Don't Trust a 2 Year Old

FYI, don't trust a 2 year old alone with parts of your cake competition entry.  Don't get me wrong; I have a great kid.  I suppose I set myself up for this one.

Sometimes I work on my competition entry in the kitchen and leave my stuff out.  My daughter will come along as ask what it is.  She's about 2 and 3/4 years old and is used to seeing "Mommy's toys" out on the table.  She sees me working with gumpaste and asks if it's Playdough.  I explain that it's a lot like Playdough and Mommy is using it to make things.  I let her have a piece and have her squish it.  I explain the shaker has powder in it to make it not sticky.  She gets to roll the gumpaste around on my mat with powdered sugar.  I explain to her that Mommy is letting these other pieces dry so they can get hard.  I tell her not to touch those pieces and she nods, fully understanding.  I go to the bathroom and come back, then noticing one of my pieces is gone ... she is squishing it and pushing it around on the mat.  Luckily I had made 3 duplicate pieces "just in case" and she had grabbed the one that I didn't like that much.  After a brief exchange of me expressing my shock, we both got over it and moved on.  We enjoyed playing with gumpaste together.

Oh well.  At least she didn't eat it.

Better than Medals

Better than Medals

It's been a week since the cake show and I must say it feels pretty weird to not be baking or making fondant or something.  I wanted to share what lovely gifts I received from friends and family last weekend that are more special than my medals.

My dear husband got me some beautiful roses that were waiting for me when I got home after the show and running by Sonic to pick up dinner because we were starving.  

They still look lovely even today.

 

My friends Hang and Sandi got us some fancy chocolates.

My friend Pam got me a customized apron.

 

Best of all, my husband and his family banded together and got me a commemorative collage, showing many of the cakes I've made so far.

 

We bought a shadow box for me to put the medals in.  I'm going to hang the collage and the medals somewhere in the kitchen!

Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  I threw away my Ramen bowl.  My Maneki Neko was sliced open and trashed.  I'm keeping my wedding cake, though, I just need to find somewhere to put it.

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Malaya!: Completed

Happy 1st Birthday, Malaya!

(+15 skill points => 270 / 400)

 

 

(03/01/2010)  I totally forgot this post was sitting in my edit queue!   Well, this was supposed to be posted a week ago, but my life got completely taken over by the cake competition.  Better late than never!

(originally written 02/20/2010)

This past weekend was my cousin's daughter's first birthday party!  I had the honor of making the cake for the party and Malaya's smash cake.  The cake and I had to resort to plan B many times, but in the end, I think it was a job well done.

Stats:

 3 tier party cake:

• top tier: 6" round Duncan Hines Red Velvet with Cheesecake Mousse
• middle tier: 8" round Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge with Oreo Mousse
• bottom tier: 10" round Duncan Hines Red Velvet with Cheesecake Mousse
• iced with "Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream" (new recipe for me)
• Royal Icing ball border
• Michele Foster's Fondant accents

Smash cake:

• single layer 6" round Duncan Hines Red Velvet
• iced with IndyDebi's buttercream
• reverse scroll border
• Michele Foster's fondant accents
• Wilton sprinkles on the side

It was bound to happen.  This cake was my first all-nighter.  That's what I get for procrastinating.  I've been pretty busy at home and at work, so I never really got a head start on this cake except for the baking.  On Friday night, all I had was thawed cake.  I started everything else at 11 pm and stopped Saturday morning at 8 am for a brief 2 hour nap, then back to finish the cake before the party.   It was actually nice to not have any interruptions like a crying baby or going to work.  Also I got a clear picture of how long it takes to make a 3 tiered cake from start to finish.

My previous post described how I decorated the cake drum.

Next up was making fondant.  I tried Michele Foster's fondant recipe from cakecentral.com, and believe me, it's worth all the hassle.  There are pros and cons to this recipe, but it was a great learning experience.

Cons:  The fondant will be off-white because of the butter.  Also, plain gelatin smells like dirty socks.  It doesn't taste as good as MMF, but it's better than Satin Ice and Wilton brands.

Pros: The fondant is super stretchy.  It has the consistency of bubble gum.  I could take a lump and pull it apart with both hands and it will stretch like melted mozzarella with no cracks or breaks.  Here are my loops for the intended bow topper.  I tried to color it to match the cake drum.

Those were set aside to dry.  Next cake leveling, torting, damming, filling, and spackling.  Not many pictures because I was too busy making the darn thing.

