This week I am up to my eyeballs in batter, icing, flowers, ribbon, wire and tissue paper. I am doing a wedding for saturday which is going to be gorgeous I might add. Purple is not normally my favourite colour but I have blended some different shades of purple for the bouquets and it looks fabulous!! I am definately a growing fan of the colour. I am decorating a shower for thursday night and I just got a call to do some baking for my neighbors 40th wedding anniversary which is on sunday!
Needless to say, my house work is catching up with me. My Laundry is becoming a mountain and yesterday I spent my afternoon at the garage getting new tires. We had blown a tire the night before when we decided to go for a ride because it was too warm in the house for our kids to fall asleep. It wasn't the... peaceful, lull our kids to sleep..., kind of trip we had planned. Anyways to top it all off I have to go back to the garage this afternoon again because they put on the wrong tires!! Have I mentioned we are moving in a month.
Now that all of that is off my chest, I can go on.
Spring and early summer have brought on a few surprises, (mostly disasters) and a lot of lessons learned.
Let me name a few.
#1 Never try to fondant a cake when the humidex is more than 80% humidity. Everything melts!! I mean everything! My niece's first birthday cake was a lump of sweaty stretchy fondant and buttercream icing long before it was even left my house. Actually, it never left my house. It landed in the garbage and my neice had a lovely ice cream cake from Dairy Queen that day.
#2 Always pick up the cake securely with both hands to ensure that your balancing skills will not be foiled when your 4 year old son runs through the kitchen and bumps into you. If you do not have a firm grip on that cake it will surely land upside down on the floor.
#3 Always use the oven timer!! Burnt cake not only looks bad and tastes bad, it smells bad for days!
#4 Never use royal icing to stick on the grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of a lovely wedding cake. It shows through where you stuck it and never dries. Just sloppy.
#5 Don't become a baker when you live across a horse farm.....the flies will do thier very best to win the battle. Luckily for me I have the master fly swatting husband around. They have not gotten the better of me and my cakes yet..................but they are one reason we are moving.
So with these new lessons learned under my belt I am ready to face the two cupcake towers for two weddings on the same day in two different cities, another Justin Bieber Cake and one more wedding cake within the next month. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post. Show all posts
Do you feel fatter just reading my blog?...I Do!
I think that everyone of my facebook friends have taken up running this spring. My entire newsfeed is littered with where, when and how fast my friends are running. Now don't get me wrong, I think that is wonderful but the more I read their posts and the more I read my posts the fatter and even fatter I feel. So today I did something about it. No I did not go out for a run! I live in the middle of nowhere. It would be a long time before anyone found me passed out at the side of the road and I live in Canada, even though it is spring just think about it. Passed out on the side of a country road in a ditch filled with ice cold ditch water and maybe even snow if it is a shaded spot. I could die of exposure!! No not this girl, running is far too dangerous where I live.
Instead, I went to my trusty recipe box and found a great recipe for fat free cake and in honor of my friends who are timing their runs I thought I would time my bake!
10:00 Put the baby down for a nap, preheat oven to 350 degrees F
10:05 Plug in the "Plug in my Secret Love" Kitchenaid Mixer, fit the bowl and attach the paddle
10:06 Dump in the Box of Angel Food Cake Mix - uh oh, baby is still crying
10:07 Dump in 19 oz can of crushed pineapple, turn on mixer to stir, go check baby. Soother back in mouth, kiss hug return to kitchen
10:08 Grease only the bottom of the Tube Pan, listen for baby, all is well, turn off mixer and pour batter into prepared pan.
10:09 Cake pan goes into the oven, sneak down the hall, listen for baby - crying again, let him cry for a few minutes
10:10 Wash the bowl and paddle, reattach bowl and this time the whisk to the mixer, pour the pint of whipping cream into the bowl (I only claimed the cake was fat free), set it to 10 and let it fly for about 5 minutes. This works really well to drown out the sound of the crying baby.
10:15 Whipcream is ready, cake is baking, baby is whaling! Put the whip cream in the fridge and go get the baby. Make sure he has soother, rock him in the rocking chair, sing a little song, ward off any toddlers who will thwart my plan of getting him back to sleep, put him back in bed, close the door and return to the kitchen.
10:30 Get snacks for Emma and Ryan, listen for baby - all is quiet.
10:35 Go out onto the back deck and blow bubbles with Emma and Ryan, Oven Timer goes off.
10:36 Take cake out of the oven let sit a couple of minutes.
10:38 Invert the cake and cake pan onto a bottle and let hang upside down until cool.
10:40 A little more bubble blowing, some pinecone collecting, a Wii tournament, a couple of cartoons and..
11:38 Remove cooled cake from Pan onto plate. Listen for baby - still quiet.
11:40 Cover cake with whipped cream (now if you want to keep this a completely fat free cake use
a fat free dessert topping instead)
(You can also sprinkle this cake with coconut if you don't have a nut allergy in your home like we do)
11:45 Cake is done..... Baby is crying! Perfect timing.
I did that cake start to finish in the same time that it took one 18 month old baby to have a nap!! I don't even think I need to improve on that time. Best part of this little marathon is that I am invigorated from the experience but not exhausted and to celebrate we will have cake with our lunch!!
You will notice some differences from the original hand written recipe to what I did. My oven cooks hotter, so less cook time, the recipe also says to mix by hand but like I said before, I can turn my mixer on and walk away. That works out very well for me.
For those of you who are wondering who the baby is, his name is Jacob, he lives across the street from me, and he hangs out at my house 4 days a week while his parents are working.
Done and it's Perfect.......Oh wait a second?!?
Today is my dad's birthday and our entire family piled into my moms three bedroom bungalow to have dinner and Birthday Cake. It's a little squished and so we were all happy that it was a lovely day outside. Some family members could congregate on the deck, after a while all the teenagers end up leaving to go for a walk and the little kids just want to play outside in the centre of the circle. Once everyone disperses into thier own little groups the living room again has enough seats for the adults with only a couple of exceptions left sitting on the floor. But no one on the floor is complaining because Mom & Dad have a new puppy and he is so tiny the people on the floor get first dibs on playing with him.
Anyways, it was my job (of course) to bring the cake. My dad loves anything lemon so I made a lemon cake and lemon icing to cover it. It tasted really good and my dad loved it. Job well done...well almost.
I don't have a picture, I get so mad at myself when I forget my camera but I do it very often. Just let me explain as best as I can and hopefully you can visualize it. I made a semi circle cake, turned it on it's side to make it look like a hill and then put a road going over the hill. I stuck one of Ryan's cars on the road (which he wasn't impressed about sharing) then I lined the road with Hydro poles and strung them together with wire. Each hydro pole was made by placing a black straw in the cake (thank you cheesecake factory for black straws) and then embellishing it with transformers made out of black icing. Each pole was hollow, perfect for a sparkler to slip into.
My dad is a retired Master Electrician and my mom thought it would be fun to make his cake like the transformer blew and sparks were flying everywhere. So that's the look I was after and it turned out really good...or so I thought.
Everyone crammed into the kitchen we lit the sparklers and sang happy birthday as loud as we could. My dad smiled from ear to ear until the sparks from the sparklers kept landing on the tablecloth and the smoke from the sparklers set the fire alarm off (now of course I bought the biggest sparklers I could find so it seemed to go on forever). Someone was smacking out the sparks on the table while another waved a tea towel in the hallway to stop the alarm. The youngest family member is only 10 months old and she certainly didn't like the commotion so started crying and that sent the puppy into a little yapping spell and just when it seemed like it could't possibly get any louder or chaotic in the house the sparks died down and it was over.
And my dad had a Happy Birthay! No that is not a typo. Well actually it is a typo but it was a piped black icing typo on a green hill cake that almost set the tiny house filled with a million people on fire all on a lovely sunday afternoon in April.
