Your Favorite Cakes of 2012

Am I the only one that thinks time is speeding up?
Doesn't it feel like every year seems to go by just a little faster? 
  
My personal life has seen some big changes this year, with my return to working full-time
...after being a stay-at-home mom for thirteen years!
Yep, I'm still trying to find the right balance. But there is always time for cake!

Watching the growth of Bird On A Cake has definitely been one my favorite parts of 2012!
It has been amazing to share and connect with all of you wonderful cake lovers. :)
Let's take a look at your Top 3 Favorite Posts from the past year, shall we?

 

 #3 - Perfectly Packaged Rose Cupcakes
Elegant, simple cupcakes that make perfect gifts!

 

#2 - Hummingbird Cake with Petal Tutorial

A delicious recipe + pretty decorating technique = awesomeness!

#1 - Rainbow Tie Dye Cake

 The popularity of this cake just astounds me...it's been viewed almost half a million times!!

Thank you SO much for all your support and sweet comments through the year!

You have made sharing my creations here an awesome experience, 
and I love bringing a little fun & sweetness into your life with my cakes.

Happy New Year!

Are you ready for lots more cakey goodness in 2013? I am!

Chocolate Gingerbread Men Cake

  
"Run, run as fast as you can;
You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Do you remember what happens to the gingerbread man in that classic tale?

Yeah, that fox was pretty sly.

I would have gobbled up that boastful little gingerbread man too...YUM!!

I decided to put a tasty twist on classic gingerbread by making this
Chocolate Gingerbread Cake.

I loved the two flavors together...a fantastic combination!

I also made the cute gingerbread men around the cake out of chocolate.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
by Bird On A Cake

6038745

Ingredients

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup boiling water

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. package cream cheese ( room temperature)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter ( room temperature)
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of two 9 inch cake pans with wax paper; spray cooking oil on the sides of the pans. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars. Mix in the oil and molasses. Add the eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. In another bowl, mix the boiling water with the cocoa powder. Alternate adding the dry mixture and wet mixture to the batter until well combined. Pour your batter in the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Let the cream cheese and butter sit in mixing bowl until softened. Mix together. Add vanilla. Gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar. Spread frosting over cooled cake.

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 To make the gingerbread men, I used a silicon mold and melted chocolate.
First, I filled in the eyes, mouth and buttons with white chocolate.

Then, I filled in the whole cavity with chocolate.

 After these little guys set up, gently push on the other side of the mold until they pop out.
Then arrange them around your cake.

Enjoy!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Rainbow Petal Cake {Virtual Baby Shower!}

I had a lot of fun making this cake,
because it is for a very special occasion...
a Virtual Baby Shower for the fabulous Meaghan 

from The Decorated Cookie & Edible Crafts!

Meaghan just welcomed her darling baby girl, Violet, into the family.

I'm excited to be included in a group of creative bloggers that are celebrating
with lots of RAINBOW treats!

Meaghan is seriously awesome!
First of all, she is amazingly creative. 
She's all famous and stuff (have you seen her cookbook, Sugarlicious?)
and she has been so encouraging and sweet to me!

She was one of the first bloggers to feature one of my cakes,

and I was so thrilled that she liked something I made! Little old ME!

Don't you love rainbows? I sure do!
Have you seen my Rainbow Tie Dye Cake?

To create this Rainbow Petal Cake for Meaghan
I combined one of my favorite decorating techniques with pastel rainbow colors.

I could just stare at these pretty colors all day.

Here is my palette of buttercream frosting.

I filled plastic decorating bags, then snipped off the ends.

To learn how to make this petal design (it's easier than it looks!),

go check out my tutorial here!

 
I wanted to make the inside of the cake a girly pink,
so I whipped up my favorite Strawberry Cake recipe.

Congratulations, Meaghan!

Here are all the awesome bloggers participating in the virtual baby shower...

Go see all their fabulous rainbow goodies!

1.  Vanilla Bean Baker - Baby's First Christmas
2.  Not Your Momma's Cookie - Rainbow Swaddled Baby Cookies
3.  Crazy for Crust - Rainbow Peanut Butter Cookie Cups
4.  Dollhouse Bake Shoppe - Rainbow Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
5.  Creative Food - Rainbow Pancakes
6.  Hoosier Homemade - Rainbow Jar Cupcakes
7.  Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons - Rainbow Smores Pops
8.  Pink Little Cake - Baby at the End of the Rainbow Cake
9.  Love From the Oven - Rainbow Cake Pop Cupcakes
10. Munchkin Munchies - Rainbow Balloon Cookies
11. The Baked Equation - Rainbow Baby Shower Cookies
12. Sweetology - Marshmallow Baby Pops
13. Sugar Swings - Rainbow Madeleines
14. Pint Sized Baker - Rainbow Meringue Tarts
15. Bird on a Cake - Rainbow Petal Cake
16. Haniela's - Rainbow Centerpiece
17. Miss Candiquik - Marshmallow Baby Bottles
 

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Strawberry Santa Hat Cupcakes

 

  

I saw this cute Christmas idea for Strawberry Santa Hats on Pinterest

and just knew that I had to put them on a cupcake.

Because EVERYTHING is better on a cupcake!

These cupcakes are super simple to make, so your kids would have fun helping.

