Noah "Transforms" His Way From 3-4!

Kendall's Carnival Birthday Cake

Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Chocolate Buttercream Frosting..............A BLUE RIBBON WINNER!

Chocolate is by far my favorite cake flavor. So naturally Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Frosting, just can't be beat, right? WRONG! I discovered it can be beat by adding GANACHE! And just when I thought I couldn't top that? I added a little bit of Raspberry flavoring to the chocolate buttercream and WOW - I had just come up with the pefect combination of every Serious Chocolate Lover's Dream! (Including my own)

So I followed the directions from a link that I found on Pinterest.  Basically added two ingredients to make the ganache:  Dark Chocolate Chips and Heavy Cream.  I heated up the heavy cream on the stove (can be done in microwave), didn't let it boil, but did wait to see little bubbles around the edge of the cream in the pan.  Pour chips in, begin to slowly swirl, stir, etc. until it looks like it does in the pic above.  Most blogs I read said to NOT put the ganache in the fridge, but to leave it on the counter for a few hours, until it was at the perfecct consistency for spreading like frosting.  It worked for me!  I frosted my cake with my chocolate buttercream, and then frosted the outside with the ganache (just in the same way I would have applied and spread buttercream.)

 I learned that the main goal that bakers try to achieve with a ganached cake is to get very sharp corners.  As well as smooth on the sides, but corners are critical.  So I give myself about a B on this first cake.  I was pressed for time, but in a way that was good, because I COULD have spent HOURS fiddling around with the sides and corners.  I threw togethre a few flowers, put them up top and walah!  Mom provided the beautiful cake plate and white back sheet for the picture.  It was so tantilizing, my son couldn't keep his fingers off it....

Also, as a side note, I did try out one of my new tools - the silicone mold of the design at the bottom of the cake.  I thought this gave the cake a nice finish, for very little effort on my part.  Youtube videos come with instruction on using the silicone molds, so they are really easy to use.  I'll be using more and more of these in the future!

Pricing the Icing

Pricing is obviously an important factor becoming a "for profit" cake artist, you certainly don't want this "hobby" to put you under, so at the very minimum you have to make absolutely SURE your costs are covered, and this is always a figure that you can EASILLY underestimate.  I make a list of every single item I touched, while making the cake, tools, cake boards, brushes, bags, tips, etc., and of course all the edible stuff.  Then the "artist" factor needs to be accounted for, and that is a much more abstract thing to put a price on.  That is the big variable, which includes time, experience, ability, "wow factor" and the amount someone is willing to pay (market value).  Since I have an MBA under my belt, and worked for 15 years in big business, I am pretty comfortable with my ability to determine a price for one of my cakes.  But of course it is not rocket science, and most people SHOULD be able to come up with a reasonable price.  This blog post by Merci Beaucoup Cakes really helped me justify my thinking when coming up with cake pricing.  http://happysugarbakingland.typepad.com/happy-sugar-baking-land/2011/05/merci-beaucoup-shop-talk-pricing.html

Is it a BOY or a GIRL?

Recently a very good friend found out she is having baby #2.  So she asked if I could make a "Gender Reveal" cake for her husband's law firm.  Roughly 40 people.  So with this project I have learned that my turn around time has greatly improved, as I basically told her I could have it for her within 48 hours.  Not bad for baking from home and starting from scratch.  I was especially excited about this cake because this was my first "baby" cake, and a very special baby for my friend!

 I decided to tackle the Wilton "Bow" that I learned in class, but hadn't attempted for months.  Much to my suprise, it turned out great, as well as did the fondanting of the cakes.  I still need lots of practice, "fondanting a cake," but for an amateur - I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Oh, and the best part............IT'S A BOY!!!  As indicated by the 

blue buttercream filling between the cake layers!

Scrolly Cookies

I have been browsing Pinterest lately, always on the hunt for pictures of cakes that I like and that I think I can make.  But something a little different has consistently caught my eye and I finally decided to look into it.  It was these beautifully decorated cookies, with a scroll like piped design.  It turns out that a designer in NY named "SweetAmbs" does these cookies.  They are absolutely beautiful and perfect.  So when the preschool year end teacher gift time came, I thought these cookies would make a great gift!  SweetAmbs offers online courses, so I took a few and before I knew it, I was making these perfectly beautiful cookies in my own kitchen.  I learned the "flooding" technique.....

...which is basically frosting a cookie perfectly, so that the icing is a consistent length from the edge around the entire cookie.  You can do this with any shape.  Next I learned "filagree" piping, making basic royal icing, and the differences in icing consistency.  She also offers lots of free instruction on her blog and facebook page.  I just love her stuff!  Makes me think about the possibilities in the market of wedding favors!  I would have LOVED these on my reception tables.

My First Try at Modeling Chocolate......"The Hulk Hand!"

Super Hero Cakes are the lates craze for the little guys!  I have had the awesome opportunity to construct one for a good friend's son, and decided to feature it on my blog.  I am really excited about it, and it is definitely pushing me beyond my comfort zone, however I am quite certain I am capable of producing something "out of this world."  I have decided to start early with the very top of the cake which will be The Hulk's fist, will be punching through the top tier of the cake.  So, starting with a picture from my friend who found a Super Hero cake on Pinterest, I also went to pinterest to see if I could find out how other bakers have made the fist.  I was relieved to see that other bakers have used traditional rice krispy treat's to mold the fist, instead of carving cake.  So far I have made the RKT, molded the fist and covered it with white modeling chocolate.  The RKT part was easy, the modeling chocolate, was a little more involved.  First, I wasn't sure how the recipe that I had would turn out, and second, having no experience with modeling chocolate, I had no idea how to actually apply it to my fist.  So I just dove in, with my Wilton Candy Melts (bright white) and light corn syrup I just started throwing it together and I think it came out how it was supposed to.  I let it settle for about 4 hours, then I wais ancy to get it on the fist.  Like people say, it is plyable just like clay, and having worked a bit with clay in my past, I was able to confidently cover the fist.  Now that leaves me with somehow making the fist green, and adding all of the intricate details, such as the wrinkles in the hands, fingers, etc.  Stay tuned!

