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Black and White Cake

Today is worth celebrating. Not only are we wrapping #monthofchocolate with a beautiful layered black and white cake, but we are also celebrating my TWO YEAR BLOGIVERSARY! Yes, this week is actually the best.

This second year of spilling my guts on the internet has truly exceeded my expectations. While my first year of writing was a lot of tiptoeing in the dark, fear, and overall panic/emotional meltdown, this second year felt a lot like breaking in a new pair of jeans: a little discomfort and a bit of uncertainty, completely overshadowed by an overflow of excitement about my new garb. If year one was a time of planting and sewing, year two was a lot of watering, weed-eating, and unreserved thrill at the occasional bloom of a few humble buds.

Celebrating Two Years

My second year here was one of hustle. It was about pressing in and doing the nitty gritty even when it felt uncomfortable. It was about taking ownership of who I am and having pride in what I have to offer. I had to learn to value the process and my time spent at the grind, even when there was no reward to reap.

While I’ve loved the experience in writing, photography, and recipe development, the single best part of this past year was the joy that came from operating out of my wheelhouse. I firmly believe that we are not meant to jam a square peg through a round hole the entirety of our lives. Instead, there is a grace that comes when we’re doing what we were created to do and are participating in activities that utilize our strengths. Once you’ve tasted that kind of fulfillment, there is no going back. It changes things.

Considering our Gifts

So I ask you, what are your gifts? What are you holding back from? Where are your desires and how can you package your talents and passions to present them as your gift to the world around you? I wonder what kind of blessings we miss out on because we spend our time asking “What If?” instead of diving in and getting our hands dirty. Where is the joy when we are holding back from the things we’re desperate to explore?

So thank you, readers, for being a part of this story. The narrative we’re writing here together is so dear to me, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created. Every thought you share with me- the successes in your homes, the trials in your kitchens, and the various other tidbits of your lives that overlap with mine- bear effect on my heart, my cooking, and the future of this site. So thanks for doing this with me, and let’s give it up for the coming year.

Black and White Cake

This black and white cake is fit for today. It’s the kind you put a million candles in and clink glasses of champagne over. This black and white cake is a delightfully rich, moist, and chocolatey way to ring in the people you love and the life moments you celebrate with them. It’s a splendid way to celebrate.

Black and white cake is, as the name suggests, layers of dark chocolate cake with thick clouds of white vanilla frosting. In this recipe, I’ve combined a few personal favorites to make an all out banging treat: the best one-bowl chocolate cake, a boiled vanilla bean frosting, and a rich chocolate ganache that is infused with a sweet berry flavor. This cake is as delicious as it is stunning, and I can promise you don’t want to miss out on it.

Making the Cake

To make this black and white cake, we start with the cake layers. Flour, cocoa powder, and sugar are combined with leavening agents and salt. Eggs, coffee, buttermilk, vanilla, and oil come next and are beat into the dry ingredients until well incorporated and smooth. Bake the batter into three 8″ round pans until puffed and cooked through.

Meanwhile, get started on the ganache. Much like the the ganache we made a few weeks ago, we start by warming a bit of cream to pour over chopped semisweet chocolate. Butter and blackberry jam are added as well, and the whole lot of it gets stirred together until it is smooth. You can set the ganache aside to cool until time of assembling the cake, but if you choose to make it in advance, just be sure to warm it to a spreadable consistency before using.

The Ganache

The ganache layers into the dark chocolate cake rounds, and the whole thing coats with the creamiest boiled frosting. The process of making boiled frosting will seem strange at first, but trust when I say it is WORTH IT. To make it, whisk some milk into a bit of flour in a saucepan on the stovetop. Whisk out all of the clumps to ensure the frosting is as smooth as possible. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking all along, and cook until it has formed a thickened paste. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. After a few minutes, beat the paste into a creamed mixture of butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean until the frosting is light, fluffy, and well incorporated. You will die over how delish this frosting is. Scout’s honor.

This cake is best eaten the day it’s made, but the moist components of this treat will stay tasty for days. If you’ve been wanting to up the ante on your baking game lately, this is the perfect dessert. It’s incredibly forgiving and easy to share.

Enjoy a slice of this black and white cake on my behalf sometime this weekend. You guys are the best blog friends a gal could ask for, so you’ve earned it.

If you like this black and white cake, you should check out:

White Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Caramel Crumble Cake

Raspberry Streusel Cake

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Chocolate Budino

Black and White Cake

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

This black and white cake is creamy, rich, and decadently chocolate with the faintest hint of a berry ganache.

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 45
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 1

Ingredients

For the cake:

2–1/4 cups (270 gm) all-purpose flour
2–1/4 cups (450 gm) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (60 gm) dark cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2–1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2–1/4 teaspoons corn starch
1–1/2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs (180 gm), room temperature
1–1/4 cups (300 mL) buttermilk, room temperature
3/4 cups (180 mL) black coffee, hot
1/2 cup (120 mL) vegetable oil
1–1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

For the blackberry ganache:

1/3 cup (80 mL) heavy whipping cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
¼ cup seedless blackberry jam or preserves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped

For the vanilla bean frosting:

6 tablespoons (50 gm) all-purpose flour
1–1/2 cups (360 mL) whole milk
1–1/2 cups (340 gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1–1/2 cups (300 gm) sugar
¼ teaspoon fine kosher salt
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1 cup mixed berries, for garnish

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Instructions

To prepare the cake (Adapted from Rosie Alyea):

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 3 (8″) round cake pans with baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment rounds.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all of the dry ingredients and stir until combined. In a separate bowl, loosely combine all of the wet ingredients and add to the bowl of the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed for just shy of 2 minutes, scraping the bowl (and bottom of bowl!) twice throughout.
Pour equal amounts of batter in to all 3 pans. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until center is just barely set and toothpick comes out of cake almost clean. Allow to cool in the pans and on a cooling rack for 20 minutes and then remove from pans to continue the cooling process. Cake will stay fresh for 2 days if covered, or, for one month if wrapped well in saran wrap and frozen in freezer. I prefer to freeze my cake layers on a flat surface until just prior to frosting, but this step is not necessary.

To prepare the ganache:

Heat the cream over low heat until barely simmer. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, jam, and butter. Briefly stir the contents of the pan and allow to rest for about 2 minutes. Stir to combine until smooth. If some of the chocolate has not yet melted, put the pan back on very low heat and stir until smooth. Be careful not to scorch the mixture. When smooth, pour the ganache into a bowl and set aside to cool to a thick, peanut butter consistency.

