This cheesecake was done for a bridal shower. The raspberries and leaves were made from gumpaste and put on vines of florist wire (wrapped with florist tape).

The cheesecake was a raspberry cheesecake with a crushed almond and graham cracker base. The whole cheesecake was topped in raspberry whipped cream.

The cheesecake was then topped with a spray of the handpainted gumpaste berries and loose berries and leaves were scattered on the cake board.

What a lovely way to celebrate an upcoming spring wedding!

The last two months have flown by in a flurry of cakes that has left me
feeling in need of a vacation! Last weekend, I purchased a Kitchenaid
Professional Stand Mixer (in Empire Red - it's the most beautiful kitchen
appliance I've ever seen!) and I'm absolutely going crazy wanting to try it out
for the first time... maybe this weekend!!

As for current cake flavor inspirations, here's a whole new list of flavors
I'd like to attempt sometime soon! I don't know how I'd choose which flavor to try first though...

1. Mudslide - milk chocolate cake brushed with espresso and drizzled with chocolate syrup and iced with a Bailey's and Kahlua flavored buttercream.

2. Chocolate Covered Cherries Cake - Chocolate cake layers brushed with maraschino cherry syrup filled with whipped chocolate-maraschino cherry ganache and iced in maraschino cherry buttercream

3. Elvis – Four banana cake layers with alternating layers of peanut butter mousse and milk chocolate buttercream

4. Framboise Pistachio Sponge Cake brushed with Raspberry Syrup and iced in Vanilla Buttercream with fresh raspberries and raspberry preserves

5. Mayan Hot Chocolate Cake - Almond cake filled with milk chocolate mousse and iced in vanilla buttercream with a hint of cinnamon.

6. Almond Amaretto White Chocolate- Almond cake filled with Amaretto white chocolate mousse filling and iced in white chocolate buttercream.

7. Banana Split - Banana cake layers topped with strawberry buttercream, a drizzle of chocolate, sprinkle of nuts and cherries.

8. Cherries Jubilee - Vanilla cake brushed with brandy and filled with alternating layers of rich vanilla buttercream and brandied cherries buttercream.

9. Tiger Tail Cake - Orange cake marbled with black cake flavored with anise (black licorice) topped with orange buttercream.

10. Candied Apple Cake - Caramel cake filled with caramelized apples and
vanilla cream mousse iced in cinnamon-scented vanilla buttercream.

In the midst of all the cakes I've been doing lately, we had a potluck lunch
at work for which I made a chocolate espresso cheesecake with mocha whipped cream. I tried to do a floral design on the top with cocoa powder for the first time. I didn't get to try any of this cheesecake though, as it disappeared very quickly!

This is a dulce de leche cake that is supposed to be filled and iced in a dulce de leche cream... My first attempt at the cake (which is a rather complicated recipe by my standards) didn't go so well. The beaten eggs deflated and the cake layers looked very similar to crepes! My second attempt went a little better though.

Then I started on the cream... the Dulce de Leche was easy to make, although it took over two hours! The recipe instructs you to let it cool (which I did) and then combine it with chilled whipped cream and beat until fluffy... this was a problem. The dulce de leche hardens when it cools and when you add it to chilled cream, it turns the consistency of concrete. Then when you turn the mixer on, you are treated to a lovely clunking noise and whipped cream dripping off of your ceiling (not exactly what I'd had in mind to say the least!). I considered re-heating the caramel but that would likely have curdled the cream. I put it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it but as soon as the dulce de leche hit that cold cream again, it would once again go rock hard.

At the end of the day, I managed to get a little bit of the dulce de leche to mix into the cream and then I fished the rest of the hardened dulce de leche out of the cream with a strainer and had lightly flavored Dulce de Leche cream. I then warmed the remainder of the Dulce de Leche and spread it over each cake layer before icing it with the cream. The cake turned out ok but I will not be making this one again!

The cake was covered in fondant and decorated with green and blue polka dots and a gumpaste bow. My second word of advice here is do not cover a
cream-covered cake in fondant! It's my second attempt to date and it makes the fondant very difficult to work with!