Almost time to make like a palm tree... and leave!

It’s about time I clear off the dust that I’ve allowed to accumulate on my blog and do a freakin’ post!  My wedding in Mexico is exactly 7 days away now and I have palm trees and tropical weather on the brain… I thought a fun cake inspired by Charlotte Olympia’s ridiculously awesome Meridith wedges was appropriate right now...

Now, this cake isn't one of my favorites.  I’ll be the first to admit, it doesn't exactly mirror the wedges in color or proportion, but I said I’d share the good and not-so-good of my baking endeavors with you so, here’s my little homage to C.O. and her tropically conceived Spring/Summer 2012 line.

The leaf portion is a key lime cake (I just added a few tablespoons of lime zest and and a half cup or so of fresh lime juice to my standard vanilla cake recipe) layered with a lemony icing (mixed equal parts lemon curd with a classic vanilla buttercream recipe).

The top layer is strawberry cake layered with strawberry frosting (it is that same classic vanilla buttercream mixed with frozen strawberries  thawed & pureed in a food processor, to taste). The key to this strawberry frosting is mixing the heck out of the butter before adding any other ingredients. The frosting will literally taste like strawberry ice cream. OMG.

By far, the best thing about this cake is the photos. I enlisted the aid and expertise of my dear friend and photo guru Rosa from Rosa Loves DC to take some pictures of these tropical tiers; she is a miracle worker, let me tell you.  I'm not as proud of this baby, but as I said, I'm letting it all hang out, cake wrecks and all.

The whole time I was baking/frosting/decorating this cake last weekend, I was on speaker phone with my sister coming up with/finalizing the design of my menu cards.  HINT: there are palm leaves on them.

And now, a poem for Rosa Loves DC:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

You may love DC,

but Rosa,

I love you!

Pretty Pink Peplum Cake (Jason Wu inspired)

No one who has her (or his) eye on this year's trends can miss the ruffled waist decor being seen all over the runways, red carpet and magazines. Peplum arrived in a big way this season and my favorite design of its kind is Jason Wu's pink and white belted number. If it were a cake, it would have alternating layers of strawberry and vanilla, which is just how I made it for The Bride's Guide on Martha Stewart Weddings.  More on the cake here!

The wonderful Sebastian Marin took the lovely photos, thanks so much Sebastian!

Flowers for Sara's Birthday (Rose Cake)

Friday was my friend Sara's birthday and I thought I'd get her some roses.  Since she looks so pretty in neon (as you can see in this pic from Refinery29) I thought a bright orange and pink bouquet would be appropriate.

Sara doesn't eat dairy so, I endeavored to make my first cake sans butter and milk.  Armed with this recipe for the chocolate cake and a frosting made with non-dairy shortening, almond milk and powdered sugar, I baked a 5 layer cake covered in orange and pink roses (I used the same piping bag so that some of the roses would be a pretty mix of the two colors.

Ever since learning how to make frosting roses from I am Baker, I've found it to be the easiest way to make a cake look pretty... the color possibilities are endless and your design job doesn't have to be perfect - the roses are very forgiving.  It's also just a lot of fun to do, swirling and swirling...  Just get a 1M frosting tip, read I am Baker's tutorial and go bananas with your future cakes.

There's Miss High Fashion 4 Less herself with her roses and Kata from The YouFinder.  Incidentally, that cake almost bit it on the cab ride over.  Happy 30th Sara!

Martha Stewart & the "Lucia" Cakes

I have some unbelievably exciting and crazy news!  I couple of weeks ago I received an email from the (wonderful) Senior Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings and the subject of the email included the words, "Guest Blogger".  I about flipped.  After nervously reading through the email (over and over) I freaked out and tried to contain my enthusiasm as I responded to her inquiry with a "Yes please" and a "I'm no professional, are you sure?" - just to make sure there hadn't been a mistake.  Well, the ensuing email exchange was amazing and delightful and charming and I'm thrilled to report that my first guest post for Martha Stewart Weddings' The Bride's Guide went up yesterday!  You can see it HERE!  I'm just over the moon about working with MSW on this fashion cake series.  The cakes will be inspired by wedding fashion which is so great because of the whimsical and creative weddings couples are having nowadays.  For the first post, I made a bride and groom's cake inspired by the amazing Stella McCartney - this time it was the "Lucia" design from her Fall 2011 collection.  Everyone from Kate Winslet to Gisele Bundchen was seen in these dresses and my cakes wanted to wear them too.

The groom's cake is triple dark chocolate ganache with a delicious chocolate buttercream (found on the Bride's Guide post) covered in cocoa powder and chocolate dots.  The first tier of the bride's cake is vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream and the second tier is chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting, both with white chocolate dots all over.  It was an adventure making these cakes... I still can't believe they made their debut on Martha Stewart Weddings!  Now, what will I make for The Bride's Guide next month...?

Photographed by Sebastian Marin

Mint Cake, Spring 2012

Mint has been dubbed the official color of Spring 2012...

And I made a cake to celebrate!

image via Pink Chocolate Break

I made this Chocolate Ganache cake with Peppermint Frosting for a dinner I was invited to by Lauren DeSantis, the DC Supper Club host for the Tri-Lamb Group supper club series.  I had such a blast at the dinner, everything, especially Lauren's braised lamb shanks, was delicious!  Lauren is pretty amazing; not only is she an attorney, but she is also the host and producer of Capital Cooking, (her very own T.V. show!) and the author of Capital Cooking Cookbook.  I will be sharing the recipe for this cake on her blog very soon. UPDATE: Find the recipe HERE!

mint outfit pic via Refinery29

I enlisted the expertise of the nicest pic-taker in DC, Sebastian Marin for my cake photos.  He is a very talented photographer (with fancy equipment and a gorgeous macro lens) and my cake has never looked so good!  Sebastian and my cakes will be seeing more of each other very soon...

Cake photographed by Sebastian Marin