Margaritaville

 

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

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

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!!

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?

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! ;-)

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

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!