Cakes by Kelsie

Some Changes and Updates...

2008-08-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

First and foremost (it is the most obvious) is this new adorable layout from Gisele Jaquenod. Her layouts and designs are so cute, aren't they? (She made the CakeJournal design. Oh, and CakeJournal is a snazzy place to visit, too. Louise is quite talented!) If you like her work enough, you could try entering her contest (like me! :-P). The "tea and cookies" mug is my favorite... I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I love tea AND cookies. It's fate. =D

So let's move on to some cake-related sugary goodness. I bought some new cake pans with my birthday money. The good stuff. The my-cakes-might-actually-turn-out-nice kind of pans. :) Yay! (I bought some round 10" cake boards, too.) But the cake pans. I am soooo looking forward to puttin' some batter in those babies!

Unfortunately, I don't have an excuse to use my pretty new pans until my dad's birthday in October! (Hillary and Adam both want rectangular cakes, and I have no idea what my mom wants.) That's a long time to wait... I'll have to come up with a cake idea before then.

(Actually, I thought up a Jonas Brothers cake, but I really don't have a good enough excuse to make it... yet.)

I got a lot of awesome gifts for my birthday involving food/baking/kitchenware. My grandparents gave me cookie cutters, a digital kitchen scale (I can't even tell you how long I've been asking to have our ancient (antique) scale replaced), and a rectangular cake container (yes, the one with the cupcake tray!) I also recieved, from LeAnne's family, an oven mitt that said "A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is delirious." =D (I try, I really do, but, you know...)

I really want to make some cupcakes, too, so that I can carry them around in my snazzy container. Well, bake sales are coming up soon in school (I think there is one next Tuesday...) so I'll have to make some then. Cupcakes are also a good excuse to use up any extra icing. (Which I plan on doing, since I have about a cup or two of that purple icing, plus some green icing in the freezer.)

Although I've got no baking in my immediate future, I am looking forward for that moment when I can take advantage of a cake-making situation and get some bakin' and decoratin' done! :)

How to make Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant

2008-08-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Follow Peggy W.'s Instructions.
After you melt the marshmallows, melt 4 oz. baking chocolate according to the box, and add to the marshmallow mixture before adding the sugar.
Continue following Peggy W.'s Instructions.

I'm not sure if it's because of the added chocolate, or becomes I'm incompetent, or what, but my fondant was really dry. So take it easy on the powdered sugar just in case.

Here are two other (different) recipes (And they are actual, real recipes, not "Kelsie just decided to throw some chocolate in there and see what happens"):

On an only slightly unrelated note, this recipe looks super yummy! Homemade Chocolate Marshmallows @ Cake on the Brain
(Which is, by the way, a really cool blog. The Ariel Castle Cake was gorgeous!)

The Cake Fit For Royalty

2008-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Wow :) This cake was amazing! I know that I'm not the best cake decorator, and that I make mistakes, but I can't believe how this cake turned out! I mean, the icing was smooth, the color was great, the fondant didn't melt and was the right consistency, and the cake didn't fall apart!

I think the best part, though, is that it followed my vision. I love it when cakes do that! :)

Before I launch into all the technical aspects of this cake, I would just like to show (because pictures say a 1,000 words and all that) how much work went into that purple:

That's a lotta toothpicks! I mostly used the violet and burgundy colors, but I also used Royal blue so that it wouldn't be so pinkish. At first, I thought that the color wasn't dark enough, but of course, buttercream color darkens as it crusts, so that worked out nicely for me.

After I iced the cake (crumb coat first) and did that wonderful Viva thing, I used my handy-dandy garland marker and marked out 8 divisions in the cake, with more toothpicks. After that, I made myself some fondant swags.

I couldn't've done it without the wonderfully talented people over at CakeCentral. Not only did I learn how to make the swags, but I also felt confidant that the swags would stick to buttercream icing (thankfully!).

I wasn't sure if the MMF and gumpaste mix would be tasty, but when my grandma tried some, she said that it tasted like marshmallows. So, I think that worked out. The swags and pearls were made out of the same GP/MMF mixture, about 50/50.

After I stuck the swags and pearls on there (using toothpicks for the swags for added support), I dug out the imitation brandy extract that we've never used and the Pearl Dust that I bought at Michael's (Yay, Michael's!) and proceeded to paint the fondant a nice pearly color. The effect was gorgeous, in my humble and completely un-biased opinion. =P

My fondant (and in general, cake) skills have come a long way in a year, haven't they?

Happy Birthday to me :)

The Importance of Being Flat

2008-08-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

A flat cake is a good cake. A cake that doesn't fall apart on you. A cake that doesn't make you cry. A cake that is easier to decorate. A cake in which all of the dowels that you make can be cut to the exact same size.

