American Flag Cake

I am so excited to share this cake with you! This was my most recent Fourth of July cake from 2013. 
















There is even a surprise on the inside! 

This cake took hours to bake but it is not as hard as you may think. The trick is to cut each layer into "rings." First, it is important to make sure that all of the layers are the same size radius-wise. You'll then need to make three layers of cake (red, white and blue) all the same size. Cut the red and white layers in half through the middle, creating one layer of cake into two layers of cake. The blue layer will not be cut into halves. Layer the red layer of cake on the white layer of cake. This next part is tricky. Pile the second layer of red and white and cut a round hole in the center of the cake, about an inch away from the outer edge of the cake. Then, take the center of the cake that was cut out and place it on top of the blue layer. Cut the blue layer to match the same size as the center of the cake. Then place the inner circle from the blue cake inside of the red and white outer ring. You should now have a single leveled cake. You can now frost the cake and choose how you would like to design it. I decided to make red and blue stars out of sprinkles and it looked great! I know this may be confusing so please comment with any questions and I will be happy to answer them!

Mini Flower Cupcakes

These scrumptious cupcakes are my absolute favorite to make! They are mini cupcakes and they are absolutely adorable! They are even perfect to make for a mom, grandma or anyone. I especially love how the colors of the flowers go so well together. I used Wilton’s garden tone color gels. For these flower cupcakes, I used a Wilton no. 104 tip and piped each flower onto the cupcake. You can either pipe the flower onto a flower nail and place it onto the cupcake using pastry scissors, or you can just pipe them right onto the cupcake. Personally, I prefer to pipe the flower right onto the cupcake as it helps keep the shape of the flower much better. You can read this tutorial here on how to pipe the perfect flower.

Turkey Cupcakes

Although we have quite a while until the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to share these turkey cupcakes I made in 2012. These were the talk of my family celebration! I must say, these cupcakes were the longest I have ever spent on one baking project (they took me about 2 days to make--about 16 hours total). I started by baking the cupcake and then putting a layer of green frosting on the cupcake. The actual turkeys are Kraft caramels that I warmed up in the microwave and shaped like fondant. I wrapped some caramel around a pretzel stick and dipped the ends in the remaining white frosting. I then piped on the leaves in 3 different colors. Although these cupcakes are extremely time consuming, I was glad that I was able to make something perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Peeps Cake

In honor of Easter, I want to share the cake that I made this year for the holiday. This is definitely the solution to a quick last-minute Easter cake. It took me about 30 minutes to bake once I took the cake out of the oven and froze it.

This strawberry-vanilla cake tasted great!

The first step was to frost the cake. Start by frosting the top with a spatula and then work your way to the sides.

This is how your cake should look when you have finished frosting it.

Next, add the Peeps. I had an issue getting the Peeps to actually stick to the cake so I used toothpicks for each Peep and they stayed standing just fine.

Last but not least, add the M&Ms to the top of the cake and voila!

Watermelon Treat

With summer just around the corner, I thought I would share the perfect tasty treat! This is a marshmallow treat shaped just like a watermelon. Here is what you'll need:

8 tbsp butter
8 cups mini marshmallows
8 cups Rice Krispies cereal
Red food coloring
Green food coloring
1/8 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips



1) Melt the butter and marshmallows over a double broiler on medium heat.
2) Stir in the Rice Krispies and divide into two portions. Make one portion about 1/3 of the Rice Krispies and the second portion about 2/3 of the Rice Krispies.
3) Add about six drops of green food coloring to the 1/3 portion of the Rice Krispies and mix well. Then, press around the edges of a greased round pan to form the outside of the watermelon.
4) Repeat step 3 but with red food coloring and the remaining portion of the Rice Krispies and press the Rice Krispies into the center of the pan, forming the middle of the watermelon.
5) Top with chocolate chips and slice like a pie. Enjoy!

Art Cake

I like to call this cake my work of art! My inspiration came from a piece of work that my sister painted years ago. This is a two-layer vanilla cake with irish cream flavored frosting. For the small designs I used a Wilton 124 tip. I made one batch of frosting and divided it into four separate parts. I dyed one part blue, one part yellow, one part pink and one part green. I then put each colored frosting into four pastry bags. I started by piping one color, then moving on to the next and so forth. When I got to the last color, I used it to fill in all of the open spaces I had not covered on the cake. This cake took quite a bit of time and to be honest, I had no idea how it was going to turn out. I just went along with it as the cake progressed. I chose four colors that all went well together. With no plan from the start of this cake, I think it turned out well!