So I read online somewhere, that someone covered the fist in fondant.  So I tried that, and it turned out great.  I discovered a technique with the fondant that made the "hulk skin" smooth and shiny, and it was basically polishing the fondant with the palm of my hand.  I think it turned out GREAT! I kept the Hulk hand in a plastic bag during the time I worked on the remainder of the cake.  

After I constructed the cake, I did spend a little more time utilizing another tool that I recently discovered:  food safe markers!  To add a bit of a "cartoon" like-look, I drew in the creases of the wrinkles in the hand with a black marker.  And the finished Hulk hand looked like this:

Since the cake was on a table, at a fairly large party, I liked the fact that the Hulk hand definition "stuck out" so that people could see it from across the room.  And the final cake with the Spiderman layer and the Superman layer all came together like this:  

Since we had the pleasure of attending the party as guests, I was able to enjoy the excitement shared by the guest of honor, Paul - who turned 5.  He told me that he "loved" his cake, and that made my day.  Somthing about the ability to make a child jump with excitement, is one of the best feelings in the world!

The "Best of the Best"

Martha Stewart's Best Wedding Cake Bakers In the USSince my passion sparked several months back, to begin my journey on this cake creating frenzy I have been on, I have done quite a bit of research as to what is going on globally in the world of cake baking, crafting, designing, and decorating.  I have found that there is a major concentration of talented cake bakers in Europe.  Specifically the U.K.  Lots of Youtube video tutorials are derived in the UK.  On the flip side, here, across the pond in the US, specifically the midwest, seems to be the least amount of famous cake bakers.....(market opportunity - what?!) This was hilighted this past week, when I caught a facebook post on Martha Stewart weddings, that listed her favorite cake bakers in the United States, broken down by region.  West Coast, East Coast, Midwest and South.  Of course I don't usually get a lot of time during the day to really read anything, I just catch posts, exerpts, headlines, etc.  But last night my husband took the kids on a walk, away from my home, and the first thing I did was dive into my bed, and searched for the cake baker list.  I was so plesantly surprised to find that there wasn't one great baker listed in Michigan.  (The opportunist in me was ready to explode.)  So my mind has been racing with ideas based on the beautiful works of art I saw in the article, and fact that there is a market opportunity here.  So where does that leave me?  Ultra motivated to speed up the learning process, and cram as much information, technique, skill sets, business strategies, and practice into my schedule as possible!  In the meantime, I need to go vacuum. :)  And by the way, Peggy Porschen is currently my idol.

The Discovery of "Icing Smiles...."

 

When I was laying with my daughter last night, while she fell asleep, I was searching my phone for Facebook updates, the latest news on CNN, email, cake blogs, etc.  I came across a volunteer organization that provides "wow" cakes to children that are ill or terminally ill.  Ok, my initial thought was, OMG.....are you kidding me?  This is PERFECT for me.  I have been beating myself up for years becaue I had my first Golden Retriever, "Cody," trained to be a therapy dog, who I could eventually take to local hospitals to visit sick patients, or nursing home patients, etc.  After I had him trained, I became pregnant and two kids later you can fill in the blank, but basically I have had no time to bring him around to the hospitals.  So now I am faced with the choice of baking and decorating awesome cakes for a sick child?  This couldn't be a better match for me, my situation, my time constraints/availability, etc.  I have always had a huge place in my heart for childrent that are faced with challenges bigger than they are, and I would LOVE to bring a smile to a childs face by making a special cake for them.  So I signed up.  Hopefully my phone rings soon, with my first opportunity.  There is nothing better when "caking," to be able to think about during every last minute detail, that my artistic creation will make them smile.

Mother's Day......Relaxation and Roses

A year to celebrate accomplishments, defeats, great days and bad, but most of all a day to celebrate being a mom.  My husband granted me with two whole days of no responsibility, which means the house will be a mess on Monday, but oh well.  My time is mine for now.  And what did I chose to do with it?  Make gum paste roses.  My latest obsession.

So after looking at some cakes on Pinterest (always pinning cakes that I "think" I can do,) I found myself watching a "how to" video on beautiful handmade roses.  Roses are so beautiful, I have grown them myself, studied their delicate growth pattern, and the density of their petals as they bloom to maturity.  A combination of gum paste and fondant is the perfect way to recreate a rose that will last longer than the natural kind.  (Until Gavin drops one on the floor and it shatters.)  I did realize that I will have to expand my tool supply, as my ball tool is "sub par", and I would like to have the ability to do bigger roses - the tools that I have only allow for what I call "medium size" roses.  During this exercise I learned some very helpful hints.  One - roll the fondant out as thin as possible, with out ripping.  Two - Smooth the edges after using the cutter.  Three - have cornstarch handy, use it on the mat as well as the petals itself when using the ball tool.  Four - use an individual petal cutter for the initial petal on the bud, and at the end when I am adding the last row of petals (shape these with a spoon.).  Francesca (the lady in the video) also suggested hot glueing the wire to the bulb (instead of using edible glue) - this definitely would be quicker, but it would have to be clear that the rose is no longer "food quality" - as superglue is not edible.  :)