Martha's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

Curd is the word, lemon curd that is. Lemon curd is the lovely filling and topping for Martha's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes (no recipe on Martha's site). First things first, I don't know what Meyer lemons are nor do I know where to find them. Martha's cookbook says they can be found at specialty stores in winter and early spring. While it is currently winter/early spring in Connecticut (definitely more winter, will the snow never stop?) I didn't go searching for Meyer lemons at a specialty store. I went to Stop and Shop and bought lemons in the produce section. I just didn't think Meyer lemons could really be that important for the recipe. Who knows, maybe I bought Meyer lemons and didn't even know it.

Second things second, my initial thought was to cut this recipe in half because it's supposed to yield 42 cupcakes. My husband and I don't need 42 cupcakes for ourselves. But, after I saw I needed 7 large eggs for the whole recipe I knew I wouldn't be able to cut the recipe in half. I have no idea how to cut an egg, at least a raw one, in half. So, a full recipe it would be.

Beforehand I left out all the necessary ingredients to get to room temperature. Once I started working I realized I was going to have a lot of batter and that I was going to get a lot of cupcakes. Martha did not lie. I was worried that I should have used my stand mixer instead of a large bowl and hand mixer, but in the end it worked out fine. I had just enough room. Because the batter ended up being thick I spooned rather than poured it into the cupcakes liners. I filled each roughly three-quarters full. In the end I must have filled them a little too full (but they were a good size once they were done) because I only ended up yielding 36 cupcakes. I baked each batch for 28 total minutes with a turn halfway through the total baking time.

After the cupcakes were cooled, and a little baking break, I started working on the lemon curd. I've never made lemon curd or any other kind of curd for that matter, so I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. But, I was hoping that it wouldn't be too much work. I was tired. Turns out it wasn't too much work, it just took a little time and patience. For awhile I wasn't sure if the mixture was ever going to thicken. I felt like I was whisking, and would be whisking forever. But, once the mixture started to warm up and thicken just a little bit it took almost no time for it to get to the appropriate consistency.

Once the lemon curd was the appropriate thickness I strained it through a fine sieve into a small bowl. I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 2 hours. When the curd was chilled I put it into a disposable piping bag (I buy them by the boxful so I almost always have them on hand) and fitted it with a tip that was closest to the size I thought it should be. I didn't have a round #8 tip, maybe I should buy one, but the one I had worked just as well.

Before I filled and topped all the cupcakes with lemon curd I dusted each of them with confectioner's sugar. Next, I inserted the tip of the piping bag into the top of each cupcake and filled the inside. Then, I lifted the top out and made a pool of lemon curd on the top of each cupcake. When I was done with all the cupcakes I had quite a bit of lemon curd left over. Even if I had made 42 cupcakes I still would have had extra.

Other than wishing I had the appropriate tip to pipe the cupcakes with (it would have made the pool on the top look smoother) I was really happy with how they looked and more importantly how they tasted. I would definitely make them again, and now I kind of want to try to make different kinds of curd to see what I can come up with. But instead I'll just make the next cupcake in Martha's book.

Happy Birthday To My Hubby!

Bobby's birthday was this past weekend, the big 3-2. This is the cake that I made him... I hope you appreciate the Instagram filter and disregard the beaten up paint in the background. We're in the midst of a bit of a kitchen overhaul (check out those new butcher block countertops!) and we haven't started putting up the backsplash tile yet. But, we got the call that they're in, so hopefully that phase will start soon. But, I digress... back to my "old" husband and his recent birthday.

Bobby's favorite cake is carrot cake (it's also my favorite, further proof that we're a match made in heaven), therefore, I baked him a carrot cake for his birthday. At the moment we're currently working hard at becoming supreme physical specimens (we're doing CrossFit and training for a 10-mile run that's in May) I knew he wouldn't want a giant birthday cake like I've made him in the past since we're trying to eat healthy (key word is trying). But, I wanted to make something for him for his birthday. Since it was just going to be the two of us I decided that a small 6-inch cake would be perfect. And, with the rest of the batter I knew I would have, I would just make cupcakes and take them to work, or give them away so they wouldn't go to waste.

