Tag Archives: Cake

Cream Cheese Buttercream

Recipe will frost about 18 cupcakes, or 1 small cake

8 oz. (one pack) cream cheese, softened
7 tbsp salted butter, softened
4 cups (480 grams) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

Beat butter & cream cheese using a stand or electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add vanilla extract & mix on low until just combined. Do not over mix the cream cheese.
Slowly add powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed for a few seconds between each addition.
Add 1-2 tbsp of milk or cream until desired consistency is reached. Increase mixer speed to medium/high & mix just until smooth.

Adapted from The Kitchen is My Playground

Happy Easter!

Mary Berry’s American Victoria Sandwich

2 Replies

Are you as obsessed with The Great British Baking Show as I am?

I’m actually quite sad that the latest season just ended.

For the finale, the contestant’s technical challenge was to make Mary’s Victoria sandwich without a recipe.

A Victoria sandwich is is a two-layer light sponge cake filled with a layer of jam & buttercream.

Seeing as how I am not British – not even close – I am only able to take Mary Berry’s word that this is a classic cake & that the jam should be raspberry (with “all the bits”, as she says).

I’ve been wanting to try to create one of the recipes from the show since I started watching Season 1 on Netflix earlier this summer. I figured this one shouldn’t be terribly difficult. Not like the Prinsesstårta!

The only thing is that Mary Berry’s recipe is written in U.K. Measurements. I have no idea how much 225g of self-raising flour is. The PBS website is nice enough to link to this conversion site at the bottom of the recipe, but it only converts grams to ounces – not cups. I still have no idea how much 8oz of flour is. So with my little food scale & Google, I came up with the below recipe conversion.

Hence this is Mary Berry’s American Victoria Sandwich.

One key difference for me is that I do not have self-raising flour. Therefore, I used all purpose plus extra baking powder. (Side note: God is real, you guys. I had JUST enough flour to make this!)

I also made my own caster sugar with a food processor. I was going to skip it but I read that regular granulated sugar wouldn’t give the sponge the right texture & could be grainy. To make enough caster sugar for this recipe, I pulsed 1 1/4 cup of sugar in the food processor for about 30 seconds.

I was all set to follow Mary’s proportions for buttercream (7 tbsp buter, 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar if anyone is interested), but then I accidentally threw the whole stick of butter in the mixer. So 2 cups of powdered sugar it was. It’s so much easier to use the whole stick of butter anyway!

I did cheat a little & used store bought raspberry jam – seedless. Sorry, Mary. I know you like “all the bits”, but my husband does not!

My 2 sponges domed up more than I would have liked in the middle, so I did trim them. But that just meant I got to taste test them before serving them to my friends!

I cannot tell you how this compares to the British original.

I can only tell you it was delicious!

Mary Berry’s American Victoria Sandwich

Victoria Sponge

4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour, lightly spooned – not scooped
2 level tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 8in round cake pans & line with parchment paper.
Break the eggs into a large bowl. Then add the sugar, flour, baking powder, & butter. Use an electric mixer to mix together until well combined, being careful not to over-mix. (According to Mary, “The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency.”)
Divide the mixture evenly between the cake pans. Use a spatula to gently smooth the surface of the cakes.
Place the cake pans on the middle shelf of the oven & bake for 25 minutes. Don’t open the oven door to check them until at least the 20 minutes mark.
When the’re done, remove them from the oven & set aside to cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Then transfer onto a rack to cool completely.

Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Using electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft.
Add half of the powdered sugar & beat until smooth.
Add the remaining powdered sugar & 1 tablespoon of milk. Beat the mixture until creamy & smooth. Add the remaining tablespoon of milk if the buttercream is too thick.

To assemble:

Choose one of the sponges to be the bottom & put it down on to a serving plate.
Spread the raspberry jam (store bought or homemade) on the cake, then pipe the buttercream on top of the jam.
Place the other sponge on top & sprinkle with caster sugar to serve.

S’mores Cake

6 Replies

I love baking & decorating (& let’s face it – eating) cakes.

A few weeks ago I got the itch to bake a cake – but I needed an occasion to do so. There’s no way I was going to have a whole cake sitting around my house for me to eat all of. Not when I’ve been doing more or less OK at this whole trying to be healthy thing & have actually dropped a few lbs.

Finally I had an occasion. My husband & I threw our first backyard barbecue of 2016 a few weekends ago. While other places were just starting to defrost – or worse, getting even MORE snow! – the Sunshine State lived up to its name in February.

I was trying to think of what kind of cake to make when it hit me: s’mores!

There are times where I am all about making complex recipes from scratch, and then there are times I take more of a “Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee” type of approach. This is the latter.

I’m all about doctoring up a boxed cake mix to get it to taste more homemade. So this cake recipe was made with a box of chocolate cake mix. I added a splash of milk to the batter as a little something extra – it gives it just a little more personality!

Besides the chocolate cake itself, what really gives this s’mores cake some ‘oomph’ is the Hershey’s chocolate frosting & Biscoff cookie butter.

That’s right, cookie butter! I finally had an excuse to buy some – I loveeeee Biscoff cookies!

I know it’s not the same thing as graham crackers – but trust me on this one. It’s got that yummy cookie flavor & goes oh so well with the chocolate and marshmallow! So this cake has cookie butter in the center & piped around the bottom.

On top there’s crushed graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate pieces, & mini marshmallows.

Full disclosure: I don’t have one of those fancy kitchen torches, so I used a lighter to toast these little marshmallows!

The mini marshmallows alone don’t give this cake enough of a s’mores feel. I recommend serving it with a dollop of marshmallow fluff (not pictured – the cake, once served, went pretty quickly!)

