Valentine Mini Cakes

I am completely enamored by beautiful chocolates.  It has to be the best part of Valentine's Day!  They speak to me, so luxuriously packaged and so deliciously decadent.  Not being a chocolatier, I decided to create these beautiful Valentine's desserts out of cake.  These luxurious mini chocolate cakes are decorated to look like decadent boxed chocolates.  A special thank you to Rosie at Sweetapolita, whose talent inspired me to create these.

Each mini cake starts with a 2" or 3" base of my Devil's Food Cake and is topped with a lavish filling and frosting before they get covered in handmade modelling chocolate or fondant. 

Rum (dome with sprinkles):  A base of Devil's Food Cake is covered with a dome of rum flavoured Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  I wrapped this boozy treat in milk modelling chocolate and topped it with chocolate sprinkles.

Mocha (square with red squiggle):  I brushed two small tiers of Devil's Food cake with Kahlúa syrup and filled the tiers with coffee Swiss meringue buttercream before wrapping them in delicious dark modelling chocolate and topping the whole mini cake with a squiggle of red royal icing.

Classic (gold dome):  A dome of my classic Swiss meringue buttercream sits on top of a circle of Devil's Food Cake and is then wrapped in fondant, which I coloured with a gold lustre dust.

Almond & Apricot (square with dark squiggle):  A square of Devil's food cake is brushed with an apricot compote and topped with an Almond Dacquoise (it is an almond meringue) and the entire mini cake is frosted in Swiss meringue buttercream before being coated in dark modelling chocolate.  Yum!

Raspberry (pink heart):  A heart shaped cake is brushed with a raspberry compote and topped with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream.  I then covered the cake with pink fondant, which I painted with an edible pink lustre dust - so pretty!

Salted Caramel (round with salt):  Two tiers of Devil's Food Cake are filled with handmade caramel and frosted in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in milk modelling chocolate and topped with fleur de sel to make this decadent flavour extra delicious.

Chocolate Mint (round with dark swirl):  Two tiers of the cake are filled with a mint chocolate ganache and frosting in a mint Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in a dark modelling chocolate.  So good!

Double Chocolate (square with pink heart):  Two tiers of Devil's Food Cake, filled with chocolate ganache and frosted in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in milk modelling chocolate and topped with a fondant heart.

These special Valentine chocolate cakes come complete in a pink or red box and a matching ribbon, ready to give your special someone, or to share with a number of your special someones!  Box of 9 mini cakes: $45.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Bridal Shower Cake and Cupcakes

Jan was put in charge of her niece's bridal shower cake.  She knew she wanted something feminine, with a purple colour palate and something that would be easy for the guests to enjoy in the casual atmosphere of the bridal shower.  I suggested that a cutting cake might add a nice touch, so, we settled on a small cake and cupcakes, with a custom stand to match.  The flavours are chocolate butter cake and white butter cake (alternating layers in the cake) with Swiss meringue buttercream and various shades and sizes of purple gum paste flowers and leaves.

Wishing Jan's niece and her husband-to-be wonderful life filled with happiness.

Tinkerbell Cake

Beautiful Bella wanted a Tinkerbell cake.  The challenge was how to present Tinkerbell in a fun way without overstepping the strict Disney licensing guidelines and not resorting to a plastic figurine.  Bella's mother and I decided "Tinkerbella" was the way to go.  The colours, the telltale bun and the wings make this figure super-cute!  We placed her on a large purple flower, brushed with luster dust and surrounded her with vines and more flowers.  The cake was my super-delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and it was a hit!  Happy birthday Bella!

Mickey Mouse Cake

Ali's mom has had a lifelong love of all things Disney, but she has had a special affection for Mickey Mouse ever since her visit to Disney World at age 16 when Mickey gave her backside a little pinch!  There is even a photograph to commemorate it!  For her surprise 50th birthday party at Poco Cappello Ristorante in Bond Head, only a Disney cake would do, so we designed this beautiful brown sugar cake with brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream, each slice served with caramel sauce.  The entire cake was covered in red fondant, yellow and black Mickey ears and the Disney font spelling out "Happy 50th" completes the Disney design!  Using the infamous photograph, I styled Ali's mom out of gumpaste, wearing the same outfit as she did on that day 34 years ago and look closely to see Mickey reaching behind for his pinch!  The cake was a huge hit and it was a real pleasure to make!

