M&M Cake

Here's just a quick post. I actually made this cake months ago and forgot to post it! You've probably seen lots of cakes decorated with M&Ms online as it seems to be a trend. I thought it would be a fun, casual way to decorate a cake and didn't want to be too fussy with my design. As you can see, my pattern is a little random. You could definitely be more exact with your design - making the side stripes line up with the top or make them go around the outside horizontally or create more obvious circle or flower patterns, etc.

FYI - all those M&Ms make it a little more difficult to stick the candles in a birthday cake!

Ocean-Themed Cake

I had a request for an ocean/beach birthday cake for an adult. I knew I wanted something a little more sophisticated than most of the beach cakes that you see so decided to keep the color scheme simple and natural. I also wanted a nice balance of decorative elements. So many cakes look like the decorator just piled on fondant or chocolate decorations until they couldn't fit any more. What's that rule in fashion - get all dressed up and then take off two accessories? Something like that applies to cakes, too, I think.

I promise I will post the recipe for the actual cake soon! However, I was most excited about making the candy "sea glass", shells (white candy melts poured into molds and decorated with dark chocolate accents) and "sand" (Nilla wafers pulsed in the food processor).

I got the sea glass idea from here (another awesome Pinterest find!):
http://thekidcancook.blogspot.com/2011/05/cooking-up-party-sea-glass-candy.html

The technique is pretty easy but it takes a long time and you ABSOLUTELY need a candy (or digital cooking) thermometer.

Overall, the cake turned out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned with minimal drama! Yay!

Fall Spice Quick Bread

I know it sounds weird, but here's the deal. We get lots of potatoes with our CSA farm share. We only eat potatoes in small amounts (usually mixed in with sweet potatoes, beets, carrots and other roasted veggies) so I've been struggling to keep up with the supply. I searched the web for potato-based cakes and found very little (although there is a recipe for candy made from potatoes...intriguing). However, there are LOTS of sweet potato bread recipes out there. So, I figured regular potatoes should work, right?

The bread came out very moist and plenty sweet (I thought about increasing the amount of sugar since the original uses SWEET potatoes, but it wasn't necessary). You don't taste the potatoes, just the cinnamon and nutmeg with a hint of citrus. Feel free to add nuts or dried fruit; I didn't have any handy but maybe next time. The turbinado sugar sprinkled on top before baking gives the bread a great crunchy top.

Here is the original recipe that I adapted:

http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/southern-sweet-potato-bread-with-pecans/detail.aspx

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour



• 2 tsp baking powder



• 1/4 tsp salt



• 1 tsp cinnamon



• 1/2 tsp nutmeg



• 1 cup sugar



• 2 eggs



• 1/2 cup vegetable oil



• 2 tablespoons milk



• 1/2 tsp orange zest



• 1 tsp vanilla extract



• 1 cup cooked and mashed potatoes


• turbinado sugar (for sprinkling on top)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray loaf pan with baking spray or grease with butter.



2. Mix first six ingredients (dry) in a large mixing bowl, whisk to make sure thoroughly combined.



3. Combine the rest of the ingredients, except potatoes and turbinado sugar, in another bowl. As always, make sure eggs and milk are room temp.



4. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until ALMOST all combined. There may be a few pockets of dry stuff - that's okay at this point.



5. Add mashed potatoes and stir until just combined (lumps are okay but no pockets of dry stuff).



6. Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top (I use a pretty liberal dose)



7. Bake until tester/toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean (no crumbs or smears) - about an hour.

Donkey Kong Cake

Earlier this summer I made a Donkey Kong birthday cake for my brother-in-law's 30th birthday. I was fairly happy with the way it came out, but I should have made all of the figures smaller. Once I had made Mario so large, I realized that meant that Kong had to be HUGE! Oh, well. I also think Mario looks a little more like Warrio.

It was good practice for modeling figures in fondant, anyway, and I'm told the cake was delicious.

Painted Cakes

I've been practicing some fondant techniques and trying out some new ones. I've been wanting to try painting on fondant and to see if I can translate my painting style to fondant. This birdy and flowers looks a little more tropical than I had wanted and also looks a little like a tattoo. Overall, I'm happy with it.

Here is another view - you can see the ribbon at the bottom in this one.

Extreme birdy close-up!

Here is the other cake I decorated. Same basic color scheme but a really different style. This one is a little more whimsical and maybe more fitting for a teen or child.

I combined fondant cut-outs and painting with this one. Below is a pic of both of them together.

