5th Birthday Sugar Cookies

I made these sugar cookies for my nephew’s 5^th birthday party.  I love the bright color palette and the simplicity of the polka dots.

I also made a few peppermint candy-shaped cookies.

For the sugar cookie and royal icing recipes, click here.  If you want to see photos of other sugar cookies I have made, head on over to my “Sugar Cookie Gallery”!

White Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

White Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Happy Birthday Eric!  Yesterday was Eric’s birthday, so of course I had to bake him a cake.  I decided to use my white cupcake recipe, but instead of cupcakes I made a two- layer round cake.  Originally I was going to make chocolate frosting, but he requested vanilla, so vanilla it was.  :)   I used this recipe for the vanilla buttercream frosting, but I also added the seeds from one vanilla bean to it, and then only used one teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of two.  I love the way you could see the little black flecks of vanilla bean in the frosting, and they also tasted really good.

Additionally, I added two layers of raspberry preserves as a filling for the cake.  I don’t know why I’ve never thought to do this before with a cake.  It was so easy, and in my opinion this simple step made the cake taste so much better!  (Eric agreed).  I think raspberry and chocolate would also be a great combo.  Enjoy!

Notes:

• I used a cupcake recipe for this cake, so I had to increase the baking time.  Initially I set the timer for 30 minutes, but when I checked it, the cake still wasn’t ready.  I think it ended up taking about 35 minutes to bake the two 8-inch layers.  You will know it’s done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
• Adding a layer of raspberry preserves (or jam) to a cake is really easy.  Just take each layer, slice it in half, spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves on top, and place the top back on so that the raspberry preserves are sandwiched between the layers.
• To tint the frosting as I did, first frost the cake with white frosting.  Leave the remaining frosting in the mixer bowl, and after you are done with the white frosting, add a drop of blue food coloring to it.  Then mix it with the mixer until it’s fully incorporated.  I used a pastry bag with a star tip to pipe the detail around the outer edge of the cake, and a small round tip (#5) to write on the cake.