Happy Birthday Mommy!

MomsChicken
Originally uploaded by bakingjeannie

To celebrate her special day, I made a cake to tease her because these are some of the stuff she shouldn't eat. As you can see, it's still in the box and I have the cake in my office so she has not seen it yet!

She is going to be shocked! Worse, I forgot my camera and had to take picture with my cellphone. Snap!! I'll post a picture of her face when she sees it.

The cake is a chocolate cake I have been baking which she just loves; another thing she should not be eating also. Anyway, it's her day to celebrate and birthdays you have once each year.

Walk good, and happy caking.

Jeannie

April Shower

About one week ago I made this cake for Lesley's bridal shower. I was inspired by a cake I saw on Cake Central:

It was a lemon cake with raspberry filling covered with buttercream and fondant. This weekend is her wedding. I am so happy for her...she asked Lizca and I to do her wedding cake!

Walk good and happy caking!

Jeannie

The Shoes are Made for Eating

This is a true statment: "Women love to buy shoes, pocketbooks (handbags or purse) and articles of clothing." The reason I said this is true, is lately I have been getting a number of request from friends to make them a pocketbook cake or a cake with a pair of shoes on top. Sometime, the party has both - pocketbook and shoes!

This is Apryl's birthday cake. It was my first of this type (animal print and shoes)

This is also Apry's birthday cake. The pocketbook is similar to her baby bag. I just left off the baby stuff since it was a "birthday cake".

This cake is for my friend, Linda. A yellow cake covered in buttercream and a pair of shoes. The cake was for her Bible Study group. Lois was celebrating her 80-something birthday!

I have four more cakes to do around Mother's Day. So Mom, you will have a pocketbook you can eat.

Walk good and happy caking,

Jeannie

Cupcake Craze

I have Bible Study tonight and what better to share other than cupcakes? Last night I knock-up these yellow cupcakes; cover them with buttercream (not Swiss Meringue Buttercream - it was almost as fluffly) and fancy them with fondant/gumpaste decorations. I was in "sugar heaven." Check them out:
By the way, I made 12 cupcakes...the cupcake caper strikes again!
Walk good and happy caking...


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Dol-fan Cake

Have you ever heard of a “Dol-fan?” Well a Dol-fan is a diehard, win or loose, hands down, supporter of the home team, The Miami Dolphins kind-a-fan. In other words, this is the unofficial name for my nephew, Michael – he is a Dol-fan.

So it was no surprise for his birthday cake he wanted a Miami Dolphins theme cake. A few years ago I made him a Miami Dolphin cake for his birthday and ended up having to make a New York Jets cake for his older brother, Dominic, two months later. I am sure he thought I was going to make a sheet cake and put the Dolphin logo in buttercream on the cake. I surprised him with this cake gift: 

Michael was turning 11, so I placed it above the Dolphin on the helmet. He plays Impact football and his number is five, so the five yards line fell right in place. The Dolphin I drew on sugar paper and coloured with gel food colour. He wanted a chocolate cake, so I made a cake filled with whipped chocolate cream filling and covered with chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream then covered with fondant.  The biggest challenge was stacking and carving the cake; plus making the grill out of gum paste. The grill broke and I had to patch it (forgot to make an extra one) in a number of places – oops!

My sister told me that he said, if his NFL career does not take off he would like to become a baker. Sweet! We have another baker in the family.

Walk good and happy caking!

Jeannie

Cheetah Cake

In January I had a special request for a birthday cake from my niece, Lady Katherine. That request was for a “Cheetah Girls” theme birthday cake. Well, I was up to the challenge, because that’s exactly what it was – a challenge to my cake decorating skills. I got a few ideas from a few bakers from one of my favorite addiction: Cake Central.

The cake was a French Vanilla cheesecake-flavored yellow cake with cheesecake filling and Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The cheetah print was on sugar paper along with pictures of the group on the side. Additional decorations were done using fondant. Lady Katherine was so thrilled! She said the cake was so delicious. With this cake I scored extra “Sweet Auntie Brownie Points!”

Walk good and happy caking. Sweet!!!

