Ribbon Cutter Tool Fun

My son likes to decorate his own birthday cake. This is a tradition he started on his 4th birthday. I bake and ice a sheet cake, then he designs the top using food coloring markers and edible Rice Paper. This year, when we went to Sweet Wise to purchase the necessary supplies, the rice wafer paper was out of stock. Instead, we opted to cover the cake in FondX rolled fondant (don't worry, this brand actually tastes good!), and he then used the food coloring pens to draw directly on the top of his cake. He loves to play video games. Past birthday cakes have featured Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments and Sackboy from Little Big Planet. This year, it's all about Crash Bandicoot. Here is the finished cake:

Originally he didn't want any kind of bottom border, but I suggested we have something to make the cake look finished, attention to detail and all that. He wasn't fussy about what went on the bottom, as long as it was red. Well, I'll take any excuse to play with my ribbon cutter tool!

First I tried using the striped embosser, but that made too wide of a ribbon.

You can see how short the cake is, and I didn't want to completely cover up the sides.

So, I tried using the zig-zag cutter with the 1/2" spacers.

But the zig-zag on the bottom didn't look right, and it was tricky positioning the ribbon around the cake evenly. Plus, the white bottom edge showed through.

So, I reloaded my ribbon cutter to make one edge straight and the other zig-zag.

This worked the best, and so that's what I ended up using.

It's a very versatile tool and a lot of fun to use. It's all about creative freedom, you know!

Cakes I did for the State Fair

I forgot to take pictures of my non-decorated cakes before leaving the house this morning, and once at the Fairgrounds I really didn't have the time or space to take them out of their plastic domes. I also forgot my camera. I took these pictures with my cell phone, so apologies for the inferior photo quality.

Mmmmmm, chocolate... This is the same sour cream chocolate cake I previously raved about, only I finally found some dark dutch-process cocoa powder to use in it this time. It definitely makes it better! The layers are filled with ganache, and it's covered with sour cream chocolate icing. 

Pictured below is my white cake with mousseline buttercream icing and seedless raspberry jam filling. The cake has a bonus raspberry kick thanks to the addition of Chambord to the icing and the simple syrup used to keep the cake moist.

Determined to redeem myself for the forgot-to-add-vanilla-extract debacle that was my County Fair entry, I also made this buttermilk pound cake with hot buttermilk glaze and made  a point to remember the vanilla extract this time. :)

The theme for the decorated cake competition is "Election 2008." I had a hard time coming up with a creative idea for this one. I decided to go with the "Road to the White House" idea. My final cake doesn't really match my vision, but some elements I wanted to include either didn't work, didn't hold up, or didn't get done. For example, I really wanted to put red, white, and blue blankets on the elephant and donkey so they would look more like the political party mascots (and also to cover up a few flaws). I also had a bigger platform planned for the white house which would have added height and 2 more steps, but I broke it and didn't have time to make another one. Basically, I procrastinated for too long and ran out of time, as well as fondant.

Back view of the cake:

I wasn't 100% happy with my elephant. His ears don't look quite right, and one of the tusks broke and I had to use one of the spares I made which didn't match the other one in length or thickness. I also forgot to add the little tassel on the bottom of his tail.

I think the donkey turned out a little better, despite the fact that I forgot to finish his tail and I had to make his legs too thick in order to support the weight of his body and head. He also lacks a neck, and therefore a mane.

The white house is a color flow piece which I attached to a fondant-covered slab of styrofoam. I made made the sky with a combination of blue and super pearl lustre dust. I sprinkled clear cake sparkles on the fountain right after filling it in while the color flow icing was still wet. I went ahead and put my spare piece on the back of the cake even though the other side of the white house has a rounded front. This was again due to my time crunch and the fact that I couldn't find a coloring book page of that side of the white house the correct size or aspect. 

Here is a close-up of my sentry. It's adapted from a vintage Vargas pin-up. I thought it was appropriate to have a tenacious, dominate female clad in federalist garb guarding the road to the white house and blocking the path of the elephant and donkey.

