Cookie Time!

Christmas = Cookies

Or at least it does to me!  I love cookies!  I'm picky about which ones I'll eat, if I'm going to consume the extra calories it must be good!

This past weekend I made about 80 Monster Cookies these have M&M's, chocolate chips, chunky peanut butter, and oatmeal.  I love these cookies!

In the background, you can see my latest cookie experiment Mint Sugar Cookies topped with a Candy Cane Kiss.  These are light and refreshing compared to the heavy Monster cookies.  

I love the way these turned out!  So Christmasy and festive!

I'm still taking orders for Christmas cakes, cupcakes, and cookies!  Email me at: teacherperkins23@comcast.net

Cake love,

Amanda

Hohoho...It's a Cake Give Away!

I'm so thankful for the 25 or so likes I have on Facebook right now!  But, I need more "likes" to spread the word about Little Red Velvet Cakinghood!  

So, once I reach 100 "likes" on Facebook all of those names will go into a drawing for a free cake!  The winner will have their choice of Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting, Chocolate Cake with Peppermint frosting, or Egg Nog cake with vanilla butter cream frosting.  The cake is valued at $25 to $27.  Unfortunately, the winner must live near Northwest Indiana (45 minutes tops in driving distance) so I can deliver the cake or it can be picked up.  Sorry, my out of state friends, but these cakes won't ship well!  

So, please tell your friends and family to "like" the Little Red Velvet Cakinghood" Facebook page!  

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Red-Velvet-Cakinghoodhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Red-Velvet-Cakinghood/197107710364586

Good luck to all!  

Cake love,

Amanda

Gobble, Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving!

Where do I begin...Martha Stewart and I have a love/hate relationship.  I've read her magazine for years and watched her show for just as long.  Martha and all her staff make the most complex baking project look  like a cake walk!  So, thanks to Martha's November issue of Living I had this idea to incorporate homemade salted caramel into my favorite chocolate cake.  It my mind this sounded easy...haha!

Yes, this is nearly a gallon of homemade salted carmel...it's the best tasting carmel I've ever had.  All hail Martha!  I only used the carmel part of the recipe here: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/857647/salted-caramel-six-layer-chocolate-cake

I made two batches of the Wilton Chocolate Buttercream.  It's amazing, as always!

One of the 4 - 9 inch cakes I used.  I made two separate "cakes"; one for my side of the family and one for the hubbie's side of the family.  Each cake was 4 torted layers.  

Cake #1: Note to self - When you have a liquid like filling pipe 2 thick dams of icing.  This first cake leaked carmel a bit.  I managed to clean it up so it still looked good.  The second cake was perfection! 

Cake #2: Here you can see my double layer dam of buttercream holding the carmel in the middle.  

Cake # 2 for hubbie's side!  I loved it!

Cake #1: This is supposed to be a turkey on the cake.  I don't really think it looks like one, but it was for my 3 year old niece who wanted "turkey cake with a picture of a chicken on it".  I had no time or plan for a turkey on a cake, but this made her happy.  Oh, and the turkey has a thought bubble that says, "Don't eat me!"

This cake was so amazing the carmel soaked into the layers, it was moist, it was caramel, it was chocolate, and it's gone!  Both cakes were devoured!  I need to make this one again for sure!

Backpack, Backpack...it's a Dora Birthday Cake!

This weekend was my niece's 3rd birthday party!  She loves Dora the Explorer!  So, I was thrilled to create a very brightly colored cake!  Details: This is two, two layer cakes stacked.  Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and fondant.  Dora doll not included!  

Price: $48.00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I know Christmas is a few weeks away and we still have Thanksgiving to get through, but I've been playing in the kitchen.  I made Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cake recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grandmother-pauls-red-velvet-cake-recipe/index.html

It's good, but it doesn't hold a candle to my favorite recipe.  So, I'll be switching back!  I used a new cream cheese frosting recipe and changed half of it.  It's amazing frosting!  So, this icing makes up for what the cake is lacking!

Heavenly Cream Cheese Frosting - Amanda's Recipe

1 - 8 oz. package of regular cream cheese (softened)

1 - 8 oz. package of fat free cream cheese (softened)
2 - sticks of butter (salted) so 1/2 a pound (softened)
2 - teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 - teaspoon of popcorn salt
1- 2lb. bag of powdered sugar (sifted)

Cream together the softened butter and cream cheese until smooth.  In a small cup, mix the 1/4 teaspoon of popcorn salt with the 2 teaspoons of vanilla, then add to the cream cheese/butter mixture.  Once the vanilla salt mixture is thoroughly mixed in begin slowly adding one 2lb. bag of powdered sugar.  This recipe will cover two 9 inch round cakes stacked with icing in the middle.  I had a bit of icing left over so I tinted it and used it to practice some decorating.  This icing smoothed nicely on the cake, but is too thin for decorating.  You'll need to refrigerate a cake iced with this icing.

