Anh's Cakes

Mint Dark Chocolate Cake Pops Recipe

2011-12-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

Here's the recipe that Anh uses to make her mint dark chocolate cake pops:

Dry Ingredients:

2 cup cake flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup brewed coffee

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp mint extract

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

3. Add in eggs, coffee, milk, oil, vinegar, and mint extract to the flour mixture.

4. Mix well until smooth (should be a little runny).

5. Pour into cake pop maker.

6. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry.

Grass Themed Wedding Cake - October 2009

2011-12-31T17:01:00.000-08:00

The base for this wedding cake is wheat grass. A few white daisies, baby's breath, and some interesting branches carry on the natural theme for the cake. The cake tiers include chocolate mint, French sponge cake, and carrot cake. This wedding cake was Anh's gift to the new couple. The groom was Anh's best friend's brother.

Cupcake Bouquets - October 2011

2011-12-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

Anh made these cupcake bouquets for a PTSA fund raiser. The yellow crysanthemum bouquet is made of carrot cake, the multi-color rose bouquet is made of French spongecake, and the blue hydrangea bouquet is made of chocolate mint. These were quite heavy. Each of the bouquet had more than seventy cupcakes.

Cake Pops and Cup Cakes - May 2011

2011-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

For Athena's First Communion Celebration Anh made a lot of dessert including these blue Hydrangea cupcakes and these colorful cake pops. The kids and I helped decorate the cake pops.

Dirt Cake in a Pail - August 2009

2011-12-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

For Sophia's birthday party, we had an animal farm setup in the back yard. Her birthday cake had farm animal figurines on top. But the dirt cakes served in little pails were the main attraction. There were made of layers of Oreo cookie crumbs, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and one gummy worm as a special treat!

Death Star Cake - November 2008

2011-12-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes. Athena went from wanting Tinkerbell cakes to Star Wars cakes, so Anh made her a Death Star Cake. The molded cakes are separated with plastic cylinders to provide space for the Star Wars figurines. Fondant covers the cake and they were airbrushed to get the nice sheen.

Here's a video of the cake.

Mini Birthday Cakes - August 2008

2011-12-24T12:30:00.000-08:00

For Sophia's second birthday, Anh made mini birthday cakes for each of the guests. The larger cake on the top was for the birthday girl. And every child got a candle on their cake and everyone got to blow out their own candle. It was a huge hit!

Wedding Cake - June 2008

2011-12-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is a simple white wedding cake with four tiers. The bride and groom provided the fresh flowers that decorate the cake. The cake stand was something we had available and the couple liked it, but we don't really carry a variety of cake stands. They are quite expensive.

Another Tinkerbell Cake - November 2007

2011-12-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

This was another version of the Tinkerbell cake from the previous year. It was encrusted with more sugar flowers along the sides, pansies, daisies, violets, etc. The birthday party was in a skating rink and we had the cake cutting in the little cafe area. It was very cramped but warm and cozy. The Tinkerbell figurine on top is actually a night light that glows in different colors. We still use it sometimes.

Strawberry Topped Cake - August 2007

2011-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

This birtday cake didn't quite survive the transport from the house to the water park. But Sophia didn't seem to mind. It's a chocolate cake with whipped cream icing and topped with lots and lots of sliced strawberries.

Tinkerbell Birthday Cake - November 2006

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

This was a simple birthday cake for our daughter's 5th birthday. It's a yellow spongecake with whipped cream icing. The flowers are home made sugar flowers. The leaves are also whipped cream icing. A small Tinkerbell figurine sits on top. It's very bright and cheerful.

Wedding Cake - May 2005

2011-10-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

This wedding cake looked very much like the wedding cake Anh made the previous year. And that was because the couple for this wedding saw Anh's cake from the previous wedding and liked it.

Two Tier Basket Weave Cake - September 2004

2011-10-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

We can't remember what this cake was for, but it was a two-tier cake with basket weave icing.

My Birthday Cake - September 2004

2011-10-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

This was a simple birthday cake Anh made for me. It's a little girly, but I liked it. :)

Toy Box Cake - September 2004

2011-10-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

The idea for this cake was a toy box. Two teddy bears, a white bear and a pink bear were leaning against the toy box. Pink and white blocks littered the floor. And a yellow duck with wheels sat on the other corner of the toy box.