The carrot cake recipe I always use is one that I received from my mom, who got it from a former co-worker of hers. It's the best recipe I've found to date and I always use it when I make carrot cake. I also always use cream cheese frosting for carrot cake because in my opinion that's the only kind of frosting one should use when making carrot cake. The recipe I use for cream cheese frosting is from Paula Dean. Yes, that Paula Dean. I first discovered it when using her recipe to make red velvet cupcakes and I've been using it ever since.

The carrot cake is very simple to make (I'll include the recipe below). I just throw all the ingredients in my stand mixer and then let it work for about two minutes blending everything together. I used 3 cups of batter for the 6-inch cake. I baked it at 350 for about 50 minutes. I have found with this recipe that the cake doesn't rise very much, which is nice because I often don't have to do much cutting to get a flat surface when I'm ready to frost the cake. With the extra batter I made cupcakes, I think I got roughly twenty. I baked those at 350 for 20 minutes, turning them halfway through the total baking time.

Going into making this cake I really didn't have an idea of what I wanted to do. In the past I've made Bobby some fancier cakes, but they were quite large. Since I knew I wanted to make a small cake, I felt pretty limited as to what I could do with it, but I wanted to make it special in some way without having to do too much work.

Finally I came up with the idea that's pictured above. I knew I had everything that I needed on hand and the birthday banner probably took me 10 minutes max to put together. I used pieces of card stock from my scrap pack that I have on hand. I highly recommend the scrap pack. It's great, you'd be amazed at how many things scraps of various colors and sizes of card stock can be good for. I think I bought mine at Michaels, but I'm sure you can find one at any craft store.

I grabbed five different colors from the scrap pack and started cutting out little triangles. I did it all freehand because it didn't need to be perfect. Once I had the number of triangles that I needed I arranged them in the color order that I wanted and wrote out a letter on each one with a thin Sharpie. I cut two lengths of red string that I also had on hand and attached the triangles to the string with small pieces of scotch tape. I had some wooden skewers on hand so I decided to use those as my posts since I couldn't think of anything better. Straws would probably work as well, but I didn't have any. The skewers were a little longer than I needed so I just cut them with scissors to make them a little shorter. The hardest part of the whole process was tying the strings to the skewers so they would stay in place and be the appropriate length. It was a trial and error process, but it only took a couple of attempts before I got it right. I've always wanted to try something like this with a cake, and I think it turned out to be a success. I was really happy with how it looked, especially for throwing it all together in just a few minutes. Most importantly, the birthday boy said he liked it and the cake was delicious!

Carrot Cake

2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salad oil
2 c. grated carrots
1 c. well drained crushed pineapple
5 eggs
1 1/2 chopped nuts
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda

Put all ingredients in a large bowl, except nuts, and beat 2 minutes by hand (I don't use nuts because I don't like them, and I also beat everything with a stand mixer, but you could probably use a hand mixer as well).

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes in 9x13 pan.

If you want to you can vary your pan size, you'll just need to adjust your baking time. These are just the instructions I got with the recipe. I have made this recipe with 6-inch and 8-inch cake pans. I've also made cupcakes with this recipe. I just alter the baking time, however I always bake at 350 degrees.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb cream cheese
1 c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. confectioner's sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase speed to high, mix until light and fluffy.

Be My Valentine Cookies

I know, Valentine's Day was almost a week ago and I'm a little late. But maybe you want to make your sweetheart some "just because I love you cookies" or maybe you just want to make some cutout cookies for no reason in particular. Whatever the case may be, here are the Valentine's Day cookies I made to give out this year. 

I'm a big fan of giving treats as gifts when I can. I love the baking part and I also feel better knowing that whatever I'm giving is going to be eaten and enjoyed rather than sit on a shelf or in a drawer somewhere never to be seen or used. In short, everyone loves food.

