National Cake Day and a Giveaway!

Today is National Cake Day! This is one of my favorite days of the year! So in honor of today, here's a quick cake recipe for you! 

Before I got comfortable baking from scratch, I used cake mixes and my sister and I couldn't figure out the best way to make our cakes taste different. So, with the help of my cousin and fellow baker, we figured out that following the directions on the box and adding an extra egg to the number of eggs your mix requires + a pack of Jello Instant Pudding Mix made a difference :)! So for example, if your cake mix asks for 3 eggs, use 4. Add chocolate pudding mix to a chocolate cake, vanilla to vanilla, etc- the possibilities are endless :o) OR you could be creative and add pistachio instant pudding to white cake mix. You get the idea!

With that said, thinking of what to take with you to thanksgiving dinner? Try this! Not only is this thoughtful, but also delicious! AND very cost effective (I'm talking $10 +effort)! Go ahead! Thank me later! :o)

  

Also, I realize that I hardly ever post the smaller, simpler cakes we make. So, in honor of National Cake day, here are a few photos of cakes I made this week:

This cake was made for Jeff's wife's birthday :) It's a white cake with chocolate buttercream.

I made this cake for my sister-in-law's office thanksgiving potluck. It's a red velvet cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

                                Here's the cake an hour later- BEFORE the potluck started. :) yum yum!

Lastly, in honor of National Cake day, send me pictures of the cake you tried to info@bimsflavors.com. This Sunday (12/1/13), 2 submissions will be chosen at random to win a free dozen cupcakes from BimsFlavors!

Have a great day everyone! And email me or comment here and let me know how yours turned out!



Calabash and Kolanut Traditional Wedding Cake

This past summer (and I say 'past' because the warmth of summer feels like AGES ago) we made a few traditional wedding cakes.

 

I love making traditional wedding cakes (OK I confess I love all things cake) but I especially love when clients ask for something I've never done before. It gets the creative juices flowing in my head. This type of cake is pretty common in Nigeria but a first for me.

In Traditional Nigerian igbo weddings, the bride gets a cup/glass of palm wine from her father, and presents it to her husband as a way of showing her family that this is the man she has agreed to marry.

                       This traditional wedding cake depicts palm wine flowing from a calabash/gourd. Next to it   are kolanuts on a saucer and traditional bracelets.

The main cake is french vanilla with fresh strawberries and cream filling and a white chocolate frosting. The gourd is fresh strawberry cake filled with fresh strawberry buttercream.

Our handmade fondant kolanuts make their debut again :)

To learn more about traditional weddings, click here. You can also click here for pictures of nigerian traditional weddings.

Congratulations to all our 2013 brides!

Matters Magazine!

A few weeks ago we sat down with Karen Duncan, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Matters Magazine to talk about Bims for their Chef's Choice Food Issue. It was such an amazing interview! Talking with Karen was so much fun, she made us feel so comfortable and, although she was interviewing us, we learned so much from her! I have to tell you that you learn the best by listening to other people's experiences.

Thank you Karen!

We sent Matters Magazine pictures of some cakes we'd done and they chose Sophie's Mess Cake! How exciting! This cake was made for Sophie's Mess Party. For details about this party, click here!

We are so honored to be featured in this month's Matter's magazine Food Issue: Chef's Dish! Read more at www.mattersmagazine.com