holiday cakes

Creating Buttercream Icing On Your Own Can Be Simple

Even though it is simple to grab a tub of frosting from the food store, prepackaged frosting cannot compare to the taste of homemade. Making icing over completely from scratch can be as easy as combining three ingredients inside the mixer and letting it to blend until smooth. Confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and vanilla flavoring form a basic frosting that can be used as is or turned into a variety of flavors. Using coconut extract instead of vanilla and adding shredded coconut constitutes a tropical topping that is well suited for fruity cupcakes, while adding cocoa can produce a chocolatey frosting that goes well with all of cupcake flavors.

Buttercream frosting is another popular topping for cupcakes. It really is produced from a mixture of confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla flavoring and, obviously, butter. The creamy, rich flavor is the perfect finish to your cupcake. Buttercream frosting can be enhanced to assist those cupcakes that could take advantage of a little bit more boost of flavor. Substituting fresh lemon juice for milk and omitting vanilla will make the light, citrus frosting that goes well with vanilla cupcakes, while replacing the milk with hot coffee, lowering the vanilla, and adding cocoa will make a mocha buttercream that produces a great complimentary topping to chocolate cupcakes. Cooking the butter until it’s brown before adding it towards the mix will make a burnt buttercream frosting that tastes great within coating of shredded coconut or dried fruit.

Lack of butter makes whipped cream frosting just a little lighter than buttercream, even though heavy or whipping cream is substituted for your milk. Omitting the sugar and vanilla and adding crushed peppermint candies constitutes a wonderful minty variation that tastes great on chocolate or marbled cupcakes and it is especially useful round the holidays. Adding shredded orange peel and orange extract constitutes a refreshing, light flavor that tastes great during the summer season.

Along with buttercream and whipped cream frosting, there are many other toppings that will make cupcakes special. Your best option for spiced cakes and carrot cakes is really a sweet cream cheese frosting or even a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar. Semisweet or dark chocolate glazes are perfect for any moist cake recipe, and a thick ganache can be a terrific topping for a fruity cupcake. Fondant may be rolled and cut into rounds and decorative shapes for any smooth finish with flare. Whether choosing one of these brilliant topping or using standard frosting or buttercream, skipping the store-bought tub and which makes it homemade is well-worth your time and effort.

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Cake Ideas – Mother’s Day Cakes

Cake ideas turn to the feminine side for Mother's Day, which is the second Sunday in May. Many people try to have a family get-together on that day to honor mothers. Often times they treat her to a meal out so she doesn't have to cook. And then in the afternoon they continue the celebration with refreshments of some kind. What a perfect time to have a decorated cake on hand – made just for her! So what are some cake ideas for Mother's Day? Well, first of all, it would be a good idea to find out ahead of time (not the day before if you plan to surprise her) what her favorite cake flavor and colors are. This way you will have something made especially to her liking. Decorations of flowers, ribbons, or bows can be applied to the cake for that feminine look for the cake. With an edible cake image, many pictures can be chosen from to put on the cake. Some ideas for that could be a picture of her when she was young (before children) like her high school graduation, a comparison of her in younger years and a current photo side-by-side, a family picture with her children, her with her favorite pet, or something in reference to her favorite hobby or interest. Below are a couple of cake ideas that can be used for Mother's Day. These photos are in reference to a birthday, but it can still give cake decorating ideas as to what can be used for your masterpiece for this yearly occasion.

Old Graduation Pic interest in cats

So with the approach of Mother's Day, get the facts and materials you will need to make that special cake: favorite cake flavor, favorite color(s) for decorations, and favorite photo if using edible cake images. Remember, your mother loves you so much and this cake will be a little token of how much you love her. 🙂

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Cake Ideas – Easter Cakes

Cake ideas start "hopping" when it's Easter. What are some cake decorating ideas for that special holiday? Easter is known for its soft pastel and spring colors. So what about the cake itself? Good choices are white, pink (strawberry or cherry chip), yellow, rainbow chip, or a white mix with food coloring added to make a noteworthy appeal – like baby blue or mint green. There are several pans out there: bunny, egg, cross, or lamb. These all make very nice looking cakes, but can require some time to get them done for sure, as you can see from the pictures below.

We had an order for an Easter cake and since it was our 27th wedding anniversary on the day I needed to make it, I didn't have too much time to put in to it. This is where the edible image cake came in very handy! Bake the cake, put some frosting on, smooth it, apply the edible cake image, put trim around the top and bottom edge, and presto – an Easter cake that will thrill any little kid!

Easter bunny cake

Of course the cake can always be trimmed out with Easter candy or decorations of some sort to just put on that little finishing touch. Just let those cake ideas hop!

Cake Ideas – St. Patrick’s Day Cakes

Cake Ideas for St. Patrick's Day are generally geared towards something green. The cake itself can be made green by adding green food coloring to a white cake mix. When applying the icing, it can be frosted in green or frosted in white and then trimmed with green. Of course there are a few cake pans out there that can be used for the holiday theme. There is a Care Bear pan, a shamrock pan and a horseshoe pan, of which the latter can be turned the one way to look like a good luck Irish horseshoe and turned the other to make a rainbow where you can find the pot of gold. To accent the cake, gold, foil-wrapped coin candy can be scattered around the base of the cake to make it look like someone got into the pot of gold.

There are also gold sprinkles or shamrock confetti that can be added for a little glitter or glamour when decorating cakes.

Sometimes little trinkets for St. Patrick's Day can be found to add to the cake or placed on top of cupcakes that are baked in gold foil cupcake papers.

Maybe you are of primary Irish descent or at least can trace your lineage back to include some of it in your ancestry. Keep the Irish event as a tribute to your family history by celebrating this sometimes almost overlooked holiday. Have fun with it and even put up St. Patrick's Day party decorations. But most of all, remember to wear green so you don't get pinched!

Cake Ideas- Valentine’s Day Cakes

Cake ideas start to be sought when Valentine's Day approaches in order to make a treat for those special someones. A decorated cake for that holiday can make it memorable, no matter what the age of the recipient. What are a few ideas for the cake itself? Well, pink and red are usually associated with Valentine's Day. So how about using Strawberry or Cherry Chip cake mix for a pink cake or a Red Velvet cake mix for a red cake! Or you can always use a White mix and add red food coloring a few drops at a time to get the shade you desire. The frosting can be white or pink and then use any of the various shades of pink and red for the trimmings, writing, and decorations. The decorations on the cake can be any variation of things to spruce it up. Ideas for that could be red or pink artifical flowers, Valentine confetti, a cake topper, or fresh strawberries (don't put these on till ready to serve 😉 ). Since hearts are usually associated with the holiday, a heart-shaped cake definately fits the occasion. If a heart pan is not available, you can actually make a cake in that shape by pouring half the batter in an 8" square layer and the other half in an 8" round layer. After they are baked and removed from the pans, turn the square layer with a point on the bottom like a diamond. Cut the round layer in half and place the cut side of each half of the round layer against one upper side of the square layer, making it look like it has Mickey Mouse ears. What shape do you see? A Heart 😮 ! Heart-shaped cupcakes or ones in Valentine cupcake papers make great individual servings or something special for school parties. Any shape of pan can be used for a Valentine's Day cake and the decorations will give it the character needed for the special occasion. You can use any of the items listed earlier for decorating the cake, or you can also use colored decorating sugar, red hots, or candy conversation hearts that are in season for the holiday.