To make these cookies I used a cutout cookie recipe that I've been baking with since I was a little girl baking Christmas cookies with my mom and brother. I'm not sure where the recipe came from, but my family has been using it since I can remember. I've never used another recipe for cutout cookies. The recipe can be easily halved or double if necessary. The full recipe usually yields around 5 dozen cookies depending on the size of the cookies you're making. Because I didn't need that many cookies I cut the recipe in half and I got slightly over 3 dozen cookies.

Soft Cutout Cookies

5 c. flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 c. butter (room temperature)

2 c. sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 c. milk

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Then add dry ingredients. Chill 1 hour. Roll dough 1/4" thick and cut out cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake so cookies stay soft.

Yes, it's that easy. I highly recommend making sure you chill the batter long enough. It can be a little sticky if you don't. Making sure your rolling pin, hands and cookie-cutting surface are adequately floured will also help.

For the frosting I used the recipe I always use when baking cakes. It's a plain vanilla buttercream. It can also be easily halved or double if necessary. In this case I made the normal recipe and I had just a tiny bit extra which worked out perfectly.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. butter (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar

3-5 Tbsp milk

1. Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with electric mixer until creamy.

2. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with 3 Tbsp milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition. Beat in up to 2 Tbsp additional milk for desired consistency.

When making the frosting I usually add in the extra 2 Tbsp of milk just because I like my frosting to be a little creamier and easier to spread. When the frosting was done I separated it into 2 bowls and added food coloring to one of them so I would have pink and white frosting. I also have a ton of sprinkles on hand, people like to give them to me as gifts, so I had several options of sprinkles to use for Valentine's Day. 

After the cookies were frosted and decorated I put them on a cookie sheet and set them in the freezer for a few minutes so the frosting sets. That way when I wrap them up to ship them or personally deliver them they still look good when they arrive. In this case I placed 6 cookies in mini disposable loaf pans which I wrapped in Saran Wrap (to keep the cookies fresh) and then placed in a Valentine's snack bag I got at the dollar store. In hindsight I should have taken a picture of the finished product, but I didn't think of it at the time. I boxed up the packages I was shipping and hand delivered the rest. To quote my neighbor, they were "awesome". Hope your Valentine's Day was a happy one!

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

It's official, I'm on a cupcake-making roll. That's what happens when your husband goes out of town for a week for work. Gotta do something to keep myself entertained, and cleaning is only fun for so long. Plus, I feel like I should make up for all the weeks I didn't bake any cupcakes. I'm certainly a little behind schedule so consider it trying to make up for lost time. These peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes (not on Martha's website) have been the easiest of the bunch so far, but I don't expect to get off the hook that easily with the cupcakes in the rest of this section.

First order of business was chopping all the chocolate and cutting the butter into small pieces to start those ingredients melting over a simmering pot of water. While the chocolate and butter was melting I whisked together the dry ingredients and also made the peanut butter filling. I liked that this recipe didn't require the use of a hand mixer to put everything together. I also enjoyed that I could use paper liners (I took them off for the picture) instead of having to butter and flour the pans. It was a nice break since I had to butter and flour the cupcake pans for the two previous recipes.

Putting these cupcakes together was done similarly to these strawberry-jam tea cakes only the amount of batter and filling was different. I layered, in this order, 2 tablespoons of chocolate batter, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter filling, 1 tablespoon of batter and 1 teaspoon of filling, swirling the teaspoon of filling with a toothpick to get a swirl pattern on top. While these cupcakes also turned out to be larger than they were probably supposed to be I was much closer in getting the number of cupcakes the recipe said I would yield. The recipe said I would get 12 and I got 11. I was pretty happy with that. But knowing how the tea cakes had turned out I tried to use smaller tablespoons to make sure the batter would last, and to ensure the cupcakes wouldn't be enormous.