That being said, here are some pointers that I've picked up along the way to ensure flatness:

Bake the cake at a lower temperature [like 325 F]. But make sure that you actually cook the cake longer, so that it's actually done. And doesn't fall apart on you and make you cry.
Make sure your oven is flat. Ha, I wish.
Don't grease the sides of the pan. I don't know why this works, but it does. Just run a knife around the side(s) of the pan before you pop it out.
I grease and flour the bottoms of my pans. Some people use Wilton Cake-Release. Some people make their own. There are various "recipes" that involve flour, shortening, and vegetable oil.
Some people also use bake-even strips, which I've heard are very useful, although I've never used them myself. I went to Michael's today-- why didn't I buy some?!
Use a Wilton flower nail (all greased up, please!) in the center of your cake to prevent humps.
Before you put the cake pan in the oven, tap in against the counter (don't get little cake splatters everywhere though!) to get rid of the bubbles.
Don't overbeat the batter. You don't need to get rid of every tiny little lump in the batter. As the great chef Alton Brown once (or twice) said "Walk away. Just walk away."
Get a nice pan. One that's got nice 90" angles between the side and the bottom of the pan. (This Wilton pan is much better than this Wilton pan that I owe.)

So, I wish you the best of luck with your flat cakes! And I wish myself the best luck as well. Because I don't have nice pans and a flat oven. :-( But I'll work with what I have and I'll do my best. For now, that's all I can ask for. (But I've got a long shopping list, too...)

(So I've never actually read The Importance of Being Ernest, but I thought that this would make a good blog post title, and plus, the book is on my reading list for my English IV class so I'll eventually read it.)

Happy 21st, Katye!

2008-08-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

'Bout time I posted again! I made that Margarita cake days ago and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. Well, I guess school did get the in way; that first week back is a doozy. No excuses though, but I'm here now and I'm ready to talk some cake.

And what a cake this is! I felt so honored that I was asked to make Katye's cake for her 21st birthday. It was really cool of LeAnne and Aunt Juli to ask me. I hope that the cake was good enough for such an important celebration. Although, I think that it's safe to say that it was, because everyone did say that they loved it. (And I did get a request for a November birthday cake too!)

The cake is a white cake with an extender recipe. So there's more cake batter than a regular cake box. (You know what's lame? Wal-Mart sells low-fat yogurt in 8oz containers but Publix sells theirs in 6ox containers, so if I go to Publix, I need to buy 2 containers and I have leftover yogurt. And no one eats plain yogurt at my house.) I also (because I have problems with humps in my cakes and my small 1.5" pans) divided up the batter into fourths so that I have four small-ish layers that were less humpy-ish. As in flatter. If that makes any sense.

The icing is just regular ol' buttercream. If by "regular ol" I mean deliciously sweet. ;-) The decorations are all marshmallow fondant colored various shades of pink and green. (Which also happen to be Katye's favorite colors.)

This cake was my inspiration (as you can see here). The pink margarita glass was supplied by LeAnne. I didn't know that it was going to be pink, but I think that's really cool. It tied in with the theme nicely! Inside the glass (which is actually plastic; a good thing because glass would've been too heavy for the cake to support) is lime Jell-O that I beat up with a fork. Did you know that they make a margarita flavored Jell-O? Me neither. Before I put the Jell-O in the glass, though, I put piping gel around the rim and then covered that with green sugar sprinkles... the margarita "salt."

Speaking of theme, did you see the tablecloth? You know the best part about it is that LeAnne made it specifically for Katye's birthday. She called it a prototype but I think that she did a great job and she's really talented. Anyway, I know that's not really cake-related, but the tablecloth is really awesome, so I wanted to share that. :)

The cake was actually set up at their house, because I was afraid of it all falling apart during transportation. Can you believe that it took 4 of us to make sure that the cake arrived safely? I was afraid enough that the icing was going to melt in the August heat. Thankfully, it didn't! So once we got there, I put on the the glass and the fondant roses & leaves (with the help of some extra icing). And the "21" candle, of course!

And so that was the cake that I made for Katye's 21st birthday party. I hope that she has a fantastic year ahead of her and that she enjoyed her party!

Margaritaville

2008-07-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

So you would think that because I'm fairly good at making cakes, that I would be a pretty proficient artist with marker and paper, but apparently I can't draw as well as I can ice and frost! :)

This is the cake idea that I have for my brother's best friend's older sister. The idea from this cake comes from a variety of sources: different cakes found online, her mom's ideas, my own thoughts. It's a mix of a lot of different concepts rolled into one really cool cake.

Here's the background: my brother's friend's sister turns 21 next week, although she's celebrating this weekend. Her mom asked me to make the cake, so I e-mailed her some pictures that I found online to give her ideas. She saw this cake and wanted it more margarita themed-- and that's what you see in the drawing above!

I promise that the cake that I see in my head is much nicer looking that what I attempted to draw, but I'm hoping that it conveys what I want the cake to look like.

