Blog - Rose Bakes

Hot Air Balloons Birthday Cakes

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Today I’m sharing a couple of my favorite Hot Air Balloons Birthday Cakes. These were made years apart, but when I looked back at the pictures and similarities, I knew I wanted to share them together!

This weekeend has been a doozy and it’s not even over yet. My first cake out the door was a small smash cake for a photo shoot. It was small and easy enough – except I had to get crafty to make the topper.

Paper, scissors, string, glue, markers… not exactly my tools of choice 🙂 I really don’t mind – it was fun. But definitely out of my cakey comfort zone. Then for today, I had this Unicorns & Rainbows Cake and smash cake.

That cake ended up being so hard. I’m not sure what was going on, but my fondant was not cooperating at all. I feel like it probably had a lot to do with the insane heat and humidity going on the past few days.

I covered the cake and spent around 2 hours decorating it. Only to have it all start to droop and sag so I had to tear it all off and start again. The second time I didnt’ finish until after 4am.

Then when I got up this morning, just a few hours later, it had sagged again. I almost never have issues like this and it killed me. I cried. I called friends. I went back and forth a million times and still had no good fix.

In the end, because I didn’t feel good about putting out a cake that I wasn’t proud of, I called the client and explained. After sending a picture, she wasn’t nearly as upset as I was. She just asked that I add a few more flowers or a cloud or two to cover the problems. So I did and it wasn’t so bad.

Anyway… I have one more cake for Sunday afternoon, but for now, I want to sit and write.

I haven’t written any this week and gosh, I miss it. So, I’m going to tell you about my Hot Air Balloons Birthday Cake from last weekend, along with one I did a few years ago: Continue Reading ▶

Easy Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

I’m quite busy with orders this weekend (three of them!), so as I sat down to share today, I had to choose a cake that I could tell you about quickly. This Easy Chocolate Chip Cake recipe seemed perfect 🙂

Let me tell you though – I almost messed up. It’s been months since I had so many orders in one weekend. Since our move last November, my business and slowed down and I’ve savored it.

So today I came home from working at my brother’s shop and decided spontaneously to start cleaning up our flower beds. We decided a few days ago that we wanted to add a brick border to them. And it was such a beautiful (not a million degrees) afternoon, that I literally dug in.

I’m gonna chase a rabbit here and tell you… we had this brilliant idea to add these bricks – thinking it would make the grass/weed management easier and look so much nicer… Continue Reading ▶

Shark Attack Cake (perfect for Shark Week!)

Since this week is Shark Week – I thought it’d be a great time to share this Shark Attack Cake I made a few years ago! This Shark Attack Cake is super cute – perfect for any little boy (or girl) who loves sharks and the nautical theme. Great for Shark Week too!

It’s so funny… Shark Week is never even on my radar, but my mosty male household loves this sort of thing!

All the cheesy reality shows and even more cheesy movies are right up their alley! The love (or pretend to love, just to get on my nerves), movies like Sharknado and Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus.

Me? I’ve honestly never even watched the original Jaws movie. Clearly – this is not my thing 😉

But my hubby will spend a whole day watching stuff like that and for the most part, my kiddos are all for it too! That’s when you’ll usually find me in my bedroom watching Netflix or on my laptop working. 🙂

Anywho… I made this way back in 2015 so I honestly can’t remember any details other than the notes I had about the design. Court’s mama, Katie, sent me a few pics that I saved in my files and asked that I used those as ideas for the design.

But I’m going to share what I do remember – just in case you’d like to recreate this cake… Continue Reading ▶

Easy Coconut Cake

If you love coconut, or even if you don’t, this 3 Day Easy Coconut Cake is quite delicious! It’s moist, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth incredible! And the truth is, I’m not even a big coconut eater, but I love this cake!

