Valentine's Day Chocolate Bake Off

A few weeks ago I was called about a Valentine's Day Bake off that Hamilton Medical Center (the local hospital) was hosting for their associates.  The employees could enter their best chocolate dessert to see who would be crowned as "Hamilton's Chocolate Champ!"  All the employees would get to sample the goodies too, so they were making a little party out of it.  I thought it sounded like a really cool idea, and so I offered to donate a cake.  I didn't spill the beans at the time, but I have been really chomping at the bit to make this Eiffel Tower cake for a while (since my Mike McCarey Big Bird class - WOW!).  The cake is actually pretty small, I would say it would feed 6-8 people, but I had fun making it!

But they also asked if I would be one of their chef judges too and I was more than happy to help them out.  I really expected that their might be only 20-30 entries, but I was surprised t hear that 80 people entered their various cake, cookie, brownie, and pie recipes.  There were so many entries they decided to get a second set of judges (one set for each category!!)  It took me an hour to sample 40 cookies, brownies, and pies!!

Here is the Eiffel Tower Template I purchased from Mike McCarey. As you can see, it is very simple, but the effect is incredible. It's just 2 cutting guides and an impression mat, but man, are they effective! I think they give you an instuction sheet when you buy these templetes, but they were out and I have failed to follow up.  So, I winged it!  Make sure you use a dense cake as the only support is the master dowel going through the center.  Box cake will not hold up, so don't even waste your time.  Use cake drums or foam core so you have something to stab your master dowel into for support.  Lastly, use modeling chocolate for the outside coverings.  You know I love the stuff and it did not let me down here!  It made the tiny bit of cake much more sturdy and I was able to carve more lines and details after I let the cake chill up.  We also found a cute blog where the author gave some great information and pictures.  Take a look at it if you decide to make this cake.  http://www.sweetdreamscakeapp.com/2011/05/21/amazing-classes-with-mike-mccarey-day-1/
 I have said it before and I'll say it again -- If you ever get a chance to take a class with Mike, jump on it!  The man is a genius!

Blue Damask Wedding with Bows

I'm so tickled that we made a wedding cake with lots of color!  I love an all-white cake, but sometimes a bride wants to make a big color statement.  The location for this reception was at a very rustic and HOT barn.  We have decided to MAKE customers use fondant for outdoor events when the temperature will be more than 75.  I know this isn't some crazy awesome cake, so let's just cover some tips and tricks.

A few hints for this type of cake.  First we did use our buttercream for the stencil instead of royal icing.  Due to condensation and general humidity, the very heavily colored stencil may have the color run.  There is no way to really fix this since it will stain everything it runs onto. 

Second, keep your hardened bows out of the fridge until the day of the event.  If you put them on sooner, they will become soft and lose their shape.  If you put them on right before you leave with the cake (the bows never made it into the fridge in this scenario) the bows will be matte and the other fondant will be shiny looking.  It does look really bad.

Third, to keep all condensation off your cake cover it with a brand new garbage bag.  Cakes going in and out of the cooler in short bursts of time won't get condensation.  Stack your cake and chill it for a while so all the piping, stenciling, etc are hard.  I use really large clear bags from Sam's.  Open the bag and put the cake on top of the bag and bring it up to the top.  Use a long pipe cleaner to secure your bag closed.  When you take it out of the fridge for delivery, give the cake about 10 minutes to acclimate to the kitchen temperature before removing the bag.  You may get some damage to your cake, so be super careful and only use this tecnique if you have a sturdy design.  Some cakes you just can't let sticky for different reasons so use this trick when it will really make a difference.

I'd love to know if any of these tricks have worked for you or if you have some that work even better.  Thank you all for your comments and participation in my little blog.

Super Bowl Cake Strategies

So most of my regular readers know I'm not here to talk about the Super Bowl, but since football has been all over the news lately so I thought it was worth discussing.  Lots of grooms are into football, and as much as I like making sculpted helmets, a lot of times our clients are looking for something more economical.  A football field cake can show the groom's love of his team while not breaking the bank.  Here are some tips I have learned through trial and error that I thought I would pass along.

It's pretty easy to figure out that you can print team logos using edible images or even using cricut cut outs, but getting the field just right can be a difficult task.  I have struggled with the field lines and in the end I have found that using small strips of edible paper.  They lay very flat and stick well to the fondant underneath.  The yard markers can be hard to get just right.  In this case, the cake was large enough that I was able to use my small number cutters and they looked good.  If this cake was any smaller though, the letters would have been too large.  What to do then?

