Pokemon Cakes

A former co worker who I consider to be a timeless friend has twin boys who celebrated their birthdays this weekend. All of seven years under these boys' belts. I first met the boys years ago when they were shy and clung to mom's ankles, now these boys are as confident and friendly as their mom, eager to tell stories and expend limitless energy. It has been a pleasure to see these kids develop and grow through the years.

She asked me to do the boys' birthday cakes and of course I eagerly said that I would love two. They wanted Pokemon themed cakes and both drew me detailed pictures and descriptions of what they wanted. One wanted a round cake and the other wanted a square cake, they may be twins but they are very independent. It was my first time making and using modeling chocolate, I love the idea of using it rather than fondant for taste reasons and once I dial down the proper technique for making modeling chocolate I know that it cuts much nicer lines than fondant it capable of producing. I made a Swiss buttercream, which I can not get over how much I enjoy the texture and the taste is a bit lighter than a powdered sugar based icing. Note that weird things happen to Swiss buttercream when you try and use gel coloring to tint it after the butter has been incorporated. I am going to try and avoid tinting this frosting again until I figure out why this happens. Learning. Technocolor.

What really made my day was reading this email this morning...

 
"The cakes were a huge hit! We just enjoyed them again this evening. Absolutely stunning, delicious, and beautiful - the kids could not keep their eyes off them...loads of comments and 'wows'! And this is the first kid party I've been to that had totally empty plates after eating cake! Thank you so much for making them. As Tom said to the boys when we were looking at them at home before the party - "This is probably the nicest birthday cake you'll ever have in your life!" And Bryce responded, "Yeah, I guess you couldn't have had anything like this before or when you were a kid because there was no Michelle around then!". One of a kind."

Hello Kitty Cake

My aunt, my dad's sister, spoiled me as a little girl, I was even the flower girl in her wedding. I am the oldest grand child on my dad's side of the family, my aunt had kids (twins) when I was nine or so, I remember that blondie twosome fondly. Before she had kids she would have me sleep over when her husband was gone. We would watch movies, eat dessert and just hang out. I thought she was pretty cool. When she had kids I spent even more time with them, I was the perfect age to keep the kids occupied while my aunt did what she needed to do and my mom worked. Family, it is nice to have around.

My aunt knew how to decorate cakes, I think she even did her own wedding cake, maybe even my parents. She made me a birthday cake, I am sure I can dig up a photo, one of those infamous 1980's dolls cakes. A doll cake complete with Barbie from the torso up coming out of a cake that resembles  her dress. I still remember the cake. Now that I think of it, I remember a few more cakes of hers. She was good to me.

A friend ordered this cake from me for a seven year old's birthday party. I was so excited to make this cake knowing that it is going to be part of a very special day for a very special little girl, a day that she might remember when she is nearly 30. She might remember one very pink Hello Kitty cake that someone who adored her picked out just for her. 

Graduation Cake

I made it through the first few weeks at the bakery without too many mistakes and humbled by the learning curve. For the first two weeks I came home barely able to keep my eyes open and my legs under me. I was exhausted to say the least. Mistakes and blunders scattered the week as did a burnt cake reminding me to always remember to set the timers. The first cake I had to decorate was for the owner's daughter. No pressure ;) I was only able to work with butter cream and a piping bag. As with most of the cakes that I have shown you here on the site, I lean to using fondant, modeling chocolate and gum paste for most of my projects. My strong suit is not buttercream.... yet.

I dig the location, there is a great view of the San Juan Islands with day light flooding the open work area. The bakery is a recycled pizza shop and nestled in the tourist town of Fairhaven. The standards are high, the owner has created a lasting business in a rough small town economy and the community has come to expect greatness from the scratch bakery.

In the free time that I once had an excess of a few weeks ago I have been busy making cakes for some friends and family. Here is a graduation cake that I made from scratch last weekend.

