Saturday Sweets: Manly Cake vs Girly Cake

Okay, as you know I had two cakes this week. One for a friend and one for my first customer. Both turned out reasonably well, and I think both parties were happy with the results. I, being the fastidious perfectionist that I am, can always find fault with my work. The response so far has been very positive and I am thankful for that. I don't think I slept a wink on night before delivery of these two bad boys.

Okay, enough chit chat. Are you ready for the reveal? Just realize that, again the camera quality is bad, but we are taking care of that next week! Enjoy for what it's worth and let me know what you think.

Manly Cake. Happy Birthday to my oldest friend.
Err..oldest meaning stuck around the longest. ;-p

Girly Cake: The purple rose cake...precariously perched on a
upside bucket...with a lot of clutter in the background.

Purple rose cake before it was dyed purple.

GAWD! I look like a creeper! The cake creeper!

Piping Candy Letters, Simpler Than You Might Think

Hey folks, today I am going to teach you how to pipe letters out of candy coating. It looks pretty cool and it is easier than you might think. Besides, everyone will ooo and aww about your mad candy skills.
Things You Need:

• Candy Coating, you can use rounds linked or blocks found at your supermarket.
• Double Boiler, or you can use the technique I use (observed here).
• Ziploc baggies, or off-brand, whatever.
• Spatula
• A paper clip, twist tie, clothespin or small office clamp. A binding device OK!
• Plastic wrap
• A flat surface to work on, like a cutting board.
• Toothpicks
• Water and an oven
• A paper template if you have crappy handwriting and little imagination like myself. Print from a computer if necessary.
• A Dish towel.
• Shortening
• Measuring spoons
• Tape (any kind will do in a pinch)
• Scissors

Directions

• First things first, you will need to mise en place. Having everything in one place will make things go more smoothly for you.
• Start by putting your cutting board in the fridge or freezer while you set everything up. This will help the candy to harden once it is laid on the board and not ooze everywhere.
• Print your template off if you are going to use one.
• Put an inch or two of water into your double boiler and bring it to a boil with the top section on.
• Throw your candy pieces into the top part, making sure that they do not come into contact with any water. If you bought the block, break it into smaller bits with your fists. Or a knife. Whatever.
• As your candy gently melts, stir occasionally, incorporating all the chunks. You may need to add a tablespoon of shortening to thin it out. The candy does not need to super runny. In fact, that may be bad. It just needs to get a ribbony state.

Ribbon-esque

• Pull your cutting board out of the fridge and tape your template to it.
• Stretch plastic wrap tightly over your paper template, tape it down as well. Return to to fridge if your candy coating is not yet melted.
• When the candy has thoroughly melted, pull out a Ziploc bag and turn it inside out over your hand or a cup. You are basically making a piping bag.

 

• Start transferring the candy coating to your bag, this can be a little hot. Use a dishtowel between your hands and the bag if you have to. Fill the bag only about 1/3 of the way full to start. You can always add more.

Warning, this can be a little hot!

• When you have added the coating, try to get as much air out as possible and seal the bag. Twist the top of the bag to work the candy down to a bottom corner. Use one of the above mentioned clamping items to hold the candy in place near the bottom. It should be a tight fit.

• You then use the scissors to cut the tip of of the bag off. How much is cut of depends on how fine your lettering will be. I always start small and cut more if needed. If you cut too big, you will have to empty the bag and start over.

 

Snippy!

• Resting your hand against the board, start filling in the spaces on your template. Be careful not to rest your hand on your work. Move around the board systematically so you don't smudge or get worked into a corner. You can use a towel wrapped around the bag if it is too hot for you to handle with you bare hands.
• Store your finished work chilled until you're ready to use. Lift off the plastic carefully with a knife.
• Enjoy your results!

I'm a freakin' genius!

My First Cake Order!

A fellow at work has commissioned me to make his mother's birthday cake next week. I can't tell you how excited I am. It will be a french vanilla cake with a Bavarian Cream filling. The outside with be piped heirloom-ish roses all over. Here is what I proposed to him:

Except he wants purple roses.

Now this is a piped job, and I am not the best piper. This design appears to be pretty straight forward though. The good news is that if it looks bad, I can wipe it clean and start again until I get it right...hopefully. I, of course, have to go out and get the correct piping tip for this design, and perhaps a few pasty bags. There are some things that I am still holding out for. I just feel like I cannot justify the expense, although a turntable would certainly bring down my stress level and help with getting an ultra smooth buttercream finish. I keep hoping someone will get it for me as a gift, but what will probably end up happening is that I will buy it with the money that I get from this cake job.

Last night, I began work on the Guinness cake. I worked on it for more than 4 hours yesterday and my back is killing me today.

The culprit

I started by using an Exacto knife to cut out the paper template. Then, I tried to use the paper template to cut the fondant out. The problem is that the fondant is so pliable, that it just didn't hold its shape. After attempting this several times, I figured out that this was just not going to work. I panicked for awhile trying to figure out how I was going to pull this off. There may have been weeping involved.

Upon closer examination of the picture, it appeared to me that the lettering might be piped in white chocolate. I had part of a white chocolate block laying around so I decided to try this method. I pulled out my marble cutting board, taped the logo down, then taped a piece of plastic wrap tightly over the paper stencil. I melted some white chocolate and poured it into a piping bag. People that do this all the time, must have hands of steel, because it was HOT! I nipped the tiniest corner off the end of the piping bag and went to work. The picture is crappy, but I think that I at least have a method to achieve this cake.

Guin...

 The letters are super delicate and brittle, but fairly simple to reproduce it they break. I had to keep heating the chocolate over and over as it tended to glop up as it cooled. I redid a few of the uglier letters, but managed to pipe the whole thing last night. It's in the fridge hardening right now. The black fondant should be delivered any minute now, so that will wrap up the hard work on this cake. Then I can focus on the rose cake above, the one I'm truly nervous about.