Cake!

Ever since my husband and I decided to make our own wedding cake a year and a half ago, I have been slightly obsessed with cake. One of my favorite past times is searching the internet for anything and everything cake related. I have yet to find a really good basic white cake recipe, but I could sit for hours looking through decorating tips and all of the amazing portfolios of fellow cake decorators.

I am still a beginner, but I like to dream that one day I will be able to make amazing confectionary works of art. And starting Monday, I'll officially be able to say that I make my living decorating cakes! I am beside myself with excitement for this opportunity and so thankful that someone is finally giving me a chance to follow my dream.

I'll include one recipe with today's post, but mostly I'm just here to show off a few of my cakes. The ones that I am posting are similar to what I might be doing at the store. ;)

The recipe is for carrot cake. I used this recipe as one of the layers of my mother-in-law's wedding cake in December. That cake was my crowning glory, but I couldn't have done it without my husband's help. Someday we will own a bakery together and work side by side creating masterpieces. *sigh*

The Cake

(We made the fresh rose topper too.)

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice (*Note: I followed this exactly the first time and the cake was way too wet and didn't cook through. So, next time I drained the juice first and it came out perfectly.)
1 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.
Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Here are some birthday cakes:

Abby's Birthday Cake

(practicing my roses)

Debi's Birthday Cake

(This one was fun because I made the hanging jewelry too.)

Gary's Birthday Cake

(more practice with roses and writing)

Mother-in-law and Step-Grandma-In-Law's Birthday Cake

(The writing on this one is atrocious. My hand was worn out. Makes me worry about how I'll do when I have to handle it 8 hours a day.)

And just for laughs:

The Husband Birthday Cake, adorned with a sexy girl lovingly created by hand with gumpaste.