Fraisier

(Sorry about the picture quality. Now that Picnik is gone, I'm not sure how to tweak my photos)

Well, this is a Fraisier! Much easier than I thought it would be, with 4 components (plus strawberries) and light and airy and not too sweet!

The recipes and instructions for assembly came from this book, and it took one morning (maybe 2 hours?) to complete, although I had made the marzipan the night before.

I ended up baking the sponge in one sheet pan and then piecing the bottom together with bits left over after I had but out a circle for the top. I used kirsch in the syrup and in the creme mousseline, but I couldn't taste it in the final product. Finally, I probably should've reserved a bit more of the mousseline for the top layer after adding the chopped strawberries.

Definitely want to make this one again!

Rose Cake

Ombre and roses...does it get more girly?

This cake was made with a vanilla cake recipe (to which I added varying amounts of pink Americolor gels) and a buttercream recipe that I'm pretty sure I got from Sweetapolita's website. (Sorry, I just can't seem to find the exact link right now.) I filled it with vanilla pudding and flavoured the buttercream lightly with LorAnn's Raspberry Flavor.

The roses were far, far simpler to make than I thought they'd be. A search on Pinterest yielded iambaker's tutorial, but for some reason the website was down. (I've heard she's looking for a new host.) Luckily, I found this tutorial on YouTube.

Some notes:

• the recipe makes 3-8" cakes pretty much perfectly
• adding burgundy deepens the pink
• adding peach makes it more 'rosy' looking
• make a double recipe of buttercream (i.e. with 2 cups butter, 8 cups icing sugar, 8 tbsp whipping cream, and 3 tsp vanilla)...even then, this cake has a 3"-square bald spot! (Just don't use quite as much on the sides when doing the first coat.)