Well, it was a problem SO many times that I finally found myself a high quality image of a field with all the lines and numbers.  That's what I used to make the cake above.  If I'm not mistaken, I had to use 2 pages and piece them together, but it makes for a good look.  With minimal skills on the computer, you should be able to print this to match whatever size cake your making.

And since this isn't the Super Bowl and we can all be winners here I wanted to provide all my friends here with my football field image to use however you see fit.  You can download the image here.

Hope you guys have a great week!

Megan vs Morgan - A Tale of On Site Repair

So only a couple of weeks ago I was telling you about my cake emergency kit and about all the things I did to make sure everything is perfect before I leave the shop.  You all remember that right?  Well, it would seem I jinxed myself.

I made this sweet 16 cake this past weekend.  It looks great right?  Except somewhere between reading the order and cutting the letters for the cake, some how Morgan's cake became "Megan's" cake.  I don't know where the mix up happened, and that's the point of this post - none of that really matters when you get to the event and something's wrong with the cake.

So I can tell you to read through those orders thoroughly multiple times, but the more important lesson is how I fixed it on site.

As soon as the mother told me the name was wrong, I started thinking of ways to fix things before she even finished her sentence.  I told her very confidently that we would take care of it and make it right.  The venue was an hours drive (round trip) so that was my LAST option.  I had also cut a second set of name letters for the back of the cake.  The cake was against a wall, so I removed the back set of letters.  I had covered the cake with sanding sugar to give it a frosted effect and I had also sprinkled the cake board with it too.  I took a couple of pinches and sprinkled it where the letters had been .  The back now looked great.

OK, so letters I took off are now what I have to work with to fix the front.  I  cut the "e" and fashioned it into an "o".  That worked well.  And then there's that extra "n".  Cut it at just the right place and it becomes an "r".  Alright, now I have the letters I need.  From there I swapped the old "e" with the new "o" and moved the "gan" over just a smidge to fit in that "r".

All that smooshing and moving took a little of my silver luster dust off some of the letters.  They looked a little mottled.  I didn't have any extra silver luster dust in my kit, but I had my small bottle of PGA, a small paint brush, and some (now) extra silver letters that weren't going to be used.  I put some PGA on the brushed and scrubbed the extra silver letters to collect of that precious silver dust.  Then I used this to paint over the letters, which evened things out pretty nicely.

So how did it turn out?

Not too bad, huh?

Now I fully realize that luck and ingenuity was on my side that day.  Things could have turned sour very quickly and these types of situations should certainly be the exception and not the rule.  But it's SO important to know what can go wrong, and what you would do if it did.

As always, I appreciate each of you that stop by to read my little 'ol blog - Have a great week!

... and Happy Birthday MORGAN!
 

Champagne Khaki Lace Wedding Cake

The holidays are over and the new wedding season has begun.  We've already had one big bridal show in our area and will have another next month.  A lot of brides get engaged during the holidays because smart men want to have all the family around and buy a present/ring that is a sure hit.  Since we are mostly doing taxes and consultations this time of year, I thought we had better find a cake that we had forgot to share. 

This "little" number is a 6/10/14" combo that was covered in a few lace fondant pieces.  It was a very heavy cake because it was carrot cake and cream cheese icing for a filling.  I don't offer cream cheese icing for the outside.  My crazy reasons are as follows:  Cream cheese icing doesn't get as hard in the cooler as 100% all butter icing and with the method I use to smooth cakes, I can't seem to get it as perfectly smooth.  Also, I have seen several of my cakes iced in cream cheese icing develop a "bubble" or "blister" as they are settling.  I've tried several techniques to avoid this, but it still has happened and I refuse to take a chance with someone's wedding cake.  Once a blister develops, you can often just push it back down after you put a pin hole in it, but if there is some intricate piping or stenciling you have less options.   My cream cheese icing is ofter very thick and will tear up fresh, soft cake when putting on the crumb coat.  People love the taste, so I haven't changed it....yet!  There are three new recipes out on my fridge just waiting to be tested!

The "trendy" thing about this cake is the champagne/khaki color.  I have taken art class and I own several color wheels, but yet this one puzzled me.  Many brides are using shades of these colors for their events.  If you know this, great for you, but I had the hardest time getting the right color.  I kept thinking it was just a light brown so I mixed, and mixed, and threw away.  Come to find out that these colors are made with (2 parts)yellow, (1 part)pink, and (1 part)blue.  I mean, come on, really?!?   Thank you Google!  I would have still been mixing!  Another chart I found said to mix ivory and violet (AmeriColor) but I haven't tried that one yet, but I will since it's less steps!

