slocakes

BEARY PUMPKIN November 2, 2008

This cake was made for my cousin Halima’s 1st birthday bash on November 2nd, 2008.

Design Halima was actually born on Halloween !! So, it’s only fitting that she should have a Halloween themed birthday cake. I actually had the idea for this cake for awhile, and her parents decided to dress her up to match the cake. Now that’s a first !!

Cake Delicious pumpkin spice cake. This cake is special in more ways than one. I made a variation of this pumpkin cake for my cousin, Omar, and Lela’s wedding (Halima’s parents) many moons ago as well as for Halima’s baby shower cake before she was even born! Additionally, this is probably my favorite cake to make. It is so yummy and you can almost convince yourself that it’s good for you Every time I make this cake I tweak the recipe a little. I’ve never made it the same twice, but I think I’m getting close to a perfect recipe. This time I substituted half the white sugar with brown sugar. The brown sugar really added a richer sweetness to the cake that it didn’t have before.

Filling The filling and frosting for the pedestal cake is white chocolate cream cheese frosting. This frosting has no added sugar, except what is in the white chocolate itself. The result was a bold cream cheese flavor with a white chocolate after taste that was not too sweet. This icing will also not crust like other typical cream cheese frostings made from powdered sugar. However, this icing will definitely not hold up in warm weather - use a powdered sugar variation instead.

Icing The teddy bear is iced in bittersweet chocolate cream cheese frosting with a fondant pumpkin “costume”.

Decoration Not a whole lot of decoration was needed for this cake. The teddy bear is the main attraction. The marzipan pumpkins and leaves help develop the overall theme without detracting from the focal point of the bear. The green leaves around the neck, the fondant pumpkin “hat” and gumpaste tendrils give the cake just the right amount of cuteness to match little Halima.

Thanks This wasn’t a very complicated cake, so I didn’t need too much help. I actually think this cake was probably one of my fastest cakes ever. Maybe I’m finally getting good at this??? I started it around 4pm on Saturday, got a full night’s sleep and finished it on Sunday at 2pm. None-the-less, Blake was a big help as always. He made all the marzipan pumpkins and leaves !