Bright Flowered Cake

I told a friend that I started to dabble in cake decoration, by that afternoon she had called me and asked if I would make a cake for class that she thought. She dubbed it "cake day" for her class.

The theme and flavor was completely my decision. I chose a Neapolitan cake, a layer of chocolate, strawberry and white with a butter cream icing. The small cake was just two layers of chocolate.

I made the flowers out of fondant and will never do that again, they were incredibly fragile and I was not able to get them as thin and smooth as I like to see. I am learning, each cake is better than the one previously.

Red Velvet Birthday Cupcakes

I had a cakery orders this week, including three dozen red velvet cup cakes. The cake recipe was from the Flour cookbook and was a winner sporting a hefty slug of buttermilk. The butter cream is my new go to recipe for all my cakes. It is a keeper as well.

 

I am just smitten that I have filled each order using home made fondant. Believe it or not the stuff is rather tasty compared to the gross store bought variety. I feel good about the product that goes out the door.

I always use organic cane sugar and organic eggs for the cake and they are ALWAYS from scratch.

 Have a great weekend and if you ever need cake you know where to find me, the caker.

Lemon Loaf Cake for Tuesdays with Dorie

I am not one to stir the spiritual pot with (almost) anyone except my husband. Him and I agree on the level, conversations of this sort are challenging and exploitative, healthy and enlightening. I was raised Baptist by my Grandma, I was educated and exposed extremely liberal at Fairhaven College, I married a Texan with a very religious background. All pieces of a greater puzzle. My Sundays are spent in the woods riding bikes or connecting with nature in some fashion, needless to say I am usually trying to having a good time.

I take it all in, every ounce, every drip of knowledge. I have my believes, they make me want to be a better woman,  I have goals, I have believes, I have no ties.

I believe that a little sweat and hard work puts everything into perspective. This I do believe to be true.

As I said, miscarrying challenged my believes. I stood at a crossroads, questioning what I thought to be the truth, I was and continue to be flexible to my feelings and open to myself and the direction I needed to go, were we need to travel together as a couple. Miscarrying questioned my spirituality more than anything I have experienced to date.  I cursed everything, wanting a baby, even just the bump signifying a little one in our presence. Not this time.

All this being said, I know one thing, this was a little baby, created by two loving people hoping to spread more love and joy in the world. People try and console me(us) by reminding me that it was only ten weeks along. Ten weeks is enough to process this life changing event, adjust the forecast and plan for something far greater than us, the parents. It was enough time to consider myself a mother, him a father, to tell friends and to get family in on the excitement. We were parents for a blink of the eye.

Losing this baby changed me. Changed me for the better, helped me grow but in the end I am not the woman I was five months ago or a year ago. I am softer, more loving, sensitive with a big heart. It hurts, it will always hurt, but there is a piece of my soul that will shine, knowing that someday, somehow I will meet our first child.

In many ways, this is the story about hope, the bolstering effect of positive thinking, and the small measures we take in good faith and the means in which we find to cope.

I am reminded that we all acquire our handicaps. Everyone has their reasons they believe what they do. Circumstances lead us here, where we are, where we need to be.

I challenge you to accept your circumstances. To understand your handicaps and know what they are, move with them without letting them hold you back. Bring your history with you in your back pocket, not a weight on your shoulder. I am different, yes, physically, mentally spiritually but in the end it is just the handicap that I play in life. No big deal, I just play right on through, baggage in tote.

With all this being said, I bring you lemon loaf cake. A slight comfort food. A pound cake of sorts, a beast all of its own. I love the bite of lemon, the soft chew of a pound cake. I love the recipe for a very simple reason, I mixed it with a whisk from start to finish, no harsh mixer, no loud noises.  A task I can do while my husband sleeps in the room next to the kitchen. A recipe I can make when someday our child sleeps soundly as I make us a casual treat. A whisk.

I made this for the the lovley group Tuesdays with Dorie. Please visit the other host for the week, Truc of Treats.