To prepare the vanilla bean frosting (Adapted from Julie Richardson):

Place the flour into a small saucepan and slowly drizzle in 1/3 cup of the milk, whisking all of the while. Be sure to whisk out any clumps. Once smooth, slowly whisk in the remaining milk and place the pan over medium heat. Continue whisking until the mixture comes to a simmer, cooking for an additional minute until thickened to a paste. Remove the paste to a small bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top. Allow it to cool to room temperature.
Once the paste has cooled, beat the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean paste in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the milk paste and beat on medium speed for an additional 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Store in an air-tight container until ready to frost the cake.

To assemble the cake:

Use a large serrated knife to level your cake layers. Spread 1/3 of the ganache mixture on top of each cake layer, leaving a 1/2 “border around the perimeter of the cake. Place in the fridge on a cooling rack briefly to set the ganache.
Spread a bit of the frosting on an 8” cake board or your cake plate and then center one of your cake layers directly on top. Spread about 1-1/4 cups of the frosting on top and then add an additional cake layer. Repeat this process and then frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Garnish with fresh berries and store in the fridge if not eating that day. Cake will keep for up to 4 days, but it best served at room temp the day it is prepared.

Marbled Sugar Cookies

25 Comments / Cookies and Bars, Tutorials

This past week was good for my soul. Going back home to Florida is beautiful in and of itself, but the glorious addition of Christmas spirit and celebration made my time there extra cozy. Something about being back in my parent’s house is comforting, and the familiarity of those rooms and the faces I see in them fills me with loads of nostalgia. It feels good to be welcomed back and to know that I am known there.

We spent the week wrangling the babies and carting them to see old friends. My mom and I made the trek with Aimee to Disney World (because if you go to Florida without visiting Mickey, did you really go to Florida?), and oh man, does my girl love her some theme parks. Although she’s already been to Disney a number of times, the Magic Kingdom never fails to bring the magic. I love to watch her take it all in like that.

Let’s Pour One Out for Traditions

Christmas was not without the usual annual traditions. Mimi made her famous sugar cookies , and I pretty much destroyed my weight in butter and flour. On Christmas morning, we took our time opening gifts, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the package’s contents, and even though it takes my family FOREVER to open gifts, I love that everyone takes time to appreciate the items they received and the people who gave them. That much gratitude feels good. I think I need to practice it more often.

The moral of the story is that I never get too old for home. A few moments at home make me feel like a kid again- a little less hung up on the stuff that the adult me usually has to worry about. Ending the year happy, hopeful, and refreshed for the coming year is a good way to be. I’m grateful my parents afforded me that chance. And speaking of ending the year on a good note…

Let’s talk about these marbled sugar cookies.

Marbled Sugar Cookies

Do you have plans for New Year’s Eve yet? If not, I would argue that now is that time to make some. These marbled sugar cookies are every bit as festive and sassy as any respectful NYE bash deserves, so if you’ve been waiting for the perfect party theme to come to you, consider it done. These marbled sugar cookies are the perfect treat to ring in the new year.

If you already have a favorite cutout sugar cookie recipe, you can use that here! The magic is in the glaze which, with a little help, gets swirled into a monochromatic pool of sugar that will make your average sugar cookie look anything but. Making marbled sugar cookies is simple and requires very little time and ingredients, so you’ve got more time for popping bottles and prepping for your midnight kiss.

Making the Glaze

To make the glaze, we combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in a large bowl, whisking until a thick glaze forms. To test viscosity, run your whisk or a knife through the bowl of the glaze. The mixture should slowly move back together until you can’t see any trace of the whisk any longer, a process that should take about 6-8 seconds. Add more milk for a thinner icing and more powdered sugar if your icing becomes too thin.

Next, separate the icing into three different bowls. For a traditional monochromatic marble, use gel food coloring to color one bowl of icing black, one bowl a light grey, and one bowl white. If you know you’d prefer cookies that are primarily one color (I prefer a predominantly white cookie) make sure you keep the majority of your glaze that color. Pour a good bit of white glaze into a separate shallow bowl and drizzle with just a smidge of your two other colors, like in the photo below. You can use a toothpick or knife to swirl it a little, but keep in mind that as you dip your cookies into the glaze the mixture will stir a bit on its own.

Dipping the Cookies

When you’re ready to begin icing your cookies, dip the tops of your baked and cooled sugar cookies straight into the glaze. I try to only cover the tops of the cookies. Pull each cookie straight out and flip it over carefully to see how your glaze looks. If it’s not as marbled as you would prefer, you can tilt the cookies side to side to get a little extra swirl action. Otherwise, place the finished cookie on a cooling rack or sheet of waxed paper to dry!

You’ll repeat this process with the remaining cookies. If you start to run out of icing in your dip bowl or if it gets a bit too swirled, just add more of your reserved glaze to the pot and resume the cookie making! I like to make a diverse bunch by changing the concentration of each icing glaze color. I find I prefer a cookie with lots of white and deep streaks of black.

These marbled sugar cookies are mega festive and perfect for any casual or black tie New Year’s Eve affair. Give them a try and let me know what you think! Happy baking, happy new year, and happy everything else to you and yours. I’m looking forward to baking with you in the coming year.

If you like these marbled sugar cookies, be sure to check out:

Painted Sugar Cookies

Gold-Splatted Lavender Vanilla Bean Cookies

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Raspberry Lemon Linzer Cookies

Funfetti Cookies

Marbled Sugar Cookies

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

These marbled sugar cookies are decorated to look like stone and make a festive addition to parties!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 60
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 36

Ingredients

For the cookies:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 egg
1–1/2 teaspoon princess cake and cookie emulsion (or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extract)

For the glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
3–6 tablespoons of whole milk or heavy cream
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla extract, or bakery emulsion
Gel food coloring in desired colors (I used black)

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Instructions

To prepare the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and extract and cream until combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir on low just until combined.
Dump the dough crumbles out on to a lightly floured surface and work together into one ball with your hands. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to just over 1/4″ thicken and use a medium sized cookie cutter to cut shapes. If the dough ever gets too soft, refrigerate briefly.
Place shapes on a baking sheet and freeze briefly for about 5 minutes.
Once chilled, bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes and then cool on a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely prior to icing.

