Surprise 60th Birthday!

For my aunt's surprise party I was asked to make a roulette themed cake. This is the 2nd one I've done. I thought that since I had done one in the past, this one would be easy. I was wrong.

The first one I made, the center cake was too big, so it didn't spin.


So I knew I had to add more space between the 2 parts. It was a much larger cake, so I really had to figure out how to do it. It was 4 layers with a rice krispy boarder (so it didn't look too tall). Sadly, when trimming the center cake, I overcompensated. There was a HUGE gap between the 2. So, at about 11pm, the night before the party, I had to re-bake the center cake. But... it was worth it! And there was plenty of cake to go around!

In addition, I also made 230 cake balls! 2 full trays!


All in all, It was a great night!

Very long week!

So, It's been a very long week! I'm just so happy to have so much to show for it.

This weekend I made a red velvet superman cake for a birthday...

Then a chocolate cherry chip baby shower cake for a very good friend of mine....
And lastly, 50 cupcake favors! (double chocolate chip, red velvet, and yellow)In addition... I also made 144 chocolate cherry chip cake balls which all sold within an hour.

So it was a very long week, but soooo worth it! It's weekends like this that remind me why I love doing what I do. Seeing how much happiness these cakes bring people is really what it's all about.

NY Cake Convention!

OK, so I read about the NY Cake Convention on Twitter and had this idea... In keeping up with my cake documentary... why not see if I can get access to photograph it. Now, this was a complete shot in the dark... but why not try, right?

So I looked on the "Contact us" page and emailed every single person on it! I explained the photo/cake work I have been doing and sent a link to my photography site as well as this blog. Someone had to be interested. And someone was!

Hello Lauren,

We would love to have you participate in the NY Cake Convention as one of the event photographers. Send me your mailing information and I will have a media kit sent out to you. Included in the kit is an event pass which would give you access to all areas of the convention.

I look forward to your response.

I can't even explain how excited I am! This is going to be HUGE! I can not wait to document "Cake Culture". I already bought my tickets to get in, as well as see the cake competition, but now maybe I can actually go up on stage and photograph the competitors!

Cakeumentary

Some of my recent photo work combined with sounds of the baking and decorating process.

This is a work in progress. The finished product will be on display I believe sometime in March or April. I will update as I know more.



So here's the story behind this...

As most of you know, I am also a photographer. I have always preferred to shoot food and that is what has motivated me to start my baking business.

I have always loved to bake and have been doing so since I was about 4 years old with my aunt. She always taught me that the prettier the dessert looks, the more people will want it. We used to have an "reject" pile of cookies around the holidays just for us and we always gave all the pretty ones away.

That school of thought has stayed with me all these years. When I have company I make sure everything is plated well. When I bake a cake, I make sure it is decorated well. I pay great attention to detail because sometimes it's the smallest details that matter the most.

So I took everything I know about baking, and everything I know about photography, and put the two together, added some sound... and POOF! Magic.

Ok, maybe not "Magic", but my goal is to shed some light on the whole cake decorating process. With so many shows out there, like Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, and Amazing Wedding Cakes... a lot of viewers get to see how a cake is decorated. But what they often don't get to see, or see enough of anyway, is all the work that happens before the fondant can be applied. The hours in the kitchen to bake all the cakes and make the frosting. Especially home bakers like myself.

I feel like today, with so many cake shows out there, cake decorating is finally taking it's place in the art world. I am trying to give it a push by creating my own edible art and producing documentary photographic art combined with sounds to further enhance the viewers experience.

I am also trying to get the message out there that it is possible to create incredible cakes in your own home kitchen. I live in a small NY apartment. I only have one oven. I only have one 6 quart mixer. I only have one counter. If I can do it... anyone can.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream!

Ok, so I just got a call from my mom, who brought 20 of the cupcakes I made from the ICE class into work yesterday. She was calling to tell me that people are still talking about them! Especially the chocolate cake with the SMB frosting. So I decided it was time I posted the recipe! It's just too good to keep to myself!

Swis Meringue Buttercream (SMB)
Yield, around 4 cups, enough for 24 cupcakes

4 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 sticks (16 oz) unsalted butter, room temp.
Flavoring

1. In a mixer bowl, by hand, with a large whisk, whisk egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until foamy.