The Unity of Opposites Cake

2008-07-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

This cake was made for my baby sister's birthday. Okay, so she's not really a baby anymore; in fact, she's turning 13 in less than a week (we celebrated early). But she's still my youngest sister and I still love her oodles, even if she is getting old. :-P

Maggie has such a unique and amazing personality. So I think that the theme of "yin and yang" fits her perfectly. Plus, she came up with the idea herself, so I think that definitely says something of the appropriateness of this cake. Not only did she come up with the idea, but the execution of the cake as well.

One word: ganache! Ganache, ganache, ganache; that's all she wanted. And who can blame her? That super chocolate cake that I made for my dad was delicious! So, honoring the birthday girl's wishes, I made ganache! And boy, did that ganache give me problems. Maybe because it's July? Or maybe because I didn't have a buttercream base coat this time? I bet that's it.

You see, I make a pretty thick ganache recipe, so I figured that I could skip the base buttercream layer. Unfortunately, I don't think that I waited long enough for the newly-made ganache (isn't that such a cool word?) to cool, and when I spread it all over the cake, it just kind of drooped. And I couldn't get the ganche to adequately (my new favorite word) cover the space made between the two layers (because of my cake pan woes, but more about those later!). So, frustrated, I just stuck the cake in the fridge for a while and went to cool off myself.

When I came back to the cake, it was much easier to spread the ganache around as icing, so I'm inclined to think that it was just too warm. I used the left-over ganache that hadn't made it on the cake the first go-round, and covered up any holes that I had and smoothed everything over.

As you can tell by the picture, it's not completely smooth. Oh well, that's something I need to work on. Can you tell that the white buttercream isn't smooth either? Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But to my critical eyes, that's unacceptable. To the eyes of the "laity" though, the cake was perfect. At least, that's what everyone (especially Maggie) kept saying.

Overall, I really think that this was a wonderful, chocolately cake and I know that I couldn't have done any better because Maggie really loved it, and when you get down to it, the only opinion that matters is that of the birthday girl (or boy).

Fantastic Cake Idea For My Fantastic 17th Birthday

2008-07-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

So while I was sitting all by myself at the Wound Center Reception Desk at the Hospital, waiting to greet patients, and feeling just a tad bit bored, I found myself some scrap paper and started doodling cake ideas.

Well, I came up with some interesting ideas: how to decorate Maggie's cake (her party is this Saturday); some ideas for Adam's Yoda cake, which he keep changing his mind about; and will probably continue to change before September; a boring 17th birthday cake idea; and then it hit me.

BAM! I know EXACTLY how I'm going to decorate my cake. Oh, it's going to gorgeous, I just know it! I know that it has to be gorgeous, because I remembered to spell gorgeous with an "e" this time without the spell checker-- that must be a good sign!

So... it's going to be a round 9" in cake, covered in buttercream with fondant accents. The buttercream will be colored dark purple. --Just like that. And the fondant will all be white (which means I will have to make some more fondant until I want to use the icky tasting pre-made stuff). So, fondant accents, right. Pearls. Lots and lots of little fondant pearls along the bottom border of the cake-- and covered with some pretty sparkly stuff to make them look like, ya know, pearls. Maybe some, oh, I don't know, pearl dust?

And then, along the top border of the cake, have some fabric-ruffle like stuff, also made of pearly fondant. If you click on the pearl dust link, then you'll see a picture of a cake that has the kind of border I'm talking about-- but white, and prettier. ;-)

And the top of the cake will say "Happy 17th Birthday Kelsie!" (of course) and along the sides of the top of the cake will be 17 white birthday candles that I get to blow out. :-) For my 11th birthday, I had pink, purple, and white candles that were sparkly... I wonder if I could find some sparkly white birthday candles? Hmmm...

Okay, so anyway, my cake is going to fantabulously gorgeous. No doubt about it.

And, despite the fact that school starts 6 days before my birthday (did you hear that? That was the sound of me groaning in protest), I will NOT procrastinate on this cake, and it will NOT lean like last year's cake.

Oh, I'm so excited! And this Saturday is my baby sister's 13th birthday party. She's growing up... But she came up with a pretty cool cake idea for her party, which I will implement in a few days, take lots of pictures of, and blog about. Oh, and eat it. Duh. So you have that to look forward to, as well! I love August/September/October! So many birthdays, so many cakes...

Cake Art Party Store!!

2008-07-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

Raise the roof! We're having a cake party!

Okay, seriously, I had one of the best dental appointments ever this past week. And not just because I didn't have any cavities, either.

But because my dentist, the same dentist that my parents and grandparents have been going to for over 30 years, is located in Tucker, Georgia. And do you know what else is in Tucker, Georgia? The Cake Art Party Store! Whooo!

To think, all those years that I had been going to Dr. Grenade, just a hop skip and a jump away, was cake decorating heaven.

