december cake: layered peppermint cheesecake with white chocolate mousse frosting

well well well. I officially made it through an entire year of baking a new cake every month! my only rules were to make something new & to make it from scratch. I had so much fun doing this every month that I'm considering doing it again next year. I'm thinking, "a year of cookies," perhaps?

for december, it was another happy birthday jesus cake. this recipe is from southern living: a layered peppermint white cake & cheesecake with a white chocolate mousse frosting. everyone loved it. generally, only chocolate turns me on, but this was really good & perfect for christmas. the icing didn't do quite right (it was a little runny), so I left it un-iced on the sides, as inspired by the cover of my miette book (thanks, santa!).

thanks for following me on my highly caloric adventure.
ps- to see my entire year of cakes, click here.

november cake: sour cream chocolate cake with cream cheese peanut butter frosting & chocolate peanut butter ganache

phew. that was a long title. but I didn't want to leave out any of the goodness. this three-layer november cake was really really good. I mean, what's not to like about the chocolate + peanut butter combination? It sounds a little complicated, but this cake was actually pretty simple to make. you should totally try it (recipe here). the chocolate cake was really moist. and that peanut butter icing was just heavenly (I even saved some to dip my bananas in for breakfast!). and the ganache on to top is really what threw it over the top. a reese's peanut butter cup in cake form. 

october cake: dark chocolate layer cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting

I should have titled this post, "how to make instant friends." here's how:

1) bake a homemade chocolate cake. slice a piece out of the middle so the delicious-looking layers in the center are visible. 
2) carry the cake on a pretty cake plate into your local restaurant (in this case it was for our friend brian's birthday- but who needs an occasion for cake?). people will begin to approach you in the parking lot. they'll pretend to be interested in you husband's car - but we all know what they're really after. 
3) once you're in the restaurant, all the servers will greet you like you're they're long-lost sister. the bartenders will offer to barter drinks for a slice. they'll even ask if they can put the cake in the back so you'll have more room at your table (don't fall for this one). the people in the restaurant will also begin stare- but don't worry, they're just jealous. they are just waiting for that moment when you finish your meal & cut the cake, hoping they'll a catch a break in the form of a crumb. 
4) now, sing "happy birthday" (this step is optional - but note that this is the point when your fellow patron's jealously turns to envy & they begin thinking "I wish I was sitting at their table", so I'd recommend not skipping that part).
5) finally, cut & serve the cake. the people in the restaurant have now had a few drinks & are feeling friendly. they will take this opportunity to come up to your table & tell you how awesome you are & what an amazing baker you must be & do you think you might have a slice (or two) leftover. they're practically your friends at this point, so go for it. now, be prepared, because some more people might come into restaurant & gush over the cake (because they can see that you've served other people in the restaurant & can hear them shouting about how "amazing" it is). so you will probably make even more friends.
6) by the end of the night, the cake will be gone (hence the reason I said to take a slice out in the beginning!) & enjoyed by all your new friends. they're so ecstatic & their bellies are so happy, you'll feel like scott in the final scene of "teen wolf" where he scores the winning basket & gets hoisted up on everyone's shoulders to be revered & praised.  

so if you're interested in making this actual cake (although any chocolate cake will do, really), I highly recommend it. the recipe can be found here (thank you, pinterest). the only modification I made was using hazelnut-flavored coffee instead of regular coffee, because I love the flavor.

*true story. and also just a side note that I did call ahead to make sure it was cool with the restaurant that I b.y.o.c.

september cake: a bunch 'o pies

september was robert's birthday month. we did a southern picnic theme (pics to come next week), so instead of making a cake, I made a bunch of different pies. unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of all of them, but I ended up making an apple crumble pie, a brown sugar white peach pie and a chocolate peanut butter pie (pecan pie shown was not made by me). they disappeared slice by slice & we were left with four empty pie plates (don't you just love guests who actually eat?). I heard they were delicious ;)

august cake: vanilla wedding cake with swiss buttercream frosting

as I mentioned, my parents 35th anniversary was this past weekend. so for august's cake, I decided to try to recreate the top of their wedding cake. in total 70s style, it was topped with white daises and lots of baby's breath. so sweet. I had so much fun making this cake; we even had mom & dad cut it just like they did on their wedding day!

{35th anniversary vanilla wedding cake with swiss buttercream frosting}

{my parents in 1976, cutting their wedding cake}

july cake: brownie flag cake

ok, so this is definitely not an impressive cake. in fact, it's so simple that I'm not sure it's even allowed to count as part of my series. I might decide to make another "july cake" later in the month. but I needed something to take to our friend's annual 4th of july cookout & this was the perfect, festive dessert. happy america day!

june cake: coconut cake with coconut lime glaze & coconut cream cheese icing

we celebrated father's day with a wonderful afternoon of boating, skiing & swimming with dolphins in the river, followed by an evening of eatin' fried chicken & the best cake I've made all year (at least according to my critics). 

if you like coconut, I highly recommend this cake recipe. it was light & refreshing & fairly simple to put together. a perfect father's day cake for the perfect father & grandfather! 

may cake: vanilla cake with mango curd filling & swiss buttercream frosting

I made this feminine pink ruffle cake when my sister came in town for her 26th birthday. the cake was a simple vanilla cake, with this fresh mango curd filling, covered in this swiss buttercream frosting (which I will definitely be using again). it was pretty tasty & definitely the purtiest cake yet.

april cake: goat cheese cake with strawberry grand marnier reduction

I made april's cake for easter - a goat cheese cake with a strawberry grand marnier reduction (sounds fancy, but you really just boil the sauce until it thickens). I'm not a huge cheesecake person (give me fluffy cake or chocolate any day!), but I wanted to make something different that would go well after a big easter lunch.
 
this recipe is by tyler florence and can be found here. it was really good - the crust was my favorite part. I thought the goat cheese + cream cheese in the cake gave it a nice texture. and the strawberry sauce was a bit tart which helped tone down the sweetness of the cheesecake. 

march cake: caramel whipped cream layer cake

well, I'm not gonna lie. my first "march cake" was a disaster. I attempted a blueberry crumb poundcake & while it was actually delicious, it totally crumbled apart to the point where I couldn't even photograph it. so I took that as a sign that I should re-make a "march cake". I'd been drooling over a fabulous recipe for a caramel whipped cream layer cake that I found in "the modern baker" book that my friend gave me. it looks impressive but was actually pretty simple to make. it's very airy, soft & light, which means it's ok to eat it for breakfast. 

{caramel whipped cream layer cake from nick malgieri's "the modern baker"}

february cake: "pink" velvet cake

happy valentine's day! I'll eat an extra piece of the "pink" velvet cake that I made for you today!  xo

{I used the red velvet cake recipe from melissa gray's "all cakes considered" book}

january cake: root beer float cake

for my birthday, my sister gave me npr melissa gray's book, "all cakes considered". in it, she documents her cake journey of baking a cake & bringing it into work every monday for a whole year! while that's a little extreme, I thought it might be fun to test out some new cake recipes, since I love to bake. when I saw mariah's post about baking a new cake every month, I decided to do the same. so here's to a year of cake.

{I used joy the baker's root beer float cake recipe}