Cakes of Seasons Past

During the long blog silence between the posts we made last winter and the new posts written last week, Jenny and I were involved in many projects that we never wrote about here. I thought it might be nice to do a quick catch-up on a couple of my personal highlights.

Two for Two Cake and Cupcakes
My Godson's birthday is in April – which means somewhat unpredictable weather in San Diego. Ya, go ahead and mock me, "Oh, boo hoo! Is it not perfectly sunny and 75 degrees every day of the year?" Here's the thing though: the weather in April might be beautiful and perfect for a birthday party in the park…or it might be rainy with winds that will blow your streamers to smithereens! So what do you do? Plan for the park and hope for the best? Plan to have a bunch of kids running around your house with that extra excited energy that a rainy day incites? I think I know what I would choose. So, as you may have ascertained, my Godson's party was planned for a small group in the park, but ended up being rerouted into a dinner party of five adults and one birthday boy. In other words, I made way too much cake. Better too much than too little!

Chocolate cake and vanilla cupcakes - everybody wins!

The Dog Cake
My niece requested a dog cake for her 9th birthday and sent me some examples of cakes she liked. I was immediately intimidated because as much as I am game for trying, I'm not a cake sculptor. I didn't want to disappoint my niece,  so I set about trying to create an achievable dog cake design. I ended up basing my cake off a black and white Pokey Little Puppy cake design and I used the blue and white color scheme from one of the cake photos my niece sent to me. I made a test cake the weekend before, to make sure that I could pull it off and that I wouldn't have to place a emergency cake order. When I made the final cake the next weekend, it looked even better.

Fondant Galore

The kids seemed to like it, even if they found out the hard way that fondant is best enjoyed in small quantities.

Dog butt!

- Jenn

Welcome, Baby Jack!

If anyone is actually still checking this blog, I will be very impressed by their dedication. As it turns out, Jenny and I are not as active at blogging as we would like to think we might be. She has a pretty good excuse though, what with having a newborn and all. I have no such excuse.

The good news is: we haven't stopped baking. It's the bakiest (I just made up a word!) time of year again, so maybe we will find the time to share some of our creations over the next few weeks.

To follow-up on my nonchalant mention above that Jenny had a baby, I should mention that she's doing great. Jack is a quite the cute little man and both Jenny and her husband are enjoying the newest member of the family. Rumor has it that Grendel is thrilled to finally have a brother!

To welcome Jack home from the hospital, I baked these sugar cookies using the Fred Letterpress cookie cutters. They took a little figuring out, but it was pretty simple once I got the hang of it. Although, there's nothing like baking sugar cookies during a 90 degree October heatwave to make you wonder whether you have lost your mind. Totally worth it though.

We are so glad you are here, Jack! Congrats to Jenny and John!

- Jenn

Barbie Cake

   Another niece’s birthday, another cake challenge.  When I made my niece an owl cake for her 8^th birthday, it seemed to go over pretty well.  I certainly learned a lot about making a character cake and also about patience. Let’s just say it’s easier to crumb coat a cake that hasn’t been sliced into multiple pieces. There may have been some cursing involved. 

The owl

   Last month, my other niece requested that I make her a birthday cake with the following words, “Auntie Jenni, you are making my birthday cake!” 

   

   I like her style. She wanted a Barbie cake, so you all know what that means--the classic rounded skirt doll cake. After intimidating myself with all a bunch of amazing Barbie cake photos on the Internet, I went to Michaels and scoped out the available tools. I couldn’t bring myself to spring for the $20 Wilton “Teen Doll” skirt pan, but the thought of it haunted me later during the baking process.  (The Wilton pan has a metal core that sticks up in the middle of the dome to help ensure even baking for this odd-shaped cake.) I did grab the “Teen Doll” torso pick. I think because I was getting nervous and felt like I had to buy something. Once I got home, I realized that I couldn’t possibly use this imposter doll. I remember being a little girl and knowing when someone was trying to pass off a fake. Needless to say, I bought a Barbie.

Teen Doll, you aren’t fooling anyone.

   So here’s how it went down. I made one Funfetti cake mix (I know…) in a domed ceramic bowl. It had to cook it for 55 minutes before the wooden satay stick came out clean. The edges were a little brown, but I trimmed the darkest bits off and they tasted fine. (This is when I started wondering if I should have bought the damn Wilton pan.) Next, I baked a Devil’s Food cake mix (sigh) using the Cake Mix Doctor’s recipe, but I baked half the batter in a 9 inch round pan, made one oversized cupcake, and then used the rest to make 10 regular cupcakes. 