When we moved back to my tiny hometown a few years ago, I was tasked with helping at a bake sale for one of our local ministries. Everybody told me I had to get Mrs. Sharon (a lady from our church) to make a coconut cake for the bake sale. I mean they were emphatic – I HAD TO!

So I asked and she made not one, but two of them. I was pretty happy with myself. I was even more happy when they were the first cakes to sell that day! Apparently, her coconut cakes are pretty “famous” in our small town. Continue Reading ▶

Excavator Cake (the one that got flipped over in my car!!)

This little Excavator Cake was easy to make and perfect for that boy or man in your life who loves to play in the dirt!

Do you ever need to rewind time for just a minute? A second? The day I decorated this little cake, I really really wanted a rewind button.

Here’s what happened. I got up, decorated it and boxed it up. Then I loaded in my truck and got on the road to drive it 12 miles to meet my customer. And everything was just fine. I wasn’t the slightest bit nervous. It was an easy day.

Until it wasn’t.

The cake was upside down/sideways in the box.

As I was turning into the parking lot I took my hand off the box and in a split second, it went from “good to go” to “upside down/sideways in the box.” Just ONE second… and it was a mess.

Have any of you had this happen? How did you handle it?

This was a new customer for me – I’d only done one other order for her and I had no idea what kind of personality she had. Some are laid back, some are not and I just wasn’t sure.

Thankfully she wasn’t at our meeting point yet, so I jumped out and ran around to my passenger side of my truck. I grabbed the cake, flipped the box back upright and began to “pat” the frosting back into place as best I could. It had smashed into the side and top of the box so it was a pretty significant frosting mess.

I straightened the cake as best I could but there was no way I could get it back to the original look while sitting in my truck. I had no tools – nothing other than a few napkins on and.

And then the customer pulled up beside me.

Showing her the Excavator Cake.

With no time to do anything else, I sucked it up, turned and showed the Excavator cake to her.

I explained what happened and offered to take it back home and fix it.

Because of the OREO “dirt” crumbs on top, there were cookie crumbs EVERYWHERE. Chocolate frosting covered the inside the box on once side, on the board, stuck to the lid, etc.

But thanks to the nature of the cake (mud, pile of dirt, tractor, rocks, etc.), she said it looked fine to her.

Her husband is a doctor but loves to “play” on his tractor when he’s not working so she wanted a cake to reflect his hobby – not his job. She said her husband would never know the difference or how the cake was supposed to look.

She even said she might not have noticed the messed up cake either if I hadn’t told her (except for the frosting mess in the box).

The more we talked, I learned that she was a generous kind woman – a Christian lady who was just happy that I made the cake for her last minute and had not a single complaint about the way it looked.

Wow – how sweet is that!?

I didn’t have time to snap a pic, but it most assuredly did NOT still look like this.

The hill was pretty much smooshed flat all over the top. The “dirt” was no longer only on the hill. Instead it was covering the top and knocked off on the side and in the box.

One side no longer had texture because it had been flatted up against the side of the box and I didn’t have any kind of tools (not even a plastic spoon) to try and really fix it.

But she was happy…and she took it right on home! There’s no denying that I am blessed with some of the most understanding and kind clients ever.

Some cake details for you:

I baked this cake in 7″ round Magic Line pans.
The flavor was Vanilla Coffee Cake with Chocolate Buttercream (except I used coffee for the liquid in the buttercream – like here).
The video for how I added the lined texture to this cake is here.
The dirt was crushed OREO cookies and the rocks were these jelly beans.
I used a little toy excavator from a set like this one.
The words were done with Windsor Groovy Clickstix letter cutters (uppercase here)

Tell me your stories…

Save lots of $$$ on these Amazon Prime Deals!!

If you’re on the internet at all, I’m sure you know it’s Prime Day over at Amazon which is basically the “Black Friday” of the summer on Amazon. I’ve been scoping out deals and here are a few that I thought us bakers/cooks might enjoy! I’m sharing below how you can save lots of $$$ on Amazon Prime Deals today ONLY!!

