You know, not being able to travel as much as I would like has its ups and downs.  I think everyone knows what the downs are (travel withdrawal) but let me give you a few good reasons for the ups.  First, you save a little more money being stationary.  Second, it compels you to explore your city a little closer just as you would when you travel.  And third, if you’re from Houston, you’ll discover CRAVE Cupcakes and mark it as your sweet spot to hit when you want fresh gourmet cupcakes.

This “cupcake factory” – I call it this because cupcakes are the only thing they make – is nestled in one corner of Houston’s Uptown Park.  It’s has large glass windows peering into the kitchen where you see a line of cupcake workers frosting the cupcakes.  Today I had the strawberry cupcake.  Take a look for yourself.   Hmmm!

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.

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

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.

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.

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…