Psychedelic Birthday Cake (in disguise!)

One of my good friend's/co-worker's birthday is tomorrow, so I made her a birthday cake :) She requested a "rainbow" cake like the one I made for my birthday back in October.  I made the cake, expecting it to look like the one i made before... but it turned out looking more psychedelic than rainbow like! For the design, I decided it would be really cool to make it look like a simple/elegant birthday cake on the outside, and totally outrageous/fun on the inside.  Since her favorite color is purple, I decided to make it look like a birthday gift wrapped in purple wrapping paper, with a white bow.

Things you will need

• (2) Boxes of white cake mix ~there is NOTHING wrong with using cake mix :) 
• (2) cans of white frosting ~ I used white because I wanted to color the frosting later, but you could use any color/flavor you want
• (6) cups ~ i use disposable cups because it gets messy and its less dishes to clean!
• (6) plastic knives ~ disposable is best because its lightweight 
• (2) baking pans ~ for this I used 8" squares but you will see later rainbow cake works better with round pans! 
• (6) Food Color Gels ~ Gel works way better than liquid but I think liquid will work too
• Purple
• Blue
• Green
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red/Pink

1. Make the cake batter according to the directions on the box (make 1 box at a time!).  Pour the batter into the cups.  Divide 1 box worth of batter into 3 plastic cups, making 2 boxes will give you 6 plastic cups of batter.  

2. Dip your plastic knife into the food coloring gel until the knife is coated, this should be a good enough amount of coloring.  Stick the knife into the cup of batter, and stir until the color is uniform throughout the batter.  

Knife with food coloring gel on it, ready to mix the batter

3. Repeat step 2 for the remaining 5 colors

6 cups of batter in different colors

4. Pour a small puddle of batter into the center of the pan, one color at a time, on top of each other in order (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink) until your pan is about half full.

5. Fill pan #2 the same way

Pans filled with batter!

6. Let the pan sit on the counter for at least 10min before you put it in the oven.  This lets the colors seep into each other.  Gently drop the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubble in the batter.

7. Bake according to the directions on the box.

8. After baking, cool the cakes completely

9. Gently remove the cakes from the pans by inverting them.  Level each cake (I dont have a fancy cake leveler, so i just eyeballed it.  Probably took off more cake than needed though...)

10. Squeeze frosting on top of the bottom layer, and place the top layer on top of the bottom one. Frost around the entire cake.

And there you have a beautiful rainbow cake! I decorated my cake with purple frosting.  I made a bow out of marshmallow fondant (i will save the how-to for another post). So Cute!!

Finished Cake!

So here you can see why its more of a "psychedelic" cake than a rainbow cake... it just doesnt work as well with square baking pans! it looks much more rainbow like in round pans.  Still looked great and tasted great though!!

 Happy Birthday, Erika!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I use every holiday as an excuse to make cute treats :) So for Valentines Day, I made 2 things for me and paul to give out to our co-workers.

First, I made Heart Shaped Rice Crispy Lollipops (an idea I found on pinterest).  Since I'm basically living in both LA and San Diego, OF COURSE i would forget some things i would need to make these cute pops.  I totally forgot to get butter, and ribbon to tie off the treat bags!! So I borrowed the last of my roommate's butter :D (Dont worry Jen, I bought you a brand new box of butter!!) But I still needed ribbon!!! I decided to just make the rice crispies and to make a run to target while they were in the fridge cooling...

These are just SO CUTE and SO EASY to make.  Every bag of marshmallows comes with a recipe to make rice crispies.  I just followed the recipe, and then pressed Valentine's Day themed sprinkles into the top.  Put the pan in the fridge for about 30min to cool, and then use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut heart shaped crispies.  Put it on a lollipop stick and into a treat bag, then tie it off with some ribbon.  Tah dah!! so cute!

