Fall Is In The Air..

Today was a crisp cool day, which means Fall is finally here (in San Diego, that is). The scent if the wind reminded me of my favorite holiday - Halloween!

My girls and I have a playdate tomorrow, and since it is a potluck, I volunteered to bring cupcakes, of course! I used a fabulous recipe from the Cake Bible for an All-American Chocolate Cake, and my cupcakes baked beautifully and fairly even. I tried a new buttercream recipe from the Cake Bible as well tonight and I am happy with the results even though this particular buttercream would never work for a white wedding cake, because it's not even close to white in color. Since I was planning on coloring it orange anyway, it didn't matter much and it is delicious. It tastes more like a cream anglais than a buttercream, which I like. I topped them off with mini chocolate chips. I hope tomorrow is another cool day!

"May the best from your past be the worst of your future.”

-Unknown

I Now Pronounce You... Delicious!

After my children went to bed tonight, I decided to make some chocolate covered strawberries. But not just any chocolate covered strawberries. I decided to try my hand at the "his and hers" strawberries that are becoming popular at weddings. I burned the first batch of white chocolate (because let's face it, I should have taken chocolate class this semester...) but after starting over, I finally got a consistency I could work with. I only wish I had used a white chocolate that was more white but I gues these could be for the bride with an ivory dress! I will make them look a bit cleaner the next time I make them but I am satisfied that I know how to do them whenever the time comes.

Since I don't actually eat strawberries, I bought these just for this purpose. I guess my children will be in for a yummy surprise when they get up in the morning!

“It’s not what we’ve done that makes us feel tired so much as seeing so many things that need doing.”

-Unknown

Birthday Babies!

My in-laws were visiting this past week and since both of my daughters' birthdays are coming up soon, I decided to try a couple new recipes and make them a birthday cake and cupcakes. I stuck with a very simple design because there wasn't much time to work on it with company and all. The cake was Chocolate Fudge and the cupcakes were Golden Butter Cream. I was more satisfide with this frosting recipe than others I had tried previously, except it was so yellow, that it looked like actual butter. I will have to keep working on it.

“Act as if you'll live forever. Plan as if you would die tomorrow.”

-Unknown

Yum Yum Yum

I found a fantastic recipe online one day last week and two nights ago, I gave it a try. It is a Sour Cream Vanilla Cake. It was absolutely delicious! I didn't frost it, but it doesn't need any. I can imagine how delicious it will be with a fruit filling and buttercream or whipped cream frosting. Yum!

“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”

-Unknown

Still Here...

Since class let out, I haven't had much new to put up here. I have been trying out recipes, trying to find that perfect chocolate cake. I have tried a few but so far no winners. I know it's out there. Chocolate cake, chocolate cake, where are you? Haha. I am planning on doing another cake next week so I will put it up when I do. Til' then, eat lots of yummies and keep yourself (and your stomach) busy!

“Where we love is truly home; home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”

-Unknown

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send An A+ Right Over!

All done! Cake Class ended tonight with our final project, a four-tiered cake. We did a very ornate but simple and elegant wedding cake. My team came up with so many good ideas, it was hard to choose just one so we blended them together and came up with this gorgeous cake. We got an A+ and if we had maybe one more day, I know we could have added more (though I don't think it needed it). We each took turns piping, and covering the tiers in fondant and my team did a fabulous job of finishing the cake while I spent most of the class trying to get the roses done on time. I will miss getting to bring home cake every week but I am proud of how it ended. I think we went out with a bang! P.S. I totally STOLE this pic from Jenny because as you can see below, her pic on her camera turned out 10 times better than mine from my cell phone. Sorry Jenny!

Here are a few of the other cakes made by the rest of the class. There is one missing but they wouldn't all fit on one table or in one picture.
Here we are! Team 1 and our cake. I forgot to take off my hat so I look silly. 

“The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.”

-Unknown

Sugar Sculpture Final

Well, that time of the semester was definitely here this week. I had two finals due today! My Sugar Class final project was finished and we got an A. Woohoo! This scultpure took many hours with all six of my team members constantly busy doing something but it paid off. Here are a few pictures of our Turtle Pond.
At the end of class my team (Team 2) took a pic with our sculpture. What a fabulous looking team!

