Scratch It: RLB Yellow Cakes

"Buttermilk Country Cake"

and

"She Loves Me Cake"

by Rose Levy Beranbaum

I'm still working on scratch baking with the help of some experts.  I've recently purchased Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum as suggested by fellow CakeCentral.com members.  Several people said it is worth it to own both her Cake Bible and Heavenly Cakes.  My most recent scratch cakes are her "Buttermilk Country Cake" and "She Loves Me Cake" (featured in photos), both of which are variations of her "All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake".

On the books' suggestion, I spun some sugar in my blender to make "super fine" sugar.  I don't recall seeing super fine sugar at the grocery store, but next shopping trip I'll take a closer look.  I can't really tell the difference in the final product, but I'm hoping experience will help me with that later.

Scratch baking is not easy.  I have yet to really follow a recipe 100% correctly.  With the "She Loves Me Cake" I poured all the milk into the liquids bowl, not reading that only 1/4 cup should have gone in.  The rest was to go with the butter into the dry ingredients.  I also over-baked it :(  That's probably why my cake came out dry.

With the "Buttermilk" cake, I didn't follow the directions on my powdered cultured buttermilk container.  If you mix the powder directly with water, it clumps up.  You're supposed to add the powder to the dry ingredients and add the water to the wet.  I tried to split this recipe into 2 6" round pans and that was wayyyy too much batter.  It overflowed in the oven and made a big, burnt, smelly mess.  The cake that I salvaged was moist but very delicate.  It crumbled when sliced.

Please don't judge these cake recipes on my failures because I'm sure I messed them up!  Instead, give me a virtual hug and know that, if you're also one who can't seem to read ahead, I'm right there with ya!

A Feast of Ice & Fire

A Feast of Ice & Fire

If you haven't read any of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire book series, drop what you're doing and go buy A Game of Thrones (the first book in the series).  Then sit back for several days for a good read.

Back already?

If you haven't visited the Inn at the Crossroads food blog inspired by the Song of Ice & Fire series, drop what you're doing and click on that link!

See?  Aren't you glad I told you?

 I have recently purchased their new official cookbook for the series.  It's pretty enjoyable to read their research on their blog or in these pages for medieval recipes.  Hits me up on many geeky levels.  I hope to make a few of these savory and sweet foods inspired by my all-time favorite book series.

Crusty White Bread

This recipe was ridiculously easy.  I was pretty skeptical on the outcome because the ingredients were so basic, and I'm such a beginner at bread making ... but hubby and I were pleasantly surprised.  We devoured all of one of the small loaves right out of the oven.

The exterior is pleasantly crisp and thick ... much like my favorite pizza crust.  The inside was soft but hearty and yeasty.

How fun!  I'm looking forward to trying the desserts listed in the book.  They often offer both a recipe for a dish old-world style and also a modern spin version.  Not much cake decorating going on here, but still an adventure!

Scratch It: Pound Cake

"Perfect Pound Cake"

from Cake Bible

This is my second cake from Cake Bible, and I'm a bit disappointed.  I've made a couple different pound cakes from scratch before and this is my least favorite.  The recipe describes this cake as "melt-in-your-mouth" texture.  It reminded me of melt-away cookies, the variety made with powdered sugar and cornstarch.  In my opinion ... pound cake should not be like that.  In addition to that, hubby and I really didn't think it tasted good either.

What I liked about this recipe was that it was the batch size was intended for a loaf pan.  In this testing phase of mine, it's nice to not have to use up so many ingredients.  It had been so long since I had used my loaf pan, I wondered if I even had one at all.  Sure enough, a dusty but undamaged non-stick pan was in the back of one of my kitchen's cabinets.

The cake baked up well and was easily cut with a serrated knife.  Like other pound cakes, the crust parts are somewhat yummier.  I did not grease my pan, like the recipe suggested.  Instead I did my usual of cutting out parchment paper for the bottom.  The cake actually pulled away from the sides all on its own.  I'm not sure if that was due to the non-stick pan or the recipe.

I'm convinced I did not screw up this recipe, I just don't like it.  I'll have to try out some other recipes I have for pound cake.  The one I got from my petit fours class, I recall, tasted good and contained cream cheese.

Scratch It: All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake

"All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake"
from Cake Bible

My first attempt at scratch baking is the Cake Bible's All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake.  I'm pretty convinced I screwed this one up.  The recipe called for baking powder, but I accidentally started off with baking soda.  I managed to recover a lot of the soda off of my dry ingredients, but still ... that was definitely not going to help.  Also, I'm not quite sure how old my baking powder was.  It hadn't expired, but I think it was approaching a year old. 

Besides the baking powder incident, the batter seemed very thick to me.  The recipe warned about over-mixing, and I could swear I didn't.  I tried to follow directions, but it's not like I had a stop watch on me to make sure I was mixing for exactly 20 seconds after step X, Y, and Z.

The cakes seemed to bake up nicely and on time.  I cut off the top to see what was under the hood and was not very pleased.  I was hoping for a tight, delicate crumb ... but I got something bordering on dense and with some big holes.

Waste not, want not.  I used the left-over egg whites from the recipe to make coffee-flavored Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the filling and icing. 

This is what I call the poor man's petal effect.  Instead of using a spatula to smear each icing blog, I just dragged my tip down into it and stroked the icing away.

Things I like about the petal effect technique are:

1. It requires about the same amount of icing that you would normally use as a crumb + finish coat for a cake.
2. It is fast to do, especially if you do it my lazy way.
3. It looks a heck of a lot better than me trying to get perfectly smooth sides, corners, and top.