To prepare the icing:

Sift or whisk powdered sugar to remove lumps.
Add 3 tablespoons of the milk and the extract, whisking until combined. Continue to add milk until it is the right viscosity. You will want thicker frosting for piping. To test viscosity, run your whisk or a knife through the bowl of frosting- your frosting should slowly move back together until you can’t see any trace of the whisk any longer. This process should take about 10 seconds. If the frosting is too thick, it will not pool back together, and if it is too thin, it will pool back together too quickly. The ten second test doesn’t lie. Add more milk for a thinner icing and more powdered sugar if your icing becomes too thin.
Cover tightly in a tupperware or with a wet paper towel if you are not using it immediately, as frosting will dry out and become clumpy. Whisk occasionally and add more milk if it becomes too thick.

To glaze the cookies:

Divide the glaze into three bowls. Add gel food coloring to one of the bowls a single drop at a time. It is important to not add too much as it is easier to darken the glaze than it is to lighten it. I keep one bowl of glaze white and dye the other two bowls grey and black.
Pour a small bit of white glaze into the bottom of a bowl just big enough for your cookies. Drizzle a small bit of grey, black, or both glazes and barely swirl with a toothpick or knife. Carefully dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze and allow any excess to drip off. You can further “marble” the cookies by tilting them side to side. Place the cookies on a cooling rack or wax paper and allow to set completely. It will take about 4-6 hours for the glaze to set up completely. Be sure that they are completely dry before storing in a tupperware or cookie box!

Notes

Read the blog post for more tips on icing these cookies!

Cookie recipe adapted from Bridget

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

23 Comments / Cookies and Bars

After today, you and I will have very few secrets. The recipe I’m sharing this morning is nearest and dearest to my heart and is one that I’ve been savoring for years- my Mimi’s frosted sugar cookies.

Mimi’s Cookies

Every Christmas, for as long as I can remember, my Mimi would make these frosted sugar cookies. Sometimes I’d join her at the counter to watch her roll out dough. Tediously, she’d flour her surface, then the rolling pin. I’d tinker with her copper cookie cutters while she trimmed the dough and placed the shapes on cookie sheets. While the kitchen warmed from the heat of the oven and the scent of butter and vanilla, I’d pick at remnants of dough, nibbling on whatever was stuck to the beaters and the bowl.

We’d then gather around the table, some of us eagerly and others by the hair, as racks of bare cookies were placed in front of us. Bowls of green, red, yellow, and white frosting came next, and we’d all dive in with our butter knives to begin frosting. The thirty minutes that followed is a blur of sprinkles and licked fingers, and by the time all of the cookies were frosted, the icing was gone, having been replaced with full bellies and stained hands. We’d nibble on cookies from the freezer for weeks, each one a savoring of the Christmas season and our time together.

Continuing the Traditions

Now, as an adult, I make these frosted sugar cookies for my own family. I think about the time and the effort it takes, and I remember the years when no one wanted to frost cookies because we were all so involved in our own thing. Still, every year, Mimi made cookies, and I have to believe it had less to do with her sweet tooth and more to do with a desire to create something meaningful for her family. That small act, the baking and frosting of cookies, somehow became apart of our Christmas season, and it’s all because of Mimi.

What is the sum of the small acts of love that we share with others? I wonder if, when we get to the later years of our lives, we’ll be able to look back on those tiny things and recognize the difference they made in our families. Will we recall something simple, like a recipe for frosted sugar cookies, and be able to recognize the joy it inspired in the lives around us?

“It’s the small things that culminate to a life overflowing with abundance.”

To the mothers and fathers and Mimis and neighbors who sew into the lives of the people around you, I want you to know that it makes a difference. Your effort, particularly at this time of year, means something. It has the potential to deeply impact lives when done so from a spirit of love. Small acts, like a batch of cookies and a few moments around the table, can mark someone so profoundly that, years later, they are moved to tears from the overwhelming sense of love and gratitude that those moments offered their lives. I take comfort knowing that daily acts for my own children may be filling their tanks with love. Maybe it’s the small things that culminate to a life overflowing with abundance.

You may already have a favorite Christmas cookie. If you don’t, I invite you to enjoy these frosted sugar cookies with your own family. While not perfect or the prettiest or frilliest or most impressive, these frosted sugar cookies are delicious, and will be a recipe that your people won’t be able to keep their hands off of. Promise.

Making the Cookies

To make them, we start with the dough. Butter and sugar cream together before eggs, vanilla, and the dry ingredients add in. Once the dough comes together, wrap it in plastic and chill. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, use a floured rolling pin to smooth the dough into a 1/8-1/4″ thick slab. Next, begin to cut out shapes with medium-sized cookie cutters. When your sheet pan is full, place it in the oven until the cookies are barely puffed.

This recipe for frosted sugar cookies makes a boatload- nearly 4 dozen. You’ll need friends to help you frost them, so invite all of your favorites over, okay? The frosting for these cookies is similar to a buttercream- the perfect match to the cookies. I use gel food coloring to dye the icing and work at frosting them with a simple butter knife; you can use whatever tools suit you best. Just have a blast while making them, okay?

If you like these frosted sugar cookies, be sure to check out:

Lavender Vanilla Bean Cookies with Gold Splatter Tutorial

Painted Sugar Cookies

Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies

Funfetti Cookies

Trail Mix Cookies

Candied Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

These soft frosted sugar cookies are light and fluffy, perfect for cutout holiday cookies. The frosting is a creamy buttercream that can be spread and sprinkled!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 60
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 36

Ingredients

For the cookies:

1 cup (230 gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (400 gm) sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
5 cups (650 gm) flour
1–1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1–1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of salt

For the frosting:

6 tablespoons (85 gm) unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1 large pasteurized egg
1–1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Milk

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Instructions

To prepare the cookies:

In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar, creaming on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, and milk, and stir to combine for an additional 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix slowly until well incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
Divide the dough into two flat rounds and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two pans by lining them with a sheet of parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Generously flour a work surface and roll one round of dough out to 1/8-1/4” thick using a floured rolling pin. Use medium-sized cookie cutters to cut out shapes of dough and place them 2” apart on the prepared pans. Place the whole pan in the freezer for 5 minutes (or fridge for 10) to set the shaped dough and then bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are well-set. Allow to cool on the pan briefly and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat this process with the remaining dough. Try not to get the dough too-floured or overworked as this can change the texture of the cookies. If your dough gets too warm or sticky, place back in the fridge to chill a bit.

To prepare the frosting:

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt, mixing until well combined. Add milk by the tablespoon until the frosting is thick but smooth, similar to the consistency of a thick cake buttercream. Use gel food coloring to dye the frosting and a knife to spread the frosting on the cookie. Enjoy!

