Update and Heart-Shaped Coconut Cake

Well.. It's been a looong time since I baked anything or posted on here but I'm baaaack! I found out last June that I was pregnant and even though I always wanted my own baked goods, I never felt like baking. She was born February 13, 2013 at 8:27pm and weighed in at 6lbs. 12ozs. and is the happiest baby I've ever met. I'll post a couple pictures of her below.

Back to baking; I made a coconut cake for someone last night using a recipe I found online that includes coconut milk in the batter mixture and features coconut flakes on the icing. Well here I go, mixing the butter, sugar, eggs, doing everything I should be doing but oops! I forgot to switch out the regular milk for coconut milk. So here I go again! I make sure to use the right milk, I bake both layers (even though it calls for 3 I just split it into 2) and wait for them to cool. I didn't feel like making any icing so I just bought Pillsbury White icing and used that. I topped it with the flakes which, by the way, I don't remember being so difficult to put on the sides of the cake from the last time I made this cake, and boxed it up!

I tasted the batter and it's always delicious so I hope I have a very satisfied customer! Oh and Happy Birthday to her! Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read this and hopefully for having an interest in my products. I know I don't have many (if any) readers so any that I do have are very much appreciated!

This was the day after Easter Sunday.

Newborn

One Month                                           Two Months

Days away from Three Months old

And below are picture of the heart-shaped coconut cake.

Thank you and have a great day!

Crystal Doom :]

Heineken and Astros cakes

Well I have just been slacking! A couple of weeks ago was the first time I'd ever covered a cake with fondant. That was the Heineken cake. It wasn't too bad, they liked it and I realized I didn't have a reason to be afraid to work with fondant! I just didn't want to screw anything up but it actually came out looking ok. I used a silver glaze for the bottle cap.

Then I was asked to make another cake for this past Thursday that my brother was buying for a friend's birthday. My brother and I don't really like the way regular fondant tastes so I figured I'd try to make marshmallow fondant. Well that was so much easier than I thought!! I kind of messed up a little because the instructions said to add icing coloring before you add powdered sugar so I separated the melted marshmallows into three bowls and added colors. Well not until I'd already colored one part black and another red did I realize that it meant only color at that step if you're coloring the whole batch one color. So I was kind of freaking out a little bit realizing that I didn't know how much sugar to use. Well I figured that out easily, just add until it feels right!! So once I'd gotten them to the right consistency, I made each into a ball, rubbed vegetable shortening over it, and then cling-wrapped it with no bubbles and put it into a Ziploc to refrigerate overnight. :)

Then I baked two 9x13" cakes, cooled them, cut one, iced the top of it, cut the other and placed it on top, did a crumb coat, and then put the white fondant over it. Then I cut the black strips to go around the edges, hand-cut the black and the red Astros logo and placed it on top of the cake. Then I started using my new alphabet cut-outs to get all the fondant letters I needed to put all around the cake. After I put those on, it just looked perfect!!! I loved it! :D that is seriously my best work so far!

Later, I asked my brother what everyone thought and asked if they liked it. He said everyone loved how it looked and tasted! He and everyone else loved the marshmallow fondant, and (because I wrote "Crystal Doom Cakes" on the box) everyone was asking where my bakery was at! I was so flattered! :) One of his friends already asked if I can make a cake for her grandma's birthday – in September! I'm excited to see what else I'll be making within this year!

Thank you!

Crystal Doom :]

Vicki's Baby Shower Cake

Hello!! :) So I made Vicki's baby shower cake/cupcakes today and it turned out awesome!! I used the chocolate cake recipe that is on the Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa and it was delicious! :)

I made a normal round double-layered cake and used white frosting that I bought (Pillsbury) and colored that a light blue. I used my huge decorations tip to cover the cake and that always works wonderfully! It makes frosting the cake so much easier.

