Obviously with the amount of rainbow cakes I have in my arsenal, I’m a sucker for rainbows. I didn’t know that I loved leopard print until I started on this cake.
Rainbow Nerds Candy Cake
April 4, 2015 by
When I was a kid, I loved Nerds! There’s nothing much better than “retro” candies from the 80’s! Nostalgia makes everything taste better, am I right? Combining cake and the crunch of Nerds is such a novel treat!
Easter Candy Pinata Cake
March 29, 2015 by
“Because sometimes a cake is just not enough.”
“Because sometimes, you want a side of candy to go with your cake.”
“Because sometimes, you just must.”
If you need any excuses as to why you are stuffing a cake full of candy, use one of the above statements.
Surprise Inside Christmas Cake: Vertical Striped Cake
December 13, 2014 by
Merry Christmas! We’re only a couple of weeks away from the big day, and I’m sure you’ll need some sort of dessert to help celebrate. This vertical cake roll will impress the jolly man in the red suit, and all your other guests!
This cake roll is something a little different than the regular type of roll you might be used to. Instead of traditionally rolling up the cake by the width, this cake is rolled up length ways in small strips to create a large roll. It gets a little messy when you roll this cake up but it’s kinda fun to get dirty sometimes, right? It’s fun to roll it up!
As far as fillings for inside the cake roll go, it’s best to work with a light filling, such as whipping cream, but you could also use a fruit filling, and if you prefer, you could try buttercream, but I’m not sure how that would affect the ability of the cake to roll. I had decided that since there was so much buttercream around the outside of the cake, and using something different for the inside was probably best. It is also really easy to roll up whipping cream as opposed to other fillings.
Decorating the outside of the cake can be done however you want, and I’m sure my viewers and readers have great ideas! I liked the way the ribbons up the side of the cake we soft looking and very festive. Anything themed for the season would be great for this holiday type of cake!
Surprise Inside Mustache Cake for Movember
November 8, 2014 by
The time for mustaches to come out of closets and unite is upon us. That well groomed neighbour down the hall now has a caterpillar growing on his upper lip. That nice stay at home, father of 3 around the block now has a speckling of hairs above his mouth. And that lawyer who works in the offices downtown? He too has a sprouting of hairs on his lip. Why are all of these previously clean cut men growing awkward, splotchy mustaches for the month of November? It’s all in the name of charity.
Each November men from all over North America (and probably further) grow mustaches that their wives and girlfriends object to fiercely, to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues. The slogan from the Canadian Movember movement is “changing the face of men’s health.” To find out more information head over to Movember.
Since this is an event that haunts your eyes (I’m talking about my Dad’s attempt at a mustache) I decided that I had to make another video in support- MY way. I’m not about to grow a mustache- nor would I try to.
Making a surprise inside cake takes a bit longer than a regular cake, and involves a lot of preparation. It is not technically difficult, but it looks like it is! That’s my favourite part of these types of cakes. They SHOCK the people that are eating them! For this cake, you will need to buy mustache cookie cutters, prepare two different coloured cakes, and prepare an additional cake batter for the re-baking portion. With all of the prep work done ahead of time- which you can do the day before with the baked cakes- the day of assembly can go quite quickly. Re-baking the cake takes around an hour. The mustaches inside do not dry out as they are wrapped in raw batter and it keeps the cake moist throughout the time in the oven.
Whether you are sprouting some hairs on your upper lip, donating to the Movember cause, or just joining in the fun with this cake, I hope you like the baking and decorating process!
Toffee Pecan Cake INSIDE a Pumpkin
October 1, 2014 by
Sometimes getting to be an old fashioned baker is just want I need to kick start myself again. I love making cake designs, but sometimes I miss the excitement of a new, flavourful recipe. Feeling the need to experiment with a new recipe, I went in search of a Fall way to spruce it up, after all, I can’t let down my followers on YouTube! They like exciting things!! So, with those requirements in mind, I came up with a Toffee Pecan cake INSIDE a pumpkin!
