Strawberry Pie. Strawberry Tart.

In coming up with something interesting and new to do with my locally grown strawberries, I found that the strawberry pie recipe really is quite boring. Crust, strawberries, pack of gelatin...done. BORING!

So I combined some elements of desserts I like, and hopefully I've made the mundane strawberry icebox pie of old into something a bit more exciting. This particular recipe is a bit involved, but there are areas where you could take shortcuts, which I will note as I go. I like to call this recipe:

Southern Strawberry Lemonade Pie
Crust:
2 C. pecan shortbread cookie crumbs
approx. 1/2 C. melted butter
1/4 C. sugar

Lemon Curd:
1 C. sugar
1 C. fresh lemon juice (meyer lemons preferred)
zest of 3 lemons
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 C. butter

Strawberry Filling:
1/4 C. sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 C. frozen strawberry daiquiri concentrate
3/4 C. water
4 C. strawberries

 For crust, run about half a package of pecan shortbread cookies through a food processor, until you get a fine crumb. Pour into pie pan and add sugar, combine evenly. Add enough melted butter to make ingredients wet but not soggy. I used all but a few tablespoons of the butter. Combine with a fork until all is consistently moist. Press to the bottom and sides of the pan with fingertips.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes, until slightly browned. Allow to cool completely before adding fillings.

*cheat - there are prepared shortbread crusts at your local grocery. no pecans...but hey, it works as a timesaver*

 For lemon curd, combine cold butter, lemon zest and juice into microwave safe container. In separate bowl, combine eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until light yellow in color. Add to butter mixture. Microwave at 30 second intervals, wisking briskly between sessions, until the curd thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon. Process takes about 5 minutes depending on microwave. The fun part is making sure your eggs don't scramble. If you work in small batches of time, and stir it well each time, the egg should be fine for the most part. It is recommended that you strain the mixture through a fine sieve after it is cooked, to remove excess zest and the small egg white particles that sometimes happen. I did this, and it produced a very creamy and velvety curd. Quite yummy. This recipe actually makes a little more than is needed, so feel free to add it all for extra lemony goodness, or save in your fridge for other endeavors. Spread like pizza sauce into the bottom of your prepared crust. Chill in the fridge till your ready to add berries.

*cheat - you guessed it...there are plenty of jars of pre-made lemon curd at your grocery store. pick your favorite, lazy bones.*

 For the strawberry filling, you will be combining all ingredients except berries into a nonstick saucepan, starting with the cornstarch and water. Mix those two together well, then over medium heat, add in the concentrate and sugar. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for one minute, or until the pink mixture turns a more red color, with a gel like consistency. THIS MIXTURE MUST COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE ADDING BERRIES.

Hull and slice berries in half. You should use about 4 cups of berries, though a little more is also fine. Add to your cooled filling mixture, and fold in until all berries are covered. Spoon mixture on top of your lemon curd. Allow 2-4 hours to set up in the refridgerator before cutting and serving with a dollop of your favorite whipped cream.

Pie is good for a few days only, please keep cold. I hope you enjoy this twist on a boring old icebox strawberry pie. Whether you bake your heart out like a foodie, or cheat and just want the yummy payoff, I promise it will wake up your taste buds, and get you in the mood for summer.

R.

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

 When I started shopping at my local southern grocery store about 6 months ago, I bought from their bakery a half dozen of Morning Glory muffins. I had never heard of them before, so I thought I'd try them. The idle thought became an addiction, that had me racing back to the corner store pretty often for a half dozen of the lovely things. Carrots, raisins, and walnuts in a pleasingly moist muffin batter. Yum, yum..and yum.

Shortly after the new year, the store raised their price on the muffins by about 40 cents.

Oh,...well I'll still get them.

Then a week ago, they raised them 40 more cents, and they are suspiciously skinner...

Crap.

It became very apparent that I needed to learn how to make these little treats, and fast. With as many as I and my family can eat in a sitting, we'll be bankrupt by the end of October if I keep buying them from the store bakery.

I did some research, as I usually do, and came up with what I hope and think is an awesome recipe for these glorious muffins. Now, don't get me wrong, this recipe could include more and other ingredients. It could be healthier, sure...but for now, I just want the moist, raisiny payoff. And I don't want to pay $4.89 for six of them.