I made a Santa out of fondant.  I love him!  He's so cute!  I really wish I had used my regular butter cream for the decorations.  Oh, well, live and learn! 

I was trying out scrolls and dots on the side of this cake.  I think I've got the star tip down!  

This cake is two 9 inch cakes stacked and serves 10-12 people.  $27 

Email me if you'd like to order: teacherperkins23@comcast.net

Cake love,

Amanda

It's a Jungle Out There!

Today was an important day in our family!  It was my nephew's birthday party!  I was honored to make a scrumptious banana cake with chocolate butter cream icing!  The party was so much fun!

Christmas Menu!

Christmas Menu & Pricing

Cookies

Monster Cookies - $11.00 per dozen – These cookies are full of M&M’s, chunky peanut butter, and chocolate chips, all held together in a yummy oatmeal cookie.  I can add raisins for an additional $1 per dozen.

All Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - $9.00 per dozen– Homemade from scratch, a butter-based cookie full of chocolate chips.  This recipe is a family secret…shh!

Peanut Butter Cookies – $9.00 per dozen – Full of peanut buttery goodness!

Rolo Cookies- $10.00 per dozen – Chocolate cookies rolled in sugar with a rolo candy tucked inside…need I say more.

Kiss Cookies- $10.00 per dozen – Peanut butter cookies topped with a chocolate kiss.

Snickerdoodles- $9.00 per dozen – A holiday favorite rolled in cinnamon and sugar!

All cookies are made to order.

I need at least 3 days notice for all cookie and cake orders.

A minimum order for 3 dozen cookies is required.

Cakes

Eggnog Cake – 9 in.– 10 to 12 servings – Moist and soft with a light eggnog flavor frosting in a vanilla-eggnog butter cream.  Red and green layers on the inside with Christmas decoration on the outside!  A festive Christmas cake!  Price $ 25.00

Candy Cane Cake – 9 in. – 10 to 12 servings – Rich chocolate cake layered with peppermint butter cream icing, then wrapped in more peppermint butter cream icing, and finished with a Christmas decoration!  This cake is chocolate-mint yumminess!  Price $ 25.00


Red Velvet Cake - 9 in. - 10-12 servings - This is the cake I dream about, rich chocolate flavor wrapped in sweet cream cheese frosting.  Decorated for Christmas!  Price $27.00

Other cakes are available during the Christmas season, just ask! 

Please, place cake orders at least one week in advance. 

Delivery is extra and limited based on my time!  Your welcome to pick up at my house for no extra charge!  We’d love to see you!  Email me: teacherperkins23@comcast.net

Thank you for your order!  

Long time no blog! Okay, sorry that was cheesey!

Happy Halloween!

I have a few cakes to post this time.  

~The Spooky Spider Cake~

This is the amazing really good chocolate cake recipe that I have posted on here, sadly I burnt this cake a little.  I trimmed off 99% of the burnt cake.  If it had been for someone else I would have trashed it and rebaked for me I'll just eat around the burnt parts.  It's only a small part of the bottom that burned.

I'm really loving this cake!  It was the super easy Bunnywoman's butter cream frosting recipe: http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=132579.

Seriously, amazing icing!  

The web and the spiders were fun and easy to make too!  

~Liam's Birthday Party Cake!~

My son turned 3 earlier this month and he wanted a Curious George party, which of course I gleefully planned.  I love planning!  I made this whole cake except the George which is plastic.  The icing is butter cream (Bunnywoman's recipe).  The cake is chocolate.  It is a 4 layered cake, which is why it looks so tall!  It was supposed to be a tiered cake but my pans where too close in size.  It was a great cake and a fun party!

~Liam's 3rd Birthday Cake!~

I happened to be off work on Liam's actual birthday so he requested a monster cake!  I'm always happy to make a cake!  This was frozen butter cream left over from his over cake.  The eyes and teeth are candy I had in the house.  Does it look like a monster to you?  Liam, the birthday boy, approved.  This was just a box mix cake I had in the pantry.  

Thanks for looking!

Cake out,

Amanda

Seriously good chocolate cake

I haven't made a chocolate cake in a while.  I'm not sure why, as I love chocolate.  I am a former chocolate nut.  When I was pregnant 3 years ago I never had a taste for it, but before then I loved chocolate!  Now, I'm back to enjoying my chocolate again, but not nearly the way I used too!

Anyhow, this chocolate cake is amazing!  I used "The Best Chocolate Cake" recipe from Kevin and Amanda's Blog, I'm adding the recipe below here with my additions.  I really beat the eggs well in a separate bowl and I know this helped the cake be nice and fluffy.  It's so moist and light and delicious.  Yes, I know it starts with a box mix and I usually think that's a "sin", but this is the best chocolate cake EVER!

I also frosted this cake with the traditional Wilton butter cream icing.  I love this icing.  I love the hydrangeas and roses on this cake!  

So, you need to make this cake and tell me what you think!  I'm going to go get another piece now!

