Cake For A Crowd

Mini Red Velvet Cakes

Before serving, place each cake in a cupcake liner and add a dollop of cream cheese icing.

These Mini Red Velvet and Carrot Cakes were part of a dessert buffet that I recently catered and of all the things I made, they were the easiest and very well received. I think people liked that the mini cakes were small enough that they could try one of each without over indulging and I liked that I was serving cake without having to slice and plate it.

To make the mini cakes, I simply baked my favorite Red Velvet and Carrot Cakes and then broke them into crumbs that I mixed with enough cream cheese icing to form a mixture that would hold together. This is basically how cake balls are made except that I skipped the rolling into balls step and the dipping into a coating step and just scooped (I used a 1-inch cookie scoop) and released the cakes flat side down on a piece of parchment paper. When you are ready to serve, place each cake in a mini cupcake paper and add a dollop of cream cheese icing on top. That's all there is to it and you have my favorite new way to serve cake to a crowd.

Mini Carrot Cakes

A tray of mini carrot cakes at the reception.

Here are the cake and icing recipes I used, but don't be afraid to get creative and make these using other cake and frosting recipes. Be creative and have fun.

Red Velvet Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ounce red food coloring
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

Cream butter, add vanilla and mix well. Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs, sour cream, food coloring and buttermilk. Mix well.

Add salt and baking soda. Mix well.

Add cocoa powder and flour and mix just until blended. Don't over mix.

Divide batter among the two cake pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable (I have also used canola or olive oil)

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups raw grated carrots (I usually add an additional cup to bring the total to 4)

1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. With a whisk, cream together sugar and oil. Add eggs; cream well. Add flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add carrots, nuts and pineapple. Mix well and pour into two 9-inch cake pans that are greased and floured. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

 Cream Cheese Icing

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

12 oz. (1 1/2 pkg.) cream cheese 

1/4 cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whip cream cheese and butter thoroughly. Add vanilla. Add sugar, a little at a time and whip until smooth.

 

Tiered Anniversary Cake

Cake closeup.

I made two large single layer cakes that we could cut into right away so that the stacked cake could stay intact for as long as possible.

 I'm happy to report that Michael and Marc loved their anniversary cake. I'm so pleased and in debt to my wonderful friends Cindy, Cheryl, Anne and Tiffany who helped me set up and serve.  It takes a team to cut hundreds of slices of cake.

Cindy also deserves a special shout out for helping me transport and stack the cake. On the ride to the church she held a cake on her lap, kept the flowers from tipping over and calmed my nerves.

I had to drive so slow and carefully to keep the cakes safe that I'm sure I irritated other drivers. Cindy and I came to the conclusion that I need a "cake on board" sign for my car. 

Cakes in the car. Cindy ended up holding the smallest cake in her lap and I'm so glad she did.  It would have tipped for sure had I left it in the back of the car.

It's such a good feeling when a cake is done and you realized it survived transport and stacking unscathed.

Once at the church, the setup went fairly smoothly and best of all, the cake was a hit. Thank you Michael and Marc for choosing me to be a part of your special day. Making cakes for friends is the best! Happy Anniversary!


Here are the recipes:


Red Velvet Cake
(makes 2 9-inch cakes)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ounce red food coloring
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

Cream butter, add vanilla and mix well. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, food coloring and buttermilk. Mix well. Add salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add cocoa powder and flour and mix just until blended. Don't over mix.

Divide batter among the two cake pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.


Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the milk and half of the sugar until simmering.

In the meantime, in a small bowl combine the cream, the other half of the sugar and cornstarch. Mix well with a whisk.

When the milk is simmering,  pour about half of it into the cream mixture and whisk well. Add it back to the milk in the saucepan and heat, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes very thick.

Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Put the mixture into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the mixture cool completely.

When the buttercream base is cool, transfer it to a mixer and whip until smooth, add the butter and the cream cheese, a tablespoon at a time and whip until light and fluffy.

Days Of Cake

It's been cake, cake and more cake at my house over the last few days as I've been working hard trying to make the best celebration cake for my friends Marc and Michael's 10th wedding anniversary today.

They have been so supportive and easy going about me making it, basically saying, "Heidi we would like you to make our cake and anything you do is fine." Seeing the finished cake will be a complete surprise and I so hope they will be pleased.

I promise to post a picture of the finished cake later today but until then, here are a few pictures of what I've been up to:

Decorated Cakes

Alana with her iced carrot cake topped with a carrot made out of fondant.

Here are the finished cakes and cupcakes from a fun afternoon of cake decorating with Alice and her daughter Alana.

Since fifth-grader Alana is very interested in cake decorating, her mom and I mostly sat on the sidelines and encouraged her as she decorated all three cakes and boy did she impress me. She wasn't afraid to jump right in and just go for it yet she was still very thoughtful and focused as she worked - traits of a successful cake decorator.

When it came time to decorate the berry filled vanilla cupcakes, Alana and her mom took on the task together.

It was a fun day and I'm pretty positive Alana has many more beautiful cakes in her future.

Decorating the red velvet cake with icing swirls.

The finished red velvet cake.

Iced berry filled vanilla cupcakes.

A chocolate cake iced with espresso Swiss meringue buttercream. It was the cake with a little of everything - Swiss dots, a shell border, filigree, flowers and leaves.

Red Velvet Cake With Coconut Cream Cheese Icing

The addition of coconut to the cream cheese icing makes this cake extra special.

Icing the cake. I always start at the top and work my way down over the sides of the cake.

I love my recipe for red velvet cake.

The batter is thick and loaded with tasty ingredients like buttermilk, sour cream and pure unsalted butter.

I use my basic red velvet recipe for both cupcakes and cakes and have been thinking of ways to change it by alternating the traditional cream cheese icing. The addition of shredded sweetened coconut and a half teaspoon of coconut extract does just the trick.

This cake is super moist and chocolatey.  The red cake and snowy icing makes it perfect for the holidays but it's good on any occasion.

Two red velvet cakes ready for the oven.

Red Velvet Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ounce red food coloring
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

Cream butter, add vanilla and mix well. Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs, sour cream, food coloring and buttermilk. Mix well.

Add salt and baking soda. Mix well.

Add cocoa powder and flour and mix just until blended. Don't over mix.

Divide batter among the two cake pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.

Coconut Cream Cheese Icing
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 box cream cheese (8 oz) room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/3 cups shredded and sweetened coconut
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

Whip together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and whip again.

Add the heavy cream and whip until light and spreadable. Add the coconut and coconut extract and whip again.