   Once the cakes were baked, I assembled the cake in the following manner: 9 inch round, icing, bowl cake, icing, large cupcake upside-down. Next, I wrapped Barbie, cut an X through the cake and then pushed Barbie all the way down and gave the whole thing a crumb coat using classic buttercream icing with a touch of shortening to make sure the icing would be firm. 

Is it just me or is this picture almost offensive?

The architect assists

After some time in the refrigerator, I was able to apply the fondant bodice and then do the final base coat of buttercream. The hard part was over. Piping on the decorative touches is the most fun, if you ask me. I find that using repeating patterns and simple designs is best with limited decorating skills. Also, I try to avoid the temptation to over-decorate. The final touch that really made this cake sparkle was the silver luster dust I brushed on Barbie’s fondant bodice.  All in all, it was a pretty good cake for a 5^th birthday. 

Extra cupcakes for the party

   Let’s not make one of these cakes again anytime soon.

- Jenn

The art of the sailboat

Today, Jenn and I spent 5 hours making fondant sailboats and tomorrow we will spend another 2 hours assembling them.  I think I have spent more time this week testing cupcake recipes and practicing rolling fondant than actually looking for a job.  I am also starting to believe that the sugar is starting to get to my head a little bit.

Little tiny boats



I think it is safe to say that after tomorrow, neither Jenn nor I will be itching to make cupcakes anytime soon.  The fondant sailboats, however are a different story.

Fondant is a magical ingredient and one neither one of us has ever tried to play with, though oddly enough, we both love to eat.  So last week, Jenn bought some and we had an afternoon of "Let's see what we can do with this stuff", one of the many new activities that we have liked to do throughout our unemployment.  Turns out working with fondant is awesome.  When you start working it with your hands, it starts to get soft like silly putty and anything is possible to make.  Well, so far boats are possible to make.  And we made them with the pasta machine.  Yup, we rolled it through like, well pasta, since that is exactly what the texture and consistency is like.  We did hit a bit of a snag when we found out the largest setting for the pasta maker still made the fondant too thin to thread a toothpick through, but we quickly realized that just doubling up the shapes made perfect little boats hulls.  So double 'em up we did.

Little tiny boat hulls

Next came the sails, and those were the more challenging part of the project, since we had to freehand the rolling.  Neither one of us is an ace at rolling things to a nice even consistency, but we did our best and then cut out little triangles and stuck a toothpick through them- voila!  Sails.




Little tiny sails

 Tomorrow I will post another picture of the finished cupcakes unless Jenn and I, in a sugar induced haze, just go nuts and start throwing them at each other before we make it to the party.  Keep your fingers crossed.

-Jenny

Cranberryaholics Anonymous

Has anyone else out there had this strange compulsion to buy bags and BAGS of discounted fresh cranberries left over from the holiday season?  Every time I see a bag and the price says $1, I grab it, I am not even sure it is a conscious decision, maybe the cranberries are finding me.  Perhaps in my last 6 months of utter joblessness I am starting to lose my mind?  I mean do I really think when next year comes around, I won't be able to spend the $2.50 on a bag of regular priced cranberries?  Have I started to go into hoarding mode?  If so, why cranberries?  These questions plaque me every time I try to get into my freezer and have to search under bags of cranberries to find what I am really looking for- you know, actually food I can cook for dinner.  Have I mentioned that I don't even like cranberries that much?

Oh well, here's a a cranberry recipe (original stolen from http://www.bigoven.com/, it has been tweaked):

Cranberry Jelly

2 14 cups water
1 (12) ounce package of fresh cranberries- or freshly thawed cranberries in my case
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cinammon stick
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the cranberries and cinammon stick and boil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Puree the cranberries in a food processor and strain.  Don't forget to remove the cinnamon stick and discard.

Return the puree to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and salt, and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. At this point, I also like to add a bit ,1/2 tsp, of vanilla to sort of round out the cranberriness. Transfer to a bowl, let cool; refrigerate until gelled. I like to put them in little mason jars for serving or giving away for gifts.

Makes about 3 cups.

-Jenny