Bows and Calla Lilies

Swirls, diamonds, butterflies and calla lilies make a sophisticated birthday cake. The cake was actually put together rather quickly. I made the bow with only two days to spare due to a strained back muscle. This is definitely out of the ordinary because a bow should set for atleast 3 days minimum. Especially a thick large bow like this one. There was some breakage when I first attempted to stack the bow loops, but I had made plenty of extra's. The calla lilies are very simple to make.Watch this video and you can learn too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUIjP1zRhH4 !!

So since my back hurt I decided on the calla lily because I was able to make a baker's dozen in about 3 hours total time. Roses would have taken twice as much if not longer to complete.

Before I forget, my Mom baked and filled the cakes. All I had to do was ice and add the decorations. I piped the swirls out of royal icing over parchment paper. I had to carefully pull the parchment paper off to avoid breaking the swirls. It worked out pretty good. My aunt was very happy, she's never had a birthday celebration so I felt a special cake was appropriate for her.

The bottom of the cake is a half sheet of tres leches (three milkds) and the top is a 10 in round of chocolate cake.

This cake fed about 80 people all together!

Stay tuned, I will be making a tutorial on putting together this cake shortly.

Circus Themed Birthday Cake

Children's birthday cakes are vibrant and playful! This is inspired by a cake from http://pinkcakebox.com/ . Their cakes are always very smooth and look very clean. So whenever I get a request to make a cake similar to theirs I always know that I have a lot to live up to. The design is simple, stars and stripes. However, when you stack it and make a large cake the stars, stripes and polka dots make it look very alive! This cake feeds close to 100 people. The bottom tier was a chocolate cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, the center was white cake with coconut cream cheese filling and the top cake is funfetti and vanilla buttercream.

(Quick note, the wire is not touching the cake inside. Instead I inserted the wire into coffee stirrers and cut the coffee stirrers just below the cake so they wouldn't show. Hopefully this example will help.)

If you want to do this use 20" floral wire, I got mine at Michael's. The coffee stirrers you can buy at Smart & Final. You will have to go through more than one sometimes, the holes on the coffee stirrers are not always big enough.

Here they are on the finished cake!

Fairy Birthday Cake

OMG! I loved making this cake! I loved the colors, the hand painting, the butterflies around the border, and covering the cake in fondant! It was a request for a little girls birthday cake themed around fairies and butterflies.

The butterflies and mushrooms I made ahead of time so that they could dry. The fairy I had to re-do twice, her head kept squishing down her neck:) It's funny now, but frustrating at the time! Being able to hand paint on fondant makes it so look more artistic.

Here's the final result!

The whole cake was covered in fondant. It was a white cake with strawberry filling. I got a call from the Mom of the birthday girl and she said that everyone loved it! That's always nice to hear!

Tropical Birthday Cake

A really young, bright cake is always fun to make. I always feel like I'm still a young girl, and then I remember I'm in my early 30's! LOL So I made this cake for my cousing who turned 24 in June. She handed out invitations with a Hawiian girl, in a grass skirt on the invitation. Right away I knew I wanted to design her cake in that direction.

There were two tiers, both iced in buttercream. The bottom was a Tres Leches cake and the top was a chocolate cake with milk chocolate ganache and german coconut. I have to mention that my mom baked the cakes. She really wanted to get involved and so I told her to bake the cake and I would decorate them. So my job was a little easier this time, it still took me about 4 hours to crumb coat and finish the cake. Why so long you ask? Well I had to pipe the grass skirt with a #2 round tip because I didn't have the grass tip. So I piped the grass one strand at a time. My hand hurts just thinking about it! But in a good fun way:) Okay, on to the details, the cake is iced the grass "skirt" is piped. I made the tropical flowers ahead of time so they have time to harden and hold their shape. I also made the seashells using a mold and painted it to give it a more realistic effect. I used copper gel paint mixed with vodka to taint the seashell slightly. So the cake was stacked tiny flowers and details added and voila! Here's the final cake! My cousin told me she loved it and she didn't want to cut it! How cute is she?!

U of A Graduation cake

I've been cranking out cakes this month again. Not on a full on bakery scale, but on a one woman operation scale:) So my next mission was a graduation cake. It doesn't look as large in the picture as it actually was in real life.

The bottom tier was a 16" round, for those of you who aren't familiar with pan sizes, this ginormous cake feeds about 90 people! That's just the bottom tier, next two tiers where 12" and 8". All in all this cake feeds over 150 people easily.

I have to admit the flavor requests were a little different for me. The bottom tier was chocolate with chocolate ganache and german coconut filling. The middle tier was pecan cake with cream cheese filling and the top cake was banana cake with coconut cream cheese filling.

