My First Real Wedding Cake

 

Today I have the honor of delivering my first wedding cake. It is a Western theme with Teal and Black as the colors.  I have made wedding cakes before but not one for hire.  I can now understand why they are so expensive, much more than birthday or other occasions.

 

First, you want it to be perfect.  It's the cake that will be seen for years to come.  Though Birthday cakes are in pictures it's more about the person and new pictures and cakes will be taken next year.  But a wedding cake is supposed to be a once in a life time event (not sure if that really goes much anymore, but one would hope!). So the pressure to get it right so it photographs well and to taste good is enormous.  If it doesn't look good than the pictures are messed up.  If it doesn't taste good than you don't get referrals!



I made gum paste flowers with stamens in the middle.  These turned out rather well and were pretty sturdy.  I used a black ribbon around the cake.  Normally I would have used fondant ribbon, but the client wanted real ribbon and it does have cleaner lines.  Was easy to put on too.

They provided the wedding cake topper, a rope with boots and hats and a heart studded with crystals.  Pretty.

The hardest parts of this cake was getting the texture right and rolling fondant.  It was a dense French vanilla with raspberry filling.  I'm still not sure about the texture but the flavor was really good and it will cut well.  I am still searching for the right recipe and there are so many.  Altitude has everything to do with cake baking and it is tough to get one that doesn't dry out or crumble to pieces when you cut it.

As you know I make my own fondant.  It think it tastes better than commercial.  I also don't have the sheeter to roll it so I have to do it by hand.  The top cake I rolled five times before getting it reasonably decent.  The bottom I rolled once....practice makes better.  My arms and wrists were aching so bad I had a hard time sleeping last night and believe me, standing on your feet for two hours straight without a break and rolling fondant and another three hours putting the cake together is no picnic.  I need equipment!!!

All in all though I think this turned out as professional as any cake out there.  I was very pleased and I think the Bride and Groom will be too.  Now off to make the delivery!

Indiana Jones Cake

 

This Indiana Jones cake was a pretty big cake and took quite a bit of time to get done.  Since I don't have a fondant sheeter for spitting out nice rolled pieces of fondant and I rolled all this by hand. My wrists and forearms are killing me. I told my husband that if I'm going to keep doing these kinds of cakes I would have to break down and purchase the right equipment to make it much easier.  His comment, "Here comes the conditions!"  Ha, ha funny guy! I know that he enjoys watching the creations and he even helps with cutting sticks and making structure supports.

It's Sebby's 7th birthday and I asked him what he wanted me to make.  He has this Pitfall game on the computer  that is much like Indian Jones so we did this style of cake.  "Grammy, I want a HUGE cake!"  And this is pretty huge.  

 

Okay, I know some of you are saying, "Wait a minute! How can a river flow down both sides of the rock?"  Well let's pretend there is a spring up there or it's the Great Divide or something.  I needed to do something with water on both sides  and limited space. My husband told me that you can do whatever you want with cake!  In any case, with the spiders, snake, crock and scorpion it turned out pretty cool.

The cake is chocolate, of course.  Raspberry filling is in the top two cakes. I used my usual butter cream frosting and fondant that I make from scratch. Click on this site for  recipes.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm

Callie, my oldest daughter is turning 34 and decided she wanted in on the Indiana Jones theme. I mean - Harrison Ford?! Come on! (Sebby's and Callies's birthdays are three days apart.) So the smaller cake is an Lemon Cream Cake with lemon cream filling (her request).  The heroine is on the top of the cake ready to pound a spider to death with a frying pan or machete whichever gets the job done. 

I used the coated marshmallows for the "ruins" and root beer barrel candies for the ammo stash.  The tree trunks are long pretzel sticks.

This is the first cake that I didn't have a clear plan of what I wanted to do until I started putting the cake together.  I had the cakes baked and in the freezer.  I just didn't know how it would turn out.  I did go to the Internet to get ideas and then I just put it together.  It turned out pretty well for not know what I wanted to do though I wouldn't recommend doing cakes like that very often. I'm glad it didn't turn into a mess.

Grammy's Cran-Apple Pie

I post lots of decorated cakes but this time I am posting a Cran-Apple Pie.  I don't usually make pies because I didn't have a great crust recipe.  Then I found, and watched, Alton Brown's pie recipe.  You can go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pie-crust-recipe/index.html to view the demo.  I do have to tell you that I don't use his exact recipe because I don't use lard in my baking.  I will put mine below.  The key is to use very cold butter and liquid.  Alton does have tricks to rolling out the dough too.  I found his suggestions very helpful to get me started.

Dough Recipe

(Make two recipes, one for top (lattice work) and one for bottom)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter unsalted cubed (should be very cold!)

1 Tablespoon vinegar

2 Tablespoons milk or half and half

1 Egg beaten (for brushing the top to help brown nicely)

 

 

Instructions

Place flour and salt in food processor. Pulse to distribute salt evenly.

Next add very cold cubed butter.  May be placed in freezer for 15 minutes prior to using.

Pulse until blended enough to look like small pellets in dough.  Don't over blend.  You want tiny balls of butter in dough and not have it blended so much it starts to glutonize or become sticky. Then you 

have tough dough.....yuck!

Next add vinegar and pulse two or three times quickly.

Next add very cold milk or half n half a small amount at a time until the dough forms pellets that when pressed together will hold its shape. Depending on where you live you may need less liquid or more. (See video for visual)

Place dough in plastic bag and form into disc and place in fridge while preparing the filling, about 30 minutes.

