Birthday cakes

For some reason almost everyone I know has a birthday in this part of the year. In my family, we have one birthday every month from October to February. So this time of year I am always baking cakes!

Chocolate ganache cake

This was kind of an impromptu cake for my boyfriend M's birthday. I had limited supplies at my apartment when making this cake. I used the Magnolia Bakery vanilla birthday cake recipe for this cake, modified to use only regular flour since that's all I had on hand. The frosting is a chocolate ganache. I like the silver dragees but you can't really see them in this pic.

Vanilla birthday cake

I made this one at my house for my brother's birthday. It was my first time piping shells so they aren't perfect, but I'm working on improving them! It was lemon or vanilla inside I think, with vanilla buttercream. The "Happy Birthday" plaque is made of melted white chocolate.

Lemon birthday cake

I think the cake looks good here, but in reality I don't think it was my best. It was very rushed because we held a huge birthday dinner for my dad, complete with 6 or 7 rolls of sushi, sake, and 5 courses. I was exhausted as I was making this cake! Although I do think my writing is improving!!

Over my next break (3-4 weeks) I will make some better cakes, with more intricate detailing, so stay tuned!