They had anything and everything: cake boxes sold by the hundreds (only $40 per case!), gum paste cutters, a large and fancy selection of rolling pins, plastic cake toppers, gumpaste and fondant classes, cake pans made of every material and in every shape and size (lots of sizes!), an entire wall of tips, projectors, air brush supplies, party supplies, candy making stuff, flavorings, and anything and everything else you and I could think of.

This trip, we bought 10 cake boxes, 6 cake boards (although my mom promised that from now on, she could make my cake boxes out of cardboard scraps), 8 candles (for advent-- they have purple candles!), and Spongebob cupcake liners. But when we go back, I will have a really, really long list and have more than half an hour to shop. Talk about partying! ;-)

Do You Like Blueberry Pie?

2008-07-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

We're so blessed that we have a bunch of blueberry bushes in our backyard (ha ha, alliteration!), with as many ripe delicious berries as we can eat in the summer months. Of course, aside from being eaten right off the bush, or used for breakfast in a variety of ways, blueberries have a particularly wonderful use of making great pies.

So that's what I did tonight. This morning, mom picked blueberries; this evening, I made a pie.

The recipe is titled " So Easy Blueberry Pie," and the title does not lie, my friends. This pie was a breeze to make, and only has 5 ingredients. The recipe comes from a little booklet called " A Taste of Blueberries" that the previous owners of our house gave to us and that my mom has cooked with for thirteen years.

So Easy Blueberry Pie

Baked 9" Pie Crust (I like the deep dish)
3 Cups of Blueberries, Plus 1 Cup
2/3 Cups of Water
1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
3 heaping Tablespoons of Corn Starch
Optional: Spices (Cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, ginger, mace, nutmeg, fresh cilantro or mint or basil, vanilla or almond extract)

Place 3 cups of blueberries in the pie shell (which is already baked) and set aside.
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, cornstarch, and 1 cup of blueberries for glaze. Add any spices at this time: I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.)
Cook until thick, stirring frequently; approximately 10 to 12 minutes. (Although the recipe does not specifically say, I had the stove turned to medium heat. Oh, and don't look away because the glaze thickens up before you know it! Trust me.)
If you are going to add extract (for example, a touch of vanilla extract), stir it in now, so that the flavor doesn't cook out.
Pour glaze over berries in the pie crust, cool, and refrigerate.
Serve with whipped cream and a few berries on top.

A note about the pie crust: if you use a "deep dish" pie crust, then use 4 total cups of blueberries; but if you use a pie crust of regular deepness, use 3 total cups of blueberries. Trial and error for ya!

More Blueberry information can be found at this website: Produce Pete.

The Lemon Equivilant of A To-Die-For Dessert! ;-)

2008-07-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

Lemon Crumb Bars

1 (18.25 ounce) box lemon or yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
2 cups finely crushed saltine crackers (1/4 pound)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup ReaLemon Lemon Juice from concentrate

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. In large bowl, beat cake mix, margarine and 1 egg with mixer until crumbly. Stir in saltine crumbs. Reserving 2 cups crumb mixture, press remaining crumbs on bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake 20 minutes. With mixer or wire whisk, beat 3 egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Spread over prepared crust. Top with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until set. Cool. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.

Once again, recipe from recipegoldmine.com.

My mom is not a huge dessert fan, but she loved these treats! (I know they are techniquely "bars" but I prefer the term "cookies." That's just how I roll.) And the part that took the longest was probably crushing up all of those saltine crackers. It was worth it, though.

My advice to you is to use one of those pastry cutters to mix up the cake mix/egg/butter mixture. It's easier than using a spatula or fork, in my opinion. I was so happy when I got one of those from my grandparents. I actually think it was a birthday or Christmas gift!

Enjoy baking these delicious bars or cookies... call them what you want, just not unpalatable!

Delicious bits of Coconut

2008-07-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

I made some wonderfully tasty cookies this past week, in celebration of July 4th and my desire to bake something that I won't give away! :)

Unfortuntely, I don't have my camera with me, or else I would've posted some pictures. As it is, the pictures might make you so hungry that you might try to eat your computer screen! ;-)

Here is the first recipe that I made, called Coconut Clouds. They were so yummy and easy to make-- in fact, a boxed cake mix is one of the ingredients!

Coconut Clouds recipe

2 2/3 cups flaked coconut, divided
1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Reserve 1 1/3 cups coconut in a bowl.
Combine cake mix, egg, oil, water and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat with mixer. Stir in remaining 1 1/3 cups coconut. Drop rounded teaspoonsful of dough into coconut in bowl. Roll to cover lightly. Place two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.
Hint: To save time when forming dough into balls, use a 1-inch spring-operated cookie scoop. Spring-operated cookie scoops are available at kitchen specialty shops.

