roses for baby

In the last few weeks I have started some hard core research on the secrets of cake making.  My last cake was good, but it wasn’t that good.  Defiantly amateur.

     I found this one lady on YouTube who calls herself SeriouseCakes.  She puts sped up versions of her making cakes from start to finish.  It is cool because you can actually watch her do the stuff and she always had tips flashing up on the screen as you go along.  I want to try more of her techniques sometime soon.  She had one up that talked about beating butter cream for at least 10 to 15 minutes. ( this video is in the next post)

     I HAD NO IDEA!!!  I thought you just beat it up until it’s mixed but NO!!!!  If you beat longer the whiter it gets and the more fluffy it gets.  Not so much so that it is like whipping cream or anything, but a good amount so it is not so rich.  Not as much like just eating butter.  This also makes flowers much better, as can be observed on the cupcakes that I made for Becca’s baby shower!!!

    For these cupcakes I did the really whipped butter cream, but still used the Wilton recipe.  I only put in vanilla, but I did invest in the clear kind, which makes a world of difference.  I made a chocolate cake recipe from Wilton, which turned out pretty good.  I just don’t love chocolate cake, but Becca does and it was tasty.

     For the roses I added a few more tablespoons of powdered sugar to the medium consistency recipe.  I need to try the stiff recipe for butter cream.  It has meringue powder in it and is supposed to be great for making flowers.  I will try it one day…

One other note is that for these cupcakes, I made them about 2 days ahead of time and then just kept them in the fridge.  Something weird happened to the frosting color on the lighter purple roses.  It almost looked like it was bleeding, but overall they kept very well.  I have some of those cake caddy things which help a lot.  Especially the 9x13 one that has a cupcake insert into it.  BEST way to carry around cupcakes EVER!!!

Wilton American Celebration Cake

1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips divided

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 8 x 2-inch baking pans with vegetable pan spray.  Melt 1 cup chocolate chips and butter together either in microwave oven or on top of range over low heat. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into large bowl.  Add sugar; beat with electric mixer on low until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at time. Add vanilla. Stir in 1/2 cup flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add remaining flour and water; mix until smooth. Stir in remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips.  Pour into prepared pans.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely.


Cute cupcakes in a cute stand also makes a good way to decorate...