Coconut Cake Recipe

I found this recipe on the Epicurious website and it is the most delicious coconut cake I have every baked. It’s moist and has a whole lot of  magic in it because after it’s bake, the cake disappears! I mean, really disappears.  Try it for yourself and let me know.

The cake is know as the Awesome Coconut Cake at The Shubox Cafe, Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

Coconut Layer Cake (Bon Appétit | December 1999)

Yield: 10 servings

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used cake flour)

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)

4 large eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk

Pinch of salt

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

 

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended.

 

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

 

Divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bank cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. cool cakes in pan on rack 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

 

Place 1 cake layer on cake plate. spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. sprinkle 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut over. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. sprinkle remaining coconut over cake, gently pressing into sides to adhere. (Coconut Layer Cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.)

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 3 1/2 cups

 

2 (8-ounces) package Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Preparation

Beat cream cheese in medium bowl until fluffy. Add butter and beat to blend. Add sugar, sweetened cream of coconut and vanilla extra and beat until well blended.

 

Source: Epicurious.com

Christ in Christmas & Happy New Year!

Can you believe it? Today is January 12, 2009 just twelve days since the start of the new year and I am feeling like Christmas flew right by me in a flash. Let me see what I have done over the holiday…I baked cakes; baked more cakes; even more cakes; and still more cakes. Lately I am starting to look like I enjoy eating the cakes I bake. About  five or more pounds heavier plus an inch or two in places that are easily seen. My take on this is…if you bake delicious cakes it should show that you like to eat them too.

Now the cake I really wanted to do for Christmas dinner was the only cake I did not get to bake. Here is a picture of the cake I had for Christmas dinner (picture at right). It was an Buttermilk Yellow sheet cake covered with Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I love this buttercream – butter is the operative word here. Butter, lots of it!!) The figures on the cake I made following one of Lorraine McKay’s tutorial. It was so simple making the Christmas trees and Frosty the Snowman, I could hardly believe I was making them.

I really wanted to make a Coconut Cake with a  Nativity scene on the the cake and the words: “Happy Birthday Jesus!” on it. Well it seems like Frosty got top billing on the Christmas cake. Thank God, it’s Christ who made the “mass” possible. Although Frosty is on the cake, Henry and I made sure we kept Christ in Christmas by our love for Him and how we share it with the people we love and care for. Even if “Jesus” in not on the cake, He is in the right place with us—He is in our hearts!

Happy baking, and walk good ‘till next time.

Jeannie

The Turntable

How many of you remember what a turntable looks like? Or even know what is call an LP or a 45? When April emailed me a picture of a turntable cake and asked if I could make one as a surprise for her husband’s birthday, I was up to the challenge. As usual, she wanted the now famous, Almond Cream Cheese Pound cake to make this special surprise.

Well, the cake was made and the birthday party was on. Last week I got a call from one of the family member who was at the birthday party telling me how lovely the cake was, only wish she could taste it. I ask why she could not taste it? She said Aubrey did not let anyone cut his cake. He took it home to have it shellac!

I am reminded of the Saturn TV ad regarding the new look of the Saturn. The two Saturn employees told the very surprised and baffled, prospective customer when he was not sure if he was really in a Saturn dealership, that ‘they get that all the time’. Yes, I hear it all the time too, especially when I do sculptured cakes: ”Jeannie the cake was so pretty, no one wants to cut the cake!”

Happy caking and walk good ‘till next time.

Jeannie

A Friend – Sugar Character

Last week I got one of Lorraine McKay’s “The Icing on the Cake – Tutorial” to make the female character and was so excited I could hardly wait to download the file. I had to print it three times because my inkjet printer kept on jamming. Spent most of the night doing it and the picture here is what it looks like.  I even made the coffee and toast, plus painted the cup and plate! The hardest part of doing the figure was getting the facial features just right.

I have looked at so many of Lorraine’s tutorial and is just amazed at how talented she is. Her sharing what she knows is such a blessing, because I believe that’s how she gets better at what she does. Aine2, I’m a big fan!

