Mum's Senior Moment Cake

So it was my mom's 65th bday this past weekend.  I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. Her favourite, sour cream coffee cake.  I decided to juj it up and caramel sauce to the mix! Blamo! Now that's a cake!  And of course she loved it.

Mom's approval! Yeah!

Something New

I had an idea for a new ganache flavour: white chocolate cream cheese espresso ganache. So I made a batch, and it had a wonderful almost butterscotch-like smell to it, a creamy coffee bite for flavour.

And for some reason, I thought a Mexican-vanilla chili chocolate cake base might pair well with the ganache.

Results: it absolutely did! All testers agreed that it was a winning combination.

Cake Pops

Here are some fun chocolate and frosting covered cake pops I made for a colleague's baby shower at work today. It was a "tea time" kind of theme, so bite sized cake bits seemed rather appropriate.

Muscle Cake!

First of all, I have to thank my friend Kathy for sharing my blog with others! You're the best!

My friend's colleague needed a custom cake for her husband's 30th birthday. My first official (have done others as wedding gifts) cake order. She contacted me and sent me her ideas along with a photograph of her husband's tattoo that was to be included on the cake! So here it is, vanilla cake with buttercream icing and fondant, entirely edible, even right down to the ink!

I hope the cake was a hit at the party!

Petits Fours

My friend Soo and I decided to make fancy treats for a retirement 'tea party' for one of our lovely colleagues at work. Soo had the brilliant idea of making Petits Fours. What a perfect idea for a tea party! And of course, she just happened to have candied edible flowers in her freezer. These adorable buds were the final touch to make these little gems mini works of art. So pretty, and tasty too!

I Like Big Bundts 2011 - that's right, we did it again!

Well, we've gone and done it again!  It was a Bundt coffee break extravaganza on November 15th.  The challenge was put out by the Food Librarian once again this year to bake a bundt cake for National Bundt Day on November 15th, and of course, my colleagues and I took it on!

Five of us brought bundt cakes, and others supplied the whipped cream (shown in lower right image) and tea for everyone.

From one side...

...to the other.  Don't forget the whipped cream!

Pascal's Kentucky Butter Bundt

Mary Margaret's Chocolate Bundt with Vanilla Glaze

Joanne's Sour Cream Coffee Bundt with Maple Caramel Walnut Glaze

Shannon's Tabasco Orange Bundt

Melissa's Pumpkin and Carrot Bundt served with whipped cream

Of course we all had to sample a piece of each bundt cake...delish!

Apple Pie à la Crisp? Anyone?

What can I say? I love fall.  I also really enjoy going apple picking with friends.  My intentions are always to only pick one kind, Cortland apples, because those are the best for apple pies.  But somehow, I end up with 3 or 4 kinds every year and then I have to do something about the overload of apples in my kitchen.  So, I bake....and I bake.  I'll eat the empires every day but the rest of the apples (Lobo, Macintosh and of course the Cortlands) have got to get into the apple crisp or pies.  I decided to be lazy this year, well I'd rather call it a stroke of genius myself, and use my apple crisp recipe and just throw it into a pie crust (easiest and fool proof pie crust ever).  It's basically and apple crumble pie, and delicious.