Rice Crispy Present Cake

A couple of weeks ago I had to demonstrate how to cover a cake with fondant for one of my classes. I actually just made up some rice crispy treats and pressed them into one of my cake pans instead of making a cake, because my husband is sick of cake and wanted something different. (This works great when you are doing a multi-teir wedding cake, and the wedding party doesn't really need that much cake--just do rice crispy treats for the bottom layer--the kids will love it). After my class I came home and decided to continue decorating it. Maybe I'm obsessive compulsive, but I just can't let someone eat a half-decorated cake. Well, it didn't last long after I decorated it. My husband bit into it within a few minutes of me finishing it up and taking pictures. I agree with him--a rice crispy treat cake really is so much better than a regular cake. Yumm.

April Fool's

My April Fool's Day was pretty busy. I started teaching another round of Wilton classes for the month of April (Courses 1 and 3). Here is a cake that I made during my Course 1 class to demo a few things. I finished it up in my Course 3 class showing them how to do string work on a cake. It was a fun cake to quickly put together for my classes. When I told my friend Erica a few days ago that I was going to have another cake this week with nothing to do with it, she said she would gladly take it, so I gave it to her for a month belated birthday cake (I know--it's not too birthdayish, but that's okay, right?)

The day before April Fool's I was asked to teach the Achievement Day girls some cake decorating for their activity. We did some April Fool's cupcakes. They decorated them to look like spaghetti and meatballs with a side of peas and carrots. It was an idea I got out of the Hello, Cupcake book (I keep telling you, I love this book). The girls did a great job and had a lot of fun making their "well balanced dinners." I'll ask them on Sunday if any of them fooled their parents with their dinners they made :)

Sarah's Birthday Cake

My visiting teachee had a birthday last week, so I whipped up a quick cake for her. I saw one similar to this one in one of the Wilton course books that I teach from. It looked fun, so I gave it a try.

My one learning experience from this came as I tried to make the filling. I searched several stores to find something called Danish Dessert. It's a box mix used to make strawberry or rasberry glaze/sauce/filling. I used it all the time when I lived in Utah. Well, I came to find out that stores in Las Vegas do not carry this item. I found a recipe online that stated it tasted just like the boxed Danish Dessert. Well, I tried making it, but iIt didn't set up like they stated it would, so I had to go back and thicken it with cornstarch. Unfortunately I think I got a little bit cornstarch crazy and put too much in. It thickened it more than I wanted and had a cornstarchy taste. Oops. I know now to stock up on Danish Dessert next time I go up to Utah.

Tip of the Day--Quick Rising

Here is a quick baking tip for today. Normally when you are baking bread products (loaves of bread, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, etc.) you must let the dough rise until it has doubled in size before shaping your bread. This usually takes an hour or more unless you use a little trick to make the bread rise quicker. After kneading the dough, place it in a microwave-safe bowl sprayed with non-stick spray. Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave on high power 5 seconds for every cup of flour in the dough (ex. if you used 6 cups to make the dough, you would set the timer to 30 seconds). Next, turn the dough over and microwave again, but half the amount of time (ex. now it would only need 15 seconds). Now just pull it out of the microwave and cover with a cloth until doubled in size. This will usually cut the rising time in half. It is a great timesaver. Happy baking.

The Beginning

Welcome friends, family, and complete strangers whom I have never met and probably never will. This is my new site dedicated to my passion--and sometimes obsession--of cake decorating (and anything else having to do with baking and candy making). In some of my posts I will share projects that I have done and/or tips, techniques, and tricks for creating edible masterpieces. I hope you enjoy this site and come back often.