Cakes by Dodi

January 2012 Cakes

2012-01-13T18:18:00.010-05:00

Fondant Flower Cupcakes for baby shower

Super Mario 3D Cake

Chocolate Mice Candy on Sugar-Free Chocolate Cake

Robot Cupcakes

Wreath Cake

Santa Hats and Christmas Trees Cake Pops

Sweet 16 Fondant Zebra Cake

How to Make Corn Flake Wreaths

2011-12-22T18:16:00.002-05:00

Corn Flake Wreaths (and other holiday candies & cookies)
Ingredients:
1/3 c. butter
16 large marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp green food coloring
2 1/1 c. Cornflakes
red hots

DIRECTIONS

1
Melt butter & marshmallows in large stock pot on the stove over low - medium heat. Remove from heat. Add vanilla & food coloring. Stir in corn flakes & coat them well.
2
Drop large tablespoons of mixture onto waxed paper. Form the shape of a wreath for each one. You may want to coat your fingers with butter so they don’t stick. Place 3 red hots on each wreath. Let them set over night, turning over at least once to fully dry.

Fall 2011 Cakes

2011-11-19T22:05:00.016-05:00

Captain America Cake

Butterflies & Bugs Cupcakes

Flower Cake

Monogram Cupcakes for Baby Shower

40th Birthday Party for Fireman

Yellow Birthday Cake

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Skeleton Cake

Pumpkin Cake Pops

Ghost Cake Pops

Clemson Cake Pops

Eye Ball Mini Cupcakes

Spider Mini Cupcakes

Golden 50th Anniversary Cake

Silver 25th Anniversary Cake

How to Make Homemade Potato Soup

2011-09-25T14:34:00.007-04:00

Saute chopped onion in a little bit of olive oil in a large stock pot.

Chop 6 potatoes and a bag carrots into bite size chunks.

Add about 4 cups of water, 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup milk, 1 stick of butter, carrots and potatoes to the onions in the stock pot. Add a tablespoon of sea salt, teaspoon of minced onion, teaspoon of garlic salt, and 4 tablespoons of flour. Cook at medium heat.

Simmer for about 1 hour until potatoes and carrots are soft. Add 1 package of shredded cheese and chopped bacon.

Serve warm.

Summer Cakes

2011-09-16T21:42:00.017-04:00

Fish & Mermaid Cake

Children's Cancer Awareness Cookies

German Chocolate 30th Birthday

Flight from D.C. to SC cake

Peach Pie with Crumble Topping

Flowers & Bowling Cake

Cherry Pie

Monkey Cookies

Jewelry Party Cake

Gnomeo & Juliet Cake

Fondant Fire Truck & Fireman Cake

Triple Chocolate 40th Birthday Cake

Bird Nest Baby Shower Cake

Pink & Green Polka Dots Cake

Polka Dot Baby Shower Cake

How to Make Mulberry Jam

2011-07-05T11:57:00.009-04:00

To make mulberry jam, find a large tree & start picking the ripest berries on it. We just so happened to find one at my uncle's house in his front yard.

Measure out 5 cups of pureed berries.

Place 5 pint jars or 10 1/2 pint jars in a large stock pot to boil.

Mix a package of Suregel, 1 tablespoon of butter and the berries on high until they boil. Then stir in 7 cups of sugar and stir until it comes to a boil again. Once it comes to the 2nd boil, stop stirring & set your timer for one minute.

During that one minute, pull out the hot sterilized jars and place them on a dish towl.

Remove the mixture from the heat after the one minute is over & skim the bubbles off the top. The butter helps remove a lot of this for you.

Pour the hot jam into a pitcher for easy pouring.

Pour into jars, leaving about 1/4" at the top. Place seals on top & screw on the tops of each jar. You may want to use a kitchen towel for this since the jars will be very hot. After about 15 mintues, you'll hear a loud pop as the jar seals.

Enjoy your jam. Refrigerate after opening the jam.

