Dark Chocolate Buttercream on Whipped Cream

I designed a cake this weekend with simple, yet elegant decorations done with dark chocolate (to look like black). I didn't know how it would hold up on the whipped cream icing, but it did just fine. It is always a trial to set up a cake iced in whipped cream, as the whipped cream tends to be very unforgiving. The icing goes on very smooth and looks wonderful, but if any repair work is needed after the cake has set for awhile, it is very hard to make it look good, and it is almost certain that some touch up work will be needed somewhere.  That's when flowers, etc. come in nicely. . . or you can also make certain the touched up part is at least not in the front of the cake. The flavor of this cake was dark chocolate mint with chocolate mint mousse filling.

Italian Cream Cake

A prospective wedding cake customer asked me if I would be able to do her cake in a family recipe for "Italian Cream Cake." I told her I would need to test it out before I would give her an answer. So she gave me the recipe, and I made it for friends at our New Year's Eve dinner. It was a huge hit...very yummy cake. I can't give you the recipe without permission, but I will definitely make it again. I will tell you it had pecans and coconut, and the entire cake was iced and filled in cream cheese frosting, with coconut on the sides, and chopped pecans on top...yummm!

Happy New Year!

I received an order for 5 dozen cupcakes for New Year's Eve day. I'm not a huge cupcake fan, but wanted to do something a little special for this order. First I went to my "Paint" program, and came up with a design that I thought would work,  then printed it out enough times to use as a pattern. 

Then I melted both dark and white chocolate and piped each of the designs. After the designs cooled and hardened, I brushed them with gold highlighter dust.

Since I wanted the frosting to be somewhat festive, I decided to stripe my decorating bag with liquid paste color, so that the icing would come out 2 tone. I iced the yellow cupcakes with blue and the chocolate with purple.

Here are the finished products...

The Smells and Tastes of the Season...

Ahhh, the smell of fresh baked cinnamon rolls, or the "yumminess" of decorated sugar cookies...what Santa could resist these cookies waiting for him as the jolly old man comes down the chimney? 

Cookies and hot cocoa for Santa

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

Here is my sugar cookie recipe that I have used for many years. It is so yummy...soft and just sweet enough. They melt in your mouth. They are good just iced with buttercream frosting and sprinkled with cookie sprinkles, but when I want them to be really special, I dip them in fondant and then decorate them.   
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Blend in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough 1/4" thick on floured surface. Cut into shapes. Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 6-8 min. or until just set and barely brown on bottom. Do not overbake. Ice with fondant or buttercream icing if desired. Makes 2 1/2 - 3 doz. cookies. (You can even just use a can of store-bought icing and sprinkle with red and green sprinkles.)

Sugar cookies dipped in fondant and drying on rack

Cute snowman

Christmas tree and stocking

Chocolate Mint Mousse Wedding Cake

A visitor to my website requested some information about making a chocolate mint mousse cake for her daughter's wedding. First of all, she lives at a very high altitude, so it is necessary to make a few changes when baking the cake. For the chocolate mint cake, I use Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate and add 1 tsp. of mint flavoring to each cake mix. I also add 1/4 cup flour and an extra egg (4 total) to each mix. If I am using 2 mixes (I never mix more than 2 mixes at once), I add 7 eggs instead of 6. Also, be very careful not to put too much batter in the cake pans. Too much batter will also make the cakes sink in the middle. I used to always bake my cakes at 325 degrees instead of the recommended 350 degrees because the cakes turned out moister. At high altitudes, I have to raise the temperature slightly to 335 degrees. Just be careful not to overbake the cake. 


The layers of the cake are torted (split) and filled with a chocolate mint mousse. The recipe is as follows:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

Approx. 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Approx. 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 cups of whipped topping

Andes mint pieces

Beat cream cheese until soft and smooth. Scrape bowl and gradually add the cocoa and powdered sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy, scraping the bowl often. Fold in the whipped topping and mint pieces.

I would normally ice this cake in a chocolate whipped cream with Andes mint pieces sprinkled on top, but for a wedding cake, I would ice it in a regular whipped cream. One of my past entries will give you the best recipe for a stabilized whipped cream icing. It is important that the cake stays refrigerated after decorating it until just before setting it up. Here are two pictures...one shows the chocolate mint mousse cake, and the other shows a wedding cake iced in whipped cream.                                           

Chocolate Mint Mousse Specialty Cake

Wedding cake iced with whipped cream icing

Tips on working with chocolate ganache

1. Make sure your ganache is the proper consistency. Do not add too much cream.
2. Your buttercream icing underneath should also be the proper consistency. The trick is to make the icing spread smoothly, but don't make it too soft, or it will melt.
3. Do not let the cream boil before adding your chocolate...it should be steamy, but not boiling. After adding your chocolate, keep stirring until smooth.
4. If your ganache is too warm, let it cool slightly before pouring it onto your cake.
5. Position your buttercream iced cake (that you have placed on a cake board that is the same size as the cake) on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet or bun pan, and then pour on the ganache and let it drip down to cover the sides. When it has set up slightly, move the cake to your platter or dish or cake board that you will be serving it on. The excess ganache should remain under the cooling rack on the cookie sheet, and should be starting to setting up. You can scrape it up and add it to any leftover ganache and use it for decorating. 
6. Now you can add a bottom border and whatever other decorations that you choose. Remember, you can let the ganache set up a bit longer and then use it to make perfect chocolate roses. 

Icing Under Ganache

Tuesday was my daughter, Paula's 26th birthday, and so she invited a few friends over for cake and ice cream. The cake she requested was vanilla with chocolate mousse filling, covered with a dark chocolate ganache. I filled the cake with two layers of the chocolate mousse and put a layer of rich chocolate buttercream in the middle. I also iced the cake with the chocolate buttercream, which made the chocolate ganache go on much smoother. The cake was just what Paula ordered, and was a hit with her friends. Happy Birthday, Paula!