The toffee pecan cake itself is delicious. The flavour of the pecans and their crunch, combined with the crunch of the toffee bits makes for a delicious cake. You could put any kind of cake inside the pumpkin, but like I said before, I was really wanting to try out a new flavour combination.
Baking a cake inside a pumpkin takes a long time, and it can take an even longer time than “long” (haha,) depending on the size of the baking pumpkin. My pumpkins averaged between 5″-7″ and took between 1.5-3 hours to bake completely through. It will seem for the first hour or so like you didn’t put enough batter in, but the cake rises up through the top of the opening near the end. So, don’t fret like I did. I managed to refrain from adding more batter while the cake was in the oven though, and I’m glad I did. The cake ended up rising perfectly.
The cake stays incredibly moist, despite the amount of time it is in the oven. The pumpkin meat around the outside keeps the cake moist, and the foil wrapped around the outside helps with this as well. When taking the pumpkin out of the oven and off of the baking tray, be careful as it softens a bit while baking.
Finding baking pumpkins proved to be the most difficult task in this recipe. I had to travel to a nearby town, about a 30 minute drive from my home. It was to a market that specialized in local produce from nearby farms and orchards. The baking pumpkins are smaller, and therefore sweeter than a pumpkin used for a jack-o-lantern.
Rubik’s Cube Cake – Surprise Inside Cake!
September 27, 2014 by
Rubik’s cube has been around longer than I have been alive, but it’s still a popular toy that exisits in many stores. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, and was quite shocked to be able to find one in the store on my first try.
The point of the Rubik’s cube puzzle, is to have each side of the cube (9 squares) be one solid colour. You have to do that without taking off the stickers!! Unfortunately the new cubes don’t have the stickers, so there is no cheating by way of the 80’s!
I’ve never had the luck of being able to solve it, but in all honesty, I haven’t really tried. I made this cake because I think it looks cool!! I know there are genuis’ out there that have actually tried to solve the puzzle and CAN solve it! I applaud you! Apparently, the current World Record is held by a gentleman in the Netherlands and is attempt was completed in 5.5 SECONDS!!! I can’t even imagine how he could do that!! It takes me 5 seconds to figure out how the thing moves.
Making this cake is a little time consuming, but the WOW factor when your guests cut into it will definitely cake it worthwhile! You can prepare your cake batter ahead of time, as well as prep your fondant squares. The cake batter should be coloured in the colour theme of the Rubik’s cube- red, orange, yellow, white and green. The fondant squares work best if they are a little bit pliable, but I ended up putting on some that were rock hard, and they worked fine too. The hard ones don’t mold to the side of the cube as well, so some of the corners stick out.
When you’re lining up the rectangles to make your cube, make sure you’re paying attention to the side the will have the 9 blocks shown when the cube is cut. Otherwise, if you cut on the wrong side, you will be shown only three rectangles. Other than that, making this cake is pretty fool-proof!! Unlike the Rubik’s cube itself.
Canadian Flag Cake for Canada Day (Surprise Inside Cake)
June 22, 2014 by
“The flag is the symbol of the nation’s unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.” Honourable Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, 1965
In Canada we celebrate our Nation each July 1. Our Canadian flag is a very simple design . . . red panels on each side of the flag, in the middle white with a red maple leaf in the centre. I THOUGHT this would be an easy cake to make. I thought wrong. Very wrong.
After the success of our American Flag cake tutorial that we put out for the Forth of July last year (2013), I knew that this year, I HAD to make one for my country! When I started out, I thought it would be super simple, and I would find success the first time out. Not-so-much. 6 practice cakes later, I had finally nailed it, and it was ready to be filmed for YouTube stardom!
I wanted a very distinct maple leaf in the centre of the flag, and with that, I caused myself a problem. The maple leaf kept coming out of the second bake missing sections of the leaf, or looking like a red blob. I tried cutting the maple leaves out of regular cake, using cakepop mix, and I tried prebaked sugar cookies, until finally, when I had almost given up, I thought I would try freezing the section I needed for cutting the leaves out. Thankfully, it worked!
