Peanut butter chocolate fudge sauce the day before and had a good amount left over I thought I would use that as inspiration for my cake. I decided to make a regular chocolate cake, you can use which ever recipe you like best here. I used my classic go to chocolate cake that for now remains my secret. To make it special I made peanut butter buttercream, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was so creamy and light I could eat an entire bowl. I used the chocolate peanut butter sauce in between one layer and then I topped the cake with the last little bit, this makes it look and taste extra special. It is a nice way to elevate a simple cake from the normal cake and icing to cake, icing, and ganache!

One thing I like to do is make sure my cakes are nice and high, I always double my cake recipe and in this case I used 8" cake pans and made 3 layers. It makes the cake look professional and the more cake the better, right?

Peanut Butter Buttercream: (I am giving you the doubled recipe since you will need almost all of this for the filing and to ice the cake, feel free to half it if you make a smaller cake)

• 2 cups butter softened (you can do 2 sticks salted and 2 sticks unsalted)
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup of peanut butter

1. Cream the butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the sugar slowly until well combined. Add in the vanilla and cream.
3. Beat in the peanut butter until creamy. That's it!

Click here to see my post on how to make the Chocolate Peanut Butter sauce...

To assemble:

• Place the first layer of the cake on a clean plate that is easy to ice on. I like to put a cardboard cake round down on a lazy susan so that I can spin it as I ice. Take about 3/4 cup of your buttercream and spread it evenly on the layer.
• Put the next layer of cake on top of that and pour the cooled chocolate sauce on top, just enough to cover the top of the layer and not drip out over the sides. Top that with the last layer of cake.
• Take a flat icing spatula and start your crumb coat - this is just a thin layer of your butter cream icing to cover the entire cake. Don't worry about the crumbs. Once your cake is completely covered put it in the fridge for 30 min.
• Now you have a nice layer of cooled icing so when you put the rest of your buttercream on you won't get any crumbs. Ice an even layer of Buttercream over the entire cake.
• Take the rest of your icing and put it in a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe large balls around the bottom of the cake and three layers of round balls on the top. Starting on the outside and working in.
• All that is left now is to drop about a quarter of a cup of your chocolate sauce right on top, use a small flat end spatula to spread it evenly or if you use a lazy susan you can just spin it and it will flow out evenly on its own.

first 2 layers of the chocolate cake - buttercream on bottom layer, chocolate sauce on middle layer

Crumb coat ready for the fridge for 30 min.

using a round tip on a pastry bag pipe three layers of round circles on the top and 1 layer around the bottom of the cake

drop the chocolate sauce in the middle and spread evenly (spinning the lazy susan will help a ton)

Voila, Enjoy!

Whoopie Pies for Elvis

Fresh out of the oven

sugar and butter mixture - should be crumbly before adding cream, honey, and lemon juice

Assembly line

Chocolate glaze

The Good, the Bad, and the Yummy states that "Elvis might have been horribly misguided about drugs and sequins, but he got one thing right—peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

I couldn't agree more. Elvis was a smart man with an even smarter mother. It is rumored that his mom used to prepare his favorite sandwich for him- a peanut butter and banana sandwich on hawaiian bread. My own father used to love to each peanut butter on ritz crackers, also very yummy and I love peanut butter and honey on wheat bread. How do you combine all three? Only in a whoopie pie of course!

My friend Taryn and I decided to tackle the idea of an Elvis whoopie pie. Banana Whoopie's with a layer of salted peanut butter spread and honey buttercream, to top it all off and really make it K Bakes style Taryn had the brilliant idea of dipping them in chocolate. It seems like a lot of hard work but they really weren't that difficult, and all the ingredients really make these amazing. By adding mashed bananas to the whoopie pies it makes for a ultra moist cake that isn't too sweet, once paired with the thick peanut butter spread and the light sweet honey buttercream you can't resist but to bite into these. I think even Elvis would be proud of the chocolate addition.

All recipes are adapted from the brilliant book "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

Banana Whoopie:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole weat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together using a strainer or a sifter both flours, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Set aside
3. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer if you don't have a stand mixer) beat together the butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and creamy. Add in the eggs and beat until combined.
4. slowly add in the dry ingredients, once combined add in the mashed bananas and mix on medium speed for about 2 min.
5. Using a spoon or a pastry bag with a large round tip drop about 1-2 tablespoons of batter depending on how large you want to make them onto the prepared baking sheets spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake on the sheets for about 10 min, or until the cakes begin to brown slightly. remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for a few min before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Fillings!!

Honey Buttercream:

• 3 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons of honey (I use Savannah Bee Company's Winter White Honey)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• pinch of salt

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the confectioners sugar and the butter, starting on low and increasing to medium speed, until the mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute. add the heavy cream, honey, lemon juice, and salt and beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Salty Peanut Butter:

• 3/4 cup of creamy or crunchy peanut butter (I used reduced fat creamy peanut butter at it was great)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt (if you don't want it to be too salty you could just do a pinch of salt)

In the work bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the peanut butter and butter on low speed until smooth and creamy. add the confectioners sugar and the salt and beat on low to incorporate. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the filling is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Chocolate glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and stir until smooth. add the butter and stir to blend.

TO ASSEMBLE:

Put both your fillings into pastry bags fitted with a large round tip or in a ziplock back with the tip cut off. Pipe the peanut butter filling on half of the whoopie pie's and the honey buttercream on the other half. Assemble by putting the honey buttercream whoopies on top of the peanut butter ones (so the heavier side doesn't crush the buttercream) Once they are assembled dip each one into the warm chocolate glaze, then cool on a rack. Place a sheet of parchment or waxed paper under the rack to catch the drippings.