 

I made a batch of IndyDebi's buttercream to be used for the spackle and damming.

  

  

All of the cakes were spackled.  I wanted to make sure everything was straight, even, and sturdy.  Nothing was gonna happen to this cake ... not on my watch!

  

My co-worker convinced me to try this IMBC recipe.  He said his kids love it; they like it better than the recipe I've always used.  I had to fight for a long time to get this IMBC stable.  After adding the melted sugar to meringue, I have a bad habit to not let it alone long enough to cool.  I started adding butter and it completely destabilized.  It was so liquidy, it was flinging gunk everywhere.  My shirt and back kitchen wall was covered.  I made a make-shift plastic wrap tent, but eventually stopped trying to add butter.  I stuck it in the fridge for a while.  After a few minutes I tried again, but no luck.  I stuck it in the freezer for a while.  That made it a little better, so I added the rest of the butter.  It was still too cold (it gets looking like cottage cheese at that point), so I set it over a pot of boiling water to warm it up.  Jeez, this stuff is high maintenance!  I eventually got it stabilized.  Unfortunately the color was too yellow for my liking.  Luckily this is for a baby girl, so light yellow is always good.

The tiers were supported with bubble tea straws.  When it came time to place a tier on top of another, I only partially inserted the straws.  Once the tier was placed over them, I let gravity take the rest of it down gradually so I could slip my fingers out from under it.  I left my spatula underneath so I could coast it down and shimmy it in to place.

For the smash cake, I only had a little bit of IndyDebi buttercream.  I thinned it down with some milk.  Unfortunately that made it too unwieldy to smooth well.  In desperation I grabbed a bottle of huge Wilton confetti sprinkles and lined them up all along the side.  Good save, if I may say!

 

I didn't even attempt to pipe "Happy Birthday, Malaya".  I knew my piping still sucks and was not willing to mess anything up.  The smash cake got topped with some pretty ribbon roses and a cut-out 1.  The leaves were free-hand cut because I couldn't find my leaf cutters (which I later discovered were practically right in front of me).

Reverse shells make everything look better!

Unfortunately the mousse requires refrigeration, which called for some creative organization between our main and mini fridge.

The bead borders around the main tiers were royal icing with a dollop of corn syrup.  This made it look shinier and kept it soft.

I had to ditch the bow topper idea.  I didn't make nearly enough loops, the ones I had weren't dry enough, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to arrange them in a non-stupid manner.  Ribbon roses to the rescue!!!  This was my first try at ribbon roses ... they are so simple and cute! 

I had a wonderful time making this cake and was so proud to share it with my family.  The birthday girl was a little too tired to smash the smash cake, but everyone else enjoyed.  I received several compliments on the look and taste of the cake.  The top 2 tiers were devoured quickly!

Happy Birthday, Malaya!

 

I've had a couple weeks break to think about my past cakes.  Here are my conclusions:

FAILs:

• I don't prefer this IMBC recipe.
• My end result was too yellow; not the color I was shooting for but still ok, I guess.  This probably wouldn't be acceptable if it were an adult's birthday cake.
• Waaay too much butter.  It didn't taste bad at all, but I'm just not comfortable putting so many sticks of butter into one thing.  I'm not big on butter in cooking or eating either.
• IMBC was too finicky.  First it was too hot, then it was too cold.  Jeez!  I don't need this in my life!
• Not enough time.  
• It's been an unbelievably busy month for me.  I didn't have any time to prepare much in advance except for the baked cake.  The all-nighter was unavoidable.  
• I would really have liked to have more time to get the buttercream flawless.  No one really notices all the flaws, but I know I could have gotten it smoother.  Boy, your "icing" arm can really get tired after doing 3 tiers in one shot!
• I don't know how to make a bow!
• I really need to follow directions and/or practice making a loopy bow.

FTWs:

• covered cake drum badge earned!
• ribbon rose badge earned!
• smash cake badge earned!
• Sprinkles saved the smash cake.  I originally bought those huge confetti sprinkles for another cake, but decided to go in a different direction.  It was pure luck that they happened to be the same colors I was using and in a great size and shape.
• Tasted fantastic! 
• Costco Mousse is the way to go for great tasting filling.  It was nice and stable.  It didn't effect the cake that was in direct contact with it.
• I received several compliments on how "the cake was so good!"
• It's really nice to have a cake that looks and tastes good.  Either way is such a treat, but to have both ... that's what awesome is made of.