Some General Baking Tips

Back in the days when I took Wilton Course 1 there was a page in the back of the lesson plan with tips on how to bake a great cake. The idea is that your cake is the canvas on which you decorate, so it's important to start with a well-baked cake.

1. Preparing the cake pans: generously grease and flour the pans. Spread vegetable shortening evenly over the sides and bottom of the pan. Dust the inside surface of the pan with flour and tap out any excess. This is especially important when baking character cakes because you really need to be able to see the lines and indentations the pan imprints on the cake surface. 
2. Preheat the oven. Having your oven at the correct temperature is crucial. It may take as long as 10-15 minutes for some ovens to heat to baking temperature. Oven thermometers are an inexpensive way to ensure your oven's thermostat is accurate.
3. Measure liquids at eye level in standard measuring cups. 
4. Use large eggs.
5. Beat cake mix batters for the time and speed specified in the directions on the box. Overbeating can break down the cake structure, causing low volume. Underbeating produces a lumpy batter with ingredients not thoroughly blended.
6. Bake cake immediately after mixing the batter. 
7. Bake cake layers in the center of the oven. Allow at least an inch of space on all sides between pans to allow air to circulate. If using two oven racks, stagger the pans so that one cake isn't directly above the other.
8. Time baking accurately. Do not open the oven door before the minimum baking time has elapsed. This will cause heat to escape and may alter the oven temperature causing the cake to fall.
9. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes on cooling grid or cake rack. Trying to remove the cake while it's still too hot may cause it to break or fall apart. If the cake stays in the pan for too long, it may not easily release from the bottom.
10. Cool cake completely before attempting to ice it. Brush any loose crumbs off of cake surface with a pastry brush. A cold cake is much easier to ice, so if at all possible chill the cake in the freezer first.

The nice thing about using boxed cake mixes is that they're pretty much foolproof. Baking from scratch can be a different game altogether, however. Some key things to keep in mind:

1. Use the freshest, best quality ingredients possible.
2. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. This includes the eggs and milk. Eggs will separate more easily while cold, but for best results allow them to warm to room temperature before using.
3. Measure ingredients carefully and accurately. The easiest cake recipes to follow give ingredient quantities by weight. Just be sure to stick to the same standard--no mixing metric and imperial measurements. When measuring ingredients by volume, pay very close attention to how the recipe is worded. For example, if it calls for 3 level cups of cake flour, it's best to spoon or pour the flour into the measuring cups and then level off the top with a knife. Whereas a "heaping" cup of flour is just that--there is no need to level off the top of the measuring cup. Also note whether dry ingredients should be sifted before or after measuring. 
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This is very important.
5. Gently coat nuts, raisins and chopped fruits in a little flour before adding them to your cake batter. This will help keep them suspended in the batter and not sink to the bottom.
6. Use the pan size and type called for in the recipe. If the pan is too small, the cake batter will over-flow during baking. The cake batter will over-bake and under-rise in a pan that is too big. Fill pans no more than 2/3 full.
7. Simple syrup is an excellent way to add moisture and flavor to cakes. Heat equal amounts of white granulated sugar and water in a saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil and all the sugar dissolves. Allow mixture to cool, then use as is or add your own favorite flavoring, extract, or liqueur. Apply to cake top and sides a with pastry brush or via fine-mist spray bottle.
8. When baking a chocolate cake, try dusting the pan with cocoa powder instead of flour. 

There are many more tricks and tips out there. It's impossible for any one person to know them all, so please feel free to add yours in the comments!

Bake-Even Cake Strips

These top my list of "must have" baking tools. All you have to do is soak them in cold water, squeeze out the excess, and then pin them around the outside of the pans before baking your cake layers. They cool the sides of the pan, so the edges cook more slowly and the entire cake bakes evenly, producing lovely level cake layers.

