Disaster!

I think the biggest disaster is that I always spell it "diaster."

Nah, not really. I think a volcano being attacked by a shark, giant octopus, wolf, The Cold, and an encroaching ocean is pretty disastrous. Oh! Don't forget the meteor and wrecked helicopter.

See, this is a cake that I was planning for Hillary's 19th birthday, and now it's 2 months past her 20th birthday, so to say this is belated is quite an understatement. Anyway, we love watching cheesy corny disaster movies together ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Absolute Zero," "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus," "2012" for example) so this cake takes its inspiration from all of those movies and more.

The cake turned out a little more cartoonish--maybe it was the fondant octopus or the light blue icy lava-- than I was originally picturing in my head, but it turned out really great. The "lava" and ocean are made out of royal icing, which made cutting into the cake a little more difficult than originally planned, and the meteor, octopus, and shark fin are all made of out Wilton fondant (why Wilton? Because it's cheap and no one was going to eat the pieces anyway). The volcano is chocolate buttercream, and the cake is coffee flavored.

Shout out to Sarah! For telling me how to make coffee cake, and to pass it on, I'll tell you now! (Because have you ever tried to google "coffee flavored cake recipe?" It doesn't work, I tell you!) OK, so you take your cake recipe (or box mix) and instead of putting water or whatever liquid, use double-brewed coffee instead. And my dad says there's some secret "thing" about double brewed coffee, like it will break the coffee maker or something...so I just asked him to brew the coffee for me.

So there you have it! The Disaster Cake. While not as epic as the end of the world, this cake was pretty grand, and according to Chris, the best tasting cake I've ever made!

More Cake Balls and Disasters

Thanksgiving is coming up, and if all the holiday specials on the Food Network weren't enough of an indication, 'tis the season for delicious food!

Last week I made two different kinds of cake balls: I tried banana again, this time with a dark chocolate coating (not almond bark) and vanilla/candy corn.

The candy corn was interesting, to say the least. Joy and Haley helped me make them, and honestly, I don't think I would've ever tried if they hadn't suggested it. We made a plain ol' vanilla cake but chopped up candy corn pieces when we rolled them into cake balls. Then we tried to melt the candy corn to use as a coating, instead of chocolate.

The first problem was that the melted CC was very thick and difficult for dipping. Honey to the rescue! I suppose corn syrup would've been a good thinner too but we didn't have any of that.

The second problem was that the coating never really hardened. We put them in the freezer and everything but once they were sitting out at room temp, they got all mushy and sticky.

The solution? Coat the balls again in chocolate. The chocolate helped retain the moisture, and the candy corn took on an almost caramel-y texture and taste. The double-layer of candy coating actually turned out well. This is definitely an experiment I want to explore more.

And let me just say that tempering chocolate? It's magical. It's also pretty difficult, and I ended up with a lot of streaky chocolate, but thanks to my friends Hillary (for giving me the directions and confidence to try tempering) and Grant (who loaned me the all-too-important thermometer), I think I did pretty good.

I got some more cake ball requests from my family for Thanksgiving, so I'll try pumpkin or something equally delicious and festive. And Wednesday is the Disaster Party (an excuse to get together with friends and watch horribly corny apocalyptic movies and eat cake) which Hillary & I have been planning for a year, so I'm making the cake for that this afternoon.

So there's my baking update! I'll have lots more to share this week! :)

The Horse in Striped Pajamas, Part I

So I was finally able to decorate that cookie cake that I made on Saturday.  Of course, this is just the practice cake, so I hope that the finally version will look a little more cleaned-up than this cake.

Let me begin with the zebra, since he is the center piece of the cake (cookie).  I had a wax paper cutout that was traced from a computer printout (I just googled "zebra coloring page"), and traced it onto the cookie (cake) with the white buttercream.  When I lifted the wax paper up, some of the outline came with it, but fortunately, enough of the outline was preserved that I just free-handed it.  I piped in all of the white first with a #5 tip (I think next time I'll use a #3 or #2 for the outline) and then I free-handed, based on the picture, all of the stripes, facial features, and tail.

