I confess I stuck to the original recipe ingredients to see if I could speed up the time it takes to prepare. Not that its a difficult or a time consuming cake to make it’s just that the first step is soaking the fruit overnight in the fridge and this is hurry up cakes.com after all )

There are numerous versions of this cake around and all seem to be popular so I used the one I thought most versatile.

At its simplest this cake could be prepared if you got unexpected visitors with the bare minimal time spent away from them. It needs virtually no preparation or nannying .

So on with the ingredient list:

600ml of chocolate flavoured milk (or coffee  or banana or caramel etc.)

2 (Australian) cups of self-raising flour

only 3 simple fruit cake ingredients

1kg of mixed dried fruit

Seeing as that didn’t take up much room I’ll convert:

20 fl. oz.of chocolate flavoured milk (or coffee  or banana or caramel etc.)

2  cups of self-rising flour + a rounded tablespoon to round up to an Aussie cup size

2.3 lb of mixed dried fruit

On to the method.

The original recipe tells you to mix the milk and fruit together and leave in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you sift the flour into the soaking fruit and mix well. Then you put the mixture into the tin and bake. The emphasis is on the soaking over night. The most important step.

Heh. I wanted to see if it could be made quicker than that and it can.

In a lot of the traditional fruit cake recipes I use soaking the fruit, in say tea or juice, is quite common. Again using the soak over-night method but what I’ve found is adding the fruit to the liquid and gently warming it until its just hot, then letting it sit and cool for a short while does the job just about the same.

So I thought I’d try this with the flavoured milk.

Now if you are following my instructions to replicate exactly what I did you will need to add the milk and fruit to a pan and warm gently.

Then you forget to turn down the heat and walk away for a minute while you wait for it to heat up.  You check twitter and get distracted until you hear the sound of boiling milk setting itself firmly to your stove-top ;o)

Spilt chocolate milk

Did you know that bringing flavoured milk to a rapid boil encourages it to split into watery liquid and gloopy clusters of lumps? Well you do now.

So this was turning into a boiled-fruitcake kind of recipe and that isn’t what we wanted, so I guesstimated how much liquid I’d lost and added an equal quantity of normal moo juice.

An after thought was to only warm the fruit in half the milk and keep the second half chilled. Then after warming you could add the chilled milk to make the whole thing cool down quicker.

If anyone tries this please let me know how it goes.

I decided to not wait until the liquid was cold, or in fact cool and added the flour when it had lost most of its “hotness”. I think this made for more difficult mixing but I really need to build my upper body strength back up and stop sounding like a wuss :p

This does make a large volume of mixture so it does take some mixing. I greased and lined (in my own imprecise manner) a spring-form tin 22cm in diam. and 6cm deep that’s roughly 9in by 2½  in in old money.

I had previously preheated the oven to 180°C aka 350°F and popped it in there. I initially decided to bake for 45mins (didn’t go with the original recipe here as most seemed to bake in a loaf tin so the timing would be off, incidentally the reason I didn’t go loaf shaped is I felt that it has too much fruit to make slicing it awkward) and our lousy oven dictates turning round the food halfway through baking so 25 minutes in I went to turn it round and found it had over-colored, in fact almost burnt on top already so I covered with foil and turned the oven down slightly. After 45 mins it probably could of come out but I left it for an hour total because I’d reduced the heat earlier. The skewer came out clean and I took it out of the oven and let it cool in the tin.

Here she is:

The finished quick and easy fruit cake

Its a very dense, fruit-rich cake. It is delicious in itself but I like spice with my fruit so I would probably

add some mixed spice next time I make it. I would also recommend using mixed fruit which has the candied peel included as this certainly added something to the cake in my opinion.

If you wanted to make this cake more special, or to have at Christmas if your usual cake runs out I’d add a bit of booze (whiskey,rum, brandy etc) Just a couple of spoonfulls and some chopped nuts, say substitute a few teaspoons of fruit with the chopped nuts. You could also mess around with the types of fruit in there.

You could make up your own flavoured milk from a powder or cocoa as long as its sweet or sweetened.

I don’t think the cake could handle full on Christmas style icing but could certainly handle something simple. I’m not sure how long the cake will keep as I only made it a couple of days ago. Because it lacks a lot of the traditional ingredients that help it’s storage life I would recommend eating it as soon as possible. It is a large cake and I will be making a half-mixture next time.

One suggestion is to cook the cake in a square tin and cut in to 4 after it has cooled, drizzle with a glaze or light icing and give away to hosts of your holiday gatherings. They will think you’ve spent hours (and a fortune) making it.

So there she is, what I consider the easiest, quickest and simplest(and possibly the most versatile) fruitcake to make

So easy it's almost a cheats fruitcake

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SAM: Two-thirds of the pennies produced in the last 30 years have dropped out of circulation.

JOSH: No, it’s not.