Notes

Parchment paper isn’t necessary but helps the cookies keep their shape.
Pasteurized eggs are key for enjoying this frosting safely! Admittedly, I’ve prepared the frosting without pasteurized eggs a million times without any “trouble,” but to be food safe, you’ll want to get them anyways.
The frosting recipe makes a modest amount. If you want to have generously frosted cookies or quite a bit of extra to play with, double to recipe to be safe.

Smash Cake Tutorial and George’s First Birthday!

36 Comments / Cakes, Tutorials

Hi friends and happy Thursday! I have something a little out of the ordinary for you all today but I have a feeling you crazy cake lovers are gonna go nuts for it. It’s a smash cake tutorial! If there are little ones in your life that you want to celebrate well, or if you just really want to dig into a cutesy mini cake all on your own, today’s tutorial is just perfect for you.

George’s First Birthday!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated baby George’s first birthday. The year that has passed since his birth was one of my favorites yet, and it seemed only right that we celebrate this little buddy the best that we could. We hosted a gathering of friends and family at our home, complete with cake, corn hole, and birthday crowns. The weather was just right and many of our friends showed up, kids in tow, for what ended up being a giant, outdoor free-for-all for more than 30 kids. (Seriously, I think my friends could re-populate the nation if need be.)

The kids ran and threw balls, played in the mud and munched on cookies while the parentals sipped cocktails and chatted. We all know first birthday parties are really just an excuse for moms to throw a celebration, but I’d say it was a success. Luckily, my friend Meghan was there to capture the day, so I get to share some images with you guys! Check it out:

A Few DIYs

There were a ton of fun blog recipes and DIYs that made this day personalized and delicious. You might recall the painted sugar cookies from a tutorial that I shared last year. The cocktails were honey basil margaritas, another blog favorite, that were a sweet and sour way to cool off from the warm summer air. The cake was a certain raspberry streusel cake that we all know and love, and even the ice cream, coffee cookie dough, was a no-churn recipe that I shared with you all a few weeks ago.

My mom and I made the balloon arch following a tutorial that I found on the fabulous blog, The House that Lars Built. It was a process, but a ton of fun to make and I think it really added something special. The piñata was also homemade and was similar to one that I made for Aimee’s first birthday party following a fun DIY that I found on 100 Layer Cakelet blog. If you have any ideas for future DIYS, I’d love to hear about them! These are certainly some fun ones you should consider adding to your next occasion.

The Cakes!

And what’s a birthday without a layer cake and candles? It would be a shame if I threw my kids a party without making cake, right? I made one large cake for our party guests and one (slightly larger than normal) smash cake for George to dig in to. Since the party, I’ve had several people ask me about making smash cakes for their own littles and I thought this might be a good opportunity to share some DIY decorating ideas with you all. I’ve prepared a few simple cakes that will hopefully inspire you to make mini cakes of your own next time you are celebrating a special little gal or guy. Let’s get started!

To begin, you’ll need:

-A few small cake layers. I prefer to use 6″ cake layers, but you can certainly use a 4″ or 5″ pan as well. I use these pans to bake 3 layers. You can use any of your favorite recipes, but if you want a sure thing, try halving this chocolate or this vanilla cake recipe. Perfect every time. If you use smaller pans or bake few layers, be sure to not overfill your pans as this can cause underbaked cakes and messy oven spills.

-3 to 4 cups of frosting. I used a plain vanilla frosting for these cakes, but adjust as desired.

-A 6″ cake board. Cake boards aren’t necessary but certainly make decorating and transporting the cake a bit easier. You can just barely see the cake board in all of my photos.

-A cake turntable. Again, this isn’t necessary but certainly makes frosting your cake a TON easier. Consider investing in one of the inexpensive models or jump to the big leagues with something like this.

–An offset spatula. It’s less than $6 and will make your life so much easier. If you’re currently frosting cakes with a knife or a bowl scraper, just buy one of these, ok?

Flower Smash Cake

I always say, when in doubt, just throw some flowers on it. Decorating with flowers and greenery can take a plain frosted smash cake to a sweetly styled work of art. I typically like to use flowers that I can find at my local store or florist, but there are tons of ways to put a little nature on your cake. If you’re unsure about using fresh blooms on your cake, take some time to practice with silk flowers and greenery like I did in the following photos.

How To

Before styling your florals, frost and chill your cake as desired. Here, I’ve used 3 thin 6″ vanilla cake layers coated with a vanilla cream cheese buttercream. You can half this cake and frosting recipe to yield enough for your mini smash cake. Coat the outside of the cake in a thin layer of frosting so that a bit of the cake edges show. Chill the cake briefly in the fridge to allow the frosting to set up slightly and then begin arranging! I like to use a variety of blooms, leaves, and twigs in different shapes and shades, but you can use any variety you like. Start by adding some flat leaves, twigs, or stems to the top of the cake and then arrange one or two larger blooms on top. Fill in any unsightly gaps with smaller flowers, berries, or filler.

For George’s birthday cake, I knew I wanted to use natural elements as decoration but I didn’t want the cake to be too feminine. As an alternative to flowers, I used some greenery and stems from my neighbor’s garden. To achieve a similar effect, you can purchase eucalyptus, olive leaves, or other green filler from your florist and arrange it in a minimalistic fashion on top of your cake. Get creative and know that practice makes perfect! The more you work with florals, the more comfortable you’ll get with arranging them on your layer cakes.

Stenciled Sprinkle Smash Cake

You can decorate your smash cake with a word or a number in less than 5 minutes and with minimal effort. Simply print out a word or number on a sheet of computer paper. The number should be slightly smaller than the size of your cake. Use an X-Acto knife or scissors to cut out your shape and create a stencil. Center the stencil on top of the slightly chilled cake and sprinkle small nonpariels on top to fill it in. Be sure not to get too many sprinkles outside of the stencil our you’ll be picking them off your cake! Press down lightly to adhere the sprinkles to the cake and remove the stencil. You can use a careful hand or a pair of tweezers to pick off any rogue sprinkles.

I like to use nonpariels, but if you have a different variety of small sprinkles that you’d like to use, feel free! You could also sprinkle on small candies, cocoa powder, or finely chopped nuts.

Ombre Smash Cake

Frosting an ombre cake remains one of my favorite ways to decorate a smash cake. To get started, all you’ll need is a small, crumb-coated smash cake, about 1-1/2 cups of white frosting, gel food coloring, and an offset spatula.