2. Over simmering water, continue to whisk egg white while slowly adding sugar. Once all the sugar has been incorporated, continute to whisk until egg mixture is hot (140ºF). Don't stop whisking while bowl is over the water. Remove to check for temp.

3. Remove from water and place bowl on stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment beat on medium high speed until the mixture is cool and looks like marshmallow fluff. Very important that it's cooled off!

4. Begin adding the butter, around 2 tablespoons at a time, waiting for each addition to be incorportated before continuing. Scrape down the bowl a few times while adding butter.

5. After the last of the butter has been incorporated, beat for a few more minutes and then add flavoring.

Flavorings:

Vanilla: The scraped out seeds from one vanilla bean, or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

Coffee: 1 Tablespoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons dark rum of coffee liquer.

Lemon: The zest of one lemon, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons light rum.

Raspberry/Strawberry/Passion Fruit: 1 cup fruit puree reduced to 1/2 cup and cooled. 1 to 2 tablespoons framboise or light rum.

Orange: The finely grated zest of 1 orange, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 2 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons orange liqueur.

Chocolate/Espresso: 6 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled, and 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons coffee liquer.

Almond/Praline: 1/3 cup praline paste and 1-2 tablespoons amaretto.

Cupcake class at ICE

Ok, so I took a cupcake class tonight with my aunt at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education). It was incredible! I have been on the hunt for a great yellow cake recipe and now I have finally found it! That alone was worth the price of the class. But then on top of it I finally learned how to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream! Not only did we have a great time, but we got to taste some great recipes.

Cake wise, we kinda stuck to the basics. We made a yellow cake and a double chocolate chip cake. Frosting wise, I went with stuff I have never tried before. I topped off the yellow cupcakes with a chocolate fudge frosting. Not too hard, but takes a little while to make. Then I went with a vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. I have never made SMB before, so I thought, why not? Well, now I know why not. Don't get me wrong... it tastes great! It's not as sweet as american butttercream... but it's a LOT more work!

My first attempt, I got scrambled eggs. OOPS. But after tasting the instructors raspberry SMB, I was determined. I wanted to make the raspberry one, but I was running out of time so I stuck to vanilla. I really like the fact that it's not as sweet and also, it's much lighter and fluffier. I think this weekend I have to go get a huge whisk and a small thermometer so I can try this again in my kitchen. Seriously worth the trouble!

The other cupcakes that I got to try, but didn't bring any home, were also incredible! There was a peanut butter cupcake with a chocolate truffle center and a carrot cake that most people paired with a cream cheese frosting. I am so glad I took this course and I am looking forward to taking another!

Mike's Tower of Cake

Mike's birthday was the same weekend as the roulette wheel cake so I didn't have time to do exactly what I wanted to. But I did get to try out some new recipes!

I have been meaning to try out some of Warren Brown's recipes but I haven't had much time to experiment lately. This cake was made with components from Warren Brown's "CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch" and it was pretty damn incredible!

I first made the "golden butter cake" and the layers didn't rise as much as I would have liked and I really hate flat cakes so I decided to make the "chocolate butter cake" as well. Delicious, but a little dense.

I filled the layers with the chocolate pastry cream recipe which was very good and the frosted the whole thing with my variation of his "flame" frosting. I would have liked to make it exact, but I didn't have everything on hand. I'm still on the hunt for cocoa butter. The frosting tasted almost like apple pie but with a kick you can feel in the back of your throat. There are several different chili powders that go into this and I think I really went overboard with the ancho chili powder. (recipe called for actual dried chili's, but whatever).

I will definitely be trying out the frosting again! Mine didn't get as thick as I would have liked, but it was delicious!

Roulette Wheel Cake!

Ok, I know i've very behind with my posts... I'm sorry. School has really cut into my free time. Anyway... better late than never I guess.

Back to business... so this cake was the first one that I completely did by myself. I always bake the cakes myself, but I usually have Mike to help me decorate. With him being back at work this was all on me. So, needless to say, I am proudest of this cake!

