Spring in New York

Creme Brulee Cake decorated as cherry blossom branch  cake

Yes, yes. I know.  This post has been a long time coming and I'm sure most of you have already seen the pictures of it on Facebook or Twitter.  I was reading a book called, Always the Baker, Never the Bride.  It's a great book that is a story about a woman who is the head baker at a small bakery and gets recruited by a newly renovated one stop wedding facility.  The author includes a few great recipes, but the masterpiece of the book was this Creme Brulee cake.  The author didn't include the recipe unfortunately, so I had to use some other recipes with a few variations.  The basics are the cake is a sour cream cake, I used creamy vanilla icing in between the layers and covered it in buttercream.  I was also tempted to add some caramel frosting between the layers as well.  I also put Simple Syrup made with dark brown sugar in the base of the cake pan then poured the cake batter over and baked.  In the end, this cake came out fabulous!  I will make it over and over again!  Surprisingly, I've never had Creme Brulee before but others who tried definitely got a taste of creme brulee event though it wasn't the same texture.  I think it was a major success considering one of my co-workers, who never eats my desserts that I bring in because she only eats non-fat/sugar free food, actually tried it.  That may have been because I left out the fact that it was covered in buttercream!  Haha! Oh well!

These are a few more pictures detailing the outside of the cake with the branch and flowers.  It was so simple to decorate for this look.  I've seen the trend popping up lately and I figured what better time to make a cherry blossom branch cake than Spring in New York.  The trees are in full bloom here and I just love the aroma.  However, nothing beats walking past the large planters on the sidewalk in the city that are filled with lilacs.  They just have such a great and powerful scent that you can practically smell them from a block away.

This is the inside of the cake.  Doesn't it just look amazing.  I love how the simple syrup gave a difference in color and it just stands out so much.  I can't wait to make it again.  It has probably in my top two of cakes right now.  It's difficult to decide between the funfetti cake and this.  That rainbow chip frosting that goes with funfetti cake is just hard to top!

Until next time, happy baking!

Kay