1 Year Blogaversary & A Giveaway!

UPDATE: And the winner of the cupcake goodies...

Comment #7 - Mollie

Mollie said: Happy Blogaversary! I know it's generic, but I LOVE chocolate cake!

Congratulations Mollie!

Please email me at crave4cake@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Wow how the time has flown by since a year ago when I first started this blog to track my baking & decorating adventures. I really had no clue what a blog even was until I stumbled on to Bakerella's site and my eyes were opened to a whole new world of baking, decorating & photographing. Not long after finding Bakerella I discovered the amazing dessert tables of Amy Atlas, talk about some remarkable sugar displays! These two ladies have absolutely changed my world and inspired me to follow my true passion for creativity, baking and bringing happiness to others through my sweet confections!

So on the 1st anniversary of my blog I'm excited to share with you a fabulous new cake recipe and my very 1st GIVEAWAY! This is my way to say THANK YOU to all of my amazing readers that follow my blog regularly or even those of you that are new to this site. I hope you enjoy the recipes, photos and ideas that I have been sharing with you over this last year and I hope you continue to stick around for many more to come!

So let's eat some cake to celebrate!

I have created a cake like I have never seen before and it enormous and delicious! A few months ago I made some Neapolitan Cupcakes so I decided to take this cupcake idea a little bit further and create a 3-layer strawberry, vanilla and chocolate cake! We are talking about 3 cake & 3 icing flavors all layered together into one cake. Do you think you can handle this? So for those of you that often crave something both chocolate and vanilla or something with a hint of fruit...this cake is the ultimate solution because you can have all those flavors in one bite!

This recipe is definitely a little labor intensive since you are making 3 different cake and 3 different icing flavors, but one bite and you will realize it is definitely worth every second of the prep and extra dirty dishes to make this delicious 3-striped cake!

Neapolitan Cake

Makes one 8" 3-layer cake

Strawberry Cake Layer
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup milk
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 egg
-2 egg whites
-1/2 cup strawberry puree
-pink food coloring

• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, set aside.
• Using electric mixer beat butter and sugar until creamy.
  
• Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
• Mix in strawberry puree.
• Add flour mixture and milk alternating, starting and ending with flour.
• Beat in vanilla.
• Add a few drops of food coloring and mix to give it a deeper pink color.
• Bake at 350 degrees in 8" cake pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray for 30 minutes or until cake tests done.

Vanilla Bean Cake Layer
-1 1/2 cups cake flour
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 cup milk
-2 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
-1 tsp vanilla bean paste

• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, set aside.
• Using electric mixer beat butter and sugar until creamy.
  
• Add flour mixture and milk alternating, starting and ending with flour.
• Beat in vanilla bean paste.
• Beat egg whites on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
  
• Bake at 350 degrees in 8" cake pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray for 25 minutes or until cake tests done.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake Layer (adapted from Martha Stewart)
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 cup cocoa powder
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-3/4 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-2 eggs
-3/4 cup milk
-3/4 cup warm water
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-1 teaspoon vanilla

• Sift flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in bowl of electric mixer.
  
• Add eggs, warm water, milk, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.
  
• Bake at 350 degrees in 8" cake pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray for 25 minutes or until cake tests done.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing (makes enough to frost 1 layer of cake)
-4 oz cream cheese, softened
-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
-2 tablespoons strawberry puree
-pink food coloring

• Mix cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until creamy.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar and mix well.
• Mix in strawberry puree.
• Add a few drops of food coloring for desired pink color.

Chocolate Buttercream (makes enough to frost 1 layer of cake)
-1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
-1/4 cup cocoa powder
-2 tablespoons milk
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Beat butter with electric mixer until creamy.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar and mix well.
• Add milk and vanilla and mix.
• Add cocoa powder and mix until well combined.

Vanilla Buttercream (makes enough to frost entire outside of 3 layer cake)
-2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
-7 cups confectioners' sugar
-1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla

• Beat butter with electric mixer until creamy.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar and mix well.
• Add enough milk and mix until desired consistency.
• Mix in vanilla.

Whew! I know that was a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps but you are going to be in cake heaven once you eat a slice of this, I promise!

Here's how to assemble the Neapolitan Cake layer by layer from the bottom to the top:

Chocolate Cake
Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
Vanilla Bean Cake
Chocolate Buttercream
Strawberry Cake
Vanilla Buttercream (outer layer of frosting)

So who's ready for the giveaway? As you all know by now I am a huge CUPCAKE lover so what better way to celebrate than with a cupcake themed giveaway featuring some of my favorite products.

Giveaway Includes:

-What's New Cupcake book
-75 cupcake liners (red, yellow, blue)
-1 jar of Rainbow Nonpareil Sprinkles (my favorites!)
-#21 Wilton Star Tip
-#2D Wilton Flower/Shell Tip
-#10 Wilton Round Tip
-#233 Wilton Multi-Opening Tip

To participate in this giveaway join my blog as a Follower if you haven't already and leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite cake flavor is!

Winner will be chosen on Sunday, August 15th at 11:00PM (CST).
Any entries received after this time will not be considered.
Open to US residents only.
Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.
Winner will be chosen using random.org.

Good Luck and happy cake baking!

Cupcake a Week: Sprinkles Inspired

This weeks cupcake is one of my favorites yet...its all about the simple look with a touch of color inspired by the fabulous Sprinkles Cupcakes. The signature of Sprinkles cupcakes is marked by their two-tone circle sprinkles that garnish the tops of these sweet little cakes that are color coded by flavors...what a brilliant idea!

If you have never heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes then you need to drop everything you are doing and head over to their site NOW! Just one look at this website and I was completely in LOVE with cupcakes and have been dreaming of opening my own cupcake bakery ever since I first laid eyes on these sweet little cakes. Candace Nelson is the founder of Sprinkles, the original cupcake bakery in Beverly Hills, and also now one of the main judges on Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.

