Scooby Doo Birthday Sheet Cake

This past week my nephew Timmy turned 7! My sister had me make his birthday cake, she wanted half chocolate and half vanilla. And she wanted a full sheet cake. I have never made a full sheet cake before so I was definitely up for this challenge.


I bought half sheet cake pan a by 2a.m. the cakes were wrapped in saran wrap and chilling in the fridge.

Timmy wanted a Scooby Doo cake, in previous years it was either Sponge Bob or Spider Man...so I was really excited when he wanted Scooby Doo...I was happy because Scooby is just absolutely adorable.

I was not sure about how I wanted Scooby Dooo to look, so I googled Scooby Doo expressions and found a couple of them I really liked. On the cake Scooby Doo's is constructed of Fondant that I colored.

I used a very simple Buttercream for the entire cake.

My Buttercream

4 Sticks of butter-Sweet and Creamy works well
4 cups of Powdered Sugar- keep adding it in until you get the consistency you want
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
1 Teaspoon of Ultra Pasteurized Heavy Cream

**Mix all together, if it is to thin add more powdered sugar!**
But for my sheet cake I tripled the recipe...at one point I had to go back to the grocery story for more butter.

Here is Timmy's Birthday Cake...............







I hope you like his cake....and I sure hope Timmy does!


Keep posted for upcoming posts!

Super Easy Lemon Cookies

I absolutely love anything lemon! When my mom told me that I can make really good lemon cookies using only 3 ingredients I was very skeptical. So of course I had to try them out. And boy was I shocked on how good they were...and you will be too if you decided to make them!


The 3 ingredients you will need are ........


That's right all you need to make these cookies are these three ingredient! Now you can add extra lemon just to give it that extra lemon flavoring. I would only add a teaspoon at a time.


What you need:
1 box of Lemon Cake mix
2 Eggs
1/3 cup of oil

*Bake at 350...until edges of cookies are a light brown (you don't want a gooey center, but not rock hard)**


Add all those ingredients together and mix...it should feel and look like dough



I like using scoopers it makes the cookies more even!!!



Line your sheet tray with parchment paper...no need to wash them when you're done ;)





Cookies that are all done! Don't they look good?!?!?



Cookies and Milk...the combination with this cookies is just amazing!!!! Trust me!



One down for meee! :)



I ended up with about 38 cookies all together!! So many more than what is being shown in this picture!



Now to spice up the cookies a bit...sift a little bit of powdered sugar(also known as 10x sugar) onto the cookies. It makes them look a little more fancy!



Cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar...don't they look cute??




These cookies were the easiest cookies that I have ever made. From beginning to the end it took me 45 minutes to make! the best part is they do not taste like they are only made of 3 ingredients.

Take my word for it...try them out...you won't be disappointed!!!


Keep posted for upcoming blogs!!

Cornelli Wedding Cake

This past weekend was Kathleen's and Anthonys wedding. The was the couple that I did the bridal shower cake for a few weeks ago. I thought since it was a wedding weekend for John and I , so I held back on blogging about my first wedding cake I did a few weeks ago.

At the end of my Sculpture and Design class we make our first wedding cakes. I was so excited, but a little apprehensive about it starting it. But that was not stoping me at all.

Thankfully the weekend before I started this cake I got some practice on Kathleen's bridal shower cake. I don't know if you remember in that blog post that I said I was nervous about putting the fondant on the cake. When it came to putting the fondant on my wedding cake for class I was a little more confident.

This wedding cake was a two tiered wedding cake. The top tiere was super easy to put fondant on, but the bottom tiere(the biggest one) fought me hook, line and sinker. I actually had to re-due the fondant over twice. The first time the fondant was too thin, and the second time it was at a perfect thickness but it started to tear.

TIP: WHEN WORKING WITH FONDANT MOVE FAST OR IT WILL TEAR!!!!

I fixed up the one torn spot, it looked ok but it definitely wasn't how I wanted to start off my first wedding cake. But nonetheless I was quite pleased UNTIL...I was putting the cake on the cooling rack and the side of my cake was rammed into the top part of the metal on the little shelves....so there was a nice size noticeable gash...there was definitely no hiding it!

So I walked away and figured I would worry about it tomorrow.

With this wedding cake practical I was completely in the zone...I swear I didn't hear any of the other noise going on around me....it was quite wonderful!



This is what Cornelli looks like, just in case if you don't know what it is. When you decide to decorate cake with cornelli lace you want to make little lines, but not tooooo little! The edges should never be sharp...ALWAYS ROUNDED! You always start from either the side of your pattern of the bottom...never start or finish at the middle of the Cornelli lace.

Doing the Cornelli Lace was my favorite part about the wedding cake! Very detailed and it takes a lot of patience! Cornelli Lace is a royal icing that is piped!

BEWARE: YOUR HANDS MAY GET TIRED...TAKE BREAKS IF NEEDED! :D




On our wedding cakes we had to do a border...I really love the pearl borders. So I decided to do a Pearl border on mine. I just used a small round tip with Royal Icing...always make sure the Royal Icing is a thicker consistence...if its not then the pearls with run together if that happens just add more powdered sugar! If it becomes tooo thick add small amounts of water! You want to have a happy medium!