The cupcakes were baked for 40 total minutes with a turn halfway through the baking time. If memory serves me correctly I ended up adding about 2 extra minutes to the baking time because I didn't think they were quite done when I tested them with a toothpick. Since they were a little larger than they probably should have been, a little extra time made sense. Eventually I will get this tablespoon layering thing down. There are still quite a few cupcakes left in this section to give me some more practice.

I did also appreciate that these cupcakes didn't require any glazing, layering or frosting after they were done baking. A little reprieve from all the work I have done on the two previous cupcakes in this section. I took these cupcakes into work and everyone enjoyed them. I also sampled one myself and thought they were quite tasty and would go great with a glass of milk, or some vanilla ice cream. The only thing I was a little disappointed with was that I wanted the peanut butter filling in the middle to be a little farther down in the cupcake so when you cut the cupcake in half it would look like the filling was floating in the middle. But, it also could have just been the cupcake I had, I'm not sure what everyone else's looked like in the middle.

In other baking news, non-cupcake related, I'm going to try to post a Valentine's Day treat later this week. Maybe even in time for the actual holiday and before I'm invaded by my husband's family (who I love... seriously!) this coming weekend. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, it did snow (a lot) in Connecticut this weekend. Turns out we didn't have to find Nemo, Nemo found us. Here are just a few pictures I took yesterday after shoveling off our deck so we could get out of the house.

Told you it was a lot of snow.

Strawberry-Jam Tea Cakes

Here's what I've learned about the filled and layered section of Martha's cookbook. The cupcakes in it take some work. Granted, I'm only on the second cupcake of the section, but these first two have not been walks in the park. That said, I find them to be more fun because they are a bit of a challenge. I like these strawberry-jam tea cakes in particular because of the little surprise they have inside.

The actual cake part of these cupcakes was very similar to the cake in the boston cream pie cupcakes that I made last week. It may have been identical, but I didn't compare the recipes word for word, so I'm not sure. But, the batter was just as thick and difficult to work with as the last time, and folding in the egg whites made it much easier to work with. Again, just like last time. The only difference was this time, I layered the cupcake batter and filling before the cupcakes went into the oven instead of putting everything together afterward.

When the cupcake batter was done, I put 2 tablespoons of batter into each cupcake pan, then layered 1 tablespoon of strawberry preserves on top of that. The recipe said I could use jam or preserves, I chose preserves just as a personal preference. On top of the layer of preserves, I put 2 more tablespoons of batter. After all the layering was done my only concern was that the cupcakes were too full. They were filled right to the top. I followed the directions as they were written, but I think I could have used a little less batter. Or maybe, my tablespoons were just a little too big. The cupcakes turned out fine in the end, they were just a little larger than they probably should have been, and I only got 14 cupcakes instead of 16.

The other issue I came across was being able to create an indent in the first 2 tablespoons of batter to create a little spot for the preserves to go. The batter was so sticky that I had trouble getting the indentation to stay once I lifted the spoon out of it. The batter just stuck to the spoon. So, when I put the preserves into the layers of batter I pushed it down with the spoon to make the indentation as best as I could.

I baked the cupcakes for 30 total minutes, turning them halfway through the baking time. 30 minutes was enough, but some of the preserves oozed out of the cupcakes and was visible through the sides of some of the cupcakes when I removed them from the pan. The cupcakes came out easily (I had floured and buttered the pans beforehand). I removed them as soon as they came out of the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack. When the cupcakes were completely cooled I stored them overnight in a plastic container and made the citrus glaze the following day.

The citrus glaze is very easy to make. I've done it before, but last time I made it I used lime, this time the recipe called for oranges. I didn't have to add any extra confectioner's sugar or orange juice for consistency purposes. The amount the recipe called for was perfect. I spooned about a tablespoon of glaze over each of the cupcakes and then let the glaze set for 30 minutes.

