Adventures in Cake Decorating: My 1st with Fondant!

Happy July friends! 

Scary that one of the “summer” months is already down! 

My weekend has been a combination of crazy, busy, delicious, and relaxing!  That’s a lot of different things for one weekend.

Friday -  Saturday: Crazy/Busy!  And OK, delicious.

My goddaughter Riley had her 3rd birthday party on Saturday and I was flattered when her mom (my good friend) asked if I’d make the cake!  See, Riley is allergic to eggs and my friend remembered when I made those yummy eggless Guinness cupcakes for St. Patty’s day this year, so she asked if I could make an eggless birthday cake!

I was especially excited when she told me it was a Tangled themed party.  For those of us without kids/not around kids…Tangled is the new Disney version of Rapunzel.

(source)

This was my first chance to make a fun, colorful, themed cake!! 

I started Googling “Tangled birthday cakes” and found some great ideas!  One of my favorite ideas involved making a long yellow (“blonde”) braid out of fondant to wrap around the cake!  This seemed like a fairly easy, but cool looking effect!

I had never used fondant before (and was never really a fan of the taste), so I was excited/nervous to try it out.  I asked my pastry chef aunt what kind she recommended to buy.  She directed me to the “Duff” brand.  Yeah, the guy from Ace of Cakes!  He has a whole line of colored fondants and other cake decorating supplies at Michaels stores. 

I bought a container of the yellow, and a small container of hot pink that I figured I could use for other decorations on the cake. 

After scanning through some recipes on line I decided to use this recipe for the cake:  Chocolate Layer Cake from Eggless Cooking, except I used the equivalent of 2 flax eggs instead of the applesauce.

And a raspberry mousse filling using these two recipes as a guide: Raspberry Mousse 1 & Raspberry Mousse 2.  My version involved:

• 1 bag frozen raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 packet gelatin
• 1.5 cups heavy cream

I heated the raspberries and sugar until the raspberries were breaking down, then added the gelatin, stirred and brought to a boil, lowered heat and kept stirring until it was all dissolved (next time I might dissolve gelatin first in some hot water).  This mixture needs to cool.  Then whip cream to soft peaks, and fold berry mixture in. 

Friday night I baked the cakes.  I did 1.5 times the recipe and made a 10” round, 8” round, and 6 cupcakes which I was planning to use as the “tower” on my cake. 

I also made the mousse Friday night and chilled overnight. 

Luckily I couldn’t sleep well that night and decided just to wake up at 5:30am Saturday morning (instead of the 7:30am I had set my alarm to).

This was a good thing considering I was working on that cake up until we left the house at 11:15am!!

First order of business was to slice the cakes to layer them.  I was NERVOUS!  Eggless cakes don’t hold together as well, and these layers were going to be thin!

Carefully…

Success!!

I then SLOWLY transferred the top layer back into the pan now lined with plastic wrap.

This went well for both cakes…I thought I was good to go!

Filled with the raspberry mousse:

All that was left was to put the other layer on top…that’s when THIS happened:

Yes I had to puzzle piece my top layer on the mousse!!!  OMG I was freaking out, but just had to go with it and decided that would be on the bottom of the cake.   

Luckily the 8” cake went better, then both went back in the fridge to set.

Meanwhile I got to work on my fondant braids :)

I rolled out long pieces of fondant (p.s. this stuff IS good, tastes like candy corn/circus peanuts).

I started to braid, but seeing as those strips ended up being almost 4ft long, it was NOT easy.  So I opted to break them and make 2 shorter braids.

The cupcakes for the tower were not staying together, so I used 4 cake cones, “glued” together with frosting.

In the back is some rolled out pink fondant, I used cookie cutters to make flowers, and also rolled out more to wrap around this cake cone tower.

Note: I used simple butter cream for this: butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, cream.  Simple yet delicious, it’s my FAVORITE kind of frosting. 

Kitchen was a MESS at this point!

I began assembling and frosting the cakes.  I first did a crumb coat, which is a very thin layer of frosting which you let harden before applying the rest of it.  This is to prevent crumbs from mixing with your frosting (it’s okay if they mix with the crumb coat).