There aren’t a ton of deals for us cooks/bakers, but here are 4 deals I thought YOU might like 🙂

Okay – on with the deals!

~~This first deal is actually not on Amazon, but it IS for Prime week and it’s my favorite deal of all! Plus – it’s available ALL WEEK LONG!~~ Expired!

Update: If you’re still interested in buying a Bosch, you can currently use code ROSEBAKES-BM to save $106 off the Bosch Summer Essentials package – code good through August 31, 2018.

Bosch Mixer Deal

This Bosch deal. You can read about my love for my Bosch Mixer here and see a video of me making vanilla buttercream in it!

My favorite mixer is on Amazon here but I highly recommend buying directly from Bosch and using code ROSEBAKES. Why? Because for $5 more, you get an extra 3 attachments (cake paddles, cookie paddles and bowl scraper) worth $65 plus free shipping! That is a much better bargain!

Even better – this deal is good ALL WEEK through July 23!!

Now – for the Amazon deals. First, if you’re not a Prime Member, you can sign up for a 30 day free trial here and take advantage of all the Prime Day deals! It’s really easy to cancel if you decide you don’t want to keep it – you can even email me and I’ll help you if you have trouble!

HOT!! Instant Pot Deal (lowest price ever!)

EXPIRED! ~~TODAY ONLY and while supplies last, you can grabInstant Pot 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker from Amazon for its lowest ever price.~~

I’m absolutely crazy about my Instant Pots (I bought one and won one and we use BOTH several times a week). We make soups, rice, beans, roasts, ground beef, eggs, potato salad, pasta… I could go on and on. It’s a dream of an appliance!

~~I even have a few dessert recipes on my (very long) to-try list for my Instant Pots!~~

$5 off Books Deal!

EXPIRED! Right now, Prime members can get $5 off any $20 printed book purchase on Amazon when you use coupon code PRIMEBOOKS18 at checkout. I love to read and I love to collect cookbooks, so this is a favorite deal of mine every year!

This offer is valid on print books only, shipped and sold by Amazon. It excludes eBooks and Audiobooks, Book Rentals, and Amazon Gift Cards. This coupon code is valid through tomorrow, July 17, 2018.

~~If you’re an avid reader, you may already have a wish list of books, but if not, I share some of my favorite cake books here and my favorite cookbooks here.~~

And last, but not least… Continue Reading ▶

Save $$$ on this Bosch Mixer Package + FREE Shipping!

Over the weekend I shared with you why I quit buying Kitchenaid Mixers. ~~And today I’m sharing a deal where you can save Save $136 on this Bosch Mixer Package + FREE Shipping with code ROSEBAKES!~~

Update: While the Prime Week Deal has expired, if you’re interested in buying a Bosch, you can use code ROSEBAKES-BM to save $106 off the Bosch Summer Essentials package. That’s 20% savings with free shipping and the code is good through August 31, 2018.

If you read that post, you know that for the past 4 years, I’ve been using a Bosch mixer and I’m hooked! If you missed the post – go read it here.

Bottom line: no more powdered sugar clouds in my kitchen when making frosting. No more stripped gears or bogged down beater blades. And triple batches of cake batter at ONE TIME. Need I say more?

So, with coupon code ROSEBAKES, you can save $136 off this Bosch Summer Essentials package and you get FREE Shipping!

This deal is better than the price on Amazon! On Amazon, you can get the Bosch Universal Plus Mixer with the Ice Cream Attachment for $369.

But if you buy it on the Bosch website, you’ll also get 3 more amazing attachments (cookie paddles, cake paddles and bowl scrapers) for only $5 more total – $374! They’re normally $20-$25 each so this is HUGE! And note… I have all three of them and love them!

Buying directly from Bosch, you’ll also still get free shipping so there’s no reason to miss this deal. It’s normally $510 but this week it’s $374 with the coupon!

