You don't normally need a reason to bake a cake.
But when you have two good reasons, there no second thought but to bake a cake.
So, this Valentine's Day, we were meeting with friends and were going to do a double whammy celebration of a retirement party as well as the hallmark Valentines day. So, once I decided there's going to be a cake, the dreams piled up. It had to be a layer cake. There ought to be at least one red velvet layer. And then I needed a design that would fit both the occasions. So Roses it had to be. I've never done a rosette cake and was a little intimated. I made sure I had the number of a couple of bakeries nearby for back up just in case I had to place a last minute order.
I don't have a step by step picture of baking each of the cakes and the frostings. But I'm going to give you links here - I referred to the JoyofBaking site for the recipes. I've always had good results with her recipes and was happy this time too. Then are you asking why is it that I blog about this? Because prettiness should not be contained within picasa albums. It should be shared. And it should be put on the internet. That's why.
Here's a peek into the gorgeous layers inside. Start on the with a chocolate cake topped with a mocha frosting. Then comes the red velvet with a cream cheese filling and topped off with a vanilla cake and the entire thing got a layer of frosting on top. All that was left was piping the roses on top.
And then of course it was time for a photoshoot. I don't think any of my cakes got this much pampering done. This one had good karma maybe.
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Seriously, have you see a rose and candles as a prop for a piece of cake? Thanks to my crazy friends for setting this up for a shot!
Here's a side story. Originally I had planned to do a layer of strawberry cake in place of the vanilla you see above. I followed Paula Dean's recipe but maybe because of the fresh strawberry used, the center of the cake sunk like the titanic. How Sad! But the rest of the cake was wonderful indeed and tasted amazing. So, I used a little round cutter and cut out the sides and piped on some cream cheese filling on top. This was gone in a jiffy. I should plan to make more of this soon when strawberries are in full season.
That's the end of a totally self absorbed-show off-superficial cake post. More Later!
Enjoy!
Peace Out!
