bears, bunnies, bottles

red velvet cake and cupcakes
So Anthony and I finally got to do a cupcake tower. You would think that we would get more requests for them because they CRAZY popular right now, but we haven't. The tower was for a baby shower and we completed it with a 6" cake on the top.


We made little sugar paste toppers in the shapes of bottles, bears and bunnies to go on top of the cupcakes. I loved the color palette, too. Deep red (from the red velvet cake) next to baby blue (from the fondant) is a stunning combination.

Can you say CHUBBY TEDDY?

Now a word about NJ restaurants. This is the second delivery we've done to a NJ restaurant that has gotten messed up by the staff. We included the actual stand with this order and carefully explained to the restaurant workers how to display the cake and cupcakes. Then we get pics from the event and the cupcakes are piled on trays with the cake haphazardly in the middle. C'MON MAN! Everything was labeled for the event. So what happened to the stand????

christening cake

red velvet christening cake
This cake was for a pair of adorable twin boys, Aiden and Dylan. They had a christening today on Staten Island, and Anthony and I provided the cake. We filled this cake with cream cheese frosting, but covered it in buttercream because buttercream is more stable when you have to stack multiple cakes.


Anthony made quite a few versions of the cross on this cake. There was one particularly large version that brought to mind that line from the Exorcist, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" I'm not going to lie---I did spend some time chasing my poor husband Chris around the house, waiving that cross and yelling that line.

We ended up using a smaller version of the cross, adding a generous amount of gold luster dust to it, so that it was more fit, as Anthony said, for a Staten Island Jesus. It also reminded me of the pictures of Jesus I saw as a child---you know the ones. The kind where He is glowing and golden. Perchance it was luster dust back then, too?


After we delivered the cake, we stopped at Restaurant Depot and I GOT MY OWN MEMBERSHIP CARD! Oh yeah. Gonna do some serious damage with this baby. (Chris, you're not reading this, are you???) I bought a few pans with lids for all the ice cream I make and I bought parchment paper, too, so I will FINALLY have paper that perfectly fits my half sheet pans. All you bakers out there know what I'm talking about. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to cut your parchment paper (that stuff that comes in a roll) down to size so it sits neatly inside your half sheet pan. ARG. What a waste of time and parchment paper...

tiffany cake, part deux

red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting
I had my first piece of red velvet cake while I was in school in South Carolina. They made giant slabs of it for lunch on Sunday in the cafeteria. So, so good. The best part for me is always the frosting----butter, sugar and cream cheese whipped together until smooth and fluffy.
This was a 30th birthday cake for Cara. I made her wedding cake a few months ago and her new husband Chris contacted me about making her birthday cake. Her favorite flavor is red velvet so I was extremely excited to make this cake. I made seven thin layers so it would look elegant when when sliced. I wish I could have seen the inside because one of my favorite color combinations is deep red and Tiffany blue.


My partner in crime, Anthony, helped with this cake as well. I baked and stacked the cake and he came over yesterday to help decorate it. For our last cake, Anthony made the roses, so I volunteered to make the flowers for this cake. It's been a while since I made roses, so this was good practice. Once the flowers are dry, they last forever, and will be a nice keepsake for the birthday girl.
We used the pasta roller again to roll out the sugar paste for the ribbons on the cake. Anthony is letting me store it at my place now so I think I will have to have a pasta night coming up....

cream cheese frosting

2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound butter, room temperature
1 pound confectioner's sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
Add the sugar and beat until blended.

The cream cheese must be at room temperature. Leave it out overnight if you have to. You will have lumps if you try to beat it while it is still cold.

This recipe is a general ratio (2:1) that you can increase or decrease according to how large your cake is. For my seven layer, 12" square cake I used 6 pounds cream cheese and 3 pounds each of butter and sugar. That's right baby, 6 POUNDS of cream cheese.