Lots of cake...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I'm working on a wedding cake right now so it's a little crazy. Yesterday the base of the cake was baked and filled and crumb coated. 

Today I found out from my dentist that I have a wisdom tooth twice the size of a regular molar in my lower jaw that's pushing against my other tooth, oh joy. My kids are calling it my elephant tooth and they think it's hillarious. After my lovely dental appointment I was back to baking. Today I might be able to finish the cake. We'll see how the cakes come together. It's always an adventure that's for sure. More pics of cake to come soon (and not just crumb coated ones)!

My mad scientist cake leveling tool....like I said, adventure...

Back to Reality

 Disneyland was wonderful. And between running from this show to that show and standing in lines and pushing a stroller up a hill it was enough to make me forget everything for a day. Today every single one of my muscles hurts. But it was worth it. We saw Fantasmic for the first time and it was absolutely amazing. I totally get why people camp out for hours before the show just to get a good seat. But my favorite part of the day was in the New Orleans area.

It is home to "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Haunted Mansion". Which I consider two of the best attractions at Disneyland. It also has really yummy food and amazing building decor. 

I'm not sure if I'd really call it architecture- because who knows how it was built. But walking around that area definitely feels like you're walking around New Orleans.

  

Right now I wish I could go back and sit under the large shade trees and just watch the water fall from the fountain. So relaxing...

Beautiful Prep Time

Right now it's the "calm before the storm" as I like to call it. Next week is the start of a very busy few weeks for me. I have lots of cake orders coming up and a wedding cake due next Friday. It's too early to do much about these cakes. So this is my mental prep time. I'm basically doing all the possible laundry, vaccuming and anything that might get left by the way side during the busy time. I also started on the wedding cake bow. It will be the topper for the wedding cake with cascading ribbon down the sides of the cake. A simple, yet elegant design. Here's the bow so far:

For never having made a bow before I think it's not too shabby - and honestly, it looks even better in person. The key is in getting a ribbon that has wire in it. You can make the wire hold almost any shape. Agenda for tomorrow will be a complete mental holiday....aka...Disneyland. I've learned that I handle stress and what I call "go-go-go syndrome" if I've had a good rest. And no I don't mean sit on my couch rest- although that's nice. Sometimes I just need a day or two to clear my head and then I can be more productive :) Maybe tomorrow's your mental holiday as well- if so enjoy! 

Homemade Ice Cream Sanwiches

Recently I went to a BBQ where the desert was ice cream sandwiches. The kids devoured them and the adults loved them too! I thought I'd make my own ice cream sandwiches for a game night I was hosting. I decided to start with the ice cream. I made it from scratch starting with boiling the cream, milk and vanilla. 

I whipped the eggs and egg yolks with sugar till it was pale and fluffy. I incorporated the boiled milk mix into the egg mix (tempering the eggs).

 

Once it was all in one bowl I transferred it back to the pot and continued to cook the mix on med- low heat until it thickened (enough to coat the back of a spoon). 

I placed plastic wrap directly on top of cream mixture (to prevent "skin" from forming) and chilled the mixture in the refrigerator . Once chilled, I poured it into my ice cream maker. 30 min. later  it was ready to be spread into a shallow baking pan (like a cookie pan). I lined the pan with freezer paper- wax side up. 

Then I spread the ice cream into the lined pan. I let the ice cream set in the freezer for a couple of hours. Then I used a biscuit cutter to punch out perfect circle shaped ice cream serving to go inside of the cookies.

All in all the process took a couple hours but it was worth it. You can't find ice cream that rich and creamy in the grocery stores. It brought back memories my parents' big ice cream maker that you had to hand crank. Thank goodness for Cuisinart! But truly, homemade ice cream is the best. And I offered this delicious treat along with some of BECCA'S blue BAKERY recipe cookies. I made the "Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie" with milk chocolate chips and I made the "Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies" with a hint of nutmeg, dusted with sugar. This was a treat for my hubby as well because I only offer cookies at the bakery during holidays. So he was very excited to be able to munch on a chocolate chip cookie while it was "not in season".  

Jet Cake

Tonight I have a "jet cake" due. A neighbor of mine has a boyfriend who flies jets and wanted to give him a special birthday cake. So.... she asked me if I could make a jet cake and I said I can make a jet cake however you want it. We decided on a small fondant jet that would sit on top of the cake. The cake would be decorated to look like the sky so it would look as if the jet was flying.

 I must say it made me nervous that this guy flies jets for a living and here I am sculpting one from scratch. I hope it looks somewhat like what he flies. But more than anything I hope he likes his cake and I hope my customer does too! 

I literally just finished it. Last night when my family and I got home from a work BBQ we put the kids to bed and I heated up the oven. I must say I was pretty impressed with my multitasking. I had the cakes cooking in the oven while I was on the elliptical- something I don't usually do- but I know the baking time on this cake like the back of my hand, so I wasn't worried. Usually I finish all cakes and products the day before they are due -- just in case anything goes wrong.... which happens frequently when you work with edible product. But the customer is actually taking this cake on a little road trip to Vegas! So I wanted it to be as fresh as possible when they cut into it. How awesome is this cake? Not only does it have a cool jet on it- but it gets to go to Vegas as well! This is one lucky cake! 

Wedding Cake Tasting

With wedding season comes tastings! And most of them start off like this. I've made mini cakes and a whole lot of fillings and icings. It may not look like it at this step in the process but it took hours of work just to get to this point:

After the "assembling" is complete it's time to cut. It's very important to have straight, uniform pieces. I start with a tall, well stacked cake. Then I take an apple corer and remove a small circle of cake from the middle of the cake. Then I make about 1" pieces. They are approx. 2  inches long and 4 inches deep. This is the standard size for wedding cake pieces. And yes- there is a method to cutting wedding cakes. For ex. a 6 inch round cake can easily feed 8 people and could maybe feed 10. 

After cutting the cake comes the plating. Which means I'm almost done! This is my favorite part because I get to see the final product. I must say I really enjoy seeing all the uniform pieces of cake layed out. Maybe it's my OCD or just my love of cake. Hmm... anyway- the bride and groom seem to like this part too :) 

 In the above picture: 

*Oreo cake with vanilla buttercream 

*Amaretto cake with almond buttercream

*Bananas Foster cake with a rum/brown sugar caramel layer and vanilla buttercream

*Lemon cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting and a layer of strawberry buttercream

6 years...

6 years ago I made the best decision of my life when I married my husband. I had no idea how many difficulties or adventures were in store for us -- it’s been one crazy ride but I 

wouldn’t change a thing. We've been through a lot and sometimes it seems more like 20 years rather than 6 and other times it feels just like yesterday. My husband has been my rock, my support and he still makes me laugh. He’s blessed me with 2 of the most precious children whom I love more than life itself. I find that each year I love my husband deeper and deeper.  I thought that when I married him I couldn't love him any more than I did that day, boy was I wrong.

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 I think marriage is a journey. It forces you to be brutally honest about your own short comings and makes you vulnerable. I think it's a lesson in trust as well. And it's always 100%. There is no 50/50 in marriage. Each person has to give 100% and sometimes when the other person trips up, it's all about giving 110%. When I look back at the past 6 years it's been so crazy wonderful and I'm so excited to see what the next 60 years hold for me and my beloved.