The above excerpt from an episode of The West Wing is, I’m afraid, an accurate description of this blog post. I’ve done a lot of research on a tiny little unimportant topic and now I’m going to tell you about it.

And you will be well within the bounds of sanity to tell me it’s not interesting.

But that’s not going to stop me from posting.

———-

This is or isn't what a traditional Festivus Cake looks like.

It all began when someone on twitter mentioned an article she’d written on the commercialization of Festivus. As I read this article, I could only think, “hey, I wonder if there’s a Festivus cake?” (my apologies to the article’s author). It’s a good article to read if you don’t know the origins of Festivus (although that’s unlikely if you’ve come in search of Festivus Cake instruction — which I promise to eventually provide in this article).

Following the accepted first step of all contemporary research, I googled “festivus cake” and after a brief foray into silliness, I ended up at that veritable font of all knowledge, Wikipedia. Where I found this (emphasis mine):

The original holiday dinner in the O’Keefe household featured turkey or ham followed by a Pepperidge Farm cake decorated with M&M’s, as described in detail in O’Keefe’s The Real Festivus.

Score! This is going to be the easiest blog entry, ever!

Gleefully driving to the grocery store to pick up my Pepperidge Farm cake (it’s a frozen, pre-made cake) and a bag of M&Ms, I could only imagine that this is what it feels like to be Sandra Lee.

As I drove, I also considered that I had no clue what sort of pattern is used for the M&M decorations and I resolved to look that up when I returned home.

That’s one thought I wish I’d never had.

Back at home (with my pre-made cake and bag of candy), and armed with the name of an original source (see above wikipedia quote), I immediately zipped off to Amazon to have The Real Festivus book overnighted to me. Imagine my surprise to discover that not only is the book out of print, the price of a used copy starts at $97.95. You have got to be kidding me.

Hoping to get lucky, I resorted to a quick search of Amazon’s “Look Inside Me” — which gave me precisely zero results for “cake”. Alright, back to Google.

So-called Festivus Cake

The discovery of this cake is where I began to suspect a problem. Now, I’m not calling myself a Pepperidge Farm expert, but my Uncle Dave (R.I.P, Uncle Dave) worked across two states and forty-plus years for Pepperidge Farm. I have eaten my fair share of Pepperidge Farm cakes.

And not a single one of those cakes was round. Ever. Obviously, this egregious error made it clear that this picture (and the sites using it) could not inform the design of my Festivus Cake.

Back to Google. I began poring over all the pages that mention the M&M decorated Pepperidge Farm cake and I became certain of one thing: 99.9995% of them got their information from Wikipedia.

Darn you Creative Commons and your free-to-copy content, darn you to heck.

I tried to find an “official” Festivus site. I found a couple of sites that seemed “officiall-y”, but they also looked like they were created at the time the show aired (1997) and hadn’t been touched in a few years except to change relevant dates. One of those sites even had a Different Festivus Book for sale, but I had trouble pinning down how the author (Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) had come to be a Festivus “expert” and in all his writings, I found no mention of cake (meaning his book would likely be of little use to me).

With little hope, I switched to books.google.com. huzzah! I found a fully searchable, but only partially viewable copy of The Real Festivus. Hoping to suss out what I needed from “snippets”, I eagerly searched on “cake” and was served up this message:

“No results found in this book for cake“

W-wha-? But Wikipedia said the cake was “described in detail in O’Keefe’s The Real Festivus.” What sort of evil web of cakey lies is this?

And, more importantly, why on earth would anyone lie about cake?

On a whim, I searched the book for “dessert” and was served up this snippet:

My mother always cooked it, whatever it was, along with mashed potatoes, gravy, beans, and a pecan pie for dessert

Pie? PECAN PIE!?!

Crestfallen, I turned to my vast array of twitter followers (yes, I do feel it’s fair to use “vast” when describing my 199 followers, 25% of whom I’m fairly sure are bots of some sort) and asked if anyone had the book. Apparently not. But with my tweets, I managed to suck my fellow HurryUpCakes blogger, Deb into the black hole that is my Festivus Cake research.

The remaining HurryUpCakes blogger, Pix is reportedly “away” with “no computer”.

Deb happened to have a copy of the Seinfeld “Festivus Episode” (which is actually titled “The Strike” and in her dedication she watched the entire episode.

No mention of cake.

But Deb didn’t stop there, she went on to find this transcript of a 2009 chat with Dan O’Keefe (the Seinfeld writer whose father is the creator of Festivus). There was no mention of the Pepperidge Farm cake, but there was this juicy tidbit describing the author of the other Festivus book:

a little douchebag parasite who wrote a book on Festivus and set himself up as an expert because he interviewed me for the Times. I’m not typing his name so his book sales don’t spike, but in addition to having a clunky prose style, he was rude and annoying

Well that was certainly fun (and validated my opinion that there was nothing of value on that “official” looking site).