The lace were molds, as was the silver giant brooch on the middle tier.   Most of the molds are "Earlene's" in case you want them.  The middle tier was hard for me because it was supposed to be "messy" or organic.  I really like balance and order, so these are real challenges for me not to "fix".  Using Fondarific was a big help with this because of the unlimited work time and ability to stretch without tearing.  I love that stuff! 

It was nice taking a break with you, but I have got to get back to my taxes.  It's great wearing all the hats a small business owner gets to wear.  I just wish they were "fancy" hats like our friends in England. :)

22 Items You Need in Your Cake Emergency Kit

Cake decorators do 95% of their work before they ever leave the bakery.  On a good day, you walk in to the venue and sit the cake down and you're gone in 5 minutes.  But every decorator worth their salt comes prepared for every eventuality.  Every decorator needs a cake emergency kit.  Here are the 22 items I take with me on every delivery.

1. Two Big Angled Spatulas - .  If you ever have to move a cake off a board or reposition a tier, these will come in very handy.
2. Floral Wire - I have had to use these on real flowers and poorly made toppers on many occasion.
3. Electrical Adapter - OK, I have only needed this once or twice, but it's small and I like having it in there.  ;-)
4. Fondant Roller - Self explanatory really, I keep it in case I need to make onsite repairs.
5. Grippy Shelf Liner -I keep small squares of this and I use it to level wobbly cake tables, or keep a cake from sliding on a cake stand.
6. Fondant Smoother - Again, I keep this for onsite repairs if needed.
7. Fondant Scraps to Match Cake -I keep This comes in handy for repairs or for leveling wobbly toppers.
8. Buttercream to Match Cake (not pictured) - This too is for patching boo boos!

9. Business Cards - You should always have business cards.  Lots of networking can happen while making a delivery.
10. Various Pearls / Dragees - I always keep a nice assortment of these with me at all times, just in case I need them.
11. SassieSap - Need to re-affix a gumpaste flower to a cake?  SassieSap is just what you need!
12. Floral Tape - I use this on flowers and on monogram cake toppers with teenie tiny picks.
13. Needlenose Pliers / Wire Cutters - These come in handy for ALL sorts of things.
14. Fat Ivan Door Choc - I just got this for Christmas and I don't know how I did without it.  Fat Ivan folds out and hangs on a door's hinge to hold it open while I bring in the cake.  NICE!
15. Small Knife - Always bring a knife to a cake fight! :-)
16. Small Angled Spatula - This is the spatula I use for minor repair work.
17. Tide Pen / Shout Wipes - When you deliver a cake, you usually put it on a table with a really nice tablecloth.  If I should ever get anything on that pristine cloth, I use these to clean up my mess.
18. Small Bottle PGA / Vodka - If you ever get a smudge on fondant, this will help you clean it off.
19. Scissors - We all know what scissors do, right?  Just don't run with them!

20. An Assortment of Dowels, Straws, Skewers, and Toothpicks - I almost always use these items for cake toppers.  Super heavy?  Support them with straws.  Short pick?  Use a skewer and some of that floral tape to make it work!
21. Paper Towels - If there is an emergency, you'll need something for clean up.
22. Rubber Gloves - If things go south during a delivery, you'll want to don a pair of rubber gloves, cause we all wear gloves when working with food, right?

Depending on the cake, I may bring more items (like extra flowers / petals), but the above items are always in there.  Keeping things in baggies helps keep things nice and clean too.

What do you think about the list?  Are there any things you think you'll be adding to your kit?  Are there some things you think I left out?

Have a great week!

PS - If you're looking to find the winner of the impression mats, please check out this post!

Impression Mat Winner!

OK, I realized today's real post was going to be quite large, so I decided to make a special post just to announce the winner of the impression mat set!

15 crafty culinary combatants entered their names and only one emerged victorious.  Random.org has determined the winner to be:

And lucky number 7 is... VictoriaGrace!

 

Congratulations!  I have sent you an e-mail to get your mailing address.  To everyone else, I'm so sorry - I wished there were prizes for everyone!

Hotlanta Field Trip & Giveaway

Even though we live in a very small town, we are lucky enough to be about 20 minutes from Chattanooga, TN and only about an hour's drive away from Atlanta, GA.  This past weekend we didn't have any cakes on the books, so I decided that a field trip was in order.  You enjoy reading about my baking adventures, so I thought you might enjoy reading about our cake field trip.

CAKE ART
Our first stop of the day was at Cake Art.  You can get the standard Wilton stuff from Michaels or Hobby Lobby around here, and we have one or two small cake shops, but Cake Art is a decorating Mecca!

