450watt, able to handle 12 cups of flour- which is 8 loaves of bread or 9lbs of mashed potatoes. And, oh, oh, look at that dough hook.

This mixer makes me hot.

My cake making and decorating has slacked off as the summer has gotten here- I am just too damn busy most of the time to make things and bake them. But, I decided since I had some extra time over the holiday weekend that I would make a small cake for the folks who were going to gather at my house for Happy Birthday Country celebration.



1 Duncan Heines White Cake mix
1 egg
1 package Vanilla pudding (not the instant kind)

Divide the cake mix in half, color with Wilton's gel colors in Real Red (which thankfully in a cake batter doesn't really effect the flavor) and Royal Blue.



Omnomonomnomonom. I let them bake about 3 min too long, hence the slight browning to the top.

Iced with vanilla buttercream.
General recipe:
1 lb. softened unsalted real cream butter (skip the cheap stuff)
1/2 c. shortening (I hate the stuff, but I needed the icing to remain stiff and this works)
1/2 lb pure confectioners sugar sifted
1Tbls. meringue powder
2 Tbls. real vanilla (or more to taste)
1 tsp. salt

Beat butter, crisco and vanilla until smooth. Add the sugar and meringue powder and salt. Beat until thick and fluffy. Unless you have one hell of a mixer, add the sugar in slowly to keep from getting lumps. If you over beat the butter will start to separate.

Cool cakes in the freezer (these things were MOIST) until almost solid. Decorate. Enjoy.


Outside


Inside

Want.This.So.Damn.Badly.

but i want to go to Burning Man more, so I am not going to buy it yet.

I have been baking a lot less, mostly because I am so freaking busy with everything else that I dont have time. Made a chai cake with damn fine strong vanilla buttercream for a friend's birthday cook out yesterday. Have photos of things I took to the Alchemy fund raiser couple weeks ago. Will be pulling those down off blyssmouse's computer today and will post them. There were ginger cookies made last night too, because I could and the house always smells so good.

Great and grand thanks to everyone who responded to my last post and gave me suggestions- I would have screwed up if I didn't have that advice. You guys ROCK!!

Layers from bottom to top:

Golden Oreos held together with chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate sauce
Chocolate chip ice cream
Sliced strawberries
Crushed Golden Oreos
Strawberry puree with chocolate sauce
Strawberry ice cream
Sliced strawberries
Crushed Golden Oreos
Chocolate chip ice cream

The frosting is simple whipped cream thinned down and poured over and then frozen (what a process that was) with strawberries and chocolate on top.

This cake was so yummy.

( More Photos )

The Stuff-
8" cake pan, 2" deep, aluminum (heat conducts better)
1/2 gallon chocolate chip ice cream
1/2 gallon strawberry ice cream
2 packages Golden Oreos or some other vanilla cookies (chocolate would be good to)
3 qt. whole strawberries
Some chocolate syrup (I didn't measure) - I used Hersey's Dark Chocolate syrup

The Process-
Soften the chocolate chip ice cream slightly. Press ice cream into the bottom of he cake pan about half full. I used a 4" cake pan to press the ice cream down level into the pan and tight into the corners. Put the pan back in the freezer. Take about a half a pint of the strawberries, cut off the tops, and slice into thin pieces. ( Photo Heavy Post Below )

I settled on a simple whipped cream icing/frosting. Something not too sweet or heavy. Couple of Tblsp of confectioners sugar and a qt of heavy cream, with some merange powder to stiffen it up a little.

I am concerned that I have no idea how to cut this. Its frozen solid in our commercial freezer, so I think that I will let it sit in the regular freezer for awhile, which should loosen it up a little. And then a very very hot knife? We will see. Will post the final results when I frost it tomorrow morning before the party.

The Sunshine wants an ice cream cake for his birthday. I have barely ever eaten an ice cream cake, much less made one, so off to the internet I go. YAY ElJay communities and Google! Got some advice from those who make cakes for Ben and Jerry's and Carvel. The request was for a all strawberry cake, which I modified a bit because I am actually having trouble finding strawberry ice cream of all the odd things.