Large Flower Cupcakes

These cupcakes are super cute and one of the easier flower cupcakes to bake. First, I baked a dozen regular-sized cupcakes. I then made the frosting from scratch and divided it into three separate bowls. I dyed the first bowl blue, the second green and I left the third bowl white. Using a Wilton no. 104 petal tip to pipe the flowers. You can watch a YouTube video here on how to pipe the flowers. It's easy once you get the hang of it. I used a Wilton no. 67 leaf tip to pipe the leaves. I made sure that I put the tip directly at the base of the flower right before I started piping the leaves. These cupcakes are fairly quick to bake and look awesome when they are finished!

Rose Cake

Mother's Day is just around the corner and every mother will love a cake like this! It is a lot easier to bake than it looks. This cake is a two layer red velvet cake with buttercream frosting. I used a 2D Wilton tip to pipe each rose. I started by piping the roses on the side of the cake first. I personally froze the cake right before I piped the roses on it so it was much easier and my finished product looked a lot cleaner! After piping the roses on the side of the cake, I worked on the top. I began piping roses on the outside in a clockwise motion and worked my way to the inside. Once you have finished piping the roses, there will be parts of the cake that are not covered by roses. When this happens, you can take your piping bag with the 2D tip and fill in the spaces by making lines along the outer edge of the roses. It is hardly noticeable. I thought a great way to finish off the cake and make it look perfect would be to lightly spray the cake with Wilton Pearl Mist. Voila!

Construction Cake

This is a perfect cake for a young birthday boy! Personally, I baked this cake for my boyfriend who is pursuing a degree in construction management, which made him love it even more! It is so cute and actually looks like a construction site. 

I made this cake using mini toy trucks, Sixlets, chocolate cake, and it may not look like it, but the construction cones are actually candles! To be honest, this cake did take me quite a while, as most of my cakes do, but it was well worth the time. This cake was fairly easy to bake, but I am a perfectionist so it took me longer than most will likely take. This cake can be changed up in so many different ways. Crumbled Oreos can be used for the piles of dirt, but since my cake was so moist, I was able to mold the cake into dirt-looking piles and add them to the cake. You can also be creative with scraps that go into the bed of the dump truck. I just so happened to find Sixlets that were perfect for this cake. So, if you're looking for a fun and easy-to-bake cake, this construction cake might as well be your choice!

Mini Cupcakes

Spring is just arriving and what better way to celebrate by baking some spring-colored mini cupcakes. My favorite color is turquoise, which is why I love these cupcakes even more. These vanilla cupcakes with irish creme frosting are the perfect scrumptious dessert. Here is what you'll need:

For the frosting:
6 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 pastry bag and coupler
Blue and yellow food coloring
Wilton tip #12

For the cupcakes:
1 box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Vanilla Cake Mix
3 eggs
24 mini cupcake liners
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:
1. Sift the cake mix and add the oil, eggs and water in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes.
2. Using a large spoon, fill each cupcake liner no more than halfway to the top and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Once removed from the oven, let cool completely.
3. Beat the room temperature butter on low speed until creamy. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time while beating on medium speed. Add each 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar once the previous confectioner's sugar has been mixed thoroughly. Add a milk as needed if your frosting becomes too thick or dough-like. Once you have reached your desired consistency, add vanilla and beat on medium speed until the vanilla is mixed in. Add equal amounts of yellow and blue food coloring and stir in the coloring with a spatula until the coloring is distributed evenly.
4. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, attach the #12 tip to the pastry bag and fill the pastry bag about 3/4 with frosting. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pan. Hold your pastry bag about 1 inch directly above the cupcake. Holding the pastry bag in one spot, squeeze a dollop of frosting on the cupcake. Repeat with all cupcakes.

The Ultimate American Cake

America is the greatest country in the world! Every year, we celebrate America's birthday on the fourth of July. I baked this American flag cake on 2012 for my grandma's birthday (which also happens to be on the fourth of July). It was hands-down the talk of the party!

And surprise! It is red, white and blue on the inside!

This artsy cake is a vanilla cake with buttercream frosting. First I took my batter and divided it into two different batches. Using blue and red food coloring, I dyed one batch red and the other blue. I then baked the cakes and allowed them to cool completely. Using a cake leveler, I leveled the cakes and made a thick layer of frosting in between the blue and red layers. I then coated the whole cake with frosting using a spatula. For the flag design, I colored my frosting red and blue. Using the blue frosting, I carefully made a square on the cake using a spatula. I then used a Wilton tip #21 to pipe the stars and a Wilton tip #102 for the stripes. Not only is this cake patriotic, but it is fun and your party guests will discover an awesome surprise when they slice into your cake!