SO many impression mats to choose from!

A whole aisle of sprinkles!  One of each, please!

YOUR DEKALB FARMER'S MARKET
YDFM is probably the closest thing to experiencing shopping in another country.  This place is a no-frills warehouse piled from floor to ceiling with some of the freshest, most exotic ingredients that I have ever seen.  Row after row of spices, specialty flours, and various sundries from various countries doesn't even start to scratch the surface.  There's also a huge produce section packed with fruits and veggies, some that appear to have been cultivated from other planets.  And then there's their seafood and meat department!  It's the only place I have ever seen where you can buy fresh octopus!!

Photography was not allowed (?!?) But we managed to snap a quick pic!

HIGHLAND BAKERY
If you have ever looked at cakes on the Internet, or watched a Food Network cake competition, then you have probably seen the amazing work of Karen Portaleo from Highland Bakery.  I wasn't sure I was at the right place at first.  I walked in to a very small bakery area with a huge restaurant.  We were hungry, so we decided to grab a table and get some lunch.  Where we were sitting, I could see into the kitchen, and I had convinced myself we were at another Highland Bakery.  But when I asked the waiter, he told me that Karen did indeed work there and that there was a huge baking kitchen behind the bakery counter.  Karen wasn't there, but I did have a great lunch!  Their peanut butter french toast was the bomb!!

TRADER JOES
If you have a Trader Joes in your town, consider yourself lucky.  Whenever we get a chance to go to one, we always bring a cooler.  Needless to say, we filled the cooler and then some.  Look at all that loot!

I know it looks like a full buggy, but to be honest, the buggies are really small!

IKEA
We really weren't planning on an Ikea visit, but we were still feeling energetic, so we spent the last of our energy there.  I actually think I made it though there in record time!  Here's a little something I scored that you will be seeing in future cake pics!

Still thinking about painting this guy chrome!

All in all we had a super great day traipsing around the big city. As always, Cake Art was my favorite stop.  I shop online every week for cake supplies, but there's something very cool about seeing the items and holding them in your hand.  Once we got home, I collected our Cake Art haul all together...

There's actually a lot of stuff there!  And since I scored big, I saw no reason why I should leave you guys out!  So... I picked up an extra pack of impression mats to share with one of you guys.  The pack I'm giving away features a chevron pattern, plus some other stuff.  If you're interested in winning, leave a comment on this post and make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win.  You have until midnight (EST) on Sunday January 13th to leave your comment and enter the giveaway.  I will announce the winner on Tuesday January 15th.  Good Luck!

A New Year to do New Things

I love the new year, but I don't make resolutions.  I usually have so many "goals" that there is no need for resolutions.  For so long most of our goals have been " Cup a Dee" goals and we've reached most of them, even the ones that involved "doing less". Every year I do taxes and that brings a whole other set of goals (saving, finding better sources, keeping records quarterly instead of waiting until the end of the year).  There is so much to be grateful for that I hate to admit that we are a little burnt out.  I'm not excited when the phone rings and I'm bored with my cakes.  Chad has to redo the entire website to reflect our new business route (only wedding/groom's cakes).  But love his big heart, he isn't "excited" about all that work anymore than I'm jumping on those naked cake dummies that need to be beautiful display cakes.  I don't want to stop doing cakes, but I do want to stop doing the same cakes.  The weekly routine of diamond patterns/scrolls/monograms/dots is going to stop.  New and often hard designs puts energy in our "tank" better than money ever can.   It isn't that I don't try to get brides to do something new or different.  I have an inspiration book with other bakers cakes that I show the brides.  I have two full pages of "The Caketress", whom I adore, but not once in twelve months has a bride asked for any parts of her cakes.

So I'm going to do the following and see how it goes (which you will be able to tell because the kinds of cakes that we post).  I am going to go through all my cake inspiration photos, my book and website, and remove anything that I don't want to make again.  I'm going to make new cake displays in the fashion of what can be done, not was has been done.   Some maybe similar to another cake artist, but what is hot in the big city has not found it's way to Chattanooga, TN.  I have also found these great posts/blogs that are helping to pump me up!

Erica OBrien is in a little bit of the same boat, but it may be a little easier when you are as AWESOME as she is!

SugarZen Blog.  Ruth Rickey is such an experienced cake business person and teacher and I love how she speaks to us so frankly and wisely!

I would LOVE to hear your suggestions of what you do to cake-energize or think would help us do the same.  2013 is going to be great!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SPEND SOME TIME WITH PEOPLE YOU LOVE!