Food : How To Fill & Frost A Cake

Last summer my mom and her sisters thought it would be fun to take a cake decorating class with their daughters.  So us girls pulled out our aprons, purchased our cake decorating kits and committed several week nights to honing our skills.

I'm by no means a pro, but I certainly learned a thing or two {or ten!} and I was reminded last weekend that practice makes perfect {hubby's birthday cake}.  While I was decorating, I thought it would be fun to do a post on filling and frosting a cake.  That was one of the most valuable things I learned last summer.   So here goes....  {Feel free to comment with questions if you have any. I'll do my best to answer.}

Baking

For hubby's bday cake I made a 6 inch gluten free chocolate cake and filled it with a raspberry filling and topped it with a homemade cream cheese frosting.  {you're salivating right?! I thought so. :)}  

The 6 inch cake pan is my absolute favorite!  Not only is it adorable and totally perfect for gifting a friend, but it's an easy and not so intimidating size to work with while learning to fill.  A 6 inch pan is a bit difficult to find in stores, so I ordered mine from amazon. {here}  When baking with a 6 inch pan, bake it at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 25 minutes.  {Be sure that your oven is at a legitimate 325 before inserting the cake and as tempting as it is to open the oven - don't touch that door! Let it completely bake for the required baking time.  This ensures you have a nice, fluffy cake every time.}

Use whatever size cake pan you'd like, I recommend something round for your first go at it.  Make your cake according to your recipe {I used a Duncan Hines Gfree Devils Cake box mix since I haven't found a great gluten free cake flour blend yet, and I doctored it up with a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips.}, thoroughly grease and flour your pan. {I use crisco - I know, gross.  But it's the best for guaranteeing your cake will completely come out of the pan.  I "flour" my pan with a thick layer of cocoa powder when baking a chocolate cake. I've used arrowroot powder or rice flour for a white cake.}  When baking time is up, remove from oven, transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.  I've learned the hard way to plan ahead.  There's nothing worse than spending lots of time and energy {and love} on a cake and then being rushed to decorate it and it's either a melty mess, lop sided, or sloppy.  I try to bake my cake the day before I need it.  

Filling

For my filling I used half a jar of store bought raspberry preserves with seeds {they look so pretty and fruity}.  You can use jam, preserves or even frosting - fruit preserves are usually my filling of choice.  

To make your filling use your preserve of choice + 1 tablespoon of butter.  Melt in a sauce pan over low heat, stir constantly.  Once it's a nice consistency, remove from heat and set aside.

Frosting

Make your frosting.  My absolute favorite frosting is a classic cream cheese frosting.  Crisco based frosting is disgusting {in my opinion} but is amazing for decorating with, so I will occasionally make a batch of this for details such as flowers, but I usually douse my cakes in a nice, thick layer of cream cheese frosting.  Here's my go to recipe:

1 8 oz Package Cream Cheese, Room Temp

1/2 C Salted Sweet Cream Butter, Softened

2 C Powdered Sugar 

1 t Vanilla {be sure to use clear vanilla if you want a pure white cake}

Combine in a mixer and mix until smooth.  

With a spatula, fill a piping bag with your frosting and set aside till ready to use.  

I have a featherweight cake decorating bag and decorating tips that I use for frosting.  If you don't have those, a large plastic ziploc will do the job.  Fill the bag, snip a corner tip off {not too much} and twist the top of the bag.

Cutting

If you only baked one cake and wish to cut into two halves so that you can fill it, you must cut the cake evenly.  This can be tricky.  Once again your cake must be completely cooled.  I have this nifty little cake slicer that gives me an even cut every time {and can be used to shave off the top of my cake if it's rounded}.  A large, sharp knife may be used as well, it's just a little more difficult to get an even slice.  

Cut your cake into two {unless you baked two cakes - if that's the case, even the tops and make them flat}.  Use your most even side for the top of the cake {if you can't get an even cut, turn the cake upside down and use the bottom side, this will be your top piece}.   

Assemble

Ok now we're ready to fill & frost!

