Icing Smiles

In early Summer I found out about a wonderful organization called Icing Smiles, Inc. They are a non profit that provides custom cakes and treats for families and children impacted by critical illness. After reading the mission I immediately contacted them to see how I could be of service.

Although it was only about a month or two, it truly felt like forever before I got an email saying there was a request in my area. It may sound weird I was so very excited to help a family. And to get to do it with cake! How could it be better? And seriously, if you head over to the Icing Smile FaceBook page (Icing Smiles, Inc FB), you will see the incredible enthusiasm of my fellow bakers. The families are so thankful and appreciative but we bakers are just as honored and touched to be a part of the celebration and giving.

So, onto the family!

I was put in touch with Martha, momma of Aaron. Aaron has Congenital Central Hypoventalation Syndrome. As described by Martha, Aaron forgets to breathe and has been hooked up to a breathing machine since he was born. It was Aaron's first birthday. As a momma to 4 boys and one coming up on his first birthday, I was beyond thrilled!

After some talk about theme and flavors, I found out it was going to be a dual party for Martha's daughter Lily, too. The family planned to get her a small cake from a grocery store so she could have her own cake. I was not about to let that happen! I mean, grocery store cakes are nice but how could I make Aaron 2 cakes (the main cake and a smash cake) and not make something for little Lily?

I was free to design whatever I liked. Of course I wanted the family to be pleased and impressed but I also wanted some surprises!

I was hard at work for days making monkey figures. Aaron is his momma's little monkey and that was going to be the key theme. For Lily an edible crown was in order for the princess. Baking and whirling up a frenzy of cake, frosting, and fondant. I could not wait to get started on the cake.

Everything went so smoothly! I could not believe it! I was really waiting for something to so wrong. But nothing did! Of course then I started having awful thoughts about delivery disasters!!! That will make anyone quiver in there clogs. I set everything up and made things as sturdy as I could. I would be delivering the cakes more than 30 minutes from my house.

As I packed things up, I was stressed just thinking about the drive. Poor, dear hubby. He had to deal with the brunt of it. At the time he just got out of the way, which just kind of added to the stress. Of course now I know he was simply saving both of us! And...delivery went off without a hitch!

I was thrilled to meet Martha, aaron and the rest of the family. This was truly a great experience and I hope I can help more people in my area to have wonderful celebrations of life with custom cakes.

You can visit Icing Smiles on their website.

Whoa...seriously!?

It's been how long since my last post? I mean, I know I've been busy but sheesh, time flies.

Well, it's the beginning of summer and my plum tree is going to burst! It is beautiful to see the bounty she provides. In the spirit of summer and dessert (as always) I decided to head out and start picking!

So, after picking about 3 pounds (and not even an eighth of the total tree) I head back into the kitchen and start thinking. What would be good? What would be quick? What will make my family jump in with a spoon and not be able to turn away?

Poached Plums! Yes...easy, delicious, and they can be used in so many ways! I quickly start my poaching liquid.

White wine, Chambord, Calvados and water are the base. Sweetened with white and brown sugars and delicately spiced with cinnamon, allspice and 2 vanilla bean pods. As my liquid comes to simmer I begin halving and de-seeding my plums. Since they were perfect, it was really no trouble...thank goodness!

Now, I now some say a plum is a plum is a plum, I know many others who say shush your mouth! It's true, there are many different varieties of plums and each has a very different flavor and texture. All I know about the plum tree in my backyard is that its an Elephant Plum. Otherwise, not much else except they are slightly sweet and quite sour.

Being of the sour profile I made my poaching liquid a bit sweeter than I would have otherwise. That way, the liquid would compliment the sour flavor without making them too sweet.

I always taste as I go, and good thing. When I thought I had enough sugar, I tasted to find that, really, I could use a bit more. This was where the brown sugar came in. I wanted more dimension and punch and I knew with the overall flavor that brown sugar would give me that and be the perfect companion to my plums.


