12 Cakes of Christmas

gingerbread eggnog cake + cream cheese buttercream + rice krispmas trees

Hiiiiiiiiii.  So…I kinda did a thing.  A cakey bakey thing.  I made twelve Christmas cakes in 3 weeks. BOOYAH.

vanilla cake + eggnog ganache + nutmeg buttercream 

Now, I bake often as it is, and sometimes I’ll make a high volume of cake for a specific event, but never have I ever made twelves separate cakes in such a short amount of time.  Why not?  Oh, right.  Because I’m not a crazy person.

chocolate fudge cake + mint buttercream

Why 12?  Ummm because there’s a Christmas song that uses the number 12? Because there are 12 months in a year? 12 disciples?  I dunno - it’s actually a pretty arbitrary number, but I didn’t feel like I could stop at 8 and say, “Welp.  We’re done.  The 8 cakes of Hanukkah Christmas.”  Just doesn’t have quite the same panache. 

white almond sour cream cake + white chocolate ice blocks

I definitely learned a lot doing this project – about cream to chocolate ratios when making ganache, about repairing fondant tears, about getting black food coloring off of your skin, and about how if you’re being impatient because you need to put your nachos in the oven so the cheese will be all melty and you take your cake out before it’s done baking, you will be left with a soupy bread bowl-like situation on your little dye-stained hands and you’ll have to start all over again.  Lesson *hopefully* learned. 

chocolate fudge cake + chocolate fudge buttercream

When I first meet people or tell them about my fondness for sugary fancies, many are quick to offer up their taste-testing services and let me know they are willing to take any superfluous desserts I might have lying around.  This month, I held them to their word.  I really only had time to work on my cakes at night (hence the lack of natural light photos) (and the lack of anything resembling food styling), so it was usually like 8:30 on a Wednesday when I was texting random people – “Where are you? What are you doing? Are you home? What are you wearing? Do you want a cake, please?” and then showing up at their door five minutes later, promised cake in tow, explaining that no, you don’t have to eat the fondant.

chocolate fudge cake + chocolate fudge buttercream

Of course, I had to get a little creative here and there.  Most of the people I know in AZ are young single adults who don’t live with a bevy of dessert-hungry family members, so maybe not everyone wants a 3-layer 8” cake for just them and their one roommate. 

chocolate cake + salted caramel buttercream + nutella peanut butter pinecones + rosemary sprigs

Cue: those trusty firefighters.  It was after 9 on a Sunday night when I pulled up to the deserted station down the street and timidly rang their doorbell.  A stocky weathered fireman named Rick opened the door for me and said, in surprise, “Well you’re not a homeless man asking for a blanket!”  No, no I wasn’t.  The complete opposite, in fact.  Three other firemen quickly appeared out of the wings, crowding around the open door and warmly ushering me in.  I mean, if there’s anywhere a single girl should go to be swarmed by appreciative burly men, it would be to a fire station, late at night, with food.  I’ve almost got it down to an exact science at this point.  BAAAAASICALLY, I gave them a sheet cake and in return, they offered to take me on a citizen ride-along whenever I wanted.  Uhhh YES, please. 

white almond sour cream cake + nutmeg buttercream

On a whim, I took another cake to the mechanic where my car was being serviced.  Now, Courtesy Chevrolet has a knack for forgetting about me, and this experience was definitely no exception.  But I gave the cake to them at the beginning of the day, so it wasn’t like I could take it back that afternoon after they forgot to pick me up from work.  And while I did end up having to pay for my oil change, they discreetly pulled some strings in order to smush a non-warrantied oil leak under my umbrella of warranty-covered repairs, so I guess it all evened out in the end. 

red velvet cake + peppermint buttercream

Before flying home for the holidays, I lamented to my roommate that it was too bad I was leaving town when I still had so much food in the fridge.  “You mean cake?” she clarified.  Um….yeah….I mean cake.  At that point, basically all of my refrigerated “food” = miscellaneous Tupperware containers filled with like 17 different flavors and colors of frosting, leftover cake batter, 3 unfrosted layers of white cake, a quarter-wedge of chocolate salted caramel buttercream cake, a gingerbread bundt cake, and a massive chocolate-covered apple the size of my face.   Maybe there was a solitary rogue tomato somewhere in the crisper, but who cares about that? #eatlikeanadult #responsibile #beingagrownup #NOT

buttermilk spice cake + cinnamon buttercream

I noticed this month that whenever I went to the store for groceries, it was really just code for “I need to buy more powdered sugar.”  That's right - I don't even buy real people food anymore, just baking ingredients.  And apologies to those who crossed my path when Fry’s was having one of their '2 lbs of butter for $5' sale because chances are, that was probably ALL I could talk to your face about.  Well, that, and the teensy, tiny, mouse-sized cheese grater my Secret Santa included in one of my gifts.  Could you even?  

vanilla cake + dulce de leche filling + cinnamon buttercream

I'd intended to finish the whole grand dozen in Arizona before coming home for Christmas, but alas: I ran out of time.  Life, you know? And priorities, too? But I'm not mad about it.  I still finished three weeks to the day that I started this little project, and if there's anything I love, it's baking in our Tennessee kitchen.  (Can you say counter space???) 

italian cream cake + cream cheese buttercream

So, now that's done and all of a sudden I have way more free time??