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Red Red Roses

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I recently made this wedding cake for a dear friend of my daughter. The bride and groom's nickname for each other was "bug". So they asked if I could put two little ladybugs on one of the rose petals as a symbol of them. If you look carefully at the bottom rose, you'll see the ladybugs. My husband was taking pictures while I was cleaning up, and he forgot to take a close up picture of the ladybugs... darn. So I tried to crop and blow up a shot of the them, but the quality isn't too great. Anyway, I thought those cute little bugs were an adorable idea!

 


This event was held at one of those "high end" restaurants. (I sure wish they'd ironed the linens before putting them on the table. Ugh!) It was kind place we go to maybe.... once every 10 years. The kind of place where you want chew every single bite as slowly as possible... just to savor all the flavors! LOL


As I was putting the cake together, several of the employees came out to see what I was doing. (It makes me a little nervous to have an audience watching my every move. Yikes!)

After I'd finished the cake and was about the leave, the head chef came out. (Double yikes!!) He was wearing the full uniform: tall chef's hat, white pastry jacket, white pants, carrying a white kitchen towel... the whole shabang! He said he'd heard about my cake and wanted to come take a look. (Triple yikes!!!) He asked me a few questions about the cake and was very complimentary to me. (Whew!) He said one day he'd like to take some classes and learn how to make cakes like mine... (Double cheesy grin from me. :D )

One of "THOSE" Days!!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Disclaimer: I wrote something similar to this on facebook a few days ago. (I needed some sympathy from my friends.) So if you're one of my facebook friends, please excuse me for repeating the story.

dividers

It was one of those mornings and I was waaaay behind on everything. It seemed like the more I tried to do, the farther I fell behind. Then the doorbell rang... I had just finished coloring my hair (ummm... I mean "conditioning" ;) and was right in the middle of highlighting it. My highlighting solution is blue in color, so there were segments of blue hair sticking out in every... and I mean every direction! Of course, I was still in my robe, and to top it all off... NO face on! (my way of saying no makeup) I looked like re-fried roadkill!

I'd decided not to open the door, then I looked out the window and realized it was the mailman. I had to answer the door because my son was expecting a package from China! UGH! I prayed that it was the mail-lady and not the mail-man. "NOPE......  it's the man!" :(

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"OK" I said to myself, I'll make this as quick as possible with NO eye contact. I sheepishly opened the door. The mailman stopped and gave me a quick double take, then he smiled and handed me a slip of paper to sign. After quickly signing my name, I started to give it back. "Ohhh," he said, "You'll also needed to print your name." (Can I please just get this over with!!!") So I printed my name and handed him the slip of paper. Did I forget to mention that he stared at me the entire time?

He rustled around for a second then found my package. I took it and eagerly began to close the door. "Wait!" he said, "I have the rest of your mail." (Ugh! This is taking waaaay too long!) As he finally began to leave, the mailman had one last comment, he said...  "Of course I come when you look your worst. Hahahaha!" Then he snickered all the way back to his mail truck.

I just want to crawl in a hole and die.....

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Making Cakes Rise Evenly

Thursday, January 20, 2011


Have you ever spent an afternoon measuring, mixing, and baking a cake only to have it end up looking like an igloo? Doming is OK for cupcakes, but it causes all kinds of problems for cake. Doming happens because the outside edge of the cake cooks faster then the inside. This gives the middle more time to grow during the baking process and become taller then the edges. 

A cake that's domed on top can cause the following problems:
  1. The center of the cake can crack.
  2. The edges can over bake and become too brown.
  3. The edges can turn hard.
  4. The edges can also become dry.
Luckily there is a solution to this problem... baking strips. Cake baking strips insulate the pan so your cake bakes more evenly. You can buy several different brands, the most common is probably Wilton's Bake-Even Cake Strips. Have you tried them? They work well... the only problem is that they are expensive! Luckily you don't have to shell out $$ to buy them. You can make a simple substitute at home. It works just as well, plus it's cheap! All you need is an old towel.  :D

Cut an old towel into 2" strips.




Wet the towel in water. (DO NOT forget this step!!!!) It doesn't need to be dripping wet, but it needs to be quite wet. Wrap the towel around the outside edge of the pan. I just tie my strip and tuck in the edges, but you could also use pins or clips to hold the edges together. If you're baking a large cake, tie a couple of towel strips together and make it longer.



These two cakes were baked together at the same time. The cake on the left was baked in a pan alone. The cake on the right was baked using the homemade baking strips. Notice the differences... the cake on the left is domed in the center, it's edge is too dark and has a harder texture.

If using strips, you may need to add a few extra minutes to the total baking time. Give cake baking strips a try, I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the results!

A Break from Cake: Coconut Dreamsicle Bars

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Yes, today I'm straying from my usual topic of cake. I love to bake other types of goodies in addition to cake. So these off topic posts are what I'm calling... "A Break from Cake."  Today's entry is full of yummy sweetness that reminds me of a warm, sunny, summer day. (Sounds good to me... especially since the temperature outside has been below 30 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple of weeks. Brrrrrrrr!)

Remember those orange/vanilla ice cream bars we ate as kids? I recently had a craving for one, only I didn't want a frozen treat. (It's simply too cold outside for that.) So I came up with a baked version of the Dreamsicle bar, but then I added a surprise twist... coconut! The orange & coconut flavor combination seems to work together well. Just be aware... these bars are very rich and very moist. So go grab a cold glass of milk, cut yourself a piece, and enjoy this special "winter" treat!



Coconut Dreamsicle Bars
1 C melted butter
2 C granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 tsp. Loann's Orange Bakery Emulsion (The flavor doesn't bake out of emulsions like it will with extracts.)
1 Tbs. orange zest
4 drops orange food coloring
1 C coconut
2 C vanilla chips
1 tsp. salt
2 C flour
Cream together melted butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, orange emulsion, and food coloring. Mix well, then stir in coconut and vanilla chips. In a separate bowl, mix together salt and flour. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir until just combined then pour into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 min. Cool.

Coconut Frosting
4 C powdered sugar
2 tsp. Lorann's Coconut Bakery Emulsion or you can use coconut extract.
5-6 Tbls. milk
Mix all ingredients together and frost.

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