“Happiness is often the result of being too busy to be miserable.”

-Unknown

Work In Progress

My cake class is coming to an end and we have started our final project, constructing and decorating a dummy wedding cake. My team ended up with the only square cake in the class and even though it was more of a pain to cover with fondant, it looks considerably better than if it were a round cake. Here is a picture of the cake before we started adding more decorations to it. The only thing done to it so far is red ribbon was wrapped around it. We are piping designs onto the sides and making red gum paste roses to put on it as well. My team all came up with a really beautiful and elegant design so I am very excited to see how it turns out.

The final project for sugar class is due next week and while I don't have any pictures of it because nothing is assembled as of yet, I can tell you a little about it. We are creating a 3-D pond with a turtle, two fish, lily pads and a water lily. I will post photos as soon as it is finished.

“Never mistake activity for progress.”

-Unknown

Lady In Red

UPDATE: Here they are! The hat desserts for the Red Hat Society are finally done. The luncheon will be this Saturday but we finished the desserts today. The dome is filled with white chocolate mousse and cherries with a slice of cake and all of that is sitting on a large shortbread cookie. The entire thing was then sprayed with red-colored white chocolate and piped with purple buttercream frosting for the ribbon and bow (I was the one responsible for the piping and other classmates did everything else.) We were there until almost 4 this afternoon finishing them and I think they turned out great. I am so excited for the Red Hat Ladies to see them. 

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold — but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

-Unknown

Order Up!

Last night was our last week of finals in my cooking class and my team was responsible for salad and soups. We did really good and worked so well together. Our chef had nothing but great things to say about my team and he absolutely loved our soup.

This is a California Strawberry & Feta Cheese Salad. We fried the wontons on top and made a lemon vinaigrette dressing. 

Up next was soup, and we made an asparagus soup and served it with three slices of crostinis covered in a cream cheese and herb spread. I was the one who drew the "A" for asparagus. We knocked it out of the park. Woohoo!

“A good marriage is like a casserole, only those responsible for it really know what goes in it.”

-Unknown

Daring Baker's Challenge: April

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Here are the cheesecake bites I made, original and chocolate. I am not a fan of baking cheesecake, in fact I hate it. But I made it through.

I had a hard time getting good pictures because my trusty digital camera is starting to lose it's mind. 

“Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.”

-Unknown

Sugar Sculpture Number Three

Here is the newest sugar sculpture from sugar class. I am not as happy with the way this one turned out but here it is anyway.

“Whenever I get the energy to exercise, I sit down until it passes.”

-Unknown

POP! Goes the Cymbidium! Orchid, that is..

I had another gumpaste class this morning with Tami Utley at Do It With Icing and we created a Cymbidium Orchid flower. Here is a picture of what the real flower looks like and then two pics of mine. It didn't turn out perfect and I could have put more color on it but since no two flowers are exactly the same, I will live with it. Haha. 

“Plan ahead — it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.”

-Unknown

2nd Sculpture Success

I finished my second sugar sculpture today and I think it turned out pretty good. We added a rose, ribbons and bubble sugar to the base that we made last week. The rose took more time to make than the previous hedge roses and turned out better. I was not thrilled with the rose at first because I am used to making gumpaste roses but this one started to grow on me after a while. Each one of us had different color schemes but I tried to keep mine more natural. 

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”

-Unknown

Calling All Callalilies!

I finally got around to finishing those callalilies I have been promising. I didn't do much to them since I didn't have any petal dusts, only luster dusts which create shine but not too much color. After looking at some pictures of real callalilies, I think I can improve on them next time. 

“This is an age-old truth: People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.”

-Unknown

All Hail The Princess Cake!

We made a princess cake in my cake class last night and here it is. The layers (from bottom to top) were: cake (with rum soak), raspberry jam, cream, cake, pastry cream, cake and more cream. The cake was then covered in green marzipan and garnished with fondant ribbon roses and leaves. 

“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on, and swing!”

-Unknown

Channel 8 News

Here is the link to the video because I can't figure out a way to get the video onto my page. 

