This One Really Did Fall Apart, and I Almost Did Too

So the other day at work was quite a nail-biting kind of day. I was supposed to deliver two cakes, but when I arrived at my first destination, and opened the van's trunk, I realized with great dismay, that cake #1 was broken.

The bottom tier of this beautiful three-tiered cake had slid apart, so the whole cake was leaning over and I was pretty sure I going to cry. Thankfully, the cake's recipients were very kind about the whole matter so I rushed back to the shop and had only an hour to fix this great catastrophe. But it's not like I could actually rush, because you have to drive like a grandma when you've got a cake in the back. But what could I do? I didn't want the other two tiers to break too!

How can I possibly let you know how terrifying this situation was? Even though I knew, "this is only a cake", and "I know I can frost this fast enough," and "This isn't the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last, so it's not a big deal." But. Still. I felt like I should've had TV cameras following me around today. This was some prime-time reality tv drama. Complete with exaggeration and hyperbole!

I ended up have to refrost the top two tiers, and the bottom tier had to be started over completely from scratch. Completely. From. Scratch. (Well, it didn't have to be baked, at least, thank God. We had some extra 10" cake layers lying around.) And there was only an hour and a half before the party started.

I don't think I my piping was as good as my coworker's was originally with the scrollwork, but the cake did look nice. And this time when I delivered, I packed up the three tiers separately and put it together on-location (which is also scary, because people are milling around and staring at you and the pressure is still on). And once I set everything up, it looked pretty good. Especially with all the room decor they had set up for the birthday.

So in the end, everything worked out fine. And the other cake that needed to be delivered was taken care of by one of my coworkers, and I'm so very grateful she was working that day too! :)

If You're Good at Something, You Have to Keep Doing It

So a long time ago, I made cakes that looked like this:

So when someone came into Betty Cakes and wanted to order a castle cake, I said, oh, sure I've done that before (and I left out the part where the towers fell over mid-way through the party, because, obviously, I had learned from that mistake and would not repeat it, so it wasn't relevant) I can totally make a castle cake for you, Customer. (I'm paraphrasing here. Also, I didn't talk directly to the customer.)

And so I made this:

Which, admittedly, took a large amount of time. And those cake sparkles on those plastic towers? *headdesk* So tedious. But sparkle-y.

And of course, everyone loved it (I'm not bragging, but it's a princess castle, what's not to love?!). ....Which means the next time somebody asks for this cake, it's my job to get it done.

Like this one. I'm getting really good at these. Practice makes perfect, and all of that. But this time I made the flowers out of buttercream, not fondant, so that went a lot faster.

So it's a good thing that I love my job, because if I keep getting better at this whole cake deal, people are going to keep asking me to make them cakes. And I don't see a problem with that situation at all!

More Fall Cakes

Here's another faux cake I made at Betty Cakes. Anyone in the eastern part of Pasco County who's looking for some tasty cakes, check this little bakery out.  They have amazing desserts and hire talented employees like me ;)

In other news, I found a recipe for Nutella flavored cake balls, which I really want to try, and 2 new cupcake recipes: cinnamon toast crunch and margarita, both of which I'm going to have to try out on my friends/coworkers/roommates. Not sure when I'll have time, but I'll try!

Can't believe midterms are already coming up in the next couple of weeks. My senior year of college is 1/4 of the way done! =O And who knows what kind of crazy confectionary adventures I'll get into after graduation?

Betty Cakes

I love decorating cakes. I could do it all day long, and in fact, some days, I do decorate them all day long. Or at least as soon as I get out of class until the bakery I work at (it's called Betty Cakes, if the post title didn't clue you in ;)) closes. Mostly I make "counter cakes" which are the standard cakes that are sold to the general public, and occasionally birthday cakes. I did make a 2-tier wedding cake a couple weeks into starting the job, but nothing too crazy.

That's where the faux cakes come in. Decorators pretty much have creative freedom to do whatever they want with the styrofoam cake dummies (as long as it's awesome, of course), and since the shop is decorated for autumn, I made an autumn-themed wedding cake, complete with gold basket weave, roses, and fondant acorns. It's so pretty... :)

I love my job!

In Which We Have A Sleepover And Bake Cupcakes

Yesterday was my favorite day of the week. And I don't mean because Friday starts the weekend (for me, my weekends are whenever I get 2 days off from work, like last Tuesday & Wednesday). It was Bliss day!

A good, crazy, hectic time was held by all. I modeled some gumpaste and ate some cookies and was surrounded by the delicious smell of baked goods and buttercream. C'mon, what's not to love?!
Yesterday I worked on a spiral notebook cake with Meagan, another intern. We also iced cupcakes and made cookies and chocolate covered Oreos. Last week, we worked on the tractor trailer cake, and the week before that was the Post-It note retirement cake (check out Bliss' website for the pictures!)

Adam doesn't know how to use a flash!

Then I came home and planned an impromptu sleepover with my best friends and made cupcakes for a party tonight. The party is for our friend Vannida who is going to Stanford next year, so we're celebrating her awesome achievement! :) Cake mix was on sale at Publix! (Yes, I still use cake mix sometimes. So I'm not perfect and I might be occasionally lazy, but the cupcakes will still taste good.) And I picked up my paycheck. Ka-ching!

The cupcakes were chocolate with red & white buttercream-- swirled of course. And for some reason, it is still ridiculously difficult for me to put two different colored icings in the same pastry bag. But I'm working on.