Recipe courtesy of recipegoldmine.com. The other cookies that I made were called Lemon Crumb Bars. Although they are called Lemon Crumb Bars, I think they should be renamed "The-Tastiest-Possible-Bar-Cookie-Without-Having-Chocolate." But that's just my opinion. Stay tuned!

Lime is the New Black

2008-06-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Or something like that.

This cake was made for my little sister's best friend. They've known each other since kindergarten and this fall they are starting high school together. Go ahead: aaawwwww.

On to the cake. Morgan's favorite colors are lime green and black. Well, if you've known her long enough, that's obvious. :-) So, lime green and black it is.

You remember the cornelli lace and roses cake, don't you? That was the cake's inspiration. Also inspiring Mogan's cake is a skirt that she owns. I don't know how much of that skirt actually influenced the cake since I never actually saw it but it was described to me, and it had black flowers on it. I think that counts. I am forever indebted to sandralita, however, over at CakeCentral because she created a gorgeous dummy wedding cake which inspired me, if not Morgan (although I think she liked the design, too). If you have a CakeCentral account, you can see the cake that I'm talking about here. If you don't have an account, a) get one, and b) I'll describe it to you: The cake had 3 tiers, all white, and was covered in gorgeous black fondant flowers with ribbons and bows along the bottom of each tier, also black. Her flowers make mine look wimpy, and it's not just because of size.

For some reason, this cake was a pain in the butt to work on. Not that that's Morgan's fault. Totally was my bad. For one thing, I couldn't remember if I put 2 cups or 3 in the cake batter and that really freaks me out. Hopefully it was two. Then the cake, for some strange reason (maybe I did put in too much sugar) cooked too much out the outer edge and not enough in the middle of cake, but not the very middle because I had a flower nail stuck in there. Does that make sense? What doesn't make sense is that the cake overbaked around the edges and I had to cut that part off. :(

Then, the icing. Sigh. I made the chocolate fondant, first, while watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 (Isn't it funny how you can remember stuff like that? Like, I remember watching Drake & Josh when I first made petit fours, and I was watching Holes when I finished knitting my first hat. Ok, anyway.) Marshmallow fondant is a big mess to make. I'll have to post the recipe later. My family thought I was crazy, though, for playing with melted marshmallows, baking chocolate, and sugar. Lots, and lots of sugar. The buttercream behaved. Surprisingly enough. (Also surprising, aside from the fondant, I made the entire cake, from baking, to decorating, on the same day. And with a trip to JC Penney's Outlet and ValuCity in between!) Although when I finished with the white icing, I turned all the leftovers green, which ended up being bad. More about that later.

There were relatively few crumbs, and that was without a crumb coat! What crumbs there were, were hidden behind the fondant ribbon. :) The fondant, once turned black with a large about of black icing paste (turning my hand and fingers black, but then they faded to purple after I washed them... it still there somewhat too), did not want to cooperate, and it was much too dry. Adding water made it too sticky, and shortening didn't help, and... maybe I was just having an off day... The flowers, made with gumpaste cutters, turned out really cool. I added the words next. It looks lime green, doesn't it? I was afraid that it wouldn't. When I asked my little brother (who was alas the only one around) what shade of green he thought it looked like, he just shrugged and said "like the grass on my Puerto Rico cake," which is totally not true because I added more yellow to this shade. Whatever.

The shell border around the words was done with Betty Crocker icing! Okay, okay, pick your jaw up off the floor. It's not that big of a shock... is it? But I vow right now, that no matter how tired and/or lazy I am in the future, I will NEVER use it again. In the middle of my border, this huge, messy, liquidly GLOB of black icing lands on my cake!!!

AAAAAHHHHH!!!! And Katie says that's her FAVORITE icing. Can you "antithesis"? (Is that even the right context...?) I tried to salvage the cake as best I could, but there's a dip in the cake where I removed the glob, and I had no more white icing to repair the damage. But I put the shells back in place (as in a piped a few more) and prayed that everyone else would not have my critical cake decorator's eye.

And I don't think they did. At least, when I delivered the cake today, I got lots of compliments. And, the cake matched the decor, so I think I did good. :)

Close-Ups of Some of the Flowers:

Tab Cake Recipe

2008-06-23T11:53:00.001-07:00

I'm planning on make this later in the week...

10 oz. Tab (or other diet soda)
1 box cake mix (any flavor)
2 egg whites

Mix it all up and bake according to the box's instructions.
9" x 13", 9" round, cupcakes, whatever.
Let it cool before frosting.

Here's a frosting recipe I found:
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon cocoa
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 box confectioner's sugar, (1pound)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
In a saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Stir in the sugar and mix well. Stir in nuts. Spread over the cake while both cake and frosting are still warm.

But I'm just going to use up some extra buttercream that I have, and color it pink. :)

So, results will be posted later in the week.