Channel 8 News Segment - Grossmont College Culinary Program 

Enjoy!

“Education should include knowledge of what to do with it.”

-Unknown

Beginning of 2nd Sugar Sculpture

We have started working on our second sugar sculpture in my sugar class today. We made the base this week and will make the rose to sit on it in class next week. Keep in mind that this is a "work in progress" and I will post new pictures once we add something else to it. I decided to do a copper/brown color scheme and I think it turned out pretty good. The colors contrast well. This entire piece is made of sugar - the whole thing. The base was cast and even  the feet on the bottom of the base are made of sugar. The branch-like piece is straw sugar (a different technique that included pulling hot sugar until it incorporated air and created a nice sheen and lighter color. I simply attached the pieces with melted sugar. It was not as difficult as I figured it would be, but I seem to have a knack for this stuff.

UPDATE: Our news segment did not air yesterday because of the Presidential speech so it will air today at 5pm instead. I will, of course, be in class but I am recording it. I will try to find a way to post it on here.

“The control center of your life is your attitude.”

-Unknown

It's A Bird, It's A Plane... It's The Lambeth Method!!

I had another class today, the Lambeth method class with Nancy Linstead at Do It With Icing. Lambeth is a decorating technique or method that consists of piping the same designs over top of each other over and over again with different tips and sizes to create a dimensional or 3D cake. This cake took no time at all but looks very intricate. We added some color so you can see the design better but I like it without color better, I think. The cake is milk chocolate cake.

“Put 'eat chocolate' at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.”

-Unknown

15 Minutes of Fame

UPDATE: The footage that Channel 8 News took of our class today will be aired in a segment about Grossmont College on Tuesday. I will record it and hopefully we looked good. They seemed very interested in everything we were doing. I can't wait to see it!

TV Appearance

The Grossmont College culinary department is going to be on San Diego Channel 8 News! Tomorrow (Thursday), the news crew is going to be filming our Advanced Baking & Pastry class while creating the desserts and breads for the Fine Dining dinner later that night. I'm not sure if we will be on the news tomorrow or Friday but I am setting my DVR to record every new program for both days. I don't know how it will go tomorrow since I woke up this morning with a huge pimple! I'm sure God is laughing at me, but I am not amused.... Okay, maybe a little amused. I'll post the details tomorrow. Wish us luck!

In The Wonderful World of Sugar

Today in sugar class, we used the pulled sugar technique to make hedge roses, leaves and a spiral thingy and put it all together. Here is the finished product:

Next, I finally found time to finish the roses (or semi-finish) that I made in class two weeks ago. I didn't have the exact colors I wanted but the structure of the roses turned out perfect. I like these better than the other I posted before because they are fuller. 

I didn't, however, have time to finish the callalilies that we made. They are constructed but not dusted so I won't post a pic of them until I finish them, which may be this weekend if I get time (but since I have a Lambeth method cake decorating class on Saturday, I probably won't). I would work on them now but I'm not feeling at all well today and staying home from my night cake class because of it. I hate missing it, but I feel crappy and after that long class today and the long class tomorrow, I need a break. It's the perfect time to be sick, too, when Erik is gone. Poor, poor, pitiful me. Haha.

UPDATE: I no longer have to stress about the 120 red hats for the Red Hat Society. We are not making them until May so I have a lot more time now to prepare and practice. Whew!

 “Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.”

-Unknown

Give Me Liberty, or Give Me... Pearls!

After a long day of grocery shopping, I decided to sit back, relax and make some pearls. They are 100% edible fondant pearls. I used black fondant because it made the silver stand out more. They were dried and then tossed in some edible pearl luster dust to make them shiny.

They can be used for many things so I will continue to stock up on them and make white pearls next. Maybe even make some pink ones. Oh, the possibilities..

“It is easier to swallow angry words than to have to eat them.”

-Unknown

It Isn't Over Til The Fat Lady EATS CAKE!

