Hello, Again!

You could say I'm not great at this commitment thing. I try to blog for a while, decide it may be good to take a break, think about it often, crawl back and beg for another chance, and repeat. Anyways, a year later, here I am with a recap of various projects I've squeezed into my senior year. 

How about this Salted Caramel Double Chocolate Cake? 

I took a basic caramel recipe of butter, sugar, and cream, and blended it into powdered sugar and vanilla. After much tweaking, this gorgeously creamy and smooth caramel frosting was produced, and I spread it on a rich chocolate cake (back of the Heryshey's cocoa powder box, for the win! Added chocolate chips for texture). 

 

I found a basic shape for this Star Trek Enterprise Cake on Pinterest, and then personalized the rest. Well, as much of a personalization of an attempted replica of something else can be. Gray frosting is hard to correctly get, but I was happy to finally get a chance to use my food paint brushes. 

But really. Nothing is better than these Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Chips with Strawberry Salsa. 

You won't believe how easy these are. Take a flour tortilla, cut it into triangle halves until you're happy with the size, and fry them up in a pan with the bottom filled with oil. It doesn't take much oil, time, or effort. As soon as they're out (when they're golden brown and crispy), immediately put them on a plate with a paper towel, wait a few seconds so you don't burn your hand off, then coat with cinnamon sugar. Easy! Ready for more batches of chips! 

For the "salsa," chop up some fresh strawberries into small cubes, stir in some sugar, and let that sit for a while to let the juices run. Make these before you start the chips, and it'll be ready when you are. 

This simple take on a Caprese Slider was inspired by our new basil plant. Tomatos will be grown soon, as well. I took some fresh French bread, cut it into generous slices, brushed EVOO on both top and bottom, and broiled the slices until slightly crispy. Whipped them out, sprinkled mozerella (would be even better with fresh mozerella), and threw them back in for a few seconds to allow the cheese to melt. Once they were sizzling, I topped with tomatos and fresh basil, and enjoyed the simplicity and intricate flavors of the amazing trio of cheese, tomato, and basil. 

This Summer Salad was inspired by the restaurant I work at. 

Grilled chicken coated with brown sugar, romaine lettuce, candied pecans (pecans I mixed with melted butter and brown sugar), fresh mango, strawberries, and a basic vinegrette of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and some sweetener. Mmm. 

 

I don't remember the recipe for these. But really, these are nice pictures. Yay for new plates. 

I hope you enjoy! I'll try to stay more committed- and cook more! Happy cooking!

Zebra Striped Cake!

This cake is super easy to make! I expected to have a strenuous baking day that made a huge mess, and was happily surprised when I found out otherwise! I decorated this as a tiger for my sister, and since her favorite color is green I made the stripes green and brown, but you can mix it up however you want!

Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box of chocolate cake mix
Food color (optional)

Steps:
Set oven as instructed on the box. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside.

Prepare the cake mixes in seperate bowls as instructed on the boxes.

If you want to have different colors, add the food coloring to the yellow cake mix, and make sure to put plenty of color in.

You will be using two 1/4 measuring cups, one for each cake mix.

Time to start putting in the cake mix! Put one scoop of yellow cake mix in, and immediatly follow by pouring a scoop of chocolate mix directly in the middle. Do not wait for it to spread and dont not shake the pan to spread it out faster. Continue pouring in cake mixes everyother time, directly in the center of the last pouring. Fill both cake pans evenly and bake 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes put clean and cake is coming away from the sides of the pan.

Coconut Cherry Vanilla Cake Pops!

Get ready for the full description of this recipe- Cherry Vanilla Cake Balls with a Cherry glaze and Coconut topping. Boy, thats a mouthful. But a good one, right? For this I used my Babycakes Cake Pop machine, which is fantastic and so easy to use. This recipe is for that machine, and adapted from the little recipe book that came with it (Vanilla Cake Pops). These are great for large parties, gatherings, or potlucks because you can make so many with just one recipe. However, no matter what the occasion is people will be thrilled with these cake balls!

Makes about 48 cake pops. (its hard to tell because you'll want to eat so many while making them! )

•For the cake pops•

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups of flour
1 t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. Vanilla
1 t. Cherry extract
1/2 c. milk

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.
2. In a different, larger bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and cherry extract.
3. Alternately mix in flour combination and milk into the butter mixture, starting and finishing with the flour mix.
4. Fill the machine's reservoir's until full and bake 4-5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Bake all the cake pops and let them cool

•For the Glaze/ Topping
1/4 c. melted butter
2-3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cherry extract
2-3 T. hot water
1 c. Coconut

1. Combine butter with 2 cups of powdered sugar, and blend well.
2. Stir in vanilla, cherry extract, and 2 T. of hot water and blend until smooth.
3. Try a bit and see what you need to add. You may need more powdered sugar if its too salty (from the butter), or you may need more water if its not smooth enough.
4. Dip the cooled cake pops into the glaze and immediatly sprinkle with coconut.

I Love Baking!

Hamburger cakes- right now they seem to be a fad. And so when Father's Day arrived and I could think of nothing else to get for my step-dad, I decided to give one of these cakes a try. Of course, these arent just good for Fathers Day- birthdays, BBQ parties, the list goes on! It was a blast to make and I just kind of made things up as I went along.