But it didn’t answer my questions about The Cake.

And this is the moment where I felt that I had exhausted my research options.

It is my guess that the Pepperidge Farm/M&Ms cake is more fictional than Festivus. Maybe it was originally part of the show and ended up on the editing room floor. Or maybe a Wikipedia gremlin decided to have a bit of fun. Or maybe the google book search is just missing the book pages that talk about the cake.

The only thing I know for sure is that I have a Golden 3-Layer Pepperidge Farm cake in my freezer and a pound of M&M candies on my kitchen counter.

Oh, and that the “easiest blog post ever” has turned into the most research heavy blog post ever.

And maybe, just maybe this is what it feels like to be Sandra Lee.

Because traditional or not, authentic or not, appropriate or not: I’m making the damn cake.

Pepperidge Farm Cake and M&Ms Candy

Pepperidge Farm Cake Straight from the box.

Carefully placing the M&M candies on the "Festivus Cake".

As to arrangement of the M&Ms, given the complete and utter lack of reliable details found on The Internet, I hereby declare that the arrangement I have chosen (as seen above) is the Official Arrangement of M&Ms on a Festivus Cake. Ignore this Official Arrangement at your own peril.

And feel free to use the comment section below to explain to me there is no “official” anything when it comes to Festivus. Except possibly the Aluminum Pole. Or, if you’re orthodox, a clock and a bag.

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Like I said, it’s been a while. Anyway, I started researching cake pops and if you research cake pops, you are going to end up at Bakerella’s place.

She is flipping brilliant with the cake pops AND she makes it look soooo easy.

Looks can be deceiving. *nods knowingly*

Not one to rush in unschooled, I ordered this:

The smart thing to do next would be to read the book — thoroughly. I did not. I excitedly skimmed through and looked for the list of supplies I would need.

But I didn’t exactly follow the book.

That was my first mistake. I bought this stuff:

Looking at that picture now, I see one two three four mistakes.

The first two mistakes:

1. I bought white cake mix. White cake is almost always light and fluffy (wrong texture) and pretty sweet.
2. I always add pudding to cake mix. It makes it more dense (that would be a good thing) and more moist (that would be a bad thing).

More on the other two mistakes, later.

First I baked the cake in a 9″ x 13″ pan as instructed.

Looks pretty good.

Now pay close attention to that picture… because that’s the VERY LAST thing that goes right in this cake pop misadventure.

The next step is to crumble the cooled cake. There should be no large bits.

See all the large bits? The cake was so moist, the more I tried to crumble it, the bigger the bits got.

*uh-oh*

The next step is to mix canned frosting with the crumbled cake.

wow. Now it’s REALLY moist. Like raw dough. Raw dough that’s not going to be baked.

This can’t possibly taste good. Well, I’ll just plow forward knowing the white cake mix was a mistake, but I can still make them look cute.

*shaking head ‘no’*

The next step is to melt some chocolate candy. I chose Wilton’s candy melts. Mistake #3. The thing is, once you melt the Wilton’s Melts, they’re still pretty thick. Other people know this (I googled it).

Other people don’t use Wilton’s cake melts for enrobing.

*sigh*

So my first cake pop looked like this:

Well, that’s just wrong. So very very wrong.

And here is where mistake #4 comes into play. One of the supply items is a styrofoam block to put the cake pops in while they dry.

*craaaaaaaaaap*

I don’t have a stryrofoam block.

Oh, bloody hell.

Since there’s not a scrap of stryofoam in my house, I come up with this solution:

I thought I was pretty clever. That’s brown rice in a tub. A couple of cups of brown rice in a tub.

*boy, that would be a mess to clean up if it dumped over, wouldn’t it?*

Back to the melts. Obviously, the melted melts just aren’t melted enough. I should melt them some more.

Did I mention that this is the first time I’ve worked with melts?

Here’s what happens when you try to melt already melted candy melts:

*wrinkled nose*

What is that burnt smell? And oh look, a candy melt *farkity fark fark* blob.

*@#!$%!* @*!&$%! (#$^&!

It’s okay. It’s. O. K.

I have more unmelted melts. I did some online research and discovered my best option was to add oil to the melts.

*this is going to taste so very very bad*

No no, it’s realllll-y o-k. I’m all about how it looks, now. So I added the oil and melted some more melts.

Looks-wise and coating-wise, this second batch of melted melts worked much better. Not perfect, but I was happily dipping little cake balls and putting them in the tub of rice (*hey, this is working great*) and then… and then…

And then all the upright little dipped cake balls shifted in the tub o’rice.

*gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww*

Yes, ALL of them shifted. At once. And it looked like this:

*panic*

*oh dear God, they’re all stuck together*

After taking that picture, I placed the camera on the table. And, in the greatest synchronized diving cake pops scene EVER, they did this:

You can’t tell it from that picture, but there is rice everywhere.

EVERY. WHERE.