Basket Weave - September 2004

2011-10-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Multi-colored basket weave decorated this cake. It looked like it took a long time to do, but actually the basket weave pattern went quickly once Anh established the pattern and rythm.

White Baby Bear Cake - August 2004

2011-10-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

This was Anh's third cake using a mold. It was a simple cake to make with simple icing patterns to fill up the surface of the cake.

Grapefruit Cake - August 2004

2011-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

This wasn't really a grapefruit flavored cake, it just looked like a cut grapefruit. Anh made this for one of our friends birthday.

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake - July 2004

2011-10-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

This was a birthday cake for one of Anh's friend's daughter. The Hello Kitty figures were store bought, the sugar icing flowers were hand made. There were a variety of flowers: daisies, pansies, and pink and yellow aple blossoms. Using a template, Hello Kitty patterns were also iced on the sides of the cake for additional accent.

Little Green Present - July 2004

2011-10-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

This was Anh's first real attempt at using fondant for decorating cakes. It's a small square cake decorated to look like a little present. The wrapping paper and ribbon are made of fondant. The white flowers where royal icing that was piped and then smudged onto the fondant to create the flower pattern.

Baby Blue Cake - July 2004

2011-10-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is a simple cake, iced with baby blue whipped cream, decorated with simple white flowers with pink centers.

Basket of Yellow Rose Buds - July 2004

2011-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Another basket weave cake, but this time filled with yellow rose buds.

Lamb Cake - August 2004

2011-10-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

OK, how cute is this cake? This is personally my favorite cake that Anh has made. This baby lamb on her bed of flowers was so cute that the folks who ordered it had a difficult time cutting into it when the time came. This cake was ordered for a baptismal celebration. I would have had a hard time cutting it as well.

Bassinet Cake - August 2004

2011-10-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

This Bassinet Cake was for a baby shower, of course. Baby is peaking out of the bassinet basket decorated with simple white daisies other small flowers.

Square Strawberry Basket - June 2004

2011-10-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

Yet another Strawberry Basket Cake. This time it's a square.

Strawberry Basket - June 2004

2011-10-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here's another version of the strawberry basket cake. Real strawberries top the basket.

Strawberry Shortcake - June 2004

2011-10-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

This was the first time Anh used a mold, a Strawberry Shortcake character mold. The cake of course had strawberry filling. Different tips were used to create the textures on the cake. We especially liked how the hair turned out.

Wedding Cake - October 2004

2011-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

This was a simple wedding cake Anh made for a friend's friend.

Each layer of the cake was different. The first layer was French sponge cake. The middle layer was a chocolate cake. The top layer was a carrot cake. The wedding couple wanted fresh flowers to be the primary decoration of the cake. Large ruffles of whipped cream icing were piped around the cake as simple accent.

Baby Chick Ride - October 2004

2011-10-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

This cake was for a friend's daughter's first month celebration.

It's a dark chocolate cake with mint filling. The cobblestone road is made out of melted chocolate. The cake is covered in mint whipped cream icing.

Viet Cake - October 2004

2011-10-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

This was a birthday cake for Anh's brother Viet.

It was a chocolate cake. It was Anh's attempt to make a masculine cake, meaning no bright colors and no flowers. The decoration was mainly chocolate piping around the edges with swirls. I think she succeeded in making it look masculine.

Strawberry Basket - May 2003

2011-10-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

This was a birthday cake for Anh's mom.

It was a standard shaped cake with icing applied to look like basket weave. The handle was a strip of cardboard wrapped in pink ribbon with pink bows at each end. There were pink flower details around the edges of the cake.

As you can see from mom's thumbs up, she liked the cake.

Cupcake Pyramid Cake - November 2002

2011-10-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

This was made for our daughter Athena's 1st birthday. Athena does not look impressed in this picture, but we think she liked it.

The cake is made up of pastel colored cupcakes arranged into tiers that formed a pyramid. There were 5 tiers. First tier was baby blue, second was yellow, third was orange, fourth was violet, and the fifth was white. We forgot to get a regular birthday candle, so instead we used a votive candle. At least it matched the violet of the fourth tier.

Cupcake cakes are great because there's no cutting involved when serving time comes.

2011-10-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

My wife Anh started baking 10 years ago. This is her cake diary. She's agreed to share her creations online. Since she has 10 years worth of creations to share and I will be posting them for her. It will take me a long time to catch up to the present. We hope you enjoy her baking journey.