Animal Print Cake

This is a cake I did last year.  I'll admit it, I had no idea what I was doing.  I got a phone call from a lady who I had made a cake for the year before for her daughter's 16th birthday.  The daughter wanted an animal print cake.  I told them I could do it without really knowing how.  I figured the best way to do it would be to "paint" the cake.  I went to cakecentral.com and did some research and learned that you can mix luster dust with clear vanilla extract or vodka to make a kind of paint.  I ended up coloring the fondant to what I hoped to be a tan animal pelt like color.  Instead it turned kind of a peachy color.  Yuck.  I ended up painting the whole thing with my luster dust/vanilla mixture and then the spots on top of that.  All in all I was pretty pleased with it, especially for being the worst artist on the planet.  Seriously, I have no artistic skill.  Also, thank God for fondant borders that cover up my amateurish imperfections.

Cupcakes!

I love making cupcakes.  They are nice and compact and self contained.  Basically they are a lot harder to mess up than an entire cake.  Plus, they are just really cute.  Anyway here are some pictures I have done for friends.

My Favorite Buttercream Icing Recipe

I had been on a search for the perfect buttercream frosting recipe and I finally found one from this website. It's smooth and creamy (that's what she said) and absolutely delicious!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 lb bag of Powdered Sugar

1 cup milk or water (I use whole milk)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla (I use Wilton's Clear Vanilla Extract)

2 sticks of butter

2 cups of vegetable shortening (NOT butter flavored)

Directions (with pictures)

Mix together powdered sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer.

The whisk attachment is what is going to make the frosting light and fluffy.

Once the mixture becomes creamy,  add butter, one slice at a time until incorporated.  Your frosting will start to get a little bit thicker.

 The last step is to add the shortening and mix on high for about 8-10 minutes.  And you have the perfect buttercream icing!

My Go-To Cake Recipe

This white almond cake is AMAZING.  When it is baking it will make your entire house smell like the inside of a Coldstone's Creamery.  The best part is that the recipe calls for a box cake mix making it super easy to not mess up!

• White Almond Cake

Ingredients

•             1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
              1 cup all-purpose flour
              1 cup white sugar
              3/4 teaspoon salt
              1 1/3 cups water
              1 cup sour cream
              2 tablespoons vegetable oil
              1 teaspoon almond extract
              1 teaspoon vanilla extract
              4 egg whites
  
  
  Directions
  1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x13 inch cake pan.
  2.  together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mixer on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, 4 minutes.
  3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.