I used a #3 tip for the black detail, and next time I'll use a #2.  I just didn't have the control that I wanted with a bigger tip.  I might even use a #1, but that tip is so small, so probably not.  Also, the black buttercream was too thick (I added cocoa powder to dark the icing up), so for the "real" cake, I'll make sure it's thinned down.

(A helpful hint about making black buttercream:  I always add cocoa powder, usually dark, to the buttercream before I add the black gel, and a little bit of liquid.  And I mix it until it's a dark gray color.  If you're not sure if your gray is dark enough, take a little bit and hold it up to something white, like a napkin.  Even if the icing seems too light while you're mixing it, when it's compared to white, it looks black enough.)

The musical notes were made with a #5 tip, which I will certainly not do next time.  Probably a #3 tip would be best, although I'll do a few practice notes first this weekend when I make the real cake.  They will also be blue, not white, but I was just too lazy to change out my tips.  Also, I'll put "Happy Birthday" on the real cake, but as this practice cake is merely for my own family's enjoyment, so I didn't worry about the words.

I would really like to do the star/shell border with a #32 tip, instead of the #21 that I used this time, but unfortunately, it got smushed.  I'm not sure what happened, but when I opened my Box O' Cake Decorating Supplies, I was aghast to see the #32 star tip all dented in.  I know Wilton makes a tool to help fix a problem like this, but I am not currently in possession of that aforementioned tool.

I'm really excited about making the real deal this weekend.  I got the practice cake done, so hopefully that means I got all of the mistakes out of the way.  The only problem is that I have to get the rest of this week over with before I can enjoy this weekend and the cake.  I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. :(

It's definitely a busy month for baking, because next weekend I'm making another anniversary cake, and the weekend after that is my sister's birthday, and between those 2 cakes, I'm making a third cake for the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica induction ceremony, so that should be fun.  And definitely busy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe

I got this recipe from recipezaar.com thanks to April J.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour, plus
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Beat butter and sugars together.
2. Add eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
4. Add dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Spread dough into a 15 1/2 inch round pan.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

 This is a tried-and-true recipe which literally just came out of the oven.  I'm not sure how it tastes yet, but if it's anything like the cookie dough that I licked off the spatula, then it's delicious!

Some observations that I would like to add, in case you'd like to try this recipe:

• When I make cookies (or pretty much anything, for that matter), I always bring the refrigerated stuff to room temperature first, unless otherwise noted in the recipe.  In this case, it means that I left the eggs and butter out on the counter for a while to warm up a bit.
• I used a 9x13" cake pan, and the cookie cake turned out really thick-- much thicker than what you normally see at the supermarket.  This is just a practice cake for something I'm making next week, but I think I'll use my jelly roll pan, or use less dough.  I don't have the exact dimentions for the jelly roll pan, but it's bigger than the pan I used this time.
• I sprayed the pan with Pam for Baking (which smells really good, by the way) before I put the dough in it.
  
• The dough is really sticky, so I just greased up my hands (clean, washed hands, of course) and used my hands to spread the dough into the pan before I baked it.  It doesn't have to be completely flat either, just try to get it as level as possible.  No need for perfectionism :)
• When baking, the dough did rise up a little along the edges more so than in the middle.  Just thought I'd make that observation, although it was just a little thing; no big deal.
• I baked for 25 minutes, instead of 20, because I like my cookies to be golden brown.  I think they could've gone for another few minutes, but keep an eye out so that they don't burn if you choose to go this route.
• After taking the cake out of the oven, I let it cool for 10 minutes, ran a knife around the pan's edges, and flipped the cake out onto a cooling rack covered with wax paper.

Personally, I love cookie cake, and I hope that I can recreate that cookie goodness that comes from Publix or Kroger and make an equally (or more) delicious home-made version.  I'll let you know how the rest of the cookie cake testing goes, and until then, maybe you can try your hand at this yummy recipe. :)

(That's a big cookie!)