Well, I did not stop with this figure. I made the snowman and Christmas trees! Saturday I made a bunch of carrot cakes and one especially for a friend using another figure I made.  As you will notice, her mouth was not as ladylike as I would have like. The cake I made as a sofa and placed it on a tiled surface (fondant and used a brick impression mat.

My girlfriend loves to invite me over to have tea and crackers and cheese. Here I placed the toast I made, plus a pot of roses because she is an avid gardener. The cake is a carrot cake covered with Swiss Meringue buttercream and white chocolate fondant.

Crazy Cake Weekend

I believe my sugar numbers are off the chart today. Why? I was eating so much cake since Thursday, it’s frightening!

Thursday I baked Pink Champagne cupcakes, for Bible Study on Friday night. Friday night, well lets call it Saturday because it was 12:30 in the a.m., I baked two double batch of my all time best, Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake for three cakes I would be decorating later. I have been making the pieces for one cake ahead of time. With all this baking, I was making tons of samples. Yup! Those mini cupcakes. The ones you just pop in your mouth and it disappears. Suddenly I noticed one tray was empty and I gasped! Who is eating all the cupcakes? I’m the only one in the kitchen?! There are about eight empty wrappers in the garbage can…hum hum…where did they go?

Walk good and happy caking. God bless yah!

Jeannie

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Where are the bees?!

My niece Katherine, yes the owner of the Easy Bake Oven, made it to the Regional of their Spelling Bee. So I made he a yellow cake with daisies and bumble bees covered with Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. She loved it! Taking a closer look at the bees, they look like they could do with some good sleep or tomato juice with bitters, in other words: sleep depraved or drunk!

On the day of the regional, I made her six cupcakes with butter cream and fondant flowers, but not bees. Of course the question was asked,
"Auntie Jeannie, where are the bees?!?" Oops! they flew away I wanted to say...pity my dear niece did not know I had to download the "Bee Movie" desktop background to get a very good look at what a bee should look like. Plus Auntie Jeannie's fingers were hurting. Anyway, I later hear how "delicious" the cupcakes were.

I'm so proud of her even though she got knocked out in the fourth round. Her prissy attitude was, "I did my best, but there is next year..." Oooohhhh! Maybe she could help me with my spelling.

Walk good...

Jeannie

Pre-Plant

This has nothing to do with baking or cake decorating, but it's a scripture I use to guide my daily living which I would like to share. Laurie, a friend at church, gave it to me in this fashion (I wish I could scan the piece of paper she wrote it on - beautiful!):

PRE-PLANT

P-ure : Are my motives pure?
R-ight : Is tis appropriate?
E-xcellent : Is it the best?
P-raiseworthy : Is God proud of this?
L-ovely : Does it reflect Jesus love?
A-dmirable : Is it worthy of respect?
N-oble : Is it of high moral character?
T-rue : Does it submit to truth?

Go ahead and today PRE-PLANT your life.

Walk good...

Jeannie

Martha Stewart's - Cookie of the Day

Chocolate Shells...

I had the most fun doing this cake! The cake was a chocolate and vanilla marble cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream filling and frosting, then covered with white chocolate fondant. The bottom cake is a dummy...the "swirls" suppose to be waves...got my drift? (smile). I got two of my friends, Lizca, and Christine, involved to see how they would like working with fondant. They made those swimsuits and palm trees. The shells I made with white chocolate and dusted with Super Pearl edible dust; for the sand I used white and brown sugar. The design I got from one of my ICES magazine, but used some of my own creative license.

I made extra 5-inch cakes which I shared with Lizca and Christine. Of course, one for the hubby, Henry (smile) plus one for me...if I must say so myself, the cake was delicious! It's a receipe I found on Martha Stewart's website, and it's a no-fail marble cake receipe. Check it out (when I can find the link...Oh boy!!!).

Walk good...Jeannie

The Head Fell Off!

The post won't be as funny because I don't have the photograph to prove it. It came right to the point of "how am I going to fix this?"

If you have read any post on this blog you will realize I am always baking. Well earlier this month (August) I had a very busy weekend doing over 20 small cakes (eight-inch round) with gum paste figurines on top (that's another post) plus a baby shower cake with a teddy bear on top. Not a small teddy bear, but a large bear which fed about 20 people.