I also made some cupcakes for a birthday party, and while I didnt do anything very special with them, Im working on my photography and these were some of the pictures I liked. If you have any advice on how I can improve, Id love to hear! I'll always read comments so feel free to give me your honest opinion!

Thanks!

Simple Designs

Sometimes we get so focused on making new, exciting, and challenging ways to make cupcakes that the simple designs are left behind and forgotten about. This doesnt take many directions, looks cute, and can even be a help to people who want to induldge in an assortment of cupcakes.

1.) Choose a flavor of cake. For these (Pictures below) I used spice cake.

2.) Make the cupcakes as directed. *Tip* The boxes say to fill your cups 2/3 of the way full. I usually fill mine more than that, just below the top of the mold. That way, the cupcakes pop over and get the nice muffin top thats desired for decorating.

3.) Put a base of plain frosting on.

4.) For the simple toppings, you get to be creative. Choose something that marks the type of cake. I used pecans for spice cake, and that can tip the consumers off that it is a spice cake, since spice and nuts are commonly used together. Sprinkling a spice cake with cinnamon is also a good idea. For chocolate cake, use fancy chocolate shavings, or for strawberry, use a whole or half strawberry! It isnt hard to come up with what to put on, but it still looks sophisticated.

5.) For the swirls/designs, use a colored frosting, tip #1 or a cut off hole in a ziplock bag, and have fun. Put imagination into it, and have fun swirling!

Its not hard to make fun cupcakes for people to enjoy. It doesnt take a lot to make people appreciate the little things, and it will always taste amazing! :) Have fun!

Wilton Decorating Course 1

I recently took- and finished- Wilton's first cake decorating course at Micheals. I found it an extremely interesting and helpful class, and although I may need some extra practice, it taught me quite a lot. It was also nice because the class has so few people that the instructer gives a lot of individual help, plus its a friendly enviroment where its easy to chat with your neighbor and make aquaintances.

In this course, the basics of how to hold the piping bag, how to squeeze it, which tips to use, how to get perfect icings and cakes, and more along those lines were highlighted. The instructer showed us how to frost a cake so the icing was completely smooth, how to torte a cake, and how to fill cupcakes too! At the end, everyone got a certificate as well, and I think everyone left feeling like a pastry chef.

These are a couple things we did. All together with the four classes, we decorated cookies, two cakes, and cupcakes. I didnt take a picture of the cookies, and my cupcake picture didnt turn out great because I forgot to take it until the last one, the worst one, was left and it was late at night so the lighting wasnt great. But, it gives a general idea to what you would do in the class. I highly reccommend it to all of you who want to learn a little more on decorating, whether its just for home or the first step to becoming a pastry chef (like me!)!!

So Many Cakes!

I'll be the first to admit that I have a LOT to learn when it comes to cake decorating. But as I go through the photos Ive taken of cakes Ive made, I think Ive been improving. Here are some images, some old and some new, of what Ive been making over this past year! (from this time in 2011). These arent in order, and are my personal favorites.

One day, Ill take the time to plan the lighting and backgrounds so it will look more professional. However, this is more for fun than anything else. :)

Football Helmet Cake

The Super Bowl is just around the corner, and the season is getting more intense every game! If you want to wow your guests with an amazing football-themed creation, or make a special cake for a birthday or another occasion, this cake is simple yet has an amazing turnout!

You will need:
•6 cake pops, any flavor, dipped in milk/dark chocolate. Off the stick
•white icing, preferrably in a piping bag with a coupler, but using a ziplock plastic bag will work too.
•green icing
•A two layer cake, any flavor, frosted with white frosting


Helmet Instructions:

1.) Using a paring knife (I found that easiest to use), carefully cut the face part of the helmet. The bottom cut, horizontal, should be a couple milimeters above the bottom of the cake pop. Cut a semi-circle shape using that as a guide.

2.) Hollow out the inside of the heltmet. Right now, you should have a gap that resembles the opening of a football helmet. Using your knife, scoop out a bit more of the cake so you get a hollowed effect, but dont completely scrape all the cake out.

3.) Using your white icing (if youre using a piping bag with a coupler, use tip 6 or something similar), in one go, pipe a line that scoops right below the lower 'lip' of the helmet. Continue around, going to the top of the hole and following the cut, and then come back around and go along the bottom cut.

4.) Pipe two dots on either sides of the helmet.

5.) Pipe a line going down the top center.

6.) Pipe two lines to serve as the mask part, going from the top line to the middle around the cut. Repeat this with the 5 other cake pops.

Cake instructions:

1.) Pipe shells around the base of the cake. This is optional, but for this cake I used tip 18.

2.) Words are optional, of course, as well, but using tip 6, or just a small ut in a plastic bag, you can pipe words around the side.

3.) Put the football heltmets in a circle in the center of the top, facing out.

4.) Using tip 233, or a regular bag with a small cut, pipe grass with green frosting by the heltmets. You can also put a football, made out of melted chocolate and white icing lines, in the center of the helmets.

And thats it! Have fun with your football helmets- you can make them for any team with just a few color and tip changes! Have fun! :)