Birthday Cake!

Just a few things today!

A few months ago I made something I was pretty proud of and didn't blog about it at the time so here it is. Omar is pretty much my partner in crime when it comes to baking, there have been many days when we have been stuck in my kitchen for hours on end experimenting and he is usually the one that needs to talk me down off that ledge you often find yourself on when you've been baking for 8 hours straight and nothing is working as it should! Needless to say he has picked up some favourites over the years and I wanted to include some of them in his birthday cake and this was the result!

I used the amazing 'Say it with Cake' moulds from Silicone Moulds as the inspiration for this cake and to make the letters which are each made in a different kind of cake along with cupcakes in the same flavour!

O - this is a chocolate cake, covered is decadent chocolate ganache and topped with fresh raspberries. I love this combination in cake and think raspberries make the best decorations. For the cupcakes I included a cream cheese frosting, topped with a raspberry and drizzled with the ganache.
M - this is pumpkin cake, which is definitely Omar's favourite! The recipe is adapted from one found a long time ago in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. The cake is topped with a smooth and creamy Mascarpone frosting by Martha Stewart.
A - this is a cake I made because of "The Help", a book that makes you incredibly hungry throughout reading it and one that Omar and I both loved last year so this is based on Minnie's Caramel Cake. The recipe for which I took from Scrumpdillyicious and it worked really well. It is essentially a vanilla cake filled with pecans and topped with a sweet caramel frosting.
R - finally this is a regular vanilla cake topped with purple cream cheese frosting and rainbow sprinkles, because, well why not?

All in all I am really pleased with the way this looks! There was lots of work that went into the cake and I really like the mismatch look to it. The moulds had their moments of being really fiddly but I think practice is definitely the key to getting them right1.

Lastly a few blogs I love...

Firstly is my good friend Heidi's blog 'Lolita & Me'. Heidi is incredibly passionate about all things fashion and creative, with weekly "Craft Sundays" and "Fashion Friday's" the blog is varied and inspiring, especially if like me you're always looking for new projects to keep you busy! I really love where Heidi is going with this blog and always look forward to reading about what she's been up to. She also kindly wrote about Belle Bakes in her Craft Sunday a few weeks ago which was lovely of her.

The second is the Patchwork Cookbook which is an on going project by Jasmine Baba. I've known Jasmine for years and as the little sister to my best friend she has been a willing (or sometimes less than willing) Guinea pig for many of my baking adventures (and certainly someone of my misadventures) and its really nice to see her stretching her baking skill and writing about it. Using a mixture of recipes she's grown up with and new ones she's discovering all the time, the regularity of her baking is putting me to shame at the moment and I enjoy reading about all the new things she's discovering. So follow her on tumblr!