LEMON LOAF CAKE

From Baking with Julia

This recipe begs for poppyseeeds or maybe even a few pinches of cardamom. Don't over think it because like most things in life, simple is okay.


Serves 12-15

4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
Zest of 3 large lemons
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 cup heavy cream at room temperature
5 1/2 T unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven with a rack in the center to 350 degrees. Butter and flour or line with parchment a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.

Working in a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt for just a bit until foamy and smoothly blended; the mixture should not thicken. Whisk in the lemon zest.

Spoon the flour and baking powder into into a sifter and incorporate about a third of the dry ingredients over the foamy egg mixture. Whisk the flour into the eggs, mixing lightly. Sift the flour into the eggs in two more additions and mix only until everything is Incorporated. Whisk the heavy cream into the mixture. Switch to your favorite rubber spatula and quickly fold in the melted butter.

Pour and scrape the the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50  - 60 minutes or until until the center of the cake crowns and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Place the cake on a cooling rack and rest for 10 minutes before unmolding. Cool to room temperature and slice.

Once cooled the cake can be stored wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to  days or stored in the freezer for up to a month.

Flower Blossom Cake

I just got off the phone, I took another order for a cake. Beyond thrilled would describe me and making cakes. Baking and decorating cakes is fun, creative and my cakes are full of good things like organic eggs, organic cane sugar and organic flour. The task satisfies everything I need in a job. Pretty close to pure awesomeness.

The cake was a tender white cake gemmed with lemon zest and soaked in a freshly squeezed sweet lemony syrup.  The frosting was a white chocolate butter cream. There were three layers, each had a ribbon of strawberry and a generous amount of the butter cream. The best part of the cake is the fondant. That is rarely said about any cake but the fondant was made by me, it had perfect consistency, faintly sweet and smelled of almonds. Each cake I make now will have only home made fondant. Try and find that anywhere else.

I made this cake for a birthday party. The flowers turned out wonderful, delicate and reminiscent of Spring apple blossoms. I was told that the cake was a huge hit and it tasted delicious.

There will be many more cakes in my future, maybe yours too if you live in the area.

Rainbow Wizard of Oz Cake

Over the weekend someone sliced into this cake for their birthday. I believe it was a surprise, I believe they should keep the friends that ordered a cake for their birthday.

The cake was simple from the outside, covered with frosting not fondant, layered with color and white chocolate butter cream on the inside.  

Even baking the cake was a colorful mess. 

 

Seven inches of cake, five layers, silky butter cream, moist yellow cake.

 

The theme of the surprise party was Wizard of Oz, a yellow brick road was designed and carved out of fondant. Flowers and more flowers were pressed out of molds.

Rainbow Wizard of Oz cake!

Some new creativity

My creative side has just stepped to the front of the line. I have about 10 projects going right now and have about another 20 in the batters box. It is that time of year, it is going to rain for the next 6 months, J will be skiing every weekend and I like to be warm and drink hot chocolate three times a day. 

I used up (almost) all of my corks. I have ripped apart more books in the name of wall art. 

And then I decided I want to decorate cakes. I want to make cakes for birthdays, holidays and baby showers. So I took a class last month and I signed up for a class next month. I am hooked on decorating cakes. I want to make each one of these cakes.

What next? I am excited for infinite possibilities and thankful for supportive people that surround me.

Cake Wreck Chocolate Cake

The best advice I could possibly give you, and forgive me if this seems glib, is to work. Work. Work. Work. Every day. At the same time every day. For as long as you can take it every day, work, work, work. Understand? Talent is for shit. I’ve taught school for nearly thirty years and never met a student who did not have some talent. It is as common as house dust or kudzu vine in Alabama and is just about as valuable. Nothing is as valuable as the habit of work, and work has to become a habit.
via chillit.htm

Some days things go horribly wrong.

I wonder if there is matter under my wild blond hair and between my big ears.