The mousse layer, even though it had chilled a couple hours, was bulging out the sides a little and in turn mixing with my frosting!  Even with the crumb coat!  I was having ISSUES.

This is where the fondant saved the day.  Now I get why this stuff is so popular for cake decorating!  It makes it SO easy to make a smooth clean finish…and/or cover up a crappy icing job ;)

I made a “stripe” out of the remaining pink fondant and wrapped it around the bottom layer.  The fondant braid covered a lot too…it was awesome.

I used two long “lollipop” sticks as dowels to hold the tower into the cake, and the top of the tower was a sugar cone covered in icing.

Ok, so it looked like a pastel Christmas tree to me, but give me a break…I’m learning.

I really wanted a “window” for the hair to be coming out of, but I just did NOT have the time or patience at that moment.  

I still have a LONG way to go in the cake decorating department but I was pretty pleased with how it came out!

And regardless of how it came out, I thought it tasted awesome!  That was a really nice cake recipe…very moist and chocolaty!   I’d probably use less filling next time too…or make double the cakes so the cake layers would be thicker. 

Now I’m itching to try another, but next time I’ll give myself MUCH more time the day before. 

Have you gotten into cake decorating?  Played with fondant??  That Duff brand was awesome…very forgiving.  It’s pretty much like edible play dough…screw up and just roll it back up and start over. 

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes – Egg Free!

Happy Spring folks!!

Sometimes I sit down at the lap top and just stare at the screen for a while…I hate that.

But that’s one great thing about having a blog!  It’s mine, and if I want to take a little break I can :)  Of course I miss it, but it’s not worth stressing over. 

Also, it’s pretty amazing how fast time flies…it does NOT feel like it’s been over a week since I last posted!  Craziness.

Now, where were we?

Let’s see, this past weekend was St. Patty’s day, and while I tried to avoid the craziness that ensues in Boston, I did spend it with friends and some delectable cupcakes! 

My friend hosted a housewarming/St Patty’s day party and I was in the mood to make some cupcakes.

I went with a popular combo: Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Baileys butter cream.  However, I opted to make an EGG-free version as my friend’s daughter is allergic!

I’ve made egg-free muffins before, but they are usually meant to be a “healthy” treat.  I still wanted these to taste like classic chocolate cupcakes!

Most egg-free recipes I saw didn’t call for an egg replacer, but I opted to add a flax-egg anyways.

Of course the real stars were:

You don’t taste the beer in the cake, but it does make for a super moist cupcake!

Egg-less Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Taste and Tell

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup Guinness
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• scant 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 flax-egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water)
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 T vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 350. 

Make flax egg and set aside.  Takes 15-30 min to “set”

In a sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add stout and bring to a simmer.  Add cocoa powder and whisk together until combined.  Remove from heat. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. 

Once butter/cocoa mixture has cooled a bit, stir in sour cream, flax egg, and vinegar.  Pour this mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix gently to combine batter. 

Line cupcake tin, or MINI cupcake tin! 

Fill each cup about 2/3 – 3/4 full.

Bake mini cupcakes for 9-12 minutes, regular cupcakes for 16-20 min.

Once cool, I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe for the butter cream using salted butter (of course) and only 2 T of Baileys + 1 T of half and half.  You could definitely still taste the Baileys but I don’t like my baked goods overly boozy tasting. 

Frost!

Not only does using a pastry bag + tip make them look prettier, but it is so much faster!

YUM!!! 

The cake and the frosting were such a delicious combination!!!  I LOVE butter cream :)

Didn’t miss the egg one bit!  These cupcakes still held together great. 

I think everyone loved them as much as I did :) 

I know cupcakes are like “so last year” but I still love making them…especially in mini sizes!

And somehow it’s already bed time ;)  I’m telling you…time is FLYING!

Beer and Blunders: A Weekend Recap

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  The weather here in Mass was AMAZING.  Dry, sunny, and in the low 70’s. 

Our weekend was moderately busy.  A lot went on, but I still felt relaxed. 

Friday started the busy-ness with the first run of one of the pieces my dance company is doing!  We have a show in September, but our director was involved in a showcase at a high school in NH where she coaches the dance team, so we decided to perform a piece!