*on hands and knees, bowing*

Dear Bakerella, I am not worthy.

At all.

So I drank one of these:

And ate one of these:

And it was everything I expected.

The End.

The Absolute *farking* end.

lol

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He ask me to make him a mousse cake which is a family favourite. Unfortunately come his birthday I was a little unwell and taking medication which really didn’t bode well for creating a cake suitable for a public get-together

So what to do?

We headed out to the local Sara Lee Factory outlet as I’d used their catering sized cakes before, they are of good quality and some do have a very nice flavour.

While there I had an idea.

My son loves Bavarian dessert.

We used Sara Lee Entertainer Bavarians

It’s a kind of biscuit base with chocolate, vanilla or other flavoured pudding kind of mousse filling. Quite often more than one flavour and sometimes has piped fresh cream on the top.

So I grabbed 3 of them (2 to make the main cake ’8′ one as extra serves) and a couple of  classic chocolate Pound cakes to make the ’1′:

We used simple Poundcake

I’m showing the pictures so that you can see what kind of cakes they are, knowing full well how we all have different names for similar cakes worldwide

The beauty of this idea was it only needed to be assembled just before we left so it made for easier storage in the fridge and witht he sweltering and humid weather we’ve had here in Australia this Summer that was quite important!

So when I was ready to assemble the cake I covered a platter with foil. I then sliced about an inch/inch and a half off the bottom of two Bavarian dessert cakes. This allowed them to sit snugly like a figure 8. It’s quite easy to see just by looking how much needs to be removed but the amount will change depending on the size of the cakes.

I then placed them together and covered the join with some melted milk chocolate

I then squared up one end of each of the poundcakes so they sat at a similar height to the number 8.

I coated them in a chocolate ganache style icing made from around 300 grams of dark chocolate (I used a lindt with bitter orange and almond pieces left over from Christmas) and a few buttons of dark cooking chocolate. I broke it into pieces and covered it with pre-boiling cream and let it sit for 5 mins to melt. I then beat it together until smooth and sifted a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar in to help thicken it. I then coated the ’1′ shaped cakes and placed them next to the Bavarian desserts.

I initially was intending to cut the centre of the “8″  circles out but realised quickly with a biscuit/cookie base the cake would lose some integrity so I  made a small amount of melted white chocolate and did my best to form the inside of the 8. I then sprinkled it with coconut to help disguise the lack of precision 

I stuck some ‘Happy birthday” candles in the one so there was no need to pipe or write on the cake at all !

All in all we had an 18th birthday cake that may not of looked professional at all but one that cost less than $25au and served more than 30 people. Also it was guaranteed my son would like the cake as it was made from one of his favourite desserts and I didn’t have to stress over each part of the cake baking and the full decorating.

Served with fresh (and squirty) cream it went down very well.

Very quick 18th birthday cake or dessert

I think with a little thought any circular cake or dessert could be used e.g. Black forest gateaux or Cheesecake and also most numbers could be created. Have a look and see what your local supermarket, grocer or bakery keep in stock I’m sure they will have a few appropriate cakes which can be used last minute to make a number cake.

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The book of love cake

You’ll need:

Ready made rectangular cakes

Chocolate fondant icing, enough to cover and overlap the top and the spine.

Small amount of white or cream fondant icing, enough to cover 3 sides of the cake plus 2 inches over.

Edible gold dust
Edible gold paint

Take a sheet cake, or any rectangular cake and cut in to smaller rectangles.

If you wish the cakes to have a filling you could cut these horizontally and fill or just add one on

top of the other, sandwiched together by whichever filling you have chosen.

I had a small amount of ready-made chocolate fondant  leftover but not enough to cover the cakes so I went in search of a recipe and this is the recipe that appealed the most.

Fondant Icing recipe (discovered at http://www.grouprecipes.com/12012/easy-fondant-icing.html)

* 2 pounds confectioner’s sugar, sifted (I replaced 1/8th of a pound with cocoa powder)
* 1/4 cup cold water
* 1 tablespoon unflavoured gelatine
* 1/2 cup glucose (found in cake decorating stores) or white corn syrup
* 1 1/2 tablespoons glycerine (found in cake decorating stores)
* 1 teaspoon desired flavouring (vanilla will give the fondant an off-white color)
* Cornstarch

US cup = 8 fl oz

Directions

In a large bowl (do not use metal), sift the sugar and make a well in the centre. In a small

saucepan, add the water and sprinkle the gelatine on top to soften for about 5 minutes. Begin to

heat the gelatine and stir until the gelatine is dissolved and clear. Do not boil. Turn off the heat and

add the glucose and glycerine, stirring until well blended. Add the flavoring. Pour into the well of

sugar, and mix until all of the sugar is blended. Use hands to knead icing until it becomes stiff.

Add small amounts of confectioner’s sugar if the mixture is sticky.
Form the mixture into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in an airtight container.

