Rock Climbing Birthday

Cade and Ethan had a Rock Climbing birthday party today.  My challenge was to create a cake that matched the theme... not a small task for a "beginner".  This time, I made the cake and both toppings from scratch.  I used a recipe for the cake in my Baking book for German Chocolate cake.  Although it tasted fabulous, it was VERY crumbly and fell apart easily. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if that's just the way the recipe goes.  I also made a Professional Grade Buttercream Frosting.  The frosting was probably the best buttercream I've had.  The secret was to boil the symple sugar to a "softball stage" and then mix it in with the beaten egg yolks without touching the sides of the blender.  It was creamy and light.  I added vanilla for flavoring.  Next time, I would make a double batch because it wasn't quite enough for the cake.  I made a half sheet round cake and broke it in thirds to stack it for the rock climbing cake.  I made fondant from scratch using another recipe from my baking book and this time it was PERFECT.  I gently kneaded black food coloring into it until it made the perfect granite marble color.  All of the rocks and decorations were also made out of fondant.  I didn't really leave myself enough time, so I cut corners by using black icing for writing and hastily assembling the people.  Next time, more frosting and MORE TIME!  :)  The kids loved it and I had a guest say, "This cake tastes AMAZING and I know cakes!"  Must not have been so bad!

Experimenting

So, I've decided to really focus in on my baking skills in addition to the decorations.  On Tuesday, I started with the first recipe from my Baking cookbook.  I made a type of French Spongecake called a Genoise.  Just like the recipe said, it came out a little dry.  The Mouseline Creme was FABULOUS and really helped to offset the dryness.  I decided to slice strawberries and place them in the frosting in the middle and on the top.  Overall, I give this recipe a 3.  I don't know that I will make it again, although I do suppose it would be wonderful with a really moist syrup or possibly a buttercream frosting.  I will for sure make the frosting again... it was light and delicious!  yum yum!

Got to Start Somewhere

As embarassing as this was, I am posting my cake pictures so that I can look back and see the progress.  WHEW, what a lot of work!

My first cake was for my twin boys 8th Birthday.  They love Spongebob so I decided to make that the theme.  I attempted to create fondant from scratch for the first time.  I have used fondant once before, but it was premade and tasted horrible.  This recipe was rather good, but I think I used too much baker's sugar.  It was a little dry and fell apart.   Next time I will not use quite so much sugar.   I found the recipe on The Cook Duke's website http://thecookduke.com/fondant-recipe/.  Give it a try!

I created 2 different cakes, both using a cake mix.  The first layer of the cake was chocolate with vanilla whipped frosting.  Because I was trying to focus on the decorations, I used canned frosting.  Next time.... from scratch!  

The cake came out of the oven rounded on top.  I used a cake leveler to flatten it, but the cake was rather crumbly.  After doing some research, I found that homemade cakes are less likely to crumble.  AH HA!  After finally frosting the cake as smoothly as I could, I got ready to apply the fondant.  I had colored it a pretty blue color by placing gel color in the middle and kneading it in.  I then rolled it to about 1/8" and folded it into fourths.  Next time, I will make sure it is big enough before doing this!  This part was a disaster.  After placing it on the cake, I realized it wasn't big enough to cover it!  Because it was already attached to the frosting, I couldn't lift it.  What followed was a mess of 'patching' fondant.  


I had purchased pre-made gum paste and colored it the same as the fondant.  Over all, I had a great time doing it and spent way too much fun.  I have a LONG way to go before I'm pro.  Yikes. 

Dreaming...

I'm dreaming of cakes.  I love the creativity involved and nothing makes me happier than being a part of somebody else's happy days.  My girlfriend Windy and I have created this blog to be able to document our journey as we learn to create cake masterpieces.   We are both Moms who have loved making adorable cakes through the years for our family.  Although we have had experience with baking, we are new to the world of fondant, royal icing and gum paste!!  We are so excited to get started!   I added a tab for Lessons learned so that we can continue to learn from our mistakes.   I expect that this will be difficult, exciting and, most of all, FUN!  Stay tuned as I stumble and grow!