That Takes the Cake 2010

That Takes the Cake 2010

1st place in Adult Beginner - Sculpted Cakes

2nd place in Adult Beginner - Special Techniques

 

 from left to right: 

"Something Blue" (Adult Beginner - Wedding Tiered)

"Maneki Neko" (Adult Beginner - Sculpted Cakes)

"Ramen" (Adult Beginner - Special Techniques)

I am sooooo tired.  My first cake show is officially over, and I couldn't be happier.  I walked away with 2 medals in the Adult Beginner division!  My "Ramen" bowl got 2nd in "Special Techniques" and my "Maneki Neko" got 1st in "Sculpted Cakes".  I'm too exhausted to blog in detail about those cakes just yet, but I can talk for a little while about the show.

First thing's first.  I finished my cakes on Friday around 4 pm.  Drop-off started at 5 until 8.  I was so relieved that I finished 3 out of 4 cakes.  I was supposed to enter "Novelty - Tiered" but ran out of time ... I didn't have any design for it anyway :b  My husband was on his way home from work and picking up the baby from day-care, so I was going to wait for him and then we'd all go together to deliver my cakes to the show.  He calls me to tell me he's on his way.  I tell him "ok, I'll be here .... OH SHIT!!!!"   Pardon my French, but disaster had struck.  My "Ramen" bowl had cracked and was threatening to spill its contents.  It was a pre-existing crack (that I had thought I patched up) that had split wide open.  I performed emergency surgery.  Melted fondant helped glue together a make-shift patch.  It wasn't working and I grew desperate.  I'll post more detail later, but what I ended up with was what I called a "load-bearing ribbon" ... a black ribbon wrapped around the edge of the bowl to stabilize the structure while the fondant dried.  We left that entry at home and delivered my cat and wedding cake.

Not many competitors were there on Friday night, but the volunteer staff were very friendly.   I brought my wedding cake in and my jaw dropped when I saw the 4 entries already there on the table.  I said "Can't it go next to an ugly one??"  The volunteer that was showing me where to put my cake was so nice; she complimented my cake and reassured me that I was being too hard on myself and that judges can see negative things I might not see in those other cakes.

My cat cake was the 2nd cake to arrive in the Adult Beginner - Sculpted Cakes section.  It sat next to an Alice in Wonderland cake.  He looked small compared to it :(  While setting him down I passed an amazing sugar sculpture cake that had a spaceship and astronauts and other super awesome things.

The next morning I woke up early to assess my "Ramen" bowl.  The patch seemed to be holding tight, so I deemed it ready for competition.  Again, not many people at the event center so early, so I was shown where to put my entry.  Where?  Ya, next to that freaggin' amazing sugar sculpture.  I said "I do NOT want to be next to THAT!"  I mean, I'm holding this silly bowl of soup, and it was supposed to sit next to this artwork that looked like a master had done?  The staff was so nice again!  She let me put it way to the side :)  I hope I didn't come off snotty ... I was already disheartened at how good the wedding cakes were and felt so stupid entering this competition.  I went home downcast but still proud that I managed to enter 3 out of 4 promised entries.

My brother came in to town to see the show and have a nice date-weekend with his wife (her mom was watching their young son for the night).  After we all had lunch out, my husband took the baby home (we'd meet up later after his mother could come over and watch our kiddo).  My brother, sister-in-law, and I drove to the cake show and managed to walk in RIGHT when the judges were looking at my cat cake.

We hovered behind them and heard Lauren Kitchens (the one in the white) say to the judge next to her, "It's cute!"  That was super awesome.  We spent the next few hours looking at all the cakes.  I took over 600 photos this weekend.  It was such a wonderful experience to see so many fantastic cakes.  Every time we hit a "Buttercream Only" category, it smelt soooo good.  After we saw all the cakes, we took a break and ate some cupcakes that were for sale.

My husband and I met up with a couple friends for the special dinner event at the cake show.  We ate a lovely buffet dinner while watching some of the big names in the cake industry work together to make a huge space-themed cake.  That wasn't what I had expected, but it was still fun.  Mike McCarey MC'd.  We watched their antics until about 9 pm.

The next morning I got up and over there early to attend extra demos.  There was a lot to be learned about the wonders of modeling chocolate from Lauren Kitchens and Mike McCarey.  Kathy Scott is a lovely lady from South Carolina that shared with us how she makes duck cakes.