Ooooooooperaaaa Cake! Out of the several cakes we have made thus far in my cake class, this one is by far my favorite. I absolutely love the coffee buttercream and even though it had dark chocolate ganache (and I'm more of a milk choc gal) I still couldn't stop eating this Opera cake. There are so many layers of yummy goodness. Here is each layer from the bottom up: cake, syrup, ganache, cake, syrup, buttercream, cake, syrup, buttercream, ganache. Wow, that's a lot of layers! And it was deeee-licious! Jealous?? Haha.

“You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.”

-Unknown

Here Comes The Ranunculus

My day today was full of classes. I accidently booked two classes in one day so I had to go straight from one to the other. The first was a rolled fondant class at Amy Malone's School of Cake Decorating with Susan Carberry, who owns The Cake Cottage in Murieta, CA. She demonstrated several fondant techniques in addition to covering several different shaped cakes. Then I was off to Do It With Icing for a gum paste class with Tami Utley. We made the Ranunculus flower. Here is a picture of what the flower normally looks like. (I found this picture after I got back home and it's funny that my flower was the same colors. Haha) 

And here is what MY flower looks like: (It was almost dusk when I got home so it was too dark to get any really good pictures.)

I have been challenged by my Chef to make 120 red hats out of gum paste for the Red Hat Society meeting on Thursday and I am a little nervous. I will let you know how it goes and post lots of pictures.

“Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.”

-Unknown

Red Rose Cake

Although this is not my favorite cake, it is special for a few reasons. This was the first stacked cake that I did that was this many tiers and layers of cake. I did a neopolitan cake with layers of chocolate, french vanilla and strawberry in each tier. The cake was covered in fondant that I made from scratch. I will post the recipe and instructions later (with pics if I have time). All in all, it turned out pretty good. I intended to put fresh roses around the cake but when I went to Sams Club, they didn't have what I was looking for so I opted for a rose stencil instead. It took some practice (but hey, that's what this whole cake was for anyway, practice). We are still eating it. 

“Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better.”

-Unknown

Would A Rose By Any Other Name.... Taste This Good?

So after buying gumpaste and letting it sit around for a while, I finally got the courage up to trying out some gumpaste roses. I think it turned out pretty good. We started working on some more roses and callalilies in my sugar class so I will post pictures of those when we're finished. We'll see if they turn out as good as this one did.

“When you give advice, remember that Socrates was a Greek philosopher who went around giving good advice. They poisoned him.”

-Unknown

My First Wedding Cake

I have been practicing making wedding cakes and trying different structures and designs. This is my first wedding cake and it was a three tiered cake with three different flavored tiers, chocolate, yellow and lemon and all with bavarian cream filling. I chose a simple decoration with ruffles and sweet peas. Here are a few pics.

“It is possible for your mind to be so open that your brain falls out.”

-Unknown

Getting Some Practice

I have been buying baking supplies for years and since starting my culinary degree at Grossmont College, I have been practicing more and more. Here are a few of my earlier yummies.

Easter Sugar Eggs

One has a duck and the other has a rabbit that were created with fondant.

Castle Birthday Cake 

This cake was the first stacked cake I ever tried and it took a lot of time and prep. My sister, Ciara, stayed up late with me and helped. My little "fat dragon" was my favorite part. There were a total of 120 small flowers and the tops of the towers, doors, windows and everything purple had to be iced in addition to the cakes. Whew! Just looking at it makes me tired.

Halloween Spider Cake

The Halloween Spider Cake was my first tiered cake that used separators. I was pleased with the way the royal icing spider webs turned out. I didn't have any black frosting so you can see where I attached the spiders to the cake but it wasn't a big deal cause nobody could eat it anyway (it was a dummy cake).

“Blessed is the person who can laugh at himself — he'll never cease to be amused.”

-Unknown

Playing A Litte Catch-Up!

So a lot has been going on lately that I would have loved to blog about (if I only had a blog!). Now I finally do! So it's time to play catch-up so everyone knows what I've been up to lately. This blog will also be the Storybook Bakery blog after my website and business is up and running, but for now, this will be my personal baking creative journal. Enjoy!

In Loving Memory Of My Grandmother

Barbara Joann Meadows "Granny"

Killed By Intoxicated Driver on Dec. 7, 2008

“Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones.”

-Unknown