Cake Endeavours

As I made my mom her own special cake for her birthday, I knew for Father's day I could make my dad one of his favourite flavours that my mom doesn't like, Black Forest.  I do not like it either.  But I know Mr. T does as well and it's Father's day for him too. I did cheat and use cherry pie filling between the layers but I did brush lots of Kirsh (cherry liqueur) on each cake layer.  The cake is covered in freshly made whipped cream.  The cherries on top had been soaking in vodka for a long time.  They added a fun kick to the cake.

This year my mom had a milestone birthday, which we're not allowed to discuss.  Ha!  So, instead I made sure she had her own special cake.  She's not a major cake fan but she does enjoy red velvet.  Mostly because it's a vessel to cream cheese icing. Originally, I had planned to cover the 6" 3 layer cake in rosettes, but I didn't have enough icing.  Grr! I changed my plans to have the rosettes on the top only.  I ended up adding the crumbs over the icing on the sides because I couldn't get a thick enough covering and the crumbs were coming through.  The more I played with it the more the crumbs showed through.  Sometimes, it's just best to go with the flow!

Our mothers share the same birthday which also falls very close to Father's Day and sometimes on Father's Day.  We celebrate them together. So, for Mr. T's mom to go with the cheesecake theme I made her a vanilla cheesecake.  Again, in the instant pot using this recipe:  New York Cheesecake .  For this cake I did use the recommended 7" pan. The cake was topped off with blueberry filling and some splattered edible gold dust. Both of Mr. T's parents were very happy with their own celebration cakes!

This past weekend we were able to celebrate Father's Day with both families while social distancing.  It was awesome.  On Saturday we went to Mr. T's parents' house.  It was so nice to sit down to a meal together after so long.  Even Mr. T's brother was able to join us for a while too. For my father in law I made him a triple chocolate cheese cake in the Instant Pot.  Seriously, it is the only way to make a cheesecake.  It is foolproof!  This is the recipe I used:  Instant Pot Triple Chocolate Cheesecake .  The recipe calls for a 7" pan but I used a 6" pan and it was fine. To finish off the cake I splattered edible gold dust over the cake.

For this cake Adam and his brother-in-law were each celebrating their first Father's Day and so a special cake was requested with a BBQ theme. The recipe I used for this cake:  Bailey's & Guinness Cake I followed the recipe for the cake, ganache and buttercream making it a 6 layer 8" cake.  For the grill and food I used fondant and shaped them appropriately.  They came together rather quick and easy.  To make them more realistic I used some food colouring with vodka (makes the food colour dry very fast and the alcohol evaporates).  Finally, added grill and char marks. Both fathers enjoyed the cake.  My father was super jealous.  Good thing his birthday is coming up so I know what flavour it will be.

I was asked to make a grad cake for 3 friends graduating grade 12.  The request was for an 8" cookies & cream cake. I hadn't made one in a long time.  It's Mr. T's favourite recipe to make as you throw all ingredients in at once which speeds up the process. To make the cap I used the Wilton baseball cake pan to bake some of the batter in.  For the board, I used a thin cake board and covered it in vinyl.  All the writing was done using vinyl cut from my Cricut machine. Congratulations Rachel, Hailey and Lauryn!