After the plums were done I jarred the plums with sauce and then reduced the left over liquid. The perfect topping for Poached Plum Sundae. Since I had leftover Brown Sugar Ice Cream and some vanilla cake from a few days before I figured this was the way to use it. And I was right!

The sundae was gobbled up within minutes. The bowl licked and then, what do you know, extra cake?! Yes please...extra syrup?! Double yes, please!!

And so the night ended...bliss.

Cake on the Fly

So, this afternoon my oldest son called me for a cake. Apparently, his friend's birthday is today (Happy Birthday!!) and she didn't have a cake. What?! No cake?? How can you have a birthday without cake?!? So, after I stopped freaking out I decided that I would have to save the day.

I agreed to make her a cake but she would have to accept what I had in the freezer. I had done a huge amount of baking the day before and had put the extra layers into the freezer for later. This was my later, apparently. He agreed, mostly because he knew it would be good.

Then I got a text..."Mom, she loves fondant and Winnie the Pooh. Hint, hint." What? Now I'm taking a specific order? Huh? I mean, how good does this child think I am?! So, I took myself to task. What could I do that would be quick, easy and involve fondant and Winnie the Pooh.

I should add that all the while, my husband is in the background shaking his head and telling me not to agree to this. But, as a mom and baker, I just could not help myself. I have a sickness. I NEED cake decorator's anonymous. I seriously do.

Instead, I cut my layers, made a batch of vanilla buttercream and got to work. It was actually done, start to finish in about 3 hours, so not bad at all.

Here is the finished product. (I know, I have got to start taking more pictures!)

Candy Crazy

It was a serious candy weekend.

I was trying different things to see what sticks and see what needs to be changed. This also allowed me to get more practice, and to get some opinions from people (gotta love family) on what to put/keep in arsenal. But more so than anything, I really love making candy and this was jut a time to get to do it without worrying about orders or failure. Cause, really, if I over crystallized the fudge...only I would know!

I have always loved rice krispie treats. Always. Yet, for some reason, everytime I made them, they were too hard. Well, I finally found my perfect ratio of marshmallow to RKT. After that, I wanted more flavors! So I tried out a few in this candy making whirlwind. S'more, Cowboy, and Confetti.

The S'more RKT actually started the previous day as I made a Hershy's ganache and homemade marshmallows. After they both set I began layering. I first started with the bottom layer of RKT, then layered with ganache, Hershy's chocolate bars, homemade marshmallows which I melted, and graham crakers. I let that set and then layered more RKT.

The unveiling was awesome! I love it when things work. I was scared, though.

I finished them off with a chocolate dunk and crushed graham crackers. They were soooo good. I will definitely be making them again.

The Cowboy RKT's were also soo good and started the day before as well. This where an oops turned into a new finding for me. I was in process of making chocolate marshmallows. I added my cocoa paste but it seems I added a bit too much liquid at the end because when I poured the mixture into my pan it, well, poured.

After curing for a day, though, I had a fluff like concoction that tasted like hot cocoa. Seriously yummy. For these I also made a honey caramel. I layered these like I did the S'more RKT's but with chocolate fluff, pretzels, and caramel. They were dipped in chocolate and covered with crushed pretzels. Mmmm, mmmm, good. The pretzels made this, the salt, chocolate and caramel all went so well. I will be adding more pretzels for next time, though.


Confetti were last and were by far the easiest. I wanted a birthday cake kind of feel and that's exactly what I got. I mixed in a TON of confetti sprinkles with the RKT and then, once set I topped with chocolate marshmallow fluff (read:icing) and more sprinkles. They were finished with a dip in chocolate, because, well, more chocolate is always a good thing!

This weekend also saw old fashioned fudge, which I am now addicted to. Seriously, I have never liked fudge but I couldn't stop eating this! I used the caramel and marshmallows to make some caramallows, they were fun and I was so excited that my method worked! The honey certainly broadened the sweetness and flavor in the caramel and the handmade marshmallows do not have the overly sweet taste that store boughts do so the flavor was very mellow and exciting.

