Heavens to Betsy!

Catching up

2009-01-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

So I'm a horrible blogger. Perhaps just an internal blogger. :) But for those who have asked to see baking photos I'll catch up and upload all the tasties I've created since my last post.

Cheeseburger Cupcakes!

Pilar & Everett's Wedding Cake

White Trash Baby!!

2008-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

What could be better for a bridal shower than a White Trash theme?
Everyone picking through the backs of their closets to proudly display their trashy-ist, redneck, trail park apparel...who could ask for more?
And what else would round out the occasion than a Rice Krispies Little Debbie Snack Cake-Cake! I have to say, this was one of the more enjoyable experiences I've had creating a cake. I knew going in that I could be over-the-top, silly, down-right redneck if I felt like it. All the better. And that means fun. :)

The tiers were made out of rice krispie treats molded by cake pans and a little bit of carving. The rest...snack cakes adhered with melted marshmallow.

The little topper, of course, was homage to Pilar's burlesque identity, Ruby Rockets. We affectionately called her Twinkie Rockets. :)

Corsets & Topsy-Turvy Birthday

2008-07-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am a bad, bad blogger. Its not that I haven't baked since my last post but have procrastinated when it has come to posting the pics.

The Caberet Show opening was a hit and so was the corset cake I gifted to the ladies. And really...who can resist a cake with boobs? Its funny, damn funny.
Since I was on the peanut butter kick at the time this cake was also rich chocolate with peanut butter cups through out. Layered with peanut butter cream (oh yum)...you could only have a small piece then have to lean back into the gluttony of it all.
For this cake I got to experiment with some new ribbon and punch out tools my nicey-nice Mom sent me. :)

Latest addition, Chris bday Topsy Turvy. Not too bad for a first attempt I think. Especially since I decided to do it a few hours before I needed to have the cake! Next time, I would definately do 3 tiers to enhance the topsiness and spent more time carving carefully. Its a bit difficult to get perfct angle without collapse.

Also, courtesy of my mom, I used this pan set that helps you create a checkerboard effect with the cake. Yay!

Homerun!

2008-06-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Birthdays abound around here. Last weekend began with Jessica's birthday. After an unsuccessful attempt at maracas and a sugar fan I ended up presenting some simple but tasty cupcakes adorned with tulips. Lesson learned was patience. The slower I go the more successful I am likely to be. Sigh.

I brought that mindset into my latest projects however. My wife's brother is a huge baseball fan (as seen in a previous blog) and turns 16. I decided to do a basic version of a baseball field. I took my time and the results were very cute. He was thrilled - and that's saying a lot for a 16 yr old boy.

Cake was a super rich and decadent chocolate peanut buttercup cake with peanut butter buttercream. Wow, very yummy - but rich, very rich!

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup of room temp butter

1 pinch salt (optional)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp milk

Beat together sugar, butter and salt until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well. Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy.

Chris helped me do some of the decor this time - and that led to the fun little jellybean fans. One even had a black eye - and one was yelling. We were doing a good bit of laughing with this one.

Next...the corset for Amelia's bday/cabaret show opening this evening.

Red Velvet Heaven!

2008-05-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

The other day my cake buddy, Ammy, mentioned red velvet cake. Ever since the thought has stuck in my brain. I've never tasted or tried baking red velvet cake. Isn't that reason enough? All the notoriety, the too numerous to count variations... I went for it. Verdict? Wow and yum.

After searching out tons of recipes and reviews online I tweaked a few amounts with the cocoa, vinegar, vanilla and oil (instead of butter) and decided to do cupcakes. The results have rounded our bellies and we are happily sticky with frosting. I made one batch of cupcakes but two half batches of chocolate buttercream and cream cheese frosting respectively. Both complimented the cupcake flavor I thought.

Red Velvet Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 glob of Wilton Red gel coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package cream cheese, softened
1 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
(plus I dyed it orange for fun)

A's

2008-04-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Practice, practice, practice. The more the better before the bigger project for August. So I just did a quick and simple cake for Chris' brother Paul who is a HUGE baseball and A's fan. Very simple but good to get more confident with the fondant.

Peacock Version 1.0

2008-04-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little better this afternoon about my hope of creating a peacock cake theme. With the help of rice krispy treats I've managed to mold up a decent birdie for a first try. Covered in fondant - skewered with wooden kabob sticks. I know traditionalist say it should be cake but the neck and head would just be too heavy.

I just used leaf cut-outs to see how this first one would look. I have ordered some fancy feather molds and cut-outs though...they just haven't arrived yet! And color - not sure whether I want to do colors yet or just use white and pearlize.

I did discover that I will need to use either thicker dowels or piping for better structure though. The wooden skewers didn't help all too much - resulting in a sad, sad peacock. Ahhhhh.

Playdough and Sugar Guitars!

2008-04-15T23:04:00.001-07:00

At 32 I've rediscovered the versatility and fun that is playdough!
Yes, playdough.

Candy and chocolate molds are great. However, they just didn't have the size I was looking to experiment with tonight. I wanted to try creating a guitar, multi-toned, out of poured sugar that would be about 1 1/2-2 ft in height. So I needed a medium for creating a mold.....Playdough!

Easy to shape, sugar doesn't stick to it and I just needed to rinse after I used it for play another day. This was indeed fun! And as tempting as it was...I didn't eat any! :)

Soooo this was my first attempt. And much learning comes from first attempts. But I'm happy with the outside shape. :)

Sugar Fun

2008-04-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

Playing with poured and pulled sugar tonight. The more I play the more competant and confident I will get with it I hope. Using silicone works great for adding texture. Also playing with mixing colors. I hope to eventually be able to create peacock feathers out of sugar for the wedding coming up in August!

And this is what happens when you miss those crystals on the side of the pot you are boiling your sugar in. Yikes!

Welcome....me!

2008-04-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Been messing with a new hobbie for a few months now and thought it must be time to start blogging about it.

Thanks to my friend Ammy I've delved into exploring my bakery side. Fun with fondant, poured and pulled sugar and whatever other confectionary challenge that may come my way.

So far I've only completed a monkey-head cake (tribute to Ammy's bday) and a cake for Valentine's Day. Although I've been playing with sugar also.

As a result however - I've been comissioned to create a dessert display for a friend's wedding in August. This will consist of a small cake for the couple and a cupcake tower for the guests. The theme is 1920's meets India meets Moulin Rouge....You can imagine the ideas.