After the demos I went to check on my cakes.  To my GREAT surprise, I saw that my cat had been tagged with winning 1st and my ramen had won 2nd in their respective categories.  I immediately called my husband, brother, and parents to tell them the good news with happy tears.

After the initial shock and excitement, the rest of the day sort of wore on.  There was a couple of hours for me to kill before the awards ceremony.  I got some shopping in, but unfortunately they were all sold out of their commemorative t-shirts.  Next year I'll pre-order mine, dammit.  I finally bought some Funky Letter tappits as well as some cute cat cut-outs.  There were so many things to buy, but I restrained myself.  Actually, I really should have bought some Americolor gels while I was there :(

The culinary arts school in Chicago had a booth, and I got to see some sugar art being demonstrated.  He assembled this abstract sugar sculpture in techniques that look similar to glass artists' processes.  It's an awesome medium, but I don't think I'm really "into" blow torches ... I actually have a heat phobia.  Weird for a baker, huh? 

The awards ceremony was at 3:00 pm.  I called my husband at 2:45 pm to ask where he was.  He thought it was at 3:30!  Luckily they started with the tasting competition awards first, then went to the child and culinary student divisions.  He and my 9 mo old waited with me as they called out the awards.  There was another guy in the Adult Beginner division that also won 2 medals.  I believe he won 1st in the Wedding Tiered category.  Afterward we couldn't really hear what to do next.  My daughter was very fussy.  Something about a photographer and "stand next to your cake".  We exited the room and went back to the floor.  My daughter didn't want to stay put, so my husband did laps with her while guarded my cat.  I carefully took him over to the photographer's stand.  Not sure if I'll be contacted about the photos, but I did sign a release form.  I've been checking the events' website every day to see if they posted pictures.  After wandering around, trying to figure out what we're supposed to be doing, I asked a staff person if I was going to receive a critique sheet for my cakes.  She directed me to a couple people and I finally got in line to receive my critique sheet.  I got a paper with a quick blurb for each entry.  Funny, though, the only one with negative remarks was my 1st place cat.  If only I could see what everyone else's sheet said, I bet I could learn a lot.

I'm going to wrap this up here for now... too tired to go on ... see more later.  Long story short:

UPDATE (03/25/2010):  The following is a message posted on the thattakesthecake.org website.  I wanted to copy it here so I don't lose it when they update their page.

A Note from our Show Director, Jennifer Bartos:

The weekend of the That Takes the Cake Sugar Art Show and Competition went by so quickly and now it is all a blur. There was so much going on all weekend; here are some of the numbers. More than 350 cakes and showpieces were entered into the competition and the winners split almost $10,000 in cash and prizes; more than 2500 people attended the show over the weekend; 30 vendors from all over the country sold specialty tools and supplies; 25 sponsors and donors donated thousands of dollars in cash and products; 6 great demonstrations were conducted by some of our special guests; 3 separate onsite competitions challenged competitors and delighted the audience; 210 people attended hands-on mini-classes and celebrity instructor classes before, during and after the Show and 1 very special showcake was the culmination of collaborative efforts of the competition judges – all of this in just the 18.5 hours that the Show was open!

A big thank you and pat on the back to all the competitors. The judges were very complimentary of the high quality of workmanship in the entries. It was exciting to see attendees of all ages walking through the competition display area marveling at the edible works of sugar art. I know it is a challenge to compete – a challenge to find the time to work on your piece and a challenge to transport it, etc. – but competition is truly the way to bring your work to the next level. It is through competition that you push yourself to try, practice and master new techniques. I hope all of the competitors had fun – I know I and many others enjoyed looking at your work!

Another big thank you goes out to our special guests who served as judges, demonstrators and instructors. The list reads like a veritable who’s who in the cake decorating world – Mike McCarey, Nicholas Lodge, Geraldine Randlesome, Kathy Scott, John Kraus, Lauren Kitchens, Amy Eilert, Carolyn Mangold, Steven Stellingwerf, Earlene Moore, Mark Seaman, Elizabeth Dickson, Janette Pfertner, Ruth Rickey and Janet Rosebeary. We were honored to have them as our guests at the Show and appreciate their expertise that they shared with the competitors, students and attendees.