Before all of that, I'd rolled some different sized fondant balls and then painted them with edible pearl glaze to give them a shine. I placed a rubber ducky on top of the frosted cake and then put the fondant bubble balls onto it. It looked adorable! Then I frosted all the cupcakes and put a Peep chick on each of those. The only thing I regret is making the cake so tall. I put the "bubbles" on the cake and closed the box lid and it was too tall and pushed them into the cake somewhat! I was so upset but it still turned out awesome! I got there extremely late but I still think she loved it!

Thank you for reading!

Crystal Doom :]

Easter!

Hi!! So it's been a WHILE since I've written something but I also hadn't really baked anything! =/

Well, we had Easter early, on Saturday, and I made a cake THAT morning for Easter! :) It was a cute bunny cake like my mom and I made a few years ago (minus the coconut) and everyone loved it! I'm proud of it, I think it's really cute! :) 🐰🍰😊 I made one layer using only two round pans. I was looking at different things on YouTube and ended up putting a cute rosette in the center of the bow tie! :) I hope you like it!

I even wrote "Crystal Doom Cakes" on the box... Lol 😊

Well that's really all!

Thank you!

Crystal Doom :]

Giraffe Results and Dinosaur Cake

Hey! Well everyone loved the giraffe cake but I think because I didn't have a box or cover and had to put it into the oven, the sides kind of slid down :( I swear it was completely cooled down though and I didn't frost it while it was warm, either! Anyways.. It tasted delicious and everyone thought it was sooo cute! <3 data-blogger-escaped-:d="" data-blogger-escaped-br="" data-blogger-escaped-course="" data-blogger-escaped-f="" data-blogger-escaped-girl="" data-blogger-escaped-happy="" data-blogger-escaped-made="" data-blogger-escaped-me="" data-blogger-escaped-one="" data-blogger-escaped-that="">
Anywho, I made a dinosaur cake just because I wanted to use the pan already and I think it came out wonderful! I made the cake two nights ago and then frosted it last night and as you can see.. It's cute! Lol I've never covered a cake with stars and I kind of drag the tip right now instead of completely stopping and then starting the next star but I still love how it came out. I did finally realize last night that I do not have a steady hand at all. Maybe I was just nervous because I always want my cakes to come out perfectly but my hand was all jittery.. It still came out pretty good so I am once again proud! :') lol well, thanks for reading and I hope you like my cakes!
(Crystal Doom Cakes)

Thanks again!

Crystal Doom :]

Bianca's 17th Birthday

Well, today's Bianca's birthday and I know I'm still learning how to decorate and stuff but between now and when I start and finish the Wilton classes that I'd like to take, practice won't hurt! :)

It was already 8 by the time I was able to start anything so I went to the store and bought Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake mix and Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Cream Cheese frosting. I got home and immediately mixed one box with oil, water, and eggs and put it to bake.

As it was baking I figured I would experiment with frosting techniques and learned a really simple "Rope" technique using tip 21. As you can see by the attached picture, I didn't end up putting that to use yet but I will soon! :)

Ok so I printed out a giraffe drawing and cut it out. Once the cake cooled down I flipped it out of the pan and onto this cookie sheet since I forgot to buy a cardboard bottom and a box to put it in. I then cut the cake to the right shape and put the unused cake into a container so that the people at work can eat it (I already know they will).

I colored the frosting a golden yellow and started on the crumb coat. Once I finished that I actually made space in the freezer and put it in there for a little while so that the crumb coat can harden. Then I took it out and started on another coat. Once I smoothed it out as much as I thought I could with the little experience I have, I mixed separate frosting for the outline. I put some copper and some brown icing coloring gel. I mixed it well and put that into a decorating bag and used tip 7 I think to do the outline of the giraffe and the hoofs. Then I put some chocolate chips onto the cake to imitate the giraffe spots. Once I finished that, I used a tip 5 I believe to write out the words to the right of the cake. I hope she loves it!!

Well I know it's no masterpiece but it's most certainly something I take pride in as I progress towards where I want to be.

Thank you for reading! :)

If you have any questions, advice, or just want to talk cakes, brownies, cookies, and other sweets, I would be happy to reply!

Also, if you have any cakes you're proud of don't hesitate to share your pictures!

Thank you for reading!

Crystal Doom :]