I have posted some pictures of some of the cakes I did this year for Thanksgiving. I think I did around 12 cakes total for this Thanksgiving.
I did this cake for a celebration we had at my maternal grandmother's house. My aunt was in town from Austin TX, and my cousin had just had a birthday. It is a 2-layer angel food cake with assorted fresh fruits between the layers along with a whipped cream cheese filling. Fresh fruits on top.
Everyone in attendace was on a diet so I did the very best I could. I happen to like incorporating fresh fruits into my cakes, but you have to get them eaten faster in that case. Again, I'm not really seeing a down side at all.
I intend on using this turkey cake in some advertising for my cakes. My daughter wanted a turkey cake, and this was what came out. I think it's kinda cute, and it was fun to make. Like playing with play doh. It was a german chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting/ coconut/ pecan filling. We ended up taking this cake down to the fire station for the fireman's dinner. I usually donate most of my "practice cakes" to them. The people at work are all on diets.
My daughter was not too thrilled at losing the first turkey cake I made, even if it was for a good cause. So I made this cake for her school party. The cake is butter cake with tinted vanilla frosting and a marshmallow fondant overlay. The body of the turkey is made of rice krispie treat, covered with marshmallow fondant. Kids love marshmallows. She was happy with the substitution. I just couldn't send a cake with coconut and nuts in it to her school because of allergies. I never thought of that before I started the cake... I'm pretty flaky at times. I also made some turkey cupcakes for the kids that weren't allergic to chocolate, but I don't have a picture of them, the teacher hasn't emailed me any pictures (and I forgot to take any.)
This cake was made for the celebration we had at my paternal grandmother's Thanksgiving celebration, which was basically a huge picnic. It was pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese filling. I made a chocolate clay out of chocolate and corn syrup and rolled out a thin sheet of it, and that's what is covering the cake. I made the bow out of a white chocolate version of the candy clay, and painted it gold with edible gold luster dust. The pumpkins were store-bought decorations. I also used the gold luster dust to stamp some leaf designs on the candy clay shell of the cake.
This was my version of a Tiramisu. It's more cake-like than real Tiramisu. You can also decorate it like a cake. I usually soak the liqueur into the center of the cake and use a heavy italian creme between the layers. Then I saran wrap it overnight and let everything soak through and settle. The next day I use a mixture of buttercream frosting and Italian creme to cover the cake. Then I decorate it as I would any other cake. If you aren't careful it will come apart, but with a little prayer (and flowers to cover the mistakes) it usually turns out okay. 
4 comments:
The pumpkin spice cake looks divine. How do you roll the icing so smooth? Do you use a different recipe than the kind you slather on?
I love your turkey cake too! You are so talented!
I use a crusting buttercream icing for icing, which you can get very smooth if you wait for the icing to crust, take a Viva brand paper towel (they are smooth) or parchment paper and lay on the cake and smooth with your hand (I use a clean putty knife with a straight edge).
However, with the pumpkin spice cake, I used an extra layer on top of the icing called "candy clay."
This is just basically baking chocolate melted and mixed with corn syrup. It makes a tough dough, which I roll out into a sheet and lay over the cake and cover it like with fondant. So it makes a chocolate "shell" around the whole cake.
It's pretty cool to use for decorating if you use a non-crusting icing, or an icing that has nuts or something in it. You can also use the candy clay like real clay and make figures out of it. If you make it with white chocolate you can color it using candy colors (similar to food coloring.)
Oh, and thank you for all your kind compliments...
I watch these cake baking contests on the food channel and your cakes are just as divine.
Will look for a recipe for candy clay that I think I can handle, then will try a small holidayish cake. (I am thinking of a white square with a red ribbon tied around it. Go simple at first.) If it works out, I'll take a picture and post it. If not, well, my talents lie in other directions!
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