A cake just for us!

I finished my cake decorating classes a couple months ago, but there are project classes offered once a month, so I am hoping to take some of them to keep up with my learning and practicing.

Last Saturday was a 'Tall Cakes' class focusing on how to layer and tier and transport and display celebration and wedding cakes.  We had to bring in our cakes to practice on, and so I decided I wanted to try out new cake recipes and new decorating techniques.

I've been wanting to make a coconut cake for a looooong time, so I finally made one!  I used this recipe and the only change I made for the cake part was to bake it as three 6" rounds instead of two 9" rounds.  The cake was moist and really tasty, but I didn't get a lot of coconut flavor from it on its own (that being said, even with his stuffed up head cold, Roy could taste the coconut even when he didn't know what flavor of cake I was forcing him to eat).  I had some regular vanilla buttercream leftover, so I thinned it out with some of the coconut cream leftover from the cake.  It was delicious and it still crusted beautifully.  The increase the coconut deliciousness even further, I toasted some coconut to sprinkle between the layers along with the icing.  All together is was a lovely coconut cake.  It was sweet, but yummy!  I would like to try a lighter white cake recipe for a coconut cake sometime …

Another flavor I've been wanting to try is one with the Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter that we all really love.  I couldn't find many cake recipes online, but I figured since it is similar consistency to peanut butter, I could just sub it into a peanut butter cake recipe.  I think I have expressed before how much I always like the recipes from The Pioneer Woman, so I figured her recipe was to be trusted!  I did make a few changes (doubled the recipe, less sugar, less butter, and baked in 10" pans) and I used more of my leftover vanilla buttercream to make a delicious cookie dip icing.  I really loved this cake.  It was moist and delicious.

Next up was my decision of how to decorate the cake.  The first criteria was minimal preparation since I didn't get it organized and started a week ahead as planned … oops … there's the procrastinator in me again!  I was looking at some buttercream only designs I had pinned on Pinterest, but a friend suggested I try out the ruffle rosette, so I decided to go for it. I also wanted to try out some stripes/folds, so I did one layer with that, too.  And I chose colors that a girl in my cake decorating class had introduced me to that I hadn't had a chance to really use much yet.  I made a few errors (started the rosette a little low being one of them), but overall I was happy with how it turned out, and I hope I can make one similar again one day!