Morning Glory Muffins

1 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour

1/2 C. Wheat Flour

1 1/4 C. sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 C. shredded carrot

1 C. raisins

1/2 C. apple butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 C. vegetable oil

1/2 C. walnut pieces

2 eggs

Oven at 350 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together with wire wisk, eggs and sugar until light yellow in color.

**I like to plump my raisins, by adding them to a cup and a half of warm apple juice for about 10 minutes.**

 Next add the apple butter, vanilla, and veg. oil to your egg mixture and wisk until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold together until just incorporated. Then add carrots, plumped raisins, and walnuts. DO NOT OVER STIR!!

 Place batter into your favorite muffin tin, pan, or baking cup. Just make sure to grease whatever you use well with oil or spray. I used my mini loaf pans! 

Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, depending on oven and personal preference.

 These are so moist, and really, even better the next day...as long as you wrap them up well the night before. I'm seriously considering making several batches of these at a time. I think I have a problem....correction, I know I have a problem, but look at this much more economical and tasty solution to feeding my habit! 

Now, to get going on that strawberry pie....

Work Cupcakes

If you were curious as to what I've been doing for the last year or so....thinking that I maybe threw in the towel or slowed down...just know:

I was sucked into the evil world of the Cupcake Boom.

Yes, I know....I should have known that it would end perilously bad....such a 2 dimensional dessert, worked over and over in a midwestern town....

but I really gave it my all.

Freakin' cupcake boom.....

A Work Post

It's been quite some time since I've waxed on about my life as a baker, and being that I can't get cupcakes out of my head this evening, I thought I would share some recent ideas. Some events upcoming, and just generally muse on about my passion/profession.

So, I have been generating a list of cupcake flavors that I would like to try. Things that I find interesting or very tasty. Or just things that I think would sell nicely, as they are in fashion in the food world.

Some things I'm going to try soon include a tea infused line consisting of earl grey, chai, and green tea flavored cupcakes. Not sure on icing combinations to go with these yet, but after I'm able to test run the batters, I'm sure some sort of bright idea will surface. These are my current goal for new yummies.

Next is a line of dessert inspired cupcakes. Bananas Foster, Tiramisu, and Creme Brulee are on the short list, though I do need one more to round out both this category and the tea set. The creme brulee cake may have to wait until I can convince my boss to let me have a small blow torch. :-D

I also want to get a few more staple flavors implemented, like coconut and lemon. We have chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, and strawberry currently on the menu almost every day in some sort of combination or variation. I really think having those flavors in addition will help us cover all bases. Also, we absolutely must come up with a coffee flavored cake. Either in the batter or the icing. Espresso, cappuccino, hell I don't know. Something.

Other fun thing that's going on right now and will hopefully be prototyped by this week's end is the Mango Cupcake that I've been brainstorming on for a week or so. Honey and cardamom in the batter, with a sweet mango puree for either a filling or to incorporate into buttercream, and dried mango slices on top. I am so jazzed to try this one out. Hopefully a little hint of India, and again, hopefully by the end of the week.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and we're trying to convince the boss man that it is IMPERATIVE that we have examples of our v-day fair well before the day comes, so that customers will have us in mind while buying useless goodies to woo their love interests. Ideas include wafer paper and chocolate transfer accents, "talking heart" mini cakes, and possibly roses. Also, we're preparing to unveil our first filled cupcake for the year. Excited? You should be.

In personal business news, I'm preparing for my second cake order here in Indy, another wedding, coming up on February 20th. It's a sizable order, which should yield a reasonable profit, and hopefully not kill me in the process. I go tomorrow to meet with the bride about details. Wish me lots of luck, as she says she has pictures and "sparkle sprinkles" questions. O boy.

Newest Cake!

Just wanted to share my latest creation. It was for a friend who was giving it as a baby shower gift type deal. It was my very first time doing gumpaste flowers. I watched a tutorial on youtube, by this spanish lady with a fantastic accent and a lot of makeup. The steps to create the flowers are actually pretty easy. If you want to watch the tutorial it's in four parts. I'll share the link for those who are curious.