The Top tier is covered in black fondant, and the bottom two tiers were iced in buttercream. This cake took me four days to complete from beginning to end. I had to make all the little gold beads that are in the center tier by hand, then brush them with gold luster dust and paint gold disco dust on top of that to get a glittery effect. I also had to color the gold stripes one by one after I added them to the cake with gold luster dust.

The maroon color took me almost an hour to knead and deepen to a richer color. Then I created the square on top fo the graduation cake by cutting a cake board and covering with black fondant. The tassle on the top was painted with gold luster dust and gold disco dust as well. Then I made pearl beads to add to the bottom of each tier. Also, the diploma in the center was fondant and the edges were painted with gold luster dust and gold disco dust. By the way, disco dust is my new best friend:) If you would like to purchase some try this link http://www.nycake.com/ .

Below is the finished cake!

Banana Cake Recipe

My previous post touched a little bit upon cakes from scratch versus box caked mixes. Well let me talk a little bit more about that. I'm a big believer in perfecting a cake recipe from scratch. If you're going to make a large tiered cake and you want to avoid a disaster you should throw in a cake from scratch in the lower tiers somewhere. They almost never break apart or crumble.
Good scratch cakes are hard to find, I will agree. I've tried so many recipes and my poor family has had to endure some not so good recipes:) hee hee
But one that I really like and always tastes good is a banana cake that I make every so often. Try it with the coconut cream cheese recipe and I think you will enjoy the combination. It's not hard to put together but it is a longer process than using a cake mix of course. I like to bake early in the morning or late at night, especially in the summer!

Banana Cake Recipe

2 sticks of butter softened
2 cups of packed brown sugar
3 ripe bananas equal to 2 cups
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups of cake flour plus 2 Tablespoons
6 tablespoons cornflour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp of real banana extract (optional)

Prepare the bottom of two 9" baking pans with nonstick spray then cut a waxed paper to fit the bottom of the pan and spray again.
Heat your oven to 350 F.
Sift the cake flour, cornflour, salt and baking powder in a bowl or over a piece of waxed paper. Then using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on, cream the butter at high speed until it is light and fluffy.
Add the brown sugar and mix slowly until well incorporated.
Add the eggs one by one on slow speed, until it is well incorporated.
Add the banana extract if desired.
Add the mashed bananas on slow speed until well blended.
Slowly add the dry ingredients a little at a time, turn off the mixer if you're not adding dry ingredients or you will overmix your batter.
Stop mixing once all of the dry ingredients are folded in.
Add batter to prepared pans and bake for 30-35 or until a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean.
If not ready bake in 5 minute increments.
Once it's done let it cool, then loosen the sides of the cake by running a knife around the edge of the cake pan. Turn over and let it cool completely.

Goes well with coconut cream cheese filling.

For the source of the banana cake and coconut cream cheese filling click http://www.easy-cake-ideas.com

3D Thomas the Tank Engine Cake

My son turned 2 years old and one of the things he really likes is Thomas the Tank Engine. Since it was a small kids party I decided to be brave and attempt a version of Thomas in 3D!! **gulp** I was nervous for about a week. So nervous that I didn't even want to start baking it! I knew I needed to make a very stable cake that would carve well. The best thing I could think of was a chocolate cake from scratch. They are always more dense and never break apart. Their are a lot of people who say that a cake from scratch is better than a boxed cake mix, then you give them a cake from scratch and guess what? They don't like it!! They say it's too hard, too dry or "not the same". This was my dilemna, I knew a scratch chocolate cake would not go over well, so I had to compromise the taste for structural integrity of the cake. I started by making the face out of fondant. I used a circle cutout and made it about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Then I made the chocolate cake. It was resting on a full sheet of cake. 1/2 was Tres Leches (Three Milks) and the other half was white pecan cake with coconut cream cheese filling...duh. LOL

I used my sons little Thomas to copy the facial features. Then I stacked and filled the chocolate cake with cookies and cream buttercream filling.

I really needed to concentrate so I put the kids to bed, then I grabbed my big serrated knife and started chopping off the front of the cake and trying to copy the shape of the train. Then funny enough I ran out of chocolate cake. All I had left was a box mix so I stuck it in the oven and then froze it for an hour so it would be firm. Nope, I could barely carve that sucker, it was not sturdy enough at all! Buttercream icing to the rescue!! I crumb coated my cake and stuck it in the fridge. The next morning I finished decorating the details on the tank and also on the full sheet cake. Well, my son saw the cake and screamed "Thomaaaaaaaassss!" Mission accomplished! :)

Playing Catchup!!