May & June 2011 Cakes

2011-07-05T11:28:00.026-04:00

Ballet Slipper Cake Pops

Animal cake for 1 year old birthday.

Beach Ball Cake Pop

Surfboard Cake

7 Year Old Pool Party Cake

Anniversary Cake (recreation of original wedding cake 25 years ago)

Dog Bowl Cake

Spring Time Cake Pops for a wedding shower

Red & White Stars

Rainbow Cake In A Jar (baked in a pan of water - make sure to bake for a really long time to ensure doneness inside the middle of the jar.)

Tupperware Cake Taker Cake

Baby Shoes Cake

Anniversary Cake

Frozen Buttercream Transfer Toy Story Cake

See Parts 1 - 3 on how to do this cake here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGrP_mR51oU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01n9NtHmz6M&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAOq330xdgg&feature=related

60th Birthday Cake

Ugly Doll Cupcakes

Fondant Baby Cake

Barbie Fondant Cake

Mayor of Spartanburg's 50th Wedding Anniversary Cake

Birthday/Mother's Day Cake

Volleyball Cake

April Cakes

2011-05-01T09:03:00.012-04:00

Popcorn Cake Pops

Ladybug Cake Pops

A friend of mine has a company that does the coating on large windmill blades. This windmill brownie pop with a rice krispie base was for the opening of his new building.

Chocolate Bunny Pops

Easter Egg Cake Pops

Fondant Cake with Dots

Mario Brothers Cupcakes

The Imagination Library cake won 1st place at the United Way of the Piedmont's Great Cake Bake.

Goodnight Moon Cakes (I used the frozen buttercream transfer technique)

Administrative Associates Day

So Many Cakes

2011-04-03T21:14:00.027-04:00

This month I had more cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops than ever before. I set a new record! Enjoy all the pictures.

I practiced making a Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse cake pop for an upcoming birthday. They wanted all Mickey cake pops, but I couldn't at least give Minnie a good practice run.

I also did cupcakes to go with the cake pops. I decided to do "interpretive Mickey" cupcakes and put different Mickey parts on the cupcakes.

My nephew, Grayson's birthday will be held 7 hours away from me so I made these Lego marshmallow pops that I mailed to him to enjoy at his party.

These brownie bites had a hidden strawberry in each one.

Strawberry bundt cake

The next few pictures show the cupcakes for a 2 year old who had to thoroughly check out the cupcake before he would bite it. His mom shared these from his party. They were just too cute not to share. He wears glasses due to his vision problems. He has cancer of the eyes.

Bridal Cake Pop

Macadamia Nut Cake

Colorful Cake pops

Toy Story 3 cake. The customer placed the movie characters on the cake.

Flaming basketball cake.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

10 Year Anniversary Cake

Bunny Cake Pops

Cupcake cake balls

Cars

Chocolate

Mint Chocolate, Chocolate Caramel, and Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes

Key Lime Pie and Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

Various cake pops, brownie pops, marshmallow pops, and crisped rice pops

Same various cake pops on a huge peg board for a Bat Mitzvah party. The initials were for the 12 year old girl's name.

How to Make Brownie Pops

2011-03-12T18:44:00.014-05:00

This weekend I had to make 225 assorted cake pops, including 4 types of cakes, brownie pops, rice krispie treat pops, and marshmallow pops.

I had never made the brownie pops so I bought the brownie pop pan with my 50% off coupon at Michael's. I wish now that I had bought 4 of them. One batch of brownies will fill the pan 4 times. Let's just say it was a long baking time for one batch.

I mixed the ingredients together.

I then filled each cup about 2/3 full.

I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Then I inserted the stick and baked for 9 more minutes.

I let them cool for about 5 to 10 minutes and then pushed on the bottom of each cup to get the brownie out of the pan.

I let them cool about 30 more minutes until cooled completely.

I chose the pink candies to dip the brownies in.

I let the excess candy drip from the pop by tapping on the wrist that held the pop.

I placed the pops in a Styrofoam block until they dried.