Heart Shaped Rice Crispy Lollipops

Next, I made chocolate covered oreos.  These were a HUGE hit from the baby shower last month.  I picked up a Wilton cookie/candy mold at Michael's that had cute hearts on it.  They're the cutest and easiest treats to make.  You fill up a disposable pastry bag with wilton candy melts, melt it down in the microwave, and then fill the plastic wells in the mold.  Fill it the well about 2/3 full, and gently press an oreo into the candy.  After you are done filling all the wells, put it in the fridge until the candy is set (about 10min).  The candies should pop out of the mold VERY easily; if it doesn't, put it back in the fridge for another 10min.

Candy/Cookie Mold with my bags of melted candy

I decided to do red hearts, with white background.  I dont think it turned out nicely, the red kind of bled out to the white candy!! it just wasn't as pretty :( So i decided to do the next batch a solid red, and the last batch a solid white.  Once you've popped the candy out of the molds, put it in a treat bag and tie it off with some ribbon.

Chocolate Covered Oreos

I just gave out my treats this morning, everyone loved them! They were so easy to make, and so cute too!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!! 

(PS: I know all the photos on this blog so far are super crappy iphone photos... I'm getting a new camera soon i promise!) 

Valentines Day! Conversation Heart Cheesecake

Hello!!

Paul and I celebrated an early Valentines day this weekend.  For my gift to him, I made him a cheesecake that looked like a giant conversation heart!!  I got the idea from pinterest (my latest obsession) and the recipe from allrecipies.com.

Things you'll need
• A heart-shaped springform pan (i found one at my local baking supply store)
• A large pan (for the water bath)
• Red Gel food coloring

Ingredients for the Crust (I read user comments and changed the crust from the original recipe)
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Ingredients for the Cheesecake
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

So here it goes! I made changes to the recipe here and there based on the comments on the recipe.  The result was a FABULOUS/PERFECT looking cheesecake (the crust was another story -__-)

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides a 9 inch springform pan. I used PAM.  Make sure you have good coverage, one of the reasons cheesecakes crack is when the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.  If the pan is well greased, it will help prevent cracking.
2.     In a medium bowl, mix the crust ingredients together. Press onto bottom and up the sides a bit of springform pan.
3.     Wrap the entire pan with double layers of foil to prevent water from the water bath from seeping into the pan.  MAKE SURE THE FOIL GOES AROUND THE PAN HIGH ENOUGH!! apparently mine wasnt.. and water seeped into the bottom of the pan and the crust was SOGGY :(
4.     Set pan aside

5.     In a large mixing bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth.  I used my kitchenaid stand mixer and mixed on low until smooth.  If youre going to color the cheesecake, this is where you would add the food coloring.

6.     USING A SPATULA Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.

7.     Place the pan into a larger pan (i used a large roasting pan) and put it in the oven.  Pour hot water into the larger pan around the springform pan so that it comes up the side of the pan about 1"

8.     Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking (*Note: I left it in for 3hrs and it came out fine). Chill in refrigerator until serving.

The cheesecake was PERFECT, the crust was another story! the cheesecake itself was smooth, firm, it didnt crack :) it was DELICIOUS! The color was GREAT! the outside was a dark pink, reddish color and the inside was bright pink.

well, my water bath LEAKED into my pan... probably bc it was an odd sized pan and the foil didnt go up the sides high enough :( the crust was a soggy mess! it wasnt as bad in the middle though, that part tasted great.  LESSON LEARNED!!

Finally getting back into scrapbooking!

I went to Michaels on sunday for spray paint and of course walked out with a bunch of other things! I picked up some new scrapbooks that were on sale for 40% off! And more candy melts for some valentine goodies I'm making next week :)

For the wedding I am going to make 2 different scrapbooks. One for pre-wedding festivities and one for the wedding day.

My bridal shower was on Saturday! I got lots of gifts from my wonderful friends and family :) I wanted to put all the cards on a scrapbook page for my pre-wedding events scrapbook. They fit perfectly!!