Evenly divide your frosting into 3 small bowls. Add a small drop of your gel food coloring into one of the bowls, keeping in mind that you can always add more food coloring, but it’s a challenge to lighten the frosting once you’ve added too much. Stir well with a spatula and then color your remaining bowls of frosting as desired. I typically use 3 shades of the same color and just add more or less food coloring to each bowl to achieve my color gradient.

How to Frost an Ombre Cake

Top your smash cake with your lightest or darkest shade. Smooth out the colored frosting on top of the cake using an offset spatula and push any extra frosting off the edge of the top of the cake onto the top third of the sides of the cake as well. Don’t worry about making it smooth yet, just be sure that all sides of the cake have some of that frosting on it. Move on to the next shade and spackle it onto the middle third of your cake. Finish with the final color on the bottom third of the cake and gently work to smooth it out over each side.

Holding your spatula parallel to the cake, smooth the sides of the frosting out. The more you spread out your frosting the more that the colors will blend together, so be sure to not overwork it. Clean off your spatula occasionally to ensure that the colors don’t get muddled together as you go over different parts of your cake. Check out this ombre cake tutorial for more help. Rosie does a great job explaining the technique and it’s super helpful to watch her do it in her video. She also sells some gorgeous sprinkle blends that you may want to top your cake with so be sure to check those out!

Rustic Frosted Smash Cake

One of my favorite ways to decorate a smash cake also happens to be the easiest. Rustic or “messy” frosted cakes are all the rage. These cakes require no perfection, no straight edges, no perfectly piped swirls of frosting. All that is needed to create these beauties is a little creativity and an offset spatula.

The How To

To frost one of your own, start with a thinly frosted smash cake. Allow the cake to chill briefly in the fridge and then use your offset spatula to spackle frosting onto the sides of your cake. You may decide to go for big swoops, parallel lines, or thin stripes of frosting. Whatever you choose, just begin adding frosting to the sides of your cake and smooth out the top edge once finished. The great news is that if you mess up- no problem! Just smooth out the frosting and start all over again. When you’re finished, top the cake with a cute candle or topper. For more rustic cake inspiration, be sure to flip through my Instagram feed.

Ok, now that you guys know all of the cute and simple ways to decorate your kiddo’s smash cakes, I wanna see them! I gain so much inspiration from you guys so if you’ve created some recently or in the past that you think I might like, please shoot me an email. If you have any ideas for future tutorials, holler at me in the comments section below so that I can get cracking. Let’s just learn all the different ways to create beautiful food for the people we love, okay? Have a great week and be sure to pop by next Tuesday. We’re going to be talking biscuits and sandwiches and Father’s Day, so you’ll want your appetite. Cheers to you and Happy Thursday!

If you like this smash cake tutorial, you might also like:

Lavender Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies and Gold Splatter Tutorial

Painted Sugar Cookies Tutorial

Confetti Ice Cream Cake and Naked Cake Tutorial

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

9 Comments / Breakfast

When it comes to leftovers, my belief is that every person belongs to one of two camps. You either like them, or you don’t.

I personally have always been a fan of leftovers. My brain is filled with fond memories of cold pizza, leftover birthday cake for breakfast, and carry-out Chinese from the night before. Pasta, soup, and casseroles- all better on day two. I’ve even been known to eat giant spoonfuls of mac and cheese straight from dish in the fridge, and I promise you it’s delicious.

Ok, ok, I can hear you gagging.

I may have an absurd level of tolerance for leftovers, but I’m pretty sure there’s at least one day per year that we can all get behind leftovers.

THANKSGIVING! The day of giving thanks and putting down some grub. The day to fill your heart with gratitude and your plate with tan colored food. When else can you justify cooking 18 pounds of food (32 pounds if you count the turkey) and binge snacking for 72 hours straight? When else can you dirty every Pyrex dish in your house and justify running the dishwasher 4 times in one day?

Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving! That’s when!

I am pro Thanksgiving leftovers. I vote yes to breakfasts made of cranberry sauce oatmeal and veggie plate dinners. I am all for lunches of open-faced turkey sandwiches on thick slices of cornbread and eating pumpkin pie as a breakfast food. And this year, I’m preparing Thanksgiving dinner with leftovers in mind because I have officially perfected the sweet potato cinnamon roll.

Yes, you heard me right. You can call your mother and tell her you’re finally eating more vegetables, because sweet potatoes. In a cinnamon roll. With pecans. And frosting.

These sweet potato cinnamon rolls are made by combining a typical dough with some sweet potato puree. The puree, which is made simply by pureeing cooked and peeled sweet potatoes, keeps the dough fluffy and moist for days. Filled with a cinnamon sugar spread and toasty chopped pecans, these sweet potato cinnamon rolls are topped with a cream cheese frosting and will make your house smell like a fall-flavored dream.

This dough starts decadently by melting the butter into the milk and sugar. After some yeast proofs in the warm milk, the sweet potato puree and some dry ingredients are added. We let the dough rise before the remaining dry ingredients are tossed in. After a quick once over with the rolling pin, a schmear of butter, sugar, and spices, and a sprinkle of pecans, these sweet potato cinnamon rolls are ready for baking.

Hot from the oven, these cinnamon rolls get frosted with a glossy cream cheese frosting. I prefer sweet frosting, but you can certainly decrease the amount of butter and sugar here to have a more dominantly cream cheese flavored frosting. Once they’re frosted, the sweet potato cinnamon rolls are ready for action. And by action, I mean devouring.

If you’re in charge of any dish this Thanksgiving, make sure it’s the sweet potatoes… And while you’re whipping up that dish you should casually throw in an extra potato or two… And when there’s leftovers, well, you know what to do. This sweet potato cinnamon roll recipe will be waiting for you.

Cheers to you and happy Tuesday!

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Print Recipe

These sweet potato cinnamon rolls are fall scented buns stuffed with a cinnamon sugar filling, toasted pecans, and topped with a cream cheese frosting.

