Olivia's First Birthday Cake!

Carlos from 3rdAvenuePhotography, sent me this family shot of himself, his wife Annie, and their precious baby girl today. She was the little lucky lady who received the three tiered cake wreck. I know, I know I have to quit being so hard on myself, I just wanted it to be perfect for her. Of course she won't remember, but pictures are floating around the interwebs a lot longer lately. Hopefully, Annie will send me some pictures of her eating on that little top layer. However, Annie tells me that Olivia has quite princess-like table manners. So, we may not have the messy face we anticipated. I will keep you posted!

A gracious gal, that sweety!

The candle makes it look less slanted. LOL.

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!

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!

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.

New Fondant Tools are Here! Time to Play!

So some of my new fondant tools came in last night and I couldn't resist playing with them. The tools are for the baby button cake for the photographer's daughter. I know that cake isn't supposed to be ready for two and a half more weeks, but I just couldn't help myself.

I had some fondant in the fridge, so I pulled out a chunk and microwaved it. Here's a few tips on mircowaving fondant:

1.) Heat only like 5-10 seconds at a time or else you will get burned, crusty bits of sugar.

2.) When you DO burn the fondant like I did last night, don't think that you can mix the slightly burned bits back in. You will be digging rock candy out of your fondant pieces for the next thirty minutes.

3.) Remember that microwaves cook the center of your food outwards. So even if the outer part of your fondant is still cool, the inner part is probably molten. Work the fondant a little in your hands before zapping it further. The heat of your hands plus the lava middle with disperse throughout the chilly parts, most likely making your fondant ready to handle.

4.) If you heat the fondant too much, it will be too sticky to use right away and will have to cool down either in the fridge or at room temperature (if you are that patient). So, again, work in 5 second heating increments until you get your desired consistency.

I pulled out some Wilton rolled fondant and used gel food coloring to make three different colors of fondant. Then I went to making tons of little buttons in each of the colors. I also practiced making some rick-rack ribbon, but it did not turn out as pretty. Therefore, you only get see the pretty buttons today. I have a little too much powdered sugar on these, I hope I can dust it off with a small paintbrush instead of starting over. I'm sure it will look adorable!

Cute enough to eat. Wait! You can!

Losing Control...Running a Bakery is Expensive!!!

Once I get an idea in my head, I just can't let it go. I am so excited about the upcoming cakes that I am going to do that I just can't stand it. I wish that I could make them NOW NOW NOW! Waiting until the end of the month is going to be torture.

I went out and bought some supplies on Friday at the hobby store. Then, I did a little too much shopping at Amazon. I decided that since a true black fondant is so hard to make, I would buy a bin of Fondarific Buttercream Black Fondant instead. I also bought letter cutters so that I could actually get names and "Happy Birthday" on cakes without it looking like a disaster area.

Well, as you can see it is the middle of the night on Saturday...and I've done some more shopping. I bought some molds to help me to make more uniform fondant pieces. They will also cut back on labor and waste of (expensive) product. I also bought Satin Ice Rolled Fondant in a 5.5 pound tub. Guess what...I used up all my rewards points. Thankfully, the leftover total was only about $25 bucks. I was starting to get nervous. All this shopping here and there is adding up. Jon tolerated the $5's and $10's sneaking out the door to the hobby store for awhile, but he's having a harder time tolerating the $20's and  $50's racing out the door after them. I'm going to have to get serious about moving the cakes or I'm going to be in big trouble! I've been making most of these cakes for free for my friends' special occasions. My friends are such mooches, but I love 'em. Seeing their expressions light up when they get a glimpse at their cakes just makes my heart swell.

Meeting Carlos (the pro that will be shooting my cakes) at 3rdAvenuePhotography was very advantageous! He seemed as excited to be working with me as I was with him! I can't help myself, I want to make so many cakes to for him to turn into beautiful art portraits! He was kind enough to offer putting me as one of his preferred vendors on his site starting September 1st! How nice was that! With that, I can get more exposure to brides and families. Hopefully that will drum up some paying business. What is even more lucky is that his baby, Olivia, is going to be turning one that same week, so he's going to be getting her cake from me! God is so good at looking out for me. He even told me to surprise them, I will have full artistic licence. Let me show you what I had in mind for her...

A bow instead of the shoes, and with a more feminine color scheme

I was actually thinking about making it three layers, so that the very top can be a very tiny cake that she can have for herself. That way she can just smash into it and Om Nom to her heart's content. That is always the best part of baby birthdays. You know, the mom's dressing them up in $50 dresses only to let them get covered in gobs of icing. Priceless.

"I will make every effort to make this outfit wearable only once!"

Heaven help me, I've got to find something to keep my busy in the meantime. Decados' Guinness Cake has to be made the of the 15th. So, I'm just biding my time until then. There are a couple of sad bananas in the kitchen that are begging to become bread. I guess I can get to that later today. What I really should do is put my credit card in a block of ice.