I used my Strawberry Cake recipe, which is also super simple (and yummy!)

What You Need:

Batch of cupcakes

White frosting in a decorating bag with large round tip

Strawberries (rinsed with tops cut off)

You can find the red & white striped baking cups here.

Pipe a dollop of frosting on the top of a strawberry.

Turn the strawberry upside down and press on the center of your cupcake.
Pipe some large dots around the base of the strawberry.

Pipe a large dot on the tip of the strawberry.
(I also sprinkled some sugar on the frosting for texture.)

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Want some more Christmas cake & cupcake ideas? Check these out!

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

Snowman Cake
Eggnog Cupcakes with Nutmeg Frosting
Andes Mint Chocolate Cake

 

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured! 

Eggnog Cupcakes with Nutmeg Frosting

There are two kinds of people in this world.

Those who love eggnog...

and those who don't.

If you fall in the latter category, these Eggnog Cupcakes with Nutmeg Frosting
just may convince you to switch sides.

They are full of yummy eggnog flavor, 

topped with nutmeg cream cheese frosting.

These cupcakes are so delicious...WOW!
I need to give some away quickly, before I eat them all!

Eggnog Cupcakes with Nutmeg Frosting

by Bird On A Cake

6037273

Ingredients

Eggnog Cupcakes (Yield: 22-24 cupcakes)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons eggnog
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl, mix the eggnog, rum extract and vanilla. Alternate adding the dry and wet mixtures to the butter/sugar/eggs until thoroughly combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 with batter and bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the eggnog. Mix in the confectioners' sugar a little at a time, until thoroughly combined. Add the nutmeg.

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Maybe Santa would like one of these cupcakes on Christmas Eve? :0)

Enjoy!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake

 
So, I was daydreaming about delicious holiday sweets...

and how I could create them in cake form.

(What, you don't do that?)

My mind wandered to chocolate covered cherries...
because I really, really love them...
then inspiration hit me!

I realized if I made my Maraschino Cherry Cake and covered it in chocolate,

it would taste like a giant chocolate covered cherry!

   
Fabulous idea, don't you think??

This cake is full of maraschino cherry chunks, covered with whipped chocolate ganache
and topped with homemade chocolate covered cherries.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake 
by Bird On A Cake

6036662

Maraschino Cherry Cake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon cherry extract
• 10 oz. bottle of maraschino cherries - reserve the juice and cut the cherries in eighths
• 2 tablespoons flour for sprinkling over diced cherries

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

• 1 (12 oz.) package mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of three 6 inch cake pans (or two 8 inch) with wax paper. Grease the sides.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the egg whites. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, combine the sour cream, cherry extract and reserved maraschino cherry juice. Alternate adding the dry and wet mixtures to the butter/sugar/eggs until combined.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of flour over the diced cherries and stir until the flour has been completely absorbed. Stir the cherries into the batter.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Microwave chocolate chips and whipping cream in a microwave-safe bowl on medium power, 2 1/2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Whisk in butter; let stand 20 minutes. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes or until ganache forms soft peaks. Spread on cooled cake.

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How to make Chocolate Covered Cherries

• Drain maraschino cherries with stems and pat them dry with a paper towel.
• Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave.
• Dip the cherries in the melted chocolate, then place on wax paper to harden.
• Arrange on top of your cake immediately after spreading the whipped ganache.

This cake would be a showstopper at any holiday party or family gathering!

Enjoy!

I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Thanksgiving Pilgrim & Indian Cupcake Toppers

Poor Thanksgiving.

It seems to get forgotten in the mad rush to Christmas!

And Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday...

I love that we Americans dedicate a day to being thankful!

We gather our families together and focus on what is really important in life.

Remember the people who started it all?

To celebrate them, I used candy melts to make some cute
Pilgrim & Indian Cupcake Toppers.
 (I know we say "Native Americans" now. You may call these whatever you like!)

These toppers would be fun to make with your kids.

You can use my template to make the heads,

and let your little ones draw on some faces with frosting.

Then you can enjoy eating them together!

Start by copying or downloading this template:

• Tape the template to a cookie sheet or piece of cardboard. Tape a sheet of wax paper over the template.
• Heat your candy melts on 50% power in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted and smooth.
• To make the Indians skin color, I used peanut butter candy melts.
• To make the Pilgrim skin color, I used white candy melts mixed with a tiny drop of yellow and a tiny drop of orange food coloring gel.
• I used decorating bags fitted with Wilton #3 (small round) tips.

Want to know my secret weapon for getting straight lines and smooth edges

when working with candy melts?

Toothpicks!

First I fill in the outline without trying to reach the edge.

Then I use a toothpick to push the melted candy to the edge

and fill in any empty space or corners.

See before and after in the pics below:

 When your toppers are done, put them in the refrigerator to harden.

Then carefully peel them off the wax paper and turn them over.

Time to pipe on some faces!

You can use more candy melts or frosting.

Tip: A ziploc bag with the corner snipped off works well for little hands.

I want to say how thankful I am for all of you, my wonderful readers!

I love hearing from you and getting to share my cake obsession with you. :0)

You make this blog SO much fun for me!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Would you like to see another fun tutorial using candy melts?
Check out my Autumn Leaves Cake!

I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!