I enjoyed the cupcakes, though they were a little thick, as in, it was a lot of cupcake. I think that's partly because I made them too big. Next time I would use less batter, maybe 1 1/2 tablespoons for each layer of batter instead of 2. I also think these cupcakes would be quite good warmed up in the microwave for a couple seconds. I may just have to try that for a not-so-healthy breakfast one day this week.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

When I think of Boston I think of the Red Sox, the Patriots & Tom Brady (gross), the cold, the city's ridiculously confusing layout (what's wrong with a simple grid?), Kenny Chesney's song "Please Come to Boston" or "Boston" if that's more your style. Any Kenny Chesney suits my fancy just fine. Yum. I also think of Boston Cream Pie, which isn't technically pie. It's more like a cake. Either way, I've never had it. It's always looked quite appealing and delicious, but for whatever reason, I've never actually tried it. Until now, and these boston cream pie cupcakes.

I've been working up the post-holiday energy to make these because they looked like, and turned out to be a lot of work. There were a lot of steps that involved dirtying and then washing a lot of dishes. I hate washing dishes. If I had someone to clean up the mess I make while baking I would bake all the time. But I don't, and therefore I don't always have the energy or desire to clean up my mess.

To make these cupcakes I had roughly a whole day to dedicate to the process and the energy to do it. I worked early in the morning and set to baking just about as soon as I got home. Actually, I started during the 1st intermission of the Flyers-Sabres game, go Sabres! First step was to make the cupcakes, which wasn't difficult, it just involved a lot of steps, and as previously mentioned, a lot of dishes. Luckily it wasn't too much grunt work, I let my stand mixer take care of that for me. Love that thing.

When the batter was done I filled the cupcake tins about halfway and baked them for 15 total minutes with a turn halfway through the baking time. In this case the first half of the baking time was 8 minutes, the second was 7. After the cupcakes were done baking I set them on a wire rack to cool and proceeded to watch the rest of the 2nd period of the Sabres game. Hockey is back people.

In the 2nd intermission I started working on the pastry cream (or vanilla cream as Martha calls it, this is a little different than the recipe in her cookbook). This wasn't really difficult either, but again, more dishes. I've never made pastry cream before, but it was quite easy, you just have to babysit it. A lot of stirring, watching, waiting and wondering if you're messing it up. When I thought I had achieved the thickness I was supposed to I strained the cream through a sieve and covered the it with plastic wrap and popped it in the fridge for 2 hours to set. While it set, I watched the Sabres win, watched the beginning of the 49ers-Falcons game and fell asleep for a little while. It happens when you've been up since 3am and worked an 8-hour day. I can't help it.

When I woke up from my little afternoon siesta my husband came home and naturally asked what was for dinner. I told him I would start making dinner after I finished the cupcakes. Domestic goddess, that's me! The last step to the cupcakes was to make the chocolate-ganache glaze, something I have done several times before with other cupcakes in this book. It's not difficult to make, it's just more dishes to dirty and then wash. Before I started chopping the chocolate for the ganache I cut each cupcake in half so it would be ready to be filled and ganached (technical term) once all the components were done.

While I waited for the heavy cream and corn syrup to come to a simmer I started spreading the pastry cream onto the halved cupcakes. I put roughly a tablespoon of cream on each one (I had 16 total cupcakes) and had way more pastry cream than I needed. The recipe said I would get 20 cupcakes, but I think I still would have had extra pastry cream even if I had gotten that many cupcakes. When the ganache was done I spooned about a tablespoon on top of each cupcake and tried to spread it so it would drip down the sides. I also had way more ganache than I needed as well. I suppose I could have added more to the top of each cupcake, but I didn't want the ganache to overpower the rest of the cupcake so I cautioned toward the lighter side.

In hindsight I probably could have added both a little more pastry cream and ganache to each of the cupcakes, but part of me likes to believe that less is more. I didn't want them to be little messes of cupcake, pastry cream and ganache. I thought they turned out to be quite tasty and other than all the work and dishes, I enjoyed my first boston cream pie experience. That said, if I ever want it again, there's a good chance I'll forgo the work and let someone else make it for me.