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 90
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the dough

1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2–1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
3/4 cup sweet potato puree (see notes below)
3–1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened slightly in the microwave but not completely melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1–1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans

For the glaze

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of cream or milk, plus more as desired

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Instructions

To prepare the cinnamon rolls

In a large pot, combine the milk, butter, and sugar over medium heat and allow to warm just before the milk is scalding. Remove from burner and allow to cool until luke warm. Add the yeast and allow to dissolve, about 2 minutes.
Add the sweet potato puree to the milk mixture, stirring gently to combine. Add 3 cups of the flour and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and allow to rest and rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If your dough hasn’t doubled in size within that hour, place the dough in a slightly warmer spot of the kitchen.
Combine the remaining flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and add to the risen dough. Stir to combine. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough overnight or roll out to use immediately. If you decide to save it, punch dough down into bowl if it over-rises.
Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to a 12″x18″ rectangle. Combine the butter, brown sugar, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon in a bowl to create a paste. Spread softened butter mixture out across the dough , leaving a 1/2 inch border around the sides. Evenly sprinkle the pecans over the dough.
With one of the long ends closest to you, begin to roll the dough away from you, pinching the dough together at the end to seal your roll. Trim off any shaggy ends (no more than 1 inch) Using a sharp knife, cut 1″ slices from your log of dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place buns 1″ apart in a baking dish (I use 3- 8″x8″ baking dishes) and cover again with a sheet of plastic wrap or a tea towel. Allow to rise for 25-30 minutes, or until buns are puffed and rounded. Bake in the oven until buns are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool on pan for 10-15 minutes and then top with glaze.

To prepare the filling

In a medium sized bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and cream, beating until smooth. Add additional cream if you wish to have a more loose glaze.

Notes

To make sweet potato puree, peel 1 large sweet potato and cube it into 1″ pieces. Place cubes in a pot of water boiling over medium high heat and cook until tender to a fork, about 10 minutes. Drain water and set aside to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, place potatoes in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Be sure no large clumps remain, or your rolls will also have clumps in them. Allow to cool in the fridge slightly prior to adding to the cinnamon roll dough. The puree can be made and saved in the fridge several days in advance.

Recipe Adapted From: Ree Drummond

Pumpkin Pecan Cake with Burnt Sugar Frosting

24 Comments / Cakes

It’s happened to all of us. You find a delicious looking recipe, get psyched up to make it, do the grocery shopping, log the man hours and then… the final product sucks. The cake fell, the cookie was dry, the pie didn’t set up, etc., etc., etc. Isn’t that the worst?

Well, I’m over it. I’m not spending all of my free time testing recipes and spilling my guts on this blog (read: embarrassing myself in front of the world) to have any of the recipes on this site belly-flop in your kitchen. I’m determined that YOU WILL HAVE SUCCESS!

Enter: my recipe tester. I have solicited the help of fellow baking enthusiast// butter and sugar boss-lady to test the majority of my recipes before they make it to your computer screen. Together, we are going to produce face-melting treats, and you, my friends, will be happier and more successful in the kitchen because of it. CAN I GET AN AMEN?!

This pumpkin pecan cake with burnt sugar frosting is the first recipe I sent to my little kitchen elf. It’s almost laughable because this recipe was not an immediate success. This cake, admittedly, is a bit of a bear to make if you have zero kitchen experience or ambition, but trust me when I say that the juice is worth the squeeze. Plus, we’re all grown ups here- we can totally do this. Are you up for the challenge?

This pumpkin pecan cake with burnt sugar frosting starts by making a burnt sugar syrup that is used both in the frosting and as a moistening syrup for the cake. This syrup, as well as the salty pecans scattered between the layers of cake, can be made ahead of time, so take heart in knowing that you can easily break this baking up over a couple of days. The pumpkin cake layers, an adaptation of Rosie Alyea, are quite simple to make and incredibly moist. When you’re ready to assemble the cake, you simply whip the syrup into a cream cheese buttercream and voila: pumpkin pecan cake with burnt sugar frosting.

And as if one pumpkin recipe wasn’t enough, there just so happens to be more to go around. I’m sharing today’s recipe in collaboration with Sara, Aimee, and a whole bunch of other bloggers who are slinging pumpkin dishes on their sites today. Check out the full list of those participating in the #virtualpumpkinparty on Sara and Aimee’s sites!

Happy fall y’all and cheers to you! For more cake recipes, click here!

Pumpkin Pecan Cake with Burnt Sugar Frosting

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

This pumpkin pecan cake is a 3 layer, 8″ cake made up of pumpkin cake layers, salty buttered pecans, and coats of burnt sugar frosting.

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 90
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the pumpkin cake layers

2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1–1/4 cups canola oil
1–1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
1–1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

For the burnt sugar syrup

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup hot water
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup

For the burnt sugar frosting

1/2 cup burnt sugar syrup
3 sticks (1-1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1–1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups powdered sugar

For the salty pecans

2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 cup of pecans, finely chopped
1/2–3/4 teaspoon salt (add based on your preferences)

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Instructions

To prepare the pumpkin cake layers

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 3-8″ cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottoms of them with parchment paper rounds for easy removal.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed, just until combined. Be sure not to over-mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl and fold in any ingredients that may have gotten stuck to the sides of the bowl.
Evenly distribute the cake batter amongst the 3 pans. Bake in the preheated oven about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool completely prior to frosting. (See notes)

To prepare the burnt sugar syrup

Place sugar in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet and allow sugar to melt on medium-low (I use 3-4 on my stovetop) heat for about 15 minutes, stirring as seldom as possible. Over-stirring the syrup can cause it to crystallize which is NOT the goal. Continue to cook on medium-low heat until the sugar has melted completely and it becomes a dark amber color. Cooking time may vary depending on your stovetop. Be sure to cook until it is dark and fragrant but has not begun to heavily smoke.
Carefully and slowly add hot water and stir slightly to combine with the sugar. The mixture will bubble up and steam, so take care not to burn yourself. Cook on low heat for approximately 3 minutes and then add the corn syrup. Set aside to cool in a heat proof container (I use a covered mason jar) until room temperature. At room temperature, the syrup should be the consistency of molasses. See notes for help on the syrup if needed.

To prepare the burnt sugar frosting

Cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer for about 2 minutes. Do not over-beat, but scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure that no clumps remain and the mixture is evenly combined.
Add 1/2 cup of the cooled burnt sugar syrup and the vanilla and beat on low to combine, about 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat on medium-low speed until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Add additional powdered sugar to thicken the frosting as needed.
Use frosting immediately or refrigerate up to 1 week. Reserve the remaining 2 tablespoons of burnt sugar syrup to use as a moistening syrup for the cakes.

To prepare the salty pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the butter, pecans and salt on a sheet pan. Bake in the preheated oven, stirring once or twice, for about 10 minutes or until the nuts have been evenly toasted. Allow to cool.