Blast from the Past

2008-06-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know these are horrible-quality pictures, but I wanted to share them anyway. I took pictures (with my digital camera) of pictures (you know, the regular kind that have negatives and everything) of cakes.

So, here they are... (again, I apologize for the quality, but that's what happens when you take pictures of pictures, I guess).

The original Father's Day cake... from 2006? (Maybe '05)

2007's Father's Day cake. The pictures are of my Dad and my mom's dad who lives in our neighborhood. See how all the Father's Day cakes are chocolate?

My 15th birthday cake. I <3 style="font-style: italic;">favorites!

Spongebob: Take 2. For his 2nd birthday, we were on vacation, and I had few supplies with me, so for the 1st Spongebob cake that I made, I used crushed up chocolate cereal for the pants, and tubes of Betty Crocker Icing for the rest of him, plus he didn't have any extremities and was in a throw-awayable cake pan. But this cake was great! (The arms and legs are sugar cookies)

This is that super difficult cake for my sister that I'm always alluding to. The leprechaun was my first attempt at fondant, and I think I did pretty nice (Kate did help with that). The pot o' gold and shamrocks were royal icing. The rainbow was homemade hard candy (and, let me tell you, it was hard!!). The icing looks cracked because when I smoothed it out, I waited too long and the buttercream had already begun to crust too much! (Not that you can tell with this picture anyway)

Superbowl 2007: Bears v. Colts. Everything but the colts was made with cookie cutters... I had to free hand the horses, although I later found out that Wilton made a "50 Animal Cookie Cutter Set" and I could've use the horse/zebra cutter from that set. The trophy, by the way, has gold cake sparkles on it. I have no idea which team one.

Last picture: Gingerbread house 2006. The gingerbread man, snowman, and tree are all cookies. The marshmallows are the fluffy white things in the front of the house (supposed to be fences). I liked the chocolate chips and the candy canes... they added nice touches. My little sister and I made this house, so unlike the 2007 house, it has some semblance of order. :) And, being homemade, it was very tasty!

Ganache is Great

2008-06-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

(Recipe courtesy of cheftaz from CakeCentral.)
(I used this on Dad's cake)

Ingredients
8 oz (240ml) cream
1 tbls butter (optional but makes it stay really shiny even after refrigerating)
1 oz sugar (2 tablespoons)
12 oz (340 g)chocolate (the more % cocoa the better! :) I used 62%)

Directions
Break chocolate into 1/2 oz pieces and place in stainless steel bowl
Heat cream, butter and sugar to boiling. Pour over chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Stir from center out until smooth. After refrigerating 1 hour then fill your piping bag
Or use to ice your cake by pouring or spreading (allow to cool to room temp first)

So this particular recipe has a thick consistency... I was able to pour the ganache over the cake and spread it around with an off-set spatula. I let the cake set in the fridge overnight, so the ganache was nice and "hard" (it wasn't hard like a candy bar... like a truffle I suppose).

Oh, and I put the ganache over a layer of buttercream, although since the recipe was thick, that's not really necessary, I don't think.

Also, if you want to whip up the leftover ganache that's been sitting in the fridge over night... I'm not sure what you'd do with it... except maybe eat it... which is really tasty if you decide to to that...

Kelsie's Chocolate Buttercream

2008-06-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

...Is the exact same recipe as Wilton's Chocolate Buttercream. (I used this on Dad's Father's Day cake)

Feel free to double, or triple, or quadruple the recipe to your liking :)

Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
* ~~three~~ FOUR 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted
* 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
* 1 pound sifted confectioners' sugar
* 3-4 tablespoons milk

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add cocoa and extract. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk (feel free to add more milk if you like a thinner consistency) and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Recipe makes about 3 cups (but again, feel free to double or whatever to your liking!)

Make sure you know you have enough buttercream to frost/decorate the cake before you plow into it with your spoon ;-) (I know you were thinking it... I was too!)

Chocolate is Decadent and Delicious!

2008-06-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

(But not decedent because that means deceased!)

Yummy, yummy, yummy! That's all I can say about this cake for Father's Day.

Well, OK, I can say more than that. First of all, let me explain the pain-staking labor that I went through to make this cake...

I baked it, using of course, the wonderful cake recipe that I have fallen in love with. Also, I've been putting flower nails (you know, the kind you make roses on?) in the center of the cake to help stop the doming... an added benefit is that you have another surface to eat the excess cake off of! So my doming problems are much reduced thanks to my wonderful flower nails. (However, the cake was still slightly lopsided because when I put one layer on top of the other, I didn't line them up evenly).

Then I whipped up some chocolate buttercream (which was VERY creamy and smooth- I LOVED it!) and smeared that all over the cake, letting Dad lick the beaters, of course (although my sister did get a hold of one of them). After that, I tried my hand at chocolate ganache, using Kroger's best chocolate, with 62% cocoa: Mmmmm. I have to say, although said sister had her doubts, the ganache turned out perfect! I then smeared that all over the cake (it was very thick, so I definitely had to spread it around with my spatula. If I had used more cream, then it would've been more pourable).