Father's Day Cake

As everyone should know, dads are one of the most important people in our lives. I myself, am a daddy's girl and I am also my dad's #1 fan! That is why Father's Day is one of the most important days out of the year for me and my dad. My dad and I have been golfing since I can remember and he was the one who taught me how to play the sport. A Father's Day tradition that my dad and I have is playing a round of golf every Father's Day. Golf is one of the only sports where you can bond with people and have fun at the same time! For this reason,  I wanted to bake a special cake for my dad. I came up with this golf cake! This golf cake is definitely one of my favorite cakes and in my opinion, my most creative. It wasn't the easiest to bake, but it turned out really well! It is a vanilla cake with amaretto frosting. I used brown sugar for the sand bunker and fondant for the flag and golf clubs.

Easter Sugar Cookies

With Easter coming up next month, I decided to share these cute bird-shaped cookies I made last year. Not only are these cookies adorable, but they are delicious and perfect for an Easter celebration with family and friends. Here is what you'll need:

For the cookies:
Three colors of food coloring (I used red, violet and yellow)
2 (1 small and 1 large) bird-shaped cookie cutters
1 pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix
1/3 cup softened butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup flour

For the icing:
3 pastry bags
Wilton decorating tip #5
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup warm water

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix, butter and milk. (The recipe on the pouch also calls for 1 egg, but I am allergic to eggs so I chose not to use the egg and the cookies turned out just as fine!) Combine until a soft dough forms.
2) Roll the dough into a ball and place between 2 sheets of wax paper, lightly coated with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Remove the top sheet of wax paper.
3) Using your cookie cutters, cut the dough and place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 1/2 inch apart.
4) Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes. Remove cookies and let sit until completely cooled.
5) Mix water, vanilla and corn syrup. Mix liquid ingredients into a separate bowl with confectioner's sugar. Beat on low with an electric mixer until icing is smooth.
6) Separate icing evenly into three cups. Drop 3-5 drops of food coloring into each cup. Using a knife, mix until food coloring is distributed evenly. You may also add morel/less food coloring until you have reached your desired color.
7) Put each color icing into a separate pastry bag. Using your pastry bag and #5 tip, first outline the shape of the bird. Then, fill in the inside of the bird. If the icing looks uneven, use a small spatula to evenly spread the icing. Repeat with each cookie. Using your darkest color icing, pipe a dot on each cookie to make the eye.
8) Once icing has dried completely, your cookies are ready to enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcake with Marshmallow Frosting

This red velvet cupcake with marshmallow frosting is oh so simple! It is one of my more basic cupcakes but the finished product is delicious! I baked this batch of cupcakes with cupcake liners in a muffin pan. I make all of my frostings from scratch using a standing mixer. Making frosting is so easy and tastes much better than store-bought frosting. Here is what you will need:

For the frosting:
6 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 jar (7oz) Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 (or more) cup milk
Wilton tip 2A
Pastry bag and coupler

For the cupcakes:
1 box of Betty Crocker super moist red velvet cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
12 cupcake liners


Instructions:
1. Sift the cake mix (I prefer to sift the mix because it makes the cake fluffier) and add the oil, eggs and water in a large bowl and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes.
2. Using a large spoon, fill each cupcake liner halfway to the top and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Once removed from the oven, let cool completely.
3. Beat the butter on low speed until creamy. Add the jar of marshmallow creme and beat on low speed until well blended. Add sifted confectioner's sugar gradually (about 1/2 cup each time) while beating on medium speed. Depending on the consistency of the frosting, add milk as needed (add milk for thinner consistency). You'll want a consistency similar to creamed butter. Once you have reached your desired consistency, add vanilla and beat on medium speed for about a minute.
4. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, attach the 2A tip to the pastry bag then fill the pastry bag about 3/4 with frosting.
5. Using the pastry bag, make a thin, cone-shape (about 1/2-2 inches tall) directly in the center of your cupcake.
6. Using a slow circular motion, start at the outside edge of the cupcake and work your way around the top of the cupcake until you have reached the peak of the inner cone.
7. Top with sprinkles as desired.

Welcome to Creative Baker!

Hello everyone! My name is Cara and I am the author of Creative Baker! I would like to start by telling you all a little bit about me. I was born and raised in Chicago, Ill. I began baking six years ago. I taught myself how to bake and I first began baking birthday cakes. After baking my first few, I knew that baking was something I wanted to do as a hobby, maybe even for a career. I bake all of my work from scratch and decorate by hand. Here at the Creative Baker blog, you will find instructions and photos of all sorts of home-baked goods ranging from cakes to cupcakes galore! My work is far from ordinary. My ideas come from inspiration and experience. So follow along for inspiration and ideas that will help you to be a creative baker as well! Welcome aboard!