Up to my elbows in butter… and batter

I’m getting ready for the tasting that I’m having for my neighbor ladies next week - yesterday I made 2 types of cake layers. It sure makes a mess in the kitchen. I figure there must be a better way to ‘work clean’ as they say in the food industry. I really have to work on that.

Anyhoo – my menu for the tasting goes like this:

Inside-out German Chocolate Cake
Moist, fudgy chocolate cake with sweet, creamy coconut-pecan filling topped with smooth, dark chocolate ganache.Beautifully topped with a pile of chocolate leaves. A new twist on an old favorite.

Tiramisu Temptation
White cake flavored with Kaluah, filled with tiramisu cream and fresh raspberries, topped with Kaluah buttercream and chocolate shavings.

Lemon Crème Fantasy
Light lemon cake layers, lemon curd filling and lemon mascarpone mousse frosting. This cake is light, not too sweet, and has just the right balance of lemon flavor.

Mini Cheesecakes
White Chocolate Raspberry
Key Lime

There will also be a take-home cupcake for each guest, but I haven’t figured out what flavor I want to make it yet. I want to decorate them for Valentine’s Day so I’m thinking I’ll need a vanilla buttercream. Just not sure what flavor combination I want to use for the cupcake and filling yet. Any thoughts?

I’ve got a schedule of tasks that run all weekend long – so I’m sure Dave and the girls will love the perpetual mess. It’s always tough to bake around the girls because a) they want to sample, and b) they want to watch. For some reason I always get nervous when people watch me cook - especially when I’m decorating a cake.

I plan to take the day off on Tuesday to prep for the event. There should be some last-minute decorating, house cleaning and set-up work to perform. Also I want to spend some un-rushed time photographing these cakes. My website is supposed to be up by the weekend so I’ll need to have some photos pretty quickly. Good photos are critical IMHO so I don’t mind taking the time to do it right.

Speaking of cooking… check this out. You can cook an egg with your cellphone!