Chocolate Heaven Part II

Went back to Antoine Amrani Chocolates for another cake class. His chocolate is amazing! They also hold factory tours, classes for kids & adults, and they hold chocolate & wine tastings. Check it out and see for yourself!


We made a chocolate caramel mousse cake. It was just as much fun the second time around. Now maybe I can try to make it at home.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

I think the people I work with need some cake. Actually, I want cake and my coworkers will benefit (I'm nice like that).

What kind of cake? Round or square? How should I decorate it? Too many questions for a Wednesday night. So I opted for a chocolate Bundt cake.


It smells so good! But smaller than I remember... oh well, now for the most important question - chocolate or vanilla icing? This is normally a no brainer - chocolate! But that looks kind of boring chocolate on chocolate. Maybe both? I was also trying to find a way to add fondant decorations (there's a ton of fondant in my house).

It's getting late, need to decide. Keep it simple.


There it is. Chocolate cake with white icing and chocolate drizzle. Can't wait to have a slice ;-)

Perry the Platypus

My husband and daughter love Phineas and Ferb. So I made them this

It's Perry the platypus, not to be confused with his alter ego Agent P. I traced the image on some wax paper with piping gel then transferred the outline to the cake and filled it in.

It was a hit! Next up, a 3D version of Ferb for my husband's birthday.

Independence Day Treats

Red, white and blue cake - lots of it. I started out making a red, white and blue checker board cake (which I was going to cover in red fondant). But I had so much batter left over that I made red, white and blue cupcakes as well.

I decorated the cupcakes first (it was late and they seemed the easiest to tackle). Added a stripe of red color to the decorating bag, added the white icing and went to work. What I got was not quite what I had envisioned but it was ok. So did it again with blue - pretty cute.


Now on to the cake. My original my idea was to cover it in red fondant with white fondant stars (there is close to 10 lbs of red fondant in my house - don't ask). But after the cake was iced I chickened out. I was not ready to roll out all of that fondant and get it on the cake. So, I just cut out red & blue stars and placed them on the cake.

Now to cut it open and see how the checker board came out... pretty good if I do say so myself.

Chocolate Heaven

There is an excellent chocolate shop in my neighborhood - Antoine Amrani Chocolates. All natural and made on site, these are the best chocolates I've tasted. They offer one day classes in the factory along side Chef Antoine himself.

In the class I took we made a Caramel Chocolate Mousse Cake. Yumm! The class started with a tour of the facility where we got to see some chocolate being made. Then we got to sample some - delicious!!!

Back in the kitchen we went to work. Chef Antoine did most of the work making the cake batter and the mousse. He explained all the steps along the way and some of us helped with the mixing & pouring of ingredients. Then, just like on TV, he brought out pre-baked cakes that we got to assemble. Those were then wisked away to chill and we got to play with some chocolate!

Chef Antoine showed us how to make some chocolate curls, use decals, and disco dust. He poured some chocolate on the table in front of us and we got to make our own. While those went into the freezer to set the chilled cakes came back out and we made a chocolate lace collar to go around it. Then we got to airbrush the top. Our chocolate decorations come out of the freezer and we put them on our cakes.

And this is what I produced!


I can't wait to take another class. Maybe in August when they do a chocolate mocha cake...

The Begining

October 2008 - For my daughter's 2nd birthday I decided to make her cake. She wanted an Abby Cadabby cake.
So I went to my local Micheals store and stocked up with what I needed. Looking at the pan & instructions I thought "doesn't look too bad, I could do this!" I did a practice cake just to be sure I know what I was getting into and it was kind of fun. The party cake came out pretty well considering I had never done anything like that before.

It was just the beginning. While shopping for the supplies the sales person suggested I take the Wilton cake decorating class. Hmmm, sounds interesting... although after some research the classes didn't fit my schedule at the time. Maybe someday...


October 2009 - Then came her 3rd birthday. Now she wanted a princess/pirate party. So I got online and started looking for ideas and came up a doll cake and pirate cupcakes.

The doll cake wasn't too bad. Although how do I cover the doll body with icing? Fondant! Never used it before, but hey why not? Wilton's brand was hard but softened up after awhile and it tasted nasty. Overall I think it turned out pretty good. Although my daughter's reaction was "I don't like it. I want Cinderella." Deep breath.... "Well, maybe next year sweetie."







Now on to the pirate cupcakes. More fondant for the bandannas. Color the icing a skin tone. Draw eye, patch and smile. They could have been neater, but they were kind of cute. The kids loved them and that's all that mattered.

Maybe I will look int0 those Wilton courses...