Adam's First Cake Delivery!

This post is a little delayed because this cake was actually delivered on the same day as my last library demo. Since I was all the way in Newberry at the same time they needed the cake delivered to the baby shower, I asked Adam to deliver it for me! His first delivery!!! He was nervous, but I walked him through all the little details. The worst part about it was I asked him to place the gum paste baby blocks on the cake at the baby shower. I was afraid they'd slide around too much in the car and ruin the cake. Overall, the delivery went without a hitch, but Adam seemed to have trouble getting the baby blocks centered on the cake. He's an engineer with an extreme Type A personality! How did he get it so right-skewed!? I'm just teasing, I love to poke fun at Adam. Lord knows, he teases me at every chance he gets too!

The Central Florida Fair

This weekend, Adam and I drove to Orlando to drop off my entries into the Central Florida Fair Confectionery Arts Competition. There were many categories to choose from, but I entered cakes into the "wedding cakes larger than 3 tiers" and the "It's Showtime" (the fair theme) categories. I also had to enter as a professional because the rules describe teachers as professionals. Dang, I gotta up my game if I want to compete with the pros!

The wedding cake was the same one that I entered into the Let's Eat Cake competition in February. I had to make a few quick repairs on it, but it was mostly in good shape after all the activity and transportation of the last competition. Here's a picture of me setting up my cakes at the fair.
Notice the utter disorganization in the room set-up. You can't see it because my head is in the way, but the majority of the other entries were on a table in the corner. That table got full so they had me set mine up way over here... They're going to move them to join the rest of the entries after the judging has taken place... Seems odd, but whatever. Also notice directly behind me is a table with Peeps dioramas (you can see the backs of the dioramas in this photo). Some were super cute...and some I just didn't get! haha! Adam and I are going back to the fair this weekend so I'll be sure to take pictures of most of the entries and post them here!

Here are my two cakes! Adam and I totally meant to take pictures of our heads poking through that ear of corn on the left-hand side of the photo, but we forgot! Hopefully it'll be on display this weekend!



As I mentioned above, the theme of the fair this year is "It's Showtime!" I wanted to make a cake that showed the stage as well as gave hints toward all the work that goes on backstage during a big event or show.

The front of the stage features a classic "It's Showtime at the Central Florida Fair" sign. The cow sitting on the corner of the stage was created in the likeness of a cow that appears on the fair brochures this year. The cow is announcing the start of the annual duck races! Here, 3 ducks (all wearing swimming goggles, although it's hard to see from this angle) are lined up at the starting line waiting to race!

On the side of the cake, I put 2 general admission tickets to the fair.

On the back of the cake, you see a ladder and paint cans (presumably used to decorate the stage) and a sign pointing to makeup, costumes, dressing rooms, etc. I decorated the sides of the stage with famous movie quotes and the words "lights, camera, action."

The stage is sitting on a giant film reel which is then sitting on a giant director's clapboard. Have you noticed anything....weird...about the pictures above? Notice how the film reel stays stationary, but we see a different side of the stage in each photo... The stage rotates! The red and white bulls-eyes on the cake are were you can place your finger to turn the stage. Here, I'll ask Adam to demonstrate:

Ooh, he seems really excited about it! Haha! Just teasing, he REALLY didn't want to pose for this picture. But, what can I say, I must have awesome manipulating skills - I didn't even have to beg! Maybe he knows that it's just better in the long run to shut up and do what I ask.

Anyway, I applied to be in a live, televised cake decorating competition the first weekend in May in Maryland. The rules of that competition say that at least some part of the final cake must move when a little pressure is applied. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to practice in case I got chosen! Unfortunately, it's not looking like I was chosen since I haven't heard from any of the producers yet...bummer, that would've been fun!

So how did I make the stage spin??? Hmmm...I think I'll save that for a future tutorial!

My Easter Obsession

Everyone has a favorite Easter candy and Peeps are usually top-ranked lots of people's lists. Not mine though! Don't get me wrong, I love Peeps! I even have a Peeps t-shirt that I wear on Easter every year (or on any other day when I feel like wearing a cute little fluffy chick on my shirt). But now that Peeps are available at other holidays, including Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine's Day, I don't feel the same urgency to purchase them and stuff their fluffiness in my mouth! While I'm still hoping Adam surprises me on Easter Sunday with some Peeps (hint, hint), these adorable little monsters weren't my subject of obsession this year.