Petit Fours- Not Again!

Yes, I'm attempting to create the elusive petit four again.  As you can all recall, I'm sure, from my last adventure into the world of tiny cakes, the fist attempt was pretty disasterous.  At least, if the crummy (and crumby) quick-pour fondant and lumpy cakes is any

However, this time around I'm taking things slow and easy.  I've got a really yummy butter cake recipe that I'm going to use (Yes, I know that sponge cake is preferred for these tiny treats, but sponge cake is a lot of work and butter cake is just a tad harder to mess up), and a new fondant recipe, simple syrup, and some filling, and some extra help.  [And I know this has absolutely nothing to do with petit fours, except that I found this recipe for fondant while I was looking up petit four recipes... anyway, it looks really good, and since I'm not having a lot of luck with the MMF, I'd like to try it.]

Hopefully this time around, things will be different...

Later that same day...

 

So they really didn't turn out that bad, did they?  After the cake cooled (it was a 9" x 13", using that butter cake recipe I mentioned earlier), I used some little cookie cutters that I've never used before.  The funny thing is, they were a summer set, with sea shells and flamingos and all, and I'm using them in the middle of winter. =]  I used the mini cutters: butterfly, heart, flower.  The heart was the easiest to coat, by the way.

Then I put all the little cut shapes in a container and I froze them.  (Don't worry, we ate all the cake scraps!)  I mixed up some "quick pour fondant" on the stove, and proceeded to ice the little cakes.

I used a piece of wax paper under a cooling rack, and took a few cakes out of the freezer at a time.  I slowly poured the fondant, with a spoon [I know! I forgot to use a squirt bottle], over each cake, to make sure that I covered the sides and all of that.  It's definitely a tedious process and a labor of love, but perhaps it will get easier the more I practice.  After all, this is only my second attempt.

I didn't fool with doing two layers, and putting a filling in between them, or covering them in simply syrup.  I know that's a good idea, and I probably should have, but I got lazy, and I know my family will eat them anyway. :-)  Speaking of lazy, by the time I got to the last few cakes, the fondant had really thickened (not sure why), and I was so tired of icing them, with the thin icing, so when it got to thick, I sorta just say "forget it" and blobbed the fondant all over.  It didn't look so bad, but not as nice as the first ones that I made.

So, now you know that if you are making petit fours, and you mess up, there is hope for you yet!  I've very pleased with this attempt, even if I didn't use filling, or syrup, or cute decorations (again, the lazy thing).  So now I'm off to my grandparent's house for a family get-together and we're going to eat all of the goodies!

 

(That's one of the blobby ones)

Pineapple C{upside-down} Cakes

These cupcakes are so deliciously chocolately, moist, and tropical.  It's like the classic pineapple upside down cake, but better because a) there's chocolate and b) it's a cupcake.  Perfection!

The recipe is really easy too:

• Melt a 1/3 cup of butter and mix with 2/3 cup packed brown sugar.  Spoon evenly into 24 greased (I love the Pam with flour) muffin tins.
• Put in a tablespoon of crushed, drained pineapple (20 oz can will be enough) in each muffin tin.
• Spoon over with the cake batter.  And it's so easy, because you can just use your favorite, yummy cake box (like I used the Betty Crocker Triple Fudge Chocolate).  And, for more pineapple-ness, use the juice that you drained out of the crushed pineapple can in the cake batter.
• After baking at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (depending on your oven), run a knife around each cupcake (just in case so they don't stick) and flip them upside down on wire racks to cool.  Or you could just eat them hot, because they really are that yummy.
• You could also put a cherry on top, but we don't have any cherries because my youngest brother eats them all.  But it would be a nice touch if you have any cherries around. :-)

If you didn't remember, I mentioned earlier that this is my entry into the Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge for December.  The awesome prizes for this year include both sweet Etsy artists and some awesome corporate prizes as well:

• Betty Turbo artwork:    http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5002976
• Lots of Sprinkles earrings:  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281. 
• CakeSpy artwork:   http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382 
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply pincushions by Moda Home:  http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html
• Head Chefs by Fiesta Products:   http://www.fiestaproducts.com 
• A signed copy of Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson: http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com 
• A Jessie Steele Apron: http://www.jessiesteele.com 
• A Cupcake Courier:  http://www.cupcakecourier.com 
• Taste of Home cookbooks:  http://www.tasteofhome.com 
• I should also mention that 1-800-Flowers is also a sponsor for Iron Cupcake:Earth: http://www.1800flowers.com . 

