Race Car Cake....Zoom!

If you have a need for a race car cake..then you are in luck! I love this cake because it doesn't take much time and you can decorate it to fit your style. I like to use pound cake for this type of cake because you will be carving the cake and you don't want it to fall apart easily. Keith, one of the twins, wanted an orange race car cake for his 3rd birthday so here is how to make one....

ZOOM!!!!

  First I baked two loaf pan pound cakes...I always bake one extra for the "just in case" happens.

Just in case one falls on the floor

Just in case I mess up...yes...that's how I learn:)

Just in case Keith wakes up in the middle of the night and eats the cake...It would not be the first time.

Loaf pan cake is great for a race car because it already has the round top....so easy! Let the cake cool for a couple of hours..pop it out of the pan, wrap in plastic wrap and then foil. Place in freezer over night or until you are ready to work on the cake.  



   

It's time to carve the race car!

Grab a knife, the sharper the better, and whack away:) Now you want the cake frozen when cutting it into shape....it will be hard to cut and that is good...take it slow and cut a little at a time until you get use to the knife. 

Here is an easy way to carve a loaf car.....the loaf pan is 9".....I did 4" top, 3" hood/front, 2" trunk/back. Measure the loaf and mark these points off....figure you want to go 1/4 into the cake...easy and it's fun...remember you have the other cake in the freezer so you are GOLDEN!!

I used Buttercream icing to crumb coat the car in the color I wanted it to be. This just means to lightly add icing to the cake so when it thaws out it will be in the shape and won't fall apart on you.  

After the crumb coat has dried...then add a second layer of icing to the cake.

I used: Oreos for the wheels

           Candy bar for the spoiler.

           Icing for the stripes and to outline the windows and to add the 3.

           Gray icing for the windows.

           Yellow M &M's for the headlights and Red ones for the tail lights.  

          

This cake was easy and super fun!! Andrew had a fire truck cake which will be another blog and I would have rather made 12 race cars to that one fire truck. I think that a car in pink or green with flowers would be really cute for a girl...or crumble Oreo's and make a street for a couple of cars to look like they are racing....the ideas are endless.

                        



For the Kids!!!

               I have been sprucing up our house this week…aka getting the floors cleaned and steamed. So my wonderful kids and I will be spending all day in the kitchen while the carpets and the title dry.  I know that sounds like so much FUN…..I also picked today because last week they said it was going to be beautiful and I was hoping that we could be outside running and playing….That was last week….This morning I woke up to rain and mud puddles everywhere….or sand puddles actually.  So I’m making today kids cooking day!!  I have a daughter that is 4 and twin boys that are 3….so if they can do this, then anyone can do this.  (Note to parents: You might have a glass of wine near you and do not have plans to go anywhere following this…you might have to clean your ceilings…but you will have happy kids J )

1.)    Hot Rods  - They are not hot we just call them that. 

What you need is this!

                         Microwave the Chocolate or Candy Wafers in a bowl. Stir really well and let the bowl cool so it will not burn little fingers. Give the kids a spoon and step back.

Put Parchment paper off to the side and let them dip the pretzels!

Have a bowl of chopped nuts, sprinkles, or cruched oreo if you want to coat the chocolate.

What I like to do is fill a ziplock bag up with another color and let them drizzle more chocolate on to the Hot Rods after the first chocolate dries.

You can do this with strawberries, cherries, bananas, apples...the list goes on...just have fun and step back and see what your kids can do.

*If you are using fruit..wash well and pat dry...water and Chocolate do not work together and will turn your chocolate lumpy. *

            2.)  Brownie cakes - super easy and this helps teach basic boarders with out having to make a hugh mess with cake.

    First grab a box of browie mix and let the kids add the water and eggs.

                Bake in a 9x13 inch pan or larger. You want more area than height for these brownies. 

 After they have cooked and cooled take different size cookie cutters and punch out some fun shapes.

Stack the little shapes on the bigger shapes and decorate. Here I have three different sizes

Brownies are great because they don't crumble.... no need to crumb coat and wait to decorate. These also make very cute and easy bridal shower desserts.

Just remember to have fun and think out side of the box...add keep paper towels around the place:)

Enjoy



Buttercream!!!

  As a cake decorator one of the biggest headaches is which icing to match with the cake.

