Tale of 12 Cakes Finale

 We've finally made it to the end of my Tale of 12 Cakes frosting series. You're all probably sick of cakes and frosting by now... I know by Saturday last week I was! However, it was totally worth making tons of cakes for my little brother and his adorable new wife. I love them so much, and I wanted to help the best way I could: cakes, cakes, and more cakes.

oh how I love my jcrew necklace! (Big thanks to China) 

Here they all are! We sliced off a piece of whatever cake each guest wanted. It was fun watching them decide on which one they wanted, and for them to come back to try even another piece! Everyone was so amazing, and I was so happy to meet again with some familiar faces. 

List of cakes from left to right: 

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake with Lemon Glaze (x2)

Fudge Marble Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting and Oreo Crumble

Simple White Cake with White Chocolate Orange Frosting and Slice Orange Candy Garnish

Luscious Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Chocolate Ganache, and Choc-Covered Strawberries

Dark Black Forest Andes Cake with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Pudding Cake with Zesty Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Red Velvet Petal Cake with Almond Infused Cream Cheese Frosting

 Moist Carrot Cake with Almond Infused Cream Cheese Frosting and Almond Crumble

Butter Pecan Cake with Caramel and Coconut Pecan Frosting

Devil's Food Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting and Chocolate Ganache

German Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Raspberry Frosting

Moist Carrot Cake with Almond-Infused Cream Cheese Frosting and Almond Crumble

Frosting recipe 6 out of 6 from my Tale of 12 Cakes week:  Simple White Buttercream Frosting

If you're looking for the recipe, I've already shared it on my blog before, so click here. I used them originally on my Pink Ombre Mini Cakes, and have kept the delicious recipe ever since.

I used the Simple White Buttercream Frosting as a base for a lot of the mix-in frostings we used.

"Oh! But Mandy! You cheated with the mix-in flavors! How dare you call yourself a true baker! "

.... you make offensive amounts of frosting and cake in a 3-day period and let me know if you made it through without some kind of therapy... 

Normally I wouldn't use them, but they turned out really delicious, and were such a time-saver for an already psychotic afternoon. 

All in all, I learned a bunch of things along my little cake-a-thon journey:
- the house gets really hot when the oven is on practically ALL day.
- don't trust a cake stand I've never met before.
- deep breaths are essential, and should be frequent.
- lemon juice does something crazy to frosting.
- KEEP STICKS AWAY FROM MANCHILD around cakes - we came in halfway through and my kid was poking at one of the cakes in the piano room with a stick (Q$%Q#$#$@).
- it's not the end of the world if I need to start a cake over. 
- yes, it does require that much butter and cream cheese. savor every ounce.
- frosting freezes fast in an outdoor freezer.
- Pinterest can save lives, and my sanity.
- My Mom rocks (even though I already knew that).
- slice bigger pieces of cake, there is plenty to go around.
- Spotify can keep one's sanity in check, and preserve it altogether.
- if a cake cracks, start over. no matter how much I can try to talk yourself into it working, it won't.
- have someone there to watch my manchild while I make cakes... stress levels will diminish
- don't be afraid to try something new
- make more red velvet and Andes mint cakes for a crowd :) 
- I can do hard things.