That all occurred Saturday night. I stuck the cake in the fridge and then finished the decorations Sunday after church. Although I had agonized about how to decorate the cake, I realized that as long as the cake was chocolate, Dad would love it, and that was, after all, the point of making a cake for Father's Day. So, how to decorate the cake? With chocolate!

I ended up with some rosettes along the top and bottom (using Wilton's 2M tip)... they didn't look very neat or uniform, but the square of chocolate on each one added a nice touch.

The only thing that WASN'T chocolate (gasp!) was the "Happy Father's Day" in regular buttercream. I wanted the words to show up, so that's why no chocolate was used, although the amount of non-chocolate was so minuscule that I don't think it took away from the overall chocolatey goodness of the cake.

Now to describe the taste: If heaven was chocolate, it would taste like that cake. =] Not to toot my own horn, but that was some darn good dessert right there. Definitely something I want to make again. :)

Golf Chocolate Day is This Sunday

2008-06-12T10:51:00.001-07:00

Also known as Father's Day.

Why the golf? Because it's my dad's favorite sport to play. One year for Father's Day, when I first started exploring cake decorating, I made him a sheet cake with a picture of a golf ball on it. Nothing fancy, but it was yummy (because it was chocolate).

Why the chocolate? Because my dad agrees with me when I say that chocolate is the best food group ever. :) Every cake that I've ever made for him was chocolate: cake and icing. Double yummy.

Last year's Father's Day cake was star-shaped with store-bought (gasp!) chocolate icing. The decorations were butterceam, though. For the decorations, as well as writing the standard "Happy Father's Day!", I also made little icing pictures of my dad and my grandpa. I wish I knew how to transfer the picture (taken with a traditional film camera) to the computer, because it's a really cute cake.

This year, I want to up the ante so to speak, and make this cake extra chocolately. Chocolate cake (probably the really yummy recipe that I already use) with chocolate ganache. Mmmm, ganache... And chocolate buttercream underneath the ganache, of course.

Have you seen the commercial for the Publix chocolate ganache supreme cake? That's my inspiration.

Only, my cake will be better because it will be made with love. :)

I want to decorate the cake differently, though. Although I like the cool little bow and the chocolate fudge shells, I have to be unique and special, you know? What I don't know, however, is how exactly I'm going to decorate it. Except, it will be chocolate.

Recipes:

Well, if I can't figure out all the "unknowns" by Saturday, I could always make a German chocolate cake (another one of Dad's favorites). I think I'll figure it out though.

Blog Updates

2008-06-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

I'm back from vacation and I had a blast!
I was blogged! Not sure when/where/who/why/how but I was. I did just update some of the information today, though, but thank you to whomever blogged me. :)
I made a new blog today. Not exactly cake related but there's always the potential.
I'm making a chocolate cake for Father's Day (also known as U.S. Open Day at my house :) ). I want to find a different recipe... I know that I love that to-die-for chocolate cake recipe, but I love variety too! :)
Okay, something that doesn't start with "I"... My sister's best friend's birthday is coming up and I'm making her a cake that looks like that pink one I just made, but different.
Sorry, that's all for now. It's summer now!!!!!! so more blogging to come... :)

GO Dawgs! =]

2008-05-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

The bulldog cake is done! I am so proud :) Mom says this is my best cake yet, as far as the detail goes. I'm not sure I agree; I made a cake once with a fondant leprechaun and a candy rainbow that was a lot of work. However, this is my most detailed FBCT.
Can you tell that the dog is faced the opposite direction of the picture I used to trace it? I will never forget to make a reversed image to trace, though!

The icing (red and black) was bought pre-colored. I could've made my own red icing (I bought 2 more tubes of it) and black, but that was a lot of work, and I'm lazy. I mean, it *is* the first day of summer.

The tube I used for the border was #16 star tip, and I made little shell alternating with the red and black. The alternating was made easier by the fact that I have 2 star tips (yay!). The FBCT was made with a #1 tip (of which I only have 1) with a #5 or 7 (I can't remember, but I think it was the 7) for the white icing backing. By the way, the white buttercream is homemade.

Can you tell that the dog is a different 'shade' of white than the rest of the cake? I added a little ity bity dot of black icing to make it a little more gray.