This year, I was on the mission to find my favorite childhood candy. The biggest problem was...I didn't even know what they were called! After a quick internet search, I discovered that they are called Brach's Chicks and Bunnies! Now, I just have to find them! I searched high and low at Walgreens, CVS, Publix, and Target. I was about to give up all hope when I scoured the aisles at Target one last time. Thrown in with the strawberry-flavored Jet-Puff marshmallows, I found one lone bag of Chicks and Bunnies! Mission Accomplished!

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of trying one of these amazing treats, they are very similar to Circus Peanuts (surprise surprise, another of my favorites!). They are a very dense, chewy marshmallow that dissolves away to a smooth grittiness as you eat it. I know that sounds like an oxymoron - smooth grittiness - but if you've had them, I think you'd agree. These candies are perplexing. Upon first tasting them, people often get a confused look on their faces as they try to wrap their minds around the texture and taste. Some say it has a hint of artificial banana flavoring. Some like them better fresh and soft while others prefer them stale and hard as a rock. I personally like them fresh and I enjoy eating them without the over-analysis! Just enjoy them for what they are - pure marshmallow-y goodness!

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering about my bowl choice for this photo...We bought these wooden pineapple-shaped bowls in Hawaii on our honeymoon and we've never used them! I think we forget about them because they're on the top shelf (which I can't reach without a stool) in our kitchen. I decided these bowls would be perfect to display the Chicks and Bunnies! Let's call it a Florida-themed Easter basket!

Oops! It was just too tempting!

What is your favorite Easter candy???

Monthly Tutorials

I'd like to start getting into the habit of putting some sort of step-by-step tutorial here every month. If there's something in particular you'd like to see, let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email!

This month's tutorial will be in 2 parts:
1. How to get the icing on a cake perfectly crumb-free and smooth.
2. How to use the Piping Gel Transfer to draw on a cake.


Part 1: How to get the icing on a cake perfectly crumb-free and smooth

We need to start with the basics. To get a beautifully decorated cake in the end, you need to begin with a correctly stacked and iced cake! After you bake your cake, you'll notice that there is a slight (or sometimes huge) dome on the top of the cake. You can't stack 2 cakes that have domes, so you first need to level the cakes. Wilton makes this amazing cake leveler that is absolutely fool proof (available at Michael's and other craft stores)! Basically, it's just a metal frame with a wire going across it. You slide it along your countertop and the wire levels the cake for you! No longer will you need to rely on a steady hand, your eye, and a serated knife to level a cake! Once the cakes have cooled, level them and either discard the dome tops or use them in another recipe (like Bakerella's cake balls).

Place a dollop of icing on your cake board and put one cake layer on top. This cake board can be cardboard, but it needs to be covered with aluminum foil or wax paper. This prevents the moisture from the cake causing the cake board to soften and become essentially useless. Wilton also makes these "show and serve" cake boards that are ready to use. The general rule of thumb is that your cake board should be about 2 inches bigger than your cake so if you baked an 8-inch round cake, you need a 10-inch round cake board.

Next, you're ready to fill your cake. Pipe a thick layer of icing on the top of the cake layer all the way around the edge. Fill the center with the filling of your choice. Keep in mind that if you fill the cake with cream cheese or something that can spoil, you'll have to refrigerate the cake. A lot of times, I just fill the cakes with buttercream unless someone requests a specific filling. Wilton has some really good visuals on filling your cake. Place the second cake layer on top of the filling. It's often easier if you put the leveled side of the cake face down. This will help keep the crumbs down when you ice the whole cake.