I should probably note that when I was making the cake and after I finished piping the greeting on the cake I stood back and thought to myself. "Oh, that looks good, everything is lined up and it is perfectly centered on the cake" then Emma says, "Mom, is that how you spell birthday?"
Another good idea gone wrong! Oh well, this experience reminded me of a great blog that I found over a year ago. It's called "Cake Wrecks - When Professional Cakes go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong" just go to cakewrecks.blogspot.com if you want a good laugh. If I need to be cheered up or just have a chuckle I will visit this blog. I am guaranteed to be laughing before long. Sometimes you have to read the greeting written on the cake a couple of times before you get it but once you realize the mistake, you will be laughing your head off. This is a recent one that I found really funny "Happy Birthday Justin, Big Tip if it gets there before Noon". Obviously the "Big Tip" portion of the greeting was just information about the delivery and probably should have never landed on the top of that cake. I seriously doubt there was a tip at all when that cake arrived!
If you want another laugh read on.
I already warned you that Ryan was not happy about sharing his little car with Grampa even if it was only for a short time. I have another warning before you continue reading....Ryan thinks that "square words" as he calls them are hilarious! Now at our house swear words include words like stupid, dummy, ugly and any thing to do with bathroom humour. When we arrived at my parents home this evening. Ryan is always the first to the door, because it is his job to push the elevator button (door bell, his other grandparents live in an apartment) As my dad opened the door, Ryan begins his rant. And all I can say is thank heaven my dad doesn't catch half of what he says on most occasions. I only really caught the last of his tirade as I was bringing up the rear and carrying the cake. However, this is what I caught.
Gwampa, I need my car back and you are not keeping it. My mom didn't ask is she could use it for your fart fart cake and I am not very happy bout it. When we are done eating your big poo poo cake you have to give it back and I will take it home. (ryan looks back a sees me coming) Here comes mommy with your big dumb, stupid fart fart poo poo pee cake. (ryan bursts into laughter and adds) Oh, Gwampa, Happy Birthday.
Bewildered I looked at Rich and ask, "where did all that come from?" Rich looks back at me very innocently and says I don't know, I just told him to go say "Happy Birthday Grampa, you old fart!"
Honestly! I feel like beating my head against the wall sometimes.
Anyways, it was my job (of course) to bring the cake. My dad loves anything lemon so I made a lemon cake and lemon icing to cover it. It tasted really good and my dad loved it. Job well done...well almost.
I don't have a picture, I get so mad at myself when I forget my camera but I do it very often. Just let me explain as best as I can and hopefully you can visualize it. I made a semi circle cake, turned it on it's side to make it look like a hill and then put a road going over the hill. I stuck one of Ryan's cars on the road (which he wasn't impressed about sharing) then I lined the road with Hydro poles and strung them together with wire. Each hydro pole was made by placing a black straw in the cake (thank you cheesecake factory for black straws) and then embellishing it with transformers made out of black icing. Each pole was hollow, perfect for a sparkler to slip into.
My dad is a retired Master Electrician and my mom thought it would be fun to make his cake like the transformer blew and sparks were flying everywhere. So that's the look I was after and it turned out really good...or so I thought.
Everyone crammed into the kitchen we lit the sparklers and sang happy birthday as loud as we could. My dad smiled from ear to ear until the sparks from the sparklers kept landing on the tablecloth and the smoke from the sparklers set the fire alarm off (now of course I bought the biggest sparklers I could find so it seemed to go on forever). Someone was smacking out the sparks on the table while another waved a tea towel in the hallway to stop the alarm. The youngest family member is only 10 months old and she certainly didn't like the commotion so started crying and that sent the puppy into a little yapping spell and just when it seemed like it could't possibly get any louder or chaotic in the house the sparks died down and it was over.
And my dad had a Happy Birthay! No that is not a typo. Well actually it is a typo but it was a piped black icing typo on a green hill cake that almost set the tiny house filled with a million people on fire all on a lovely sunday afternoon in April.
I should probably note that when I was making the cake and after I finished piping the greeting on the cake I stood back and thought to myself. "Oh, that looks good, everything is lined up and it is perfectly centered on the cake" then Emma says, "Mom, is that how you spell birthday?"
Another good idea gone wrong! Oh well, this experience reminded me of a great blog that I found over a year ago. It's called "Cake Wrecks - When Professional Cakes go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong" just go to cakewrecks.blogspot.com if you want a good laugh. If I need to be cheered up or just have a chuckle I will visit this blog. I am guaranteed to be laughing before long. Sometimes you have to read the greeting written on the cake a couple of times before you get it but once you realize the mistake, you will be laughing your head off. This is a recent one that I found really funny "Happy Birthday Justin, Big Tip if it gets there before Noon". Obviously the "Big Tip" portion of the greeting was just information about the delivery and probably should have never landed on the top of that cake. I seriously doubt there was a tip at all when that cake arrived!
If you want another laugh read on.
I already warned you that Ryan was not happy about sharing his little car with Grampa even if it was only for a short time. I have another warning before you continue reading....Ryan thinks that "square words" as he calls them are hilarious! Now at our house swear words include words like stupid, dummy, ugly and any thing to do with bathroom humour. When we arrived at my parents home this evening. Ryan is always the first to the door, because it is his job to push the elevator button (door bell, his other grandparents live in an apartment) As my dad opened the door, Ryan begins his rant. And all I can say is thank heaven my dad doesn't catch half of what he says on most occasions. I only really caught the last of his tirade as I was bringing up the rear and carrying the cake. However, this is what I caught.
Gwampa, I need my car back and you are not keeping it. My mom didn't ask is she could use it for your fart fart cake and I am not very happy bout it. When we are done eating your big poo poo cake you have to give it back and I will take it home. (ryan looks back a sees me coming) Here comes mommy with your big dumb, stupid fart fart poo poo pee cake. (ryan bursts into laughter and adds) Oh, Gwampa, Happy Birthday.
Bewildered I looked at Rich and ask, "where did all that come from?" Rich looks back at me very innocently and says I don't know, I just told him to go say "Happy Birthday Grampa, you old fart!"
Honestly! I feel like beating my head against the wall sometimes.
I'm in Love...with my Kitchenaid Mixer
My first love, Ron, was kind, gentle, loyal, trustworthy, incredible, determined, faithful, full of integrity and one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my entire life. I felt so lucky to be his wife. After he passed away I really wasn't sure anyone would ever fill that void for me.
Then I met the Rich, who is and always will be the love of my life. I adore him in every way. He is an incredible husband, amazing father and the best friend I could ever ask for. After our tenth anniversary last year I was still confident that he would forever be my soul mate. The one my entire life's journey had prepared me to spend the rest of my life with.
But then last summer I had a crush that turned into infatuation, maybe even a little bit of an obsession, after a lot of thought I decided to go ahead and make a move, the excitement of meeting was almost more than I could bear. I have to admit it was love at first sight and day by day our affection grew until now our relationship has grown into a very deep and abiding love. I am totally in Love with my Kitchenaid for so many reasons.
Let me name the top 10 for you.
10. I can ignore him for long periods of time and he never complains
9. When he is busy working, I can just walk away and do something else.
8. He is so darn good looking.
7. He whistles while he works.
6. He is happy to help with making supper
5. The kids love to play with him
4. I can clean up after him in about 2 minutes flat.
3. I never need to find socks for him
2. He ALWAYS gives me what I want
1. I can turn him on..EVERY TIME... with just the flip of a switch.
What more can I say. I will be loyal to you forever...
...Unless of course a better looking model more efficient model comes along. Afterall, I think we have already established that I am just a little fickle. And this year I am feeling very partial to the Eggplant Artisan model with splash guard and pour spout!!
