American Baker in Germany

 This is a birthday cake for a friend of mine. She was born in early November, but loves all things spring: particularly birds and flowers. I started out frosting a 6-inch cake dummy with vegan American buttercream. And I marbled two shades of green with white together to create a marbled green background. Perfect. And I modeled a fat little songbird out of ivory fondant. And I got out about a thousand different flower, leaf, butterfly and bird cutters. I made a rose out of pink and cut out a whole lot of different flowers out of pink as well and placed them around the cake. Then I did the same thing with purple and white. I also painted on the eyes and beak of the bird with brown food coloring. But I think this cake just screams spring. It's gorgeous, fun and absolutely perfect for my friend's birthday. Happy Birthday, Bonnie Jean! Watch us make this fun springtime cake on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XMcrTWi61j8 Schaut zu wie wir diese lustige frühlingshafte Tor...

 It's Fall. The season of pumpkin spice lattes. Let's make some pumpkin bread. Pumpkin bread is a slightly sweet, quick bread. Pumpkin Bread: 2 cups (250g) flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp pumpkin spice 1 tsp cinnamon pinch of salt 1 1/2 cups (375g) pumpkin puree 1/2 cup (120mL) oil 2/3 cup (135g) brown sugar 1/2 cup (100g) sugar 1/4 cup (60mL) milk 2 eggs 1 tbsp vanilla extract or 3 tbsp vanilla sugar Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.  In another large mixing bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree and oil.  Stir in eggs, milk and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Pour batter into a well-greased bread pan and bake at 350°F or 180°C for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Watch us make this delicious recipe on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/Qaa3XFp0_Mw Schaut zu wie wir dieses leckere Rezept auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/6uYxJDckLcM

 I can't let Halloween pass by without making some kind of Halloween-themed cake. So, I make some orange and black buttercream And I put some black in a piping bag with a small round tip. Then I frosted a 6-inch cake dummy with orange buttercream. I piped a web base on the top. Then I pipe a spider web. And, of course, a spider. Then I piped a fence and a gate on the side. But how adorable is this simple Halloween cake? My girls loved it. Happy Halloween! Watch us make this sweet little cake on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/hT1AiztOKQg Schaut zu wie wir diese süße kleine Torte auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/aE1yz_RFjQs

 I have to admit... I had no idea why these cookies were called Spitzbuben, so I did some research. Spitzbuben translates to "troublemaking boy" or "rascal". Yeah... why are boys involved? Apparently this traditional German cookie recipe for sandwich cookies filled with jam were very popular among young boys who would often sneak as many as they could get, leaving few for the rest of their families. Hence, mothers began yelling, "Hey, you rascals! Stop taking all the cookies!" . Spitzbuben: 1 cup (200g) butter 3/4 cup (150g) sugar 2 eggs a dash of salt 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar 1 cup (100g) ground almonds (optional) 2 1/2 cups (300g) flour About 3/4 cup (200g) jam whichever flavor you prefer Cream butter. Add sugar and cream together.  Add eggs and beat until fluffy.  Add rest of the ingredients slowly and beat between each addition. Dough will be rather thick.  If you prefer, you can chill this dough for an hour before trying to roll i...

 I make some kind of steampunk-themed cake every year. This year I decided to make a mini cake in the form of an old-fashioned mechanical clock. I started out by frosting a 4-inch cake dummy with vegan American buttercream and cover it with black fondant. And then I used a dresden tool to press in a brick/stone texture. I used a fondant press mold to make Roman numerals of all numbers between 1 and 12. I also used a round piping tip to press in rivets at the edges of the "stones" and brushed it with gold dust. I ended up deciding to only place the 4 corner numbers onto the clock. I also made a gear to place in the middle of the clock and placed two hands on the clock. Then I mixed some edible gold dust with alcohol and painted the creases and rivets with it and painted the hands and gear with it as well. I love how metallic and mechanical it looks. I also have a low-key obsession with clocks. So pretty. Watch us make this steampunk clock cake on my YouTube channel here: https...