If you're entering this awesome challenge, don't forget to have your cupcakes submitted by today!  Good luck to everyone!

Also, as today is Christmas Eve, I would like to wish everyone a very merry, happy Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

How to Make Your Cupcakes Moist

Like I referenced in my earlier post, cupcakes dry out faster than cakes because they don't have that layer of icing to seal in the moisture.  One way of making your cupcakes less dry is to add more liquid to the batter.  Some other tips that I picked up include:

• Baking the cupcakes at a higher temperature for less time and take them out as soon as they're done-- not a minute later. (15 minutes at 375)
  
• Make sure your batter isn't too heavy.
• Put a small Pyrex dish with some water in the oven on the lowest rack while baking for added moisture.
• Don't overbeat the batter! (This is true for regular cakes, too)
• Use oil instead of butter.

My "chocolate with a twist" cupcakes are coming along really well, but they're not done yet.  Actually, they are super dry, which is why I made this post.  I think I'm just going to have to try, try again.

Oh well.  I forsee chocolate pineapple cake balls in the future.  Oops.  Did I just spoil the surprise? ;-P  Yes, I'm making chocolate pineapple cupcakes, because pineapple is my favorite fruit.  I just need to tweak the recipe around some more for Take II.  I also need to decide if I want to use pineapple buttercream or chocolate ganache for the icing...

In the meantime, I have a secret anniverary cake that I'm making for one of my friends.  It was pretty cool of him to ask me to make the cake for the occation. :)  Pictures of everything coming soon... (Sorry I'm not blogging much these days, but it will be easier after finals are through, I promise!)

The Secret Life of Cake

So yesterday I was watching "The Secret Life of..." and the episode happened to be about cake!  It made me happy. :-)

I didn't actually watch the entire episode because I had some other stuff going on at the time, but that's what TiVo is for, right?  Anyway, I did happen to see the part about Chicago's Cupcakes, and I learned something very important to cupcaking.  (Yes, I used the word cupcake as a verb.)  Are you ready for this intense cupcake-related secret that could change your entire baking world?

Well...  Cupcake batter needs to have more moisture.  That's it.  Cupcakes dry out faster than cakes because cakes are totally covered in icing to lock in the moisture.  Cupcakes, on the other hand, are only iced on the top, so that moisture can seep out.  Therefore, one should add more liquid to cupcake batter in order to make them moister. Now I feel a lot better about my cupcakes always tasting drier than my cakes.  It's not my fault, I just didn't know the secret.  OK, so it is my fault because I didn't know the secret, but that's all about to change.

And speaking of cupcakes, y'all know the next Iron Cupcake Challenge is coming up:  Chocolate with a Twist.  And I have a fantastic idea.  I just need to go to Costco and buy some ingredients.  I won't tell you what I'm making just yet.  You'll have to wait for the wonderful surprise. :-)  I can tell you how I came up with the idea, if you'd like to know...

I was walking down the hallway at school, thinking about how my little siter got a Chocolate Peppermint milkshake from Chick-Fil-A and how much I wanted one, because I just love the combination of chocolate and mint.  And then I remember that the ICE challenge was about a chocolate + something combination, and what other interesting flavor combinations can be included with chocolate, and BAM!  I came up with my idea.  It's making my mouth water just thinking about it, actaully.  And these cupcakes will be so moist and delicious too...

The Importance of Being Flat

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.)

'Nother Post

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.