This icing works best if allowed to rest at room temperature for about eight hours before using,

particularly if the weather is humid. Do not refrigerate.

Do not refrigerate a cake with fondant icing.

I used chocolate fondant because I like that “old leather-bound book”  look. You can of course make any colour book but i would suggest making it a strong  color as opposed to pastel shades. This is usually made easier by using coloring gels instead of the liquid. You can also make some different coloured icing to use as bands on the book spine.

When I made these cakes it was a very hot day here in Oz so I made them as quickly and plainly as possiblewith minimum adornment.

When ready roll out the light colored fondant so it is long enough to cover the top-side,front-sideand lower-side of the cake. This will probably need to be done in 2 sections so make sure you will be joining them at the least noticeable point.

Form these edges around the cake making sure it can be folded over the top of the cake a small way and folds down the spine side at least an inch top and bottom.

I then used the hard plastic container the sponge came in to mark pages into each side.

You need to press firmly but beware of cutting all the way through.

Then roll out the chocolate icing in a rectangle larger than the cake. I rolled it out on some greaseproof paper that I had crinkled up. This gives the slightly cracked texture of old leather. It also cuts down the amount of cornstarch needed when rolling if you use a cover of greaseproof paper. if you do have some trouble with sticking use your fingers to gently dust the surface with the cornstarch.

Then place the icing over the cake making sure you have just enough to double back the edge to form the book lips. This also makes it nice and thick and helps it to hold shape. If you start at the spine side it makes it easier to allow an extra amount of fondant to shape more into a rounded spine

Run your finger or thumb from the top of the book to the bottom making a small indent helping to define the spine.

Roll some chocolate fondant into 3 little skinny sausage shapes which you will run along the base of each side to creat the “hidden” side of the book cover.

Then it’s time to decorate at will.

I dusted the pages with gold dust to get that old-fashioned effect.

I then took some scrap-booking  letter stamps and imprinted the title of the book on thje front. Iwould of also done the spine this way if it was not so hot (or if I had some freehand talent )

I then used the imprints as a guide for the gold paint. I did find I had to use a smaller brush than the one that came with the paint but could probably of used an even smaller brush, say eye-liner brush thickness.

I had to  gently manipulate the icing a little more due to the heat, then I added the second cake to the top

Voila! The cake is done.

Some additional suggestions would be to make a big stack of books for more guests. Usingdifferent coloured books or perhaps make them smaller and have them standing upright a labookshelf.

You could even add a bookend at each side.

2 book cakes stacked together make a bigger cake for more servings

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Strawberry cake with white frosting.

Note: Because the frosting for this cake uses fresh whipped cream, the cake must be refrigerated.

Easy Strawberry Cake Ingredients

• 1 Betty Crocker White Cake Mix (SuperMoist)
• 4 egg whites
• 1-1/4 cup milk
• 1 box White Chocolate Pudding Mix (1 oz size)
• 1/3 cup strawberry puree
• 1/3 cup oil
• Food coloring (optional)

Artificial color vs. natural strawberry coloring.

And no, I don’t usually bake the layers in two different colors… that was all for you.

Easy Strawberry Cake Recipe Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl.
2. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds.
3. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure all dry mix is incorporated.
4. Mix at medium speed for an additional two minutes.
5. Use baking time and temperature listed on box (varies dependent on size and type of pans you use)

While the cake is baking, prepare the strawberries for the middle layer.

Fresh Strawberry Layer Preparation

• 4 – 5 fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Soak strawberries in sweetened water.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar and water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Place thinly sliced strawberries in the sweetened water. Cover and refrigerate until needed (or a minimum of 30 minutes).

Creamy Confectioner’s Frosting Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 8 oz unsalted butter (2 “sticks”) at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk

Creamy Confectioner’s Frosting Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine whipping cream and granulated sugar.
2. Using a wire whisk (either mixing by hand or with an electric mixer), whisk the cream and sugar until it forms thick soft peaks.
3. Refrigerate whipped cream while you prepare the next portion of the frosting.
4. In large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the vanilla (for electric mixers, use the paddle or “beater” attachment)
5. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, cream thoroughly. Repeat until all of the powdered sugar has been added.
6. Add the milk, beat at medium speed for 4 minutes.
7. By hand (no electric mixing), gently fold the whipped cream into the powdered sugar mixture. Do not overmix — this is not a smooth textured frosting.

Add layer of sweetened strawberries to cake.

Frost the bottom layer of the cake and place the sliced strawberries on top of the frosting. Place the second layer of cake and frost entire cake. Don’t bother with trying to smooth this frosting — just add some homey swirls and blips with the frosting knife.

Strawberry cake with white frosting.

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Strawberry puree.

Strawberry Purée can be made with fresh or frozen strawberries and once made, it last for 3-4 weeks in the freezer.