Yay! Congrats! Your cake is now ready to ice! Here's where the fun begins! Instead of loading the cake with tons of icing, put a crumb coat on first. A crumb coat is a very thin (and I mean thin) layer of icing covering the whole cake. As you put this layer on, you'll see lots of crumbs. That's normal! Keep going! After you ice the whole cake, set it aside for 10-15 minutes so it will "crust." Many buttercream recipes, including mine, will form a crust when it's allowed to sit for a duration of time. To speed up the crusting process, you can throw the cake in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. You'll know when your icing is ready to move on if you can gently touch the icing and it doesn't stick to your finger. When you get to this stage, you're ready to completely ice the cake. Now you're going to really load the icing on! The crumb coat will hold all the crumbs so this icing should be pretty clean. When you spread the icing over the cake, be gently so that you don't disturb the crumb coat. I tend to skimp on the icing because I feel like I'm putting so much on the cake! If you're like me, push through it and really load the cake up! The finished product will look much nicer and I've rarely heard people complain of having too much icing (they don't have to eat it if they don't want to, right?!).

After you've iced the cake, smooth it with your spatula as much as you can, but don't worry if it's not perfect. Insider secret: Some professionals hold a rigid ruler next to the cake and spin their turntable to help create a smooth, straight edge on the side of the cake. Others use clean, new paint spatula which are pretty inexpensive at your local hardware store.

Again, set the cake aside for 10-15 minutes and let it crust. Here's an exciting trick that will be sure to impress everyone! People call this the "papertowel trick." Are you ready? Are you excited? (I am!) You need some pattern-free papertowels -Viva brand works great! Lay the paper towel on your crusted buttercream and gently smooth over it with your hand/fingertips. Like before, be careful not to disrupt the crust layer. If you do, the buttercream will stick to the papertowel and you'll need to let it crust again before you can continue. Sometimes, I can do a whole cake with one piece of paper towel, but other tmes I use 5-6 before I'm happy. Be patient and gentle. If you work at it, you can have a perfectly crumb-free and smooth cake when you're finished!


Part 2: Piping Gel Transfer

Now that you have a beautifully smoothed buttercream cake, let's decorate it! Here's what you need:Choose a pattern that you like from a coloring book, the computer, etc. Tape it to a hard surface like your coutnertop, and then tape a piece of wax paper on top of it. If the orientation of your photo is important (ie, if there are words in it), be sure to flip the picture over before you tape it down. Sometimes it is difficult to see the picture from the wrong side of the paper so I usually trace it again with a Sharpee. Using Wilton's piping gel (clear is best, but I had white on hand so that's what I used this time), trace the picture onto the wax paper. Then, place the wax paper face-down onto the top of the cake, being careful to place it exactly where you want the picture to be. Gently trace your finger over the lines you drew to be sure that the piping gel is transfering from the wax paper to the cake surface. Carefully peel the wax paper off the cake. You should be able to see your piping gel lines on the buttercream. Next, trace over the piping gel lines with buttercream. The piping gel will not be easily visible in the final product so if you want to be able to see something, be sure to redo it in buttercream.


To trace this lobster and soccer ball, I used red and black icing with decorator's tip #3. I decorated the sides with tips #12 and #5 and the star and shell borders were made with tip #21.

Happy Birthday, Cassie!

The piping gel transfer can be used for a lot of different designs so let your imagination go wild!

Spring Library Demo

Spring is here! And that means it's time for another exciting demonstration at the Newberry Branch Library! I decided to do a more hands-on demo this time so I focused on spring cookies:

I think the Easter Eggs came out especially cool! They're almost a little psychedelic - but I prefer to call them kaleidoscope eggs!

Want to make some yourself!? They're easy! First, bake your favorite rolled cookie (gingerbread, shortbread, sugar, etc). After the cookies have completely cooled, you're ready to decorate them! Here's the recipe for the royal icing I use (from www.wilton.com):

1 lb. sifted confectioner's/powdered sugar
3 tablespoons Meringue Powder (available at craft stores or you can substitute powdered egg whites - see the package for instructions)
5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water.

Mix all ingredients in a mixer at low speed until incorporated. Then mix for 8-10 minutes on medium speed until the icing looses its shine and becomes think and marshmallow-like. This icing will dry out quickly so be sure to store it in an airtight container.

Color your icing with paste food colors (available at craft stores). Don't use the liquid colors you're used to seeing at the grocery store because they will change the consistency of your icing and make it really runny. Once you have the icing the color you want it, put it into a piping bag or zip-top bag and pipe a border around each cookie. For the eggs, I just put one border around the whole cookie. However, for the flower, I put a border around each petal. The border will prevent colors in neighboring sections from mixing so put a border wherever you want to separate colors.

