Joy the Baker » birthday cake

Big Berry Birthday Cake

joythebaker — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:22:54 +0000

I love birthdays.

There’s cake. There’s fire. There are smiles and joy.

Birthdays also allow for the possibility of fork candles. Pretty brilliant. Pretty genius. Pretty Fred and friends.

This is Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake batter. It’s studded with blueberries, just because.

Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake bakes up beautifully golden with a dense crumb and alluring sweet vanilla flavor. Plus blueberries… obviously.

Vanilla Whipped Buttercream. Sorta like eating a spoonful of sweet butter. Sorta like the best thing on earth.

Berries gosh dang it.

Berries on frosting on cake. This is getting good.

And then I whipped the rest of the cake together in a flash. Completely forgetting to take step by step photos.

Want to know how to frost a cake? I put together a tutorial a few years back.

I like this part.

I really like this part.

I especially like the part where I get to snag a slice of berry cake. Holy yumtown.

Big Berry Birthday Cake

makes a 2 layer 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes

from Organic and Chic

Print this Recipe!

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round baking pans and set aside. This recipe also makes 24 cupcakes.

In a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure that everything is well mixed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.

In a small bowl whisk together flour baking powder and salt.

In a separate small bowl combine the milk, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds.

With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture in three batches. Start and end with the flour mixture. When the batter is just combined, shut off the mixture and thoroughly incorporate the dough with a rubber spatula.

Divide the batter between the two pans.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a pale golden color, and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. For cupcakes bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Let the cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool. Frost and berry only when cakes are completely cool.

Vanilla Whipped Buttercream Frosting with Rose Water

makes enough to fill and frost one 8-inch layer cake or frost 24 cupcakes

from Organic and Chic

2 sticks (1 cup) organic unsalted butter, softened

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 cup organic whole milk

1/4 cup sifted organic all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons organic vanilla extract

1 teaspoon rosewater

Cream the butter on medium speed, 3 to 5 minutes, in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer until soft, adout 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again.

In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup mil with the flour and vanilla extract. Whisk together until there are no lumps. Over medium heat, slowly add the remaining 3/4 cups milk, whisking constantly and cook until the mixture comes to a low boil.

Reduce the heat to low and continue mixing until the mixture starts to thicken slightly.

When the mixture starts to thicken, immediately remove the pan from the heat but keep stirring. After you have removed the pan from the heat, the mixture will continue to cook for a minute or two on its own.

If you overheat the mixture and find that you have some lumps, try to whisk them out with a little elbow grease, or pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Place the mixture in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the process.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly poor the milk mixture into the butter and sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the rose water during this final mixing.

Strawberry and Vanilla Ice Cream Cake

joythebaker — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:51:04 +0000

We’re going back to the beginning with this cake. Ice Cream Cakes- that’s what started it all. Can I tell you a story?

I moved from Los Angeles, California to Burlington, Vermont when I was 18 and straight out of high school. I had it in my head that I didn’t want to go to college right away, and that I wanted to do some soul searching, as far away from my parents as I could get. I landed in Burlington with one suitcase and the phone number to one friend that I knew there. My friend Niki graciously let me stay in her apartment, and her Lisa friend gave me a job at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream flagship store. Miraculously, I had it all worked out. I had a place to stay and a job. There was just one small hitch- I was TERRIFIED. I had never been so far away from home and out in the world on my own. I literally stayed in Niki’s apartment for a full week. I never even cracked the door open. I knew that I was in a strange place, surrounded by people I didn’t know and I, frankly, didn’t want anything to do with any of it. I stayed in that apartment listening to Niki’s entire music collection and taking lots of baths. That’s when I discovered I loved Billie Holiday and grapefruit bubble bath.

What finally drove me out of my cave? Food of course, I ran out of food and I’m no good with hunger pains.

Once I was out of the apartment and well fed, I realized that my new surroundings were actually pretty awesome. People acknowledged me as I walked down the street. I lived right around the corner from the most beautiful lake, a glass blowing studio, a picture perfect chapel and a culinary school that fed me samples of their student food every day. It was the most beautiful, friendly, warm and open place I’ve ever been.

My job scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s quickly turned into the head cake decorator position. I could frost and decorate an ice cream cake like maniac. And because we’re talking about wild and wacky Ben and Jerry’s, the flavor combinations and signature tie dye frostings were completely over the top.

I loved my job. I loved Vermont. I met some characters that I won’t soon forget.

Once I stepped out of that apartment door, after a week of solitude and regret, I felt that I was blazing forward on the life I knew I wanted for myself. I also learned how to make a killer Ice Cream Cake along the way. That’s was almost ten years ago…. wow.

How I made a Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake-

Print this Recipe!

What You’ll need:

2 8-inch (3-inch deep) round baking pans- you’ll need a deep cake pan to build your cake.

