So many changes in my life!

Yes, I know that I've been out from a good period, I'm sorry! So many changes in my life: new city, new home, missing old friends, fresh new friends!

And here I am, renewed and totally open to new challenges!

From this period, I have to show many cakes that came from my oven for special people in my life, and here they are!

Also, soon I'll be posting specially for weddings, some new sweets and a really yummy cake for a loving friend!

New year, new cakes!

Happy New year everyone! Yes, it seems 2013 started strong! So many things to do that kept me so busy! And of course, busy with the cakes to make and create!

On Jan 1st I created a cake (or maybe we can call a dessert?) with peaches and cream. For the filling I used canned peaches in a light syrup because we can't find fresh peaches at this time of the year, but you can use fresh ones and it will be good too. So here it is!

Then I made a cake for a kid (huge fan of the Detroit Lions), I didn't have much time for the cake (my daughter was sick at home all day), but I think the result was very good! It was Tres Leches and I used rolled fondant  for the lion and whipped cream for the frosting.

Then, after my daughter's recovery, I had really busy days with some cakes that satisfied me a lot, it's incredible how you can improve your skills and have very good results!

First, I made a birthday cake, a Black Forest, asked from a good friend. They'll enjoy the cake at work, so I was very excited with new people trying my cake!

Then, I made a last minute simple Tres Leches for a great friend, celebrated and enjoyed with a good champaigne! So good!

I was asked to make a Robot Cake for a close friend's son, he'll be 15 and was enjoying a lot his robot classes, so he will celebrate his birthday at the class! I think it turned so good! The cake was all with a metallic looking! And it was a chocolate cake with chocolate filling with some little white chocolate pieces. So yummy!

Then I was invited to a brunch to celebrate a friend's belated birthday. It was for a few good friends, and it was a surprise celebration, so I created a little rose vanilla/chocolate cake (2 layers of vanilla and 1 layer of chocolate cake) filled with cream and some crunchy sweety peanuts, so delicious! She was so happy! Here it is!

The week before Christmas!

The week before Christmas was very busy (as for almost all people) but a little bit different to my oven!
I was thinking about my latin friends, I decided to present them with a very popular Christmas Cake in Chile, the "Pan de Pascua". It's like a stollen (fruit cake), inside comes with a lot of dried fruit and nuts.
I made my Christmas Cakes  with dried cherries, raisins, dried apricots and toasted walnuts. I researched some recipes online and decided to make this Pan de Pascua recipe. The recipe is sooo good!!!
Here are some pictures before baking and after baking.

Also I made some Brazilian treats to make gifts to my daughter's teachers, I think that was a very good idea if you have a lot of people to present! On the boxes I put some brigadeiros and passion fruit brigadeiros! So yummy! :)

In the sequence we were planning our Christmas decorations, so my dear friend Bianca and I went to buy some decorations for the table, and the result was so great!!!

Now the table was planned and all the presents were bought, so I was asked to make some quindins and a little cake for a friend, easy task, I can do it! This little cake was very moist and filled with baba de moça (coconut milk cream) and vanilla whipped cream for the frosting.

And finishing my Christmas week, I decided to make a Black Forest Cake for Christmas Eve. We've been planning to be with more 4 families. Also, I have to thank my husband: he took a huge line at the party store (just because I needed the maraschino cherries with the stems)! 

So here's the cake:

To all, I wish you a great Christmas week! 

About this week

Oh, it's incredible how time flies! We're almost done for this year!
And I'm really done (or I think) for my year making cakes (or maybe decorated cakes)!

My cakes for this week (other pictures will be in the related pages):

- A cake for my dear friend Brenda:

- A cake for a huge fan of the Baltimore Ravens:

I also did a cake topper for a graduation party cake, it was a graduation cap and the university symbol, all made by gum paste. They resulted very nice! The only issue was the pastry chef  (who made the cake) that put the topper on the cake and then stored it in the refrigerator...Oh my, that's a crime...you never have to do that, unless you'll have a soft gum paste...so the flaps of the cap fell down...At first time, I thought it was ignorance...what do you think? Maybe a sabotage? I don't want to think that...
ok, lesson learned: put all guiding directions for decorate the cake. Here's a picture (not the best angle) of this lesson learned:

About my roots and cakes

Hi all! Yes, I know this is not a blog about me, but I realize that all of my cakes have a bit of my personality and all flavors bring me the taste of my childhood and my life in Latin America. My influences range from Chile, where I was born  and all my inherited family recipes and Brazil, where I grew up and enjoyed all the treats and baking goods in parties that Brazilians love. Oh yeah, Brazilians love to party! :)
That's part of the culture and happiness they carry with them!

Let's talk about Latin flavors: I think that given the Spanish/Portuguese influence in South America, have some similarities with these culinary tastes. So, talking about Spanish influence, I do a lot of fillings with milk ("dulce de leche" is one of my favorites), mixed with nuts; almonds and walnuts are very popular. In Brazil, a tropical country, we usually mix creamy fillings with fruit (like pineapple, peaches, coconut). Using coconut milk in some cases results in a very good combination! Another must in Brazil is "Brigadeiro", a  very Brazilian treat that is enjoyed for almost 100%. It's made from a mix of condensed milk and chocolate and results very yummy as a treat.

Talking about decorated cakes for parties, almost all of them are very fluffy and lightweight. Yes, I'm talking about sponge cakes! They're not too sweet because they have to emphasize the flavor of the filling and frosting, resulting in a very good combination. Cake moistness is the main thing that most people like.

I read something about not making sponge cakes when you use fondant, because fondant can be heavier to the delicate structure of sponge cakes, but you can do that if you use a thin layer of fondant and results are very nice (you can see in this blog).

That's all for today, thanks!

How everything has started...

Hi, my name is Daniela and I started baking cakes since my daughter was 1 year old. I was thinking about her birthday cake but I didn't want to order something obvious, so I created a Dora's birthday cake party for her! :) Obviously I worked all night and it became not too pretty...Everybody said that it was beautiful but my perfectionist personnality didn't say that...haha (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the cake, maybe some of my friends have a good picture...)

That was almost 2 years ago, since then I've been researching a lot and trying/failing a few times, making some cakes for friends and I think now they're becoming pretty and the most important part: yummy! ;)

Finally I decided to start my blog to show some of my cakes and my passion for baking!