Leprechaun Hat Cake

I've never met a leprechaun, I've never even been to Ireland, but I imagine there are all different kinds of leprechaun personalities.  The shy one, the bold one, the happy one and the grumpy one.  And then there would be the one who would wear this jaunty little hat.  I can only imagine he would walk with a confident gait and have a magnetic personality to match!  Maybe this March 17th I will finally meet my first leprechaun.  Can't wait to see what his hat looks like!  This hat is made of four delicious layers of brown sugar butter cake, filled with caramel Swiss meringue buttercream and is covered with shamrock green fondant.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Photo Frame Birthday Cake

To celebrate my mother's 80th birthday, I wanted to make an extra special cake. What could I create to commemorate 80 years of a wonderful life? I decided to frame photographs in handmade sugar frames, flowers and other little touches to honour her.  This is the design:
 

I started with green fondant (her favourite colour) covering the 4 tiers. I spent many, many hours crafting picture frames out of gum paste and royal icing, which I then tinted silver with edible lustre dust.

I made roses out of gum paste, which I coloured in varying shades of orange.  Orange is the colour (and last name) of the Dutch royal family.  It is the colour all Dutch people consider their very own - have you ever seen the Dutch fans at a sporting event?  Since we are Dutch, it was the colour of choice!

Then I added the street signs of her most significant addresses, including the Valentijnkade in Amsterdam where she was born on Valentine's day! In Holland the street signs, in blue, are attached to the corner house of the street. For this reason I attached the Dutch street signs directly onto the cake. Her most significant address in Canada is in green on a post, as is typical of that street.

My mom has always loved crocheting, knitting, embroidering and made a living with sewing for many years. I honoured that with yarn, embroidery floss and thread made out of fondant and a crochet hook, needle and thimble out of gum paste. On the embroidery thread and the crochet hook I made a few small references to the number 80, that being her number of years!

Lastly are the flags of Holland and Canada, to signify the exciting move my family made in the 1970's.

This was an incredible project that was extremely special for me to undertake and I hope you like it!  Happy birthday Moeder Miep - wishing you many happy and healthy years!

Chocolate Ganache Cake

Chocolate lover's rejoice!  This velvety chocolate ganache covered cake is a thing of beauty that I wanted to share.  Chocolate ganache is the preferred frosting for both my Chocolate Cherry Cake http://sweethandmade.blogspot.com/2010/07/flavours-chocolate-cherry.html and my Chocolate Lover's Cake http://sweethandmade.blogspot.com/2010/09/flavours-chocolate-lovers.html.  What shall it be?

Chocolate Orange Peanut Bark

Delightful dark bittersweet chocolate is mixed with peanuts and orange zest to make this wonderful gift box with a healthy kick!  Flavonoids from the dark chocolate, monounsaturated fat and vitamin E from the peanuts and a little hit of vitamin C from the orange zest makes this an easy gift to give.  Available year-round, contact me for pricing.

Handmade Chocolate Truffles

This holiday season I am offering 5 varieties of truffles and you can order just one flavour or up to all 5 kinds. I start by making a ganache, made with top quality chocolate and cream, then I vary the flavours by adding different excellent ingredients.
"Mocha Truffles" are a perfect blend of rich chocolate and coffee flavours.

"Peppermint Truffles" are not only flavoured with real peppermint extract, but are studded and rolled in bits of crushed peppermint candy - yum!

"Hazelnut Truffles" - think high end Nutella!

"Grand Marnier Truffles" - the liqueur made with true cognacs and distilled essence of bitter orange makes this truffle extraordinary.

"Praline Truffles" - first I make praline by cooking sugar into candy and stirring in almonds. Then I chop the praline and stir it into the chocolate ganache and roll the finished truffle into the chopped praline. These are my favourites!

My handmade truffles are a really special gift for friends and family and are available year-round in boxes of 15 or more.  Contact me to discuss pricing.

Ghoulish Ghost Cake

Inspired by a Martha Stewart design comes this super-sweet Ghoulish Ghost Cake.  Frosted in Swiss Meringue Buttercream and adorned in marshmallow ghosts, this cake is perfect for a halloween birthday or for your halloween bash!  Choose your favourite flavour of cake and contact me for pricing info.

