Fondant 101

Last week I finally got to take a class at my local cake supplies store. I've worked with fondant with zero knowledge on how to properly handle it. I typically made cut outs and let them "dry" which wasn't really stiff. Anyway, I'd attended some tastings and informational classes before and they kept saying "no, fondant doesn't taste awful if you know how to use it." Oh really? Fine, I signed up for the class... and made this:

We covered a cake (foam of course), made a bow and practiced cut outs.

It wasn't super easy but definitely easier than I thought it was going to be.

She even had these cool texture mats you rolled the fondant out onto so there was a patter on our bows.

We also learned what to use to flavor the fondant and how thin to roll it so it stays soft and almost melts into the buttercream frosting underneath. We tasted an almond fondant on a piece of pound cake and it was great: still soft, melted into the frosting underneath, delish!

I can't wait to try this on my own. I think I'll start small with a two layer, 6" cake. Or maybe even just the decorated discs on top of some cupcakes. Stay tuned!

Cakes!

I love decorating cakes. And I love when people ask me to decorate cakes. I've only taken one class on cakes and a few on other desserts (cookies, chocolates and cupcakes! Oh my!) so I don't feel SUPER confident with cakes but I definitely feel better with each cake. 

This one is a wedding cake I made for a family friend. White cake (did you know you can't use yolks in the cake batter to get a cake super white?) with white frosting and purple scrolling. She topped it with flowers from the bouquets. Pretty!

This one was for a birthday at a baby shower so the colors matched the baby shower theme. Green and brown was a little odd... all I could think of was branches... but scrolling is always pretty lol. It's a safe go to.

And I threw this one in for good measure. I made it for my grandma's birthday. It's the cupcake pan decorated as a flower covered cupcake. I made the purple flowers out of royal icing a few days before. 

Too cute right?

Anniversary Cake and Frosting Images

I had the honor of making a 25th wedding anniversary cake for a coworker of mine. It was a surprise too so it was that much better!

I'be always liked images on cakes. Yes, it's kinda cheesy but who doesn't love eating someone's eye, nose or ear? The kids especially always want a "part" of someone!

So I got a hold of this beautiful pic from their wedding album, very sneaky like, and took it in to have a rice paper made. When I got there the clerk told me they make the images on a "fondant type frosting" sheet that has much better resolution than rice paper.

Of course I went with the frosting sheet and it was beautiful! (I apologize for the pics I have posted. At the time they didn't seem to dark, then again it was 11pm!) Until I had to put it on the cake... it was almost stretchy when I removed it from the sheet it was adhered to. It gave me a panic attack and tore just between their heads. Luckly that part was black and any little white that showed through I tapped with a toothpick dipped in black food coloring.

Crisis averted.

Anyway, I'll have to research how to better apply this type of decoration because it really was beautiful. Just like the couple!!

Happy Anniversary Dan and Vikki! 

Devil's Food Cake

Well, it's been a while. I was without a computer for... what seemed like forever. I sold my laptop and got an iPad, which I do love, but you can't upload photos to it.

Finally, today our HUGE iMac showed up and I can finally post this awesome cake I made for my Aunt's birthday!

I decided to make a chocolate cake from scratch, which is terrifying by the way, so I pulled out my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book and picked the devil's food cake. YUM!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 room temp eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together the hot water and cocoa in one bowl and set aside. Whisk together the flour, soda, powder and salt in another bowl and set aside.

2. Over medium heat, melt butter and stir in sugar. Pour into an electric mixer and mix on a medium setting for about 4 minutes, until cooled.

3. Add eggs one at a time to mixer. Add vanilla and cocoa mixture until well combined.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mix and sour cream in small batches until all is combined.

5. Grease and flour your pans (I used 2-8" pans and had enough batter to make about 6 cupcakes as well). Fill about half way with batter and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Look at those perfectly domed tops! Amazing Martha, amazing!

 After fretting about the cake I went the easy route with canned frosting for between the layers and the sides of the cake. Lick spatula when done.

Here are the cute cupcakes I made. They never made it to Halloween though.