To assemble the cake

Level all cake layers prior to stacking.
Mix 2 tablespoons of the remaining burnt sugar syrup with 1/2 tablespoon of water to create a moistening syrup. You can microwave it on low for 10-15 seconds to help melt the syrup. Stir to combine.
Using a pastry brush, “moisten” each cake layer with 1/3 of the syrup.
Use a small dab of frosting to adhere the first layer of cake to an 8″ cake board or a serving plate. Spread 1-1/3 cups of frosting on to the first layer of cake and smooth until flat. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nuts evenly on the frosting. Repeat this entire process once for the second layer of cake and then place the final cake layer on top. Smooth 1-1/2 cups of frosting on top of that final layer and smooth over the top.
Use a small amount of frosting to apply a thin coat of frosting on the sides of the cake to “crumb coat” the cake. (See notes). Refrigerate briefly, about 30-45 minutes, to help set the frosting, and then continue covering and decorating the cake with frosting as desired. Garnish the top of the cake with the remaining nuts. Enjoy!

Notes

You can store your syrup in the fridge to help maintain freshness, however, keep in mind it will firm up quite a bit in the fridge. Simply microwave at brief, 15 second intervals until it becomes soft enough to pour. Do not add hot syrup to your buttercream.
If you happen to cook your syrup too long and it becomes hard once cooled, you can microwave it at brief, 15 second intervals with a tablespoon or two of water. Once able, stir it all together to thin out the syrup a bit. The syrup should be molasses consistency at room temperature.
I briefly freeze my cake layers to ensure they are sturdy. It makes frosting the cake cleanly a bit easier.
If frosting becomes too soft while using, refrigerate briefly to thicken up. Likewise, if frosting is too hard, allow to warm slightly at room temperature, or add a small bit of water a teaspoon at a time to thin out slightly.
A crumb coat helps to lock in any cake crumbs and prevent them from showing up in the final coat of frosting applied to the exterior of the cake. This isn’t necessary, but helps to keep your cake neat and pretty!

Recipe for cake layers adapted from: Rosie Alyea

Painted Sugar Cookies

11 Comments / Cookies and Bars, Tutorials

Forget the Kardashians. Forget Birkenstocks and ombre hair and cold shoulder shirts. Forget Lebron and matcha and cold brew coffee. Yeah, all of those things might be having a moment… but painted sugar cookies? Well, in my book, they’re really having a moment.

I get a million and one food related questions on any given week, but one of the most frequent items I get asked about are painted sugar cookies. Why? Well, for one, sugar cookies are a crowd pleaser. I’ve literally never heard anyone say, “I don’t like sugar cookies,” and I can tell you that if I did, we wouldn’t be friends. They’re sweet and celebratory, and if you know what you’re doing, they’re fun way to tie desserts into any themed event or party.

Up until a few years ago, I had only been exposed to the two extremes of sugar cookies: a soft, lofthouse style cookie with a thick and creamy butter-based frosting, and a hard, crunchy sugar cookie with tooth-shattering, cloyingly sweet royal icing. Enter painted sugar cookies. These little guys are a soft yet stable sugar cookie that holds its shape in the oven. The icing is pipeable and easy to decorate with but without all the fuss of a royal icing.

If you’re anything like me, trying to pipe a bunch of designs on a cookie is a daunting, time consuming, and ultimately disappointing task. I’ve done it before, and I can say that I won’t be doing it often in the future. Painting the cookies allows me to decorate the cookies and flex my creative muscle without all the mind-numbing tedious work of piping. I love it.

Once the sugar cookies are iced and dry, you simply mix a small amount of gel food coloring with a clear liquor. I prefer vanilla vodka, but really, you can use any type of clear liquor. (Sidenote: If you would prefer to not use alcohol, you can try clear vanilla extract.) Once your paintbrush is wet with a teeny amount of liquor and food gel, you are free to paint away! I usually just paint solid colors on the cookies, but if you’re super artsy, you can Monet and van Gogh all over that goodness. The world (read: cookie) is your oyster, so go for it.

For cookie inspiration, you can check out the cookies I’ve made here, here, here, and here.

Let me know how your cookie making goes and be sure to have a blast doing it. Cheers to you!

Items Needed:

Cutout sugar cookies, approximately 30 small-medium, recipe below

Sugar cookie frosting, recipe below

Piping bag fitted with #2 tip

Gel food coloring

Clear liquor (vodka, rum, etc)

Clean, unused paint brushes

Directions:

Fill piping bag halfway with sugar cookie frosting. Pipe borders around cookies, being careful to not get too close to the edge. Using a paint brush, “paint” frosting into the center of the cookie, filling in to the outside border. (For a good tutorial on this method, check out the Ina Garten video here) I typically will border and fill 4-5 cookies at a time. Continue this process until all of the cookies are iced. Set aside for 3 hours, or until icing is set and dry. If you’re in a humid climate, you can use a small fan pointed at the cookies to help expedite this process.

Cover your work surface with wax, parchment, or newspaper. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of liquor into a small glass or bowl. Set out a plate or some other type of palette for your gel food color “paints”. Squirt small, 1/8 teaspoon drops of food coloring on your palette. Dip your brush in the liquor and then into the gel food coloring. Notice how the food coloring will thin out and bleed. The more diluted your food coloring is with alcohol, the less vibrant your colors will be. For more saturated tones, use less liquor. You can test out the colors on a paper towel or extra cookie. When you have the desired color, begin to paint! Try to avoid over-saturating your cookie as this can cause the icing to loosen up or become sticky. If your brush becomes too wet, dab it a bit on the paper towel. Once completed, allow your cookies to dry thoroughly before enjoying!

Cutout Sugar Cookies

Print Recipe

Perfect every time cutout sugar cookies get the royal treatment with some cute and colorful painted icing! Find the tutorial and buttery recipe here!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 30

Ingredients

For the cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 egg
1–1/2 teaspoon princess cake and cookie emulsion (or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extract)

For the icing

3 cups powdered sugar
3–6 tablespoons of whole milk or heavy cream
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla extract, or bakery emulsion

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Instructions

For the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and extract and cream until combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir on low just until combined.
Dump the dough crumbles out on to a lightly floured surface and work together into one ball with your hands. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to just over 1/4″ thicken and use a medium sized cookie cutter to cut shapes. If the dough ever gets too soft, refrigerate briefly.
Place shapes on a baking sheet and freeze briefly for about 5 minutes.
Once chilled, bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes and then cool on a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely prior to icing.