Strawberry Purée Supplies

• 16 ounces of strawberries
• 1 tablespoon water
• Sugar (optional)
• Cheesecloth (optional)

Wash strawberries.

Removing leaves and stems from strawberries.

Strawberries in blender.

If you’re using purée as a sauce or topping, add 2-4 tablespoons of sugar. If you’re using purée as an ingredient in a mixture that is already sweet (such as cake batter), no added sugar is needed.

If making purée in a blender, you’ll inevitably run into a point like the one pictured — where part of the strawberries are puréed, but the blender blade is just spinning in the liquid. If this happens, turn off the blender, lift the carafe and give it a good shake. Replace the carafe on the blender base and re-start. Repeat as needed.

At this stage, you have a perfectly usable strawberry purée. But I like to make the purée a bit smoother by removing some of the seeds.

Pouring processed strawberries into strainer.

Straining strawberry mash.

Strawberry puree.

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Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

I’m primarily a buttercream broad, but when I was designing the Dr. Horrible Party Cakes, I knew I was going to be using a lot of fondant.

I decided a pumpkin-shaped cake would be an excellent place to experiment with shaping fondant — it’s easy enough to make a lovely pumpkin cake with just buttercream frosting, but fondant is a great way to add some pumpkin leaves and curly vine details.

If I had it all to do over again, I would have rolled the fondant quite a bit thinner and I would have added some painted details to the leaves with liquid food coloring (a process I used a lot on the goggles cake).

But for a primarily buttercream broad, I was pretty satisfied with the pumpkin’s fondant accents.

Pumpkin Shaped Cake Supplies

• Enough batter for three cakes (3 standard box mixes)
• Buttercream Frosting (enough for approximately 3 cakes)
• Fondant
• Wilton’s Gel Food Coloring: Green, Orange, Yellow, Royal Blue (the Yellow and Royal Blue are optional colors)
• Pumpkin Leaf Pattern
• Toothpicks
• Specialty Pans: Bundt Pan

Using the bundt pan in ways it was not intended.

The foundation of the pumpkin-shaped cake is almost always the bundt pan. The contemporary bundt pan was originally designed for baking “bundkuchen”, a type of German coffee cake. Today the bundt pan is used for baking just about any type of cake — even pumpkin.

For the pumpkin cake, bake two bundt cakes. The size of your bundt pan will determine just how much batter is needed, but for the average pan, one box mix will do. Bake time will be considerably longer than when baking two layers from one box — close to twice as long, but start checking the cake early and make sure not to over-bake.

When I started this cake, I thought two bundt cakes were the answer for the perfect pumpkin shape.

I was wrong.

In order to keep the cake from collapsing, I knew I was going to use this stacking method and when I put the cake together, well… just look at the pics:

Looking for the perfect pumpkin cake shape.

The first picture is of two bundt cakes stacked on top of each other. I like the curved edges on the top and on the bottom, but the curves in the middle are not making me happy.

So I leveled off what would traditionally be the “bottom” of each bundt cake and put the cake back together — and that’s the second image.

I now had a more traditional pumpkin-shaped cake — a very short, kind of flat, pumpkin-shaped cake.

And this is when the third box mix comes into play. I baked two 9″ layers (the size should match the size of your bundt pan). One would be used for the stem of the pumpkin and one would be the middle layer of the pumpkin cake — and that’s the third picture.

Now that I had a shape I was happy with, it was time for the frosting.

Tip: I use disposable chopsticks as my primary source of “dowels” for stacking cakes — not your good chopsticks, but those cheapo break apart ones that always accompany takeout and splinter your lips.

Smooth buttercream frosting.

If you squeeze one batch of buttercream frosting, you can frost this entire cake, but if you apply frosting with a pastry bag and frosting tip (which tends to put the frosting on thicker), you might need 1.5 batches.

Before you add the orange coloring, set aside 1/2 cup of frosting (this will be the frosting for the stem).

I colored the frosting with Wilton’s Orange gel coloring, but because I wanted a more natural orange (and not cartoon orange), I added a tiny amount of Royal Blue. This just dulls down the orange and is a completely optional step. Once the cake is frosted, use the paper towel method to smooth the frosting.

Making grooved on side of the pumpkin cake.

Allow the smoothed frosting to “rest” for 10-15 minutes.

Place a paper towel on the frosting and gently drag the back of your finger along the cake to make the grooves of the pumpkin.

Stem made from cut out cakes circles.

Using a cookie/fondant cutter, cut circles of cake from the second 9″ layer of cake. Stack those layers (you’ll likely need to use toothpicks to stabilize the stack) and carve to your satisfaction. Make sure you don’t carve the stack so skinny that it will fall through the hole in the center of the top bundt cake.

Get the frosting you set aside earlier and color with Wilton Gel coloring (I used Kelly green). Frost the stem and then place the stem in the center of the cake — use toothpicks to hold the stem in place. Drag the tines of a standard dinner fork through the frosting to make it rough.