What's Up, Dr. Seuss?

The holidays are over and I'm still exhausted, you? No matter how much time I have off, this year I was fortunate enough to have 4 days (win!), I'm always tired afterward. I don't know if it's the travel, all the holiday preparations (baking, shopping, etc.) or just that I'm getting older (ah!), but, I'm pooped. I need a vacation. As always this holiday season I was busy baking, but had all of my Christmas baking done about a week before C-Day so I could get all my cookie gifts put together and distributed before the holiday. Normally once I'm done with Christmas baking I'm done for the year. I like to give myself a little baking vacation since getting ready for Christmas is so much work. However, this year, I got a very special baking request that was due two days before Christmas. Although I knew it would be a busy time, I'm not one to turn down a friend, or the opportunity to make a little extra cash. I did do a lot of Christmas shopping this year!

A co-worker of mine asked me to make birthday cakes and cupcakes for his 3 children. They all have birthdays within a week of each other. The kicker is they're all the same week as Christmas give or take a day or two. Pretty amazing planning if you ask me. They were planning a party for December 23 and asked me for three 6-inch cakes and 40 cupcakes with a Dr. Seuss theme. They sent me all the specifics, chocolate cakes with vanilla buttercream, 20 chocolate and 20 red velvet cupcakes, as well as some details of what they were thinking for each cake. Cat in the Hat, Lorax and One Fish, Two Fish. With their suggestions and the help of Google, I mapped out my ideas and was ready to get to work.

I used the same trusty chocolate cake recipe I use every time someone asks for chocolate cake. It's my favorite and so far it's been a success. I made the cupcakes first, starting with the red velvet. Since everything else was going to be chocolate, I wanted to get the odd flavor out, out of the way. For the red velvet, I used this recipe from the lovely Paula Deen. I've used this recipe several times before and have always had great results with it. Plus, I love Paula. Who doesn't? I'm talking to you Anthony Bourdain. Once the red velvet batter was ready I baked 12 cupcakes at a time, thankfully I have 2 cupcake pans which made this process go much faster.

While the red velvet cupcakes were baking I started on the chocolate cake batter. I made a double batch of the chocolate cake thinking that at the very least it would get me 20 cupcakes and maybe one 6-inch cake, and it did. If memory serves me correctly, I even had a little batter left over. Once the red velvet cupcakes were done the chocolate cupcakes went into the oven. I did the cupcakes first because they have a shorter baking time than the cakes and this way the batter would sit out for the shortest amount of time possible.

Once the chocolate cupcakes were set I made a single batch of the chocolate cake batter for the remaining two 6-inch cakes. I had more than enough batter overall and ended up getting a couple extra cupcakes that I took into work the next day to get rid of. Each cake took about 50 minutes to bake, so it was a lot of waiting, but it didn't matter. While everything was baking I worked on making the fondant. I made 4 colors (white, yellow, red and orange) and ended up having way more than I needed. But, I'd rather have too much, than not enough. After Day 1 of cake making, I had 3 cakes, 40+ cupcakes, and 4 colors of fondant ready to go for Day 2.

On Day 2 I started working as soon as I got up because I wanted to be done as soon as possible. Day 2 took much longer than I thought it would. I knew it would take awhile, but I didn't think it would take as long as it did. I think I worked from 10a-4p give or take a half an hour. When you add that to the 5 hours of baking and fondant making the day before, it's a lot. Maybe I'm still tired from all of that?

So, Day 2, or decorating day started with making all the frosting. First, I made the cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cupcakes. I only needed one batch of that, and again, it was the odd man out so I wanted to get it out of the way. Everything else was going to be vanilla buttercream. To frost the cupcakes I used my icing gun with a star tip to make them look nice, and I bought a rainbow assortment of sprinkles. I thought bold colors were the most appropriate for Dr. Seuss. I also bought bold colored Wilton wrappers for the cupcakes. I was going for fun and kid friendly.

