Guitar Cake

My nephew is an amazing musician and self taught guitarist. So for his birthday I wanted to make his cake musical.

I baked two rectangle cakes and carved them up something like this.

The pick guard and the sides of the body were painted with a brown mixture of gel food colors.  To make the colors mix better and to keep them liquid add a few drops of vodka.  Alcohol will evaporate whereas water will dissolve your fondant.

I couldn’t figure out how on earth to do the strings.  I knew if I had a pasta cutter I could have run some fondant through on the spaghetti setting, but I didn’t have one of those, so after a few tries and failed ideas, I just rolled the fondant as thin as I could.  Here’s a hint when working with thin fondant pieces, use shortening on your hands, it keeps it pliable and it won’t crack as it starts  to dry.

It’s somewhat cartoonish, but I was happy with it.

 

And I think Josh liked it too!

Remember this face, it just might be famous someday.

Happy Birthday Josh!

  

 

Cinnamon Buns in 30 Minutes!

Cinnamon buns go over really big in my house.  Unfortunately I don’t get to make them as often as they’d like.

But with a recipe like this.. you could make them every week!   Without yeast and no waiting for dough to rise, these buns take just 30 minutes.

Yield: 10 to 12 buns

Ingredients

Dough

2 3⁄4 cup flour, plus extra for dusting the counter

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 1⁄4 tsp baking powder

1⁄2 tsp baking soda

3⁄4 tsp. salt

1 1⁄4 cup buttermilk

6 tbsp melted butter

Filling

2 tbsp. melted butter

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp. cinnamon

 

Glaze

1 tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

 

 

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F 

In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together for the dough (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

Stir in the butter and buttermilk.

The dough will be sticky.  Spoon it on top of a heavily floured surface, and add a bit more flour to the top.

With floured hands, gently knead the flour into the dough. Add more to make the dough manageable and fairly smooth.

With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle approximately 1⁄2 inch thick.

Spread the surface of the dough with 2 tbsp melted butter, then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugars on top.

Roll the dough from the longer side, and cut the dough to about 2 inches thick.

Place the rolls in a well buttered pan, and bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes, or until the edges have turned golden brown.

To prepare the glaze, mix the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar, and pour onto the rolls while they are slightly warm.

Originated and adapted from this source.

Enjoy !