For the icing

Sift or whisk powdered sugar to remove lumps.
Add 3 tablespoons of the milk and the extract, whisking until combined. Continue to add milk until it is the right viscosity. You will want thicker frosting for piping. To test viscosity, run your whisk or a knife through the bowl of frosting- your frosting should slowly move back together until you can’t see any trace of the whisk any longer. This process should take about 10 seconds. If the frosting is too thick, it will not pool back together, and if it is too thin, it will pool back together too quickly. The ten second test doesn’t lie. Add more milk for a thinner icing and more powdered sugar if your icing becomes too thin.
Cover tightly in a tupperware or with a wet paper towel if you are not using it immediately, as frosting will dry out and become clumpy. Whisk occasionally and add more milk if it becomes too thick.

Notes

Icing will keep in the fridge for up to a week and can easily be colored with gel food coloring.

Recipe Adapted From: Bake At 350

Easter Cake

8 Comments / Cakes, Tutorials

About one year ago, almost to the day, I made the decision to be more intentional on social media as a means of determining if blogging and putting myself out there on the interwebz was something I was ready to do. About two weeks into this experiment, I made an Easter cake, speckled to look like a robin’s egg, topped with little nests of swirled chocolate buttercream, and studded with leftover jelly beans from Aimee’s first Easter basket. (Shameless shout out to other moms who buy candy “for their kids” that just so happens to be their own favorite varieties and wind up hiding in the secret, “mom’s only” corner of the pantry. I feel you.) The cake was adorable and because I was pretty excited about it, I posted a photo on Instagram. Imagine my surprise when, hours later, Food and Wine magazine re-posted the photo. MY photo. I found myself victory dancing in the living room, high-fiving my husband, and with a new batch of Insta-followers. To me, that Easter cake was a moment of much needed confirmation that I was to continue forward.

Since then, I’ve had a lot of people ask how to make that humble little cake, so in honor of Easter, you’re going to get a fancy little tutorial today. This Easter cake is fairly simple and is a perfect excuse to get messy in the kitchen. If you have kiddos, or if you just share my affinity for pretending to be artsy in the kitchen while simultaneously stuffing your face with Easter candy, this cake is for you! Little ones can help with the speckling and will love the opportunity to sneak a jelly bean or a lick of the frosting bowl. Be warned that this process can get a little messy, so be sure to protect your work space with newspaper, wax paper, or old t-shirts of your husband’s that you secretly want to make disappear.

This Easter cake is one I plan to make for years to come and seems like a brilliant tradition to start with my family in the kitchen. My babies aren’t even old enough to say the words “Easter Cake”, but I’m eager to make memories with them on special holidays. If you have any traditions or recipes you like to share with your family during this holiday, I’d love to hear about it below in the comments section!

Happy Easter and Happy Baking!

To make the Easter cake, you’ll need:

One baked cake (I used a 2 layer, six inch cake in a lemon poppyseed flavor which will be coming to the blog soon. You can try this recipe if you’re looking for a no-fail cake recipe)
3 cups of frosting, divided
Light blue gel food coloring
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, divided
1-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
M&M’S Eggs, Jelly Beans, Cadbury Mini Eggs, or any other bean/egg shaped candy

Tools you’ll need:

News or wax paper to cover your work space
A clean, unused paint brush or a natural bristle pastry brush
Piping bag fitted with a 1M tip

Directions:

Set aside 1 cup of frosting.
In a bowl, add a small drop of light blue food coloring to the remaining two cups of frosting. A little goes a long way, so add slowly. Once your frosting it too dark, there’s no going back! Also, keep in mind that the frosting will darken as it sets.
Fill and frost your cake. I like to smooth my cakes with an off-set spatula like this , but a butter knife will do the trick!
In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder and the vanilla extract until a thin, watery slurry comes together.
Set your unfrosted cake on a clean, covered work surface. Do no speckle close to anything you can’t easily wipe down with a wet rag- things are about to get messy!
Hold your paint brush or natural bristle pastry brush at the base of the bristles. Squeeze, applying a small amount of pressure with your fingers to fan the brush slightly. Dip the tips of the brush in the cocoa/vanilla “paint” and find a spare corner of your covered work space to practice your splatter. While continuing to fan your brush with one hand, use the fingers of your other hand to lightly pull back the bristles and release. This will be a slingshot type of movement and will result in a splatter effect on your work surface. Once you’re confident with your speckling skills, move on to the cake! I start with the sides of the cake and finish with the top.
Mix your remaining cup of frosting with the remaining tablespoon of cocoa powder. Add a small amount of water, if needed, until frosting is piping consistency. In my experience, a medium consistency frosting works best here and can best be described as frosting that, when peaked, will droop slightly without collapsing back into the blow.
Fill piping bag with this frosting and pipe away! I did simple swirls but you can get as fancy as you’d like.
Top each swirl with one piece of candy.

Technique adapted from The Cake Blog

frosting

Celebrating Two Years

Considering our Gifts

Black and White Cake

Making the Cake

The Ganache

If you like this black and white cake, you should check out:

Black and White Cake

Ingredients

Instructions

Let’s Pour One Out for Traditions

Marbled Sugar Cookies

Dipping the Cookies

If you like these marbled sugar cookies, be sure to check out:

Marbled Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Mimi’s Cookies

Continuing the Traditions

“It’s the small things that culminate to a life overflowing with abundance.”

Making the Cookies

If you like these frosted sugar cookies, be sure to check out:

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

George’s First Birthday!

A Few DIYs

The Cakes!

To begin, you’ll need:

Flower Smash Cake

How To

Stenciled Sprinkle Smash Cake

Ombre Smash Cake

How to Frost an Ombre Cake

Rustic Frosted Smash Cake

The How To

If you like this smash cake tutorial, you might also like:

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

For the dough

For the filling

For the glaze

Instructions

To prepare the cinnamon rolls

To prepare the filling

Notes

Pumpkin Pecan Cake with Burnt Sugar Frosting

Ingredients

For the pumpkin cake layers

For the burnt sugar syrup

For the burnt sugar frosting

For the salty pecans

Instructions

To prepare the pumpkin cake layers

To prepare the burnt sugar syrup

To prepare the burnt sugar frosting

To prepare the salty pecans

To assemble the cake

Notes

Notes

Items Needed:

Directions:

Cutout Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies

For the icing

Instructions

For the cookies

For the icing

Notes

To make the Easter cake, you’ll need:

Tools you’ll need:

Directions:

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