Lots and Lots of Cake!

Today was a day of serious cake decorating. This morning I made assorted cupcakes for a special order, and then I had to prepare a cake to bring to my last fondant class at Michael's.

The cupcakes were fun. It's entertaining to come up with different flavor combinations when I only have two cake flavors to work with. The minimum order is 12 (one cake recipe), so the lady who ordered the ones pictured chose white chocolate and yellow vanilla cake, for a total of 24 cupcakes.

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Yellow cake combinations:

~filled with French vanilla bean buttercream, mocha ganache icing

~raspberry creme fraiche mousse filling, white chocolate French buttercream icing (not pictured, these have to be kept cold)

~vanilla bean French buttercream, gumpaste flowers/holly

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White chocolate cake combinations:

~vanilla bean French buttercream icing, dollop of ganache, toasted coconut flakes

~filled with blueberry pie filling (homemade), white chocolate French buttercream, sugared dried blueberry

~peppermint buttercream, ganache drizzle, crushed candy cane

Yummy flavors, right? And I just used combinations of the same icings, with different fillings and toppings for a creative assortment. My client seemed very happy.

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In addition to the cupcakes I had to make, I was supposed to bring a partially assembled cake to my last fondant class. We have been learning how to make various decorations and flowers out of gumpaste and fondant for the last few weeks, and this was the culmination of our work. It also happened to be my mother-in-law's birthday today, so I baked one exclusively for her.

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She requested orange cake with raspberry filling, but rather than try to duplicate the one she had for her wedding years and years ago (for which I wasn't there to try, of course), I thought I should keep with that flavor theme but update it a little. I made a small 6-inch yellow cake, divided into four layers, and flavored it with orange zest. To make it extra moist and give a more orange-y flavor punch, I doused it with Grand Marnier simple syrup. I folded some of my homemade raspberry jam into whipped, lightly sweetened creme fraiche to create a raspberry mousse filling, and then iced the assembled cake with vanilla bean French buttercream. (I did all this while I had the cupcakes going too, to reduce time, mess, and duplication of icings.)

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Once I got to my class, I rolled out my homemade fondant. I had some trouble with it wanting to crack as it quickly started to dry out, but the final product turned out alright. I had prepared the petals and leaves for the poinsettia yesterday so they would have a chance to dry hard overnight. Tasty, and pretty!