The trick to getting your filling to stay in the center of your cake and not ooze all over the sides or into your frosting is to create a barrier with your frosting first.  {I forgot this step as you can see in this pic.  I was so excited to get that filling on that I completely skipped this step.  Thank goodness I remembered and had plenty of room on the sides to correct my mistake.  

Move the bottom half of your cake to the cake stand or plate you wish to serve it on.  {You can see in a pic below that my cake stand is sitting on top of another white rotating cake stand.  This is similar to a lazy suzan (which would work perfectly if you have one lying around), and is used to turn your cake easily while decorating.  Or you may purchase one here.}  

With your bag of frosting, frost the edge of the cake with at least two layers of frosting.  {This is still a necessary step if you're filling your cake with frosting.}

Next, spoon desired amount of filling onto center and spread with a spatula.

Now carefully place your top half of cake on top.

With your piping bag, pipe frosting onto the top and sides of the cake and smooth with a flat spatula.  Let sit before decorating.  The frosting will "dry" {or somewhat harden} if you allow it to sit and will be much easier to decorate.  

A handy little tip for achieving a flat surface is let your cake "dry" and then with parchment or wax paper, lay on top and gently smooth with a light rolling pin or flat spatula.  If your frosting cracks, gently smooth it out and let it dry again.  

Viola!  You have a beautifully filled and frosted cake ready for decorating!  Mine's not perfect, but like I said practice makes perfect.  

I hope this was helpful to you!  Happy frosting!!

- all images via danya collyer. 
Please do not use without permission.

G-Free Red Velvet Cupcakes!

This g-free girl has one major sweet tooth and the thought of giving up my sweet creations was just not an option.  Since removing gluten from my diet, I've been determined to convert my favorite recipes into ones both my husband and his g-free wife could enjoy.  A few months back, my sister and I had a baking day and experimented with various flours and cupcake recipes - needless to say, we were sorely disappointed with the outcome.  (We were bouncing cupcakes off travertine tile, if that tells you anything.)  But more recently, I gave homemade cupcakes another shot and I'm proud to say I found a winning recipe!  My mom had a cute little cupcake book sitting in her kitchen and as I thumbed through it, I mustered up courage to give cupcakes a second chance.  I'm so glad I did, because I'll be using this recipe time and time again.  The book is called "The Sweet Little Book of Cupcakes" by nicholas Peruzzi from Sweet Cupcakes in Boston - it can be found here.  All of their recipes look delicious, I can't wait to try more of them.  In the mean time I've posted my g-free version below.  Let me know if you make them - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

3/4 C Unsalted Butter (room temp)

1 C Sugar

2 Large Eggs

2 1/2 T Red Food Coloring (make sure it's g-free)

1 1/2 T Cocoa Powder

3/4 C Buttermilk

1 C Blanched Almond Flour (I recommend Honeyville Farms Blanched Almond Flour)

1/2 C Arrowroot Powder 

1 t Vinegar

3/4 t Baking Soda 

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
2. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well blended.
5. In a separate bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa pwdr until you have  apaste.
6. Add paste to butter mixture, and blend well.
7. Add the buttermilk to the butter mixture and blend well.  Then add the flours and blend until smooth.
8. In a separate bowl, mix together the vinegar and baking soda.  Then add this to the butter and flour mixture, blending until fully incorporated.
9. Pour the batter into the lined cupcake pan, distributing the batter equally. (I found that two scoops of batter from a regular sized ice cream scoop worked well for a large cupcake pan.)
10. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate and bake for 10 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  (My cupcakes baked for a total of 30 minutes, but I was using my mom's oven and it tends to take longer than most.  I'll have to update the time once I try them in my own oven.)
11. Place the pan on a wire rack, and cool completely.
12. Once cooled, ice and enjoy! 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 C + 2 T Cream Cheese (room temp)

6 T Unsalted Butter (room temp)

4 C Confectioners Sugar (pure cane sugar works best)

2 1/2 t G-Free Vanilla Extract (use clear if you want your frosting to be white)

1. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until creamy.
2. In a separate bowl, sift the confectioners sugar.
3. Add the confectioners sugar to the butter mixture on low speed until it begins to incorporate.
4. Add the vanilla extract, and beat at medium to high speed until fully incorporated.