Calla Lily Tutorial! 


Her tutorials are pretty good. But anyways, I had a lot of fun making the gumpaste flowers. It's a skill I plan on building up, so that I can be more versatile in the sugar art world. Hooray! I also highly recommend it for people who like doing hands on intricate work, as it has a great pay off at the end. They last for ever and a day, and make even a plain cake look extraordinary.

Okay, I'll stop sounding like a cake blog, and move on. I also put a stucco or "tuscan" finish on the cake. People that are familiar with the old fashioned way of icing a cake with a textured look will see that this is a very similar effect. The beauty part of it is that you don't have to labor over it to smooth it. I find though, if you do want to use this finish, all the other elements of the cake have to be spot on or else you run the risk of the cake just looking poorly done...rather than having a textured funky finish. This technique is also sometimes referred to as an antique look or canvas. I like tuscan...makes people think rustic and inviting. I like that visual. 

It's just two single layers, with raspberry filling in each. Yellow cake. Oh, and the icing was a key lime flavor by request. I went with an ivory tone to offset the romantic texture and flowers. So...yeah. Fun to make! 

Blueberry Heaven

So I've had this pint of blueberries sitting in the fridge for a week calling my name. And night before last I whipped up a batch of shortbread dough, so I had the idea tonight to combine the two into something quite yummy. :-)



 

these little tasties were made with real blueberries and lemon juice/zest. the filling is sandwiched between the Lavender infused Lemon Poppy Seed shortbread I made the other night, and baked for 40 minutes until golden brown. These little guys are best served chilled. Or with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. :-)

Hooray!

BAD day...good night!

Yesterday was 


interesting.

I had a cake order due, and ended up running hellishly late getting it to the womans house because streets were absolutely not marked much of the way there. Making mapquest directions useless...mostly.

Pictures sometimes say a thousand words...so here goes.

Cake before delivery:


a lovely DISASTER!!!




But...the evening went okay...

If computer screens had a tasting option...

Another weekend of cakery, and bakery...in the bag, and down the chute. Only one more cake until vacation! lol...
Until then, hopefully some of this will make you drool...

Chocolate Almond Marble Cheesecake!!!!

     

Is that fresh amaretto whipped cream, you ask? Why yes...yes it is.

    Combat boots...3D...nuff said.

last...a sheet cake...but I did some fancy airbrushin' on it...hooray

Next week, a 3D truck tire...then some relaxing and fun in (ack hot) and sunny Arizona. :-D

at least today is great :-D

So, a real quick update, since there's some good stuff. Guess who lost 2 more pounds?!? Yup...that's me. Totally down to 144. 


Oh, and this:

   that's right...totally awesome beachy wedding cake...done by me. Hooray!

Back to cakery....*trudge trudge trudge*

Weddings and Babyshowers...oh my...

It's been a while since I posted some cake photos. This past weekend was a doozy, with back to back weddings (spaced by an hour), and back to back baby shower cakes on sunday (also spaced by an hour). Earlier last week I was sure that I would crash and burn this weekend, resulting in heartache and possibly legal action from crazy brides. Okay, so I assumed the worst...but, after it was over, and I had a day to unwind, I look back at this past weekend as being one of my best (result wise) ever! So, I thought I would post the cakes...so you could share in my happiness for a moment. :-D

First up, a wedding cake that was ordered back in March, and my first official tasting. I was really trying to make sure that this was as close to profesional as it could be.

The Daisy Cake



Next up was my neighbor's wedding cake. She is a pretty great lady, and has had a rough past five year...with her husband being killed in Iraq, and 8 months later her eldest daughter being shot and killed by an ex boyfriend. Then having to fly to Texas year after year, up until recently, to witness these continuation trials to put the guy away. I really wanted to make sure she had a pretty cake.

The Lilly Cake


She also ordered 48 cupcakes to go with this wedding cake...

                        


Next are the baby shower cakes. These were similar in that they were both for people expecting boys, but other than that, pretty different orders. I have decided that I like the baby figures with hair much better than the bald ones. The bald ones remind me of the scary weird bald guy from  "Beyond Thunderdome". Right....so anyway, the cakes!

I'm a Viking?