I love making old fashioned chocolate cakes. Two layers of moist chocolate cake, frosting to hold the cake together, ganache poured over the entire pastry and chilled. The result is a chewy layer of rich chocolate that encases a thoughtfully frosted cake.

Well, that is the intent of an old fashioned chocolate cake.

Needless to say things go horribly wrong sometimes.

For example, I frosted a perfectly honorable chocolate cake with a light whipped cream icing, all in a days work right? Toss it in the freezer and warmed a chocolate ganache in a double boiler. I had 15 minutes left on my shift, the last shift of the week, Friday. With 5 minutes left for the day I casually pulled the chilled cake out and set up a wire rack to pour the melted chocolate over the cake.

Only at the end of a day on Friday would this ever occur....

Whipped cream and hot ganache make a huge mess.

Did you hear me - don't be like the baker and melt a perfectly good cake.

What happened? I was left with a cake, you see above melting into a huge puddle of sweet disaster.

I kind of wanted to cry but I wanted to laugh even harder. I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick photo, then chef reminded me that the key to success is to be able to fix your mistakes. Believe it or not this massive disaster was saved.

One more good laugh with chef, no tears, I was out the door with yet another week of baking and "pastry school" under my belt.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Source, Chef Christy Fox
Makes 2, 8" cakes

This is a great everyday chocolate cake, it is the recipe that I use at the bistro and was handed down from the chef. Please note that there are roasted beets in the cake, they give the finished product moisture and a deep rich color. Simply roast a few beets in a bit of olive oil until soft to a fork, cool, peel, and puree.

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
4 ounces unsalted butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup beet puree
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups cake flour, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup hot water

Pre heat the oven to 350. Line two 8 inch cake tins with parchment paper and oil.

Melt chocolate and butter together in a double boiler until smooth. Set aside.

Mix sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

In a mixer, combine sugar, vanilla, salt and chocolate/butter mixture. Mix until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time until just mixed. Do not over mix.

Add sour cream mixture and beets to the batter until just mixed.

Alternately add flour/cocoa mixture and hot water to the batter. Watch for lumps and mix until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the the center of the cake springs back when your index finger lightly taps it or a tester comes out with only crumbs.

Cool and invert onto wire rack to cool completely. Frost how you wish!

Silky Lemon Olive Oil Cake

 Hello my friends! I am full of great information today - you are lucky.

 Like this bit of worldy knowledge:

If you really want to do something sweet, bake a cake for someone.

Make it a super simple cake, like this one, requiring little time, everyday ingredients and relies on fresh fruit for flavor.  It is summer and you have things to do other than keep warm in the kitchen like you have been doing all winter. People to save, galaxies to discover, weeds to pull.

Next time you smell the sweet aroma of a BBQ, you know what to do. I am providing you with the tools to make your summer very successful. Bake a cake and go make new friends. Life is going to be easy! You are also going to want to tuck a bottle of this wonderful Washington wine under your other arm. Bernard Griffin Rose of Sangiovese wins awards and will please everyone.

Rose and lemon cake..... it will work, promise.

You know it is summer, there are plenty of parties where you want to show up with something sweet, not from the deli counter. Considered yourself prepared and stop all the fussing.

Everyone loves gifts and presents that are edible, you just win every time. Make a cake with bright fresh fruit that pops with color and brighten every one's day.

When J had a birthday on Monday I knew that he would not be into something overly sweet and totally turned off by elaborate, honestly he didn't even want cake. I wanted cake. I wanted a silky smooth bright cake. I knew he would love this simple loaf that packs the flavorful in full force with out gagging on sugar. If fruit was in season I would have spiked it with some berries. Don't fuss that there is no berries in season or that the last of the frozen blueberries went into last week's smoothie, the lemon cake can pull it's own weight.

You are going to be okay, you have a perfect summer time cake.

Silky Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen and adapted loosely from Ina Garten,

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the pan.

Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and olive oil.

Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in.

Cool.

This cake is wonderful the first day when there is a paper thin shell of sugar coating over the top of the cake.