And the cake! I frosted between the layers and the sides with the chocolate frosting. Then I used my vanilla frosting recipe to star the top and the bottom border. My camera didn't quite capture the burgundy pink color of the frosting.

So here is a much better pic taken from Cousin Kelly!

And in case you were wondering, the cake was amazingly moist I was really surprised. I'm all for box mixes especially for the typical flavors. With the right brand you can get a great moist cake every time. For more special and exotic cake flavors a scratch recipe is a must but this chocolate cake blows all box mixes out of the water!

Enjoy!

25th Anniversary!

So this is pretty similar to a previous post except for the colors and occasion. 

It was my BF's parent's 25th wedding anniversary and I was asked to make the cake with purple and silver accents. 

I started by making some purple fondant flowers and dusting them with silver luster dust. Perty! 

And I found this really pretty and simple topper (silver!) and surrounded it with more flowers and leaves. 

So it's quite pretty isn't it? Well I'm not done yet!

I tinted the cake purple too! Too cute! 

Love it! 

Cookies and Cakes OH MY!

The other weekend I had a baking blitz!! I wanted to make some cookies for my little brother's baseball team... which turned into trying a few other cookie shapes. Then my stepmom called and asked if I could bring a cake to the event to celebrate the team and grandpa's birthday... sure! More baking!

First I want to share one of my fav cookie books...

It has cute ideas and great tips and quick and easy decorating methods... Plus... they have a website The Decorated Cookie. Check it out! 

So first, baseball cookies... 

I took half baseballs and half trophies with their name on it... since they did come in first place in the regular season!! 

Then the cake was a must... can't show up without cake!

The color didn't come out great in this photo... the red is a lot more red and the green is... greener! Anyway, it was yellow cake with vanilla frosting. Some simple candles (since it was really hard to write on the grass! I did try though!)

Then the extras. I had some extra dough so I thought I'd play with some ideas... here are the ones I liked!

4th of July is coming!

Pretty summer flowers! 

These were too cute but I couldn't get my green more lime like... 

Now that my hand had recovered from all the decorating and piping... I need to get a few more vibrant colors... I like the black piping on the cookies but I don't like the white on the flowers. Next time I'll outline in the same color as the cookie will be. 

And as always... I need better lighting in my apartment!!!!!! 

My Fav Frosting Recipe Ever

It's been a rough week. I was sick. Then my BF got sick. Then, we had a death in the family. I was asked to make the cake for the funeral luncheon and since he was not very religious and an avid astronomer, I decided to go with a stary night sky theme. With one night to make it, I think it turned out pretty cute. And tasty!

The stars are made of premade fondant. I've always wanted to try to make my own but this was not the time!

And one of my fav tricks for a quick trick to add a little color to cake it the spray food coloring. Perfect for a sky...

I have these in all the colors!

Anyway, my no fail frosting is an easy one! It's non dairy, doesn't get too crusty, is sweet but not too sugary and won't melt in direct sunlight!!!

Try it out and let me know what you think! Add some different flavored extracts and mix it up... I'm thinking of doing blueberry next on some sugar cookies!

Step 1:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups dry non dairy creamer (like Coffeemate)

The night before, boil the water then add the non dairy creamer. Stir until well dissolved. Put in a container and chill at least 6 hours. I chill overnight.

Step 2:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of pre-made creamer mixture

1 pound white margarine

2 cups Crisco

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 pounds powdered sugar

In a mixer, cream together the margarine, crisco and extracts. Once combined, add in the powdered sugar and creamer mixture slowly, alternating between the two.

Mix on a medium speed for about five minutes until light, fluffy and well mixed. Scrape down sides to make sure all powdered sugar gets combined.

This makes enough frosting to cover a half sheet cake, do a top and bottom border and writing. I frost generously.

Also, this can be kept for two weeks in an air tight container on the counter or fridge. It can also be frozen for about six months. Just put in the mixer for a few minutes to liven it up if you choose to do either. I do it regularly so that I always have a lil frosting for cookies, a cupcake or even graham crackers!!