Fearless cake baking

Buttercream Frosting

Buttercream frosting to a baker is like cement to a mason. This is my favorite buttercream frosting recipe because not only is it delicious but it will help your fondant decorations easily adhere & give your cake really smooth edges.  The recipe yields enough frosting to crumb coat and then frost an 8 to 10 inch cake.  You'll also have left over frosting for repair work, and there’s always repair work.  

Ingredients

2 lbs confectionery sugar 

2 sticks unsalted butter 

2 tbsp. vanilla 

1/4 tsp almond extract (*optional)

1/4 cup milk

Directions: In a large bowl, beat butter until pale yellow and creamy. Next beat in the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and almond extracts and 1/4 milk, or enough milk to achieve desired consistency.  

*Almond extract adds an enhanced, professional flavor.  Whether you use it could depend on a nut allergy or might depend on what the flavor of your cake is.  For example it complements well with raspberry fillings and frosting.  It doesn't go so well with peanut butter and chocolate combos.

Oreo Cookie Cake

Putting the cookies in a plastic bag and smashing them with a rolling pin is soooo cathartic!   And you totally get to do that with this recipe!  No one, I repeat no one has not loved this cake. Another thing I love about this recipe is it's versatility.  You can change things up using chocolate cake mix.  You can also smash up more oreo cookies depending on angry you're feeling at your boss that day.  Or give the underdogs a shot on the field and use generic oreos. 

Ingredients 

White or Yellow cake mix and its ingredients (eggs, water, vegetable oil)

10 Oreo cookies

Directions:  Place oreo cookies in a plastic bag, seal and then think about something that makes you really angry and beat them to a pulp!  Give anyone standing near you a dirty look as you do it.  Then report back on how fun that was. Next grease and flour a cake pan.  Follow the recipe on your cake mix box*.  Before baking the cake, mix in your smashed oreos to the batter.  Bake according to cake mix directions. 

 *I use cake mixes for a lot for novelty cakes.  They stack well and hold up to fondant well.  I always add a tablespoon of vanilla to a cake mix to make it taste more homemade.  This way you get the homemade taste and a cake start that you have confidence in.  If someone has a problem with your using cake mix then serve their cake with the side eye.  And that’s all I have to say about that.     

Peanut Butter Filling

I’ve tried several different peanut butter filling recipes and this is the one I landed on.  Why?  Because its fluffy, easy to make, the ingredients used all store well in the pantry and you can make it a week in advance.  Pair it up with a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting or a chocolate cake with chocolate or peanut butter frosting.  Dot some mini Reese’s peanut butter cups in the filling.  Want to look like Wonder Woman? Scoop a hole in the center of your cake and fill with peanut butter M & Ms.  Kids love that surprise when you cut the cake. The possibilities are endless. 

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (If you want some crunch, use the crunchy peanut butter, I won’t judge!)

1 1/2 cups marshmallow crème

Directions: Mix the butter and peanut butter together in your mixer.   When all the little butter lumps concede to being absorbed by the peanut butter, add the marshmallow crème and mix until combined.

Raspberry filling

My granddaughters eat raspberries like I drink wine.  We’re all in counselling for it.  Well, maybe just one of us.  Given the love of raspberries and for my grandchildren….I figured I should master a raspberry filling.  Because that’s what grandmothers do when they’re not drinking wine. 

Ingredients

1/3 cup granulated sugar 

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries 

2 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon lemon juice (optional for a flavor boost)

Directions: Combine sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan over medium-low heat and whisk until combined.  Add raspberries, water, and lemon juice and stir together until all ingredients are combined.  Turn stovetop heat to medium.  Now put your phone down, you’re going to need to stir almost constantly.  And don’t be tempted to increase the heat.  It needs to cook slowly to allow the sugar to dissolve and the mixture to thicken.  This could take up to 10 minutes or more.  Keep in mind the mixture will thicken when it cools.  Cool to room temperature.  Pro tip:  After you add the filling to the cake layers put a ring of frosting around the perimeter of the cake so the filling doesn’t bleed out of the cake.  Filling can be stored in the fridge for up to a week before using.  You can store it right in the piping bag making it easy to apply to the cake.  

Orange Creamsicle Cake 

How many things can you do with a cake mix?  Oh, let me count the ways.  This Orange Creamsicle recipe can be easily converted to lemon by doing this: everything you see in the recipe that says orange, change to lemon or yellow for the gel coloring. I know, mind blowing.  I add a little orange gel coloring because I wanted it to look more creamsiclely.  

Ingredients

1 (16.25 oz) box white or yellow cake mix 

1 (3 oz) box orange gelatin, less 2 Tablespoons to use for frosting

3 egg whites

2 Tablespoons orange zest (about one large orange)

3/4 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp orange extract

2-3 drops orange gel food coloring

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, orange gelatin (reserve 2 Tablespoons for frosting), egg whites, orange zest, orange juice, milk, oil and vanilla. Add the gel coloring to your desired color if you want it to have a little more color.  Mix with an electric or standing mixer for about 2 minutes. 

Scoop batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake per the time set on the cake box instructions. Cool completely on a wire rack.  When completely cooled wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  It makes the whole carving, stacking, filling and frosting process so much easier. 

Orange Creamsicle Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

8 ounces cream cheese softened

1 teaspoon orange extract

2 lbs confectionery sugar

2 tablespoons orange gelatin

Directions:  In a bowl, mix confectionery sugar and butter with electric mixer on low speed*.  Stir in vanilla and 1-2 tablespoons or more milk until the consistency isn’t too stiff or too loose.  It should look like it will go through a piping bag with ease.  I know, I hate that description too.  It’s so type A unfriendly.

*If someone is standing next to you and you want to play a really fun joke on them, ask them to look closely and see if they spot any black specks.  Once they're head is good and close to the bowl, crank that mixer up to high and watch them turn into a powdered sugar snowman.  Then take a pic and share the fun.