Richard, if you are following my blog which I am sure you are NOT because it isn't about Boats, Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, Fast Cars, Engines, Servo Motors, C&C Machinery or anything else mechanical (with the exception of this post) but just incase you ever read my blog. I do still love you more than anything else in this world. I only gave a tiniest portion of my heart to my kitchenaid. I just wanted you to know.
Then I met the Rich, who is and always will be the love of my life. I adore him in every way. He is an incredible husband, amazing father and the best friend I could ever ask for. After our tenth anniversary last year I was still confident that he would forever be my soul mate. The one my entire life's journey had prepared me to spend the rest of my life with.
But then last summer I had a crush that turned into infatuation, maybe even a little bit of an obsession, after a lot of thought I decided to go ahead and make a move, the excitement of meeting was almost more than I could bear. I have to admit it was love at first sight and day by day our affection grew until now our relationship has grown into a very deep and abiding love. I am totally in Love with my Kitchenaid for so many reasons.
Let me name the top 10 for you.
10. I can ignore him for long periods of time and he never complains
9. When he is busy working, I can just walk away and do something else.
8. He is so darn good looking.
7. He whistles while he works.
6. He is happy to help with making supper
5. The kids love to play with him
4. I can clean up after him in about 2 minutes flat.
3. I never need to find socks for him
2. He ALWAYS gives me what I want
1. I can turn him on..EVERY TIME... with just the flip of a switch.
What more can I say. I will be loyal to you forever...
...Unless of course a better looking model more efficient model comes along. Afterall, I think we have already established that I am just a little fickle. And this year I am feeling very partial to the Eggplant Artisan model with splash guard and pour spout!!
Hubba, Hubba!!
Richard, if you are following my blog which I am sure you are NOT because it isn't about Boats, Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, Fast Cars, Engines, Servo Motors, C&C Machinery or anything else mechanical (with the exception of this post) but just incase you ever read my blog. I do still love you more than anything else in this world. I only gave a tiniest portion of my heart to my kitchenaid. I just wanted you to know.
Cake Recycling
I have two containers that I keep whose contents don't look like much at all, that is until I magically transform them into little scrumptious bites that no one, I know, can resist. Especially my husband Richard!!
The first container is in the fridge it gets filled with all of my leftover french vanilla icing (which I always use as my buttercream base on cakes) The other container is in the freezer and it piles up quickly with all of the cake scraps I have from levelling the decorated cakes I do. Once the cake container is full then the magic starts to happen. I let the icing warm a bit, not really room temperature but softer than the rock hard candy it has become on the top shelf in my fridge. All of the cake scraps go into the food processor and then are spun into crumbs. Once the cake is crumbs. I pour them into a large DEEP bowl. Then back to the icing. In my kitchenaid mixer I beat that icing for old times sakes reviving it back to its once fluffy state and I add cream cheese, lots of cream cheese and beat it again until it looks like fresh dreamy icing, unfortunately this icing is usually a khaki green colour of maybe a little pinkish beige depending on the cakes I have done in the past week. Not that appetizing. But wait it gets better, so much better.
Then I dump the entire amount of icing over the crumbs. I take off my rings. I wash my hands and I start to mix. Then I wash my hands and mix some more, then I wash my hands again and continue mixing, then I wash my hands again and finish the task. Now I have a super duper sticky, crumby concoction that I need to form into balls but before I do that I need to wash my hands. I have learned 2 important things about myself since I have been making cakes, Number 1 - I don't really like to get my hands dirty!!and Number 2 - I need to use more hand lotion. My hands are clean but quite chapped from all of the handwashing I do.
So an hour later,100 more handwashing episodes, and I have just over 100 formed cake balls all on a tray and ready to return to the freezer. They go back in the freezer to freeze solid. Once they are frozen then the best part is just around the corner.
In a double boiler I melt the best belgium chocolate I can get my hands on and start dipping all of the frozen cake balls until they are completely coated and put them on a tray lined with wax paper to solidify. All lined up in little rows, like soldiers awaiting the changing of the guard, these left over ingredients have emerged triumphant with new life, ready to sweep the next taste bud off it's feet.
The only difficult part now is keeping them. I am not sure if they roll away into the vortex that is somewhere in my house that already contains many socks, a few pens, 3 pairs of my best scissors and I am sure the backings to one of the 20 pairs of earrings that are now unwearable in my jewellery box. I think there are also hair clips, tweezers and blistex tubes there. If these cake balls aren't in the vortex then I am sorry to say I have a thief in my midst or maybe even more! In light of passed experience I lean towards the latter theory.
Two Christmas' ago I had a large order for cake balls to fill. I made enough for all of my orders and a few extra for gifts that I could give to neighbors and .....friends... you know the ones. The friends that show up with a gift for you by surprize and luckily, in return, you had something for them... hidden... in your bedroom, that you wrapped in a panic while they waited in the Living Room. I have had a couple of those experiences in my life. I hope you're not all wondering if you were that person. Don't worry, you weren't I learned my lesson a long time ago. Anyways, I finished the order, packed the orders, made the deliveries and when I returned from making the deliveries my sister had arrived from Kingston. I had been gone a long time making all of the various stops but my husband graciously let my sister in, got her and her family set up in the guest room and offered them something to eat......guess what they ate? The left over cake balls, the ones for my neighbors and "friends". They didn't tell me at first, but they didn't have to. They both had that "cat that ate the canary" look on thier faces. I glanced around the kitchen then looked at them with the "I know what you have done, so fess up" look. They burst out laughing, because if you know my sister, you know, she is always laughing. When the laughter subsided they confessed the whole tale. They gave the kids something relatively heathly as a snack and sent them all to bed and then he broke out the good stuff........my cake balls. I know that Richard was the biggest culprit because to this day he inhales them instead of eating them. I don't really mind though because it makes me smile when he tastes one and his eyes roll into the back of his head!!
Now I can't say that I am the creator of the little wonders. There are many other people who lay claim to being the original "cake ball" inventor. So just to be clear I am not claiming this as my own, I just like making them! and I bet (if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, or at least washing your hands very often) that you might like making them too. Below is a picture of the company that claims to be the "original". Just look how yummy they are. You're going to be trying them I can guarantee it.
The first container is in the fridge it gets filled with all of my leftover french vanilla icing (which I always use as my buttercream base on cakes) The other container is in the freezer and it piles up quickly with all of the cake scraps I have from levelling the decorated cakes I do. Once the cake container is full then the magic starts to happen. I let the icing warm a bit, not really room temperature but softer than the rock hard candy it has become on the top shelf in my fridge. All of the cake scraps go into the food processor and then are spun into crumbs. Once the cake is crumbs. I pour them into a large DEEP bowl. Then back to the icing. In my kitchenaid mixer I beat that icing for old times sakes reviving it back to its once fluffy state and I add cream cheese, lots of cream cheese and beat it again until it looks like fresh dreamy icing, unfortunately this icing is usually a khaki green colour of maybe a little pinkish beige depending on the cakes I have done in the past week. Not that appetizing. But wait it gets better, so much better.
Then I dump the entire amount of icing over the crumbs. I take off my rings. I wash my hands and I start to mix. Then I wash my hands and mix some more, then I wash my hands again and continue mixing, then I wash my hands again and finish the task. Now I have a super duper sticky, crumby concoction that I need to form into balls but before I do that I need to wash my hands. I have learned 2 important things about myself since I have been making cakes, Number 1 - I don't really like to get my hands dirty!!and Number 2 - I need to use more hand lotion. My hands are clean but quite chapped from all of the handwashing I do.
So an hour later,100 more handwashing episodes, and I have just over 100 formed cake balls all on a tray and ready to return to the freezer. They go back in the freezer to freeze solid. Once they are frozen then the best part is just around the corner.