Credit on hold until further notice.

Great News!

I am getting a tool to help me do better lettering! I'm so excited I can't wait! I have several cakes to be made soon and I can't wait to show them to you guys. I'm also thinking about doing a cake giveaway to celebrate the passing of the Home Cottage Bakery Law. What do you say? Who's ready for a giveaway?!

Follow Up on Saturday's Cake

Well, the Johnny Walker cake did not turn out as awesome as I had hoped, but it was still well recieved and enjoyed. My internet has gone down at home, so I am a having a hard time getting all the imagery to you. Here is a little tidbit to tide you over until the repair dude gets there tonight.



How did this get cropped so badly?



Update's from the Shower

Bride to Be with Hello Kitty!

My First (Real) Fondant Cake

My friend Nancy is getting married in a couple of weeks, and today we are tossing her a wedding shower at work. I've been really crunched for time, so I was just going to whip up some cake balls for the party, but I let my ambition (and my desire to get out of this stupid blog slump) get the best of me. I decided at the last minute to make a little 6" personal cake for her, in addition to the balls. She is a Hello Kitty FANATIC, much in the way my gingerific gal pal Sam is a GLEE fanatic.

"Hello Kitty"

Now, in my opinion, this is my first fondant cake. Jon seems to think the mini rainbow wedding cake is. That cake was not really for consumption, so I am counting this cake as the first. It's a bit of a philosophical disagreement in our household.

Anyways, the first thing I did was go out and get a 6" pan. I guess I'm getting serious about this because I am investing so much in equipment. I popped the first layer of chocolate cake in the oven. While it cooked I melted the candy for the cake balls and finished those up. (I had made the batter and formed the balls over the weekend and kept them covered in the fridge.)

BAM!

After I had made, cooled, and leveled 2 layers of the 6" cake, I put a crumb coat of butter cream icing down. This helps the fondant adhere to the cake and not slide off, as fondant is wont to do. This layer doesn't have to be thick or pretty. Just enough icing to keep everything in place will do. Oh, and don't forget a little dollop of icing on the plate you are icing on to hold the bottom layer in place while you are icing.

Bottom layer's crumb coat after I put the top layer down and Jon said "Oops, I didn't get that shot. Redo!"

After the whole thing was crumb coated, I put it in the fridge for a few minutes and took a break. Cake making is exhausting. I wish I could have had a margarita, but alas no mix. Moving on.

Next, I used gel food coloring to dye some fondant pink, because Hello Kitty wears a pink bow. Always make more than you think you need, because you can never get the colors to match perfectly if you have to make a second batch. I also adjusted the image of Hello Kitty from above to the size I needed, and printed it from my computer to use as a template. I was not going to go hog wild and purchase a bunch of Hello Kitty cutters.

Using scissors, I cut out the template and set it aside. I then rolled out the pink fondant and used a toothpick to etch the outer part of the template (which was a heart). I used a sharp knife to cut it out. Don't pull the fondant or it will stretch your shape. You have to be patient and cut cut cut.

I put the heart to the side and then rolled out the base layer of fondant. From what I understand, you need to roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch. I don't know if made it that thin (I always feel like I make it too thick) but it worked out ok. You are going to have to make the circle of fondant much larger than the actual cake. I did not and had to do a little last minute stretching to make it fit. Roll the edge of the fondant over your pin, and drape it over the cake, unrolling gentle as you go.

"Damn! A little too small!" *streeeeech* (please don't tear!)*

Next comes the smoothing of the fondant, which I have to say is the part I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. I understand the concept, which is to slowly, from the top edge around and down, smooth it up against the cake. At the same time you have to sometimes have to lift so that this is no ruffle/bend/fold. It never seems to work out just right for me. Probably because I am in a hurry and not patient enough. I did my best to smooth out and only got a mild crease at the bottom of one side. I had a plan to cover it though. More on that later. Use a pizza cutter around the base to cut off excess fondant. Remember, cut don't tear or you will stretch and tear the fondant.

Notice the fold there on the right! Got most of it smooth but still, Grrrr!

Now, to the sneaky covering around the bottom. I decided to make a pink ribbon around the bottom to disguise any flaws. I barely had enough pink to do it. (remember always make more than you think you need). I made a log of the left over pink and rolled it into a flat strip. Luckily, my mat has grid lines. I was able to use them to made a pseudo-straight piece of 1" ribbon. I swear I can't make a straight line, even with a ruler.

To get a piece of fondant to adhere to another piece you have to dab a small amount of water where you want to place the piece. I made a damp line all around the base of the cake and tried my darnedest to make it work. Alas, I stretched to much and it tore. Crap! I did the best I could to smooth it down and moved on.

