Lightning McQueen Take TWO

So, the frosting was getting hard on the cake and I rolled out the red fondant. I bought it pre-made for a couple of reasons. Yes, I know how to make my own fondant now and it tastes better than the pre-made stuff I had used before (the stuff I bought at Joanns or Michael's...) BUT getting the white fondant a true red is so hard and time consuming. I was willing to fork over the dough to buy it made- it was worth the $20 for 2 lbs of it. I found a cake bakers supply shop on my way home from work so I picked it up the other day. It is the same brand used on the show "Cake Boss".

Let me just say- I was pleasantly surprised. It was soft, moist, pliable and a true red. So, I rolled it out, took the cake out of the freezer....



...rolled the fondant onto my rolling pin and then unrolled it on top of the cake. I only have 2 hands so I couldn't take pictures of this process. It went ok... I need practice and perhaps a lighter rolling pin. Plus I need to get better at knowing what thickness to achieve when laying the fondant on a sculpted cake...



I smoothed it out on top of the cake, and believe me there were some cracks and tears. I waited too long before I rolled it ON the cake and this stuff dries out quickly. Also, because I rolled some spots out too thinly, it tore. More lessons learned ;) I also learned a trick- to smooth out and shine the fondant use Crisco. yeah, another use for good ol' Crisco!


So, I'm gonna call it a night. I'm beat and The next steps are going to be a lot harder and time consuming. It's almost midnight and I did A TON today... Bakery, #1's birthday shirt, sewed some buttons (yah, swear!), finally decorated Moochies room (I'll put pictures up later), wrapped #1's gifts, made dinner, made Oma's bday cake, and now this. It's been a LOOOOONG day... g'night!

Lightning McQueen, Take ONE

I'm really doing this... I did a ridiculous amount of research on how to make a 3D cake. I started with my 9x13 sheet cakte (that I had to make TWICE), and got out my handy dandy Lightning McQueen model. We have so many in the house, but this one was the largest we have in 3D, which is actually bubble bath. LOL!


Next, I chopped off about 3 inches off the end and shaped it into the 'cab' portion of the race car...


Then I carved the hood...

Front view.... (oh, lesson learned: Marble cake, probably not the best idea for this kind of carving cake.)

Then I covered the whole thing w/ buttercream


and then I let it harden up in the freezer before I could go on to the next step. Red Fondant...

Oma's Bday Cake

I had about 12 ideas for this cake. I had very little direction- use fondant, any color, make it 'impressive', flavor/color didn't matter. OK.... At this point, open ended cake directions are not good. I need some focus because my mind races with possibilities of what I would like to try. And then I end up wanting to do too much and then the cake loses its focus.

First, I needed to whip up some buttercream. My bestie came over and kept me company while I got this going. I got to share w/ her the magnificence of watching the egg whites and sugar whip up to pearly white goodness in the Kitchen aid... and she also witnessed first hand the ridiculous amount of butter that goes in as well... yikes.

I've showed the pictures of the buttercream already so I won't bore you with that, or me actually stacking the cake. It is a 6 inch round yellow cake with banana ganache, covered in HOMEMADE marshmallow vanilla fondant in white. I LOVE that I know how to make fondant now :)


Notice the pink bow loops in the background? Yeah.. I should have assembled the bow before working on the cake. Lesson Learned. It needs to harden and set well before placing it on the cake. Sigh... I got too excited.

Then I rolled out some bright green fondant. I decided on making bright pink and green polka dots in addition to the bright pink bow... So I cut out circles in 2 different sizes and started to throw them on the cake...
Then I added the 'ribbons' that I THOUGHT were hardened enough to hold their bend. Two things: 1) they weren't hard enough. Why? I have no idea. They kept falling flat. 2) I should have put these on BEFORE I did the polka dots.
It was at this point that I realized, "Hey I should have assembled the bow by now so I could set it on the cake RIGHT now". Sigh... So I just put the bow together using a TON of frosting to hold it in place and put it in the freezer for a while. Then I put it on top of the cake and Voila!