The volunteers also deserve a huge thank you! We had a great group of about 100 volunteers who donated thousands of hours of their time planning, putting together prizes and signs, setting up tables and chairs, handling onsite registrations, manning the raffle prize booth and everything in-between. It takes a lot of planning, time and effort to put on a show of this magnitude and believe me, it would not happen without the efforts of all of the volunteers and in particular Ellen Cromwell, volunteer coordinator, Kim Sanchez, Capital Confectioner’s treasurer, and Kyla Myers, Capital Confectioner’s president and web mistress extraordinaire!

We have already started planning the 2011 Show! Mark your calendars now – February 26 and 27, 2011. The theme for 2011 is Comic Books – Super Heroes and Super Villains. Can you imagine the showcakes that we will see next year? Start thinking about your entry now and practicing your techniques. There will be even more cakes, more vendors, more classes and of course more opportunities to volunteer! Check back to this website (ThatTakesTheCake.org) regularly to find out the plans for the Show and think about joining the Capital Confectioners Cake Club (CapitalConfectioners.com) if you are interested in helping out with planning the Show. We look forward to an even bigger and better Show in 2011 – I know you will not want to miss it!

Thanks for your participation in the past and looking forward to the future –
Jennifer Bartos
Show Director
That Takes the Cake

February is going to be busy!!!

I've got a busy month ahead of me.  On February 12th, my brother-in-law is graduating from Universal Technical Institute.  He has been accepted into BMW's school and will soon move out to Rancho Cucamonga, California for training.  To celebrate, well, what else do I do but make cake!  It'll look something like this:

I've been wanting to make a BMW cake ever since my hubby and his 2 brothers bought BMWs all within a few months ... and now this???  It's a sign.  Well, no, it's a logo.  And it will also be cake.

NEXT!

My dear cousin's little girl is turning 1, and we're celebrating with tons of family and friends.  I asked to do the cake and was so excited that they said yes!  The birthday party theme is bouncy balls.  There will be a little ball pit for the babies (which I'm sure my little one will be enjoying), and plenty of balls the older kids can bounce.  Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for a bouncy outside!  It was requested that the cake match the theme ... hey, no prob.  I'm going to start sketching designs tonight.  I even get to make a smash cake just for the birthday girl!

NEXT!

The end of the month is the big one.  The "That Takes the Cake" Sugar Art and Cake Show.  I'm so excited, but no where close to prepared.  I still need to buy cake dummies and drums.  I still need to prototype all the cakes.  I still need to make several batches of fondant in different colors.  I still need to make at least 3 dozen gum paste roses.  Heck, I still need to design one of my entries.  My first few ideas for the "Special Occasion / Novelty Tiered" cake were dismal failures.  I exaggerate, but still.  I'm back to square one.

Thanks in advance to my family who let me do all these crazy things.  My husband is concerned about all this cake that I've volunteered to make ... but hey, it's family.  I'll do crazy cake things for family any day.  There's a mountain of work ahead of me ... good thing I get to eat it when done.

Wedding Cake Prototype: Completed

Wedding Cake Prototype

Preparation for Cake Contest

(+15 skill points => 250/400)

Woot!  15 more skill points!  What a weekend.  I'd like to thank my husband and daughter for letting me do this.  What you see here is my first 3-tier cake.  It is a generic wedding cake, serving as a prototype to help me practice for the cake contest.

Stats:

• 6", 8", and 10" rounds (each about 3.5", total cake is almost 1' tall)
• top 2 tiers are Duncan Hines Red Velvet
• bottom tier is Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge
• iced with buttercream icing (top 2 are a nod to Sharon Zambito's recipe, bottom tier is from IndyDebi)
• filled with tub cream cheese icing (I forget if it's Pillsbury or what)
• shell borders at the bottom of each tier
• rosettes top the bottom tier
• reverse shells top the top tier
• swirlie thingies on bottom tier with dots
• quilt impression on middle tier
• dots on top tier
• fondant roses on tippy top

I learned sooo much from this cake.  I'm a little shaken though.  I'm definitely not where I want to be for competition, but this is definitely a step forward for me.  Here's the scoop.

Two words: cake spackle.  See my previous post for more info.  It's awesome.  Try it if you haven't.  I put the cake scraps I had into my little food processor.  When I had ground up a bowlful, I sifted through it with my fingers to see if there were any chunks that got by.  Man.  In my version of heaven, that's what the clouds would be made of.  Bits of cake.  It was so soft and fluffy, I'll dream about it later.  Anywho, my cakes did not bake up well.  I tried shooting for 2" layers, which means less batter into the pans than I'm used to.  The cake pulled away from the sides, making a slant.