Here is my topper for the cake! I was never very fond of people toppers for wedding cakes! The swan is blown sugar...I really don't care for this method...the swan gave me nothing but problems...it took me two tries to get it right...I kept blowing it up! The little spirals are pulled sugar just wrapped around a wooden spoon for about a minute! The hearts are pastiage, that is like a dough that turns turns brittle...one comparison would be a Necco Wafer!



Here is my wedding cake all done!!!! I received a 93% on it! Oh and just in case if you were wondering...that gash I put on the side of my cake from the cooling rack I filled it with Royal Icing and smoothed it out! It didn't turn out bad looking...so I really can't complain!





I hope you enjoyed my first wedding!!


Stay posted for upcoming blogs!!!

PS: I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!

My flower Pots

I am officially on summer vacation, it started yesterday! I'm off for 10 days, then I am returning to LCB to finish up my last 6 weeks there, but I do not have anymore kitchens.

In my sculpting and design class we finished up our wedding cakes(future blog), that was my last kitchens practical. We had 3 days left, so my chef decided we can make cakes.The best part is, is that we were allowed to be creative and do what we wanted. Any design...any color...just pure fun and imagination!

I was really excited about getting my cake started. I wanted something with some color, but different. A lot of my other classmates did topsy turvy cakes with dots,bows, stuff like that. I wanted something a little different. I wanted to incorporate flowers since it is summer and I just absolutely love colorful flowers!
So I decided make flower pots with flowers coming out of them. Once I shaped and torted the cakes I crumb coated them with butter cream.

At the top of each flower pot I cut on a little circle so I can fill it with crushed oreos for dirt. The cakes were covered in modeling chocolate. I never covered anything with modeling chocolate before.

TIP:When covering something with modeling chocolate it isn't like working with fondant, where you can cover it all at once. You have to covered the cake in pieces starting with the top and then the sides.


I really wished I was able to take pictures of this process for you, but I was not able to in my kitchens class.

Then I added a rim around the tops of the cakes to give it definition and covered with edible dust. It turned out awesome! The longest part was covering the cake in the modeling chocolate!

When it came to my flowers, I used Marzipan. I colored the marzipan to my desired colors. Then rolled it out like of you were making a pie crust. Then I used a daisy cookie cutter, and then took my marzipan tools and thinned the flowers out. Then I cupped the flowers so that the edges of the flowers were on the table standing up. Before I started the process I cut floral wire to my desired length and wrapped them in floral tape, and at the bottom of the wire I made a loop.

Once the flowers were somewhat dry, not tooo dry I dipped the loop of the floral is pasteurized egg white...it's used as a glue. I made a small amount of brown marzipan and rolled out medium sized balls. And put them over the round loop. Then I took a flower, I took a paint brush and put a little of egg whites in the middle of the flower. On the opposite side of the loop dip the edge in egg whites and then side the flower up. Turn the flower so that the edges of the petals are supported on the table. Once the flowers are dried you should be able to hold them by the stem you made.

Then I just stuck the flowers in the pots at the very end.


Here are my flower pots!!!




Full view of my flower pots!




The top of my cake!!


I hope you like my cake!!!! I really enjoyed making it!!!!!

Keep posted! I'm in the mood for something with bananas!!!!!!

Kathleens Bridal Shower Cake

This past Sunday was Kathleens bridal shower, and I was asked to do her Bridal cake. She said she wanted a fairy tale theme and I couldn't wait to start making it. I strategized for a few dayas to what her cake could possibly look like..I wanted to make it funky but not childlike. I know she liked the color purple, I knew it would be covered in fondant, chocolate edible butterflies, and pulled sugar roses.

A few days before the bridal shower, I went up to Michaels Arts and Crafts and came across EDIBLE GLITTER!!! I was so excited, this was definitely something I could use for Kathleen's Cake. So I went and bought Purple and Gold Glitter.

I made the cakes 2 days before the bridal shower, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge to get chill.

TIP: IF YOU ARE GOING TO TORT CAKES IT IS MUCH EASIER TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE CHILLED BEFORE TORTING...LESS MESSY :)


I torted the cakes and filled them with strawberry puree mixed with almond extract, and made a simple buttercream.

TIP:When you want to put a filling in the center of a torted cake you must put an buttercream or icing around the edge with a pastry tip and bag. This Helps keep the cake from sliding and keeps everything in place!!

The next day(day before the shower) I put the fondant on the cake, I colored the fondant with Wilton Violet Gel (only a few drops). I will honestly admit I never put fondant on a cake before, so I was really nervous. I received some advice from my chef, I would say that it helped a bit but it sure didn't ease my butterflies in my stomach. All I could think about was I could absolutely ruine these cakes if I mess up putting on the fondant. I took a deep breath and just covered the cake with fondant, It turned out awesome but I was still uneasy about continuing with the rest of the cakes. By the 3rd tiere I was definitely more relaxed!

