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!



Lavendar and yellow baby shower

Baby shower cakes are always so much fun to make! Why? Because they give you a chance to work with really cute, soft colors :)

The flavors of this lavender and yellow baby shower cake were vanilla and coconut with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

The cake was topped with yellow, lavender and white fondant baby booties.

Pink and Green Baby shower cupcakes!

 

This summer we made lots of cupcakes and had lots of fun decorating them! 

The baby shower was a pink and green theme.

 

Flavors were vanilla with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

The cupcakes were decorated with edible (pink) onesies and booties.

Clothes-Line Themed Baby Shower

This baby shower cake was made for a clothes-line themed shower. Both tiers were vanilla with vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream.

The buttons were made out of fondant :)

The clothes were made out of fondant cutouts too.

Who doesn't love Sesame Street?

OK! Sooooo Sesame Street celebrated their 40th Anniversary in 2010! Who doesn't loooove Sesame Street? It's hard to believe that they've been around for the past 40 years! I enjoyed watching cookie monster, big bird, elmo and the gang as a kid and from time to time, I still take a peak if I see it on TV while channel surfing.....and.....I can still sing their theme song in my head :) We're all kids at heart.  

This cake was made for a cookie monster themed baby shower. It was a personalized replica of a similar cake that the celebrant liked. The flavor was a Nigerian fruit cake filled with vanilla buttercream and iced with white chocolate ganache. This is a recipe I got from an aunt whose cakes I've loved for years!

Nigerian fruit cake is similar to American fruit cake and is very popular in Nigerian weddings. I've noticed, however, that it does not have as many dried fruits as the American fruit cake does. This of course is up to the individual.

Like the American fruit cake, this fruit cake can be made days, sometimes weeks, in advance. One of the reasons this cake is made in advance (and I think this is one of the things that sets this cake apart) is that this cake is repeatedly 'fed' and 'nourished', over time, with brandy (yes, alcohol). This gives the cake a subtle, rich, brandy flavor plus it also allows the cake to be stored for ages and ages. It also gives the cake a moist texture and allows time for the flavors to sort of 'mix' and 'settle' and taste even better!

Twin Baby Shower Cakes

This cake was made for a Christening and thanksgiving celebration. The celebrants were twins (a boy and a girl) and the color theme for the event was blue and pink. Silver for added to the cake as an accent color. The top tier is a chocolate raspberry cake, the middle tier is a vanilla cake with raspberry and Swiss meringue buttercream and the bottom tier was vanilla with swiss meringue and bavarian creme. 

I learned how to make these cute baby booties from my  good friends Pam and Stephanie at Confectionary Designs. They're such wonderful, creative, kind and talented people that have become my friends and mentors :)