I have a bias for red headed babies!



and there you have it...weekend complete. HOORAY!

This next weekend will be similar, in that I do have another wedding cake on Friday, but Saturday is split between birthday cakes, and babyshower cakes. Could be another creative and wonderful weekend....could be a disaster! Stay tuned...lol.

Madness, then illumination...or just more of the crazies?

Have you ever felt like your head was going to explode? Or maybe just spin in a complete 360 one good time? That has been how I've felt for the last two weeks. Ending in a  crash and burn episode on Saturday that almost caused me to throw in every towel in my kitchen.

So, let it be said that I have been having scheduling "issues". DIsorganization and the dire need to please everyone that crosses my path, has made for some pretty hairy situations this month. I thought two weeks ago was hell week..ha. It was just the beginning of the two week bender that I didn't realize I was already suited up to ride. After the mound of orders that I posted pictures of, the week didn't slow down...just got more weird and complicated.

 Most of my set orders canceled or postponed, leaving gaps that were soon filled by other last minute orders. I was also supposed to do a craft show appearance this past Saturday, with goodies for sale and business cards and brochures to hand out. I had a nice little menu of things to prepare for the show, and had originally scheduled off two days before the show to do all these things. This didn't end up being the case. By Friday night, I had done 4 cake orders, needed to do one more, had not started any of the craft show goodies, turned down 5 last minute orders, fielded a slew of cake related phone calls, tried to get the house ready for a carpet stretching/cleaning situation this coming Tuesday, fought with my house dwellers (family?) about cleanliness issues, fought with my husband about laziness issues, had food poisoning/stomach virus, passed said virus to child and was puked on for a day and a half, and babysat a 6 month old three days out of this last week.  I kind of had a little...teenie weenie...minor....collapse. After making chicken pot pie from scratch for a unappreciative clan of hooligans (family), turning to realize that my sister and friend had been snacking on the cookies I had yet to decorate for the craft show, and looking at the clock to see it was already a quarter to midnight...I gave it all the bird, and went to bed. Everyone promised they'd help out with this and that, and everyone scattered when it came down to getting it all done. I guess I should be used to this, but with the week I'd had...it was just a little too much. seriously. my husband's name may be Matt, but I'm the one getting walked on around here. I just feel under-appreciated.

Yeah, so I not only still had the fuck-its on Saturday when I woke up, but had a worse case of it. I had a Spider-Man cake due at 10 a.m., and didn't deliver it until 1. It looked half-assed, which was a feat, considering it wasn't even 1/8th assed. I had quoted her a price of $40, and ended up getting $7 for the cake....since I asked her to give me what she felt it was worth. :(  I didn't go to the craft show, because I had nothing to take to it. Matt ignored everything I said to him about dodging responsibility and house cleaning, blaming my anger on my own fuck ups that I was apparently "taking out on people, unfairly." If you would have called me Saturday to place a cake order, or even to talk to me...I would have told you No MORE CAKE. I sat on the computer staring at my website, waffling about pressing a few buttons and dismantling it. My husband has been complaining that this "job" of mine is getting in the way. He's only recently stopped calling it a hobby, because I threw things at his head. I have customers and deadlines. People relying on me, ordering to be done, supplies to collect. What part of that equation sounds like a run of the mill hobby to you? Guh...

I need a vacation, from this. I really love my job, and all the neat cakes I get to do. But I don't love no one taking it seriously that I have a job to do other  than pick up after their sorry asses and make them dinners and fulfill wifely duties. I feel like I have a hump on my back that contains people.  There...whine complete.

That being said: Sunday I felt better, and did a cute Speed Racer cake. I have a few days off from cake town, and a few days to collect and breath. Hopefully that will help me get a better grasp on things, because May  is already booked. and June is more than half booked. I have orders booked through September. If anyone wants to come help me make icing, you're welcome to.

R

Cakie update...hell weekend...

