Baby Cake

There is going to be a new baby amongst our group of friends soon. I feel like a lot of my friends I grew up with are already experiencing this or have experienced it or have their own baby. For M and I things are a little different. People in the city tend to wait longer to have children than our midwestern roots, so we haven't experienced the baby craze just yet. I'm pretty sure it is just beginning and it is quite fun. I really love babies. They are so cute and sweet and once they start to cry you can give them back (hehe at least for now).

Baby is coming in less than a month so of course we had to celebrate. Our friend organized a very non-traditional couples shower where we only played one baby game that had nothing to do with melted candy bars in diapers. More like a regular party with lots of food and drinks, I think our couple had a good time. They also received some cutesy baby gifts and a bunch of babysitting offers.

I was asked to make a cake. Go figure... The funny thing is that the dad-to-be is allergic to pretty much everything so I had to default to a known favorite that I knew wouldn't kill him. Gingerbread Cake. I made it for his last birthday and they both really liked it. Safe. I also had intention of making it really cute since there wasn't going to be much of that at the shower. I have been looking for a reason to try out fondant too. I made marshmallow fondant in a very small quantity for my nephew's birthday cupcakes (coming soon) but never covered an entire cake with it. I got some tips from a friendly salesman at the baking supply store and it turned out great.

Fondant is pretty simple. I would like to try and make my own sometime but for now I stuck with Wilton. Once I kneaded it enough it was easy to roll. I didn't really figure out how to cover the corners of a square cake so I decided to drape it around like a little blanket. It looked really cute and no one would have known otherwise. I also wanted to make block letters and they turned out super cute too. Thanks to my lovely assistant and friend Emily (who makes amazing cookies by the way) for ideas and help finishing the cake. "baby" blocks and polka dots. This was great practice to cakes to come (at least I hope).

Gingerbread Cake

(1 9 inch cake) Printer Friendly

1 stick butter

1/2 C brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 C molasses

2 eggs

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp allspice

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C buttermilk

Lemon Frosting

4 T butter

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp lemon extract

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 C sifted powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚. butter and flour a 9" pan. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the molasses and eggs one at a time. Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk. Alternate 1/3 flour and 1/2 buttermilk until completely blended. Smooth the top and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan, run a knife around the edge and un-mold onto a wire rack. Optional - Cut cake in half and spread with Lemon curd, or raspberry preserves. It is best when left overnight to absorb the filling. Frost and serve.