Author: healthatmysize

What I learned today

The cake frosting experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I learned a lot in a very short time.  This recipe for buttercream frosting is maybe the best tasting thing I have ever eaten.  The cake itself really tastes good too.  Here are some things I learned and didn’t learn.

  • I need to pay attention to the sides of the cake.  I used two nearly-the-same size cake pans, bu the small difference in their sizes made for quite uneven sides to contend with.  I finally gave up trying to make them perfect, but I can now see that with enough patience and practice, I’ll be able to pull this off (I hope)
  • I need someone else’s math skills to half, double or quarter my recipes.  I struggled to convert 17.5 oz of sugar into cups assuming 4 lbs. of sugar is 9 1/2 cups and then I need it multiplied by .4 .  Seriously, I had to call my mom.  Still not sure we got the right amount of sugar, but it tastes amazing.
  • I thought my cake leveler would be awesome and it really just seems to be a pain in the butt.
  • Factor in the crumb coat.  I was an idiot and didn’t do a crumb coat because it didn’t look like I had enough frosting.  So, I went straight into application. I think the entire cake would have looked better with a solid base layer.
  • Too little frosting is a BIG error.  I think next time, I’ll make extra just to be sure.
  • Mix mix mix mix.  My overall colors didn’t turn out as solid nor as bright as I wanted.  One factor was clear, I didn’t mix thoroughly enough.  I also might need to get a different kind of gel coloring.  The Wilton blue just doesn’t seem bright enough for me.  Maybe what I am looking for isn’t possible in a buttercream.  The color I want for the wedding case is much more subtle though.
  • Amazon boxes make for great cake boards, at least for these practice cakes.  I’ll go with Rachel’s suggestion for the real deal and buy wooden cake boards.

That’s a lot for my brain to take in in one day.  Hope you like it.

BAD Santa

I suffer from a syndrome in which I am certain I purchase the books, games and toys that my children will LOVE.  I will be able to create an Christmas experience for my children that is magical like when I was young.  But, the fact of the matter is, every year, one of my children or both are disappointed in what I have brought.  I even went to lengths years ago to have Santa stop by a few days after Christmas to try to make up for the things that Santa forgot.  Last year, we packed up the car to my parents in Indiana, only to realize after the  hour drive we had forgotten MOST of the presents.  (our neighbor was able to confirm that we forgot a lot.)  So, I am a bit worried about what I’ve gotten.  It shouldn’t be this big of a deal.

Error, error

I am obsessing a bit.  I can’t stop thinking of cake. I have to make sure that this thing doesn’t fail.   This evening as I have been online I rediscovered the Cake Wrecks website.  In there I found these sad, but hilarous examples of cakes that have failed.  I swear to you, when I imagine my cake, it is of these clean, fresh images.  I KNOW that when these people started, they were SURE they could pull it off.  I am sharing some cake failure photos with you here.  Worries me, worries me.   

I dream of frosting

I have a suite of resources out there to help me in this cake discovery of mine.  I am so lucky to have a master pastry chef as a friend and advice from all over about the cakes.  So, I showed baker friend the cake I am going for.  I can’t share a photo here, because I’d have to remove my sister’s eyeballs to make sure she doesn’t see the cake.  I don’t want her to see the final ideas, though we did scroll through many a cake in the course of the past days.  In talking with my baker friend I had a lot of questions.  I showed her the photo of my cake idea and she believes I can do it with buttercream, no fondant.  So strange, but I am going to take her advice and for now NOT go with fondant.  Even though I have been getting some experience lately with it.She gave me an amazing buttercream recipe that looks divine.   It could bring down the cost and overall difficulty of the cake.  And as my girl says, fondant can really taste like sh*t. Here are some other questions I asked her….On the fondant note, she recommended PVC pipe as an alternative to rolling pins and store bought fondant. 

I have a few test cakes planned:

  1. Holiday Cake
  2. Neighbor’s birthday cake (winter theme)
  3. Wedding shower cake
  4. son’s birthday cake
  5. The real deal

Here is what I have purchased so far:

  • Wilton Rotating Cake Stand
  • Angled spatula
  • Wilton Cake Pan 3 inch
  • cake leveler
  • Bench Scraper
  • I am working on some gum paste additions to the cake (made by someone else)
  • snowflake sugar decorations
  • large bag and tip for putting huge hunks of icing on cake
  • gel food coloring
  • some pretty ribbon

This is fun…but not cheap.  I am sure I am buying things I don’t really need, but will keep all of my receipts.  First cake attempt this weekend….holiday cake.

Tales of a misdirected cake baker – Shopping list

This weekend I talked to the sister who is planning her wedding.  I asked how her wedding cake selection is going.  She looked at me with a little bit of surprise and said, “well….I don’t know since you are the one making the cake.”  I remember (foggily and perhaps under the influence of much wine) mentioning at one point or another that I would be willing to make the cake, but the pressure might be a little too much for me.  I also remember a discussion of focus, I would obviously be focused on the cake and unable to pay a lot of attention to other aspects of wedding preparation.  That said, the $800 + wedding budget line item convinced me that this would actually be the best wedding present I could give them.  I’ll be detailing the step by step processes I go through. 

My first challenge is to decide the size of the individual tiers and develop a shopping list. 

  • pans.  I have yet to decide if I should go with 2″ or 3″ deep pans there is strong sentiment online for both.  I’ll keep researching and will share the links. 
  • dowels
  • cake boards
  • cake stand
  • cake leveler
  • icing spatula
  • cake decorating turntable
  • icing coloring
  • fondant rolling pin (large and small)
  • ruler
  • fondant rolling surface
  • ingredients (duh this will be once we decide flavors of the layers)  

My goal today is to order the cake pans and a couple of other of the necessary supplies.  I still can’t decide on the 2 or 3 inch. 

Wilton has a good website to figure quantities.  Though apparently I am supposed to use different calculations depending on whether this is the main dessert or not.  I’ll have to figure that in.  Well, I do love a challenge.  We’ll see how this goes.  Luckily I have a few of test runs in my future.  I figure we’ll need a Christmas cake this year, certainly a cute cake for the shower I’ll also be planning and there is a 9 year old birthday in March as well.   Any ideas, suggestions or advise is greatly appreciated here!!

The day this tree was planted

I measure time passing by my children’s faces.  It is hard to notice them change if you don’t have photos as yardsticks.  I was shocked this year when I noticed this tree that was planted in our front yard in 2005.  Friends had come in from North Carolina and I had a horrible stomach flu.  I had completely forgotten that a nursery crew would be delivering and planting trees in the neighborhood.  Our house nearly got skipped, but thanks to my (pushy??) 🙂 visitors I was the lucky recipient of this beautiful tree.  I can’t believe how much she has grown.

What will it take for me to cave???

I went to meet some girlfriends for breakfast and was ACCOSTED by a duo who insisted that I get the boy an XBox for Christmas.  I was surprised that they actually read the blog more than their strong feelings about what is in Santa’s sack this year.  However, I listened.  It is amazing how quickly one will cave when the price is right.  Why they decided to fuel the fire of gaming in our house, I’ll never know.  But I do know one thing.  Some little boy is going to be thrilled on Christmas day cause Santa IS real.

Our little santas