In a double boiler I melt the best belgium chocolate I can get my hands on and start dipping all of the frozen cake balls until they are completely coated and put them on a tray lined with wax paper to solidify. All lined up in little rows, like soldiers awaiting the changing of the guard, these left over ingredients have emerged triumphant with new life, ready to sweep the next taste bud off it's feet.
The only difficult part now is keeping them. I am not sure if they roll away into the vortex that is somewhere in my house that already contains many socks, a few pens, 3 pairs of my best scissors and I am sure the backings to one of the 20 pairs of earrings that are now unwearable in my jewellery box. I think there are also hair clips, tweezers and blistex tubes there. If these cake balls aren't in the vortex then I am sorry to say I have a thief in my midst or maybe even more! In light of passed experience I lean towards the latter theory.
Two Christmas' ago I had a large order for cake balls to fill. I made enough for all of my orders and a few extra for gifts that I could give to neighbors and .....friends... you know the ones. The friends that show up with a gift for you by surprize and luckily, in return, you had something for them... hidden... in your bedroom, that you wrapped in a panic while they waited in the Living Room. I have had a couple of those experiences in my life. I hope you're not all wondering if you were that person. Don't worry, you weren't I learned my lesson a long time ago. Anyways, I finished the order, packed the orders, made the deliveries and when I returned from making the deliveries my sister had arrived from Kingston. I had been gone a long time making all of the various stops but my husband graciously let my sister in, got her and her family set up in the guest room and offered them something to eat......guess what they ate? The left over cake balls, the ones for my neighbors and "friends". They didn't tell me at first, but they didn't have to. They both had that "cat that ate the canary" look on thier faces. I glanced around the kitchen then looked at them with the "I know what you have done, so fess up" look. They burst out laughing, because if you know my sister, you know, she is always laughing. When the laughter subsided they confessed the whole tale. They gave the kids something relatively heathly as a snack and sent them all to bed and then he broke out the good stuff........my cake balls. I know that Richard was the biggest culprit because to this day he inhales them instead of eating them. I don't really mind though because it makes me smile when he tastes one and his eyes roll into the back of his head!!
Now I can't say that I am the creator of the little wonders. There are many other people who lay claim to being the original "cake ball" inventor. So just to be clear I am not claiming this as my own, I just like making them! and I bet (if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, or at least washing your hands very often) that you might like making them too. Below is a picture of the company that claims to be the "original". Just look how yummy they are. You're going to be trying them I can guarantee it.
Celebrate with Me! (although it has nothing to do with Icing)
When I was 7 I entered a colouring contest at the local pharmacy. It was Easter and the prize was an easter bunny almost as big as me. I carefully coloured my picture the best that I could. I stayed in all the lines and tried to colour in all the same direction so it would look neat. I was super shy (I know, hard to believe) and I almost didn't hand it back in. My mom convinced me to just take it back to the store. She would be right by my side for moral suppport. So I did.
Easter drew close and I was absolutely shocked when a call came from the Pharmacy that I had won. My mom was always such a great support but I think even she was shocked that day. The chocolate bunny was really as big as me. I brought it home and I think there was enough chocolate for the entire family and maybe even the neighbour kids.
I have entered a couple more contests in my lifetime, not many, but I have never won anything since, until today!!! It's really nothing big, I didn't win a trip or a handsome sum of money but I won a scrapbooking contest for a submission I made about my home town.
Okay, so I wasn't really even the ONLY winner. I share the title with two other very talented ladies.
We all won....wait for it.........a POSTER!!
It's actually a poster sized scrapbook page that I have to make myself. Isn't that awesome!! I am so excited. I have been smiling since 2:00pm MST the time zone where the contest was run from or 4:00pm EST which is my time zone.
I have written an acceptance speech for the occasion!!
I would like to thank my friends and family for all of the support they have given me throughout my life. They have stood by me as I have tried to launch my career as a.................well as I have tried to launch my career. To my mom who knew even when I was very young that I would one day find myself at the brink of artistic stardom. For my husband, who has supported me and endured 3:00am wake ups whenever I have a new great idea. My children who are my inspiration for many scrapbook projects that I do. My friends who vote for my crafts even when they are so busy, and I know hitting the "Like" button can often be challenging, finding the right page and clicking on the right items. I really do appreciate it. I wouldn't be where I am without all of you. Now that I am so famous I promise to never forget all of you who have lent your support on my rise to stardom. I accept this award with tears in my eyes and gratitude in my heart. To all of my fans and my now "8" followers plus a few blog stalkers I have recently become aware of Thank You, Thank You!!
(Music fades in and then louder as I exit the stage and we go to commercial.)
You would probably also like to know that for this occassion I was wearing Pyjamas, designed by George and provided by Walmart. My hair was swept back in a very fetching barrette no make up was worn except maybe some blistex.
Something to lighten my spirits - Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes should do the trick
Today I am sadly making 400 cupcakes for the funeral of my friends son. I am still very sad for her and her entire family. However, the wafting smell of chocolate cherry cupcakes filling my home can't help but lift my spirits. On top of that the sun is shining today! Some good old vitamin D also helps. The best part of the day is my three year old who has decided that his motorcycle (tricycle) needs to be in the house, (I fought him on it for a little while and then relented) I don't mean to sound inconsistant but sometimes I pick a battle and then the little voice in my head says, "Why are you fighting this, you can make it work". So that is what we did. We washed the wheels together, set down some ground rules and now he is happily riding all around, occasionally stopping by the Drive Thru (the kitchen) to place his order for French Fries, a Hambugunner and a Sprite!! (which in reality is a piece of Bologna, a cup full of Fish Crackers and a Juice Box) That makes me smile the most!!
I have a friend, her name is Liz, her children are grown now for the most part. I think she has always been a "Yes" mom. If her children have a reasonable request it would seem that she always lets them try. I don't mean to say that she has no rules. Her family knows the standard both she and her husband expect them to live up to, but if there is an adventure to be had or something new and challenging to try, I think she is right in there, letting them try and letting them learn. So I don't really know if my tricycle in the kitchen episode really applies but when these situations come up I often think of her and I hope in some small way I can emulate her good example. Okay, I am tangeant bound again, back to the Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.
Normally when I am making a cake that someone purchases from me I make it from scratch, but today, in light of how many cupcakes I am making, a cake mix (or 10) will have to do. Of course, I need to doctor them up a bit, just to keep the reputation that I have worked hard for. No one will ever know, except for my loyal followers. All FIVE of you. I actually feel like you are more like my Posse than my followers. Moses had followers. I have a small band of loyal friends. Anyways, here is my easy peasy recipe for Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.
Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
1 box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
Prepare as stated on the back of the box
Add to the batter:
1 can of Cherry Pie Filling
1 cup of Miniature Chocolate Chips.
Fill your cupcake liners 2/3 full and back 350 degrees F. until the top of the cupcake springs back to the touch. This recipe will yield almost 30 cupcakes because of the extra volume you have added to the batter.
The best icing recipe to top these yummy cupcakes with is Nana's Secret Recipe!! you can find it in an older post.
So if you are feeling a little blue, try these yummy treats. I guarantee you will be feeling happier before they are even done cooking!
I have a friend, her name is Liz, her children are grown now for the most part. I think she has always been a "Yes" mom. If her children have a reasonable request it would seem that she always lets them try. I don't mean to say that she has no rules. Her family knows the standard both she and her husband expect them to live up to, but if there is an adventure to be had or something new and challenging to try, I think she is right in there, letting them try and letting them learn. So I don't really know if my tricycle in the kitchen episode really applies but when these situations come up I often think of her and I hope in some small way I can emulate her good example. Okay, I am tangeant bound again, back to the Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.
Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
1 box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
Prepare as stated on the back of the box
Add to the batter:
1 can of Cherry Pie Filling
1 cup of Miniature Chocolate Chips.
Fill your cupcake liners 2/3 full and back 350 degrees F. until the top of the cupcake springs back to the touch. This recipe will yield almost 30 cupcakes because of the extra volume you have added to the batter.
