Red Velvet Rose Cake for Lisa and Chris's Engagement Party

 

I'm almost embarrassed to blog about this cake.  This is what I made for my long time friend Lisa and her fiance, Chris, for their engagement party over the weekend.  I'll tell you why I wasn't happy.  

I saw I Am Baker's rose cake tutorial on Tastespotting and was really anxious to have the opportunity to try out the technique.  Her cake is friggin' beautiful.  Well, as you can see my cake looks nothing like hers.  Mine is like the sloppy mutant version of her perfect bed of roses.  

Full view of the cake.  Doesn't come close to the original.

I have a few theories as to why mine didn't turn out exactly as planned.  Ignoring the fact that I have somewhat poor piping skills, the first thing that went wrong was that I was working with cream cheese frosting.  It tasted delicious but it did not hold up to the heat of my hands in the piping bag.  So, the longer I held the bag the more that it melted and drooped as I piped.  Next time, I think I'll need to keep the bag with frosting in it in the fridge for awhile so that it is nice and cold.  Also, I should have put on a thicker layer of frosting after the crumb coat and before the piping.  The red velvet cake really shows through the gaps between the roses and that bugs the heck out of me.  Thank goodness that the taste of the cake made up for the appearance. 

I understand that this technique is not meant to come out perfectly.  That's why I love the original rose cake by I Am Baker.  There is a classic, rustic feel to it but the way that my cake looks gloppy really is not good enough for me.  

Close up of the bottom layer.  I chose the best shot from the best angle.  Overall, the cake was not so pretty.

Even though I got many compliments on the cake, I wasn't happy.  I knew I could have done better, but I had no time to try again.  Maybe I'm being too critical.  My feeling about the cake is (and I'm quoting Cher from the movie Clueless here) that it's a Monet.  "You see, it's like the painting. Seen from far away, it's okay; but up close, it's a big ol' mess."  From far away the cake looked nice but up close you could see the sloppiness of it.  And no, I'm not embarrassed to be quoting Clueless, a definitive coming of age 90's film. 

 From my Instagram app.  It makes things look puuurty.

The rose cake has not conquered me!  I will try again! 

Oatmeal Brulee

Portland, Oregon robbed me of something.  Actually someone.  So last weekend I went there to try to reclaim what was mine.  I returned home without accomplishing my mission, but I left knowing that Portland is worthy of having (but really just borrowing) my best friend.

It was my first time in Portland and I discovered some really amazing food:  Marrow bones with onions, aged balsamic vinegar and toast; grilled flatiron steak with truffle creamed spinach and pickled onion rings; roasted chicken and seasonal vegetables, garlic mash and rosemary jus.  Just to name a few.

Portland is known for their brunch and I had mine at Gravy.  I knew before my plane even landed that I would be having the oatmeal brulee.  Just the sound of it seemed amazing to me. 

Oatmeal brulee, orange juice and a biscuit with gravy.

The bruleed crust was so delicious and added lots of sweetness to the oatmeal that had rolled oats and fresh berries.  I loved the idea so much that I stole it. 

My own oatmeal brulee with steel cut oats, strawberries and blackberries.

As you can see it doesn't look quite the same.  Mine definitely didn't have the same kind of crust that you use your spoon to break into but I still managed to get a few crunchy bits.  I think the restaurant may have used the broiler whereas I used a mini torch.  If you wanted to try it, prepare your oatmeal like usual but pass on any sweeteners. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top and brulee. The crust itself adds quite a bit of sweetness to your oatmeal. 

 

To accompany my oatmeal, I made myself a coffee with cardamom and honey, another great idea I discovered in Portland.  The honey cardamom latte I had at Dragonfly Coffee House was life changing.  To me, it tastes like a chai flavored coffee.  I watched the ladies at the shop making my coffee and it was so simple.  Just add about 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom and about 2 tablespoons of honey to your coffee cup.  So so yum. 

So, you win Portland. You have one of my best friends and you have some amazing food, but that doesn't mean I won't put in a good fight.  I'll be back.  

30th Triathlon Cake for Drew

One of the cutest couples that I have the pleasure of knowing are Drew and Val so I was delighted when Val contacted me to make a surprise cake for Drew's 30th birthday.  Drew is an avid athlete and triathlon competitor.

