Surprise-Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion--with a Little Something Extra Inside

519 Pages·2014·29.36 MB·English

by  Amanda Rettke

dedication
TO MY HEAVENLY FATHER AND MY EXCEPTIONAL HUSBAND
contents
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION
how to use this book
basic cake and frosting recipes
cakes
White Cake
Chocolate Cake
Red Velvet Cake
Strawberry Cake
Decadent Brownies
frostings
Basic Buttercream
Honey Buttercream
Chocolate Buttercream
Cream Cheese Frosting
celebrating family
Stripe Birthday Cake
Maypole Cake
Ombre Cake
Rainbow Cakes
Vintage Cake
Apple Cake
Balloon Cake
Construction Cake
Duck Cake
House Cake
Butterfly Cake
Daisy Cake
Paw Print Cake
celebrating you
Neapolitan Hi-Hat Cake
Opposites Cake
Oreo Cake
Zebra Cake
Leopard Cake
Cowboy Boot Cake
Herringbone Cake
celebrating love
Candle Rose Cake
Kiss Cake
Miniature Heart Cake
Sunset Cake
Ring Cake
celebrating holidays
New Year’s Eve Cake
Christmas Tree Cakes
Cross Cake
Hanukkah Cake
Red Velvet Holiday Candle Cake
Jack-o’-lantern Cake
Red, White, and Blue Cakes
Rudolph Cake
Bunny Cake
Candy Cane Cake
celebrating life
Vampire Cake
Argyle Cake
Arrow Cakes
Football Cake
Sailboat Cake
Smiley Face Cake
Tree Cake
Bee Cake
Cherry Cake
Military Cake
Rainbow Heart Cake
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CREDITS
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
introduction
I’m proud of being born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, the biggest small
city I know. While most folks know Fargo from the Coen brothers movie, I
know it as something entirely different. Kind. Exciting. Friendly. Inspiring. My
family still lives there, and we visit as often as life allows. Nothing comforts me
more than seeing my old hometown through the eyes of my children, seeing
them excited by the things that used to delight me.
Up until the last few years I was purely a consumer of baked goods. I did not
make my own cakes or cookies or delectable treats. I didn’t even know how! But
I did know that in Fargo, Catering by Concordia College has the most amazing
banana bread, and Great Harvest Bread Company has the best giant oatmeal
cookies, and Quality Bakery makes the best cake donut known to man.
When we moved from a bustling city to the smallest town in Minnesota
(well, maybe it’s not the smallest, but the population is around 1,000), I didn’t
know what to do with myself. There was no coffee shop, bakery, or grocery store
just around the corner. I couldn’t continue to just buy what I wanted—I had to
start learning to make things for myself. I was pretty clueless, just getting by in
the kitchen.
After I had my first baby in 2005, I started a blog called i am mommy. Three
people read that blog, and one of them was my mother. Today that blog is one of
my most sacred places to share and talk about the amazing little people in my
life. At the end of the day, “mommy” is the best description of who I am.
But being a mommy means you must possess a certain amount of know-how.
In 2009 I started baking to keep up with the constant flow of birthday parties,
Christmas cookie swaps, and church potlucks. I started with cookies—lots and
lots of sugar cookies that I decorated with intricate designs and patterns. Having
no formal training or experience in the kitchen meant that I needed to teach
myself. I watched lots of Food Network and Martha Stewart. I let special
occasions, my kids, and my dreams inspire me. My mommy blog was being
overrun by baked goods, so I created another blog called i am baker. But I kept
having babies (five in all!), and the amount of time I was able to dedicate to the
intricate art of decorating sugar cookies became less and less. So instead of
cookies I started to make cakes. This was pretty strange, because until that point
I’d never looked at a cookbook or food blog about cake. In fact I knew nothing
about cakes except that we liked to eat them.
When I decided to put a surprise on the inside of my cake for the first time, it
seemed like a normal thing to do, simply because I didn’t know any better.
The first surprise-inside cake was the Jack-o’-lantern Cake. I wanted to bring
a cake to a church potluck but couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t too
ghoulish or scary, so I settled on a jack-o’-lantern. But then I was nervous that
there would be a bunch of pumpkin cakes, so I wanted to try and make mine
different. Then it hit me . . . why not put a candle made of cake inside? I
pondered that cake for weeks and weeks. My end design was a far cry from the
original plan of execution, but every single moment of labor and planning was
worth it when I saw people’s faces. At that time (2009) there were no surprise-
inside cakes—no one had heard of such a thing. I had no idea what to even call
it!
Fast-forward to today, and while I may have a little gift for unique baking
ideas, I’m not an expert by any means. I’m in awe of all my amazingly talented
food-blogging friends, and as an ever-evolving work in progress, I try to learn
from the things they share. In the same spirit, I’m happy to share with you here
some of the cake designs that have been floating around my mind, and deeply
grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to do so.