The best icing recipe to top these yummy cupcakes with is Nana's Secret Recipe!! you can find it in an older post.
So if you are feeling a little blue, try these yummy treats. I guarantee you will be feeling happier before they are even done cooking!
Nothing worth writing about today except HOPE
To me hope embodies happy feelings, anticipation of good things, and zest for life.
Hope—what it does to my soul when I feel it! Hope—what it does for the world when we act on it!
Hope is the great motiviator. Is hope not the very logo of organizations driven by the desire to find a cure to a terrible disease, or the reason people will run in marathons and to the point of sheer exhaustion in the belief that thier contribution to the cause could make a difference. Even the reason that some give up all that they have and love to travel around the world to help people that have no way of helping themselves. Hope invites us to act in a positive way to find happiness for ourselves and other around us.
But what happens when we lose hope? Then doubt creeps in and if we entertain thoughts full of doubt eventually despair will take over. A place where hope cannot be found. It seems clear, then, that when hope leaves us, despair ensues. For me, to live in despair is not to live. I cannot imagine life without hope. Perhaps this is because I learned from earlier experiences in my life that hope is a personal quality, one that does not just appear but must be found, and even developed. It is essential for happy living.
Don’t defer hope. Don’t put it off, postpone it, or delay it. Proverbs 13:12 states, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” [Prov. 13:12] How true. Physically, emotionally, and even spiritually, when we refuse to look for and find even a glimmer of hope it sickens our hearts. To prevent that illness, grab onto and hold onto your hope. Once you have a hold on it don't ever let it go.
To all of my friends who's recent days have been covered with dark clouds, don't despair. Look up, grab on and hold on. The sun will shine again bringing with it warmth to your faces and comfort and peace to your hearts. There is always hope. Hope that your heart can heal, hope of a reunion, hope that there is something more than what we already know here. It is a gift to us from above.
To all of my friends who's recent days have been covered with dark clouds, don't despair. Look up, grab on and hold on. The sun will shine again bringing with it warmth to your faces and comfort and peace to your hearts. There is always hope. Hope that your heart can heal, hope of a reunion, hope that there is something more than what we already know here. It is a gift to us from above.
Two Cakes, Two Parties, Two Different Cities, Same Afternoon.
Quite a while ago a friend asked me to do a baby shower cake for her daughter at the end of March. A couple of weeks later I had a request to do a Birthday Cake also for the end of March. Then a week after that I realized that the end of March meant the same day (Today) for both cakes, in two different cities. Luckily for me the lady that ordered the latter cake was willing to drive to the location of the baby shower to pick it up. Now I just needed to get all the cakes, my gift and the kids in the car and to that location in one piece. I found great boxes for all of my cakes this time. I packed the cakes in the boxes and then packed the boxes all up in the car. (Ahead of schedule I might add) Nice and safe! Everything had a place and as long as nothing slid as I made the 30 minute car ride to our destination I would be in good shape. For extra insurance I grabbed as many bath towels as I could find and tucked them in between the boxes.
Next, kids. They are never quite as easy to pack in the car neatly! One needs a blanket to keep warm the other has to take off his shoes because he is too hot. (Honestly, too hot!? The thermometre in the car says the outside temperature is -3 today), there needs to be drinks and snacks within reach but not on thier laps so they can spill everywhere. My seat has to be just far enough forward to be out of reach that I don't get kicked in the back during the entire trip but close enough to the back that if something drops I can very skillfully reach to the back seat pick it up hand it to the oldest one to hand back to the one that dropped it and is now screaming in my ear for it.
Everyone is now in the car, I start the car and realize I haven't opened the garage door yet. (I wonder sometimes if there is a subliminal message in that). I quickly open the garage door, take a deep breath (then think that wasn't smart) and put the car in gear. I back out and the backup alarm goes off. I stop. Get out of the car, I remove the tricycle from the middle of the driveway that no one knows how it got there. I get back in the car, another deep breath and off we go. 30 minutes later we arrive at the destination, it has been a pretty quiet ride and except for being told to Please!Stop Singing! there has not been any incident. A Miracle really.
The cake has been delivered to the first party and the lady that is to meet me has arrived, we have made the exchange and her cake is now on it's second journey to it's final destination. (Not my worry anymore!)
All in All, so far is has been a good day.
Now I will make my kids stay for a portion of the baby shower and when they can take it no more, I will sneak out the back door of the shower and take them to Cheeky Monkey's (an indoor playland) to play out the rest of the afternoon.
I do tease about them being naughty but in the end they are very good when I have things to do and drag them all over the countryside with me.
This is the birthday cake, it was an "Over the Hill" party, everything I looked at online while researching ideas all seemed a little creepy or tacky. The lady the party was for is far too lovely for that so I thought I would make a hill, with a boulder on top of it and tie a rope to it. Then I put a knot at the other end and draped it over the edge of the hill. I liked the way it turned out.
Next, kids. They are never quite as easy to pack in the car neatly! One needs a blanket to keep warm the other has to take off his shoes because he is too hot. (Honestly, too hot!? The thermometre in the car says the outside temperature is -3 today), there needs to be drinks and snacks within reach but not on thier laps so they can spill everywhere. My seat has to be just far enough forward to be out of reach that I don't get kicked in the back during the entire trip but close enough to the back that if something drops I can very skillfully reach to the back seat pick it up hand it to the oldest one to hand back to the one that dropped it and is now screaming in my ear for it.
Everyone is now in the car, I start the car and realize I haven't opened the garage door yet. (I wonder sometimes if there is a subliminal message in that). I quickly open the garage door, take a deep breath (then think that wasn't smart) and put the car in gear. I back out and the backup alarm goes off. I stop. Get out of the car, I remove the tricycle from the middle of the driveway that no one knows how it got there. I get back in the car, another deep breath and off we go. 30 minutes later we arrive at the destination, it has been a pretty quiet ride and except for being told to Please!Stop Singing! there has not been any incident. A Miracle really.
The cake has been delivered to the first party and the lady that is to meet me has arrived, we have made the exchange and her cake is now on it's second journey to it's final destination. (Not my worry anymore!)
All in All, so far is has been a good day.
Now I will make my kids stay for a portion of the baby shower and when they can take it no more, I will sneak out the back door of the shower and take them to Cheeky Monkey's (an indoor playland) to play out the rest of the afternoon.
I do tease about them being naughty but in the end they are very good when I have things to do and drag them all over the countryside with me.
This is the birthday cake, it was an "Over the Hill" party, everything I looked at online while researching ideas all seemed a little creepy or tacky. The lady the party was for is far too lovely for that so I thought I would make a hill, with a boulder on top of it and tie a rope to it. Then I put a knot at the other end and draped it over the edge of the hill. I liked the way it turned out.
This next one is the baby shower cake. I didn't research this one online at all. I woke up in the middle of the night with this one on my mind. I dreamed it would look exactly like this. Everything was edible except the cradle. I think the cradle would be awesome in chocolate. I need to think on that design a little longer.
Anyways, this was the end result this time. And I would like to note that "Dreams Do Come True"
(Sorry, I spent a lot of days at Disney World, not that long ago.)
Buttercream......my eye!!
As I mentioned in my first post, I took a Cake Decorating Class at the local craft store. Mostly because it was winter and I live in the country with only one neighbour across the road from us. And I live in Canada, so winter can be very cold, very long and in my casea very lonely experience. Did I mention I have two small children also, 5 and 3. Back then they were only 3 and one. I really needed something else to do and think about until spring came and we could go outside again.
Okay, so onto my Cake Decorating Course.
