Tiger cake!

Here's my first ferocious tiger cake. Chocolate cake with buttercream
(well, quick buttercream). Cake was a little underbaked, and came apart a little. (I again used Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate Layer Cake.) Next time I would use black icing instead of
chocolate for a more tiger and less halloween look. Still, fun!

Just because...

Jake loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And I love baking. Perfect!
I was working on my decorating bag skills, and feel good about the
shells in the outer ring. The stars in the inner ring were because I
just couldn't stop.
Cake from cakelove, frosting from Smittenkitchen.
Both delicious!

A very important cake!

My dearest Gus turned two recently. And he wanted a train cake! Inspired by the Internets, I went with a train coming out of the tunnel cake. And? It was completely fun and easy to make! The rock candy and train were important extras.

The cake is chocolate from Smitten Kitchen - perhaps a little moist to move around much, but I froze the layers and have no problems at all. The Swiss Buttercream is also from SK - the same as I've made on wedding cakes in the past. The chocolate buttercream (on the tunnel, and some cupcakes) is also from SK, and is definitely my new chocolate buttercream recipe. It is fast (food processor icing! wow!) and completely delicious. Non-chocolate buttercream would work there, too. Maybe I'll try that next time. I was super happy with the components of the cake - the icings and the cake. And super happy with the design, and I thought the execution came off nicely. I'm now working on shells for borders - to break out of my stars habit.

Additional cupcakes are tucked away in the freezer, and have been coming out slowly but surely, only to be eaten before I can even ice them. They are so good!

Happy birthday Gus! What kind of cake will it be next year, I wonder?

My favorite project ever turns 2!

Cake details to follow. I am the baker, and Gus is the baker's apprentice!

Making butter!

Butter is delicious!

Shake cream in a jar (from cream, to whipped cream, to butter + whey)
or whiz it up in a food processor. Easy, fast, and oh-so sweet and
delicious! You can work/knead the butter to squeeze out the excess
whey or not. That makes it slightly more work. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

On an oatmeal binge

Granola. Granola bars, oatmeal raisin/chocolate chip/dried
cherry/coconut cookies (many many cookies). I'm into oatmeal these
days!

Cottage Cheese Pufflets with Jam

I was excited for these, because I love tangy doughs. This was more
work, and not quite as delicious as I hoped. Good, though. Just not
great. Also, a little fussy for my taste. It's a Dorie Greenspan
recipe.