This weekend probably tested my sanity more than any other so far, mostly because I'm becoming some kind of local celebrity around here...and I don't want to take backward lunges in quality and craftsmanship. It has been kicked up a notch here folks...I was referred to, lovingly yesterday as Jacksonville's Ace of Cakes. wow....I know the lady was trying to compliment me...but it scared me to death. :-(

Anyways, it was a rough weekend, 2 orders each day..non were simple. Then Friday night, I get a call from a crying bride. She says she has no cake for her wedding, because the bakery that did it..did it in blue, instead of green, like her wedding colors. Then refused to fix the problem even after they realized it was their error. I was sad for her, really I was. I asked when the wedding was. She said, "tomorrow at 1."


8-O

oh...well, you know how much of a push over I am for a crying bride and cash...it threw of the schedule for the entire rest of the weekend, but I did the damn thing for her. In a night. An entire wedding cake...plus two other complicated cakes...on Saturday. I'm exhausted, but proud of myself. I celebrated with a margarita this evening, and some new hostas for my flower bed out front. I know, I live dangerously. xD

Here's the end result of hell weekend:








 wedding cake

   (inspired by Brandon smash)

  I spent at least 8 hours on this one...It is currently my second favorite, behind the white tiger.

Too Good to Sit On

So I got an order from a lady the other day for a cake shaped like a white tiger. She said it was for her daughter, and I assumed she  was small, so I started pitching the idea of a lovable cartoony version of the animal. She seemed a little uneasy when I suggested it, so I backtracked and asked how old the birthday girl would be. She said 28. OH, well...I guess we have to go realistic then. Yes, she says. Her daughter is obsessed with white tigers and has an entire room in her house devoted to them. OH...shit.

I accept the challenge, hang up the phone, and proceed to freak the hell out because I have NO IDEA how I'm going to pull off a realistic white tiger for a person who stares at the animals likeness on an extremely regular basis. hmm... oh, and also she wants it done with red velvet cake so that when you hack into the animal, it looks bloody. So, hurray for that. :-D

I was going to make it out of the 3D bear mold pan that I have, make it standing. But the more I got to looking at my 3D animal pans, it seemed like the little lamb pan might be a better fit, after all...most four legged creatures bodies look similar while in the laying down position...I guess. So, I mixed up my batter, set the pan in the oven, and an hour later I pull it out and find out the damn thing didn't rise. WTF? I've made literally 60+ cakes at this point, and not a one, didn't rise. Batch two proved to be a better go, and filled out the pan to the needed shape. I talked with my mom, and decided it may be best to make the head separately from the body, so I could work on added detail with more range of mobility. I fashioned the head mold out of rice crisp treat, and began covering it with fondant. I had printed SEVERAL pictures of white tigers at different angles and just heads and so forth, and used those as a guide for the molding and shaping of the head. I trimmed some excess and height from the lamb body, beheaded the poor little thing, and draped the carcass in fondant as well. Slap on some fondant feet and a tale, attach the head via a pike, er, kabob skewer, and there you have it....

I also sat and painted on all the stripes. As well as indenting here and there on the body itself for contouring and effect.  Here's an alternate view, where you can see the face better.

It's probably the best thing I've done in my meager career so far...don't ask how it came out of my hands, because I don't know. I don't even know if I could do it again...I told Matt that I'm scared now, that I may have just peaked...and it's downhill from here...let's hope not! 

so these cakes are to bring you up to speed...in case you're too lazy to check my site. The first cake is one I just finished, a princess castle thing that I did by copying a kit that costs 12-20 dollars for about 5 bucks. Made the turrets out of craft foam and the princesses were printed on paper then laminated with packing tape. Whalla...
Next was the 48 cupcakes that were a last minute order on Thursday. The theme was "summer" for a little girl turning two. I'm really pleased with the way they came out, and for it being last minute, I think it was great!
Next was the butterfly garden frenzie. There were three cakes, and 4 dozen cookies to this order..all butterflies and such. The cake was decorated with whipped icing this time instead of buttercream, and I was really pleased with the turn out, since whipped doesn't want to hold color for shit. Yay.
Next was the Bon Voyage cake I did for a regular customer of mine. She was moving away to Hawaii. :-(
Lucky girl. So I did this sheet cake as a gift. Just for fun.
Next was obviously a Halloween cake, round mold for the eyeball, and gummy body parts to complete the creepy look. 
Next was the dreaded Coach purse, that I worked really hard on, but didn't like the outcome. I also made the iPod and headphones myself out of fondant. And the tag with the birthday girls' names on it. 
And last but not least, the Magic jersey I did for a lady to surprise her husband for his birthday. He turned 22, hence the number on the jersey, in case any of you are magic fans and know that there isn't a #22 on the team. Right, so..plus 12 cookies decorated like basketballs. Yay for cake, and all that. Have two more orders this weekend. Should be pretty cool. 