Even with baking strips and a flower nail, my 10" round domed.  After leveling, I wound up with 1 1/2" cake layers to work with.  But it's ok, because cake spackle is FTW.

I've been watching Sharon Zambito's Perfecting the Art of Buttercream DVD.  I tried to apply her techniques and had some fails and some successes.  I did not have good like with a similar recipe for her buttercream.  I'm going to stick with IndyDebi's.

Stacking tiers ... ya ... that's a challenge.  It's not so bad when they're covered in fondant, but I can't tell you how many times I cursed very loudly when I smudged and/or almost dropped a tier.  The middle tier wasn't placed well, so I had to wedge my spatula underneath it and shimmy it over.  You can see the indentation on the right side there:

 Holy crap, I made a mess of my kitchen!

 

The top has some fondant roses that I made the other day.  I learned this in my Wilton Course 3 class.

Well, I could go on and on about this cake, but I'll just sum it up for you.

Things I learned:

• When icing a tier, it needs to be elevated on a surface smaller than the cake.  Otherwise, it's difficult to lift up the cake/cake board without damaging the bottom of the cake.  I eventually put all my tiers on  upside-down bowls while icing them.
• When placing a tier, hold it underneath with a hand and a spatula.  Your hand will guide it to approximately the spot it needs to be.  Set it down and let the spatula park it in to place.  Otherwise your fingers will damage the bottom of the tier you're holding as well as the top of the tier you're placing it on.
• When applying the quilting mat, be sure to have a the cake on a flat surface so the mat can rest against it.  If you do it freestyle (my tier was still elevated on a bowl), the impression can become uneven.  And my glasses kept slipping as I tilted my head to the side.
• Cut all supports evenly.  Dowel through the center evenly.  My cake is leaning :(
• Give yourself LOTS of time to do all this.  You can't rush this.  My "rushing" lasted over 5 hours.  And that was just the decorating part.
• For the competition, I'm going to use 6" and 8" dummies as my top 2 tiers.  This cake was heavy.  I should've weighed it.  I took this cake to work which consisted of: taking the cake out of my trunk, going down 3 flights of stairs in the parking garage, crossing the street to my building, elevator ride up to the third floor, then a few paces to our break room.  It took a half hour afterward for my arms to stop trembling.  No way am I doing that the Friday before competition with 4 entries.
  

What a relief to have this done.  I'm beginning to dread the week before the competition!

Merry Christmas to me!

My family and I had a lovely Christmas holiday.  My dear husband and his family got me many baking goodies for me to play with.  2010 will be a good year for cakes!

My presents:

• bundt cake pan
• nice dark and heavy pan with non-stick surface; it's just begging for it to be filled with pound cake
  
• glass turn table
• glides so smoothly and looks beautiful; I will photograph my cakes on this in the future
  
• Cake Doctor books
• soooo many recipes for me to try! even if I did one cake a week it'd still take years to get through
  
• gum paste tool set
• handy dandy tools for playing with fondant and gum paste
  
• fall themed cookie cutters
• originally given to my mother in law from her mother, then passed down to me
  
• cake decorating book
• especially informative on royal icing
  
• cake lifter
• so awesome, I'll never accidentally split a cake again
• quilt impression mats
• 1" and 1 1/4" wide diamonds
• marzipan
• I will attempt to cover a cake with this and then ice it with royal icing ... very European ;)
  

A big thank you to my family who has been very supportive of this sudden and crazy new obsession of mine!  Lots of love to my husband who even cleaned up the huge mess I made from baking last Friday!

Holidays 2009

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

Happy New Years!

Hook 'em, Horns!

(+10 skill points -> 235/400)

What a week.  You know, I'm gonna have to take a break from caking!  The holidays almost killed me!  My kitchen looks like hell.  Unfortunately, I was so busy making the sweets pictured above, I didn't have much time to stop and take photos of the process.  Here's the play-by-play, though.

