gum paste flowers August 30, 2009

A friend of mine is getting married near the end of September and she had an interest in having gum paste flowers on her wedding cake.  I offered to make some for her because I love this type of sugar art.  Initially, she was going to have real Cymbidium orchids placed all around her three tiered round cake but she also liked the delicate look of sugar gum paste flowers and the color blue.  So, she asked for me to make some blue gum paste flowers that was a hybrid of a Cymbidium orchid and pictures of blue flowers that she found on the internet.  I was able to make the flower above.  Currently, I’m working on making bigger ones with a few more changes.  I’ll post pictures of those when I’m done.

This is my first time making a different type of gum paste flower other than a rose.  I went to my local cake decorating store and was able to find so many cutters for all types of flowers.  You can also find orchid flower cutters offered by Wilton or basic ones in your local craft store like Michael’s.  Because I modified this flower, I don’t have specific instructions on how to make it but I can provide some useful tips:

• research the type of flower you are going to make, pay attention to the anatomy of the flower so you can easily understand how to put it together
• don’t roll out the gum paste too thin because once you use your cutter for the petals, you will thin it out some more with your ball tool
• depending on the size of your cutter, try not to roll the gum paste too thick because the shape will expand when you use your ball tool to thin out the edges
• a very small ball tool is useful to gently pinch the edges of the petals to create a slightly ruffled edge
• use tissue to place underneathe the petals to create volume
• make sure to let the flower dry for a few days to harden

It took a lot of patience and trial by error for me.  The gumpaste dries fast when you’re working with it so I had to learn to work quickly but carefully.  Although, the gumpaste dries quickly, you still need a couple of days for the flower to dry completely.  That, I learned along the way because I miscalculated when the flowers would be ready.  Overall, I’m looking forward to making more gum paste flowers and sharing them with others.

my cake personality August 29, 2009

Ughh, being unemployed, job hunting, and trying to pay your bills can be stressful.  So for comic relief I decided to take this cake personality test.  I did say I would embrace everything about cake.  First, I had to google “cake personality test” and what do you know, there’s a link that says,

WANNA HAVE SOME FUN: CAKE PERSONALITY TEST

Uh, just so you know, I don’t usually click on anything that starts with “wanna have some fun” but apparently if cake is in the same line, I will.  The test asks you one question:  If you were buying a cake and you had your choice of the following which would you choose?  Out of the choices provided, I had two because I couldn’t make up my mind and if I were buying the cake I’d probably buy both anyways.  Here are my results:

Strawberry Short Cake – Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people and can be counted on in a pinch. You tend to melt. You can be overly-emotional and annoying at times.

I read this and was like, “Awe, I am, and ok, maybe sometimes.”  Then I proceeded to read my other choice.

Vanilla with Chocolate Icing – Fun-loving, sassy, humorous. Not very grounded in life, very indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad, however, you are a friend for life.

The first four words are the only ones I enjoyed.  Then came the blow to my self-esteem.  Huh, wha?  The remaining sentences seem to have a positive and negative.  You know, like one cancels out the other.  I mean, who wants to hang out with a practical joker?  Or have a friend with some serious anger management issues – better watch your back but I got your back… friend.

Weird.

And just to inform you, there are similar tests but with much kinder results.  Why did I have to read the debbie downer version?  LOL, I thought I’d share this with you since I found it humorous and maybe somewhat true.  I hope my future employer doesn’t read this.

I’m going to bake a cake now to lift my spirits

Stabilizing egg whites with cream of tartar August 29, 2009

To be honest, I thought cream of tartar was an actual cream.  I would have never thought it looks like a white powdery substance that can be found in the spice section in your local grocery store.  At least that’s where I bought mine.  So what exactly is it and what role does it play in baking?

Interestingly, cream of tartar and a grapes have something in common.  Both are the result of the wine making process.  Cream of tartar is the sediment found inside of wine barrels after grapes have fermented.  It is also produced and manufactured by combining potassium hydroxide with tartaric acid.  Another name for cream of tartar is postassium hydrogen tartrate.   Other substitutes for cream of tartar are white vinegar and lemon juice.