Thinly sliced apples cook better.

 

Cran-Apple Pie Filling

1 cup fresh cranberries

1 cup apple juice

6 Granny Smith Apples peeled and cored and sliced into thin slices

1 to 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
 (If you have ice-cream with this and you like less sweet just use one cup other wise add another 1/2 c sugar for more sweet.)

2 Teaspoons cinnamon (My hubby loves extra so I put in a little more)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 small lemon juiced

1/2 cup flour

2 Tablespoons corn starch

1/2 stick butter cubed into small cubes

 

Instructions for Filling

Rinse cranberries and place them in a sauce pan with apple juice.  Cook until softened. Set aside.

Place prepared apples in a large bowl and cover with lemon juice. Stir well to cover the apples so they don't turn brown. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and corn starch.  Stir well and pour over apples. Stir until apples are covered with flour mixture. Add cranberries and juice and stir till well blended. Set aside.

On a well floured surface (I use a pastry cloth and sock for my roller well covered with flour) place the chilled dough for the bottom and roll out to about 1/8 " or so.  Place in bottom of pie pan and leave some over hang of crust. If you have some good size trim scraps save them. I will explain later.  (Don't re roll them. Just lay them flat off to the side.)

 Fill the shell with apple mixture. Place the small cubed butter all over the top of the apple filling evenly. Set aside.

 

 

Take the second batch of chilled dough for the top and roll out the same as you did for the bottom.  Do your lattice top (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv4809RKhzg on how to do it) or just lay the dough over the top, trim, crimp, (the above video shows how to tuck and crimp edges) and poke some vent holes in the top.  Brush the top with the beaten egg.  This helps it brown beautifully.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Then cover the top with foil and bake another 40 minutes.

With the extra dough I used a leaf cutter and made some leaves to put on the top for an extra touch.

I always like to have pie warm and I think this is definitely better warm with vanilla ice cream melting on top. I have updated this recipe a couple of times already. Let me know if you try it and what you think by leaving a comment.  Always looking for good critics! Enjoy!



Barrel full of Flowers

This was a birthday cake order for another friend of mine who loves chocolate.  Her husband surprised her with this cake. 

The cake is chocolate decedent cake, which means lots of yummy chocolate.  The filling was chocolate ganache and the top was chocolate ganache with chocolate wafers crumbled up to represent soil. 

The barrel is made out of Kit-Kat bars.  The frosting is butter cream and the roses are marshmallow fondant.

Sports Cake





I got an order for this sport cake from a friend of mine.  It was a white cake with butter cream filling.  I used my standard marshmallow fondant and butter cream icing. 

 I knew this cake would be a challenge because of the unique ball shapes and getting it all put together. The hardest part was the baseball because of the shape of the laces and actual stitching. I used royal icing to make the laces. 

Structure was an issue as the basket ball was difficult to add on the cake.  I ran sticks into the cake to help hold it on but what helped most was lots of icing as glue.

The Football came out way better than I imagined.  I was able to get the laces right and even put stitching on.  Also, I used a texture mat for the Basketball.  You know the skid proof drawer liners you can buy in a roll at Wal-Mart? Yeah, that stuff is great!  I also use sheets of it under the cake in the car for transport so the cakes won't slide.

Pumpkins and Mice



 My Grandson's school asked for donations to a fundraiser they were having at their Fall Festival.  I looked on the internet and saw this cute cake and decided it was appropriate for the occasion. 

 

The cake is a spice cake with buttercream frosting.  I used my homemade marshmallow fondant and Wilton's Gum Paste to make the mice.

Old Man Cake

My friend Dianna asked me to make a cake for her husbands birthday.  She wanted an old man sitting in his chair.  I know Mike is a good golfer (scratch!), hunter, and enjoys a beer now and then.  So I came up with this cake.  The top layer is chocolate with raspberry filling and the bottom is French Butter cream with Lemon Filling.  They smelled so good while baking!

I made the "old man" sitting in a leather chair with a wooden table next to him.  I couldn't figure out how to do the beer bottle and I know he enjoys his morning coffee so I made a coffee cup. I will try to do the beer bottle next year.

Because Mike is a hunter I knew he had bagged a polar bear that he has mounted in his house.  I decided to do a bear rug.  It came out pretty cool. 

I put a putter and ball on the "green" where I placed the chair and table.  There is a small sand trap on the side and I put his age on the flag stick. 


I used the Marshmallow Fondant that I have used in all my other recipes along with the same Butter cream frosting.  It was humid and I had to freeze the cakes.  So I learned that when you are working on a frozen cake as it thaws it becomes very moist.  It was easy to stick the stripes on but I didn't want to touch it much as it left marks.

I didn't know how I was going to mold the old man so I looked on line for some ideas and printed them off.  More to get perspective than anything else.  I started with the jeans and worked my way up.  I did the head last.  I used half gum paste and half fondant mixed together.  The hands were hard and the face was tough.  It took me several times to get it right. 

I printed off a copy of Golf World magazine and superimposed Mikes face onto the front cover. On the back I also put old folks ads like Geritol, Viagra, and Centrum Silver.

I know that Dianne loved the cake and I hope that Mike did too.

Happy Birthday Mike....keep living life to the fullest!

Happy Birthday Mike.  Live life to the fullest!