Fall Carrot Cake

This is a cake I created in the fall, and decorated with a friend to celebrate an occasion with some members of the FSSP and their supporters. It was a carrot cake made from scratch, covered with cream cheese frosting, and turned out to be the perfect taste for autumn. I had never made carrot cake before, so I turned to my go-to website for new recipes, marthastewart.com! The recipe I found was right up my alley, requiring the baker to toast her own pecans and grate fresh ginger to add to the cake batter. Speaking of grating, the most time-(and bicep-)consuming step in this recipe was the peeling and grating of all those fresh carrots.

The frosting on this cake is the delicious cream cheese recipe that accompanies the recipe linked above. The secret ingredient in this frosting is freshly grated orange zest! It also contains freshly grated ginger. The combination of those two flavors creates a frosting unlike any other used to top a carrot cake. Though the recipe only calls for a small amount of each of these flavorful ingredients, the recipients of my cake noticed and commented on the unusual and delicious taste!

The decorations were added months before my cake-decorating friends and I took our first Wilton class. I have since learned the proper way to make leaves and other patterns, but I think the FSSP symbol at least is already quite recognizable in the center of the cake.

Flag Cake!

This is a cake I crafted for the Fourth of July this year. It consisted of two giant (11inx17in) slabs of white cake (egg whites only for the brightest white!), with vanilla whipped cream frosting and strawberry slices between the layers. On top is the same frosting, with raspberries, blueberries, and piped frosting for decoration. For authenticity of my dimensions, I employed the use of this:

as well as a ruler and a toothpick. Toothpicks are ideal for drawing guidelines in your base layer of frosting before going over them with your decorating materials. The faint lines are completely covered by your decorations, and the rows of berries end up much straighter than they might have been if thrown on freehand!

The cake layers were baked and assembled the evening before the occasion, and frosted the following day. I waited to place the berries until the morning to prevent them from staining the white frosting with their juice, as berries are wont to do. I used a different style of piping for each of the white stripes, mostly for additional practice on my part, which turned out to have a nice effect. I wish I had a better photo to share, but we were just able to snap this one before grabbing the (very heavy) cake and rushing out the door! It is a crowd-pleaser for sure, and will definitely be made again - maybe next year there will be time for a more dignified photo of this delicious and simple cake.

Inaugural post

Hello, and welcome to my new blog. I am a busy student who loves to bake in her spare time! Cupcake baking and decorating is my favorite, though I also enjoy the production of larger cakes. I look forward to any occasion which calls for a celebration at which baked goods might be welcome, so that I might improve my technique through practice!

I will use this space to share some images and recipes of my creations. My posts may be far between as I infrequently have the opportunity to flex my baking muscles as I complete my last few months of graduate school. Enjoy!