R.

Cake....and more cake....

First the Carrot Cake, approx 5 inches high, two layer..each filled with Orange Cream Cheese Icing, with a layer of icing between cake layers. Hopefully was decadent...for a boring carrot cake.




Next, the Golf Cake. Chocolate cake,with a tasty Peanut Butter Fluff filling. Think, giant reese's cup. I had so much fun with my new grass making tip, that it was hard to stop adding grass to the cake. Probably the funnest cake I made all weekend.



The Wedding Cake...three tiers of yummy (I hope). Bottom was choc. with choc. ganache filling. Middle was White with Raspberry filling. Top was Lemon with Lemon Creme filling. Iced and covered in fondant. Satin sheen ribbon and silk flowers. Add glittery blue seaspray...and wha-la...wedding cake.



I also did a baby shower cake this weekend, but don't have pics of it yet. Hopefully I will get those soon. What a weekend. 4 more cakes this week. More to look at and drool or critique. Bye for now.

R.

And right there for a minute, I was busy

So, I haven't posted cake pics in a while, though last month was a doozey. Did 25 orders all together last month. A crazed amount. This month has been slow and mild in comparison, but the cakes I do have coming up are pretty awesome. I did get an impromptu order a couple days ago, from a lady in Colorado. Apparently, my little cake business is listed on a website called "The Gathering". I had no idea, until I asked her where she got my info from...so I checked it out, and it can be googled...I feel strangely out in the open now....

Anyway, she asked for a cake with a farm scene on it for her daughter's birthday. They own a farm in Colorado. So the animals were specific to the farm, and the colorings of the real animals. Everything else was up to me.  She paid me $50  to do the cake, though I quoted her a price of $32. I am pretty darn happy with the outcome:



So, up next lots of tiered cakes. A wedding on the 20th, a baby shower on the 21st, an anniversary cake on the 24th, and a princess cake for twins on the 27th. All tiered cakes. I do have one Halloween order, a sheet cake with a cake eyeball on top and edible spiders. Then there's the alligator shaped, banana flavored cake at the end of the month...spooky, huh?  

Cake day from hell...

I had two orders due today. The first was the Baby Block cake for the shower. I was initially very excited about the order, because it gave me a good chance to try some decadent fillings, and try to challenge myself construction wise. Umm. so in MY opinion, it was a disaster. Block 1 was white cake with strawberry filling. The filling is awesome, and the cakes baked up pretty well, so I thought it was smooth sailing. I leveled everything off, added fillings and layers, all went well. But every time I tried to put the coat of buttercream on it, it would just fall right off, taking pieces of the cake with it.

:-O

I chilled it in the fridge, and came back to it, and it was still REALLY crumbley, but I did manage to get enough buttercream on it to overlay it with fondant. The batch of fondant that I made was awesome, it rolled out really well. I put the cake on the board, laid over the fondant, and it looked pretty good. But by the time I had the second block ready to put on the board, it had done a slide. Not a terrible slide, but a noticeable one considering the cake is supposed to be BLOCK shaped, not rhombus shape or whatever the fuck. I put the second block on, iced it fairly easily, and covered in fondant. I then inserted two support dowls into the cakes. These are pretty sturdy dowls, so I thought for sure that with a little kanoodling, Block 1 would shape up, and look like block 2. Block 2 was chocolate cake with an chocolate orange ganache filling. Block two ended up being the only block that stayed block shaped. I was up until 5 this morning trying to finish, and fix the cake. I took a two hour nap, and when I got back up at 7, the damage was done. The fondant was not completely adhering in Block 1, causing bubbling and cracking. Block 2 remained decent, but the top block was LEAKING vanilla cream, down the back of the cake. Through the fondant. I did a lot of paper towel dabbing, and soul searching, and a bit of crying before I called the lady. I told her over the phone that the cake had slid. She said she wanted to see it before she made her decision. She came, and absolutely LOVED the cake. She said it was a little droopy, but totally exceeded her expectations. The lady that came with her to get the cake also loved it and said it was "darling". I think it was quite possibly the WORST cake experience yet, and did not agree with either of them. She paid full price for the cake, and wisked it away. I DID NOT TAKE A PICTURE OF THAT HORRIBLE CAKE. I just wanted it gone away from me. But she said she would email me pics at some point...guh.

