Gender “Reveal” Cake

Baking date: March 25, 2017

Friends of ours are expecting their first grandchild this September. Their daughter contacted me and asked if I could make a gender reveal cake. She was finding out on a Thursday, and the family was gathering on Saturday, when the gender would be revealed.

I had found a great idea for a cake on Pinterest, however, the gender reveal was not to be. That’s because the Mimi-to-be could not wait the three days to find out. But I decided to make a gender cake anyway to help the family celebrate.

Another idea I had seen on Facebook for a gender reveal was this:

So I decided to make the cake to mimic the Hershey bar gender reveal.

This family has an affinity for snickerdoodle anything, so I started with a snickerdoodle cake recipe with brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting. I used the loaf cake pan set for the perfect rectangular shape.

For the frosting, I dyed some of it darker brown for the top and the piping at the base. For the letters, I used canned white icing, and dyed a small portion of it rose. I used a #47 basket weave tip, with the smooth side up to spell out HERSHEY’S. (Baker’s note: I have used the white icing coloring in the past, but I find it takes a lot to get even the lightest buttercream white, it has a taste I do not like and also it changes the texture of the icing. That’s why I go for the canned white frosting when a pure white frosting is the goal).

For the bursts around the top, I added pink sugar pearls in the middle of each burst and a smaller burst row inside in leftover rose icing. At the base, I made brown dyed icing bursts, with more of the mini-bursts in rose in the center.

Here’s a top view of the cake:

And a view from the side so you can see the base: 

Here’s the inspiration photo with the cake:

Congrats Kaitlyn and Kevin on your exciting news!

Cake and Candy Fail

Baking date: May 16, 2015

I was commissioned to make cupcakes for the daughter of a friend. It was for her bridal shower and I was thrilled to make something girly (I have boys, so I rarely get to make girly things!).

In addition to the cupcakes, I wanted to make her family a snickerdoodle cake with brown sugar buttercream frosting. I was trying out a new cake pan (giant cupcake) and had found a recipe for sea glass candy. I planned to decorate the base of the cake with sea glass candy, which would complement the beach theme of her bridal shower/wedding.

Everything worked fine with the cake pan. Until I got to the frosting part. I was using my cake frosting turntable, and was almost done. And then I accidentally hit the tilt button. This is what happens when you accidentally hit the tilt button:

And then this happens when you have two dogs who will eat anything. Mocha and Jake gave this baking fail two paws up.

In addition to the cake fail, the sea glass candy never set. I’m guessing I didn’t get the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture to the required 300 degrees (note to self: purchase a candy thermometer!). Even after being in the frig overnight to set, this is what happened when I tested it.

Just a reminder…not all my good intentions turn out the way I hope!

Snickerdoodle Cake

Baking Date: May 27, 2014

I have made this Snickerdoodle cake before, but I used canned butter cream icing that I added a bit of cinnamon sugar mix to before icing. I also didn’t try to make it the four-layer variety, as the inspiration recipe called for.

When the sister of one of my son’s baseball teammate’s had knee surgery to repair an injury from soccer, I decided to try it again in all its buttery glory — including the brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting recipe.

Here’s the inspiration photo:

The inspiration photo
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Below is my cake. I didn’t use cinnamon sticks for garnish; I just kept it simple.  A note about the frosting – it makes a ton! I had enough for the four layer cake, 24 snickerdoodle cupcakes, and another 24 cupcakes.

My snickerdoodle cake

The cake and frosting received an enthusiastic thumbs up. Get well soon, Lauren!