Although I have never had the pleasure of sinking my teeth into a Sprinkles cupcake I am pretty sure they probably taste as delicious as they look. I am completely in awe of their website and find myself just stopping by to look around quite frequently to check out their latest seasonal flavors. Their cupcakes are beautiful, their flavors sound amazing, their packaging is adorable and the look and feel of their shop is stunning. One day I will walk through the doors of a Sprinkles Cupcake bakery and order at least a dozen of their cupcakes there are so many amazing flavors I am dying to try. The peanut butter chip, cinnamon sugar, red velvet, strawberry and vanilla milk chocolate are at the top of my list!

So since I am hundreds of miles away from Sprinkles in CA and don't see myself getting out there anytime soon, I figured I would make my own version of these cupcakes by using some tinted fondant. One of the girls on Team in Training (TNT) that I am coaching asked me to make her some cupcakes for a fundraiser so I thought this would be the perfect occasion to showcase the TNT colors of purple & green as a simple cupcake decoration.

So if you want to make your own Sprinkles cupcake toppers it's as easy as 1-2-3.

1.Tint some white fondant in your favorite colors.
2.Roll out fondant and cut circles in 2 different sizes using circle cutters or the ends of piping tips.
3.Place the smaller fondant circle on top of the larger fondant circle and place on top of your iced cupcakes!

Happy cupcake baking & decorating!

Cowboys! They are on the way....

I can't believe it was back in April when I did the Twins' Reveal Cakes for my friend Kelly and her babies. I had so much fun making the cakes for Baby A and Baby B to celebrate the gender reveal. In just about a month her twin baby boys will be born but we are betting it is going to be sooner than that...Kelly's hoping for Fri Aug 13! So to celebrate their arrival we celebrated last weekend with a Cowboy themed baby shower to match her cowboy nursery! My job was to provide the cake!

A family friend of Kelly's hand painted a dresser for the nursery with each drawer being a different cowboy theme. The bottom drawer is cow print, the middle drawer a red bandanna and the top drawer denim.

So in keeping with the theme of the dresser & nursery, I thought it would be fun to make a cake to match. The top tier was denim with a little pocket and stitched border. This layer was a strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting.

The cow print was really easy to make, using black fondant and cutting out black spots to place on randomly. This tier was a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream.

The middle tier was bandanna with a piped on paisley pattern. This tier was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.

I found the cutest cowboy clothes at Gymboree for the little boys.

And the cake is assembled. This was my first 3-tier cake and I was praying it didn't collapse before the party started. Luckily it held strong until it was time to slice it and enjoy.

I found some wooden letters and thought it would be cute to add the babies' names to the cake.

Baby A is MACK

Baby B is MILES

How cute are those baby names!

Here is the adorable table scape that Kelly's mom put together for the party.

So now that you've seen the cake, I can't wait to show you the sweetest nursery I have ever seen! These babies are going to be in cowboy heaven. Every detail has been precisely thought out to decorate from wall to wall in brown, red and denim...the perfect color combo for any cowboy.

Here's the inspiration for the cake...how stinkin cute is this dresser? This is one unique piece of furniture that is the focal piece in the nursery and brings their room to life.

Twin wooden cribs...

with cow print sheets and Woody from Toy Story.

And you can't have a cowboy nursery without a rocking horse of course, bandanna and all.

Every cowboy needs a cowboy hat. I can just picture Mack and Miles wearing these for their 1 year old pictures...they are going to be the cutest cowboys in town!

And the most comfortable double rocking love seat I have ever seen, newly covered in denim fabric.

Cowboy boot bookends...precious!

The proud mama to be!

Kelly's getting some practice rocking the Woody dolls!

Belly + Twins = perfect plate holder!

Here's a pic of Katie, the shower coordinator, Kelly the proud mama and me the cake lady!

What a fantastic day to celebrate this exciting occasion with Kelly, Mack & Miles! I can't wait to do another post once the babies arrive and I get to make something sweet to celebrate their birth!

Cupcake a Week: Cupcakes for a Cure, Part 2

7 hours of baking...
3 hrs of making frosting and piping...
and 1000 mini cupcakes later
the Cupcakes for a Cure fundraiser was a success raising $1360 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this past weekend!

And I am officially still trying to recover in time for my next baking adventure tomorrow...a cowboy themed baby shower cake, so be sure and check back next week for this cute cake

But for now I'm going to show you some more photos from the cupcake tasting!

42 boxes packed full of cupcakes...with the heat and humidity here in Mobile I only baked the cupcakes ahead of time and decided it was best to frost them once I was onsite where the event was going to take place

cake pedestals, vases and cupcake flavor tags to be used for the dessert table display

staging the cupcake display table with the cake pedestals to make sure there was room for all 5 flavors

Jennifer at the door taking the tickets when the guests arrive

some super cute cupcake themed door prizes

here's a reprint of our article that was in the newspaper promoting the event

the room is ready for cupcake tasters to come on in...let the tasting begin

the first round of cupcakes are displayed...don't worry there are hundreds more still hiding out in the kitchen to refill the plates

Chocolate Cupcakes with a Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Jam and Cream Cheese Center and Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

The very first cupcake taster of the day! She is dressed for the occasion for sure...how cute is her little pink cupcake dress, adorable!

The Cupcake Crew: Me, Jennifer, Wendy & Katie

We thought it we be cute to all wear matching purple aprons so we could easily be identified as the hosts of the event.

Cupcakes & Milk...life doesn't get much better than that!

This is David...he can't ever get enough of the chocolate & strawberry cupcakes, those are his faves!

So there you have it, my weekend full of cupcakes!