Then it was on to the next cake, which I had originally wanted to at least bake off last night, but the block cake took over the evening. Long story short, it wasn't done at 6 this evening when they came to pick it up, and the girl stood and watched me finish the cake. Did I mention Elora was screaming the whole time because she wanted to eat the cupcakes that went with the order? Nerve wracking enough without a total stranger standing in your dining room watching your every move. Holy shit what a day. So glad that the next thing I have to do isn't cake.  


I will sleep well tonight. Cause I don't have to make a cake tomorrow. I need a break.

back to normal, well for me anyway

Another day, another cake. This time it's just a safe old birthday cake. Sheet cake, to be precise, chocolate with buttercream. The only interesting bit about this cake is the new strawberry puree recipe I came up with. 1 pint fresh strawberries, cut into chunks, put 1/4 of them in a saucepan with half cup of sugar. Start it at low heat until enough liquid is produced, then turn up the heat and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, mix up a thickening agent, consisting of 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch, and 1-2 Tablespoons of Chambord. In case you don't know what it is, it a black raspberry liquor with little honey undertones, it's fabulous. And even more fabulous with the strawberries. You mix the thickening agent with the strawberry mix just after boiling, return to boil and stir constantly for 2 minutes. After that, take it off the heat, and add the rest of the strawberries. It is knock-your-socks-off fabulous, and the best part is...the alcohol burns off, so it's good for everyone..even the kiddies. Try it sometime...put it over cheesecake...I dare you!

But other than that...run of the mill cake.

It was good to get back to the regular stuff. The next cake is ABC blocks for a baby shower, for Saturday. Wish me luck!

Only a matter of time...

Dropped off the Barbie cake today. The lady had a happy but scared look on her face. I think because it's the equivalent of a half sheet of cake, in dress form, and apparently it's just for one little girl. No party, like I had originally thought. So, I hope they have some hungry family members.
I got home, and checked my email, to find another cake order. And I figured I would eventually get an order like this...but not necessarily these circumstances... An X-rated cake. For a lady's birthday. No problem. It's not unheard of...the lady who emailed me said it's for her boss's birthday on the 3rd of August. She goes on to tell me that the cake should be real kinky...whips, chains, what have you, because this special lady is a professional mistress in her spare time. She says the lady has a website, if I'd like some inspiration for the cake. I email back, and say sure! I figured I'd get a call for one of these eventually..no problem. Send me the link if you like. I tell her, the idea I had was to do a transvestite torso, with the phrase "Surprise! Happy Birthday" on it. I send the email off, and think to myself...how bad could it be? She lives in hick town Jacksonville, that's the size of a quarter.

The email back states that she is extra happy that I'm able to do it, and the idea sounds great! She says it's hard to find someone to take her seriously about this stuff, and leave the email with the link to the website.

www.mistressdiabolical.com

okay, I'm no stranger in the night here...I've seen my share of stuff. But I think the disturbing part is....A.) this stuff is happening here, in this little tiny town, and  B.) there is an organized group you can join.  Most of the contraptions were just hilarious...and the checklist was very thorough... I guess now, I just feel a little overwhelmed. I hope I don't let them down! I mean, you can only make cake so pornographic after all.

So, yeah....my first fondant penis and boobs...wish me luck.

Big on taste...clumsy on design

I did a cake in a SUPER rush this morning for Matt's units goodbye party. I really could have used double the time I had to do it in...but in the end, though the filling was threatening to spew out of the cake, the logo did good, and it tasted fantastic. I did a yellow butter cake, made with butter and buttermilk, filled with a strawberry puree, and iced with homemade chocolate buttercream. Ringed by chocolate covered strawberries....not the prettiest one I've ever made...but a winning taste combination for sure.