Surfer Cake

Apparently I'm on a cake kick because it seems like they're all I've been making in the past few weeks.  Case in point: this post is my fourth in a row about it.  I can't help it...lots of occasions to celebrate I guess!

My friend Marcelo was having a party to celebrate not only his birthday, but also house warming.   He and his wife Juliana recently moved out of SF and found a house in the suburbs that was more dog friendly for their mini Australian shepherd.   Marcelo loves to surf and their house is just a stone's throw from the beach so I thought a surfing themed cake seemed appropriate for the celebration.

The cake consists of three layers of carrot (with pineapple and coconut mixed in) filled with boiled milk cream cheese frosting and decorated with Swiss meringue buttercream.  Ring a bell?  It should since it's basically the same cake flavors from my last post, found here.  

For the sandy beach I used graham cracker crumbs, the ocean is made of colored buttercream, and the beach towel and beach ball are made of tinted fondant.   I really love how it turned out and hope the birthday boy enjoys it too.

Yuhuuuuu....surf's up!  Happy Birthday Marcelo!!!!

Confetti Carrot Cake

I made this cake for Julia, who not only had a baby recently (check out the baby shower cake I made for her here) but was also celebrating a milestone birthday.  I wanted the cake to be something happy, blissful and festive.  I think a Confetti Cake checks all the boxes.   The rainbow of colors can't help but bring cheer to any occasion, no?

Julia's  favorite cake is carrot with cream cheese frosting so I turned to weelicious' awesome recipe.  It's the easiest thing to make and tastes fantastic!  For the cream cheese frosting I turned to my absolute favorite one from Cook's Country which uses a boiled milk paste.  Trust me when I tell you it's AMAZING and probably unlike any cream cheese frosting you've had before...super light, fluffy and not too sweet.

The best thing about this cake is how easy it is to decorate.  Once you fill and frost the cake just press the confetti sprinkles to the sides.  This technique hides a myriad of mistakes so you don't need to be a master decorator at all to get fantastic looking results.   Give it a try, you'll see!