American Baker in Germany

 Continuing our series on how to dress up a sheet cake. This time for Halloween. I started with a sheet cake frosted with orange buttercream. Using a toothpick, I sketched the words, Happy Halloween into the buttercream. I piped over the scratched words with white buttercream. I had white buttercream with a small round piping tip, black buttercream with a small round piping tip and with a small star tip. I piped two lines of black along the bottom. Then, at regular intervals, I piped a vertical line with a pointed blob on the top of it. It's supposed to look like a wrought iron fence. Then I piped a swirly kind of a twisted tree behind the fence. And a spider web in the opposite corner. With a spider, of course. Then I piped a star border along the edge of the cake at the top and at the bottom. How sweet is this Halloween cake? It's just the right balance between spooky and cute. Perfect for a kids' party. Happy Halloween! Watch us make this cute Halloween cake on YouTube h...

 This dessert marries two of the most loved flavors in American cooking: brownies and cheesecake. Original recipe from Preppy Kitchen found here: https://youtu.be/biHWjiQ7B-g Cheesecake Brownies: For the brownies: 1 cup (250g) butter (melted) 1 1/3 cups (200g) dark chocolate (melted) 3/4 cup (75g) cocoa powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla extract or 2 tbsp vanilla sugar 3 eggs 1 cup (200g) sugar 1 cup (200g) brown sugar 1 cup (125g) flour For the cheesecake: 20 oz (600g) cream cheese 1/2 cup (100g) sugar 2 eggs 1 tbsp vanilla extract pinch salt First off, mix the melted butter, melted chocolate and cocoa powder together and stir until combined. Set aside.  Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt together until color begins to lighten. Maybe 5 minutes.  Gently mix in the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour. Mixture will be quite thick.  Set aside about a tablespoon of brownie batter.  Pour remaining batter into a parchment paper lined baking pan at least 9x9 inches. A...

 I wanted to make a cake for my brother's 40th birthday. Since we live so far away from each other, I decided to make him a virtual cake and post it on my YouTube channel. I wanted to make two tiers. I frosted a 6-inch cake dummy and a 4-inch cake dummy. And I covered them in purple fondant. At least growing up, my brother's favorite color was always purple. Then I stacked them. I had some gold fondant that was super crumbly. I added some shortening to it. And it totally worked. I rolled it out and cut out the number 40 and placed it on top of the cake. As well as the year he was born, 1980. Then I got out a disco alphabet press form and used it to spell the words... The man, the myth, the legend. And I placed them around the bottom tier with little stars in between. Then, using a different alphabet mold, I pressed out the letters to spell aged years and vintage. Using my clay extruder, I extruded several lines of gold fondant. I twisted them together and used them to cover the...