So for all of you who read my previous post and decided you wanted one of these mixers – this is the week to do it! The sale goes through Monday, July 23, 2018.

Continue Reading ▶

Why I switched to a Bosch Mixer (from Kitchenaid)

Today I want to share with you why I switched to a Bosch Mixer (from Kitchenaid) and how I’ve never regretted that decision.

Note: If you’re at all interested in buying a Bosch, be sure to use code ROSEBAKES-BM to save $106 off the Bosch Summer Essentials package – code good through August 31, 2018.

Let me start by saying I’m not a full-on Kitchenaid hater. I have a 15 year old Kitchenaid Mixer that I completely adore. It was as gift from my hubby’s grandfather back in 2003. He said he thought I had potential to have a cake business so he sent it to me out of the blue as a surprise.

I think he was right 🙂

It was my first Kitchenaid and it means the world to me. It has never given me a minute’s trouble and I still use it for certain recipes, including every time I make my royal icing or homemade ice cream.

And honestly, the current Kitchenaid mixers are probably fine for the typical home baker who will use it occassionally. They’re certainly pretty and versatile and come with a lot of different options.

More than anything – they’re so pretty. But in my experience, they are not built for daily, repeated use and “pretty” won’t fix that. Or at least they weren’t in 2014 when I owned my last new one.

One other note – my counters and cabinets in this new house are hideous. I know this. But since I like to be real with ya’ll, I’m sharing.

I took these mixer pics in my current ugly Kitchen so you’d have an idea of how it fits on my counter. Also, the bowl is full of buttercream from the video below, so it’s not as clean and shiny as it could be 🙂

Why I switched to a Bosch…

Continue Reading ▶

Easy Mango Icee Recipe

This Easy Mango Icee Recipe is the perfect summer treat! It’s cold and creamy and bursting with sweet & tangy mango flavor!

Is it hot where you are? Because ya’ll, it’s nasty hot here in Mississippi. I literally cannot walk outside for two seconds to pour cat food in the bowl for our kitten without breaking into a sweat.

Speaking of our kitten -this is our new baby…

Meet Smokey:

Continue Reading ▶

Lemon Blueberry No-Bake Cheesecake (with fresh blueberries!)

This creamy, delicious, easy Lemon Blueberry No-Bake Cheesecake (with fresh blueberries!) is seriously amazing. With a crunchy graham cracker crust, a sweet & tart lemony cream cheese filling and homemade blueberry pie filling on top… you will want to lick the plate when you finish a slice.

When I told you a couple of weeks ago that our blueberry bushes were loaded, I was not kidding. And then when our bushes were all picked, our neighbor offered for us to pick his bushes.

We walked down one evening to pick and he had four (or five?) bushes that were overloaded with blueberries. We picked from two of them.

Then both of my brothers (and their wives) have come and picked at his house at different times. We’ve picked there several times. A friend and her kids picked there.

And still… his bushes have berries. At this point, I have more than 6 gallons in my freezer and another gallon fresh in the frig. And I’m lovin’ every minute of it! Continue Reading ▶

Hot Air Balloons Birthday Cakes

Easy Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

Shark Attack Cake (perfect for Shark Week!)

Easy Coconut Cake

Excavator Cake (the one that got flipped over in my car!!)

The cake was upside down/sideways in the box.

Showing her the Excavator Cake.

Some cake details for you:

Save lots of $$$ on these Amazon Prime Deals!!

Bosch Mixer Deal

HOT!! Instant Pot Deal (lowest price ever!)

$5 off Books Deal!

Save $$$ on this Bosch Mixer Package + FREE Shipping!

Why I switched to a Bosch Mixer (from Kitchenaid)

Why I switched to a Bosch…

Easy Mango Icee Recipe

Meet Smokey:

Lemon Blueberry No-Bake Cheesecake (with fresh blueberries!)

About Rose

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