Cake Decorating with Marina Sousa

This weekend I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with the incredible Marina Sousa. Marina is from California and is the owner of Just Cake in Capitola. She has been on tons of Food Network challenges, (winning many) and was a finalist on Last Cake Standing. (Personally, I thought she SHOULD HAVE WON! …and I thought that even BEFORE I met her.) James Roselle (also of Food Network fame) was there as well and he was teaching a different class on flower making (which I was not able to take). Wow, are his flowers gorgeous!

To be honest, my hands were so messy for most of the weekend, I didn’t bother taking pictures. But hopefully I will be able to replicate some of the techniques in the future… and WITH a camera. First, James and Marina gave a demonstration with Isomalt. Isomalt is a low calorie sugar-like substance that is used to make beautiful jewel-like crystals for cake decorating. To use it you heat the isomalt with some water over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden or silicone spoon. As it heats up, you can continue to add more isomalt until you have the amount you will need. Continue heating and it will start to turn clear and bubble. Continue to heat it until it reaches temperature of 340F. (Use Caution- it is very HOT and you don’t want to burn yourself.)  You can then pour it into a pyrex measuring cup so you can work with it. Let the bubbles settle for a second and then you can pour it into molds. (Be sure to use molds that are suitable for isomalt) Should you wish to color the isomalt, you should do so after it comes to temperate, but before you pour it into the molds. Additionally, you should use a water-based color. When you pour it into a silicone bead string mold, if done correctly, the isomalt will drop down into the the mold. That is how you know you did it right- when it drops down. After it cools, you can cover it with disco dust for a Blinged-out effect.

After the isomalt demo, we made petals from a mixture of fondant and gum paste. We used a veiner from James Roselles’s line that he produces with NY Cake. I have to be honest, the Parrot Tulip Veiner was amazing! It wasn’t the list of supplies we needed, but I wish it was, because it was great and now I want one! All you needed to do was cut out a circle with a basic cookie cutter, put it in the veiner, sandwich it together, peel it out and leave it to dry (James gave us plastic egg carton-type things… they looked like something you would use for deviled eggs). We used a large flower cutter, to cut out the basic shape of a larger flower, and then veined the petals. Then I left it overnight to dry in a bowl, so it would have a curved shaped. When it was dry I then interspersed different color petals, to form a larger fuller flower. To finish the flower, I took a cooled isomalt jewel, dunked it in disco dust and stuck it in the center, affixing it with royal icing to act as edible glue.

Flower close-up

For the bottom layer I incorporated an embossed pattern. I covered the cake in fondant. Then, while it was still fresh, I took a textured rolling pin (rolling pin with a pattern on it) and rolled it around the side of the cake. I had to be sure to match up the seams on the pattern when rolling. To offset the pattern, I dry dusted pearl dust on the cake using an old unused blush brush.  (Thanks James for showing me how to do this and making it look good.)

For the middle layer, instead of covering the section with fondant, I cut a large ribbon or rectangle and wrapped the fondant around. I then used a ruler to imprint lines and painted the sections, alternating colors, using pink and grey (moondust) color. I then wrapped darker pink petals (again, from the fabulous veiner) around the base of the layer.

For the top layer, I needed a design that would allow me to carry the top cake separately. I just wanted to include something that carried the pinks and silver-grey colors throughout. I just rolled out some more pink fondant and cut large and small circles out of the fondant. In the small circles, I imprinted the centers with dragees (edible silver balls) and then affixed them to the centers with royal icing. I then took the larger circles and made a boarder around the base of the top layer with them. Inside, I affixed the smaller pink circles with large dragees in them. Then I took additional pink circles, with smaller dragees, and affixed them above the larger circles, in an alternating pattern.

To finish the cake, I took more pink fondant and molded them into smaller pearls. I them wrapped those around the base of the entire structure and affixed them with royal icing. After that all that was left to do was step back and take a picture… of yeah, and eat!

Thanks again to Marina and James for their knowledge and help this weekend. They really are masters of their craft and it is amazing to see their own creations.

Marina and Me

 

 

 

Fondant Cake with Cornelli Lace

Fondant cake w yellow free-form Cornelli Lace royal icing

Today was a day of extras. I had an extra cake and was looking for something easy but interesting to do with it. I also have extra royal icing lying around. (It keeps for ages, so store your extra in an airtight container) I had seen cakes decorated with this free-form pattern before. Apparently, it is called Cornelli Lace, which I didn’t realize, and it is not supposed to touch. (ops, didn’t realize that on a few strings) You may have seen it on wedding cakes, with a white-on-white pattern used to mimic the lace of the wedding gown. I just thought it would be a quick and easy way to be decorative. I simply took my already made yellow royal icing and number 3 tip (You can use a #1 tip for thinner, more delicate lines), put it into a piping bag and just made a free-form  pattern design. I debated leaving the top plain white fondant, but I was having so much fun with the free-form royal icing, I decided to pipe the top as well as the sides. Just a simple, easy way to use your extras for good decorative use!