Pictured below are two 8" round white cake layers, both made from the same box of cake mix and baked in Wilton aluminum cake pans. One pan had a Bake-Even Cake Strip on it, the other did not. It's pretty obvious which is which, isn't it?

Layer baked in pan without a Bake-Even Cake Strip: notice the over-browning of the cake sides, crispy edges, and cracked mound on top.

The layer baked with a Bake-Even Cake Strip on the pan has level top and evenly baked sides.

Attention to Detail

"Attention to detail can mean the difference between success and some @$$?#*! yelling at you and ruining your morning."

In my past equestrian life I spent some time as a working student for Jim Wofford. While that name probably means bugger all to foreigners of the horse world, he is a renowned world-class rider, trainer, and coach. Many of his sayings have stuck with me throughout the years, mainly because they are amusing, but also due the the fact that most are applicable in everyday life. The above quote is one such example.

I suppose everyone is entitled to their own pet-peeves. One sure way to get on Woff's nerves was to leave the light on in an unoccupied stall. I avoided breaking this barn rule by simply never turning my horse's stall light on to begin with, yet the "attention to detail" point was inevitably and very audibly made whenever another poor soul left a stall light on and subsequently suffered Woff's rant.

Let's consider for a moment the importance of paying attention to details when baking. My vanilla extract deficient pound cake is a prime example. The cake batter was already mixed, poured into the pan, and in the oven baking away before I noticed the bottle of vanilla and clean teaspoon sitting on the counter next to my mixer. By then it was too late. I knew the cake would be bland so I wasn't at all surprised when it didn't get a ribbon in the County Fair nor sell in the auction. Since it was left, I decided to bring it home. We each had a slice of cake after dinner last night, and while the texture was fine, there was no flavor whatsoever in that poor pound cake. Oh, what a difference a teaspoon of vanilla extract makes!

Undoubtedly there are times when "don't sweat the small stuff" may be the ideal modus operandi, but I would argue that in culinary arts, attention to detail can mean the difference between success and a pound cake only fit for use as a sticky paperweight.

More Fare Entries

In addition to my "Pick of the Crop" decorated cake, I'm entering 4 baked-from-scratch cakes in the County Fair (3 of them are recipes found in The Cake Bible). They're all boxed up and ready to go because I have to turn them in first thing tomorrow morning.
My "fruit-iced" entry is a Lemon Chiffon cake with raspberry and lemon glaze. The glaze for this cake turned out a bit too runny, but of course I didn't realize that until it was too late.

I'm also entering a chocolate cake with ganache filling and chocolate mousseline icing. I had some leftover ganache, so I used it to pipe roses and leaves on the top. I will most likely avoid piping roses with ganache from now on.

Below is my miscellaneous entry. It's a "Golden Luxury" cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate icing. I've been wanting to put raspberries and vines on a cake for a while now. I nicked the idea from The Wilton School Decorating Cakes book, page 69.

I forgot to add vanilla to my sour cream pound cake, so it will probably be bland. To try and compensate, I topped it with a sour cream and powdered sugar glaze. The shells around the bottom are to hide where some of the edge came out a little uneven.

Dessert Island Cake Books

Assuming that there will be a ready supply of organic butter, eggs, sugar, cake flour, pure vanilla extract, my KitchenAid stand mixer, an oven, and let's not forget electricity on said desert island...

While the annual Wilton Yearbook is also a great source for ideas and inspiration, Decorating cakes: A reference & idea book (The Wilton school) is a more user-friendly reference manual without all the catalog bulk. There aren't any cake recipes, but all the necessary Wilton icing recipes are included.

The Cake Bible is my "go to" book for just about everything cake-related. It contains a huge variety of awesome cake and icing recipes, plus explanations of how the ingredients work in each recipe. It's impossible for me to choose a favorite cake recipe, but my icing recipe of choice is the Mousseline Buttercream--delicious and so versatile. Rose Levy Beranbaum also authored The Pie and Pastry Bible and The Bread Bible(both of which are on my amazon.com wish list if anyone is feeling generous).