Improvised Chocolate Fudge Cake

Some wonderful friends from church recently adopted four children from Latvia. They are truly amazing parents and people, and are wonderful examples to me of selfless love and service.

We surprised Valerie with an adoption shower a few weeks before she and her husband would travel to Latvia to bring their children home. I planned to make a chocolate cake with strawberry filling and to decorate it with red and turquoise flowers (since those are Valerie's favorite colors). 

It was a busy week, and I realized the night before that I wouldn't be able to bake and decorate a cake in time. I decided to get a chocolate fudge cake from Sam's Club and then decorate the top myself. I'd had it before and knew it was a delicious cake.

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/artisan-fresh-chocolate-fudge-cake/prod4660165.ip

I scraped off the chocolate decoration from the middle and then smoothed out the top so that I could have a flat surface to pipe the message on. I made the flowers out of modeling chocolate and Sixlets candies. You can find Sixlets in most grocery stores (near the cake mixes and birthday candles). I love using Sixlets to decorate cakes! They look like pearls, and you can get them in almost any color.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Celebration-Shimmer-Powder-Blue-Sixlets-Candy-1.75-oz/32282501

This cake was a good reminder to me that it's okay to improvise when things don't go as planned. At first, I felt a little guilty for not actually baking the cake myself, but I shouldn't have. Valerie knows I care about her, and I heard so many people talk about how delicious the cake was, and someone even asked for the recipe later. 😊

STATS:

Modeling Chocolate

Melt 10 ounces of chocolate chips (or candy melts in the color of your choice) in a microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in 2 ounces of light corn syrup. Stir for about a minute until well combined. Spread on waxed paper and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours. When cool, break large chunks off and knead until soft. Store in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag for up to a month. Break off small pieces and knead when you are ready to make something with your modeling chocolate. Return to refrigerator for 10-15 minutes if it starts to get too warm and sticky from the heat of your hands.

Royal Icing

http://www.marthastewart.com/316888/royal-icing-for-sugar-cookies

Christian and Amber's Wedding

I made these cookies for my brother's wedding reception. I loved being able to make the cookies for my brother and his new wife. Congratulations, Christian and Amber!

They decided on green as their wedding color, with just a touch of purple. They asked for rectangular monogrammed cookies and brush embroidered cookies.

My sister Melanni used her amazing photography skills to take this beautiful picture of the cookies at the reception.



On to my "point and shoot" pictures.


"A" is for Amber!



"C" is for Christian!



Lots of cookies!



These sugar cookies were first covered with green glacé icing. After the glacé icing dried, I used royal icing to pipe the monograms and the other decorations.

I used dark brown royal icing for the monogram and brushed it with gold luster dust mixed with a little water to get the shiny bronze look. The cookie on the left has been brushed with the luster dust and the one on the right has not. I really like the difference the luster dust makes.



For the brush embroidered cookies, I used green fondant for the base and white royal icing for the flowers. Click on the link below (in the STATS section) to watch a video on brush embroidery.



STATS:

Brush Embroidery Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqbDTaauGO0

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Glacé Icing

Mix the following ingredients together:
1 cup confectioner's sugar : 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup : 1 Tbsp. milk

Adjust amount of milk to achieve desired consistency in icing. I usually end up adding 3 or 4 extra Tbsp. of milk to get a thinner flooding consistency.

Chocolate Dipped Cupcakes

This chic little cupcake is surprisingly easy to make...using a cake mix and a can of frosting!



Follow the package directions to bake 24 cupcakes in cupcake liners. (The cupcake liners will stabilize the cupcake during the dipping process.) Allow to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, start kneading some modelling chocolate to make it pliable enough to roll. Then roll the chocolate out to about 1/8" and use a small flower cutter to make the tiny flower decorations. Quickly remove the flower cutouts from the board or counter you are using before they harden. Attach a sugar pearl to the center of each one using royal icing.



Get ready to dip! Scoop the canned frosting into a microwave save bowl. The frosting will need to be heated to a thin consistency for easy dipping. Start by heating in the microwave for 10 seconds, then stir. If it's still too thick, heat for another ten seconds and stir. Continue until you achieve the right consistency.



Hold a cupcake upside down by the liner, and dip it straight into the frosting. Pivot the cupcake a little to make sure the frosting covers the edges. Slowly remove the cupcake and twist it to keep any frosting from dripping over the edges. Place cupcake right-side up on the counter and arrange one of the tiny chocolate flowers in the center of the chocolate while still the chocolate is still wet. The chocolate will set up as it dries.



These cupcakes are going to a local food pantry that asked for cupcake donations. The reason I chose this frosting and design is because they asked that each cupcake be individually wrapped in a plastic sandwich bag. I thought these would be perfect because they're not too tall and the frosting wouldn't be easily smashed. They were very easy to bag up and still looked pretty.



I'll definitely be using this method again. It was quick and a lot of fun! Give them a try!



STATS:

Modeling Chocolate
Melt 10 ounces of chocolate chips in a microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in 2 ounces of light corn syrup. Stir for about a minute until well combined. Spread on waxed paper and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours. When cool, break large chunks off and knead until soft. Store in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag for up to a month. Break off small pieces and knead when you are ready to make something with your modeling chocolate. Return to refrigerator for 10-15 minutes if it starts to get too warm and sticky from the heat of your hands.

Royal Icing
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing

Red Baron Cake Pops

My dad is a pilot, so for his birthday I tried to make some cake pops that looked like the Red Baron.



Here's what I did:

1. Dip the whole cake pop in white candy melts for the face. Let dry.
2. Roll the back half of the cake pop in melted chocolate for the ear flaps of the helmet.
3. Dip the top of the cake pop in chocolate for the top of the helmet.
4. Attach brown M&M's for the goggles.
5. Attach small circles of white fondant to the M&M's for eyes.
6. Pipe black royal icing for the pupils and mouth.
7. Use red modeling chocolate for the scarf.

STATS:

Basic Cake Pop tutorial by Bakerella
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/back-to-the-sweets-bakerellas-signature-cupcake-pops/

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Modeling Chocolate
Melt 10 ounces of candy melts (or any kind of chocolate) in a microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in 1/3 of a cup of light corn syrup. Stir for a couple of minutes until well combined. Spread on waxed paper and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours. When cool, break large chunks off and knead until soft. Store in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag for up to a month. Break off small pieces and knead when you are ready to make something with your modeling chocolate. Return to refrigerator for 10-15 minutes if it starts to get too warm and sticky from the heat of your hands.

Happy Birthday, Becca!

This was a fun cake to make because I got to decorate it with my sisters and my mom (plus a friend)! We took turns piping the border and we all made some flowers out of homemade white modeling chocolate. Ta-dah!



Becca made the biggest flower and I thought it turned out really pretty. Here it is!



STATS:

Sylvia Weinstock's Yellow Cake:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/02/09/sylvia.weinstock/yellow.cake.html

Raspberry Filling:
Heat jar of Polaner seedless raspberry jam in microwave for 15-30 seconds, until spreadable. Stir in packet of raspberry jello until jello is dissolved. That's it!

Modeling Chocolate:
Melt 10 ounces of any kind of chocolate you like in a microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in 1/3 of a cup of light corn syrup. Stir for a couple of minutes until well combined. Spread on waxed paper and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours. When cool, break large chunks off and knead until soft. Store in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag for up to a month. Break off small pieces and knead when you are ready to make something with your modeling chocolate. Return to refrigerator for 10-15 minutes if it starts to get too warm and sticky from the heat of your hands.

Have fun!