The Photographer's Visit & Other Things You've Been Dying to Read About

Hey Kids!

Sorry I have been such a bad bloggess lately. I made three cakes last week and I am completely exhausted. I completed the Rainbow Cake Thursday night. Friday I worked relentlessly on the baby cake and Rachel's shower cake. At midnight, Jon said I had to go to sleep because crying and banging my head on the table was not going to make the cake any smoother. I woke up at 7 a.m. the next morning to try to continue working on it. After the shoot I had to race across town for Rachel's bridal shower because I was helping to host. I didn't leave the shower until 4:30 p.m. I came home and practically passed out on the couch.

Truth be told, I was not happy with the Rachel's or Olivia's cake. Especially Olivia's cake. The buttercream icing recipe that I have been using is just too thin, it seems, to create a super smooth texture. It was so frustrating. I know what you are thinking: "Enough jibber jabber, let's see the goods." Alright alright, don't get your piping bags in a wad. Here's a sort of photo montage with commentary. With some simple tricks, your cakes can, too, look this...ummm..."fabulous".

"The Painted Pig"

Got an ugly cake? Simply place a giant flower in the middle to cover unsightly bits.

Still ugly? Throw some marbles or candy on the the table to distract people from the actual cake.
Then have the photographer photoshop it up a bit and no one will ever notice!

"The Masterpiece"

The prettiest cake I have ever made. Too pretty to eat.

If you build your cake on a cardboard round, be sure to remove it before the shoot.

If you have a cake too pretty to eat, you can carry it around on a pretty tray
and tease the neighbors and guests.



OMG! A Double Rainbow!!! It's so intense! What does this mean?!!!!
*crying, banging fist on desk*

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!!!"

Extra candy will make it pop!

Lean your head to the side and it will look straight....more....more....LEAN Damn you!
Keep the rolling pin handy to knock heads with.

*facepalm*

I guess all that really matters is that everyone was happy with their cakes. I suppose that is what is important. I definitely have a long way to go with my decorating skills. I will be posting more pictures as the week goes on.

Carlos insisted on taking some pictures of me in the kitchen as well. I was not at all prepared for this, I was running around trying to blow dry my hair and put on lipstick in between shots. If you are in a rush, and you just can't wait to see the pictures of me, you can always check out Carlos' site: 3rd Avenue Photography. He also sent me some shots of Olivia enjoying her cake. Hopefully I can get those up later this week, too.

First Cake Done for the Shoot

Last night I finished the rainbow cake for the shoot. Jon and I went round and round about leaving it plain white until the actual shot of it getting it cut, but to me it just looked too plain. I got the bright idea to do a border of rainbow candies to make it look a little more finished.

I bought some Skittles and thought everything was going to be fine. Turns out when you taste the rainbow, you only get red, orange, yellow, green, and purple. No blue. No blue = no rainbow.  Luckily, I had a stash of plain M&M candies that are about the same size so I was able to complete the rainbow. However, keep in mind that there aren't purple M&Ms unless its the Easter season or you want to go buy a custom color assortment. So what I did was use all the colors of M&Ms (because I like the taste better than Skittles) and used only the purple Skittles on the final product.

I put a nice fat layer of icing all the way around and waited for it to crust. With the help of my new turntable, I got a much smoother effect overall. There is also a paper towel trick I am going to have to show you that also helps you get a smoother coating with butter cream icing. That is for another time, though. Here I am adding the border for the rainbow cake.

R.O.Y.   G.    B.I.V. 

All done. Sorry for all the clutter in the background.

Better pictures of the Rose Cake

For your viewing pleasure...

Why I am in Trouble and Other Wordlessness

(Cake Turntable)

+

(10" Round Cake Pan)

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!

Don't Know What to Cook? Give this App a Whirl!

The folks over at Super Cook have devised a little program to help you figure out what you can cook with the ingredients that are on hand. You simply type in the ingredients that you have in the search box, and a slew of recipes will come up on the right. It will also ask if you have other items on hand that you might have not entered; therefore widening you recipe pool.

I've been playing around with different edibles and found a surprising number of things that you can make with only, say...ground beef, mustard, and ketchup packets. I love the fact that it asked me if I had blackberries. Obviously I don't have blackberries if I cooking with ketchup and mustard packets! Anyway, give it a whirl and let me know what you think about it!

My Smallest Fan and Other Wordlessness

You will give me cake!!!! OM NOM

I Did a Bad Thing, and Other Wordlessness

I did a bad thing...

Confessions of a Shopoholic Bakeoholic

Practice Makes Perfect, I Hope...

Last night, I began practicing on the icing technique for the Rose cake. I am a much better fondant layer than icing piper, but that can't be helped for this cake, it must be piped.

Over the weekend, I went to two cake supply stores and bought the tips. I also chickened out on the Bavarian cream, too. They sell pre-packaged Bavarian cream that was pretty reasonably priced. Because I am crunched for time, I decided to buy it instead of slaving over a hot stove to make it from scratch. I will work on homemade later. Right now, mastering the rose technique is more important.

I have seen a number of practicing guides, but what I found most useful was simply practicing on an upside down cake pan. That way, I knew what the flowers would look like in relation to the cake. I guess I could have used a baking sheet or cutting board, but hey, whatever works.

Most piping techniques require you to have a coupler attachment and all of that, but not this one. It appears that all you have to do is cut the tip of the bag back about a quarter of a inch and slide the tip all the way to the bottom. You have to make sure that the cut edge of bag does not hit anywhere where the icing comes out, our it will f up your design.

Another important thing that I learned is that air bubbles are your enemy. You want to make sure that the icing is well packed into the bottom of bag. Now, don't laugh because I am about to show you some fails. I know they look terrible, but it is a learning process.

Firm pressure equals better results

You really need to use a good amount of force to get the icing out of the bag consistently. Notice those bumpy, gloppy parts are where air bubbles blew out the tip and caused a break in the lovely rose pattern. I think a slightly warmed icing may behave better, too. I am going to try to heat it up just for a few seconds next time to see if it flows a little better.

Still not very pretty, but getting closer.

I am going to have to take another stab at it tonight. It looks better when you take your eyes out of focus. LOL. The good news is that I can just keep wiping it off and starting again until I get it right. Wish me luck!