I LOVE this little cake. I think it's very cute and girlie. Probably too youthful for an Oma, but whatever I had little direction so they get what they get ;) After I put the bow on I threw it in the freezer again to harden up and now on to #1's cake...

#1's Bday Shirt

SO, #1's dad had a tradition that his mom would make him a shirt every year for his birthday. It was a raglan/ringer T w/ his name and age. Last year I picked it up and made one for his 2nd birthday and this is the one I made for his 3rd this year. Pretty easy and I hate that I feel SO crafty when I make it- but I do get satisfaction making things my kids will wear...

Saturday a.m. Work....

Saturday a.m.'s are bittersweet. I'm excited to get to the bakery, but when my alarm goes off at 5 a.m., it's always just a touch too early...



Today I worked on Mini Fruit Tartlet's (I got to cut the fruit, arrange and glaze) and Almond Toffee Tuiles.



These are a bit tricky, so finicky! You scoop them out and let them dry into flat circles.



Then heat them up again so they are pliable and you can shape them around metal cones.... while trying not to burn your fingers or cracking the toffee.



Then after they harden around the cone, extracting the cone and dipping the toffee in chocolate. Again, while NOT cracking the toffee. I obviously had issues w/ the 'not cracking the toffee', which is why I mentioned twice. It is SO hot when they come out of the oven your instinct is to let them cool off, but if they cool TOO much they aren't as pliable and will crack.. conversely if they are TOO hot, the sugar breaks down and won't hold together to form around the cone.

Then you fill w/ cream. I didn't get to fill them today, but got to taste the chocolate covered tuiles.. and that's because I broke a few while making them. Oops! Oh, but so so Yummmmmmmy... Now for a nap and work on #1's Oma's bday cake and #1's cake. Wish me luck!

Fondant Bow, step one

I have two cakes to work on this weekend... a birthday girl cake and #1's cake... Moochie and #1 have had the WORST colds all winter. Seems like I'm constantly wiping runny noses and demanding they 'blow' into Kleenex. Can warm weather come QUICKER?

It's been difficult to do the usual evening baking/decorating as they both have been wanting extra cuddling before bed time so I was getting nervous yesterday when I hadn't even begun work on either cake.

After doing some research on 'bows' for cakes, I found some good tips and tricks and it seemed fairly simple. I decided on pink, mostly because I had some left over from the Wubbzy cake, and after I came home from the gym (I have my first weigh in on Monday w/ Buddy Love)I rolled it out and began cutting my bows.




Seriously, this was super easy. I'm waiting for them to harden up enough to put the bow together (about 2 days), but I don't imagine it getting much tougher. It was laughable how easy this was and to think cake decorators charge a pretty penny for a bow topper... Now I know...

As of this morning they were not hard enough yet, so we will see when I get home from work and I'll probably put it together tomorrow night and start working on #1's Lightning McQueen cake. Yeah, I bit the bullet and decided 'why not?' Again, took to the internet and did a ton of research as to HOW I can do this. And to save me some grief I bought red fondant pre-made (UGH, SO expensive), but saves me time and irritation.

**SIDE NOTE- my fridge arrived yesterday. scary moment when it almost didn't fit because of a possible mis-measurment. But, it fits. Bummer was that the stainless isn't magnetized. :( It looked so sad and bare without magnets.... so it had to be outfitted w/ it's first sticker. A HUGE pink Spitfire head. Check it out on my twitter- @sweetsandyb

I so appreciate the fridge now... and it came just in time- it warmed up to 40 yesterday and the food wasn't going to survive in the garage any longer. That's another one of those things that has happened to me that I said "seriously? I can't believe I live here... it's so cold I can put my milk in the garage and it is colder than the fridge...."

Hybrid Muffins

I was watching Food Network a couple of weeks ago and one of my new favorite shows was on- "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". I love that they have different topics and they are items all over the country- both 'high end' and cheap snacks. Also, it's awesome to see someone describe food in a loving way like that.


Imagine your favorite thing to eat, whatever it is, and how you feel while eating it... remembering the taste and smell of it... and describe it to someone. TRY to do it without a huge smile on your face. I love that...

SO, one of the items on the show was a donut muffin. They truly looked delicious and fairly easy to make. I've been wanting to try it out since then and I did tonight!