I have been getting cake orders every week for the last couple months. I know this doesn't seem like a lot, but most of them are cakes which require a lot of details. Such as edible flowers, handmade decorations, hand painting, fondant covering, fondant cutouts. All of these things can take hours maybe even a couple of days to complete. I have to plan early in the week with materials and recipes. Plus making sure the structure of the cake is strong enought to travel up to an hour. I have a lot of patience with these things and enjoy the planning and organizing the whole process requires. Otherwise, I would have stopped making cakes immediately. There are many more posts to come. I'm trying to catch up with my blog, so be patient. I don't know that anyone even reads this but if you do I will be back soon. I'm going to try posting recipes and maybe even a tutorial on how to make a fondant or gumpaste lily!!! So if you do read this blog check back soon and you may find something you may like:)
Also, if you live in Riverside County spread the word on my facebook page- Contempo Cakes by
Angela Cabral!

Thank you!!

May Religious Cakes

The month of May is filled with a lot of religious celebrations. There all once in a lifetime events for most people so they deserve a unique and tasty cake creation! :) Below are some of the cakes I created for these unique occasions!

The Pink Bow Cake!

This cake was for my cousins little girl. She wanted a pink and brown cake with stripes and polka dots. I had a similar creation in mind, however, my cousin sent me a cake image which is very similar to the one below. It had chocolate fondant accens, and pink and white fondant accents. The pink bow is made out of Sugarveil, it was the first time I got to play with my sugarveil and I was quite excited about that. Of course, everytime you try something new you find new challenges along the way. The Sugarveil is similar to royal icing only once it starts to set it becomes flexible and fabric-like. It took a lot longer than to set than the instructions stated. That put me a little behind schedule. Once it was done, I was able to cut the sugarveil with scissors and make a bow, just like I would make a fabric bow. The bottom tier was red velvet with cream cheese filling and the top tier was chocolate with strawberry swirl and strawberry bavarian cream. The cake doesn't have a topper because my cousing purchased her own and added it to the top of the cake.

Open Bible Cake

The Bible cake was made for a confirmation. It was chocolate cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and bananas, topped off with buttercream icing. The rosary, cross and dove are made with fondant.

Hello Kitty Communion Cake

I had two Hello Kitty cake requests. The first was for a birthday/first communion. It was red velvet with cream cheese and half caramel mousse topped with whipped icing. I drew a Hello Kitty by hand on fondant for the birthday side and the other side is a handmade edible Hello Kitty in a first communion dress. I added fondant accents, such as handmade sugar roses, cross, and chalice.

Hello Kitty Communion Cake Part II

The next cake is a half sheet cake similar to the one I made for the birthday/communion cake above. I made another Hello Kitty out of fondant and dressed her in a first communion dress. This time the color of choice was in lavender and I really like how this looked. It was a vanilla flavored cake with strawberry filling and iced in a vanilla whipped topping.

Baptism Church Cake

The final cake I had was a baptism cake for my two nieces. It was three tiers, the bottom tres leches, the middle was banana cake with coconut cream cheese filling. (You should know that I LOVE coconut cream cheese filling:)) The top tier was strawberry cake with raspberry mousse filling. There was a fourth cake on the side but that one didn't make it to the cake! By the way I must mention that this cake barely made it to the event! Whipped topping on a cake over two tiers is a big NO-NO!! It made for a very unstable cake and the chocolate cake slid off. Two things happened that avoided this disaster, first, the tier above was made out of banana cake, which is ALWAYS made from SCRATCH and is very stable and dense. Second, my husband was standing right next to the cake and was able to catch the cake before it tumbled to the ground!! The topping was ruined so I had to quickly make more whipped topping and RE-decorate the entire cake!!! I made it to the party with about 30 minutes to spare!!! But the end result was not bad for a quick redo:)

Happy Easter from Contempo Cakes

Well all the stress from the past months past and I'm taking time off Easter to relax and have fun with my family at the park! Phew, but what would Easter be without a cake? LOL I made this for the family to enjoy on Easter. The bottom tier is tres leches and the top tier is white cake with coconut cream cheese. By the way ask me what my favorite filling is and I will say coconut cream cheese every time:) I make it from scratch and the recipe never fails me. So I thought I share it with all of you today!

Coconut cream chese filling recipe:
3/4 lbs of powder sugar
1 lb of cream cheese softened (2 -8.oz packages)
3 sticks of butter softened
1 TBSP lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best but bottled works well too)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp imitation coconut extract

To soften the cream cheese and butter leave on countertop 1-2 hrs until softened. I use a kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment, but I'm sure you can use a hand mixer as well. Add all the ingredients in the order listed to the bowl, then on the lowest possible speed, blend together for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. That's it! You're ready to fill your cake. Or you can store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator for about a week if you need to make it ahead of time, let it come back to room temperature before filling the cake layers. This goes really well with banana cake, white cake, or spice cake.