The first class consisted of how to properly bake a cake, grease the pan, and level the cake. Levelling a cake is essentially cutting the top off of the cake to make it perfectly flat. Not difficult if you have a good eye, but I wear bifocals!! The task of levelling a cake for me falls right into that section of my glasses where I am looking up and looking down to try to find the perfect angle of my lenses to look through.
It never worked out. My cakes were crooked every time. I have since fixed the problem. Now I fill the cake pan a little too full. The cake always bakes higher than the edge of the pan. Then I take my favourite serated knife and lay it on the lip of the cake pan. The knife is long enough that it spans to the other side. I carefully drag the knife along the edge and voila, I have a very level cake. I then tip the cake out of the pan and there you have it...perfection! Unless of course, I haven't greased and floured the pan properly and then I have a very level jigsaw puzzle. That has happened on more occasions than I am presently willing to admit.
The second class was a demonstration on how to properly put filling in a double layer cake and how to crumb coat or dirty ice a cake. Pretty simple.
The third class showed us how to fill a piping bag, hold the bag, change the tips and practice making different little patterns and borders with the piping bag.
The final class we would bring all of our newly developed skills together. As homework we would make a cake, level it, fill it and crumb coat it. We brought that to our final class along with all of the supplies we would need to ice it with decorative icing.
Our teacher gave us the Buttercream Icing recipe to make the icing ourselves and she gave us additional instructions how to get the icing to the right consistancy so that it would pipe easily. I started to worry, there was not any butter, in this "buttercream" recipe. Oh well, I pressed on. We could colour the icing any colour we wanted or make multiple colours if we would like and bring all of our little containers of icing to class.
Before I show you my final project I should explain. I can never just do anything the way I am told to do it.
Okay, so onto my Cake Decorating Course.
The first class consisted of how to properly bake a cake, grease the pan, and level the cake. Levelling a cake is essentially cutting the top off of the cake to make it perfectly flat. Not difficult if you have a good eye, but I wear bifocals!! The task of levelling a cake for me falls right into that section of my glasses where I am looking up and looking down to try to find the perfect angle of my lenses to look through.
It never worked out. My cakes were crooked every time. I have since fixed the problem. Now I fill the cake pan a little too full. The cake always bakes higher than the edge of the pan. Then I take my favourite serated knife and lay it on the lip of the cake pan. The knife is long enough that it spans to the other side. I carefully drag the knife along the edge and voila, I have a very level cake. I then tip the cake out of the pan and there you have it...perfection! Unless of course, I haven't greased and floured the pan properly and then I have a very level jigsaw puzzle. That has happened on more occasions than I am presently willing to admit.
The second class was a demonstration on how to properly put filling in a double layer cake and how to crumb coat or dirty ice a cake. Pretty simple.
The third class showed us how to fill a piping bag, hold the bag, change the tips and practice making different little patterns and borders with the piping bag.
The final class we would bring all of our newly developed skills together. As homework we would make a cake, level it, fill it and crumb coat it. We brought that to our final class along with all of the supplies we would need to ice it with decorative icing.
Our teacher gave us the Buttercream Icing recipe to make the icing ourselves and she gave us additional instructions how to get the icing to the right consistancy so that it would pipe easily. I started to worry, there was not any butter, in this "buttercream" recipe. Oh well, I pressed on. We could colour the icing any colour we wanted or make multiple colours if we would like and bring all of our little containers of icing to class.
Before I show you my final project I should explain. I can never just do anything the way I am told to do it.
My daughter really wanted a fairy cake. Well, I didn't learn that in class. How would I incorporate what I had learned into a fairy cake? Here's what happened. I made a round cake, I levelled it (almost) this cake was crooked!! But I used the angle to my advantage. I filled it and then crumb coated it. Just like I was supposed to. Then I took the picture of the fairy that my daughter liked and I traced it with a stylus into the crumb coat of icing. When I got to class I piped along all of the impression lines that I had made at home. Finally I started to fill all of the sections with icing stars in the colour I had predetermined at home. One more thing before you see the project. Have you ever done something, really up close and think everything is looking good and then you step back and it looks completely different or maybe out of proportion?
Well, when I got home I put the cake on the table. I was very proud of my newly aquired skill. For the first time I stepped back a looked at the finished product. Uh oh! She wasn't quite right. My confidence wained a little as I showed it to my husband. This was his reaction:
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WOW, it's a little trampy!! Why would you choose to do that?
He completely missed her wings or that she was one of the fairies in Emma's favourite book and favourite puzzle and favourite movie. But it gets worse, I showed Emma. She hated it. That fairy should have a red dress and orangy wings and the flowers should be roses because of her name and on and on and on. Well to save myself from any more criticism I decided that we would just quit looking at it and eat it instead. I took one bite and to my horror, I had made the very icing that I had detested all my life. My first creation was a disaster and it was all I could do to repress the gagging sensation from that terrible icing I remebered from my childhood. My family was in complete agreement and the cake found a new home in the compost pile.
Here is the best part. Our only neighbor I told you about earlier has two dogs, they found the cake in the compost pile, ate it, and had the runs for two days.
So this is my point, no one should eat that awful shortening based icing. It is nasty!!
I also believe that if a recipe has the word Butter in the name of it then the recipe should have some Butter in it!!
Sam's Birthday Cake
This was my Brother in Law's 40th Birthday Cake. It is another one of my favourites. It was so fun to do. All of the shells were made by hand, I had a jar of shells that my Mother in Law had collected on her favourite florida beach. I shaped and painted each one in tones that matched the real shells. The Corona bottles are made out of rice crispie square mixture and pressed into forms that my brilliant husband made for me. The ice cubes are also fondant covered rice crispie squares. Sand....you guessed it, brown sugar. And my favourite part of all, the tiny fondant star fish. My daughter loved those too. The thing about using Rice Crispie squares in a cake design is trying to keep them for the cake design. Everyone in my house kept stealing them!
Petit Four - Another French label but I'm not bothered how you pronounce it
The name Petit Four translates as Little Oven
Back in the day, when ever that day was, at the end of the day, when the bakery oven was cooling, the bakery staff would place the left over batter in small pans and cook it in very small amounts so as not to waste anything. The ovens would not need to be really hot to cook these little delights. Then once cooked they would be cut into very small bite size shapes were filled with some kind of preserve and iced with a poured fondant, the were bite sized treats that were very popular and in end are quite easy to do.
I wish I knew that when I was first asked to make Petit fours for my friends 65th Birthday party.
So here is the truth. Confidentially, I agreed to make 3 dozen petit fours, all the time thinking they were small cakes covered in "rolled fondant" - WRONG.
It was quite funny watching me try to shape the fondant over these very tiny cakes and having the cake crumble all over the place. Well my husband thought so anyways, I was so mad at one point I dumped the entire batch in the garbage. Then ever so calmly I sat down on the couch with a drink and my laptop and googled "petit four". Then I youtubed the same inquiry and before long I knew what to do. Luckily I already had another cake ready to go.
Here is what you do. Bake your cake, square or rectangle work the best, and I used pound cake so it would be more dense. Cool your cake. With a sharp knife cut off all of the brown cooked edges. Just pretend you are feeding my kids lunch, they never eat the crust or anything that is remotely close to the colour of the crust. Now slice the cake horizontally through the middle. Take approx 1/3 cup of jam, (I used raspberry but your choice) and microwave it just for a few seconds until it is runny. Then spread it between the two cakes like a jam sandwich. Now it really looks like my kids lunch. Large jelly sandwich with no crust! Okay here is the secret part, put it in the freezer and freeze it solid. Overnight is good. Take it out of the freezer and immediately slice it into 1 inch by 1 inch squares with a really sharp knife. Originally I thought 2x2 would be small enough but by the time they are iced, they are not petit at all. Or if you are adventurous you can cut diamonds or other shapes just keep them little. Pretty simple so far. Put them back in the freezer.