Pumpkin shaped cake with all buttercream frosting.

For you buttercream freaks, your work here is done! If you want some fondant extras, continue reading.

Download the pumpkin leaf pattern PDF

If you’re new to fondant, you can either purchase “rolled fondant” (ready-to-use) or make Pix’s Marshmallow fondant. They’re similar to work with, but Pix’s is reportedly yummy. Most ready-to-use fondant is… an acquired taste.

I say Pix’s is “reportedly yummy” because I’m a fondant weenie and I bought ready-to-use.

Once you have the fondant of your choice, color it green with Wilton’s Gel Coloring (check Pix’s tutorial on Coloring Fondant).

But before you do all that, download this pattern and cut out the leaf patterns.

Cutting fondant leaves.

Use the downloaded leaf patterns to create the green fondant leaves.

Fondant leaves draped over plastic containers.

To give the fondant leaves some interest, drape them over small plastic containers or bowls or whatever else you have in the kitchen that seems suitable. I used a mixture of plastic containers and chopsticks.

Fondant snakes wrapped around chopsticks.

For the pumpkin vines, roll out some snakes of fondant. I wanted some variety, so I added some Golden Yellow in varying amounts to little bits of the already green fondant. Once you have the snakes, wrap them around chopsticks, lolly sticks, or the round handle of a wooden spoon. Allow the fondant to dry for approximately 30 minutes.

Vine curls removed from chopsticks and shaped.

Once the vines have dried (but aren’t completely hardened), slide them off the chopsticks and stretch them out. You can also “bend” them so that they will fall more gracefully along the sides of the pumpkin. Allow the fondant to harden fully. If you try to drape the curls on the pumpkin too soon, the weight of the dangling fondant will stretch out the curls completely and/or cause the curls to break.

Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Once all of your fondant pieces have dried, attach them to the cake. For the curls, I just stuck one end in the buttercream. For the leaves, I just placed them on the pumpkin and allowed them to rest naturally against the stem and sides of the pumpkin.

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Frosted microwaved cake -- good enough to eat.

I quickly discovered that many microwave cakes have a rubbery texture and/or more than a hint of “poached egg” flavor. Another big difficulty with microwaved cake is how quickly they dry out — which is quickly. Very, very quickly.

So I started experimenting. Approximately sixty microwave cake recipe experiments later, I had this cake.

Gathering microwaved cake supplies.

Microwave Cake Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix
  I strongly recommend using one of the Betty Crocker “SuperMoist” mixes. I tried several different brands/flavors and the Betty Crocker “SuperMoist” was the standout every time.

  IMPORTANT: Avoid dense cakes like “fudge cake” or “pound cake”. Those are just hockey pucks waiting to be nuked.

• 1 box (3.4 size) instant pudding in a similar or complementary flavor
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon meringue powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1-1/3 cup milk

Additional Supplies

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 2 – 9″ glass (or other microwave-safe material) pans
• Your favorite easy-to-spread frosting

The Not-So-Secret ingredients: meringue powder

The Secret Ingredient

Eggs are a vital ingredient in most cake recipes… but when you microwave a cake with eggs in the recipe, you can easily end up with cake that has a hint of “poached egg” taste and the texture of a rubber chicken. I tried a variety of alternate recipes including: eliminating egg (good for making cake crumbles), substituting egg with applesauce (not bad if you like applesauce cake), substituting egg with prepared pudding (good for a burnt candy flavor), and a host of experiments not worthy of mention.

I know that Meringue Powder isn’t a standard ingredient in a lot of kitchens, but it’s the secret to making a moist “non-eggy” microwaved cake. Meringue Powder can be found in most cake supply stores or craft stores with a cake decorating section. I buy it at the local Michael’s Arts & Crafts store.

Batter will be lumpy -- it's okay.

Microwave Cake Instructions

1. Combine box of cake mix (dry), pudding mix (dry), and meringue powder in a large mixing bowl. Thoroughly mix ingredients. Break up any large clumps.
2. Add oil and milk. Mix by hand for approximately one minute.
3. Don’t worry about small lumps in the batter.







Batter spread in pan

4. Spray two 9″ x 9″ microwave-safe containers with cooking spray.
5. Spread 1/2 of the batter in each pan. Spread evenly. Or as evenly as humanly possible. Don’t worry about those few little bits of dry mix — it’s part of the microwave’s magic to make those disappear.
   
   
   
   

   Watching cake in microwave.

6. Place one batter-filled pan in microwave. Now here’s the dicey part: Cooking Time. As you likely know, microwave ovens vary greatly in “power and efficiency” and that means there are no absolutes when it comes to “just how long” you should microwave your cake.

   My microwave is ten years old and lists “wattage output” at 1100W. The perfect microwaving time/power setting with my microwave is 3 minutes and 45 seconds at Full Power. If your microwave has a lower wattage, you might need a longer bake time. If your microwave has a higher wattage, you might need a shorter time (or less than full power).

