Cute Zombie Cake

I love zombies.I mean, ok, I don't want to snuggle up with a zombie in front of a roaring fireplace. But for as long as I can recall I have been mildly obsessed (easy on the mildly part) with zombie culture. I have been enjoying the recent popularity of the undead. I watch the movies, I attend the walks, i read the books, I plan the contingency plans. And now FINALLY I make the cake. 

An old friend with a similar affection for walkers asked me to make a cake for his 37th birthday. 

He and his lovely wife have two adorable little boys

So the challenge of this project was to make an awesome zombie cake, while not traumatizing the children. 

I made all the scary zombies facing away, with Zach tucked safely up on the rooftop. I took the time to make each of the undead unique. and I shaped and decorated the cake like an old storefront. complete with apocalypse ready windows and doors. 

 at the last minute i decided to add the SOS and blood splatter. i was trying not to be too gorey, but really whats a zombie cake without alittle carnage?

here is to the beginning of many zombie cakes. the undead are surprizingly delicious.

Bacon Makes it Better

So I think we can all agree, bacon makes things better.

I know, I know, bacon is super trendy right now. I'm not just jumping on the band wagon though, I swear! I have been baking with bacon for awhile now. Of course there are the obvious applications for pork in baked goods. A ham and cheese croissant here, a bacon cheddar scone there, but lets go outside of the box here. I have made maple bacon cakes, chocolate covered bacon, and my favourite ... bacon caramels. My latest idea struck me when I made a batch of sweet dough that was way too big. So i decided to do 3 types of sticky buns.One pan was regular, one pan was full of chai spices, and one was filled with bacon.

by far the bacon was the star!

Not long after I tried to replicate the deliciousness, with even more bacon in it. I went to my favourite butcher and procured some tasty bacon. And I made up a simple sweet dough, using beautiful freshly milled wheat flour from my favorite bread baker . I made a sweet glaze o line my pan and then I cooked off my bacon till it was almost crispy. After draining off the excess grease I finished the cooking of the bacon with some good quality maple syrup, glazing the salty bits of meat in sweetness. I tossed half of the bacon in with the pan glaze, and the other half i sprinkled over the brown sugar butter mixture on the sweet dough.

these sweet treats baked up beautiful. My arteries wept as i munched on them, but I couldn't stop. so much deliciousness!!

so the morale of the story is, just because you haven't tried something before, doesn't mean it wont be amazing. So try something new!
Also, bacon is rad.

TACO TACO TACO

I have been busy. I have been trying to at least keep up with putting up pics, but I apologise for no new posts for so long. I'm going to try to make up for it today with a post about a super fun cake!!! A lovely lady I know ordered a taco cake from me awhile ago for her daughters birthday. So fun! So awesome!!! check it out...


I started with a 12" round vanilla cake, cut into three layers and filled with vanilla Italian butter cream. then I cut the cake in half to make two giant tacos. then I had to think of the best way to decorate to make it look like a real taco. I knew the lettuce would be fondant tinted green and simply ruffled. A friend had the brilliant idea to use maraschino cherries as tomato, ( I know usually I would tell you  that maraschino cherries are evil, but it really was the best idea for the effect i wanted ) The melted cheese was also pretty straight forward, melted white chocolate tinted slightly orange and piped on.

                                                                                            the ground beef part of the taco took more thought. I didn't want to just mash more and layers of fondant on the cake. My fondant is better than the stuff you buy in a pail, but it is still fondant and not the funnest thing to eat in big mouthfuls. eventually I decided to toss puffed wheat in melted chocolate. the result was both effective and delicious. 

 The final piece of the puzzle was figuring out how to make an authentic looking taco shell. This took some experibaking. I knew in theory I could make a tuille cookie work, but I had to try afew ideas to get it to where I wanted it to be. Finally I baked large oval shaped cookies, and while they were still warm out of the oven, I shaped them around the cakes which were already covered in plain fondant. once the cookie set, I used a culinary torch to char the outside and give it the right look. I am not going to lie to you, I was pretty darn impressed with myself at this point. the toasted cookie looked exactly how i wanted. it took alot of fails but i was finally pleased.

then all I had to do was "fill" the tacos with the other elements! When I was done I was thrilled. I exceeded  my own expectations on this project, and the client was happy too. Taco cake for the win!

Celebration

I have been getting progressively busier. So busy in fact that I am having trouble finding the time to update my humble little blog here. Its ok though, I love what I do. Maybe not at every single moment. But overall, I love it! I feel very lucky to have found this path in my life. If food is love than baking is the sweetest love. I am constantly grateful that I get to be part of so many celebrations.



Working on big orders gives me some time in my head. alot of my orders this week were wedding or anniversary related. I made a lemony blinged out for a wedding shower. Another order from my favourite singing sisters. I also had a special wedding cake to make, and finally an anniversary cake. Seemed like love was in the air.

 so much BLING! so much LOVE!!

The wedding cake was for a lovely couple. We chatted one day, while I was working at the restaurant, and they decided to allow me the honor of making their wedding cake. They wanted a fairly simple three tier cake, simple, classic, and pretty.with silver and purple ribbons. They also requested a grooms cake based on their favourite game, Eve Online. Even though I had some trouble getting the proportions right on the replica of their ship, in the end it turned out. I had to adjust the design last minute, because the ship grew and was to heavy for my original plan. They were happy though with the final product. In the end I was happy because they were happy. They even called me the day after their wedding to thank me, which meant the world to me. I hope someday they are ordering a 60th anniversary cake.