Carrot Bread

Fresh out if the oven! Carrot Bread

I am not sure why I am on a quick bread kick… maybe because it is fall, maybe because I was looking for something interesting to do with veggies, or maybe it is because they are quick and easy to make. I love things that are not fussy. My latest creation is a carrot bread. Similar to a carrot cake, it gave me something to do with the carrots that were sitting in my fridge without much inspiration.

Again, a fairly easy recipe to pull together, minus the almost shredding of a finger in the carrot grating process. I chose a recipe that called for more rather than less carrots, just because I was trying to use up a bunch (though I probably only used three or four).

In a mixer combine:

2 eggs

1 Cups sugar

2/3 Cups oil

1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl sift together:

1 1/2 Cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg*

1/4 tsp All Spice*

pinch of ground clove*

*The original recipe called for just nutmeg, but I like the mixture of allspice as well as the flavor of clove. You can mix and match to whatever your preference is. You can also omit the vanilla if you choose.

Combine flour mixture with oil/egg mixture

Then add in to your taste:

1 1/2 Cups grated/shredded carrots

1/2 Cups- 1 Cups walnuts (optional)

1/2-1 Cups raisins (optional)

1/2-1 C chocolate chips (just because I seem to add chocolate chips to everything… I mean, do they make everything better?! But again, these are optional as well.)

Pour into a loaf pan and Bake at 350F for 1 hour.

I just learned another baking tip this week- and again, it is optional. After you remove the bread from the oven, put a plate or something over the top and leave it there as it cools. It will help it retain the steam, keeping it moist and delicious.

Alternately, you can make muffins (about a 20-25 min baking time). And remember, these are healthy! They have carrots!!!

Cake with Red & White Flowers

Cake with Red & White Flowers

This is a cake I made recently.

True red, I mean really RED red, is hard to achieve when tinting icing, so to get the color I used AmeriColor Christmas Red. It really helped obtain a RED color, rather than a variation of pink.

It was also quite warm in my kitchen when I was trying to decorate the cake. You need stiff icing to create flowers, and warm kitchens do not help; they act to melt and wilt the flowers. One thing I did was put the frosting in the fridge for about 10 min or so to chill and harden it a bit before trying to make the roses. Once I made each individual rose, I put it on a cookie sheet and popped it into the freezer until I was ready to put them onto the cake. This helped keep their shape ensuring they did not melt in my overheated kitchen. (My favorite video that teaches you how to make a buttercream rose is from The Cake Eccentric.)

Just a few tips to help with the decorating.

More Cake Pops!!!

More and More Cake Pops!!!

Just sharing some assorted cake pops I made for my friend’s birthday last weekend. With just a few different types of sprinkles (sanding sugar, red nonpareils, silver sprinkles) and 2 types of chocolate (white and dark) you can make tons of different and easy designs. Stripes, dots, swirls…. just have fun.

They made a great centerpiece, conversation piece and snacking piece.

Cake Pops!

Assorted Cake Pops

Cake Pops!!!

So either you are excited by reading the title, OR you are like… what the heck are cake pops?!

Cake pops are the hottest trend in the cake world. They are what would happen if you crossed a lollipop with cake! Cake on a stick, formed into a ball and dipped in chocolate. These are not for your diabetic friends.

My foray into the world of cake pops started last week when my friends told me they wanted to have cake pops for their wedding favors… and could I make them. Well, I had never made cake pops before, I had never even eaten them, but I figured I could give it a shot. I offered to do a test run to see if I even could successful make a cake pop. Then I got busy reading blogs, posts and watching videos online to see what I needed to do.

Anyone who knows anything about cake pops has heard of Bakerella; she literally wrote the book on cake pops and she makes the most creative and innovative pops I have ever seen. She has them in every shape, size and Disney character. It is amazing to see what she has done to elevate the simple cake pop.

The basic elements you need to make a cake pop are cake, frosting, melting chocolate and lollipop sticks PLUS anything you want to use for decoration on the pops (sprinkles, chips, etc). Cake pops are a great way to use excess cake that you trimmed off another cake while leveling it, or a great use for that cake that you broke and couldn’t use for anything else. You can also use a cake mix cake. I personally used my own homemade frosting, just because I had a batch on hand, but again, you can use store bought frosting. This is a messy game and you will certainly get your hands dirty, but it is a fun project that you can try to do with kids on a rainy Saturday.

