Tired of traditional cake? Try a brownie cake!

One of the fun things about being a cake decorator and a grandma is being able to design birthday cakes for my grandchildren... at least the ones that are local. Occasionally, I will be visiting my out of state grandchildren on or near their birthdays, so I will get to decorate simple cakes for them. 

As you can probably imagine, my kids have had more than enough cake while growing up in the Leavitt home. We even resorted to buying birthday pies from Marie Callender's, so we would have a nice break from cake.  Now, for my daughter's family, I rarely make traditional cakes for their birthdays. This year I have made cream puff cakes, fruit pizzas, and their favorite... brownie cakes. 

I love working with brownies because they are dense, easy to shape, and most often there is no need to use the support that you would in a normal cake. And then the taste... well, who doesn't love a really great brownie? Rich, moist, chocolatey, layered with delicious buttery chocolate buttercream and maybe raspberry, peanut butter, or salted caramel filling. Wow! I get hungry just thinking about them. Granted, it has taken several years for me to perfect my brownie recipe at our high altitude. For my favorite brownie recipe, click here. One of the most important keys to baking a really great brownie is DO NOT OVERBAKE! Check for doneness a few minutes before recipe time... every oven is different. 

Here's some photos of the latest brownie cake I designed for 5 year old grandson, Hunter...

 Pirate treasure chest brownie cake... no support needed. Used a small wedge of RK treats to prop open the top.

Look at those rich fudgy brownies inside! Layered with buttercream, and entire cake was covered with chocolate buttercream and modeling chocolate. Bring on the milk!

Other cakes I have designed from brownies...

 Granddaughter Lexi's Harry Potter cake

 Granddaughter Carissa's Zootopia cake

 Granddaughter Lexi's July 4th Birthday/Baptism cake

 Granddaughter Carissa's Olaf Frozen cake

 Lexi's piano cake

Son-in-law Eddie's "Superdad" cake

Grandchildren and Birthday Cakes

One of the joys of life is seeing the looks on the faces of your grandchildren when you present them with a birthday cake designed especially for them. Every cake is made with an extra cup of love, and seeing their eyes light up when they see the cakes is worth every bit of all of the work that goes into these special creations. Since most of my grandchildren are far away, I don't always get to design cakes for them, but for right now, I do have 4 of the 14 nearby. And when I am fortunate to visit on one of their birthdays, Grandma sometimes gets to bake a cake at their home, even though those are not as deatiled as the ones I make at home.

Here is a sampling of some "Grandma Cakes". . .

The joy on their faces is worth everything...