It’s a long 12 minute number, but it’s really interesting with a LOT going on so you don’t get bored.  Anyways, it was fun being on stage again, the dance still needs some work, but I can’t WAIT for September for the full show!! 

On Friday, Bromely and I also saw a cute Swan Family on our long walk:

The mom kept diving for food to feed her babies

 

It was so cool to watch!!  Then we continued:

And took breaks in the shade

 

Saturday involved a pretty lazy/awesome morning.  Sometimes you just need to not rush, have a leisurely breakfast, and maybe even watch the Food Network. 

p.s. iced lattes taste even better in fancy beer goblets ;)

Our favorite French Toast!  With fresh strawberries, sliced peach, and a dollop of TJ’s non-fat Greek yogurt with homemade blueberry sauce.

Blueberry sauce – this is a great way to get rid of berries that are past their peak, but not quite bad enough to toss. 

• Place berries (any kind) in a sauce pan, add water but just to the point where you’re not fully submerging the berries.
• Add a squeeze of fresh lemon, and 1-2 T of sugar or sweetener of choice…I used maple syrup.
• Bring to boil, and then reduce to low and simmer until berries cook down and liquid is reduced.   

Brian had the blueberry sauce on his French toast.

Finally broke into my gallon of happiness:

 

The rest of Saturday was great…well until we missed the Red Sox game, but let me rewind.

After a 4-mile run, we got changed and headed into Boston.  I had gotten Brian Red Sox tickets for his birthday (which was May 23).  We planned to stop by Mead Hall in Cambridge for a beer and maybe a snack before the game.

Brian’s been dying to try Mead Hall.  It’s the latest craft beer bar/bistro boasting 100 different domestic and international beers on tap.

They weren’t kidding:

After perusing the menu and having a few samples I decided on the Bacchus; a Belgian sour ale from Van Honsebrouck.

Really enjoyed this beer.   It’s not as sour as some of the other sour ales I love (like Cherry Woods), but it had a mild sourness and was very refreshing. 

We also ordered a cheese plate (which went unpictured).  It was OK, still needs a little work.  Actually too much cheese, not enough accompaniments.   You know how much I love cheese, but I also love the different flavor combinations you can create with a nice cheese plate.

Overall I really liked Mead Hall and we are looking forward to returning.  I loved this huge bar area, with big windows to let in the natural light.  I feel like so many beer bars in the area are so dark and cramped.  This is nice and open with high ceilings and an upstairs with couches and flat screen TV’s.

Back to the story, the “blunder”.  After Meadhall, we headed over to the Fenway area to look for a parking spot. 

Found a spot a little too easy, but maybe just our lucky day.  Then as we’re walking towards Fenway, I’m oddly noticing some groups of people in Red Sox attire heading away from the ballpark!? 

Then it hit me.  I didn’t even think to check the game time as the tickets say 7:10, but as the Bruin’s playoff game started at 8pm, the Red Sox had moved their game up to earlier that day.

We missed the whole thing :(    So frustrating…not so much missing the game, but wasting the money and the fact that we had to miss one of Brian’s friend’s housewarming party for the game as well.

Boo Red Sox Boo.

The weekend wrapped up Sunday with the first EVER Woburn Famer’s Market!!  The best part is that it’s like a 5min walk from our house!!

Kringle from Danish Pastry House

Bees.  Frightening.

Purchases:

• Kringle
• Almond Croissant
• “pop tart”
• strawberries
• hummus
• iced coffee

Home to enjoy my treats.

Brian’s pop tart from the Danish Pastry House

       

Next up was a graduation party for a few of my cousins and my aunt made a spectacular candy themed cake!

How freaking cute is that!??

Sadly we had to leave before eating any as I had dance rehearsal to get to, but I had some candy :)

Phew!  That was a long post!!!

I’ll close things out with the winners of the
AllMenus.com giveaway!

Using a Random Number Generator, the 3 winners are:

1. Shannon
2. Erica Thomas
3. Jocy

Ladies, email me and I believe I can have your $10 coupons emailed to you!!  Hope you have a yummy take out dinner soon!!

Thanks Signpost for letting me host this giveaway!