When Val told me she wanted a triathlon themed cake, I immediately knew it would be a challenge.  As I always do, I looked up ideas on Google and I took much of my inspiration from Pink Cake Box's Ironman Cake (Pink Cake Box has an awesome blog.  I check it daily. You should too).

My main concern was the bicycle.  When I did a search online, I saw plenty of... how do I say... really shitty looking gum paste bikes on cakes.  So I was worried that I couldn't pull off any sort of decent looking bicycle on my own cake.  What I ended up doing was using angel hair pasta as the spokes on the wheels and glued each strand of pasta onto a disk of gum paste.  I modeled each piece of the frame and then attached them together on the cake.  Most of the gum paste work (all the heads, the swimmer, the legs on the runner) were done several days ahead to allow drying time.  On each tier I used a grass piping tip (Wilton #233) to make green shoots of grass and added chocolate rocks. 

The inside of the cake was white cake with cinnamon buttercream.

Cinnamon Buttercream

4 egg whites
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites and sugar.  With the bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk egg whites until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch.  Remove from heat and with a whisk attachment, whisk mixture on high for approximately 6 minutes until glossy stiff peaks form.  Change to a paddle attachment and on medium speed add butter a few tablespoons at a time.  When the mixture begins to look like it is separating turn the mixer to medium-high speed and continue to beat until buttercream comes together.  On medium speed, add vanilla and cinnamon.  Mix until combined.  Reduce speed to low and continue mixing for another minute to get the bubbles out.  Makes about 4 cups of buttercream.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Mini Cupcakes for Elisha

I could make this blog post really long and miserable and try to fast forward through how three girls became best friends and soulmates.  I won't because somehow you will see my tears streaming down this post in some weird kind of stigmata way. 

Elisha (of Cheesecake Challenge fame) moved to Portland on Sunday and this weekend we celebrated this new chapter in her life.  For her, I made Chocolate Salted Caramel Mini Cupcakes from Martha's Cupcakes.  Something sweet and salty for this equally sweet and salty moment. 

Each mini chocolate cupcake had a little bit cut out from the top and the homemade caramel was poured in.  A little sea salt goes on each caramel, then dark chocolate frosting tops each. 

Lisha reading her cupcake message.

I would have used "cry ourselves to sleep each night we are apart" instead of "miss you" but I didn't have that many toothpicks.

Elisha, Mary & Sylvia:  Soulmates

Blue Daisy Cake

Blue daisy cake with bumble bee.  Inside is chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream and a vanilla pudding filling. 

Alana's First Birthday Cake

This cake was for Amanda's daughter, Alana who turned 1 this weekend.  The cake is a pink velvet cake with vanilla buttercream.  To make the pink velvet, I adapted Sylvia's Red Velvet Cake recipe.  The recipe is below.  The design is based off of a banner from a party store that Amanda had sent me a picture of.  

The pink velvet batter.

An interesting detail are the checkered patterns on the big butterfly and big flower.  To create it, I cut strips of two shades of the same color and basket weaved them together.  I used a rolling pin to press the strips together then cut out the shapes that I needed.

Pink Velvet Cake

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pans

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon Dutch process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon pink gel food coloring

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease and flour cake pans.  On a piece of parchment paper, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Turn the mixer to low and alternatively add the flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.  Beat in the vinegar and food coloring.  Then add the vanilla.   Divide batter evenly into the pans.  

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool in pan for approximately 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Alana's Baptism Cake

A quilted ivory fondant cake with a pink and white cross emblem and white flower border.  There are pink letter blocks spelling Alana's name.  A pink bow and more small white flowers top the cake.  The inside is white cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Pretzel Rolls

I encountered my first real Bavarian pretzel when I was in Munich for Oktoberfest in 2008.  For the two days we spent there, I think there were only a few moments where you would find me without a big knotted pretzel in my hand.  So you might ask, "What's the big deal?  Aren't they the same as any other pretzel?"  To which I would reply, "Hell to the no."  They aren't like those "soft pretzel" things that you find at the ball park, which aren't soft at all.  Real Bavarian pretzels are truly soft and also chewy and have plenty of coarse salt sprinkled all over.  As you can see, I never stopped thinking about them. Ah... I feel like a forlorn lover, separated from her one true love by miles of land and sea.  Well, I am forlorn no longer.