After the red velvet cupcakes were set I started on the vanilla buttercream frosting. I ended up making 2 double batches (I should mention, I used my stand mixer for everything, other than the fondant, for this entire project) just to make sure I would have enough. I had more than enough. I probably could have gotten away with 1 1/2 batches. Live and learn.

I frosted the cupcakes first employing the same method I did for the red velvet cupcakes. I wanted everything to be consistent. Once the cupcakes were all set and tucked into their respective boxes I went to work on frosting the cakes. I like to put the cakes in the fridge before I frost them because it makes it easier and helps to minimize the crumbs. The crumb layer is already a pain, but I like to make it as painless as possible. After each crumb layer I returned the cakes to the fridge so the icing could firm up a little and make the second layer easier to apply so everything would be smooth. After the icing of the first cake had set, I started working on the fondant for it. Cake number 1 was Cat in the Hat.

This was the hardest design for me to come up with because to me Cat in the Hat is so simple. There's not really much to do with it other than the obvious. I new I wanted to portray the hat somehow, but I also knew I didn't have the skill to make anything look like the cat. Working with only one layer also limited what I could do. They had suggested kites and perhaps adding some blue polka dots so I tried to work in all three of those elements.

Here's what I came up with. While it is plain, I was ultimately pretty happy with it. It wasn't my favorite of the bunch, but I thought it was cute and fit the criteria.

Cake number 2 was The Lorax. They sent me suggestions for colors, green, orange and truffula (I think I spelled that right) trees. I confess, I knew what the Lorax was, but I had to Google truffula trees, I had no idea what they were. It's been more than a couple years since my Dr. Seuss days, and since I don't have any kids yet, I don't feel that I should know what they are. After my Google searching I knew what I wanted to do. This design was actually the easiest for me to come up with, so it would obviously be the one that took the most time to execute. I knew I wanted to do the face of the Lorax on the top and on the sides I would do truffula trees going around.

It took forever, but this was the cake I was the most proud of and was the most work. I think if I were to do this one again I would add some outlines, but truth be told, I was already tired and I still had one cake left to go.

Cake number 3 was One Fish, Two Fish. One Fish, Two Fish I am familiar with and didn't need to do any Google search to know what I was dealing with, but I did just for research purposes. I also came up with the design I wanted for this one pretty quickly as well. I also took the time to print out shapes of the fish so I could cut them out of fondant and put then on the cake. That little dream didn't come true. After several failed attempts to "trace" and cut the fish out of fondant, I gave up. I either don't have the right tools, or this is just something that can't be done. For a few minutes I panicked because I didn't know what I was going to do. I couldn't have a One Fish, Two Fish cake with no fish. That wasn't going to work. I also knew that I wasn't going to be successful at cutting out the fish and if they didn't look like the actual fish the cake was going to look stupid. Then a little light bulb went off and I thought, why not just "glue" the fish I cut out onto the cake? Sure, it's not cake, but, it will look much better than anything I'm going to be able to figure out. And, just to clear things up, my glue, was frosting.

Honestly, I loved it. I felt a little bit like a cheated because it wasn't all edible, but at the same time, I couldn't argue with how great it looked and I knew that no matter what I tried to do, it wasn't going to look nearly as good as anything else I was going to come up with. And, overall, the client and the kids were happy, which is all that really matters.

As always, there is a lesson I take away from each of my experiences in baking for a "client" and in this case it was that no matter how much I plan out my designs and what I want to do, there is always going to be something that isn't going to work as I envisioned it would. But, don't panic, just take a breath, use your brain and try to come up with a solution. I was truly in a panic about One Fish, Two Fish. On the brink of considering a small cry in frustration fest, but I got it together and figured out something that would work. Go me, and may your 2013 bring you moments of enlightenment as well.