Surprise!!

We had the surprise baby shower for our controller last Friday. Here are some pics from the party! She was soo happy :) which was the most important part. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Lemon Cake Pops & Chocolate Cupcakes

Baby Shower Goodies round 2!


Last night i finished making the lemon cake pops, and also made chocolate cupcakes.  Let me just be straight and say I USE CAKE MIX AND IM NOT ASHAMED! When it's something simple like chocolate or vanilla, i just use cake mix.  you cant taste the difference and its a lot less work. If im making something more interesting (key lime cupcakes, peppermint chocolate chip cupcakes, etc) then I will make it from scratch.  Almost everything I make, I make from scratch.  Basic Cakes and cake pops are the exception! 


For these cupcakes, I used Betty Crocker's Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix, with Pilsbury's Extra Creamy Strawberry Frosting.  Just bake according to the directions, and let them cool completely before frosting them.  I used a Closed Star piping tip and piping bag, and frosted each cupcake.  Im going to put the little cupcake charms that I made on Sunday, on the cupcakes right before the party 

For cake pops i ALWAYS use cake mix and canned frosting.  its way too labor intensive/expensive otherwise.  You bake the cake as normal (a drier cake is better than a super moist cake for cake pops), then put it in a large mixing bowl after it has cooled.  dump a can of frosting in the bowl, and use a mixer to blend the 2 together until you get a doughy substance. I have found that using the mixer is much easier and cleaner than using your hands :)  Use a 1" mellon baller and scoop balls of dough onto a cookie sheet.  Freeze the balls for at least 1 hour (I did it over night).  Reshape the balls into a sphere and place it on a lolli stick.  

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and dip/cover each ball.  Decorate the cake pop before the chocolate dries.  I used three different types of pink sprinkles.  Usually I would stick the lolli on a piece of styrofoam to dry, but I didnt have one to use.  Instead i just put them back on the cookie sheet.  the tops flattened but its not super noticable once in the cello bags.  

Place the cooled cake pops in little cello bags and tie them off with a piece of ribbon. look how cute these came out!!

the party is in a few hours, so I will post pics from the party this weekend.  Happy Friday, Everyone!

Baby Shower Treats: Chocolate Covered Oreos and Pretzels

Last night, Paul and Jen helped me make some treats for the Baby Shower :) I started the prep work for the lemon cake pops, and we made chocolate covered oreos and chocolate covered pretzel rods.  


First, we melted Wilton Candy Melts in plastic piping bags.  I love using the candy melts, they come in all sorts of fun colors, taste great and really easy to use! You just pour the chips into a bag, melt them in the microwave according to the directions, snip the end of the bag off, and squeeze! I got a pack of 12 plastic piping bags at Mitsuwa for $1.95, they are SO much easier to use than the ziplock baggies i used to use for this.  


I found a really cool Wilton candy mold at Michaels to make chocolate covered oreos!  You just squeeze melted candy into the mold about 2/3 full, and stick and oreo in the middle.  I used pink and white candy melts for this project.  Arent these just the cutest things ever?? After they cooled in the fridge until they were solid, I put each oreo into little cello bags and tied it off with with some super cute pink ribbon that says "Its a girl!" in pink glitter.  

Next we made chocolate covered pretzel rods.  I found this Wilton candy mold at Michaels as well.  Same as the oreos, you just decorate the mold with melted chocolate, and stick a pretzel rod in it and cool.  Thank you Jen for your awesome work on these! We put the cooled pretzel rods in cello bags and tied off the end with the same pink ribbon.  

Here are all the goodies we made last night! We made a total of 16 chocolate covered oreos and 9 chocolate covered pretzel rods.  I think in total we used 1 bag of pink wilton candy melts, and 1.5 bags of white wilton candy melts.  

Tonight I will be making mini chocolate/strawberry cupcakes as well as finishing the lemon cake pops, so I will post on those goodies on the weekend!