Website!

My website is finally up and running! I haven't uploaded a lot of pictures yet, but you can help change that with a custom cake order of your own!

Check it out!

http://www.wix.com/bkolodziej/kolodziejcakes

Many thanks!

BK.

Red Velvet Marbled Cheesecake Cupcakes.

If your mouth doesn't water when reading the title of this blog, I just want to let you know, there is a world you need to discover, and it's called red velvet cheesecake! These were SOOO yummy!

They might look a little funny and uneven, but the taste will definitely make up for that, and with a dash of cream cheese frosting on top....heaven. I'm first going to share the recipe with you and then give a rundown of my experience in making them, along with any helpful tips I can think of.



Red Velvet & Cheesecake Marbled Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 325F and put muffin papers or silicone cups in 12 muffin cups.

Orange Cheesecake

• 1 four oz package of cream cheese (not low fat)
• 2 tablespoons of freshly grated orange peel
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Beat together until creamy and well blended. Do not whip because you don’t want to incorporate air.

Red Velvet Cake

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
• 4 tablespoons food grade red food color
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole milk buttermilk (do not get skim or low fat)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar (it has less flavor than any other type)

1. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.
3. Use a rubber scraper to pull any remaining butter mixture off the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Mix again until well blended.
4. In a separate bowl mix the food color and the cocoa until it makes a paste.
5. Add the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture and mix until it is evenly blended. Spoon through to check for streaks.
6. Add 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and beat on low speed until blended.
7. Add half of the flour and blend.
8. Add the remaining buttermilk, blend and then add the remaining flour. Now stir in the baking soda and vinegar until blended.

Assemble

1. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 the way with the red velvet batter.
2. Add a tablespoon or so of cheesecake batter to the top.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cupcakes are firm to the touch. Don’t overbake!
4. Cool completely.

First of all YES there is a hint of orange in the cheesecake, I liked the citrus twist it added, but obviously yes, the orange can also be optional.

Second, when purchasing the red food coloring, you need to purchase the LARGER bottle, I only had a small one and it only gave me about 2 tablespoons, so I had to adjust the cocoa a bit to make sure it still became a paste.

Third, DONT FREAK OUT when you pour the vinegar into the mix at step 8 and it bubbles, it's normal!

My fourth and last tip would have to be if you really really really like cheesecake, like me, I would double the cheesecake recipe. That would allow for you to have an equal layer of cake and also cheesecake.

That's about all my tips and tricks I have for you, sprinkle with cocoa and enjoy!

Rose Cupcakes.

How adorable are these?! I wanted to add a little bit of pizazz to my everyday, ordinary cupcakes and thought, "Why not roses?!"

The red rose is piped on top of a mini cupcake and the white is piped on a regular cupcake. If you're a beginner, I suggest you start with mini cupcakes. It's less cupcake to work with and frankly, I like it better than the larger rose.

I'm posting a link of the Wilton Step-By-Step rose making guide below, I feel that they're more precise and detailed than I would be at trying to tell you how in the world I did this. Now obviously, my roses are a little different and a lot bigger, but that's because I piped my rose directly onto the top of the cupcake, however, I did still start with the base in step 1 and 2 of the guide, my base was just a little wider and not as tall.

NOTE: you do need a rose tip (or 104 as Wilton says). I did not use the round tip (tip 12), I simply just used the rose tip, but held it flat against the cupcake and piped a small little mountain.

One of the coolest things I think you can make with rose cupcakes, or any other flower cupcake for that matter, is a cupcake bouquet! They are fantastic, and actually look like real flowers! Hopefully I will make one in the near future and share it with all of you grand followers!

Without further adue, here is the link so you can start piping your cupcake roses today! Good Luck!

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Roses

Baby Bump Me Happy.

Another cake that I've really loved doing and have had a lot of positive response from is the Baby Bump Baby Shower cake! It is just so fun and let's be honest absolutely looks adorable!

For this particular cake I actually designed the belly and boobies out rice crispy treats! They are so easy to work with and even more easy to ice and cover in fondant because they are sturdier and hold together better than regular cake. Obviously you can make the dress any color or design depending on the baby shower theme.

For example I also made this cake for another baby shower that was jungle themed! I made the zebra stripes by rolling black fondant into "snake-like" strips onto already rolled white fondant. And then i make the little elephant and lion out of fondant, which I'm really happy with too! With this jungle cake I baked the cake mix in different sized mixing bowls, it was a little more difficult and the boobies turned out a little bigger than in the rice crispy cake did, but just like women cakes come in all different shapes and sizes too!

White Cake Recipe

For my very first blog I'm going to go back in time for a bit and explain how I've made some of my cakes in the past. I'll start with a basic white cake recipe from Martha Stewart.

As we all know Martha Stewart is the Queen of anything any woman loves (or wishes she was good at): cooking, gardening, and of course all things crafty! I'm always looking for new and yummy cake recipes to try, but most importantly I'm looking for a recipe that produces a delicious light and fluffy cake that has a nice crumb to it, the following recipe has everything I've been looking for! I think the key to the fluff in this recipe are the egg whites! NOTE: Please have patience to beat the egg white until STIFF PEAKS FORM! It's well worth the wait I promise!

I used the following recipe to make this latest wedding cake for two of my good friends, it was my first wedding cake for another couple (other than my wedding cake I made). I'm very happy with the way it turned out and everyone really loved it (whew!). 

This three tiered cake is an all white cake with buttercream covered in fondant and gumpaste flowers. As I've already stated this was my first try at covering a tiered cake all in fondant and also my first try at making gumpaste flowers, I think it turned out very well and like I said everyone loved it! So without further adue from Martha Stewart herself, a yummy and flaky white cake recipe that is sure to please any crowd!

The Martha Stewart Show, May Spring 2007

• Yield Makes one 12-by-18-inch sheet cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking sheet
• 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for baking sheet
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 8 egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 12-by-18-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet, tapping out any excess flour; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
4. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture.
5. Transfer batter to prepared baking sheet and smooth batter evenly with a spatula or back of a spoon. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool 10 minutes. Invert cake onto rack, then reinvert and let cool completely.