TIP:WHEN PUTTING FONDANT ON A CAKE MAKE SURE THE CAKE IS COVERED IN EITHER BUTTERCREAM OR ICING. MAKE SURE IT IS SMOOTH, AND PUT CAKES IN FRIDGE WHILE GETTING THE FONDANT READYY, YOU DON'T WANT THE BUTTERCREAM OR ICING TO BE REALLY SOFT!!!

You always want to smooth out the fondant with you hands or a fondant smoother, always start from the top of the cake then the sides.

I glued the butterflies on the cake with tempered chocolate, I heated the ends of the pulled sugar roses so it would stick to the fondant.I put the edible glitter all over the cakes, but I put a heavier amount of glitter on the bottom of the cakes and lighter as I went up the sides. Where there was butterflies I put gold glitter around them to give it a different look.

When I was assembling the cake I stacked the cakes on top of eachother, but when I looked at it it looked to formal, and that was not the look I was going for. So I thought why don't I angle the cakes so that they were not stacked perfectly on top of each other.


So here it is!!!!.....(more pictures will be added very soon! I wanted to get this up)


=



Thoughts???


Keep Posted!

Hey Everyone

Hey everyone,
Blogspot is giving me such a difficult time uploading photos. Tonight's blog was going to be about my Friend Kathleens Bridal Shower Cake that I made her.

I am going to try to upload the photos at school tomorrow so we can have some photos that go along with my blogpost. So hopefully it works.

My add videos button works but not my add photos...weird.


Sorry about the delay! Hopefully everything will be better tomorrow!

Hang tight!

Personal Update and Good News

It has been a long while since I have update my blog. Things have been terribly chaotic. I personally have had a really hard time getting over the death of my grandfather and dog last month that I basically started pulling away from everyone.

I felt fine then all of a sudden, I wasn't myself at all. I hardly talked to any of my friends, when I was in school I wanted to be home and when I was at home I wanted to be in school. The only baking I was doing was in the kitchens at school. I basically sat around and was miserable half of the time, and really distant with everyone. I was exhausted, and tired of everything that kept going wrong.Everything fought me hookline and sinker. To be honest I had no desire to update my blog at all. I lost my dog, grandfather, and job all within 2 weeks of eachother. When I went to Dc that was a great escape, I was really happy there. But then reality hits you in the face when you come home.

On top of everything else, I did not have an externship for the months of August to November. I need an externship in order to get my degree. Every company that I was signing up to do interviews with would cancel. So at the time with only 10 weeks till I am supposed to leave I had nothing. Now, when my grandfather died when my family and I were down in West Virginia, I received and email from my school stating that two more potiental companies were coming to my school to interview for externs. One was Oglebay in Wheeling WV, and the other was Pinehurst in NC. I signed up for both interviews. Oglebay canceled interviews the day before my interview because only 4 people signed up(myself included) so it was senseless to travel an hour away to conduct 4 interviews. They sent in my resume there because they were going to do phone interviews, but I never received a call. So Oglebay was out.

After when I returned to Dc, my interview for Pinehurst was only 3 days away. I had a portfolio together and everything. Thankfully they did not cancel. They interveiew I thought went really well, I remember one question they asked me was "How do you keep up on current trends in baking?" I personally read a lot, especially on the internet. I mentioned CAKE POPS! He did not know what a Cake Pop was, so I told him about them, about Bakerella's Blog, her book. He thought they were quite awesome!! Another question I got was "what was my most recent book I've read?" I said Dantes Inferno. which is true...and I'm still trying to read this book. They said that there were taking a bunch of culinary students from different schools, and only 2 pastry students all together. After that, I was worried, because I'm closer to my leaving date, and they are only taking 2 pastry students. What are the chances.

About a couple weeks later, I received an email from the pastry chef, he wanted to have interview over the phone(actually a week ago from today, this entire process was about a month. We spoke over the phone for about 20 minutes, even then I was still skeptical about everything, there was no way I was going to get my hopes up. They had to perform backround checks and everything (that was the easy part).He said I would know about 2 weeks if I have the position or not.

Yesterday I slept in, my mom drove into town. Normally I get into town around 845 and don't have class until 11am. So I just read on the internet or tutor students. My mom asked me if I received a letter from Pinehurst if I wanted her to open it. I said "yes," because I was unbelievably eager to know if I had the position or not. She dropped me off at school and all I could think about was Pinehurst, it was driving me insane! My phone started to viberate and I thought it was going to be a text but it a wrong number. After class I received an email from Pinehurst.

I GOT IT!!!!!

I basically sat at my computer and just staired at the email. I was in complete shock. I was so excited my hands started to shake!!!!! So I ofically have an externship!!! That made me so happy! I believe my Bella and Grandad was working some magic up there!! ;)

And it looks like you my readers and I are moving down to Pinehurst, North Carolina in August!!!

Keep posted!!! tons and tons of updates coming along the way!!!!