I wanted the heart for HK right in the middle of the cake so I dabbled a little water and made a little sticky patch about 2" in diameter. You will notice the texture of the fondant gets kind of gummy when you do this. I stuck my heart on and prayed to God that it was centered. (Another thing I am not very good at).

Afterward, I cut the heart section of the template off and cut around the actually Kitty part of the shape. Again, I traced the area with a toothpick, this time on the white fondant, and cut it out with a knife. I dabbed some water on the heart shape and placed the kitty shape on the heart. (A little off center to my consternation. I didn't notice until it was set.)



HK got a little oily from all that handling.

 Now for the detail work. I laid the template over the cake and used a toothpick to punch a tiny hole where the eyes and the nose should be. From what I understand, making a true black fondant is hard work, so I chickened out and bought a black tube of regular icing. Unfortunately it was a little thin, it seemed to have separated a little. I guess I didn't squeeze the packet enough to make sure it was remixed. Oh well. I made the eyes, nose, and paw outlines.

Now, Hello Kitty is all about the bow on her ear. In some images of HK (particularly "wedding" Hello Kitty) she has a flower on her head instead. I had a tiny flower cutter already so I opted to use it instead of fighting my exhaustion for the bow.

After the flower was in place, I added the whiskers and a little ear fold details. One of the whiskers ended up running together a little on one side after the cake sat, but it's no big deal. Just be careful not to rest your hand on the cake or you will smear your detail work.

Black icing: "As soon as this photo is over, I will smudge into my neighboring whisker!" *Evil laugh*

At this point, I told myself I was done, but that damn tear in the pink ribbon was bothering me. You see, I wasn't paying close enough attention when I put the heart down, so the tear was front and center, instead of hidden in the back. I thought for a few minutes about how I could hide it, and then it came to me: a bow of course! HK has to have a bow.

Using the remaining pink 1" strips I had, I fashioned a bow to cover the tear. All you have to do is gently fold the strip in half and pinch the base flat-ish. Cut of any excess fondant and stick it to the cake. Two folded strips will make a standard bow. Make a disk to place in the center to hide your pinches. Then, use a toothpick to "fluff out" the loops of the bow. It was the perfect finishing touch. I couldn't have been more pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

Tear? What tear? All I see is an ADORABLE bow!

Thankfully, the cake made the trip to work without incident. I had to drive it alone this time. I think I'm getting pretty good at transport. Now we are just waiting for the surprise party at 1 o'clock. I'll post a picture of her with it later this afternoon if I can.

Real Things Jon Says...

*Talking about my plans to start baking for profit*

Me: The cake balls have to be covered in a different coating than the cakes.

Jon: Oh, like the wedding cake the other day. You used buttercream and fonduit for the scrolling right.

ME: ....Yes, I used fondant on that cake.

Jon: I think you're getting pretty good with that fonduit stuff. Maybe you should make more cakes with that.

Me: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?

Jon: Fonduit.

Me: Do you mean...conduit or FONDANT?

Strawberry Shortcake & Other Wordlessness

Going to Culinary School and Other Craziness I Have Been Entertaining

For almost ten years now I have wanted to get my PhD. Countless grad school applications (okay, only about 6 really), interviews, and rejections later, I am still chasing that dream...for now. However, since the Rainbow Cake, a little seed has been planted in my brain that has made me think that maybe I've chosen the wrong career path and should entertain culinary school.

Now let's not get delusional. One semi-fabulous cake a pastry chef does not make, but the joy of seeing someone savor a bite of my cakes in pure om nom ecstasy seriously gets me high. I mean check this out: I don't know if you remember the time I stole eggs from Bobby Flay, but it also involved this PhD lady I work with. As you may recall, this woman made it pretty clear throughout our interactions that it pains her to condescend to my level. Well, something amazing happened. After glancing upon the rainbow cake, she took some home to her rainbow-loving children. The next day, she spots me in the hallway, grabs my arm, and proceeds for the next 15 minutes to talk to me about how awesome it was and how it made her kid's entire day. Fifteen whole minutes! Now that might now seem like a big deal, but I've been doing some calculations and that is more time talking about the cake than she talked to me throughout all the rest of our interactions combined...including when she interviewed me for a position I didn't get. If that doesn't boost your self worth a little than maybe your self-esteem is more solid than mine.

Well, last night I was reading a magazine with cake recipes and tips and thinking, "I can do those." Now, I'm not talking about all that crazy wedding foolishness with writing and scrolling and whatnot. But things more like this:


I can pull these off...probably.

 My first thought was, "I'll make that for us with Sunday Supper." However, after reading the calorie counts on these bad boys, I started to weep. Some of the cakes pictured above have more than 850 calories PER SERVING and more than 50 grams of fat. I cried and vomited a little in my mouth with guilt as my stomached ached for cake. My scale has registered over the self-loathing number of 170 lbs., and I have been trying to cut back. Just one slice of these would put me way behind in the "I am not a lard-ass" department. This brings me back full circle to the skinny chef debate and trying to figure out how to circumvent this problem.