I had my first experience using it when beating egg whites for a foam cake.  The recipe instructed to add 1/2 tsp. of cream of tartar to my foamy egg whites and then beat again until stiff.  At first, I expected the egg whites to stiffen immediately after the addition of cream of tartar.  Sort of like when I used a cream stabilizer to make whipped cream.  That cream stiffened quickly.  In this case, not so much.  I still had to beat those egg whites with my life!  FYI, I don’t have an electric whisker.  But the end result is just what I needed for my foam cake.  The eggs whites provided so much air to my light and fluffy cake.  Hence, the name foam cake!

Now, I’m beginning to fully understand the role and relationship of each ingredient when it comes to baking.  There have been other times when I used a recipe that called for cream of tartar and because I didn’t really know what it was, I never bothered to buy it.  Instead, I just dismissed it.  I was like, “eh, it’s just 1/2 tsp of something that I’m leaving out” and never gave it a chance in my baking.  I hope to have more success when using cream of tartar in my future baking escapades.

Rebate Offer for KitchenAid 5 or 6 Quart Stand Mixer August 28, 2009

In case you are in the market for a KitchenAid stand mixer, you may receive $40 cash back plus a 1-year subscription to your choice of magazines, Food & Wine or Travel + Leisure and also a 20 favorites stand mixer recipe book.  Find the details here on the KitchenAid website.

FYI, I think I’ll take advantage of this deal since I’ve been in the market for quite awhile.   I totally missed out on the super awesome deal for the KitchenAid 6 quart stand mixer that Amazon had going for about $300 earlier this summer.  Ever since then, I want nothing less than the 6 quart.  However, I’ve been going back and forth with my boyfriend as to why the 6 quart is worth spending more money on versus the 5 quart.  Here is my winning arguement (sorta):

Me:  I want the 6 quart because it’s bigger and better!

Mr. Rational:  What will one more quart and more watts do for you other than increased costs to purchase and operate?

Me:  Because… Well, why do you drive a V6 as opposed to a 4 cylinder?

silence

Mr. Rational:  When you can come up with a better reason, then I’ll consider.

Update:  I do have have a rational explanation for wanting a 6 qt. but have also considered the 5 qt.  The way I see it, if the price margin between both is equal or less than $50, then of course, I’ll go with the bigger and better one.  However, we found the 5 qt. on sale at Sears less some discount, less the mail in rebate for a total of about $203.  See, I’m a reasonable girlfriend and will consider the 5 qt. a better deal.  Check out the deal on slickdeals.net.  And there are 23 colors to choose from!  I think I’ll go with either the pear or boysenberry.

Desserts at Masraff’s for Houston Restaurant Week August 27, 2009

I’m so happy that Houston has this going on.  Houston Restaurant Week (HRW) is an event for participating restaurants and foodies alike to support the Houston Food Bank to help fight hunger.  The event for this year has been extended til the end of August so it’s not too late to put your dining dollars to work for a great cause.

This past weekend I was able to join two of my close friends for a nice dinner at Masraff’s.  On the pre-fixed menu for HRW, there was three options for dessert:

double chocolate fondant

1. Warm double chocolate fondant with vanilla bean ice cream and cream anglaise
2. Warm triple berry bread pudding with white chocolate, blueberry compote, and cream cheese mousse
3. Butter roasted pear creme brulee and whole berry sauce

triple berry bread pudding

We favorably agreed to order one of each and share amongst the three of us.  I almost forgot to take a picture because I was joining in on the excitement by burrowing my fork into it.  Fortunately, I remembered in time and stopped my fellow dinettes from enjoying another bite until I got my shot of each one.  I’m sure they were ready to stick a fork in me because I took awhile but I’m glad I did because I do appreciate the the thought and creativity in plated desserts.  Having said that, the presentation was nice but the desserts were nothing new.  It seems every restaurant has a chocolate molten type of a dessert and creme brulee on their menu.  I’m still a big fan of both but nothing compares to having a dessert exclusively from a pastry shop.