This is definitely going to be my go-to, no-stress cake finishing technique.

The taste was fine, but like I said earlier, the texture was not ideal.  If someone could show me a picture of how it is supposed to look, I could be more sure.  I'll give this cake another try later.

My co-workers didn't seem to mind eating it all up!

Baking itch? "Scratch" it!

Baking itch?

"Scratch" it!

I think after each annual Austin cake show I participate in, I'm allowed to be a little turned off of cake decorating afterward.  This year I'd really like to practice baking cakes from scratch.  Now that I'm officially on maternity leave (no baby yet, but at least off of work), I'm already getting bored and got that "itch" to bake.  Must ... eat ... cake ... the baby demands it!  I'm jumping on the scratch cake bandwagon for a couple of reasons.  

For Christmas my brother bought me Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible, which I've seen a lot of cakers swear by.  Is it wrong for the only bible in my nightstand to be the Cake Bible?  It's got a lot of great scientific information and explanations of methodologies, which appeals to the geek side of me.

On CakeCentral.com, I've have heard talk that Duncan Hines has reduced their cake mix sizes from 18.25 oz down to 16.5 oz, which is the same size as the Betty Crocker mixes.  I usually buy Duncan Hines for all my cakes, but if the store is out, I'll get Betty Crocker.  I've noticed with the BC mixes that I'm always one cupcake shy of 2 dozen!  I never had that problem with DH.  I figured this was a good sign that I shouldn't rely so heavily on box mixes.  They're not sturdy enough for my liking when decorating them with fondant.  By the time I'm done slicing the cake, it's all a crumby mess.

Last but not least, the recent Austin cake show/competition had King Arthur Flour sponsor the tasting competition portion.  The winners got great prizes, and I ended up getting a free box of King Arthur cake flour from the leftover sponsorship materials.  Hopefully they'll be back next year, and I'll be ready for them!

Expect my next few posts to be about my Adventures in Scratch Baking!

Cake Wrecks Book Tour

Cake Wrecks Book Tour

November 15, 2011
Austin, TX

Cake Wrecks, the famous blog of professional cakes gone bad, finished up its second book tour across the USA.  They were promoting their latest book, Wreck the Halls, just in time for the "Hole Days".  Luckily one of their last stops was in my home town!  Capital Confectioners, the local cake club, was there to make sure we represent.

  

We had a blast!  Jen and John Yates, authors of Cake Wrecks, had several slide shows of unimaginable cakes and fun stories to share with us.  Each book tour stop involved a cupcake wreck-plica contest and a local bakery that volunteered to feed the masses.  There were so many fantastic cupcakes!  Here are a few:

  

  

Blue Note Bakery from south Austin shared her "cake bars", showing some true Austin colors.

The entire night, this handsome guy kept staring back at me:

This is Hugh Jackman's head by Kimberly Chapman over at http://www.eat-the-evidence.com/.  Pop over there for a better back story!

 

This really was a fun night, lots of laughs and sugar!  We're hoping Jen and John will be back in town in February for our annual "That Takes The Cake" Sugar Art Show & Cake Competition.  Here's the entire photo gallery:

Amazing Wedding Cakes

Amazing Wedding Cakes

It makes me sad that I can't make a cake every day!  I've been forced to find other ways to satisfy my caking itch.  One of the best outlets is watching Amazing Wedding Cakes from WeTV.  Since I don't actually have cable television, I bought season 1 and 2 from iTunes.  It's a real treat to relax at home and watch other people work!  What's great is that this show follows several cakeries in each episode.  Every time I watch I get exposed to different styles and talent.

Season 1:

• Cake Divas
• Cakegirls
• Cake Atelier

Season 2:

• Merci Beaucoup Cakes
• Cake Alchemy
• Christopher Garren's Cakes
• Cakegirls

I've watched Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, and some of the Food Network cake challenges.  This show, however, teaches me so much more than those ever could.  I get to watch professionals in their own environment without horrific time constraints.  They all do such awesome work; it's really inspiring to me.

My favorite is Cakegirls.  Their style and artistic vision are really aligned with what I'm personally shooting for.  A few more years of experience and it feels like I'd fit right in there.  Unfortunately their business suffered from a fire earlier this year.  Their website shares that it's still an on-going battle to get things settled with insurance.  I hope the very best for them.  I know many in the caking community and their fans have given their support in their time of need.

I hear Fabulous Cakes on TLC is also excellent.  Grr.  I might have to talk with hubby about finally getting cable. I watched the first episode of Buddy's Next Great Baker.  One of the contestants lives not far from me, and we are both active members in our city's cake club.  Unfortunately it's very reality-tv-ish and downright ridiculous at times.  Buddy is even more over-dramatic than on Cake Boss.  It'd be hard for me to stomach watching more of it, but I'd still want to root for the home-team.

... need more tv ... can't dirty kitchen ... need to lose weight ...

Day of Sharing: August 8th

Day of Sharing

August 8th, 2010

Round Rock, TX

http://dos.capitalconfectioners.com

I've recently joined the Capital Confectioners, the greater Austin area cake decorating and sugar artist club.  We're having our "Day of Sharing" on Sunday, August 8th that will feature several cake artists such as Stephen Benison.  Unfortunately I don't have the time or money to sign up for any of the classes available before the show, but I will be there all Sunday to help run things.  I've volunteered to be the A/V girl since I'm somewhat familiar with techie-type shtuff :b  Let's hope I don't screw things up or set something on fire!

Please come and learn with your fellow decorators and enthusiasts!  All skill levels welcome!

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.