2 hours until deliver. This is my last post for today. :) Actually, it'll be my last post until Friday; I'm going on vacation! =]

The letters were piped with #3 (red) and #1 (black) tip. Originally, I was just going to do the red, but it looks good with the black. I realized today why whenever I wrote on cake previous to this one, the handwriting was messy. Well, my icing was thin enough. I had thinned the buttercream for the FBCT and used that same icing for the lettering. Because it was thinner, it came out of the piping bag easier, and my handwriting actually looked nice!! Dad wanted to know whose daughter I was; my handwriting is far more superior than his for us to be related. ;-)

'Nother Post

2008-05-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

I'M A SENIOR!! How awesome is that? Of course, at the same time, it's terrifying, but still, it's pretty sweet.

Okay, so this post is really about some cake decorating know-how that I learned today, but I thought I'd share that wonderful news first. ;)

If you are making a FBCT, and the FBCT has letters on it, make sure you pipe the letters backwards, otherwise when you put the transfer on the cake, the letter that you had originally piped the right way will become the wrong way. I hope that makes sense.

Unfortunately I didn't do that when I made my FBCT yesterday, but thankfully it was an easy error to correct. Now I know better for next time, though!

I'm off to put the finishing touches on the cake. 3 hours to delivery.

Chocolate Cake: To DIE FOR

2008-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't remember if I've posted this recipe before (my sister says I have but whatever), but I'm going to post it again. THIS IS THE TASTIEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER.
After letting the cake cool for a few minutes, remove (carefully!) from the pan and wrap up in saran wrap (lots of it). Cool the cake some more, and you can freeze it if you want.
Just let the cake thaw before icing it (so no condensation) and it is so moist and chocolately and delicious!

This is from chocomama on cakecentral.com. I just made this cake yesterday and I'm delivering it tomorrow. I'm almost done with the FBCT and and rest of the icing.

Dark Chocolate Cake

Serves/Yields:
Prep. Time: 15 min.
Cook Time: 40 min.
Category: Chocolate Cakes
Difficulty: Easy

Introduction

This is the BEST scratch cake I have ever made! I received lots of compliments on it the first time I made it and plan to use it again and again. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease and flour two 9in pans or one 13x9in pan
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients
4. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes
5. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans
6. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
7. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks

Just remember to be careful when you boil the water. I got a steam burn on 3 (3!) of my fingers when I did that step. It really stung for the entire day but I'm okay now. Hand washing was not fun, however, after that painful fiasco.

(P.S. Morgan- let me know about your b-day cake. Katie was telling me that you wanted one for later next month. I'd be happy to make it if you want me to, so just keep me posted)

Always Have A Plan B

2008-05-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

I made this cake as practice for the birthday cake that I'm delivering this weekend. And by practice I mean practice using the new pan I bought and exercising my creativity to make a cake however I wanted to.

So, don't expect the picture of the cake to look anything like a Georgia Bulldog :)

The 9" x13" cake pan that I bought on Saturday ($5 with coupon!) turned out nicely, although the cake did break, so Dad suggests that I use parchment paper next time. Other than that, the pan didn't warp or do anything crazy like that.

I made some icing (a double batch with 4 pounds of icing! Good thing Mom went to Costco!!), but ran out of Almond Extract!! And if you've ever had buttercream with just vanilla extract, then you wouldn't eat buttercream again. At least, I wouldn't.

So, I pulled out my other extracts: mint, brandy, strawberry, and orange. Of the four, orange was my favorite, so I put a tad bit of orange extract in the icing. The icing is still pretty sweet, but the orange adds a nice aftertaste that I think (I hope!) will taste good with the chocolate cake.

Now to the decorating part. I iced the cake in white, then added a 2nd layer of icing. I think I waited too long after I put on the 2nd layer before smoothing the icing with a Viva paper towel. However, when I did the Cornelli lace, you really can't tell.

Speaking of Cornelli lace (inspired by this cake), it's pretty painful. And by painful I mean I got a hand cramp from squeezing so much icing out of a little tiny #2 tip. I had lots of breaks during that part of the decorating. I think I may have made the lace too tight in some places, but I'll do better next time.

When I did the centerpiece of the cake, i wanted roses. But the icing was too soft. So I tried drop flowers. And promptly decided that I wanted roses. What is a decorator to do? Use fondant!!

That's right, I got out the MMF and colored some pieces and actually made roses! And they turned out waaaaay better than I thought I could make. All free-handed, too! :) What I did was make little cone shapes, then I flattened out the bottoms. I flatted out a long (in comparison) piece of fondant and wrapped it around the cone to form a little peak. I took little pieces of fondant, flattened them into oval shapes, and pressed them against the cone to make petals: 3 petals in the first row, then 5, then 7. A few of the roses only have 1 or 2, not 3 roses, and the little bud only has the little peak, and then some leaves.

Okay, now that I've described the cake, I think it's still to end the suspense and reveal the "practice" cake that I made today:

Cheesecake!

2008-05-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the picture of the cheesecake I made for Mother's Day.
Thanks for e-mail it to me, Papa!

The top is covered with Dream Whip and cherries arranged in a heart shaped. A little messy, but delicious!