The borders need to dry for a little bit so set the cookies aside while you thin down the rest of your icing. If you do all your cookie borders at one time, you can thin all the remaining icing. I thin my icing by adding 1/2 teaspoon water per 1 1/2 cups icing, but this is a sliding scale so you may need slightly more or less water to get the desired consistency. To test your icing, lift your spoon out of the icing and let it drip from the spoon back into the bowl. If the icing that dripped down blends back into the other icing in about 3 seconds, you have the perfect consistency. If you can distinctly see the icing that dripped for longer than 3 seconds, add more water. If the icing blends immediately, it's too thin so you need to add a little powdered sugar to thicken it again. I know this seems picky, but it will save you a lot of headache later when we move onto the cookies!

Ready for the cookies now? Let's go! Fill a piping bag or zip-top bag with the thinned icing. The idea here is to "flood" the cookie with icing so just squeeze the icing onto the cookie until you can no longer see the cookie underneath. To make the kaleidoscope effect, you can pipe swirls or stripes in different colors. Then, take a toothpick and gently scrape the end across the icing, dragging the colors with you.

For example, I made the white and purple egg by piping two horizontal purple stripes in the egg and filling the rest with white icing. Then I dragged my toothpick tip up and down vertically to create the kaleidoscope effect. On the blue and yellow egg, I piped a swirl in yellow icing and filled the rest with of the egg with blue icing. Then, I dragged my toothpick from the center of the egg to the outside, and back again.

The kaleidoscope eggs are super easy to make and are sure to impress! Good luck!

Escape to Savannah

Last weekend, Adam and I went to Savannah for James' and Elise's wedding! I was really looking forward to the trip because I'd never been there and because I really needed to escape from reality for a while! I have the habit of filling up every spare minute with "doing" - whether it be playing with sugar, cleaning the house, bathing Nani, crafting, baking, etc. - so I run myself ragged. I knew if I went to Savannah, I'd be forced to relax and slow down for a change!

Savannah was absolutely beautiful and the weather couldn't have been nicer! Ok, it could have been slightly warmer, but that's my only complaint! When we first arrived in Savannah around noon on Saturday, Adam and I delivered the wedding cake (Elise baked it and my mom & I decorated it) to the reception location. Then, we met up with James, Elise, Carrie, and Luis for lunch. After lunch, Luis, Carrie, Adam, and I walked around Savannah until it was time for us to go get ready for the wedding.




















The four of us stopped at the Riverstreet Sweets Candy Store and got an afternoon snack. Adam and I shared a dark chocolate-dipped stick of marshmallows - yummy but hard to eat!

And then it was time for the wedding! James and Elise stayed at the Kehoe House Bed & Breakfast and got married in the square right across the street. It was picture perfect! Here are a few of my photos during the ceremony...notice my amateur attempt at Photoshop.






























Here's a great shot at Elise's gorgeous gown as she said "hi" to Lorelei.
After the short, sweet ceremony, they took a stroll around the square to "share a moment as husband and wife," as the pastor put it.






















Afterwards, they took a bunch of family photos and then took off to take romantic portraits together. Again, Luis, Carrie, Adam and I strolled around downtown Savannah. We all met back up at the Old Pink House for the reception dinner.


The wedding cake was proudly displayed on a table of it's own:


It was chocolate cake with praline-flavored buttercream. I covered the cakes with fondant on Wednesday to seal in the freshness and moisture. I decorated the cakes, with Mom's help (excellent polka dots, don't you think???) and Dad's input, on Thursday evening. This allowed the fondant enough time to harden so I was sure the cakes would be fine during the 4 hour trip to Savannah. However, I hadn't planned on driving through at least an hour of construction and bumpy roads! Fortunately, the cakes made it without any damage!

Decorator's Secret: The bottom tier is actually a dummy (Styrofoam)! Elise wanted a large wedding cake but only had 25 people in attendance so we added the dummy to give the cake that extra boost!

A Rockin' Birthday Party!