Buttercrunch was also on the menu, topped with chocolate it is delicious. I decided not to add nuts incase anyone had a nut allergy but it is also divine with salted pecans or almonds.

I am very happy to say that most everything I made is gone now. I sent items to family, I sent most away with kids and hubby cause well, I want it on someone else's hips! I still have caramel and chocolate marshmallows calling me to make it into a candy bar...but that's for another day!

2 cakes this weekend!

Yep, it was a busy weekend, especially considering we had company, but it was very worth it. This truly is my therapy and passion.

Cake 1 is a birthday cake with a pirate theme. Why yes, an octopus can be a pirate and yes, he does have to protect his booty. He's molded out of gumpaste with edible marker details. His pirate flag is gumpaste as are the anchor and gold chest.

The cake itself was chocolate butter cake with fudge frosting and caramel between each layer. The caramel soaked into each layer and really made for an extra fudge-y experience.

Cake 2 is a Romantic Toile cake for 2 lovers. I downloaded a toile image and then hand painted it on the cake. Yes, it was difficult. Yes, my hand kept falling asleep. Yes, I will definitely do it again. I love to paint, and to paint something you can eat? Well, that's even better!

The cake was inspired by a banana split and fluffy layers of banana cake sandwich a layer of caramelized pineapple, buttercream, and caramel and a layer of handmade strawberry sauce, buttercream and fudge. This cake is delicious! The banana cake is a new favorite for sure. I roast the bananas before smashing them and it makes them even more flavorful.

I used my handmade fondant to cover both of these cakes. I have to say I like it but I do think I will toy with the recipe and perhaps think about adding gums so I get more elasticity. But I will definitely be making fondant again. It was quite an adventurous cake weekend for sure!

I made my own fondant!

No, really, I did. With my own little hands. Well, more my own little Kitchen Aid but who needs specifics!

Fondant can get pretty expensive. And doing cake can sometimes be a gift with out much reward. And when I say reward I mean $. When you do cakes for family or friends you don't charge nearly enough and often nothing at all. You just want to make them happy. So I though I would try my hand at fondant to help make the gift a bit more rewarding.

Buying fondant usually runs about $13 for a 2 pound bucket. Making your own costs about $6. Marshmallows, water, vanilla and powdered sugar. You melt the marshmallows with the water and make sure they are combined and then pour over the powdered sugar and mix with a dough hook until it's the right consistency. Sounds easy, right? Oh, so wrong. It's not that it wasn't easy but this mass was a sticky sucker. And if, ahem when, you touched it, you were covered. So, more sugar was added.

I finally got it to a good consistency and triple wrapped it and let it sit for about 2 days. I thought I would try it out on this weeks cakes, just to enrobe the cakes, not for modeling.

As I rolled it out I found the fondant rather sticky and had to use quite a bit of powdered sugar to keep it sticking. I also went ahead and kept it thinker than I usually would because it also seemed kind of dry. It is an elementary recipe so I think I have some toying to do but I will definitely use it again. I am all for saving $ and increasing smiles!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

A lovely mother deserves a great cake, right? At least that's how I think about it. The thing is, when you are a baker, you usually end up making the cake...even for yourself!

So, for mothers and mothers to be...a cake for you!

Inspired by chocolate and banana cream pie I went to work. Chocolate cake is layered with fudge sauce, bananas, vanilla pastry cream and vanilla wafers. In making the pastry cream, I ran out of granulated sugar. What to do?! I decided to sub brown sugar, not knowing what would happen! Well, It was to die for. Seriously.

The pastry cream was much softer and pudding like and it had a great butterscotch quality without being overly sweet. The bananas, since they were so ripe, flavored the pastry cream in a great 'I am banana, hear me roar' kind of way. And the fudge sauce really helped to bring a calming chocolate flavor to the cake. It came together very easily, which is always nice.