Stats (Happy Birthday, Ashley):

• 8" round
• Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix
• filled and iced with semi-sweet chocolate ganache
• covered in MMF
• quilt pattern with impression mat and quilting wheel
  
• borders and script in royal icing (shell bottom border and reverse shell top border)

My husband got me a couple of impression mats for the quilted effect.  I tried the 1 1/4" version first.  The cakecentral forums suggested to roll the fondant a little thick so the indentations could make it look like the fondant "pillows" out more.  I pressed the mat to the fondant and gently rocked it back and forth.  The lines were not very visible ... I complained to my husband of the poor lighting in the kitchen that didn't help.  My husband, bless him, also bought me the 10-piece gum paste tool set.  Following the indentations, I rolled the quilting wheel also gently back and forth.  It was an ok first-try and definitely worth mastering in the future.

The royal icing was mixed with Americolor burgundy.  I must have a different idea of what "burgundy" is ... but I probably just am thinking of maroon.  The color came out lovely, just not what I expected.  Unfortunately royal icing dries so hard ... it chipped and broke off, somewhat flying, as Ashley cut the cake.

I guess my fondant was too dry.  You can see the cracks near the top of the cake.  When it came time to eat it, it was a little hard :(  Back to buttercream, me thinks.

 FAILs:

• fondant was too dry
• royal icing was too hard

FTWs:

• earned quilting badge

 NEXT!

Stats (2010 Cake):

• 8" round
• Duncan Hines Butter Pecan cake mix
• filled and iced with white chocolate ganache
• covered in Satin Ice black fondant
• white dots are MMF

This was my first time making ganache from white chocolate.  A 12 oz. bag of Nestle White Chocolate Morsels was added to simmering 4 oz. of heavy whipping cream.  Ok ... after it was all mixed in and melted well ... it looked like snot.  It was yellowy and too thin.  What was interesting was that it gummed up as I was spreading it on to the cake.  At first I thought it was going to slip right off the cake, but after I got it on, it started to "set" ... the ganache turned sticky / gooey.  I'm going to research this more before I attempt it again.

I wanted to do a New Year's cake for my husband's extended family party, but I wasn't sure about the design.  At the last minute it came down to "cover it with black and throw on some dots".  There's a border of dots on the bottom of the cake that's hard to see.  These were made with my smallest circle cutter and left over MMF.  Satin Ice fondant was lovely to work with, but I still had some cracks on the corners.  It was neat to use my heavy marble rolling pin, which is super smooth.  It took out a lot of work that is usually required to roll out fondant thinly.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to figure out how to get rid of the dusty cornstarch.  I was too hesitant to try spraying and brushing on PAM (suggested by many on cakecentral.com) and I don't have a steamer (like what Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes show them using).  The black fondant looked gray and dirty :(

The cake tasted lovely but I'm still not crazy about the Satin Ice fondant.  I much prefer the taste of MMF.  One little girl ate all the dots underlining "2010" while the rest of us were in the living room unwrapping presents!

FAILs:

• again, ditching fondant and going back to buttercream
• black fondant turned our mouths blue
• white chocolate ganache was weird
• fondant was dusty looking
  

FTWs:

• white chocolate and Butter Pecan cake was so yummy
• earned badge for covering cake with Satin Ice fondant

NEXT!

Stats (Longhorn cookies):

• NFSC
• using Longhorn cookie cutter
  
• iced with MMF

My husband's extended family party included a White Elephant gift exchange.  Because everyone is a little tight in these economic times, we were supposed to re-gift items that we already had but didn't want.  I wanted to get rid of some of our extra pyrex mixing bowls.  My brother-in-law's girlfriend suggested to me earlier to make cookies.  In celebrating of the University of Texas Longhorns going to the Rose Bowl this coming week, I made Longhorn cookies placed in a bowl with a rose on top!

I decided to try making the cookie dough and rolling it out without chilling it first.  After filling a cookie pan, I put them in the refrigerator to firm up while I rolled and cut more cookies.  Half of my intentions were fulfilled.  Chilling them on the pan helped the dough not spread while baking.  Unfortunately the dough was so soft to work with, there were many smudges during cutting and placement.

I cut and baked these right after 3 dozen round cookies for more of my "Texas Snowmen".  What I didn't realize was that the Longhorn cookies would take less time to bake up because they're so narrow.  Several of my horns got too burnt to serve :(

Cakecentral.com had many forum posts about getting the UT "burnt orange" color just right.  Most suggested making the icing bright orange and then adding a small amounts of brown.  It took FOREVER to get it to the color I settled for in the MMF.  I had to add more brown than I expected.   It looks close enough, right?

