Zooper Cute Carousel Cake

Hey all! What's baking?

First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates--my summer has been crazy busy and chock-full of travel, work, and family events. Hopefully, this is the start of a more normal blogging routine.

Earlier this summer, we threw my adorable nephew a fantastic, fun-and-food-filled first birthday party. My in-laws prepared the majority of the main meal: cheesesteaks, hoagies, pizza, salad, etc. Luckily for me, I had the honor of baking the best little birthday boy ever his first little birthday cake ever!

I wanted my nephew's cake to be something cute, whimsical, and representative of all of the joys of turning one year old. After discovering these adorable cupcakes on my Betty Crocker recipe app, I knew exactly what I would bake: a giant carousel cake complete with rainbow sprinkles and adorable animal cracker figures!

My nephew celebrating with a slice of cake

I decided to wing it and recreate this edible merry-go-round on a larger scale using my favorite cake and frosting recipes, allowing for one white cake layer and one chocolate layer. However, any good cake and frosting combo will do (even store-bought or packaged mixes), so try this with strawberry, coconut, red velvet, or Funfetti cake and dress it up with chocolate or cream cheese frosting. The chocolate pudding layer can also be substituted with custard, extra frosting, or another pudding flavor.

 The sky truly is the limit with this super fun cake. I used plain Barnum's Animal Crackers for my creation, but it's more than OK to use iced animal crackers, animal-shaped cookie cut-outs, or even plastic animal figurines instead. Remember: carousels (and this cake) are meant to be fun and playful; let your creativity take over and shine.

Zooper Cute Carousel Cake 

Ingredients:

1 10-inch white cake

1 10-inch chocolate cake

1 3.75-oz. instant chocolate pudding

Frosting (any color)

1 2.125-oz. box animal crackers

Pretzel rods

1 C semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Multicolored sprinkles, jellybeans, chocolate-coated candies, or other decorative candies

Plastic drinking straws

10"x10" piece scrapbook paper

Place chocolate cake on cake tray or cake carrier. Prepare chocolate pudding according to package directions. Spread thin layer of pudding on top of chocolate cake (there will be extra pudding). Gently center white cake on top of pudding layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of entire cake. Gently shake sprinkles over top and sides.

That's the way the cake crumbles!

Open box of animal crackers and discard broken animal crackers. Arrange whole animal crackers on a clean baking tray face-down. Melt chocolate chips in microwave, about 1 minute. Working one at a time and using a small spoon, dab a small amount of melted chocolate onto the back of each animal cracker and immediately place a pretzel rod vertically onto the chocolate. Press gently to ensure pretzels stick firmly to chocolate. Let completely dry for 20-30 minutes.

Once animal figures are dry, arrange them in an evenly-spaced, circular pattern around the perimeter of the top cake layer. Animal faces should be facing the outside of the cake while the pretzel rods should be toward the center of the cake. Decorate with jellybeans, chocolate-coated candies, etc. as you wish.

Use a compass to draw as large a circle as possible on scrapbook paper. Cut out circle. Cut a slit into the middle of the circle. Fold paper into a cone/tent shape and tape together. Tape plastic straws to center and sides of paper tent. (These will be the "support beams" for the carousel tent.) Carefully place paper tent on top of cake, gently sticking straws deep enough into the cake so that the tent will not fall over.

Voila--you've got a zooper cute carousel cake!

My First Cake Sale!

I'm so excited, guys 'n' gals! I just sold my first pre-ordered, full-sized cake! It was a delectable devil's food cake with chocolate ganache and marshmallow cream filling for a woman who enjoyed my cupcake version of this sweet treat so much, she just had to have a larger version for her birthday.

 

I am very grateful for this opportunity to showcase my baking and get a little boost into the baking business. It makes me happy to know that my cake is being used for a special occasion and that in some small way, I may have brought a bit of joy to someone. Hopefully the cake was a hit and they'll be back for more! :)

Tomato Sauce Cake

First and foremost, today I'd like to wish my wonderful husband, Steve, the BIGGEST and BEST birthday ever! On Sunday, we threw him a fun-filled surprise party, complete with friends, family, eats, and sweets. Happy Birthday, Honey!

It's lucky that we had the party when we did, because here I am, two days later, stuck in bed with an awful cold. After spending the past thirty hours either sleeping or watching movies on Lifetime, I dragged myself downstairs and attempted to salvage part of the day by blogging. 

So here we go--this is how I finally got around to writing about a heritage recipe for Tomato Sauce Cake belonging to my Grandma T. As a child, I grew up identifying my grandmother with many warm, joyful things: the aged, pea green futon I'd take naps on at her house in the afternoon, the thrill of watching her soybean plants clamber toward the sky, the unbeatable taste of a lunch made up of chicken noodle soup and saloon pilots with guava jelly for dessert. If there is one thing I learned from my grandma, it's the philosophy of simple goodness: that the best things in life are the little things, and that a recipe need not be frou-frou to make an impact.

That's where the Tomato Sauce Cake comes into play. Sweet, moist, and with a tender crumb, this cake imparts a delicious--albeit puzzling--flavor. Resting amongst the branches of pumpkin, spice, and carrot cakes in the baking family tree, it's no wonder that Tomato Sauce Cake is sometimes referred to as "Mystery Cake," according to the good folks at www.foodtimeline.org.

When I first discussed the recipe with my friend Frannie, she mentioned that it seemed like an old Depression-era recipe, the kind of thing home bakers would make when chocolate and cream were luxuries. The idea made sense. Grandma's recipe lists very basic ingredients, things that most housewives of her generation would keep on hand. There are no nuts, raisins, or coconut flakes to dress it up. While other similar recipes call for a can of tomato soup, my grandmother's calls for watered-down tomato sauce. Although I imagine this cake would be terrific when topped with cream cheese frosting, all I gave it was a slight dusting of powdered sugar, because Grandma didn't include a frosting recipe. Come to think of it, most of my grandmother's cakes don't have frosting.

Here's the recipe. It just lists the ingredients necessary, as well as the baking time and temperature. In conducting previous cookery research, I've discovered that many old-time recipes (we're talking colonial America here) didn't include detailed instructions for preparing dishes because it was assumed (due to traditional gender and family roles) that the reader was skilled enough to know most prep techniques and to understand the implications of a recipe. I'm guessing the concept is similar with Tomato Sauce Cake--perhaps my grandmother jotted down the recipe from a friend or neighbor, simply writing down the ingredients because the order and method of preparation were inherent to her. Whatever the reason, she deserves to be thanked for this recipe and for teaching me the value of sweet simplicity. Thanks, Grandma!!

Tomato Sauce Cake

1 C margarine or butter

2 C sugar

4 eggs

1 8-oz. can tomato sauce blended with 3/4 C water

3 C flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 T baking powder

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.