And the gold stars at a nice touch, don't you think?

Icing Mustache!

Cassata

I have no idea what a Cassata torte is. Well, only kinda. It's some vanilla/rum/cannoli flavored cake of deliciousness, if the above picture and accompanying description are any indication. I found it while looking through Publix's Big Book of Cakes (or whatever it's called) trying to find the Caramel Pecan Crunch cake for a customer.

So I went home and Googled it. Apparently, it's Italian, and who doesn't love Italian food?! (Although the cannoli should've been a sign of the country of origin.) I also found a recipe. Not quite the same as the Publix version, but obviously they put their own spin on it. I'm not a fan of the almonds, but I do like the little cannolis on top. So I've definitely put Cassata cake on my to-do list. It looks pretty, it sounds unique, and I think it would be a fun recipe to try... ooooh, and how cool would it be in cupcake form?!

Ahh, the gears are turning. Time to turn on the oven! :)

Interdepartmental Trash Bag Stealing

Just one of the interesting tidbits I picked up from working at Publix. Hide your trash bags so no one steals them.

Obviously, that's not all I've learned from my first job. I am now a bread-slicing fiend, although a week ago, I was not. You might think it's easy if you've got an automatic bread slicer, but then you gotta put that sucker into a bag without all the pieces falling apart.

Oooh, and I decorated cupcakes! Aside from the occasional opportunity to write "Happy Birthday Kay" or "Happy Safe Driving" (for a customer's son who passed his driving test) on a cake, that's the only decorating this Decorator Apprentice (slash Bakery Clerk) has done.

So turns out I'm not doing much decorating. I sweep, I mop, I slice, I write, I take cake orders (definitely one of the more difficult aspects. Why do I always manage to screw something up?!), I run into table corners and cut my back on some sharp metal object while standing up too fast. Ouch.

But hopefully my apprenticing will continue throughout the summer, and hopefully I won't have to work 35 hours every week. I finally figured out why everyone says decorating is such a tough job. Unlike at a small bakery or cake studio, like Bliss, Publix has to take every single cake order a customer throws at them (unless they don't order a day in advance). And the decorators make them all the same day they get picked up, so on days when there are a lot of cakes, they gotta be there at 4 or 5 in the morning. Yikes!

That's one of the reasons I want to run my own place. I can hire someone else to do the dirty work (dishes, mopping, trash throwing-out), and make my own hours (if I want to stay up late the night before, instead of getting up early the next day, then gosh-darn-it, I will!), and decide who's cake I want to make, and who's cake I don't. No need to overbook!

But I suppose that everything I'm learning at Publix is helping me "find myself" a little more, and I really do like the job. Plus I can put some of that money I'm making aside (after I figure out this roth IRA business that my dad keeps talking about) for funding my own dream bakery. :)

P.S. I made a graduation cake last weekend, and I promised on Facebook that I would post pictures, so I haven't forgotten! Stay tuned!

Working Girl

Another exciting week has gone by. And what's more exciting to do on a Friday night than decorate a cake?

Go see Toy Story 3 probably, but I think cake decorating comes in a close second in the "fun and exciting" category.

I worked at Bliss today and yesterday and they were two of the busiest days ever. From coloring icing to decorating cupcakes to covering cakes in fondant (successfully! Yay! And with instruction from a very accomplished decorator) and modeling gumpaste, I think I did a little bit of everything.

I learned a lot this week too, like that Disco Dust is really pretty and Lace molds are a labor of love. I also learned that my feet really hurt at the end of the day but it's a small price to pay for getting to intern at my dream job.

Anyway, I've got orientation this weekend at Publix so I'll continue to stay busy. A month ago, I didn't have any jobs, but now I've got two! :) I'll try to post more interesting blog stuff in the future (Father's Day cake, anyone? How in the world am I supposed to top last year's cake?!) but I just wanted to give y'all a quick update so you know I haven't forgotten to write!

Simply Blissful

I am having quite an awesome summer.

First of all, my lack of blogging is due to a non-lack of everything else, such as brownies and jobs.

That's right, I'm off the job market. :) In the same week, I started my internship at Bliss, which is this really amazing bakery about half an hour from my house, and had a job interview at Publix. As far as Publix goes, I'm just waiting on the results of my background check & drug test before I can move forward with that.

But Bliss. Oh my gosh. I am having so much fun there! It's two days a week of cake & cupcake heaven. Everyone who works there (as well as the other interns) is so nice and so much fun to work with. I've done crumb coating and cupcake decorating (and baking) and cash registering and fondant creating. Well, I didn't actually make any fondant, I just colored some and make some cute little decorations.

I haven't covered a cake in fondant yet, although I did help. And I learned that Satin Ice is difficult to work with. I also did all the other fun intern stuff like washing dishes and sweeping and inventory-ing. ;) But it's still worth it.

So if you live in my area, you gotta stop by sometime and dry one of their delicious (and beautiful) creations!

And while I'm not working or hanging out with my friends or sleeping, I am still baking. Like those brownies. An imperfect, labor-intensive, yummy little dessert. The ganache was too soft but I couldn't freeze them because then the caramel was too hard. The turtle brownies were easier to cut when I froze them, and I just used a little heart-shaped cookie cutter to do it, and then put the melted caramel between the two little layers and doused them with semi-sweet chocolate.  :)