Horse Ribbon Cake

Foxwood Farm is located on 25 acres just north of Bradford, Ontario (http://www.foxwood.ca/). Along with large grass pastures and a renovated 1900's bank barn, they just constructed a 62X150' coverall building which has an indoor arena and a large insulated and heated viewing/tack room.  This wonderful new facility allows the owner, Robyn, to teach riding rain or snow or shine and she now has the ability to host birthday parties!  If you are looking for a horse themed party, consider one of my cakes and consider Foxwood Farm.

This is a replica of the cake I made for the grand opening of their new indoor arena.  Gum paste fencing and a winner's ribbon make this cake a winner!

Flavours - Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is a popular flavour of cake, originally achieved with the addition of beets and traditionally served with Cream Cheese Frosting.  The more modern way to achieve the red colour is with red food colouring, as I do here.  My recipe also includes a small amount of cocoa for a mild chocolate taste. 

Layers of my Red Velvet Cake are filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Delicious! Just one bite and you'll know why this traditional cake is still so popular today!

Flavours - Caramel Apple Cake

This lightly spiced Apple Cake is dense and moist.  Each of the four layers is smothered with Caramel Cream Cheese filling and the entire cake is frosted in luxurious Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  It is a lovely flavour very suitable to autumn, although it's fresh flavour will be welcome all year!

Flavours - Brown Sugar Marble Cake

Introducing a flavour that once and for all ends the rumour that vanilla is boring!  This is my Brown Sugar Marble Cake and I make it by combining two vanilla batters, one made with white sugar, the other made with brown sugar and marbling them to give this subtle but delicious effect.  Frosted in Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream, this cake combines all the simple but beautiful flavours my products are known for, fresh butter, eggs and milk, pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla, sugars and flours.  For your next event, you can prove that vanilla is awesome.

Flavours - Coconut Cake

This beauty starts with three delicious layers of my moist Coconut Cake, it is filled and frosted with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream and is covered with shredded and flaked coconut.  Luscious Coconut Crème Anglaise is spooned onto each plate before serving.  Through much experimentation, I have found this is the perfect recipe with just the right amount of coconut flavour.  If you are a coconut lover and think this is the flavour for your next special occasion cake, let us talk!

Chicken Pox Cake

My dear friend spent a week caring for her youngest son when he had the chicken pox.  He got better.  Then her husband got it - eek!  Then, when all seemed well, her oldest son woke up with the dreaded spots.  It was to have been a fun week with school plays and a vacation, but all those plans were shelved and my friend was in tears.  I tried to bring a smile to her face in the best way I knew how,... by baking!

Whimsical Flower Cake

I made this cake with some leftover batter and frosting.  It was such a cute design, one I had been hoping to try out.  I used fondant and gum paste to make these whimsical and colourful flowers and then placed them on the top of this cake frosted in Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I dropped it off to a dear friend's house, where the kids playing outside followed the cake to the front door like a parade! The cake was sliced up and eaten quickly!

Meringue Flowers and the Cake Show

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to learn the art of meringue flowers from the great Wendy Kromer, who was guest teaching the Bonnie Gordon School. Afterwards, I decided to put a cake showing off my newly acquired skills in the Cake Show, held this past weekend in Toronto.

And so here is the cake I made and exhibited at the show. A beautiful 4-tiered cake, covered in white and pink meringue flowers and leaves, with the bottom tier covered in a brown sugar meringue basketweave.

The idea of covering a cake in meringue flowers and decorations really appeals to me. It has an organic look I really love and the crunch and taste of the meringue is so wonderful. They are beautiful decorations your guests will really enjoy eating. An added bonus is that these decorations are both gluten and dairy free.

Ribbon Roses Cake

Charlie is a chocolate lover.  When her mother approached me for her 14th birthday cake, she told me it  had to be all chocolate.  Even a layer of fruit preserves would be considered too healthy!  So, chocolate it was - Chocolate Butter Cake with Whipped Milk Chocolate Ganache!  I added these adorable ribbon roses, made out of 50/50 gum paste/homemade fondant, in Charlie's favourite colour.  Happy Birthday Charlie!

40th Birthday Cake

My friend's husband was celebrating his 40th birthday on St. Patrick's day.  We decided he would enjoy something very chocolatey with some fruit, so we went with my Chocolate Cherry Cake, a deliciously rich Chocolate Butter Cake, each layer brushed with a Kirsch syrup.  Then filled with a Dark Chocolate Ganache mixed with Kirsch-soaked Cherries and frosted in Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache.