Easter Cake Ideas

Every year, I like to make a cake for Easter. I have already made numerous bunny head cakes, a full bunny cake, a basket cake, a chick cake, egg cakes, a white bunny cake, and a brown bunny cake. I have also already made chocolate cakes, carrot cakes, and chocolate carrot cake. I am running out of options. What other flavors and themed cakes are Easter related? I suppose I could do a different type of bunny cake,there are plenty out there. I could also do chick or bird cakes, or a lamb cake. I could do any type of egg cake, a basket cake featuring other things, or cupcakes for a change, although I did do those last year as well. Flavor is a bit trickier to decide on, but I am thinking of a hummingbird cake, which is a moist, springtime cake containing pineapple, banana, pecan, coconut, and often a cream cheese frosting. However, I do feel this might be better suited to a cake that is also decorated with a hummingbird and flower theme, which I don't want to do for Easter. I am thinking of making a cake that is sort of a collaboration of all of these previous ideas and themes. Not for the flavor, of course, as I may just settle for my signature chocolate cake recipe. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? There are many candies that can be easily used to decorate Easter cakes, and they include candy coated chocolate eggs, jelly beans, chocolate eggs, peeps, colored coconut, chocolate bunnies, and more. I am sure I will come u with some cute Easter cake, even if I do end up just winging it, though knowing me, I will be sure to plan in advance! 

Valentine Cake Ideas

Over a month ago, I was asked to make another cake for a charity auction to be held the Friday before Valentine's Day. I was all set and excited to do this. I promptly conducted many internet searches to look for ideas for valentine's themed cakes. I have a heart-shaped cake pan, so I was all set. And you would not believe how many beautiful Valentine's Day cakes you can find out there! All that pink and red; and hearts and flowers and lace; and sprinkles and chocolate. I sifted through them, and chose a few of the ones I thought were the best, but still simple enough for me to do using the tools that I had on hand. Then i took different aspects from each of them and put them together to plan my own heart-shaped, Valentine themed cake. I even got a nice platter for it and everything. Perfect. If only the weather had cooperated. The auction was not yet held, but postponed for two weeks later. Not even just the day after Valentine's Day, but an entire week later. Luckily, I had not started actually making the cake yet, and it was now obvious that my Valentine'themed cake would no longer be fitting. Which meant I had to come up with an entire new cake design. It also meant all my Valentine cake planning would go to waste. Or would it?

When I am making cakes, I find it much easier to facilitate if I have a solid theme in mind and an idea of where I am going. Furthermore, it definitely helps to have the entire cake drawn out and planned, and all of the ingredients and equipment gathered. I had all of that ready. But now I was faced with a problem  The auction would no longer be Valentine themed, and not themed at all. I don't do well without a theme. It is much too open-ended. I end up having way too many options, and attempt to do something probably more complicated than I can handle. And there is no room for error when the cake is for a charity auction; it has to be good. 

What is my final decision? Well, I spent a lot of time on my valentine's cake idea, and I don't want it to go to waste. I also determined that I need a theme, though there are so many simple "everyday" cake ideas out there, I just know I need some direction. And there is no other upcoming theme, it isn't close enough to spring yet, people are too sick of winter, and there are no other upcoming holidays. I am going to stick with the heart-shaped cake and use the majority of the design for that, just not make it Valentine's themed (I won't write "Happy Valentine's Day" on it, like planned). It is only about a week after Valentine's day, so people will still be in the mood for hearts, right? Hopefully it will sell well and generate a lot of money for the charity. 

PHOTO CREDIT:"8742492-valentine-heart-shaped-rose-petals" http://www.123rf.com/photo_8742492_valentine-heart-shaped-rose-petals.html. 123RF, n.d. Monday, February 18, 2013.

Big Bang Theory Cake

My brother's birthday is coming up, so I asked him what kind of cake he would like this year. Often I am left to come up with my own ideas for cakes, but this year my brother actually had a theme in mind. Coincidentally, it was the same theme I had in mind. My brother is a big fan of the television show "The Big Bang Theory". Perfect, a theme to follow, an idea to go by. Not so much. Some themes are easier to generate ideas from than others. There are many tv shows that have great characters that are easy to portray on cake. This show, not so much. The entire show is really focused on the main characters. The problem is, these characters are all real people (not cartoons or animations), and they are not easy to draw on a cake (at least even remotely accurately. I decided I was not going to attempt the characters, no way. I want the cake to look good. So I looked on the internet for more ideas.

I found several Big Bang Theory cakes that had already been made. A few of them featured Sheldon's famous line, "Bazinga!", a few featured his quotations, and a few featured some equations. There were also some cakes featuring cats as a take on the infamous "Soft Kitty" song. And a few cakes even had the characters, most of them either paper cut-outs or impressive modelling chocolate creations. I don't use modelling chocolate often, and don;t have that much on hand, and when I make cakes, I like every part of it to be edible if possible (one could argue that paper is edible, but, I'm not going 
there).

I showed my brother several of these cakes, and asked him which type of design he liked the most. He liked the cake that featured the atom that appears during scene changes the most, and left me to come up with a design based on that and a few other instructions, a rectangular chocolate cake with buttercream icing. I will feature the finished cake tomorrow on his birthday. See this link here: Big Bang Birthday Cake 

PHOTO CREDIT:"6706115-atomic-nuclear-symbol-scientific-illustration-of-orbiting-atom" http://www.123rf.com/photo_6706115_atomic-nuclear-symbol-scientific-illustration-of-orbiting-atom.html. 123RF, n.d. Monday, February 18, 2013.

Valentine Ideas

Valentine's Day is approaching, and there are many, many different recipes out there geared towards the occasion. You can cut pretty much any food into a heart shape, and it will be suitable for Valentine's Day. Any red or pink foods are also appropriate for Valentine's Day, especially raspberries and strawberries, and deeply indulgent chocolate desserts are also very popular at this time of the year.

Popular dinner menus for Valentine's Day include: lobster, pasta, tomato, seafood, steak, and shrimp dishes.
Popular Valentine's Sweets: heart shaped cookies, brownies, cakes.
Popular Valentine's Desserts: chocolate mousse, parfaits, tortes, molten chocolate cakes, flourless chocolate cake, cupcakes, red velvet cake, meringues, cheesecakes.
Popular Valentine's Treats: truffles, chocolate-dipped strawberries, chocolate hearts, chocolate kisses, cinnamon hearts, candy hearts.

Some cute ideas for Valentine's Day:

• Heart shaped pancakes or waffles with strawberries.
• Sandwiches cut into hearts.
• Spaghetti with hearts - meatloaf cut into hearts.
• Heart shaped pizzas or breads.
• Cut out sugar cookies or brownies decorated with red sprinkles.
• A heart shaped cake with buttercream roses.

PHOTO CREDIT:"send-valentine-cards"    http://valentine-greeting-cards.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html  . Valentine Greeting CArds, n.d. Friday, February 10, 2012.