You maybe asking what fell off? The head of the teddy bear...at 5:00 a.m. Just after I took it out of the oven to allow the steam to released from the cake pan. It happened when I had to stand it up for it to cool. Then when it was unmolded I said, "Wow!" Because it looked and smelled so good (the cake was an almond cream cheese pound cake). Before I could say "Yum-yum", the bear give a nod as if he was falling asleep and his head fell off! The cake was too rich and light to make the bear...I panicked because the baby shower was later that day and I did not have enough time. What to do?!? That's when I remember a Food TV Cake Challenge where Buddy made the Lion King's Scar out of Rice Krispy Treats - Scar's paw later fell off, Buddy could not believe when Kerry Vincent told him!).

I quickly got Henry out of bed and he got me the marshmallow and Rice Krispy to make the teddy bear. With all the rush trying to get the cake ready and so sleep deprived (much like the teddy bear - smile) I forgot to take a photograph. Well, someone saw that cake at the shower and requested one for the following week for another baby shower. So the cake you see here is the second cake without all the drama.

I love the challenge that comes with baking and decorating. Walk good...

Jeannie

A Fruit Cake In May?

In May of this year, Henry and I had occasion to visit his sister in Hagerstown, in Maryland for a graduation ceremony. We had an extra "passanger" with us...a fruit cake for our niece graduation dinner. Yes; a fruit cake, in May! It was a question of that sort the TSA personnel at the airport asked me when I put the box containing the cake through the x-ray machine.

"Madam, what type of pie is that?", he asked.

Pie? I thought to myself. I did know there was not a pie in my "cake box", but a decadent fruit cake covered with almond paste and fondant. Maybe this is a trick question to see if I was taking something more than a cake.

I replied with all honesty in my voice, "That's not a pie, but a fruit cake."

"A fruit cake? Isn't too early for fruit cakes?" he said to me with a frown on his face.

"Special request" I said as I jolly gather my stuff and proceeded to explain to my husband what that was all about.
This is the cake that made the journey from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Hagerstown, Maryland. Oh! I put the decorations on when I got to Maryland...and I could not get the "s" to fit. It's also another cake they did not want to cut.

Walk good. Jeannie

Mother's Day Cake

I was busy all weekend baking and decorating cakes for my Mom, and a few of the women I wanted to honor as great mothers. The cake I made was a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate butter cream filling and covered with fondant, in the shape of a box of chocolate. I filled the "box" (round and heart shaped) with different types of chocolate. They came out pretty good. My Mom did not want to cut hers' (I believe as I write it's on a bus with her to Marathon Key). I'll post a picture of it later in this blog.

Well, I read an unknown author's quote today and thought of how much I "act like" my Mom...the quote goes like this:

"Children are natural mimics-they act like their parents in spite of every effort to teach them good manners."

We love to share silly jokes, so the week she was in Las Vegas I missed her so much, because she was too busy having fun for me to reach her to share anything. That week, I did not listen to a particular radio program just because I knew my Mom was not sitting at work waiting for me to give her a call or her calling me. It's her passion for baking and cooking I got. She was always trying something new like me, but with her fruit cakes, the recipe almost never changed - she bakes the best fruit cake on this side of the galaxy.

I love her so much and Mommy, Happy Mother's Day. Yeah, I know it was on last Sunday, but now you know...

Walk good.
JJ

The Last Daisy

January 2008 I took the last order of cookies for Daisy Gourmet. I decided to close the website because of a number of reasons. First, it was costing far more than what it was making. Second, physically it was taking it's toll on my health. Third, my passion for cake decorating was calling me.

My sisters and mom was not too happy about the decision. I saw it as a way of regrouping and getting new direction for what I really wanted to do with my creative skills. Funny though, I thought I was going to burst into the new dimension of cake decorating, but it's not so. I have been struggling with tendinitis in my left hand and arthritis in my right hand which is making it even more difficult and painful to do some simple piping. That, my friends, I will not let it deter me from pursuing what I want so much to do.

So, "Boo!" to painful hands and "Yes!" to doing what I love. Until next time, "Cheers!"

Jeannie