Another, tastier, zebra cake . . .

I have found my favorite cake recipe. It's from Recipezaar, White Almond Sour Cream Cake. Half a recipe makes a 9x13 cake.

The texture is wonderful, moist, but durable enough to stack without crumbling. And it's delicious.

I made two 6" layers (and a pan of cupcakes that I delivered to a special friend). After leveling (it didn't require much trimming), I cut each layer in half and filled with strawberry cream cheese filling. Unfortunately I had extra filling and I've been eating it on everything! It's delicious.

I was a little concerned about the layers slipping because I used a generous amount of filling. I probably should have stabilized it with a dowel, but I didn't. Here's what it looked like filled. Notice my layers are not even. I never measure, but I will if I'm trying to get more than two layers from a cake.

I made a pink bow to go on top, this time using a trick I saw in the Cake Art book, layering two colors, so the bow was pink on the outside and white on the inside. If I was bolder, I would have tried black on the inside to really make the pink pop. Maybe next time.

I covered the cake in white almond fondant, cut black zebra stripes, and attached the bow to the top. Turned out very cute, but I didn't trim enough off the sides after I covered it, so the edges were "baggy" for lack of a better word.

I just hope that the bow held up and the layers didn't slip before they ate it!

Trimmed with the Susan Komen pink M&Ms. If I had known those were limited edition, I would have stocked up.

Cakes

Last year, for Cami's first birthday, I tried to make a really pretty cake, but it was pretty much a disaster. The layers weren't sturdy enough, the fondant sweated on the cake, and the overall effect was sloppy instead of cute. The pastel colors were all wrong and I just didn't like it. I'm ashamed to include it's ugly picture.

So this year, I vowed to do better. I had some success with Lakelyn's sleepover cake. It was totally adorable. Their little vanilla wafer faces were cute. Marshmallow pillows, fruit roll up border on the blanket, and twinkie bodies under it. Since then, I have made a rocket cake for my physics class (and I don't have a picture!) and several cakes for family. I made this hat cake for Mother's Day. The girls picked the colors and cut out the polka dots.

For Cami's 2nd birthday, I wanted to do a caterpillar cake. I had seen some made using a sports ball pan, but I couldn't find a pan like that in the MS Delta metropolis, so I used another idea that I found online. A bundt cake turned on it's side and cut. I covered each section in brightly colored fondant that I dyed using the Neon food colorings. It's sitting on top of a brownie and the antenna are plastic stirring sticks that I had in the pantry. I think it turned out great.

Encouraged and optimistic, when a friend asked if I "make cakes", I said "sure!" She wanted a barnyard cake for a 2 year old's birthday party. I had been wanting to try making animals out of fondant, so I dove right in. Here's what I ended up with. I made 3 little piggies, a horse with saddle, a hen with 5 chicks, a cow and two hay bales. I cut out the shape of a barn and silo and stuck them on the botton layer. I found a little John Deere tractor toy and included that as well. There's a fence around the bottom layer made from chocolate. Overall, I think it's cute and fun. I would definitely do something different with the layers. I alternated chocolate and yellow cake layers, and the yellow layers weren't as sturdy. They collapsed just a little causing the sides to buckle slightly. I supported the top layer with 3 dowels and a little carboard circle and covered the carboard base in chocolate fondant.

This weekend, I finished a baby shower cake for a shower tonight. What do you think? I'm learning something with each cake and I'd really like to skip work and make a few more cakes!