The Plan is to use Golden Oreos as the 'cake' part, some crushed up, the crust on the bottom made with whole oreos mortared together with ice cream and crushed oreos. Layers of chocolate chip and strawberry ice cream to follow. Have not yet decided on the frosting. Thinking something in the whipped cream variety or something else that freezes well.

Pictures of the process as soon as I have the power cable for the other lappy that has my Picasa folders on it.

My want list in this exact moment:

-A second 13"x9" rectangle sheet cake pan
-A second stainless Kitchen Aid mixing bowl for my mixer
-The Kitchen Aid accessory that allows you to add things without having to stop the mixer

I am making a cake this morning, more details later, right now, I am about an hour behind and working on a schedule that has little flexibility.

This was a great project, I had a great time. Its been a long time since I stayed up all night working on an art project and I forgot how fulfilling and fun it can be. From the time of my last post I started the project at around 12:45am and finished just shortly before 7am start to finish- baking to final decoration. Not bad for 6 hours work that included a run to Wal-Mart because I realized that I had no Crisco or veggie oil to make the other cake with. So, in the end about 5 hours of straight work.

Cake:
Bottom layer- dark chocolate sponge cake, which I tried to make a little more structural with some added flour and another egg. Made two shallow cakes rather than freezing and torting them because I didnt have enough time to freeze. Vanilla buttercream filling and frosting, something sweet to balance out the not so sweet of the cake.
Top layer- Orange/lemon cake, ended up being something more orange, but the lemon flavor balanced out the sweetness. Didnt layer, would have made the top too tall. Iced heavy with the vanilla buttercream.

Decor:
Buttercream pad under a layer of pink MMF with MMF decorations. This was my second time making my own MMF, its the only fondant I have ever used, havent bought fondant which I might do just to see the difference. This batch of fondant turned out much much better than the last one, but still, not really what I expected. Easier to work with, for sure, like Sculpey clay. And it tastes yum. My fondant work still needs a hell of a lot of work and the buttercream needed to be stiffer to support the fondant, but I am happy with the overall look of the cake. I hope that Zoe (and her slightly picky mother) like it.

A couple of months ago a friend asked me to make a cake for her daughter's 5th birthday party. She had the plan for it, she had the stuff for it- two weeks ago she told me that she couldnt find it. Sooooo... I had to come up with something. Little Zoe is one cool kid, but she is quite the little princess. My original plan was to make a two layer cake with green fondant and little fondant/gum paste faeries. This being the first time that I have worked in gumpaste, much less a gumpaste/fondant mix, it failed, so I am going back to something a little more simple.

The plan is this- base 10" layer of my dark chocolate cake, maybe with a buttercream filling, maybe not, we will see when I get there. The top layer will be a 6" citrus cake (orange and lemon) with no filling. Covered in buttercream and green fondant with pink and purple and yellow and kelly green polka dots and flowers and these really cute little Tink figures that I found today.

Given the insanity of my Saturday and the fact that I made a different choice with my time tonight- I am going to be up all night making cake. Strong coffee brewed, butter softening, first round of cake in the oven. I would say 4 maybe 5 more hours and I should be done. Pictures then.

The recipe is here. I enjoyed making this lot. Made two batches in one weekend, one can of pumpkin yields two batches and while the first was yummy, I thought maybe that the crumb was a little tight and prescribed that to a lack of kneading and tried again. The second batch did rise much better, I think that I proofed the yeast better, I let it rise the first time in the oven that was about 75 degrees with the light on and set it out in the sun under a cloth for the second time.

The pumpkin surely makes it moist and the crumb, which was just as tight the second time, and texture lend to a dense, hearty bread that slices well. I have been eating it in thin slices with salted butter and a little pumpkin butter. The bread itself has little pumpkin flavor, which I was a little sad about. I am thinking of trying it again and filling a loaf with just a little pumpkin butter or slightly sweetened pumpkin puree. I have never tried filled breads before, so it will be an educational process
( Pictures Inside )