Awhile ago, Phil suggested to me that I learn how to make pretzel rolls.  My reaction was, "Buh?  What's a pretzel roll?"  Well, it's a roll that tastes like a pretzel!  Those Germans.  Engineering geniuses.

The recipe I used can be found here.

As I've learned from Alton Brown, real Bavarian pretzels are first boiled in a bath containing lye.  Yeah, you know... the same stuff that Tyler Durden uses in Fight Club to burn a kiss into Ed Norton's hand.  Lye is an alkaline and it is used to create the deep color and crispness in the crust that is associated with pretzels.  All recipes that I've found online use a bath with baking soda, also an alkaline.  I've made these rolls twice now, and both times I've reached the deep dark brown that I was looking for.  Although, the crust isn't as hard as I would expect from a pretzel.  Phil didn't find any problem with that and neither did I so baking soda is ok by us.

Proof that these rolls were good:

11:03 AM Phil: pssssst

11:04 AM no more prezel rolls

  need more

  please

 me: lol

  ok

 Phil: :)

DIY: Cupcake Tower

My best friend's mom, Rose, turned 60 recently and had a huge shindig to celebrate.  I was commissioned to help out (I mean forced into slave labor) and build a cupcake tower. 

Building a cupcake tower is really only limited by your own imagination. I've seen fairly simple instructions and some more extreme ones as well.  I love the latter one but did not have that much time, skill, patience or money in my budget to build such a thing.  So, I based my tower off the more basic instructions.

You can't really tell in the pictures but each Styrofoam drum between each tier is covered in gold paper.  I didn't bother to wrap each tier in wrapping paper and just trimmed the edges with white ribbon.  I also gave the whole thing a final touch by adding fresh flowers here and there.  My tower fit approximately 40 cupcakes. 

My suggestions for those of you who are planning to build your own cupcake tower would be this: be creative.  All the tower has to be is sturdy.  To be quite honest, all I did was glue some stuff together and voila!  You can't call yourself crafty until you own a hot glue gun.  And of course, the bigger the tower, the more stable it will need to be.

The cake and cupcakes shown were made by Chestnut Bakery in San Francisco. 

The beautiful Chan family.  

Individual Apple Crisps with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Apple crisps are one of my all time favorite desserts although I don't know exactly what it is about them that I love.  I guess it's the fact that it's basically an apple pie without the crust and has this awesome crumbly and crunchy topping.  I mean, screw the crust what you can get that instead.  Then, you put a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream and, "Bam!" you make something pretty awesome into something even more awesome.  To top it off, these were so easy to make.  Baking is magical I tell ya.  

Phil bought a few Braeburn apples, which turned out to be too mealy for my liking.  If you follow this blog at all, you can tell by now that I can hardly let anything go to waste in my house without trying to cook it or put in the oven first.  So, apple crisps they became.  

I used a modified version of this recipe based on what I did and didn't have already.  I don't usually go around changing recipes because that almost never works out for me but this time I felt pretty comfortable omitting some things since it's not as technical as cakes or cookies.  I ended up yielding 2 oval creme brulee ramekins and 1 regular round 4 ounce ramekin, but I think this recipe could easily fill up 4 regular ramekins.  I liked using the oval ones because the the crumble to apple ratio was higher.

The ice cream had been made a few days earlier.

Individual Apple Crisps

2 apples, peeled cored and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
Pinch of baking powder
4 tablespoons, melted and cooled

Preheat oven at 350˚F.

Arrange sliced apples in ramekins.  In a bowl, mix together sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon flour and cinnamon.  Sprinkle evenly over apples.  Pour water evenly over apple and sugar mixture.

In another bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of flour, brown sugar, baking powder and butter until well mixed.  Crumble over tops of apples.

Set ramekins on a baking sheet and bake at 350˚F for 30 to 40 minutes.  Let cool for approximating 10 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Ice Cream

3 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean pod
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the half-and-half and the heavy cream into a medium saucepan.  Split the vanilla bean down the middle and scrap out the seeds with the back of a knife.  Put the contents of the pod and the pod itself in with the cream mixture.  Over medium heat, bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about a third of the cream mixture has been added. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170˚ to 175˚F. Pour the mixture through a fine strainer into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours.

Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.