Fondant Bear Tutorial

Did you know that there are Rules of Cuteness? Okay, I like to think of them as guidelines but you can check out some of them here: http://cuteoverload.com/tag/the-rules-of-cuteness/ Still with me? I hope you didn't get too distracted by all the cuteness! Here is a step-by-step tutorial on making a cute little fondant bear. You will need:

• Dark Brown Fondant


• Light Brown Fondant (small amount for ears, paws, tummy)


• White Fondant (small amount for eyes)


• Black Fondant or Food-Safe Black Marker (to make eye pupils)


• Small amount of water and a paintbrush


• Toothpick or paring knife

Step 1: Take a little less than half of the brown fondant and roll into a ball. Make it slightly wider than it is tall. Make two little balls for ears. Remember - small ears are cute!

Step 2:

To attach ears (or anything), dip paintbrush in water and then wipe almost all water off the brush. Dab a tiny amount of water onto fondant surface and stick ears on. Roll out a small ball of light brown for the muzzle. Tap with finger to flatten or use a smooth jar to roll out. Attach with water.

Step 3:

Flatten two tiny light brown balls for the inside of the ears and attach with water. Roll tiny amount of black fondant and squish on for a nose. Take tip of a knife or a toothpick and make the mouth. See how my mouth is lop-sided and close to the nose? Cute!

Step 4:

Roll two small balls for the eyes and flatten them. Place them wide apart for maximum cuteness. You also want them fairly large in proportion to the rest of the face so play around a bit until you're happy with them.

Step 5:

Flatten two balls of black for the pupils and attach them. I decided to make my bear a little more smiley, too. The head is done!

Step 6:

For the body, roll out a brown ball that is slightly smaller than the head and taller than it is wide. You will also need a small amount of light brown fondant for the tummy part.

Step 7:

Flatten the light brown ball (a rolling device does come in handy here) and attach to the torso with water.

Step 8:

Roll four balls for the limbs. Here's a tip for making balls of the same size: take one ball of fondant and break in half then break those in half. It's more accurate than trying to break one ball into four equal parts.

Step 9:

Squish you balls into elongated jelly bean shapes. Don't make them too long and skinny, though, because...yes, stubby arms and legs are cute!

Step 10:

Attach legs and arms with small amount of water. Don't be afraid to really squish them on. You might end up with little wrinkles but that's okay, in this case. It is NOT cute when your bear's leg falls off!

Step 11:

Make 4 small light brown balls for paws. Flatten slightly and attach.

Step 12:

Attach the head using a little water again. You may want to support him against something while he dries. Or, if you're worried that the head will fall off, you could put a toothpick through the body for support and then stick the head on that.

L'il Bear with a Kite

I made this cake for one of my sister's co-workers who just had a baby boy. I've really wanted to make a cake with a kite this spring and thought the cute little bear cub would be perfect for celebrating a new baby boy. I could have gotten my buttercream a little smoother and my piped chocolate "string" could be more even (a hazard of piping at 11pm, I think), but overall I'm very happy with the design. The kite, the grass, the bear, and the clouds are all fondant, in case anyone was wondering.

I'll post a tutorial for the bear in the next couple days! Happy Spring!

Bluebird of Happiness

Ly at Sweets Bakeshop showed me how to make this sweet little bird. Cute, isn't he? This is the top of my mom's birthday cake. I made an orange and grapfruit cake with the same flavor buttercream. It was delicious and a nice flavor for spring.

Sweets Bakeshop Externship

Hello again! I thought I'd write up a little post about my externship experience. I'm about half way through my externship at Sweets Bakeshop in St. Paul (they have a shop in Minneapolis now, too!)

You can check out their website here: www.sweetsbakeshop.com

Last week I had the opportunity to help with this awesome cake that won first place in the Czar of Cakes competition at the Food & Wine Experience. Pretty cool, right? The challenge was to make a food and wine themed cake that showcased a pan from Nordic Ware. Ly, one of the owners at Sweets and the lead decorator, came up with this great decorative urn design using a turkey pan. We must have baked eight or nine turkeys in order to get as much perfect detail as we could! I think I cut out a million fondant leaves. It was a great experience! A lot of work but it's all worth it when you see the final result.

Sweets is known for their French macarons. Not too many places in the Twin Cities have them, although they are growing in popularity. The fan favorite is Salted Caramel (not pictured, as I ate it before I got around to taking photos).

The retail shop also features ten flavors of gourmet cupcakes each day. Everyone asks me what my favorite flavor is but it changes all the time! I do love the peanut butter cup (moist chocolate cake and pb buttercream) but I also enjoy the Kettle corn (a dense cornmeal cake with a carmelized top and honey buttercream). Or maybe it's the Pucker Up (Bright, tart lemon buttercream and a raspberry-filled cake). See? Luckily, I don't have to choose.

Everyone is super friendly, and I've had the opportunity to work on lots of different projects. I'm learning a ton about running a small business. I know it will help me tremendously when I eventually open my own place!