Shortly after Christmas, Adam bought Guitar Hero and...not surprisingly...I was quickly addicted to it. I talked him into getting Rock Band 2 we'd have 4 instruments (drums, guitar, bass, and a microphone) a few weeks ago and I play it every chance I get - in between lab work and cakes, that is. Yesterday was my birthday so we decided to have a bunch of people over - just an excuse to play more Rock Band and make another cake! These are the invitations we sent out:


I decided to make a cake in the shape of a guitar. While carving the cake to that shape was relatively easy, covering it with fondant was a different story! I didn't realize it would be difficult to cover those sharp turns and curves at the top of the guitar until I actually tried! Luckily, I was able to cover my mistakes with decorations on the guitar.


The neck and head of the guitar was gluten-free chocolate cake and the rest of it was marble cake. The whole thing was covered with raspberry cream icing and then with fondant. The silver pieces were first made with grey fondant and then I painted over it with silver sugar dust dissolved in clear alcohol. The guitar strap was also made of fondant, and I hand-cut the Barbie and the Rockers logo (that took forever!). Remember Barbie and the Rockers from the 80s? Yea man, they were awesome. The musical staff was written on the cake board with pens that write in food coloring, and I made the notes and letters out of fondant. And last, but not least, the guitar strings...I just made these out of piped royal icing, but I wasn't really happy with them. First of all, they don't lay as straight as I'd like. And secondly, they just don't look as realistic as I'd like. If I were to make another guitar, I might try using fishing line or real guitar strings!

The party was a blast! We asked everyone to dress in "concert attire" so we got a wide range of outfits! I was a hippie rocker. I asked Adam to get me a T-shirt from Bakerella that says BakeLove so I was going to write underneath it "not war." Get it? Bake love, not war! (Mike's idea, I can't take credit.) So I sewed a few patches on my jeans, got some peace sign earings, found some awesome star-studded blue sunglasses, and wore a hippie headband. I actually forgot to put the words "not war" on my shirt, but whatever!

Here's a bunch of shots of the different bands that debuted at the party:

Me and Ben (sorry, Ben, you got cut out of this one)

Nicole, Shelby (nice outfits you two!), and Adam

Jiejin, Shelby, and Jack...I have a feeling it won't be long before JJ and Jack get Rock Band for the Wii!!!

Jeanette & Mike (awesome costumes!)

Lorelie and Nani! Lorelie had the cutest "Miss Behavin' " outfit on and Nani was sporting the awesome T-shirt Robin bought her that said "I love Ph.D.serts!"

And the other people I unfortunately didn't catch on camera: Elise, James, Ben (kind of), Matt, and Lourdes. You guys have escaped this time....but watch out for next time!!! Muahahahaha!

A Day in the Life

Every weekend, Adam and I devote one morning to cleaning the house. Nani likes to be a part of everything we do so she always "helps." She especially loves when we do the laundry and sweep the floors.

When we do the laundry, she likes to stand in the basket and/or burrow through all the clothes. Here is a photo Adam took a few weeks ago where she was in the middle of searching through some pairs of pants...probably looking for some socks. I am still working on my Photoshop skills. I know I'm horrible at it, but maybe if I keep practicing, I'll get better...eventually. Anyway, I found this cool effect this morning! If you can't see it in the picture, click on it. That should blow it up really big.


Here's a great example of how much she likes to help! She is standing in the basket on top of the clothes while I load them into the washing machine!!

Nani steals socks all the time. She doesn't chew holes in them, just likes to carry them away. Last night, I left two socks on the floor near my shoes. A little while after I put them there, I noticed that one of the socks had been replaced with her bone. Apparently, she felt like we needed to make a trade - a bone for a sock. I guess that's fair enough.

When I sweep the floors, Nani has to check all my little dirt piles to make sure there's not anything in there that she wants to salvage or eat. I normally don't let her root around in it, but as soon as I turn my back, she sneaks over again! Since she's so busy "helping" us clean, she misses her morning nap so she's usually very sleepy later that afternoon. All that work can really wear a girl out!

This Sunday, I took her outside and tied her to the fire hydrant (is that illegal?) while Adam and I washed our cars. She loves being outside and since we don't have a fenced-in backyard, she doesn't get to play out there as much as she'd like. With the combination of being outside and having a yummy bone, she was in heaven! Her face said it all so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots of her:


This picture absolutely cracked me up. Look at that goofy grin!