For the rice krispie pops, I pressed the mixture into a square pan lined with waxed paper, let it cool, then cut it into squares. I then inverted the pan onto another pan to let them continue to dry.

At first, I placed a stick in each treat and tried to dip it. I found out quickly that they needed time to dry out (several hours) and the stick works much better if attached with melted candy. So if you do rice krispie pops, make them the night before you want to work with them. The rest of the dipping process is the same as cake or brownie pops.

March Cakes

2011-03-12T18:29:00.013-05:00

Peanut butter cake pops

The initial "S" for a girl named Sarah's birthday

iCarly and soccer ball cake

Spring time cake pops

Volleyball cake pops

Rubber Duck Baby Shower Cake

Mini cupcakes

Tiara Cake

I catered the grand opening of my friend's yoga studio. I had 4 different flavors available in the mini cupcakes.

German chocolate cake

Black Walnut Cake

Ben 10 Cake

February Cakes

2011-02-19T22:32:00.012-05:00

Apple Spice Cake

Football Jersey Cakes

Thomas the Train Cake

Chocolate with Strawberries Cake

Bowling ball (peanut butter) cake pops

My first ever topsy turvy cake. For some reason I was very leery of doing this type of cake. I just assumed it would fall over in transportation. It actually was not too bad to do. It was a little time consuming, as are all fondant cakes, but it turned out super cute.

And here is my first ever potty cake. A 12 year old boy wanted this for his birthday. I used the silver luster dust for the handle. I would've loved to have done this in all fondant with a few larger shapes, but had to keep it on a budget for the buyer. So it is all buttercream icing with no fondant.

Cake Pops of All Sorts

2011-02-04T13:12:00.007-05:00

Last night I really got in the mood to do all different kinds of cake pops. I wanted to do some for the Super Bowl coming up this weekend (although I only watch it for the commercials). I am "friends" with Duncan Hines on Facebook. They had asked what everyone was cooking for the Super Bowl. When I said football cake pops, they asked me to put a picture & recipe using Duncan Hines cake mix on their website. So I did. And might I add that the key lime pie flavor was brilliant & one of my new favorites.

http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/specialty-desserts/dodisc/key-lime-pie-flavored-football-cake-pops

I also had a friend with a birthday so I wanted to so some happy cake pops

And I needed to get some ready for my website so I would have a green theme for March come next month.

While I was getting all my sprinkles organized, some of the colors reminded me of Mardi Gras, so I did a few Mardi Gras inspired cake pops as well.

And then I had some extra yellow candy melts so I finished off a few more yellow with chocolate sprinkles.

How to Make Chocolate Smores Cake Pops

2011-01-28T09:18:00.013-05:00

I created some chocolate smores cake pops last night & tried to capture some pictures as I went along to show folks how to do it.

Step 1: Bake a cake in a 9" x 13" pan (any recipe you want - I used chocolate).

Step 2: Crumble up the cooled, cooked cake

Step 3: Mix about 1 cup of icing (I used cream cheese icing) in with the crumbled cake until moist.

Step 4. Form cake balls. I used a medium sized scoop and formed oblong shapes instead of round balls. I also finally remembered to take my first picture on this step.

Step 5: Place cake forms onto waxed paper on a sheet pan. Chill for about 1 hour.

Step 6: Melt candies. Hold half of the cake ball & dip into the melted candy (I used white vanilla candy melts). At the same time, dip the stick in a little bit of the melted candy & insert it in the same end you just dipped. (I forgot to take a picture of this step.)

Step 7: Place 1/2 dipped cake balls back on pan to chill again for about 30 minutes.

Step 8: Melt the second color candy melt (I used chocolate). Hold the cake pop by the stick (that should now be firmly sealed to the cake pop) and dip the top into the melted candy. I used a spoon to help get all the nooks & crannies.

Step 9: Twirl cake pop to get all the excess candy off.

Step 10: Quickly add whatever toppings you like. I added 3 mini marshmallows on top. The cake pop is cold so the candy hardens pretty fast. Work fast to get the toppings added within 30 seconds of the dipping.