Now make your poured icing. Here is the recipe I use...now
Poured Fondant
6 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon almond extract
(My secret addition - I added Belgium white chocolate wafers and melted them with the mixture on the stove. I used probably 1/2 c)
In a saucepan, combine confectioners' sugar, water, corn syrup (white chocolate wafers). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it reaches a temperature of 92 degrees F (33 degrees C). Mixture should be thin enough to pour, but thick enough to coat the cake. Stir in the almond extract.
You will need a rimmed cookie sheet and a cooling rack for the next part.
Place your cut petit fours on the cooling rack far enough apart to be able to pour icing over each one without touching the one next too it. Place your cooling rack on the cookie sheet. Pour your warm icing over your frozen little cakes. The hot, cold works wonderfully to set the icing smoothly over the cakes. As you pour the icing the cookie sheet will catch all of the extra that falls between each little cake. It takes a little practice to get the right amount and right coverage but once you figure it out it actually goes very quickly.
Let the icing cool and harden, then with a sharp knife remove the cakes from the cooling rack. You can decorate the top with something pretty or drizzle some chocolate over them.
I like adding the chocolate wafers to the icing, it makes it a little more decadent and adds gloss to the finished product. These little morsels are very sweet, I think that is why they are so small. Now that I have finished this post, I have a craving for them. I will have to make some this weekend. Oh no wait, I have a birthday cake and a shower cake to do for this weekend. Petit fours will have to wait until........Monday.
In a saucepan, combine confectioners' sugar, water, corn syrup (white chocolate wafers). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it reaches a temperature of 92 degrees F (33 degrees C). Mixture should be thin enough to pour, but thick enough to coat the cake. Stir in the almond extract.
You will need a rimmed cookie sheet and a cooling rack for the next part.
Place your cut petit fours on the cooling rack far enough apart to be able to pour icing over each one without touching the one next too it. Place your cooling rack on the cookie sheet. Pour your warm icing over your frozen little cakes. The hot, cold works wonderfully to set the icing smoothly over the cakes. As you pour the icing the cookie sheet will catch all of the extra that falls between each little cake. It takes a little practice to get the right amount and right coverage but once you figure it out it actually goes very quickly.
Let the icing cool and harden, then with a sharp knife remove the cakes from the cooling rack. You can decorate the top with something pretty or drizzle some chocolate over them.
I like adding the chocolate wafers to the icing, it makes it a little more decadent and adds gloss to the finished product. These little morsels are very sweet, I think that is why they are so small. Now that I have finished this post, I have a craving for them. I will have to make some this weekend. Oh no wait, I have a birthday cake and a shower cake to do for this weekend. Petit fours will have to wait until........Monday.
Unless you are French or have a Real French Accent please don't say "Fon - Dont" it sounds ridiculous!
I feel the exact same way when I hear people say "Fon-Dont"
I do believe that it is okay to say Fondant in your regular tone of voice with your own accent. You do not need to stretch out the "Fon" and certainly don't need to say "Dont". If you are french or speak french go right ahead "Fon - Dont" all you want.
So Rolled Fondant is my favourite type of icing to work with. It is like play dough for grown ups. It is so fun and I feel like I have unleashed my inner child again as I work with it. In fact my kids love it almost as much as I do. I give it to them to use as play dough. It does not crumble, I don't find it in my carpet and they can eat it if they so choose.
The only disappointing thing about rolled fondant is that the store boughten kind does not taste good, especially the brand that starts with a W....... and ends with an N. That one is at the top of my list for worst tasting fondant on the planet. I have tried a few other brands but have found the homemade ones taste the best by far. I have included a recipe below.
Marshmallow Rolled Fondant
1/4 cup butter
I lived in Montreal Canada for 18 months when I was in my early 20's. I loved it there, I loved the people and I loved speaking french. Now I do realize that Quebecois French is different from France already so I don't need any sermons on it thank you. I took french classes all through high school and I really thought I would do just fine with the language as soon as I arrived but alas that was not the case. I could not understand anything anyone was talking about. They spoke so fast and rolled all of thier words into one almost without breathing in between.
I was overwhelmed and thought for sure I would live in solitude until I could grasp and hang on to even a few small words. Then on one glorious day someone explained that when you hear "ben lo" which sounds like "banlo" it is almost like hearing an english speaking canadian say "eh". Okay, I got it, I am Canadian, I know that "eh" technically doesn't mean anything! I started to realized that everyone said bien lo and some added more "lo"s to emphasize the point. It was quite common to hear "Ben Lo Lo" or even "Ben Lo Lo Lo" I started to cut out all of the ben lo's and work on the other words in the sentence. Suddenly, I could recognize many of the words that I had learned in my earlier years of study and I was on my was to really loving the language. Everything sounded pretty to me, I loved the way they rolled thier "r"s and to me seemed to sing each sentence. It was all so flowing and sing songy. So why am I telling you all this on my Icing Blog. Hang on here it comes.
Then one day I went to hear a gentleman who I knew well and respected very much speak to a large group of people. His first language was english and I was interested to hear him speak in french to a predominately french speaking audience. Well if you could imagine John Wayne speaking french you would have hit the nail on the head. It was terrible, he massacred the language and I felt myself cringing from the moment he opened his mouth until he finally sat down again. I feel the exact same way when I hear people say "Fon-Dont"
I do believe that it is okay to say Fondant in your regular tone of voice with your own accent. You do not need to stretch out the "Fon" and certainly don't need to say "Dont". If you are french or speak french go right ahead "Fon - Dont" all you want.
So Rolled Fondant is my favourite type of icing to work with. It is like play dough for grown ups. It is so fun and I feel like I have unleashed my inner child again as I work with it. In fact my kids love it almost as much as I do. I give it to them to use as play dough. It does not crumble, I don't find it in my carpet and they can eat it if they so choose.
The only disappointing thing about rolled fondant is that the store boughten kind does not taste good, especially the brand that starts with a W....... and ends with an N. That one is at the top of my list for worst tasting fondant on the planet. I have tried a few other brands but have found the homemade ones taste the best by far. I have included a recipe below.
It isn't hard to do, just a little messy and labour intensive to work it into the right consistency. Then you colour it, roll it, form it and create whatever your heart desires. You could even a model a miniature Justin Bieber if you like! Best part... it's edible!
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So try it out, see what you think, just please stop saying "Fon-Dont". If you try it please let me know how it worked out for you.
Marshmallow Rolled Fondant
1/4 cup butter
1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided
Directions
- Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.
- Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.
- Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.
Bieber Fever
My friends daughter, Addison, turned 5 this month and she LOVES Justin Bieber. Her mom shopped around and could not find a cake that fit the bill. She called me and I immediately said sure. One problem, I knew the name, I knew his music from the radio, I had no clue what he looked like, but I was committed. The birthday was only 3 days away. I hit the internet and researched everything I could about Justin Bieber, I needed photos mostly but found, videos, blogs about him, his interests, his love life, his even favourite colour, which also happened to be Addison's favourite colour. Lucky for me I had lots of Purple. I listened to songs, I watched videos and then stumbled upon the fact that his girlfriend is Selena Gomez, which the entire world is aware of except me. Well my 5 year old daughter's favourite singer is Selena Gomez, so then she decided to help me do research and eventually steered everything we were looking for closer and closer to her end goal of watching Selena Gomez videos. Oh well, I now had what I needed and I set myself to recreating Justin Bieber in Fondant!! Here's what happened...
Getting the hair just right was tricky but the hardest part was keeping his legs from shrinking under the weight of his torso and head. I ended up taking him apart and drying him in two sections. His hair took some work and I wanted to get it right because it really is one of his signature features.........or should I say WAS!!! He cut his hair the day before the party! Oh well! Hopefully the 5 year olds were not that up on the news.
Here's what else happened.... now my household has Bieber Fever. Emma wants to watch every you tube video she can find of him.
