Cakes, cakes, cakes!: June 2011

When was the last time I made a cake for a girl? When was the last time I iced flowers? Too long ago. What a pleasure it was being able to make a regular ol' iced cake with flowers on it. Of course, that would be boring, so I had to snazz it up somehow. Since Amy's birthday is in the summertime, I decided to do a fruity cake.

I came across a recipe for lemon-blueberry cupcakes. I have since lost the link and had to search for a new one. I found this one and this one and decided to combine the two. I didn't follow the recipes exactly except for the filling. I originally was not planning to make a filling, but I thought the cake needed a little more lemon flavoring, so I found this recipe by Martha Stewart for Lemon Curd which I followed.

After a trip to the public market, I was armed with eight lemons and three pints of blueberries. Instead of following the cake recipe, I bought a box of white cake (I know, I know) and added lemon juice and zest. I substituted half of the water for lemon juice and zested one or two lemons.

Of course I had to use buttercream frosting if I wanted to ice flowers. This time, though, it would be blueberry flavored. I threw a few handfuls of blueberries in the blender and mixed in a splash of water. That substituted the water for the buttercream frosting. It gave the frosting a great pink color that was perfect for Amy. I mixed in a little purple and green food coloring for the flowers and leaves. Then I got to decorating. The result is nothing like the sketches I had made, but I am still pleased with the outcome.