Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Just cake... oh wait!

So in June my lovely mother had her birthday and like every year I hold myself to making her something new and delicious. My mom loves cherry pie and it is usually her birthday staple, so this year I left it to a bit of deception on my part. As it turned out I also had two other friends with birthdays on the same day as my mom. My kitchen was busy for at least a week with all my prep and planning, all worth it though.

So you might be wondering where the deception comes in right? Well my mom isn't the biggest cake fan, except chocolate cake she has a small weak spot and cherry pie was her traditional birthday treat. I set out on a mission to bake a pie inside of a cake. This was not an easy task to plan out but after making the giant boobs I felt prepared and confident in anything I set my mind to.

Thanks to this creative team I had a good starting point in my idea bank.
I had some changes to their ideas though and was extremely happy with the results.

I made a basic pie crust recipe out of some miscellaneous cookbook floating around in my house and then in a panic dug through tons of pans and dishes anything oven safe that I could possibly bake a tiny pie in the would sit comfortably in the cake. With almost all hope lost a lightbulb hit and I came to the idea of using a giant cupcake form pan, just shorter than the cake pan. Brilliant and I had no other options so I went for it.

Splitting the pie crust in half making pretty matching balls and rolling them out then carefully placing the bottom into the greased bottom cupcake form and then putting a few tablespoons in side of the shell you made. Careful not to overfill you need the crust to show on the edges so you can connect the top crust.

A bit overfilled but okay.
Now with the other pretty dough ball rolled out evenly time to connect the top. I pinched the edges the used a fork to make then edge a bit tighter and prettier.
Don't forget to poke a few holes in the top with a fork.
Bake time is really depending on the crust you use or the filling, but remember that the whole thing will be baked again just the crust wont be able to brown inside of the cake. Once the little pie is baked and cooled; I put mine in the freezer to quicken the cool time and set the cherry filling better for pan removal. Carefully remove the cooled pie from the pan.
A greased pan helped it almost just slid out of the pan into my hand.
If you haven't already it's time to make your cake batter, I used chocolate but the options are limitless. Pour a small layer of batter into the cake pan and squish the pie down into it a little but careful to not touch the bottom. Then cover the pie with more batter. Be prepared for the cake to sort of explode when it bakes, my 9in round was really full it looked like a full baked cake before going in the oven.


Now bake the cake at whatever temp and time it needs, making sure you have a cookie sheet under it directly or on the rack under it, can possibly effect the bake time. To check the doneness it should be done when you push on the top softly and it springs back, or just stick a toothpick in a part of the cake closest to the center that isn't pie and make sure it comes out clean. 

Cool and cut the overblown sides(I just followed along the edges of the pan) then remove from pan and frost with desired frosting.
Enjoy and watch the surprise when people cut into it!

Finished cherry pie chocolate cake.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Breast cake around.



Finished boobs.
So in May one of my bestest friends ever turned 20 so I thought it was the perfect chance to make an amazing cake and go all out. It took some hard thinking but I settled on making him something no man can resist, a giant pair of boobs. Boobs for a birthday present, what could be better for a guy? Simple cake boobs.


It turned out to be way harder than I planned and if I had used a proper rounded pan things might have been easier, but I was so happy with the end result I don't think I would do it differently. 




I planned on using four layers of cake in each breast with each layer being a different flavor but that turned out far too tall to pass for real boobs. So I cut out a layer and started assembling. 


Just too tall, no matter how big you want to make your boob cake  make sure the height and diameter are realistic ... I used my hand as a good guide.
Perfect for my 9in rounds(also based on the height of each layer)
Once the layers are together with some yummy frosting, if going for light to tan skin tones use white frosting like cream cheese or butter cream. For darker skin tones you could use white frosting and use food coloring but it probably won't be as easy. You don't need to worry about using any food coloring in the frosting yet just a filling for between the layers.


Carve time, because this cake doesn't look like boobs to me, at least not as realistic enough for my taste. 


Okay my carving wasn't perfect but good enough before frosting. Oh and yes those are marshmallow nipples.
A quick thin crumb coat over both cakes, so you don't have cake bits in the skin color and this is where I moved the two carved layer cakes into one large cake pan that I used to transport and serve the cake in. (Due to it being the only thing big enough in my house.) After the crumb coat I stuck the big pan into the freezer so everything could set and keep the white and colored frosting from getting swirled together. I used a full-sized freezer but if you don't have enough freezer space putting them in separate would work just as well.
Basic crumb coat.
 While the cakes take a chill its time to mix the frosting to the right shade. I was trying to make a nude shade. I started with white frosting and mixed in a couple drops at a time 8 drops of yellow, 6 drops of red and 2 drops of green for my base, then I used a few drop of pink to get the exact shade I wanted. 


Time to frost the chilled out cake with your chosen skin color frosting. In total this recipe calls for a lot of frosting but it all depends on how thick you like frosting on cake, but remember there is lots of cake under the frosting too.


It's hard to see the color but it was like a pale peach color.
Now this was where I came to my biggest challenge in this cake..okay other than the massive amount of time it took me to carve the simple looking shapes to match. What in the world to use to make a nipple that looked sort of real? Marshmallows were quickly my favorite option so I rolled with it. If you have left over frosting from the skin you can just do what I did and add a few more drops of pink food coloring enough to be a color difference to the skin color. Once you are happy with your color use a normal spoon and just ass a small (or bigger if you prefer) dab of frosting in position and swirl it out carefully to make a circle.(Not too spread you don't want to make it exactly flat.) For the actual nipple stick a toothpick in a mini marshmallow and dip it in the frosting, spin the toothpick in between your fingers a little to get good coverage. Carefully pull it out of the frosting and stick the none toothpick side down centered into the circles of frosting you made then pull the toothpick out carefully. You should now have a finished pair of boobs. 



Close up finished. 


Enjoy!