Butter roasted pear creme brulee

Over all, the desserts was a perfect ending to the great food and service at Masraff’s.  The owner, Tony Masraff, visits each table to say hello and thank you which is very genuine of him to do so.

Now, I have yet to try to attempt to make creme brulee.  I guess I would need to purchase one of those mini dessert torches.  I wonder if it’s possible to make a buttercream taste like creme brulee.  I’ve seen creme brulee flavored coffee.  Maybe I can try making a buttercream filling for one of my cakes using those creme brulee coffee beans.  Hmmmm…

Macarons vs. Macaroons August 26, 2009

Before I left for Paris earlier this spring, I looked up travel forums for best things to buy in Paris in hopes of finding something unique and budget friendly.  There were plenty of great suggestions from a jar of Opera Garnier honey to a jar of face cream on St. Germaine.  However, I noticed one item that many reviewers kept suggesting to buy and that was macarons.  This struck me as odd because I assumed that they were referring to macaroons, the coconut confectionery that I was accustomed to eating here in the United States.  I even thought they kept spelling it wrong – silly me!  So I decided to look into this mysterious French macaron and stumbled upon a few websites for sweet spots that carry them.

La Maison du Chocolat – Known for their chocolates and macarons!  Boutiques in Paris, Cannes, London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Laduree – Check out the story of the macaron on their website and discover the phenomenon.

These little nifty bite size round cake like cookies come in an assortment of flavors and fillings.  Simply made from ground almonds, eggs, and sugar, the genius is behind the precision, technique and creativity.  No wonder it’s French!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try the macarons while I was in Paris.  Can you believe that?!  I can’t, but there was so much to do in only three days that I missed out on my opportunity to taste a bite of heaven.  Nonetheless, I made a promise to myself that I would return!

Well, a second opportunity for me to taste a macaron presented itself when my boyfriend went to New York this past weekend.  I was going to ask him to bring some back from La Maison du Chocolat and I did, sort of.  You see, I really didn’t give him great direction.  You know, I just expected for him to read my mind, right?  Well, he tried.  Instead, he brought back some coconut macaroons from Veniero’s.  Although, fate has it that it’s not my time to taste a macaron yet, I sure did enjoy the coconut macaroons!  It’s been awhile since I’ve had some but the ones from Veniero’s were absolutely divine.  The texture was velvety rich and the chocolate covered ones were an added reward for your taste buds.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to take a trip soon to either Paris or New York again and splurge on both macarons and macaroons.

Goin’ nuts, another lesson learned August 25, 2009

A few days ago, I tweeted about making a peanut butter mousse filling for a birthday cake.  Yummy, right?  Well, not so much.  The celebrant is allergic to nuts!  I was so disappointed in myself.  I was given the freedom to choose any flavor cake and immediately I thought I would try a new filling other than buttercream.  So I decided to try a peanut butter or hazelnut mousse recipe and incorporate the method of the month by using a stabilizer.  I was so excited that it didn’t occur to me to ask if anyone had any nut allergies.  My sister said she was surprised that I would even choose this recipe knowing that nut allergies are pretty common.  Really??  I mean I grew up with PB&J sandwiches and I can honestly say I don’t know anybody that suffers from such.  Ok, wait, now that I think of it, there’s my cousin’s husband, my nephew… all right, I made a boo-boo.

Apparently nut allergies are common and now I know better to make sure that I ask.  I’m so glad that this lesson learned wasn’t the result of a far worse situation.

In case you wanted to know the recipe I used for the peanut butter mousse recipe, I’ve posted it below.  It’s from Epicurious’s Peanut Butter Mousse Cake Recipe with slight modifications.  I used part of the recipe for filling my chocolate cake.  It’s muy delicious!!