I used the cutter to also cut out the fondant.  Brushing the backside with water helped it stick to the cookie well.  Impressive, eh?

FAILs:

• narrow cookies need less time and/or less heat to bake correctly
• can't skip chilling the dough

FTWs:

• dough did not spread
• fondant cut-outs fit well
• earned "burnt orange" color badge

I should have taken a picture at the end :(  They were so cute individually wrapped and tied with ribbon.  No one "got" the whole play on words with the Longhorns in the rose + bowl, so my husband and I had to relay the message.  Oh well.  Hook 'em, Horns!

Like I said ... I may take a little break from all this for a while ;)  Happy New Year, everyone.

Penguin Christmas: Completed

Penguin Christmas

Merry Christmas, Hang and Sandi!

(+5 skill points -> 225/400)

Oh, what a fun cake!  This is for my co-worker and his wife for their family Christmas.  I'm glad it's done, though ... I've been working on it for a week.  It turned out even cuter than I planned.

Stats:

• 8" round
• Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix
• iced and filled with semi-sweet + milk chocolate ganache
• covered in white MMF
• border with royal icing
• fondant accents

This was my first chance to work with Satin Ice (brand of manufactured fondant).  I ordered red, green, and black 2 lb. tubs from www.fondantsource.com.  The price, including shipping, was the cheapest I could find.  It shipped quickly and arrived on my doorstep last Thursday.  I was so excited I started making the bodies for the penguins right away.

These penguins were inspired by this etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/fliepsiebieps?section_id=5990881.  The entire body is fondant except for the eyes and arms.  I was able to pipe on those using the royal icing I had made for decorating cookies.  I made the creases for the toes with the edge of an old clay tool.  The nostrils indentations were made with a toothpick.  These little guys ring out with personality that I didn't expect.

I also started the Christmas trees early.  The large Christmas tree got scrapped because I ended up making it look ugly and figured it was too heavy for the cake anyway.

I used scissors to snipe the branches ... it looked much better when I watched Buddy do it on Cake Boss.  Mine came out dry and rough looking.  Oh well.  I hope the decorations detract from that.

The cake baked up so nice ... this is the highest rising cake mix I've ever used.  I tried making ganache with 12 oz of semi-sweet morsels plus a handful of milk chocolate morsels.  When it came to icing the cake, I could see that the milk chocolate morsels didn't get incorporated into the rest of the chocolate.  They were still soft and spreadable, but it looked like light brown splotches all over the cake.  I let it chill in the fridge over night to set.  When I rolled the fondant on to it, I noticed the ganache might have been too hard.  I could smooth out a lot of the roughness.  You can see it along the edges in the picture below.

 

Otherwise, icing and covering the cake went really well.  I'm really getting the hang of eye-balling how I need my stuff to be.  I'm not even measuring the sugar when I make fondant or royal icing.

Typical bead border on the bottom.  But the fun part was the top.  All my little guys first got skewered with a toothpick.  This cake was making a 3 hour car drive, and I wanted to make sure there were no casualties.  Each got secured with some royal icing.  You can see it peaking out underneath them.

My previous cake proved I could make an icy/drippy border, which was perfect!  Again, using icing I had made for decorating my sugar cookies ...

This whole cake came together really well, and I was super-pleased.  It feels pretty good to be proud of a cake.  Oh and this was cool:  I was worried about the cake for the 3 hour drive.  I put it in a cake box with the top cut off (because the Christmas trees were too tall).  Then I put that box into this little wooden crate that I took from work.  The building management for our office had bought us a gift basket full of candy, nuts, etc.  They came in this simple wooden box/crate things.  The 10" cake box fit inside it PERFECTLY.  The cake was now snug, safe, and very portable.  I only have one more crate left ... I wonder if I can order them ...

FAILs:

• I need to figure out how to mix semi-sweet and milk chocolate for ganache
• ganache set too hard ... or maybe that wouldn't have been a problem if I iced it smooth to begin with
• you know what?  Satin Ice doesn't taste awesome all by itself ... it tastes chemically ... I may have to try coloring my own MMF with Americolor gel paste to get a rich red, green, or black without sacrificing taste ... I hope no one eats a penguin
  

FTWs:

• figures turned out super cute
• Satin Ice fondant was very easy to work with
• I really love that drippy snow border!!!
• wooden crate held the cake box safe and snug
  

Merry Christmas, Hang and Sandi!

Now for more pics!