Blue-Eyed Baker: Graduation Cake

So if you read Summer is HERE you know about the graduation cake I made and if you didn't read it don't worry, a) you still can and b) I'm going to tell you all about the cake anyways.

Last Saturday an old friend of mine had her college graduation party and I volunteered to make her cake.  It was a half sheet cake and the biggest cake I've made to date.  I tried to make it the day of the party and that was mistake number one.

Mistake #1

Try to make the biggest cake you've ever made in approximately four hours.

It was dumb and I'll never do it again.  I should have made the cake the night before so it could have cooled completely and the icing wouldn't have been a fiasco.

Mistake #2

Underestimate how much you'll need of each ingredient.  

Okay, so at first I thought I was only going to make a one layer cake.  Well I didn't have enough batter to fill the pan up as much as I wanted and the first cake came out a little small so I made a second layer because I didn't want to give someone that was paying me a chincy cake.  So in short I barely had enough ingredients for both cakes and definitely didn't have enough ingredients for the icing so I had to make a few trips.

Mistake #3

Try to work with warm cake.

Just don't do it, ever.  It was the main reason everything went down hill.

It may seem like I'm being hard on myself but I'm really not.  I needed to make these mistakes in order for me to learn.  I ended up finishing the cake and admitting to myself that it wasn't my best work.  I ended up having to free-hand the design on the cake and I learned with some practice I really could become good at that.  I also learned that it's a good idea to bake for people you know because when you mess up and the cake falls apart in transit they will be understanding and still eat the cake.  The best part was later when I was told the cake was delicious and they would order from me again.  So all-in-all it wasn't that bad.

I'm not posting any recipes today because I used the Guiness cake from the Irish Car-Bomb cupcakes which you can find on my blog and a basic butter-cream icing that isn't my favorite to use but I was in a jam.

The result.  I did pipe some bad-ass shell bordering.

Happy Thursday and Happy Baking!

Blue-Eyed Baker: Evan's Pre-School Graduation Cake

Last night my littlest brother, Evan, graduated from pre-school.  Now I know it's not really that big of a deal but he asked for a cake a few days ago and this was a good excuse to make one.  I don't really like making cakes just out of the blue because I feel the need to decorate them and I like to have a theme going.

However I didn't really keep to a graduation theme because he asked for Manny from Ice Age to be on it.  So I did my best and here's the result.

Not my best work but I did all right.

I used the "Cake Boss's" recipe for a vanilla cake.  I haven't tried a vanilla cake recipe that I loved just yet so hopefully this will be the one.

Buddy Valastro's Vanilla Cake
Yields: 2-9 in cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil or 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, sugar, butter or oil (I used oil), vanilla and salt.

Mix the ingredients on low until combined.

Increase the speed to med-low and beat for about a minute.

Decrease the speed and add the eggs one at a time.

Add milk 1/2 a cup at a time with the mixer still running.

When the batter is fully mixed (no more lumps) divide it into your greased cake pans.

Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes.

 Let cool and Enjoy!

The icing I used was a vanilla butter cream.  I'd never tried it before but it had a nice consistency.  You can find the recipe here.

I'm writing this post on Thursday so the cake hasn't been eaten yet but I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Friday and Happy Baking!