2 lbs cream cheese

2 1/4 peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp vanilla extract

4 cups heavy cream, whipped

2 packets of whip it cream stabilizer

Placed the room temperature cream cheese in mixer with peanut butter and sugar to beat for several minutes until combined.  Added the vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl, whipped the heavy cream with the stabilizer, about 2 – 3 minutes.  Folded whipped cream by the spoonfuls into peanut butter mixture.  I ended up not using all of the whipped cream because I didn’t want to change the texture of the peanut butter mixture too much.  It was already firm enough for my layer cake.  I suppose the cream cheese helped out.  Even though the stabilizer was added to the whipped cream, I didn’t add all of it to the peanut butter mixture.  Taste it.  I only used a cup of sugar as opposed to two cups because it already tasted heavenly and I didn’t want it to be too sweet.  And there you go, peanut butter mousse filling for your layer cake, enjoy!

Miette Organic Patisserie, San Francisco August 18, 2009

Paloma (my dog) and I got a present! While my thoughtful boyfriend was in San Francisco he brought back strawberry meyer lemon preserves from Miette and a paper print out with their story.  The story is my favorite part because I love discovering cake shops, bakeries, pastry shops, anything sweet and learning about how they got started.

After reading the print out and visiting their website, I’m already a fan of Miette.  It all began with self taught, passion for pastry and sweets, Megan Ray.  She first started by pitching a pink tent and selling hand-crafted cakes and pastries in the Berkeley Farmer’s market in 2001.  Now she has three cake boutiques in San Francisco.  It goes to show that with great passion and determination, a minimal start can grow to a great success!

Using stabilizers or thickening agents for baking August 15, 2009

Problems I’ve experienced with filling my cakes have occurred due to either a very wet, limp French buttercream or not so firm mousse.   Considering many possible factors including the enemy of butter, humidity, to the way certain ingredients are whipped in an effective manner, I’ve decided to focus on a new addition to the recipe.

I would like to introduce the method of the month for August – stabilizers or thickening agents. What are they?  What do they do?  Well, in relation to my melt proof mission, there are different types of stabilizers or thickening agents used in recipes to help resolve this problem and I will try to test them out.

Here are few stabilizers that are found in baking:

• cream of tartar
• gelatin
• vegetable gums like agar
• starches

I must confess that I vowed to stay away from instant gelatin for awhile after attempting to make a raspberry mousse that called for it.  Only because my gelatin did not dissolve correctly with the raspberry puree and freaked me out when it coagulated into a lump that felt like instant cartilage.  Sorry, just wanted you to know what daunted me about it.  So now I am ready to try instant gelatin again as well as other alternatives.  In fact, I have a sculpted cake coming up and I would hate for it to fall apart because the filling was not firm enough to support the cake.  That has happened to me before, too!

Right now, I’m contemplating between a peanut butter mousse or a hazelnut mousse.  Two different recipes, one calls for instant gelatin the other doesn’t.  I might try both to see which one holds up the best before using it in my sculpted or 3D cake.  I will post my results soon!

Piece of cake… almost! August 5, 2009

piece of cake...

Oh my!  I almost didn’t have a picture of this lemon cake with silky French buttercream because it nearly disappeared.  I do have to say, this cake being instantly devoured came to me as a surprise because I almost didn’t serve it after having to deal with quite a few unexpected errors.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that I claim to make no mistakes when I bake.  Believe me, I’m no pastry chef but I try!  I will begin by telling you that the recipe I followed was titled “light and airy cake” from one of my favorite baking books, CakeLove.  However, my cake turned out to be more dense like a pound cake.  Nonetheless, the lemon taste tingled pleasantly on your tongue as the texture of the cake melted nicely to wash it down.  Yes, it surprised me when I cheated by doing a taste test myself by cutting slivers off the edges.  I always have to taste it for myself when trying a new recipe.

Now came the the French buttercream that was supposed to have a hazelnut flavor.  After experiencing a very wet, limp buttercream, I was reluctant to add any more liqueur to give it a hazelnut flavor.  I felt that it was too runny to put in between the layers of the lemon cake.  So I let it set for 10 minutes and drained out the remaining liquid.  I don’t know if it this was the correct solution but I had guests coming over so I had to get this cake together.

As you can see, it came together nicely.  Although, I am curious to find out what went wrong with my buttercream.  I guess that would be a perfect topic to discuss for August’s Method of the Month!