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever...it really is!

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream, I used light and it was perfect
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten, really beat them in a separate bowl and then add them in
1/2 cup milk, I used 2% I like the extra bit of fat
1 tsp vanilla, use real vanilla if you have it
2 cups mini chocolate chips, I used regular sized chocolate chips and they only melted partly which gives the cake some crunch...wow this cake is good!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Cake love, 

Amanda

When life hands you extra frosting...you need to bake a cake!

I had some extra tinted butter cream frosting lying around in my fridge from the Mario cake.  Well, that's just too much time and money to let go to waste!  So, I baked up a banana cake, same amazing one from the Superman cake.  The recipe is from Allrecipes.com.  The frosting is Wilton's Chocolate Butter Cream and regular butter cream.

A bunch of my family came over today and I must say the cake was throughly enjoyed by all!

Have a great weekend!  Amanda

I finally found this!

I've been trying to find the pictures of this Easter cake for a week.  They were mixed in with our Disney pics.  It's my first basketweave cake.  It's with canned frosting.  The cake was one lime layer and one lemon layer.  It was amazing and very fresh.  I added lemon and lime juice to the cake mix instead of the water.  I don't usually use mixes, but adding fresh juice really adds some taste to a mix cake!

I'm amazed I took a picture once I had already cleaned up!  I've been so excited lately that I run to get the camera before I even clean up!

I think I'm going to try the basket weave again soon, but cover the top of the cake in roses!
Cake out,
Amanda

Life is more fun when you live like a kid!

I bugged a pastry chef friend, who I went to high school with, for a good fondant recipe.  She was awesome enough to email me the Wilton marshmellow fondant recipe that she really likes.  And because I wanted to try the new fondant recipe and because my sister's husband is turning the big 28 tomorrow we have the Super Mario cake!

It's like my childhood come to life!  All my friends played this game!  Tell me you did too!  This was my first run at decorating a cake this complicated.  All the decorations are butter cream except the red plant and Mario, which are fondant.  The cake is white cake from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, this cookbook is like a cooking bible, I use this book all the time.

I'm super proud of this cake!  It tastes good too, I had to trim some off to get the layers even!  So, Happy Birthday Uncle Nick!  We hope it's a good birthday!

Cake love, Amanda

Happy Birthday to My Super Hubbie!

Tomorrow is a mega important day in our house!  It's my husband's birthday!  My husband is an amazing man and a wonderful father!  I'm so lucky to have him in my life!  I have been trying for years to make him a cake that not only tastes good, but looks good!  It's not perfect, but it's the best cake I've ever made for him!  The hubbie loves, really loves banana cake so I used this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-67256
It gets great reviews!  I can't wait to taste it!

Banana cake with chocolate butter cream icing...I am in CAKE LOVE here!  

Note to self: Find your round pans!  So tired of the squareish cakes!  

Much love, Little Red Velvet Cakinghood 

Last minute Father's Day cake!

I :heart: lemon.  You have no idea.  I actually was totally a chocolate gal until I was pregnant.  But, omg, I love me some lemon cake.  The Hubbs is fine with lemon cake once in a while.

There was no planning in making this cake.  None.  I walked in the kitchen grabbed a white cake mix and added about 2/3 cup of lemon juice and 1/3 cup of lime juice instead of the water.  This cake was awesome...so good!  The frosting is store bought, but tasty!

So, try adding your fav juice to a mix!  It just might be yum!

Please, help me, I need handwriting lessons or something else!  I still can't write well on cakes or anywhere else!  Any suggestions on writing neater on cakes?

Cake out (like Peace out, but with cake),
Amanda

Note to self, you hate cinnamon.

I made this "thin mint cake" today with butter cream icing.  I got the cake recipe and frosting recipe from a blog: http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/

THIN MINT CAKE
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
2 sticks butter (softened)
4 eggs
1/2 ripe banana
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. + 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil


Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a mixer on low for thirty seconds, then increase speed to medium and mix until just combined.

It has cinnamon in it.  I made it with cinnamon in it.  I hate cinnamon.  It's gross in 99% of the stuff it's in.  I wanted to like this recipe, I really did.  I also tried the ribbon or ruffle frosting technique on this cake.  I sort liked the way it looked.  Apparently, I need an Ateco 401 tip to get this just right.  Sadly, I didn't like the way this cake tasted!  Note to self, no cinnamon in the future and leave out the banana too!

So, what to you think?  Banana in a mint cake with cinnamon?  As for the decorating, I'm a beginner, be KIND!

First Fondant Cake! April 2011

 

This cake is from April 2011.  It was for my parent's birthdays.  I've always loved the look of fondant.  But, the taste of the store bought fondant is...yucky...and that's being nice.  This buttercream fondant recipe is from allrecipes.com.  It was good, but needs to be rolled thinner then I got it for this cake.  As for the colors, it was spring so I chose pastels.