The only huge issue I had with it was making it spin. I had the center cake on a round cutting board attached to a lazy susan bearing, but I didn't leave enough room between the inner circle and the outer rim. Oh well. At least it looked good and tasted great!

So the cake was a classic chocolate cake with a vanilla custard filling and fresh strawberries frosted with chocolate buttercream. Makes me hungry just thinking about it! LOL

Beer Pong cake

Ok, so this is pretty overdue but I have been so swamped with school work and cake work and life in general that I haven't had much time to post up the new pics.

So this is so far the largest cake I have ever made! I am sooooo proud of it! There were a lot of problems throughout the process, but in the end, it all worked out.

This was 4 18" x 13" cakes. 2 cakes on each side. All chocolate beer. The cups and the beer can were all made with rice krispy treats and covered with red fondant. White fondant tops and rims were added. The "beer" is amber colored piping gel. The white center strip was placed on top to hide the fact that it was 2 sepreate pieces.

The first problem I had was during the baking process. When I went to flip one of the cakes out of the pan it fell onto the table and just crumbled. The cake was so moist that there was just no saving it. So I took a deep breath, baked another cake, and turned the scraps into cake balls.

There were also problems when making the "cups". We made a dozen of them a week before and the heat and humidity made them crack and sag, so 2 days before the cake was due we had to peel off all the cracked fondant and re-do them all.

Next cake will be a roulette wheel. Mike's grandfather put together the custom lazy susan for me last night! I am so excited to get started on this cake!

Chocolate Gelato..

Ok, I decided to try out this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis for chocolate hazelnut gelato. I did make a few changes though since I'm not a big fan of hazelnut. Instead of using nutella I just melted some milk chocolate into the custard. It came out great! The key is to really get the mixture cold before pouring it into your ice cream maker. I learned that the hard way when 25+ minutes later I only had some cold liquid. I had only let it cool to room temp. When it didn't work I poured it out, re-froze the bowl and let the ice cream mix sit in the fridge overnight. It was incredible!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella) (I used about 1/3 cup milk chocolate)
  
• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crushed, for garnish (I left out)
  

Directions

In a saucepan combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer until the eggs have become thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir. (I used a wisk while pouring to avoid scrambled eggs)

Add this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard mixture through the strainer. (Don't know what the purpose of that was... mine just went right through)

Stir in the vanilla and hazelnut spread (or chocolate in my case) until it dissolves.

Chill mixture completely before pouring into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze. To serve, scoop gelato into serving bowls and top with hazelnuts.

OLD PICS!

So I found some old pics of Christmas cookies Mike and I made back in 2005!

August Sweets

I can only book 1 more cake order for September! What are you waiting for, Hurry up and order your cake!

Ok, I've been lazy and I haven't posted much up lately. Sorry. It's just been too hot to do anything! So here's some pics of what i've been doing.
































Coconut Cake! OMG if you like coconut, you'll LOVE these babies! I topped them with some almond cream cheese frosting and some extra shredded coconut!

















These are some more cake balls... Yellow cake with vanilla frosting dipped in milk chocolate.

I made a tray with these as well as decorated chocolate cake with chocolate frosting dipped in dark chocolate and strawberry cake with vanilla frosting dipped in white chocolate.

















Giant chocolate chip cookies with walnuts! So moist and gooey!
















This is some dark chocolate chili bark. I used a bar of Lindt dark chili chocolate, pretzel sticks, dried cranberries and some roasted peanuts. It was a perfect combination of spice and sweet!


I have also been experimenting with some strawberry cake recipes... I think I finally cake up with a good one, but I have one more idea to try out. I really need to update more often!

I have a lot of cake orders coming up, so pretty soon this blog will be flooded with "in-progress" pictures! I can't wait to get started! I have a beer pong table sheet cake (Sept. 4th), a roulette wheel (sept. 12th), a surprise birthday cake for Mike (Sept. 19th)

Then Oct. 4th I should be selling cupcakes down on 3rd Avenue! I have to call and reserve my space this week! I also have a Superman cake with some mini cakes (Oct. 24th) and a baby shower cake with cupcake favors (Oct. 25th)