King Cake...with a Twist

This cake is a just as yummy but different version of my classic King Cake.

The cake is 2 layers white chocolate and 2 layers dark chocolate with alternating layers of fresh raspberry filling and dark chocolate ganache.

The cake is covered in chocolate swiss meringue buttercream rather than the usual raspberry buttercream because this particular cake was for a husband's birthday and his wife thought the pink frosting wasn't a good fit! :)

I poured dark chocolate ganache over the top of the cake and used melted white chocolate to pipe Happy Birthday Jon!, which by the way was the first time I piped directly onto a cake...Thank You Very Much!


Then I lined the bottom of the cake and corners with dark chocolate shavings and fresh raspberries filled with dark chocolate ganache.


I wanted to keep this cake...and eat it all by myself...in one sitting....but I didn't.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This being my first Thanksgiving without my family, my boyfriend and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner.

They made dinner and I made dessert :)

THIS picture was my inspiration and I looked at it every five seconds during the whole process. The only thing I wanted to do different was the feathers.

The cake is pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting...super delicious. I ate many of the carved pieces...because I can.


I stacked four 9" round cakes on top of each other and then carved until I achieved the shape I was looking for. Once I got that done I gave it a light crumb coat and covered the body in chocolate fondant that I mixed with a little bit of white fondant to lighten the brown color.

The feathers were made of colored white fondant and I used the back of a knife to add some markings and then attached 3 feathers each to wooden skewers and let them dry so they would stand straight.


The head is made out of all chocolate fondant with a wood skewer through the body for support.


Although a small challenge to cut and serve, the cake was a great way to end the evening.


I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

For the first time in my life, I will not be spending Thanksgiving with my family :(

My parents are flying out of town to spend the holiday with my sister and her family. The rest of us are going in various directions, spending the holiday with our friends or family of our significant others.

To fill a little bit of that family void, I decided to make cupcakes for my brothers and sisters and deliver them before the holiday.

There was something extra special about these cupcakes and my family knows what that is...

I saw these....and had to make them, they are just too cool!
The cupcakes are pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting.
I made an additional two dozen of these bad boys for a new customer who really wanted to impress his girlfriend's family at Thanksgiving dinner...how can I say no to that?!


I made the pumpkin pie slice toppers out of fondant, piece by piece. The step by step directions were great, I did not have any trouble.


I also saw these a long time ago and have been waiting for November to get here so I could make them!


The cupcakes are chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream.
The trees are made from melted chocolate and fall leaf sprinkles.

Both of these cupcakes were a lot of fun to make...especially for my family :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Strawberry Cake Balls

An old high school friend of my sister's got in touch with me and asked if I could make her some cake balls.....and ship them to TEXAS!

She asked for strawberry cake covered in milk chocolate and drizzled in strawberry coating.

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

This gave me the chance to whip out my Cake Pops book by Bakerella, my birthday present from my super awesome boyfriend :)


I mixed strawberry frosting with the crumbled strawberry cake and rolled the balls.


I dipped them in milk chocolate and then drizzled them with pink strawberry coating.


I made a couple cake pop samples for her as well.

I packaged them as best as I could anticipating a rough journey to Texas...and I was right.


Best thing about cake balls though...they taste great no matter what they look like!