Romy's Baking and Cake Decorating

Pistachio Cake with Raspberry and Lemon My Bubby turned 21 this year!  Whether or not we're living in a Simulation the passage of time, ever faster, is the only thing we can count on.  It was a joyous occasion and celebrated with a cookout attended by folks from all areas of his life, including friends and teachers from high school and now college.  He hasn't been this excited and happy since, well, his high school graduation a year ago!  For the occasion we "inaugurated" our new patio, though with a bit of trepidation because thunderstorms were in the forecast.  We set out chairs on the patio, and figured the rain would hold off long enough to grill, but we didn't dare set out the food and hold the entire party in the yard. This worked out nicely enough since in our house you can easily transition from living room to sunroom to patio.   With the threat of rain, we put the food out on a table in the sunroom.  There were peanuts, in a beautiful Pol...

  Easter Carrot Cake Once again for Easter, we were headed to Grandpa's house.  Once again, time to make Carrot Cake !  Some year when we stay home I'd like to try a different flavor recipe, but for now carrot cake is pretty much what the family expects. I wanted the cake to be small yet tall enough to decorate.  The past few years I've divided cupcake recipes into two 6" cake pans and it's worked more or less, but with the oven causing more and more inconsistent baking, I decided to look for a proper recipe.  I went with  this one  from Chelsweets.  It not exactly what I'd call small, because it has the same amount of ingredients as what you'd bake in 8" pans. But because of this, it did yield the tall layers I was looking for.    I followed the recipe to the letter, and it baked in 34 minutes. I frosted the cake with a simple cinnamon American Buttercream.   I wanted to do a Spring Pastel theme, because I was happy that this ...

Piping bags ready to go! Cake frosting has been a lifelong fascination of mine, odd as this may sound.  Growing up, there was a Swiss bakery in town where most people bought their cakes, and the bakery used what I now know to be Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC).  To add to the deliciousness they would cover the sides of the cake with slivered almonds. At birthday parties it was customary to serve the cake with a scoop of ice cream. Sheer heaven! But not for me!  It was very upsetting at the time that my own cakes were always frosted with a thin, sugary frosting, a type of glaze that only set on the top, instead of the rich frosting on my friends' cakes. This was because my father disliked what he called "greasy frostings", ie butter-based frosting.  And so for the rest of my life, I never shied away from rich buttercream frostings and enjoyed them probably all too frequently! Most baked goods you can buy are frosted with American Buttercream . Whether it be lemon fl...

  Speckled Bunnies Sugar Cookies I can't let Easter go by without making and decorating sugar cookies!  I use a basic recipe from Martha Stewart that I've had for a long time. Here it is: 3 cups flour 3/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 sticks butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 2 tsp vanilla extract Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, beat until combined. To make chocolate sugar cookies, replaced 1/3 cup flour with 1/3 cup cocoa powder.  I've been making these sugar cookies for many years and for all occasions. I've never tried any other sugar cookie recipe!  Years ago I used to spend an entire day decorating cookies, using different cutters, making many bags of royal icing in separate outline and flood consistencies, and in different colors. Then I learned to use just one consistency for both outlining and flooding and got away from intricate decorations.  I want to keep u...

Lamb cake. Today I decided to making a cake in my Wilton 3D Lamb cake pan . I think the Lamb Centerpiece Cake is so cute and had been wanting to make and decorate one since I got my pan in 2020.  But, five years later, I'd yet to do so. The reason is that we always go to Grandpa's house for Easter, and I've been afraid to take a 3D cake on a 2.5 hour car ride. We're going again this year, but I decided to make the cake anyway. If it looked stable enough for the trip, I could make it again for Easter weekend. If not, at least I'd have broken in my lamb pan. Wilton lamb cake pan. I looked high and low for a recipe because I wanted to make it a coconut cake. I finally settled on  this recipe  from Southern Living. Here it is written out: Ingredients: 2 cups All Purpose Flour 1.5 tsp Baking Powder 3/4 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 cup Butter, softened 1 cup Sugar 2 large Eggs 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 1/2 tsp Almond Extract 1 cup Buttermilk Directions: Oil and flour the...

Snickerdoodle Basketball Cake! Bubby's has really enjoyed being part of a basketball team this winter.  Ever since he was 5 years old, he's said basketball is his favorite sport, but up to now has never had a chance to be part of a team. When the opportunity arose we hesitated a bit because it seemed like an ideal place to catch Covid. But ultimately he has to live his life, and we encouraged him. And he had such a great - and healthy - season! For the team's end-of-season party we were asked for contributions and I knew immediately a cake was in order. I was very happy no one else volunteered cake, either.  I needed to think of a flavor that everybody would like so I went with Snickerdoodle cake.  I like  this recipe  from Preppy Kitchen because it tastes great, doesn't require special ingredients, and makes for a tall cake that is more fun to decorate.  I used it for Bubby's graduation cake last year and it was a hit. Initially, I thought of making a 3D b...