Our Cakes Throughout the Years: The Commitments

"The Commitments" Cake
I finally wanted to make a cake just for myself, so I decided to create a cake based off of my favorite movie, "The Commitments". I am flying to Dublin next week to see the cast perform as a band in a charity concert at the O2 Arena, so I celebrated my trip by making a cake.

The cake is a Guinness & Chocolate flavored cake with a Vanilla Sea Salt Buttercream Frosting. I normally do not like any sort of chocolate cake (yes, a cake decorator that doesn't like chocolate..go figure). This Guinness and Chocolate cake though is PHENOMENAL!!!!! I got the recipe off of King Arthur Flour's website. Normally, I like creating my own cakes, but I read great reviews for KAF's Chocolate Stout Cake and knew I couldn't go wrong.

The cake itself is decorated to look like one of the black suits the members of the band wear for their performances. I also included notable props from the movie onto the cake: "Heroin(e) Kills" banner (yes, the extra "e" in heroine is supposed to be there LOL), the ad recruiting bandmates, and the Mr. Chippy van they travel in to their gigs. On the sides of the cake I wrote memorable quotes from the movie.

I loved working on this cake. It was, in a way, my dream cake. I'm so glad I did the cake, and get to enjoy eating it!! Now, it's off to Dublin to see "the World's Hardest Working Band". Sláinte!

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Blackberry and Rosemary Cupcakes

Blackberry and Rosemary Cupcakes
This was a "test kitchen" cupcake my mom and I collaborated on. We had leftover vanilla cake batter, and decided to add fresh blackberries, rosemary, black pepper, lemon olive oil, blackberry ginger balsamic to the batter. The taste of these cupcakes were amazing!!!!! We had leftover vanilla buttercream frosting, and just added a little bit so as not to take away the taste of the cupcakes. I can't wait to make these again!!

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Pink Mod Monkey Cake

Pink Mod Monkey 1st Birthday Cake
These adorable cakes were designed for a little girl's 1st Birthday. The cakes are covered/decorated in vanilla buttercream. The monkey face on the sheet cake is hand carved out of fondant and gumpaste. The smash cake decorations are made out of fondant and gumpaste.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Pink Skull Cake

Pink Skull Cake
This cake was designed for my friend's daughter's birthday. The birthday girl requested a pink skull theme. The cake is covered in whipped frosting, and decorated in pink and black buttercream. The border on the bottom is black fondant painted with edible black glitter. I handcarved the skull out of gumpaste, and painted it in edible pink glitter paint. The cake topper is a gumpaste heart painted in hot pink glitter paint, and I made the scroll out of gumpaste. I wrote the girl's name with edible black marker and shaded it to look like an old school tattoo style. I also made black poppies with hot pink center to adorn the cake. Also..not sure why the cake looks like it's crooked in the picture.. but it was completely level. :o)

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Vanilla Cupcake with Honey, Lavender Sencha Tea Frosting

I have really been on a kick lately trying to come up with unique flavors. I recently was at Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket in Edgewater, NJ. I stopped by a Japanese tea kiosk and found a Lavender Sencha Tea. The tea has a wonderful, fresh lavender scent that flavors the green tea sencha. I instantly became inspired to use the tea to either flavor a cupcake or frosting. I decided to make a Honey, Lavender Sencha Tea Frosting to go with a basic vanilla cupcake. The frosting has a light tea flavor with hints of lavender. The honey adds a touch of sweetness, and I added a tiny amount of lemon flavoring to give it a bit of acidity to balance out the sweetness. The frosting is very light and delicate and goes so well with a vanilla cupcake. It also works well as an accompaniment with a cup of tea!

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel Cake

This cake was made for my husband who is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He asked for a Steelers-themed cake for his birthday, so I wanted to surprise him with a Terrible Towel cake. The cake is covered in fondant. I freehanded the Terrible Towel logo in edible black paint.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Chocolate Cupcakes with Toasted Almond Cardamom Frosting

So I was bored yesterday and decided to play around in my "test" kitchen. I decided to make chocolate cupcakes and add a unique frosting to them. I came up with a toasted almond cardamom frosting. The frosting is truly the highlight of the cupcake. I like to challenge myself and create unique flavors. The toasted almond cardamom frosting totally worked! I toasted some almonds, and ground them in my food processor along with some ground cardamom and a secret ingredient. I mixed it in with my frosting foundation and the taste was simply amazing!!!