Baby Cake Baby Cake

Hi Everyone! How are all of you? I am sorry it’s been a while since my last post… a few things here and there have happened that put me out of commission for a couple of weeks! I can’t say that I haven’t baked though- that is my source of stress relief! I just haven’t had all the energy to blog about each of them. Hopefully I can get right back in it now! Today’s recipe is quite fun :) I made a cake for a baby shower so this one outlines some of my decorating tips but you can easily just use the cake recipe and then decorate it however you like.

Don’t you feel like Bundt cakes are a lost art these days? I swear you never see them anymore! I know they may seem a little old-fashioned but they are usually really moist, tasty cakes. I think one of the first recipes I posted was a Bailey’s Irish Cream Bundt…so amazing!! They are super easy to do and the recipes are usually quite simple- you can even use a cake box mix. The reason I actually picked this recipe for the shower was because it was mid-week and I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time. Bundt’s are pretty standard…you mix up a batter, pour it in the pan and bake for about an hour. As long as your grease the pan really good, it falls right out. Then I bought a few fun things to decorate and wa-la, you have a cute, tasty cake for your next event!

What you need for the cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter, softened 
1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup milk

What you need for the glaze:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon light corn syrup (you could use maple syrup here if you want to switch up flavors a bit)

1 teaspoon vanilla (almond extract is another flavor option)

Decorations:

Baby stickers

Piece of cardstock

Chip clip (or standing picture frame clip)

Pacifiers (I used 4 but you can use as many as you like!)

Blue and pink sugar crystals

To make the cake:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease the bottom and side of 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening (Crisco); lightly flour.

3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, the granulated sugar and softened butter with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping the side of the bowl as needed. Once combined, beat on medium speed about 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally, until light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this beating…it really makes the cake fluffy and moist! 

5. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla.

6. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with 3/4 cup milk on low speed until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. 

7. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

8. Using a long, wooden skewer poke holes over the entire cake (this is to help the glaze absorb).

To make the glaze:

9. Meanwhile, while your cake is cooling, start the sauce. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat all sauce ingredients except vanilla to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil and stir for 2 minutes more. 

10. Remove from heat and let it cool to the touch (about 10 minutes); then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Put it all together:

11. I first poked the holes in the top of the cake like I mentioned above and then also cut out four sections that were about the size of the top of the pacifiers. (Save these pieces of cake- it will help with the middle section.) 

12. Then I basted the sauce on top of the cake until I couldn’t get any more to absorb…then I poured even more of it over the top! (As a side note, I still had a lot leftover so you can probably either cut the sauce recipe in half or serve it on the side.) 
13. Next, I sprinkled blue and pink sugar crystals on top while the sauce was still wet so they would stick. Then I pushed the pacifiers back in the holes I had cut out! 

14. For the center piece I just cut a piece of card-stock freehand and used some baby stickers I found in the scrapbooking section at Wal-Mart. The chip clip is held in place in the center of the cake using the leftover pieces from the pacifier holes. I just wedged the pieces in the middle around the chip clip to hold it there. A standing clip photo frame would work best but I couldn’t find any at the last minute so this worked just fine.

Everyone really enjoyed the cake. I think this is a perfect recipe for the upcoming Christmas holiday parties. You could use red and green sugar crystals instead!

ENJOY!

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