Sorry the Pic is so small. I am going to have to find another one and rescale it. I will replace it.
I know you can do it - Just take a picture and figure it out
That is what my husband said to me after we decided that we couldn't afford to take the course that was being offered by "The Two Southern Ladies" on thier famous "Spherical Wedding Cake". This cake was named one of the top 50 most beautiful wedding cakes a couple of years ago and now they teach the techniques in classes that they travel across country making guest appearances. Below is their cake.
My husband, held tightly onto his wallet as he encouraged me with all his confidence in me. "Honey, do you really need a class. I know you can do it - just take a picture and figure it out" So that is what I did. I had already been asked to do a wedding cake for a friend but this cake was on my mind. I sent her a picture and asked her if I could do this cake as her wedding cake and as my test dummy. She agreed, on the condition that if it turned out terrible we would go back to the original design. Agreed. So I set out to make my own version of the most beautiful wedding cake. I printed the picture and set myself to work. It was very nerve wracking and took a lot of patience (which I lack, in abundance) Below is the outcome.
I don't have a better picture of it than this which makes me sad because it turned out to be my favourite cake of all time. I am going to have to ask my famous photographer friend to tweak this picture for me. Honestly, how many of you want to see the calendar on my fridge?
Nana's Secret Recipe... Exposed!!
You won't believe it, the very recipe that I have been keeping quiet is posted for all to view on Allrecipes.com. That is hardly secret!! So just let me tell you that this recipe is the yummiest recipe that I have found to date. This version is vanilla but it gets even better, you can make it chocolate by just adding a couple of tbsps of good quality cocoa when you are beating the butter and sugar together. Please make sure you note the "sugar" is plain ordinary white sugar, NOT powdered sugar.
Nana's NOT SO Secret Recipe
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nana's NOT SO Secret Recipe
To Make Icing:
In a saucepan, combine the milk and 5 tablespoons flour. (I sift the flour before I add it.) Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.It is important to keep it on low heat so that you don't develop lumps. However, if you do, which I still do on occasion, I strain the mixture after is is thickened also. Set aside to cool completely. Cream together butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until light and fluffy, (this is where you add the cocoa if you are making it chocolate) then stir in the cooled milk and flour mixture, beating until icing reaches spreading consistency. I like to put it into my KitchenAid Mixer and walk away for about 4-5 minutes. It turns out so smooth and creamy!!! It is a very soft icing, so don't ever think that this icing might replace a crumb coat icing that you use under a layer of fodant. I found out the hard way
I made this cake for my girlfriend's daughter's baptism. I thought I would scrumptious it up a little by using Nana's Secret Recipe, but whoops!! that didn't work out.
Nana's yummy soft icing liquifys under fondant. This entire cake was seeping out a sugar sirop All over itself and the table below it. The second layer was sliding off of the top layer and I almost had to hire someone to mop up the aftermath of yet another not so good idea.
Birthday Party Extravaganza
My daughter's birthday is in the middle of June, my son's the first week of July and in 2009 I was acting as the volunteer camp director for approximately 120 teenage girls and leaders the second week of July. I was swamped and decided to combine 2 birthday parties into one. So we had the ever so clever, Princess and Knights in Shining Armour Party. The girls all came in thier finest royal apparel and the boys...... well they came in whatever they wanted but when they arrived they each got a "FOAM" sword and they were all knighted to the royal court. We rented a bouncy house that looked like a fairy tale castle and we had a pinata that looked like a princess. The girls loved it because it was a princess and the boys loved whacking it with thier swords. I designed the cake and guess what I iced it with........that's right.....French Vanilla Icing!!!
We put sparkler's in each of the towers, I thought it would be a "Magic Kingdom" effect. Great idea right? Wrong, there were too many sparklers which terrified the kids and instead of singing Happy Birthday they were all screaming and running away from the cake!!!! I only ever claimed to have a lot of ideas, I can't really say that they are always good ones.
French Vanilla Icing
As a child I did not like cake, mostly because I did not like the icing. I would usually carve the cake out from under the disgusting shortening sugar mixture and I would always avoid the corners or the horrific roses creations that would just send me into a gagging fit.
The when I was around 8 I found a recipe in the "5 Roses" recipe book that my mom made everything from. I tried it, I loved it & I can vividly remember the page with "French Vanilla Icing" recipe, it quickly became the most used recipe in the book, splattered with tiny bits of icing that had been wiped off but stained the page. There were 5 children in our family so lots of birthday cakes to be made. I remember the taste of the icing, it was so much creamier and light than the repulsive stuff I have already described. My favourite version was when my mom made it light green, somehow it tasted better to me when it was green. As I grew up I learned how to make the icing and eventually did not need the now worn and tattered "5 Roses" recipe book to pull it off.
Until recently I have always thought it was the best icing recipe I had tasted, then my friend Carol introduced me to her "Nana's" best ever, fluffy creamy icing. I am sorry "5 Roses" but your icing paled in comparison. Once my eyes had been open to this lovely tasting icing, I have started searching for other recipes and have found there is an entire world of great tasting icing out there.
So here is the recipe for the "French Vanilla Icing" that I learned to make as a child. I may also post the Nana's super fluffy icing in my next post but realized I should probably ask before I give away Nana's secret recipe.
French Vanilla Icing
1c. unsalted butter softened
4c. Icing Sugar (Confectioner's Sugar)
1 tbsp. good quality vanilla (if you want your icing to stay as white as possible, use clear vanilla)
3 tbsp. Milk (or if you are not worried about the fat, and I might point out there is already a cup of butter in this recipe, use 1/2 and 1/2 cream as a substitute)
Food Colouring (optional) but remember light green is the best!
Beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add your sugar and start beating slowly so you don't fill your kitchen with a cloud of white powder - I learned the hard way but give me a break I was only 8 or 9 at the time. Then add your vanilla and milk and keep beating until light and fluffy. You can change the consistency by reducing or increasing the amount of milk. That's it quite simple, very tasty and no gagging sensation!!
The when I was around 8 I found a recipe in the "5 Roses" recipe book that my mom made everything from. I tried it, I loved it & I can vividly remember the page with "French Vanilla Icing" recipe, it quickly became the most used recipe in the book, splattered with tiny bits of icing that had been wiped off but stained the page. There were 5 children in our family so lots of birthday cakes to be made. I remember the taste of the icing, it was so much creamier and light than the repulsive stuff I have already described. My favourite version was when my mom made it light green, somehow it tasted better to me when it was green. As I grew up I learned how to make the icing and eventually did not need the now worn and tattered "5 Roses" recipe book to pull it off.
Until recently I have always thought it was the best icing recipe I had tasted, then my friend Carol introduced me to her "Nana's" best ever, fluffy creamy icing. I am sorry "5 Roses" but your icing paled in comparison. Once my eyes had been open to this lovely tasting icing, I have started searching for other recipes and have found there is an entire world of great tasting icing out there.
So here is the recipe for the "French Vanilla Icing" that I learned to make as a child. I may also post the Nana's super fluffy icing in my next post but realized I should probably ask before I give away Nana's secret recipe.
French Vanilla Icing
1c. unsalted butter softened
4c. Icing Sugar (Confectioner's Sugar)
1 tbsp. good quality vanilla (if you want your icing to stay as white as possible, use clear vanilla)
3 tbsp. Milk (or if you are not worried about the fat, and I might point out there is already a cup of butter in this recipe, use 1/2 and 1/2 cream as a substitute)
Food Colouring (optional) but remember light green is the best!
Beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add your sugar and start beating slowly so you don't fill your kitchen with a cloud of white powder - I learned the hard way but give me a break I was only 8 or 9 at the time. Then add your vanilla and milk and keep beating until light and fluffy. You can change the consistency by reducing or increasing the amount of milk. That's it quite simple, very tasty and no gagging sensation!!
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