I’m so blessed to have family & friends to share cakes like this with – so I don’t eat the whole thing!

Easter Cake

4 Replies

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday!

Easter came early this year, which happens from time to time since its date is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring.

Maybe that’s why this year Lent has seemed a little less Jesus-y for me than in years prior. We just celebrated Christmas & here is Easter already.

Nonetheless, just like Christmas, Jesus is the reason for the season.

My coworker is throwing her annual Easter picnic & egg hunt. Last year I made a bunny cake & brought my niece with me to the egg hunt. It was a lot of fun.

This year I am so over all the bunnies.

Easter isn’t about bunnies & egg hunts. It isn’t even about family & good food. It’s about Jesus.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

With that being said, Easter is a celebration! Up from the grave he arose! So it should be bright & fun 🙂

I hope I captured that spirit in this cake.

Funfetti cake with crushed M&Ms in the center, cream cheese frosting & malted eggs for decor.

Easter should be fun, especially for children. But it’s that cross in the center that is the most important piece of this whole weekend.

Happy Easter! He is risen, indeed!

Blueberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream

8 Replies

Recently my husband bought these pancake & sausage on a stick things for breakfast, like a breakfast corn dog with pancake instead of cornbread. A blueberry pancake. I took my first bite at my work desk & it was pretty tasty. Then I looked down at my breakfast pancake dog & saw that it was purple. Like, really purple. Marie from Breaking Bad would love these. But then again, who wouldn’t like pretty food?

Somehow this lead to me wanting to make a purple cake for the 4th of July.

I was unamused with my search for a blueberry cake recipe. They all basically said, “toss some blueberries into your cake. Done.” So I sort of came up with my own, using boxed cake mix.

This is becoming my pattern. I like it!

I didn’t just want pieces of blueberry in my cake, I wanted my whole cake to be blueberry!

I started by making a blueberry ‘sauce’. I’m really not sure what to call it. It wasn’t really reduced, I just cooked the blueberries with lime juice & sugar to make a liquidy blueberry concoction.

Then I strained my concoction to get 1 cup of liquid. I used this to replace a cup of water from the boxed white cake instructions, & saved the solids to be added to the cake batter later.

Check out that purple!

While the cake was baking, I made lemon buttercream.

It was my first time making it. My mother in law makes delicious buttercream all the time & never uses heavy cream. I took her word for it & got good results using 2% milk. Mmm!

After baking for approximately 30 minutes & cooling, I frosted my colorful cake. I got to taste a little bit of it when I was leveling the cakes to stack them. More mmm!

Since this cake was for the 4th of July, I got a little patriotic.

I should get bonus patriot points because red & blue mixed together gives you purple.

I was so excited to serve this homemade dessert at our first big shindig at our new house. We had our families & Sunday school friends over for a 4th of July party.

This cake was so good, everyone has some even though we were already stuffed to the gills.

The cake & the party were a big success!

Blueberry Cake

1 box white cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
18 oz fresh blueberries
juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 cup sugar

Remove stems/leaves from blueberries. In a medium saucepan, cook blueberries, lime juice, & sugar for 3-5 minutes. Mash up the blueberries a bit.
Strain the blueberries until you get about 1 cup of liquid. Save the blueberry mash.
With an electric mixer, mix eggs, water, blueberry liquid, oil, & box cake mix on low for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium for 2 minutes.
Pour cake batter into 2 8″ round cake pans. Spoon blueberry mash into cake batter & mix.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until set in the center.

Lemon Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lemon extract
3 tablespoons milk

Beat softened butter on medium speed with the paddle beater for about 3 minutes.
Add sifted confectioner’s sugar and stir on low until incorporated.
Add lemon extract and milk. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes.

This is my 50th post! I’m very excited about that. This blog has helped me in ways I could never have anticipated when I started it in January.

Wedding Wednesday – Our Christmas Wedding Cake (& Mustang Grooms Cake!)

4 Replies

Happy Wednesday! The work week is half over & Memorial Day weekend is coming!

Today I wanted to share our wedding cake with y’all.

Our venue included the cake & gave us 2 vendors to choose from. We went with Edible Creations. They have an awesome selection of flavors & their cake decorating is amazing, too! We chose Vanilla Rum & South Florida Red Velvet – it’s red velvet with a hint of key lime!

This is the picture I got from Pinterest & showed the cake decorator.

This is the cake we got.

So much better than we could have ever expected! The cake itself is pretty simple, but the Christmas decorations put it over the top!

I bought a ceramic cake topper & personalized it a bit by painted the red accents.

We were very excited to cut into it, as you can see.

We had a no cake smashing rule. He thought about it, though.

I didn’t even think about it.

BONUS: Groom’s cake!

My husband knew he was getting one, but the design was a surprise to him. He loved it!

See you next Wednesday for more wedding fun!

Easter Bunny Cake

2 Replies

Tomorrow is Easter! I’m super excited this year. The Lenten season was very meaningful to me. But more on that ~~later~~ here! 🙂

Today my husband & I took our niece to an Easter egg hunt my coworker put on. It was a lot of fun! Everyone brought a little something to contribute, so of course I brought dessert.

This Easter bunny cake was super easy! Apparently it’s an old Kraft recipe. I used the template below to cut 2 round cakes into the necessary shapes.

I actually used a 9″ cake for ‘A’ & an 8″ cake for ‘B’ & ‘C’. I liked this a little better than the pictures I saw online because the ears & the bow tie weren’t giant.

I baked my cakes, cut the pieces, & frosted them individually. Then, I assembled them together.