Baby Shower Cookies to TEXAS!

A friend of the family threw a baby shower for her daughter last weekend. She had seen pictures of some baby shower cookies I'd made and wanted me to send some for the shower. Nothing special about that, right??? Except that they live in TEXAS! Elise and I made sugar cookies and decorated them with pink Satin Ice fondant and a little bit of royal icing. I carefully packaged the cookies and shipped them to Texas! Apparently only 1 broke so they used that as a taste tester, and they still had plenty left over for the shower. Here is a photo they took of the cookies at the shower:



Kaylee Anne is going to be the baby's name - so pretty! I can't wait to see pictures of the little one!

Congratulations, Jiejin!

A good friend of mine and a fellow member of the Scarpace lab just completed her final defense of her dissertation last Monday. To celebrate this huge accomplishment, Dr. Tumer & Dr. Scarpace are throwing a party for her this weekend! I was thrilled and honored when Dr. Tumer called to ask if I'd make a small cake for JJ!

I've been hoping to have the chance to make a graduation cake for JJ because I really wanted to try to recreate her bound dissertation. For those who may not know, when you complete a dissertation (for a Ph.D.) or a thesis (for a masters), our department gets it printed and bound. The copy stays in the departmental library for anyone to read...although probably no one ever does! haha! The dissertation is bound with a black leatherette cover and imprinted with gold font.

Since we only needed the cake to serve about 10 people, I had to keep it small. I decided to make a large graduation cap out of cake and use stacked cardboard to make the dissertation. Recently in lab, we were talking about how some people decorate the tops of their mortar boards so they stand out in a crowd full of graduates. JJ is headed to Cleveland to, for the first time, be living in the same town as her husband so I wrote "Cleveland here I come" on the top of her cap. Here's the finished product:
If you're interested in learning how to make a cake like this, read on. To begin, prepare your cake board (mine was a piece of plywood my grandpa cut for me). I covered my cake board with white fondant that was marbelized with orange and blue fondant (Go Gators!).

Next, stack pieces of same-size cardboard and tape them together. This will create a firm "book" that the cake will sit on. You could easily do the book in real cake too - just be sure to properly dowel it so it can support the graduation cap cake on top. Cut a piece of black fondant just slightly (and I mean slightly) larger than the cardboard pieces and place it on your cake base wherever you want the book to lie.

Spread a small amount of royal icing over this black piece and set your cardboard stack on top. Next, roll a larger piece of black fondant. This piece should be large enough to cover the top and spine of the book. Again, use a small amount of royal icing to "glue" this piece onto the cardboard stack. When you work on the spine of the book, tuck the edge of the fondant underneath, rather than cutting it straight across. This will give the impression that you covered the "book" all with one piece of fondant. With a little bit of touch-up work, you can completely blend the two fondant pieces together so that there is no longer a seam.


Now you need to add the pages to your book. I added my pages using 3 separate pieces of fondant. To do this, roll a piece of white fondant and cut it to the right size to fit between your cover pieces. Apply a little bit of royal icing to the cardboard and put the white fondant in place. Once I had all of 3 sides covered with white fondant, I went back and added the "page" effect by pressing the edge of a ruler into the white fondant.


Now, let's move on to the graduation cap cake. I baked an 2-layer 8-inch cake- nothing special. Then I gently carved the cake to a flattened cone shape. At this point, be sure that the top is perfectly flat so the mortar board sits straight on top. After I carved the cake, I covered it with buttercream and then with black fondant.

Yikes! Excuse my purple/black fingernails (that's what you get when you dye fondant black) and my messy apron (good thing I was wearing it I guess)! Anyway, cover this cake with fondant as you would normally and trim away the excess at the bottom.

To accessorize and personalize this cake, I decorated the top of the mortar board, created a small fondant plaque that said "Congratulations, Jiejin!" and painted the spine of the dissertation with gold luster dust dissolved in a small amount of clear alcohol. I created the tassle by rolling very thin snakes of blue fondant, pinching one end to secure them all together, and attaching them to the edge of the mortar board. Simple as that!

Congratulations, Jiejin! Everyone is so proud of you and you will be sorely missed in lab!