Strawberry Basket Cake

Last week, I needed to make a cake and I wanted to do something different, something that wasn't too complicated but still looked impressive. I've seen cakes that were surrounded by Kit-Kat bars and filled in with M&M's and they look great, so I used that idea as my starting point. Since I was making a strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting, what better than a basket of strawberries?


Making the basket was super easy, I just bought a bunch of Pirouettes, trimmed them down a bit so they were about an inch taller than the cake, and stuck them all around the cake.

The handle was a bit tricky and I think it would have been easier if I had made it before frosting the cake (then I could have checked the size of it without getting it all covered in frosting). Basically I cut and "glued" Pirouette pieces together with melted chocolate and put it on the cake. I cut the long pieces of Pirouettes at a 45 degree angle, which helped the pieces stick together.

To finish the cake, I tied ribbon around the Pirouettes to make sure they stayed put and tossed some sliced strawberries on the top. I'm impressed with how it turned out!

Want to know what recipes I used? I found a great from-scratch strawberry cake recipe on Food.com and a yummy strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe on Lemons and Anchovies.

What Time Is It? Adventure Time!

I made this cake for my husband's birthday and he loved it! Despite being fully-grown adults, we love cartoons and video games. I got the idea for this design on Polyvore, which you can find here. This cake is based on the Cartoon Network show "Adventure Time" which is about heroic adventurers Jake the dog and Finn the human and their awesome adventures in the Land of Ooo. The show is full of family-friendly silliness and fun! Originally I was going to attempt a "Venture Brothers" cake but the artwork in that show is beyond my skill level.

Experiments With Buttercream

Usually when I make cakes I just frost them, write a name on them, and call it good. Since joining the cake charity in October, however, I've been trying to learn how to make more visually appealing cakes. The cakes below are some of my experiments.

For this cake, I plopped on a bunch of buttercream and made random "S" shapes in it with a spoon. I thought it turned out pretty cute. And to give proper credit, I found the idea for this on Country Living's website, which can be found here.

For this one, I did the same as with the cake above, but did the "S" swirls in a pattern instead of randomly on the cake. I think I like the random look more.


I kept this one simple, I just piped stars all around. It's simple but still nice.


This cake didn't turn out how I had hoped. Those sad little piles of blue are suppose to be roses, but something went wrong. Maybe my frosting was too warm, maybe it's because I don't have a flower nail, or maybe it's just my lack of skill. Either way, I need to keep practicing.


Other than the stars being off-center, this one turned out pretty well. The stars at least look like stars!

Here is the frosting recipe that I love to use. I like how it has a nice buttery taste but stays creamy.

Almond Frosting

½ cup butter, at room temperature
½ cup shortening
1 ½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
4 ½ cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 tbl almond milk

Variations: add 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa for chocolate frosting; omit almond extract and increase vanilla to 2 tsp for a classic vanilla buttercream

Cream together butter and shortening in mixer. Add vanilla, almond extract, and 1 tablespoon of milk, mix well. Add powdered sugar and remainder of milk, mix until smooth. If frosting is too thick, add extra milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Fun With Fondant

I am part of a wonderful charity that provides birthday cakes to individuals who otherwise would not get a cake, such as foster children, hospice patients, veterans, and people in assisted living communities. I usually make two cakes a month for the charity, sometimes more, sometimes less. The following are some of the better-looking cakes I have made using fondant.

A quick note about fondant, fondant and I have a bit of a rocky relationship. We are still in the "getting to know each other" stage and aren't too sure about one another. He is very finicky and kneady, while I can be impatient and don't always respect his delicate nature. He is very popular and I hope we can make it work. The cakes below are the good times we've had together.

(Please forgive the sloppy lettering, I have terrible handwriting!)

This cake was pretty easy, I just pressed the fondant into a mold to get the rose and leaf shapes then added them to a buttercream frosted cake. The real trick here was trying to get the fondant out of the mold without completely destroying it.

For this cake, I covered the whole thing in marshmallow fondant then added red fondant dots. This was my first attempt using fondant for the whole cake and I think it turned out pretty nice. It was a bit of work though, rolling out the fondant and trying to lay it smoothly over the cake without ripping it.

This cake was so much fun to make, all of the make-up is made out of fondant! I used marshmallow fondant for all the black, the eyeshadow, and blush since it had more of a matte finish and used a buttercream fondant for the lipsticks and nail polish since it had more of a shine.

The marshmallow fondant recipe I used can be found here and the buttercream fondant recipe can be found here.

Welcome!

Hello World!

My name is Beka and welcome to My Homemade Adventure. I have lots of things that interest me, including cooking, baking, gardening, and crafts. I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, just a housewife learning new things and sharing them with you right here. I am excited to start posting fun projects, recipes, and tips!