Alvin and Cecille got an anniversary cake, 60 years. Stop and ponder that. How long has your longest relationship lasted? I bet it wasn't remotely close to 60  years. As I was squinting at the cake, trying to paint on the the words, I teared up. I'm getting abit choked up now again, just thinking about it. I don't know Alvin, or Cecille. not personally. In my head though, they had a whole romance. 60 years together, ups and downs. It overwhelmed me, but the more I thought about it the more I smiled. The more hope I felt for love.

The progression from the wedding shower cake, to the wedding cake to the anniversary. it was an wonderful journey in my head. I may have been stressed and busy, bu it was a happy week.

Mellow Mallows

I love making marshmallows. They are simple,and fun, and fluffy! They are also incredibly sticky and frustrating at times. With a bit of practise ( and a reliable mixer ) they can be an excellent  unique homemade gift for friends or fun treat for yourself. Low fat equals healthy right? Marshmallows are definitely one of my favourite treats to make for friends. When you are a pastry chef, you are expected to bring sweets to alot of people. I never mind, For me food is love, and I am always more than happy to share.Only problem is butter cream and ganache can get expensive. Homemade marshmallows prove that things don't need to  be expensive to be good. I have tried alot of different flavourings for my fluffy delights. traditional vanilla bean is always a hit. I also enjoy ginger, green tea, mocha, cherry coke, lavender, chai, chocolate, or caramel. I think I have made about 50 flavors of marshmallows and i haven't  found one yet that isn't good. Correction, I do recall an ill fated attempt at peanut butter marshmallows. I still think the theory is good, but my execution was definitely lacking! lol!

here is a nice starter recipe for marsh mallow. it has egg whites, you can find ones which do not, but i find this recipe is easiest to begin with. 

*don't forget as with all recipes which include boiling sugar*

*RESPECT THE BOILING SUGAR*

18g (2 pkg) gelatin                           Bloom gelatin in 1/2 cup cool water
1/2 cup cold water
455g sugar (1/4 cup)                        Place 2 cups sugar, corn syrup, and second 1/2 cup of water in a pot                  
1 tbsp corn syrup                                 on medium heat, boil to 245
1/2 cup water
4 egg whites                                     Whip egg whites with 1/4 cup sugar to medium peaks

on a low speed stream the sugar syrup into the egg whites very slowly, and then just turn up the mixer speed and let it whisk. it will grow and fluff up as it cools. while you're waiting make a mixer of 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup icing sugar. this mixture should help keep your fresh treat from sticking. you can put a layer in a pan and then spread your marshmallows over it and let them set. or you can pipe your marshmallow onto the mixture, or get crazy and use toasted coconut, or crushed nuts.
My recipe may not be perfect, for more details check out my inspiration here, and
here.

don't be intimidated, marshmallows are a fun and simple treat to make at home that always impresses!

Potter Pops

I don't like cupcakes. we all know this by now, right? I do however love cake pops,and /or cake truffles. I  also adore my friends. So often when I am making something for mi amigos, that is my go to treat.
One of my favourite gals had a birthday not long ago, and her adorable sister asked me to make her something. Ive grown quite attached to this family, they are very sweet. You may remember the cowboy hat cake I made for them, and more recently the moustache cake she commissioned. Now finally I was getting a chance to design something just for her.

Months ago,when I brought treats to a ska  show, she munched happily, offhandedly she mentioned that the golden snitches from Harry Potter would be cool as a cake pop. So after much deliberation between her sister and I, we decided on Potter Pops. The coolest designs I could think of were the snitches, and the sorting hat.



As always there was a learning curve putting these guys together, but it was super fun. I don't think I stopped giggling the whole time I was working on the sorting hat's faces.

The snitches started out as carrot cake dipped in white chocolate, with white fondant wings. I painted them bright yellow, with a coat of shimmer over top to make them nice and bright and shiny.


For the sorting hats I shaped chocolate cherry cheesecake into cones and dipped it in dark chocolate. when it was set up I used modelling chocolate to shape the faces and add details.



It would seem I can always rely on this crew to keep me inspired!

I also made some other fun cake pops for friends awhile ago. I made carrot shaped carrot cake,chocolate dipped brownies, zombies,and hello kitties. So much fun. And so much easier to deliver and serve than cup cakes,or traditional cake

                                                   

Ready Freddy!

I know usually I write about what I am baking. Today is different. Not that I havent been baking... oh my loaves...I have been baking plenty. Today however I was looking around my little culinary slice of the world and I noticed something.
I saw Fred. I have fallen in love with the whimsy of Fred products.
Usually I find these fun treasures at a local shop, which I happen to adore, called Mars & Venus down on Whyte Ave. But I have seen them popping up all over the place. Never failing to put a smile on my face.

I have ice cube trays
and cookie cutters.
among other fun goodies.

I took a jaunt over to the interwebs to see what else Mr Fred had in his repitoire.
Oh My.

so much wanting.

I got all these pics from Fred's Facebook page. you should go check it out! who wouldnt love cooking when your tools are this fun!!!