Vanilla cake batter (recipe to follow)

Half Gallon Strawberry Ice Cream

Heavy cream to make whipped cream frosting (recipe to follow)

Vanilla Cake

adapted from the “Confetti Cakes” cookbook via ButterCakesbyEvan

2 cups cake flour (8 ounces)

1 3/4 cups plus 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (8 ounces) (yes, two types of flour)

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

3 cups granulated sugar (21 ounces)

3/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (8 ounces; about 7 eggs)

1 1/2 cups milk, room temp (12 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter, flour, and line pans with parchment paper (optional) and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla to the eggs and then add the egg mixture, a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Try to do this as quickly as possible so you don’t dry out the cake by over mixing. It is okay to add the milk immediately after adding the flour, and vice versa.

Divide the batter between your cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For cupcakes, bake 20-25 minutes.

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl of an electric mixer add whipping cream and vanilla extract. Using the whip attachment, begin to beat the mixture on medium speed. Gradually add the powdered sugar, increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembling the Cake

Step One: Grease the two 8-inch round cake pans. Make the vanilla cake batter and add about 2 -2 1/2 cups of batter into each cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove cakes from oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Once cooled, loosen the edges of the baked cake with a butter knife, flip the cake pans over onto a wire rack. Return 1 cake round to one of the 8-inch cakes pans and place the other cake round on a plate. Place both cake pan and plate in the freezer to begin to freeze the cake rounds.

Step Two: Freeze the cake rounds for 1 to 2 hours. You’ll need the cakes to be firm enough to spread fairly hard ice cream over them. Take the ice cream out of the freezer about 15 minutes before you’d like to use it, letting it rest on the counter.

Step Three: Remove the cake that’s in the cake pan from the freezer. Using the back of a stiff spatula, spoon the strawberry ice cream into the 8-inch cake round, on top of the first layer of vanilla cake. I used all but 1 cup of the half gallon of ice cream. Leave about 1-inch of space from the top of the 3-inch deep cake pan. At this point you’ve got a vanilla cake bottom layer topped with strawberry ice cream, leaving about 1 inch of empty space at the top of the pan.

Step Four: Remove the plated vanilla cake layer from the freezer. Place the second layer of vanilla cake inside the 8-inch round, on top of the strawberry ice cream. Return pan to the freezer to set for about an hour, depending on how soft your ice cream became while you were shaping the cake.

Step Five: Make Whipped Cream Frosting and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Step Six: After 1 to 2 hours in the freezer, remove the cake pan. Run a butter knife under hot water and run the knife along the cake, in between the cake pan and the ice cream cake to loosen the sides. Flip pan over onto a serving plate or cardboard cake round. Return cake to freezer if you find it too soft.

Step Seven: Quickly frost Ice Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting. Return to the freezer to chill. Decorate the cake as you like. I used fondant to make a layered heart topper.

Pink Hawaii

joythebaker — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:51:00 +0000

I was recently asked to create a Hawaiian themed cake for a girls first birthday. Children’s theme cakes usually run along a spectrum: from Sesame Street designs to Yo GabbaGabba characters. I somehow can never find my creative voice in tracing an Elmo onto a cake. It’s just not my style. Imagine my excitement in having free reign with a Hawaiian cake!

What I came up with is a three layered devil’s food cake with coconut cream cheese frosting. The hot pink dye seemed to call out to me, so the cake became a girly pink with toasted coconut dressing up the side. On top I fashioned a gum paste (and paper) palm tree with shredded coconut sand, gumpaste coconuts and flip flops. Yea… flip flops.

I’m so pleased with how this cake turned out! I was able to satisfy the desires of the customer and still create a colorful, hip design. A little pink Hawaii for one year old Miss Lilly.

Print this Recipe!

Devils Food Cake

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/3 cup hot, strong coffee

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Creaming the butter and sugar in an electric mixer. Beat for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture should be pale in color and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time. Beat each egg into the batter for 1 minute, scraping down the bowlt after each egg. Alternately add the flour mixture, and sour cream, mixing until just combined. The batter will be fairly thick at this point, almost like brownie batter. See the picture above. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the hot coffee. The batter will thin substantially. Place in greased and floured cake pans ( I used three 10″ pans) and bake for 18- 25 minutes.

This recipe produces a deliciously moist cake, but because of all of the liquids, the cake is a bit fragile. Cake pans should be very well greased and floured. When cakes come out of the oven, let them rest until cooled, then take a knife and loosen the cake from the sides. Turn them out, and let them cool further on a cooling rack. Don’t turn them out to cool onto a plate, they’ll stick. Oh yes, I learned the hard way.

Layer with any delicious frosting you fancy. I went for a coconut cream cheese frosting. Say you aren’t a wiz at frosting the sides of the cake. Here’s a tip: always work with a clean cake decorating knife. Cake knives have a round tip, and no sharp edges. As your working with the knife, have a deep bowl of hot water on hand. Dip the knife in and shake it around to clean off the excess frosting. Working with a clean tool with help ensure clean lines and edges.

When all else fails… hide your mistakes under a layer of delicious toasted coconut!