   When the first layer is finished “baking”, cover tightly and then microwave second layer. When finished, cover second layer. Allow both layers to cool before frosting (but keep tightly covered). Covering the cakes helps keep them moist — as mentioned earlier, one of the biggest difficulties with microwaved cakes is how quickly they dry out.
   

   

   Finished microwaved cake.

   Finished Microwaved Cake

   And here’s the unfrosted cake — in just over seven minutes of “bake” time, you have moist, delicious cake!

   “Lumpy?” Yes, it does look a bit lumpy, but it doesn’t taste lumpy at all. And I’ve not found a solution to the visual problem that doesn’t sacrifice taste… so always remember: frosting is our Cakey Cosmetic friend.
   
   
   

   

   Frosted microwaved cake -- good enough to eat.

   Frosting the Microwaved Cake

   Microwaved cake is more fragile than an oven-baked cake and requires a “soft” frosting. Homemade buttercream frosting works well. If you’re selecting a “canned frosting”, select one of the whipped varieties as the standard canned frostings will be nearly impossible to spread on microwaved cake without shredding the cake.
   
   

   Suitable for Company?

   The taste of this cake is certainly suitable for company, but because you can’t make this cake too far in advance and then the cake has to cool before frosting, it’s a difficult dessert to prepare without abandoning your guests.

   But it’s the perfect quick and easy treat for casual gatherings and lazy family weekends.

   
   
   

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   German chocolate cake covered in coconut pecan frosting.

   When my sister wants a cake, it’s not about novelty or cool decorations, it’s all about one thing: German Chocolate Cake with German Chocolate Frosting.

   For the cake, I use the Duncan Hines German Chocolate Cake box mix. From the listed ingredients, I replace the water with milk and I also throw in a box of chocolate pudding (dry), but those are the only changes I make. The box mix makes a nice cake with little work. I like that.

   But canned German Chocolate frosting is… cloying. German Chocolate frosting is pretty easy to make from scratch and well worth the effort. If you’re nervous about making a “cooked” frosting, don’t be — just be ready to do some serious stirring.

   Frosting Recipe Ingredients

   • 1 cup evaporated milk
   • 1 cup sugar (see note below about “Types of Sugar”)
   • 3 egg yolks, beaten
   • 4 oz butter (one “stick”) cut into small pieces
   • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
   • 1 cup chopped pecans
   • 1 cup flaked coconut

   German Chocolate Frosting Instructions

   1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan (I use a 3.5 quart saucepan)
   2. Cook over medium heat. If this recipe doesn’t start bubbling/thickening at about the 10-14 minute mark, try upping the temperature. If the recipe starts bubbling/thickening much earlier than the 10 minute mark, lower the temperature.
   3. Stir constantly (yep, for the entire cooking time). When the mixture starts bubbling, stir faster — because you really don’t want this concoction sticking to your pan.
   4. Once the mixture starts bubbling (at about the 10-14 minute mark), stir for an additional 3 minutes (it doesn’t have to be exact).
   5. Allow the frosting to “rest” for 30 minutes prior to using. You can speed up this process by moving the frosting to a room temperature bowl and placing it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

   This recipe makes enough frosting for the traditional German Chocolate Cake with frosting in the middle and on the top, but not on the sides. If, like my sister, you prefer a completely covered cake, make two batches of this recipe. The recipe can be doubled, but because of the cooking method it is much easier to cook two separate batches and then combine them.
   

   

   German Chocolate frosting can be made with a variety of sugars.

   
   

   Types of Sugar

   For German Chocolate Frosting, you can use granulated white sugar or brown sugar (light or dark). The choice of sugar is dependent on your own taste and appearance preferences. In the pictured cake (above), I used dark brown sugar. For a lighter color frosting, use white sugar. Whether you use white or brown sugar, this coconut pecan frosting will be delicious and the cooking instructions are exactly the same.
   
   

   Troubleshooting German Chocolate Frosting

   Be forewarned: German Chocolate Cake frosting is traditionally thinner than most contemporary frostings (and way thinner than canned frostings). Because it was originally designed to be spread on the cake top and middle only, it wasn’t important for the icing to be stiff enough to stick to the cake sides.

   However, if you can’t get this recipe to thicken up enough to use as frosting, there are three possible problems:

   1. The cooking temperature is too low. Stovetops vary. Some people recommend cooking German Chocolate frosting on low heat. On my stovetop, “low heat” is about the equivalent of “off” — try upping the temperature.
   2. The saucepan is too small. If you use a small saucpan (even if all the ingredients fit), the mixture might be too “deep” to heat up in the given time.
   3. Not enough cooking time. For this recipe, you really do have to stir the mixture over heat for a minimum of 13 minutes and more likely 15-18 minutes.
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