This is when I had a semi "aha!" moment. What if I made these cakes and sold them to little coffee shops around town? They aren't looking for cakes with words or fancy scrolling, but they are looking for decedent sweets to pair with their lattes. I tossed in bed for an hour last night wondering if I could really pull this off. Anxiety ate me up. I don't know if I would even be bold enough to ask these businesses if they would be willing to supplement their merch with my collection of confections. I swear, I have no balls. Even an imaginary rejection from a restaurateur makes me break out into a sweat. However, the supplemental income and happiness watching some skinny bitch snarf my 1000 calorie cake slice with her soy latte makes me seriously higher than a kite covered in methamphetamine.

A co-worker has a cousin that makes wedding cakes, and she has offered to let me come watch in a few weeks. I figured I will learn a few things and see if this is something I can see myself doing. Perhaps a few basic classes on frosting techniques will help me get those nice icing layers and flat cake tops I so desire. Then I will be in a more confident position.

What do you guys think? Doctorate or give the cakes a whirl?

If you like what you see, please Follow Me for more recipes and cooking related antics.



Mystery Cake Being Built and Other Gleeful Excitedness

Before

After a collective gasp!

Birthday Cake and Other Plots

Last night, I whipped up a truly hideous cake for my co-worker's birthday. I had this huge scheme to make it a Friday the 13th cake, but I was so exhausted when I got home, I simply couldn't do much more than what you see here:


A cake only a kindergartner could love.

 One problem I have with fancy cake decorating is that I am so impatient. And too cheap to buy fancy tips that (supposedly) you don't really need. And shaky. I have zero motor control, I swear it is almost Parkinsonian. That's why I dropped out neurosurgery school...and don't hold other people's babies.

Anyways, I saw a tip on how to get nice(r) letters when writing on a cake that I gave a whirl, and it worked out pretty well for me. All you have to do is ice the cake in your background icing, then use a toothpick to write out what you want to say. Letter didn't turn our right? Smooth it over and start again until your happy, freakin' Polly Perfect.

Then, get the icing you wish to pipe on the words in and simply follow your toothpicked lines. Don't screw up now or you'll be screwed. The lines certainly helped, but because I have the fine motor skills of a baby monkey, the results weren't fantastic. Without the lines, I probably would have had something like this:

Or this

So now that this wreck is done, I have to start thinking of something to win the annual office cook off. Last year I got first place in cookies. I'm just kind of stumped this year. I have several factors against me: Less time, less patience, and most importantly, I have to drive 25 miles only to carry the damn thing 1/2 a mile from the parking garage and hope that it stays intact in 90 degree weather.

Part of me is feeling like I should blow it off. The other part of me knows that you guys just lust after my cooking debacles. Can y'all offer up any ideas? Oh, and please don't suggest that I should, "make whatever I am best at." Obviously, you are a new reader if you suggest that.

Cake Wreck Round Two

I made a cake for the get together of the MFE gang last weekend. It was the first time we were hosting at our place, so I wanted everything to be perfect. I painstakingly stacked and iced a devil's food, double layer cake, but neglected to saw the layers flat because it had never really made a difference in the past. Also, the last time I attempted leveling a cake, I got cut. It's all just aesthetics anyway, right? So, I let it be.

The presentations were coming together nicely. My individual sized quiches were out of the oven and plated. All that was left was to hop in the shower and rinse the chocolate out of my hair and the onion juice off my skin. As Jon and I left the kitchen, I did a quick double take at the cake.

Me: "Does it look like the top layer is sliding off to you, babe?"
Jon: "Maybe, but it is probably just cooked a little lopsided. That's all."
Me: "Hmmm."

*We dash off to shower for the party*

This is what we found when we returned:







Not only had the top layer half slid off the bottom layer, it had come to rest against our white walls. Jon's advice: "Just leave it, we don't have time to do anything about it."

I very delicately slid the top layer back to center, but it almost immediately started sliding off again. It was turning into a true Sisyphus moment. I then have a stroke of genius.

Me to Brain: "How to wedding cake decorators get all those layers to stay put?"

Brain: "Umm...they actually take the time to level the layers."

Me: "Shut up brain, who asked you anyway?"

Brain: "Ummm, you just did genius"

Me: "Don't smart mouth me like that! What you were supposed to say was wooden stakes.

Brain: "Right..."

ME: "JON! Bring me some toothpicks, STAT!"

Jon proceeds to dash over with a box of toothpicks and we stab the top layer of the cake into submission. It actually worked. Then I had to wash the wall to get the brown icing off. We had just finished cleaning the wall and cake stand when we heard the first knock at the door. Everyone enjoyed the cake, oblivious to our shame.