Buttercream, Whipped Cream, Cream Cheese, Fondant, Glaze, or just simply to dust powder sugar on a cake.  The list doesn’t stop there, but these are the most used icings asked for when ordering a cake. My favorite is Buttercream…it’s easy to make, spreads easy if you add more mike or cream, hardens with a little more powder sugar. You can never mess it up …promise.:)

Buttercream Recipe

½  cup unsalted butter

½  cup shortening  *(yuck….throw this out and use butter…I know…butter has gone up in price  but deal with it)

4 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk….(I use more if I need to spread it on a cake…makes it smoother and really doesn’t hurt the flavor…if anything it cuts the sweet taste that people don’t like about the Buttercream.)

One of Natalie's Senior Project
She did a great job!!

Now today I had Natalie over working on her Senior project and she was turning her nose up to my blah boring Buttercream…what does she know…well she was right…I dug around in my computer recipes…you know the “one day I will try” list (Pinterest is my enemy adding to this list) and found Maple Icing.  Great!!… a Buttercream with more sugar…right....Wrong.  You want something so tasty, smells so good, looks great…this is it!  Are you ready for the recipe….

Change the Vanilla extract for Maple extract…BAM!!  THAT IS IT!! Your house will smell like you cooked all day. We will be putting our house up on the Market soon… I’m making icing just to make my house smell great…Have people coming over pop it out of the fridge and pop into the microwave for 5 seconds and let it sit on the table…they will think you slaved all day…and it taste great on Chocolate cake. Try it out and let me know if I’m really losing my mind or if you think it’s great to.

            This will be for another blog but I’m afraid that as great as Maple Buttercream icing is…it doesn’t come close to my Mocha Java Icing…still by far my #1 icing…but Maple Buttercream is in the top 5….

            I know as you read this blog I have capitalized Buttercream, but in my life it is the base that all decorating starts with after the cake. It is the glue that holds it all together. I ALWAYS have it in my bag when taking a cake to a customer. True story…took a beautiful cake to a customer….she loved the cake…she went to move it on the table and her finger went into the cake and left a hole in the side. I grabbed my icing and spatula that I had on me and squirted the icing into the hole and smoothed it out…you would never have guessed she even touched the cake….but I’m sure the person who got that piece of cake will think twice about eating my cake!

            So go try that recipe that you have been wanting to try but have not had the time, and let me know how it turns out!!

What have I gotten myself into!!

Do you ever wake up thinking this....I have this week!

Why?

My goals for the New Year are as follows….

1.)    To bake something new each month….sounds easy…aka  pies, pastries, cookies

2.)    To decorate something each month…to push my nerves up a level with cakes…ie wedding cakes, gum paste, patchwork

3.)    To eat better and lose a few pounds……kind of defeats goals 1 and 2.

4.)    To raise my kids to be the best they can be…..now I’m sounding like the Army

5.)    To read the Bible a little everyday ….. which is actually very easy…….For me to make it to bed time with three kids ….it helps  to remind me why I’m even here.. to be with these amazing kids… and to do what I can do for “sometimes” wonderful people.

6.)    To enjoy life.

And my friends , cake helps me enjoy life…Because if you can’t win in life you can always eat  cake.

Now with this all said, the second day of the year…knock knock…Mr. Army has asked us to move to snowy Kansas and leave sunny North Carolina.  So June we will be packing up and moving our home of six years…but we get to embark on a new adventure and meet new people.  I’m actually excited but the challenge will be baking and moving ….but for sure it will mean great stories to tell. It always does for the Harmon clan.

I am currently working on a project  that will take place….this coming Friday.. it will consist of a wooden circle, that Bryan is cutting out as we speak,

 wire, and lots of fondant….Stay tuned to see what it could be!!! I pray this works….Later

Welcome!!

   Thank you all for the love and support that you have shown to me. As a woman with alot of hats, I understand how life can be...so I want to make this blog mostly about how to make cakes, decorate them, find new and creative ways to make it easier...and have alot of laughs. Come learn who I am and how to make different cakes. How to laugh along with life and experience a joyful world....with cake and icing!!

 "If you look over the years, the styles have changed - the clothes, the hair, the production, the approach to the songs. The icing to the cake has changed flavors. But if you really look at the cake itself, it's really the same. "
   John Oates

  Life is the same way... just the icing on the cake changes with years or by celebrations.

  * Disclaimer* I am not a good speller...I know this...Lack of sleep sometimes doesn't help....but also my laptop is missing a couple of key tops...whatever it works for me.