Need to Improve May 23, 2008

Tomorrow is a friend’s baby shower.  I was originally going to do a cupcake tower, but that plan got thrown by the wayside.  The cupcakes baked perfectly, but decorating them was another issue.  They looked like a 6 year old had gotten into the icing.  The perfect cupcake tower that I had been planning for weeks is now out the window.

I fortunately had a cake mix on hand so I mixed it up and now am scrambling for an idea for a cake.  The shower is at 2:30 tomorrow!  Worse comes to worse I’ll buy cupcakes from a bakery and put them on my cupcake stand.

The only classes in my area are Wilton classes.  I have already done 1, 2, and 3.  Next week I am taking the fondant class.  Those classes are great for basic skills, but I need something more.  I need to learn from someone who was made a living at decorating cakes.  The classes I took were taught by people who went through the classes only a few months earlier.  One of my fellow attendees even began teaching shortly after our last class. 

I have contacted Kentucky ICES, but they haven’t gotten back to me.  There is a cake decorating club in Cincinnati that meets monthly, I am considering trying it out.  I think I could learn a lot!  The only problem is that the meetings are at night and it is an hour plus drive over there.

The only way to improve my skills is just to keep decorating cakes.  I don’t know enough people or have enough family members here to pawn practice cakes off on and I am trying to shrink my waistline, not expand it.  A part time bakery job would be perfect.

I worked about 30 hours at a bakery last fall spread out over several weeks.  I learned a ton, but I have so much more I need to learn.  I got much better at base icing when I did that 8 times in a day.  Anyway, I need some rest if I’m going to get that cake done tomorrow.

Baby Cookies May 17, 2008

I have shied away from royal icing for some time.  In one of my Wilton classes, I was scared into believing that if any grease got in the icing, it would ruin the batch.  It was advised to keep a separate set of tools for royal icing.  I have only made one batch of royal icing since being told that.

I love the look of decorated cookies, but since royal icing was the best way to do these, I have stayed away.  I didn’t even believe a non-domestic type made the cookies she once brought to a baby shower.  I figured she bought them somewhere and claimed them as her own.

Anyway, to prepare for the birth of our best friends second daughter, I needed something special.  There were some adorable cookies in my new “Pretty Party Cakes” book.  I decided that they were too adorable not to try.  I managed to find a couple baby appropriate cookie cutters locally and made a pattern myself for a onesie.  I baked the sugar cookies adding some almond flavoring.  It was a simple recipe, but the cookies were delicious.  The rest of the day I nervously waited until I had several hours of free time to make the royal icing.  In the evening I finally did.

Amazingly, the icing wasn’t difficult and even if I am not 100% sure the icing was grease free, I know it wasn’t ruined.  My cookies turned out smooth and beautiful.  I lined a shirt box with tissue paper and cut a piece of wax paper to fit the bottom.  Then I gently placed each of the cookies in the box and tied it with ribbon.

Whenever I try something new, I know it won’t turn out perfectly.  Usually I am disappointed with the results even if friends or my husband compliment me.  This time I feel proud of my results.

We hand delivered the cookies to the hospital today.  I plan to make more for another friend’s baby shower next week.  Now that I have a better feel for royal icing, I think the next batch will turn out even better.

New Books May 13, 2008

For Mother’s Day my son and husband gave me several new cake and cupcake books.  I have been drooling over them and can’t wait to try a few things out.

I got:

• “Hello, Cupcake” by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  There are several really cute cupcakes designs I can’t wait to try.  I am also looking forward to trying their method of dipping cupcakes.  I love the smooth finish of many designs, but dislike fondant, so hopefully I will have success with their method.
• “Pretty Party Cakes” by Peggy Porschen.  She uses a lot of fondant and gumpaste so after my fondant class the first part of June I will be set.  I am planning to make the baby shower cookies later this week for our friends who have a scheduled induction on Friday.
• “The Cake Doctor” by Anne Byrn.  There are so many ways to improve a cake mix in this book that I want to try them all!  I am starting with the Carrot cake with Orange Cream Cheese frosting for a church potluck Sunday.

Before receiving my wonderful gifts, I browsed our library for cake decorating books.  The closest branch didn’t have much, but I did find “Collette’s Cakes” by Collette Peters and “Fun Cakes” by Ann Nicol.  I have so many new ideas and techniques to try and few places to take cakes!

I have 5 years before I hope to make a living at this, but after perusing several cake decorating blogs, I realize I have so much to learn.  It will take patience and practice, but I can get there.

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes May 11, 2008

I discovered the recipe for Cherry Limeade Cupcakes on Never Bashful with Butter.  I figured after my last two chocolate disasters, it was time to try something different. 

I am happy to say that these turned out awesome!  They were tasty and not too difficult to make.  These would be perfect to take to a summer picnic!

Chocolate Cake, second attempt May 5, 2008

I still want to make a great chocolate cake and since my friend Christie’s birthday was yesterday, I figured it would be a good time to try again.

Bad plan.