Step 11: Quickly sprinkle on the gram cracker crumbs. I love that these now come in a box already crumbled.

Step 12: Drizzle on a little bit more chocolate for that final pizazz.

Step 13: After a couple of minutes, these are completely dry & ready to put in a small candy bag.

Step 14: Tie your favorite ribbon on & you're done!

People Cake Pops

2011-01-24T10:54:00.006-05:00

This past weekend I decided to do some cake pops that look like people. I had two inspirations. The first was Ellen Degeneres. Her birthday is coming up this Wednesday so I made one that resembled her.

The second one was Paula Deen. Her birthday was last Wednesday. I went to see Paula live in Cherokee on Saturday and wanted to take her something for her birthday (I later learned that 100 other crazy fans did too). I did get to give her son, Bobby Deen, two Paula Deen cake pops (in case one got broken).

The rest of the people cake pops were just fun to make. I kept giggling as I made them.

I bought a few Wilton supplies to present my cake pops in a cute manner. I made this batch of cake pops for my twin goddaughters, Shelby & Haley's first birthday. Isn't that the cutest little flower pot display?

Cake Pops

2011-01-19T19:59:00.006-05:00

So my newest love of baking is cake pops. I got the newest how-to book from Wilton online before it was released in stores. It was so fun & easy to do, yet a little bit time consuming. Here are my first real try at doing cake pops the correct way. I did two flavors: cookies & cream and caramel chocolate. I used red, pink, and chocolate candy melts. It was lots of fun creating these!

Secrets of Divinity

2010-12-16T12:53:00.003-05:00

I don't often blog about recipes on this blog, but I have to share the secrets of my Granny's divinity. She would make this candy every year at Christmas time. I don't know why we never made it throughout the year. It's a tough candy to make and you have to do it exactly right for it to turn out. Humidity levels can also affect this candy (or so I'm told, but I really think it's lots of patience). Here is the recipe (secrets in parenthesis):

5 C sugar

1 C water

1 C light corn syrup

2 or 3 egg whites, room temp

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 c. chopped pecans

Combine sugar, water & syrup in large stock pot. Bring to a boil on high, stirring constantly. (Now one secret is that I let it come to a boil on medium to make sure I don't scorch it.) (Stop stirring,) switch to 3 and continue boiling to 236 degrees (soft ball stage).

Place egg white in large mixing bowl (preferably a nice KitchenAid) and beat on high until foamy. Add pinch of salt & beat until stiff enough to stand in peaks.

(Now all of this should come together at the same time - soft ball candy + egg whites stiff so that they're ready to blend together.)

Slowly (and sometimes stop) pour the syrup into the egg whites while continuing to beat until it is all poured in the mixing bowl. (The mixture will expand and look like it might overflow, just go slow until it all gets in the bowl.) Beat on high until it holds its shape (this could mean up to 20 minutes until the mixture has a very stiff peak & just starts to loose that shine).

Fold in the nuts & vanilla into the mixture. (Grab a friend or two and) drop in mounds from a teaspoon (using another teaspoon to push it off the first teaspoon) onto a greased baking sheet (or just wax paper that's not greased). Let dry over night & then turn them over to dry a little bit more.

And there you have it! A no fail divinity recipe. Enjoy!

November Cakes

2010-11-20T18:40:00.007-05:00

This month I have done more and more with fondant. I'm enjoying working with this medium and hope to continue to do fabulous cakes. Here's a rare picture of me beside one of my latest creations.

This was a turkey with cupcake "feathers."

Also, my cousin Rachel has put some brand new touches on my cake website. Check it out. http://www.cakesbydodi.com

October Cakes

2010-10-08T20:14:00.004-04:00

Witch

Yellow Submarine

Cheeseburger Cake

September Cakes

2010-09-25T21:16:00.010-04:00

August Cakes

2010-08-24T20:47:00.002-04:00

July 2010 Cakes

2010-07-08T11:56:00.004-04:00

June Cakes

2010-06-12T06:37:00.006-04:00

This is the first cake I used silver luster dust on to create a silver fondant icing.