What a Hoot!

I made this cake for a baby shower several weeks ago (maybe even a month now). The cake is a chocolate cake, using this recipe from Hersheys website:

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/184/HERSHEY

The frosting is my go-to Swiss buttercream recipe (12 oz sugar, 8 oz egg whites, 16 oz butter, flavoring) and a chocolate ganache (chocolate and cream, cooled and whipped) for the branches and border.

My Wedding Cake

Nope - I haven't gotten married! This is my wedding cake from our Advanced Cake Techniques class. We had to do a mock cake (styrofoam covered in fondant and decorated) of at least three tiers and then an 8 inch tasting cake. I decided to do a winter nature theme. The birds and flowers above were on the top tier. Birds, flowers, and leaves are all made from gumpaste and painted.

Above is a detail that shows the embossing I did (using clear plastic, flexy stamps I got from Michaels) and the brushed embroidery piping I did on the bottom tier.

Here is the "tasting cake" - I did a coconut cake with vanilla bean pastry cream and tangerine curd between the layers. The frosting underneath the fondant is just vanilla buttercream. The sparkle on the edges is a product called edible glitter - it's basically a type of gum or gelatin and has no flavor.

Here's a photo of the whole cake. The silver birch branches are made out of pastillage (basically a play dough type substance made from sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, and sugar) that was formed, dried and then painted with a cocoa butter paint.

It was fun (and nerve-wracking to work on such a big product). The most time-consuming part was making all the flowers and painting them with silver.

Cakes from Class

Sorry I haven't had any recipes or projects lately. This is just another quick post of some of the things I've been doing in my class this term.

Above is a Black Forest Torte - cherry filling, chocolate genoise cake, whipped creme frosting, and a cool chocolate mosaic garnish on the sides.


Above is a vanilla genoise with lemon swiss buttercream frosting, filling is lemon and raspberry. We made this for our first practical exam and had to practice piping a shell border.

The one above is a banana cake with milk chocolate ganache frosting and marzipan decorations.

I bet you know what this one is (the marzipan carrots are a clue) - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!

This last one is a caramel mocha genoise cake with salted caramel cream cheese frosting as the filling. Yum!

Brown Butter Rhubarb Cake

I was lucky enough to be able to stop by the farmers market on Nicollet Mall last Thursday. Normally, I'm in class but we had our summer break last week. I didn't think that I would be able to because I had training for work that day - but we got out early! Yay! I was also able to stop by the Friends of the Library book store (got some old cooking magazines) so it was pretty awesome, overall.

Anywho, I bet you're wondering about this delicious cake, right? I found one seller who still had some rhubarb and snatched some up. I thought rhubarb season was over and was resigned to waiting another year.

Since this might be it for an entire year, I was anxious to pick just the right rhubarb recipe. Well, this one doesn't disappoint! It's got the delicious nutty brown butter, the tart and tangy rhubarb, and just enough sweetness! The only change I made was to toss the rhubarb with some brown sugar and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top before baking. Make sure to really whip those eggs or you're cake won't rise as much as it should.

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Emily Kuross and her blog:

http://www.fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/brown-butter-rhubarb-cake/

Racecar Cake & Working with Marshmallow Fondant

A friend of mine requested a race car cake for her sons' birthday party. I knew that I wanted to make fondant-covered cars because piped frosting just wouldn't look right (cars are smooth, not bumpy!) At first I thought about buying Duff's new fondant (because it tastes good, unlike the Wilton kind) but it's twenty bucks at Michaels - not in my budget. So, I knew you could make a good-tasting fondant out of marshmallows but wasn't sure how to go about doing it. Luckily, there are several awesomely detailed tutorials on the web. Here is the one I used:

http://cakecentral.com/articles/105/mmf-how-to-decorate-cake-marshmallow-fondant

You DEFINITELY need a stand mixer, preferably one with a dough hook attachment, to make this fondant. I had no problems making or using the fondant, though. It worked just as well as promised! It was actually a little more pliable than regular fondant, which helped prevent cracks.

I carved the cars out of rice krispie treats (you just compress the mixture to make it really dense for carving) because cake can be really heavy. I knew that I was going to place the cars on two round cakes (a figure eight "racetrack") and didn't want them to sink or be unstable.

There are several things I would add if I had more time. I should have taken the extra few minutes to add racing stripes, like I had planned. I would definitely have preferred to have more details on the cars, but overall I think they look pretty good for my first try at fondant-covered rice krispie treats.

I would have liked to have made the cake base bigger, too, but have such limited space to work in. These were already 16" rounds. I also needed to make sure that it fit in the car for delivery!

Overall, I'm not completely happy with it but I certainly learned a lot!