The recipe I chose sounded good, Decadent Chocolate Cake, from the Silver Palate Desserts Cookbook.  I read through the recipe and figured it seemed simple.  Then I realized that I had never actually had to beat egg whites “until stiff but not dry”. 

My only previous attempts at beating eggs whites I used my Kitchenaid and never got them more than foamy.  This time I used my hand mixer, and they definitely beat easily.  It was cool watching the transformation from clear sticky mess to a pure white puffy cloud-like texture.  I then was to gently fold this into my batter.

Just earlier in the day I had learned the proper way to fold in whites, and I was excited I knew how to do this “right”.  But the perfect egg whites seemed to have turned into a meringue consistency and I doubt my folding was gentle enough.

The next problem was the fact that I didn’t own a tube pan.  According to a couple cooking websites, it was fine to substitute a Bundt pan.  I poured the batter into the pan, stuck in the oven and waited.

20 minutes later, the house smelled like burned marshmallows.  I realized my pan wasn’t big enough for the cake and it was spilling over, I put a cookie sheet under the cake to prevent more spillage from causing a fire, but this caused my beautiful cake to collapse.  When the cake was finally done, it wasn’t pretty.  It had the texture of a bad case of acne, of course I was hoping once I flipped it, it would be OK.

Wrong!  Only half of the cake flipped out of the pan.  The other half I couldn’t even chisel out.  It tasted good, and it was moist, but there were these weird little beads throughout the cake, I suspect egg whites that didn’t get mixed in.

I may have added double the baking soda and none of the baking powder, but I can’t be sure.  The cake was such a disaster I didn’t even bother making the icing.  I’ll probably try again, but I’ll be borrowing a tube pan, making sure I get all the proper amounts of ingredients in the cake, and making sure I learn how to properly beat my eggs first.

I have been baking for several years, can turn out a decent loaf of bread, pan of brownies, or cheesecake any day of the week, but for some reason I am terrible with cakes.

Sugar Molds May 4, 2008

The use of sugar molds seems to be a common way cakes were decorated in the 60’s.  I don’t have molds, but I came across the recipe for use in the molds. 

It is pretty simple, 2 cups sugar to 4 teaspoons water.  You mix it together by hand until it is evenly mixed and the texture of wet sand.  You then pack it into a mold and allow to dry 5 hours.  If you are in a hurry you can put the filled mold in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes.

I am not sure if I’ll ever come across a reason to use this on a cake, but it doesn’t hurt to know how.  Besides, the panoramic eggs that used to be common at Easter are pretty cool and use this same technique.

In lieu of molds, I used cookie cutters.  I only used 1/2 c. sugar and 1 tsp. water at first but I ended up adding just a few more drops of water because I had trouble getting all the sugar damp.  This completely filled 2 cookie cutters, a star shape and a medium heart.  I allowed to air dry since I didn’t want to heat up my house using the oven.

Overall, my molds were not that successful.  Perhaps if I had brushed the cookie cutters with corn starch my shapes wouldn’t have broken once I tried to push them out.  I may not have used enough water either.  Parts of the hardened forms were very hard, in other places, the sugar just crumbled. 

If you are using molds, it is suggested that you brush the mold with cornstarch first to avoid sticking.  It is also suggested that if you use the mold for chocolate or candy melts, the sugar may scratch the mold and you will no longer have a smooth finish.

I saw another recipe that uses an egg white instead of the water.  This is supposed to make a stronger mold, although you probably shouldn’t eat this due to the possibility of salmonella.

I will be trying this again, using the egg white method, adding more water, and using the oven to dry out the forms.  We’ll see what happens.  I doubt I would use this method on a cake, but it could make pretty sugar cubes for a wedding or a shower. 

Sorry no pictures, I’m having trouble uploading again.

Chocolate Cake w/ Fudge Icing May 1, 2008

So, if I am serious about getting into the cake decorating business for a living, I can’t continue to make boxed mixes.  I love the boxed mixes because you just add water, oil, and eggs and the density, taste, and texture come out the same every time.  You don’t even have to think.  I even have a favorite brand and get compliments on the taste of every cake.

But, as my husband reminds me, most people will eat anything.  Set down a week old, dried gas station donut, and someone in the office will snarf it down and declare it tasty.  So, I got out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and decided to work my way through the cakes until I found one I liked.

First up was plain old chocolate cake.  It was easy to put together, and smelled great in the oven.  It broke a little when I turned it out of the pan.  It was crumbly but I did manage to ice it OK.  Next up was the taste test, it was pretty bland.  The only way you could tell it was chocolate was because it was brown.  Bummer.

The fudge icing was also from my Betty Crocker book.  It tasted exactly like the microwave fudge on the back of the cocoa container.  Not bad, but not great.  It spread easily, but my borders just slid off the cake.  I may or may not make it again.

My husband took the cake to work this morning, we’ll see what the verdict from the general public is later today.

I would share the recipes, but there has to be tastier recipes out there, so I won’t encourage more people to make these.