Again, you will need:

Cake, Frosting, Melting Chocolate, Lollipop Sticks, Decorating items (ie assorted sprinkles) Plus a willingness to get your hands messy! (Optional, but highly suggested would be an small ice cream scoop, a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or tin foil, and a Styrofoam block.)

Take your cake and crumble it into a bowl. Just totally wreck it! (This is the therapeutic step) Crumble it up until all you have a cake crumbs. Once you have a nice bowl of crumbs, add in your frosting. If you have a store-bought frosting, use about 3/4 of the container. Now mush it all around until it is evenly distributed. (Some recommend a mixer with a paddle attachment for both these steps, but I was perfectly fine hand mixing the mush) The mixture will look gross, really. But don’t worry, it gets better!

Now that you have your mixture you need to form it into the cake balls. Take your ice cream scoop and scoop out balls, finishing the forming in your hands. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop, just form the balls with your hands. Put the formed cake balls on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or tin foil. Once you have filled the sheet with balls, put it into the freezer for 15 minutes. (If they will be there for longer, take them out of the freezer and put them in the fridge after 15 minutes, to avoid freezing them)

While the balls are chilling, prepare your chocolate. Put the chocolate in a deep microwavable dish and microwave it in about 20 second increments until it is melted. Stir after each increment to help the melting process. You want nice, smooth chocolate.  Additionally, get out your lollipop sticks and your Styrofoam block.

Now there are two ways you can proceed. I have tried both and I preferred Bakerella’s one step method, rather than the popular two-step process.

My preferred method- Take your pops out of the freezer and put them next to the chocolate. Take a lollipop stick and dip it into the melted chocolate about 1/4 inch to-1/2 inch. Then immediately put the stick into one of the balls until it is about half way into the ball. (Do not pre-drill and do not push the stick all the way through). Then immediately after this, take the stick with  the cake ball on it and dip it straight down into the chocolate. Do not swirl it around to coat, instead tilt the ball to each side so it is fully immersed and covered in chocolate. Then pull straight out in an upward motion. Once the ball is out of the chocolate, you can tilt it and let the excess run off. You can also tap you arm as you are holding the ball, to help the excess chocolate drain off.  Put the cake pop in the styrofoam block by piercing the block with the stick. Let the pop dry. (If you want to decorate the pop with sprinkles, you should hold the still wet pop over another bowl and sprinkle the sprinkles on the chocolate before it melts, rotating the pop to ensure maximum coverage.)

Alternately, if you don’t have a styrofoam block, put them stick-side up on a cookie sheet and let dry. They won’t be perfectly round on the top, but it is still a nice way to present them.

Option 2: The other chocolate finishing method- Instead of making this a one step process, the other method turns it into a two-step process. In the method, you melt a small amount of chocolate first, dip the stick into the chocolate and then put the stick into the pop. You then let that dry fully before dripping the entire ball into the melted chocolate. The issue I had with this method was that in some cases the chocolate wasn’t melted enough or warmed up and the ball fell off the stick into the chocolate. I then had to rescue the ruined ball and make sure no stray cake bits ended up floating in the chocolate) Whatever method works for you- Use It!

Last, once the chocolate is dry if you haven’t already decorated it with sprinkles, you can do it in this step. Take the melted chocolate with a spoon (or whatever works) and drizzle it on the cake pop. You can make different lines, or straight, thin lines across the pop, then take your glitter sprinkles and sprinkle them on the new chocolate, creating glittery lines on the pop. Use different patterns and sprinkles for different, unique looks.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG – Ok this all sounds simple enough, but let me just point out some things that can go wrong, so you can try to avoid them.

1. If you don’t use enough frosting in your mix, the cake balls will be too dry and will fall apart.
2. You really must chill the balls after you form them, otherwise will be too soft and will fall off the lollipop stick.
3. Don’t leave them in the freezer for too long either as you don’t want them frozen. (They may also crack when you try to put the lollipop stick in them.) 15 minutes is a good amount.
4. If you try the second method where you put the chocolate candy coated stick in and then let set, prior to dipping, you must be sure that the chocolate is set prior to fully dipping them! Chill them, if not, the ball will fall off the stick and into your melted chocolate mix. (not good)
5. Also, if you have an entire tray to dip, you need to be careful that they don’t get too warm waiting for their turn. You may want to just take a few out of the fridge at a time as you go through the process. (otherwise see problem # 2 above)
6. When you are dipping the pop in for it’s final (main) coating, Do Not swirl it around the chocolate mixture as it will loosen or fall off (also NG). Just dip straight down and tilt to cover the top.
7. When you pull the pop out of the chocolate, let the excess run off. You can also tap your arm lightly to get the drip to fall off. Be careful with the tapping, if you do it too hard, the ball will fall off the stick.

So now you know how to make sweet, fun cake pops. I hope you have fun unleashing your creativity! Enjoy!!!