A first for me this year was making a cake for a dog's birthday.

April/May 2010 Cakes

2010-05-13T15:45:00.006-04:00

Class Finale

2010-04-01T10:32:00.002-04:00

This was my Wilton Level 3 class finale cake. The fondant was lots of fun. I really enjoyed putting this cake together.

Fondant Cake

2010-03-20T21:41:00.003-04:00

This Thomas the Tank Engine cake was my first one that I sold that I used fondant on.

Spring 2010

2010-03-16T22:01:00.012-04:00

The butterfly cakes were my first attempt at sugar free cake & sugar free icing. They turned out great, but the icing was not very stiff.

This was my first attempt at chocolate mocha cake. I used Dunkin Donuts coffee.

This was my first large cookie that I decorated.

January 2010

2010-02-04T12:40:00.003-05:00

Wedding Cake

2010-01-04T16:14:00.000-05:00

I don't normally do wedding cakes, but this one was non-traditional and came out great. I also added chocolate covered strawberries that the buyer added on top after they transported it.

December 2009 Cakes/Candy

2009-12-17T11:18:00.013-05:00

Kitty Cat

Chocolate Mess

Nintendo DS

Mice Candy

Snowmen Buckeyes

Poinsettia Basketweave

Christmas Tree

Stocking

Football

Some of the October/November Cakes

2009-11-20T14:06:00.005-05:00

End of September Cakes

2009-09-28T16:25:00.004-04:00

Transformer Cake

Flowers

Fire Truck

09-09-09

2009-09-09T10:00:00.006-04:00

Jesse Boyd school mascot

Georgia Football Field

Beach scene

Dump truck

Cowboy Boot

May Cakes

2009-05-21T15:30:00.003-04:00

Mid March Cakes

2009-04-02T09:03:00.004-04:00

My 2nd wedding shower cake.

Red Velvet Groom's Cake for a wedding.

Hundred Dollar Cake for a 10 year old.

Early March Cakes

2009-03-11T12:45:00.006-04:00

Super Girl Cake

Purple squares with silver painted leaves

Chocolate & strawberries

40 in 3-D

My Bridal Shower Cake

2009-03-02T13:22:00.002-05:00

February Cakes

2009-02-24T13:12:00.006-05:00

Wonder Pets (I did the cake. The customer put the pieces on it.)

New cakes

2009-02-20T13:43:00.001-05:00

Tinkerbell

Chocolate Explosion

A Few New Ones

2009-02-12T08:52:00.004-05:00

Princess Tiara

Large Cupcake

50th Celebration

Wedding cake?

2009-01-04T07:44:00.001-05:00

I'll be getting married April 11, 2009. Several people have asked me if I'm going to be doing my own wedding cake. After much deliberation, the answer is no. Transportation being the biggest obstacle. So wish me luck finding someone in Gatlinburg to live up to my expectations!

I am going with the guy that the Chapel at the Park uses. His work looks great, but I've never tasted it. She assured me it was baked fresh & he used buttercream icing, so we'll see.

Cakes

2008-11-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

I posted lots of pics today of different cakes I've done over the last few years. I sorted them into different categories for easier searching. Enjoy!

Wedding Cakes

2008-11-25T16:20:00.001-05:00

I only did the writing for this cake. The mother of the bride baked it & did the fondant. She was looking for someone that could write on it.

I actually made all the roses - those are very difficult by the way.

The buyer on this one added the sea shells after I gave them the cake with just the balls as the piping.

This one fell in my car. Remind me not to stack cakes before transportation.

This last one had flowers and turtles put on it by the buyers.

Miscellaneous Cakes

2008-11-25T15:43:00.002-05:00

3D Random Cakes

2008-11-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

Baby Cakes

2008-11-25T15:32:00.001-05:00

Super Hero/Star Wars Cakes

2008-11-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

Girlie Cakes

2008-11-25T15:13:00.000-05:00

Sports Cakes

2008-11-25T10:03:00.000-05:00