These are my hybrid Donut Muffins. I imagine these would be amazing on a crisp fall day at the cider mill... steaming hot out of the oven, rolled in the cinnamon sugar with a little crust forming as it cooled off.

I'm not entirely happy with the recipe- they came out a little too dense so I'll have to tweak it a bit next time. There is an INSANE amount of butter in them, and once they come out of the oven you brush melted butter ALL over them, and then roll them in cinnamon and sugar. so so so good. It's worth burning your fingers.

I was baking these AND re-baking #1's birthday sheet cake (I BURNED the one I made last night... long story)... all while watching Modern Family and then the Olympics. Is Shaun White not the GREATEST snowboarder EVER? he amazes me, and his smile... yah, bottle that up. I love a good smile. SO, congrats to him nailing his double McTwist 1260 AND his SECOND gold medal . so very deserving.. and love how he rocks jeans on the half pipe- my kind of guy.

ANYHOW, point is, next time I make these I'm going to have to put a dollop of something on the inside to make them a little more special. I'm thinking some raspberry jam OR Nutella. mmmmmmmmmm Nutella......

not so "Fat" Tuesday

I was up at 2 a.m. today to get to the bakery by 3. Yes, THREE. It's Fat Tuesday and I offered to come in and help them get the Paczki's going. It was a round the clock adventure starting yesterday at the bakery but the shift they needed help with was the 3 a.m. shift (go figure).

Coffee in hand I stumbled into the bakery and could smell the sweet dough baking as soon as I opened my car door. yum....

OK- I had NEVER ever heard of a Paczki until I moved here, and frankly I don't really remember talk of them in college either. They are a Polish tradition and surpringly they are pronounced "PUNCH-KEY" not "Pachz-Key". why? who knows... It's like "Favre" I guess. lol


anyhow, they are pretty much a glorified jelly filled donut. The traditional way to make them is to deep fry them, and the true original ones apparently aren't very sweet. But, due to commercialization and grocery stores trying to make them more palatable, they became more donut and dessert like.

At my bakery, they are a little more 'healthy', because we don't deep fry them. Why not? Not because we are trying to save anyone calories or make a healthy alternative. no, it's because we don't have a deep fryer. So, we bake them = better for you = people delude themselves that they are eating a 'healthy paczki'. yeah, sure....



On the menu:Raspberry filled (covered in powdered sugar), Cream filled (dipped in chocolate), Lemon filled (iced w/ lemon icing), Custard filled (sugar glazed and re-baked)



Raspberry is the top seller and fav. I, however cant weigh in as I didn't eat a single one!! Yet another year goes by sans Paczki.

Wow Wow Wubbzy schooled me

I went to bed last night before 9 pm... haven't done that in a while and my alarm still came too early this morning. I worked on that cake for about 15 hours total I think over the past week and a half. Wubbzy schooled me for sure.

**Lessons learned:

1) It's ok to make a simpler cake than you imagined. It relieves a lot of stress
2) Make the gum paste figures at least 5 days to a week in advance. They really need the time to harden
3) The microwave is your friend when mixing colors into the gumpaste. Just a few seconds is all you need and it saves you SO MUCH time kneading.
4) Homemade gumpaste and fondant is not hard to make at all. It's almost laughable how easy it is and much much cheaper than buying it pre-made. And it tastes better.
5) Wear gloves when coloring the gumpaste/fondant.
6) You don't need to use edible glue, water works well too.
7) A turn table is a God send.
8) You never know how much you take your fridge for granted until it dies on you.
9) Youtube has a WEALTH of knowledge on cake decorating. It's inspiring and humbling to see how talented people are. wow...

I have two cakes coming up this week. #1's birthday is coming up and so is his Oma's. I'm unsure if I will take another stab at the Yo Gabba Gabba cake or if i will try something new (Cars possibly? Monster trucks??). Stay tuned!

Wow Wow Wubbzy final take

It all started with this sketch....







TA-DA!!! :) I'm really happy with it.. And, as I had anticipated, the appendages didn't harden as I had hoped. Huge lesson learned...