31st of October Birthday Cake

Last night, I made my special chocolate cake for one of my Husband's colleagues at work, who was celebrating his birthday. The reason why I call it my "special chocolate cake" is because some time earlier this year, (like I always do) I decided to try out a new recipe for chocolate cake. It turned out to be one of the best best chocolate cakes I had ever had (I'm not kidding). We had too much cake left at home, so I told my husband to take the rest of it to work and offer it to his colleagues. Much to my surprise, he called me and told me that one of his colleagues loved the cake so much that she wanted to order one for one of her friends who was going to celebrate her birthday in just a few days.The great news is that the cake was a hit and one of his colleagues even said that he normally does not like cake, but this cake was very delicious. 

This chocolate cake has now become one of my signature cakes and I was privileged to bake another one. (pictures below) 

It is a dark chocolate cake frosted with whipped chocolate ganache and decorated with two daisies. 

If you like chocolate, you will definitely love his cake. 

Professional Cake Decorating Class

Last month my family and I traveled all the way to Darien, IL and took a class called "Professional cake decorating by Colette Peters" at the Wilton school. In all my years that I have spent in school, this was the most fun I had ever had. I honestly did not want to stop, but I believe that a time will come when I will be able to not only go to school full time, but also be able to bake and decorate on a full time basis, Lord willingly. 

Not only did I meet with people who came from different parts of the world just to take this course, but I also learnt a lot from Colette Peters who has been in this business for so many years. It was a joy and a wonderful experience. I know and understand that the only way you can improve and be the best you can be is to also learn from the best. 

Below is are a few pictures of the 3 tiered cake I decorated. 

Fyi, this was not an edible cake, just a dummy cake which I still am in possession of and have kept and preserved.

3 tiered cake from my professional cake decorating class

Oriental Peony

Roses

Orchid, Stephanotis

3D Birthday Car Cakes

I just realized that it's been a very long time since I posted anything.  With many other activities going on, it feels really good to be back. I had a pretty huge project a couple of weeks ago, and that was to make two car cakes for my dear nephew and niece (brother & sister). 

The idea was to make the cakes shaped into the color of a toy that they enjoy playing with. Interesting enough, they both love cars. It was a very interesting experience, very time consuming because there is so much detail that goes into making a custom 3D shaped cake, that's why it's always good to plan.

Both cakes were marble flavor and filled with traditional butter cream then covered and decorated them with marshmallow fondant. The wheels were all made from rice crispy treats. I found a really good recipe on the cakejournal website. As always, whenever you do something for the very first time, you always come away with ideas on how to you will do things differently the next time around. It was a lot fun and I was pretty impressed with my work. 

Colorful Ribbon Rose Cake

For some time now I had been meaning to bake a cake and decorate it all with fondant to put some of my skills to work and try a few things out. I must say that I am pretty impressed with the turnout of the cake. It is very colorful, beautiful and attractive to the eye.

 

 I baked and covered the cake in marshmallow fondant. Marshmallow fondant is an easy fondant (sugar paste) made of mini marshmallows, water and confectioner's sugar. The cake topper made of fondant ribbon roses. They very simple to make, yet time consuming especially since I covered the entire top of the cake with them. I'll make sure to come up with a tutorial on ribbon roses some time in the near future.

My Husband, as always thought it was a very good effort i put in to produce something like this and more importantly, enjoyed the cake. My daughter is not yet old enough to eat cake, but it will great when she can join him and taste some of Mommy's delicious baked goodies :)

Surprise Birthday Cake

This cake below was for a surprise party we had for my Pastor & Spiritual father. Praise God we were able to pull it off, without him finding out before the surprise moment. There was no better idea to come up with, than to make a cake that was shaped like a bible and top it up with an image of an eagle. His favorite animal in the whole wide world is the Eagle and everyone who knows him or has heard him preach would know.

This bible cake is a strawberry cake filled with strawberry butter cream and iced with blue Swiss Meringue Butter cream. I placed two edible images; on the right is the image of an Eagle and the scripture that goes with it and on the left hand side is the Happy Birthday message. The bible marker and the borders of the pages were all made using colored fondant which I then brushed with a combination of brown shimmer dust & gold luster dust.

 

The cake was a major hit at the party. There were a few things I would probably change the next time around I make another bible cake. Stay Tuned!!

Steak & Onion Pies

 I remember when I was in high school back in Zimbabwe, the minute the bell rang for lunch break we would run to the tuck shop (snack shop) to make sure we would get some pies before they ran out. Believe me, when I say that if you got there 10 min after break had started, you would not get anything. This goes to show just how good they were. I've never had pies as good as those, ever in my life.

I made my own version of steak & onion pies and I must say that I was pretty impressed with the turnout, My pies are not as large as the ones we grew up eating, that is because I utilized what I had in my kitchen as best as I could.The pastry was flaky and very nice and the the meat filling tasted just the way I remember it.

I made my own version of steak & onion pies and I must say that I was pretty impressed with the turnout, My pies are not as large as the ones we grew up eating, that is because I utilized what I had in my kitchen as best as I could.The pastry was flaky and very nice and the the meat filling tasted very, very good. 

1st Birthday Cake

I made this number one shaped birthday cake for my nephew Josiah who turned one in the month of February. It was a marble flavored cake filled with Swiss meringue butter cream and iced with chocolate butter cream. Instead of piping a border I thought it would be creative to use M&Ms to make it look very colorful. The border was a perfect match for the candle display which says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". 

It was pretty labor intensive, but I  really enjoyed baking and decorating this cake and it was very delicious too

Chocolate Cake

Whenever I bake something, my Husband will even tell you that I can be very critical of my work; I am a perfectionist. Sometimes, he tastes something and while he is thinking that it is the best I've ever made and how delicious it is, I'm thinking that it's not and am already thinking of ways to get it to taste better. I have tried so many different recipes for chocolate cake and made many numerous changes, I think that this is the best chocolate cake I've made so far.

This very moist and delicious cake is iced with chocolate ganache. Just by looking at it, you will be tempted to think that the cake is very sweet and rich, but that's not the case. The sugar is just the right amount.

After having one slice, it made me want to eat more, but I told stopped myself from eating more, than I should. 

Baking Essentials

It is a must to have the right baking tools is very important in order for you to be a successful baker. Whether you are baking cakes, or pastries, here are some tools I have found to be very helpful in the kitchen.

1. Kitchen Aid Mixer---I can't say enough about this mixer. Ever since my husband bought one for me as a Christmas gift a few years back, I honestly can't imagine not having one. It has made my baking experience so much easier and faster. I previously used an electronic hand mixer, but it is nowhere compared to the stand mixer I have now. I can leave my ingredients to mix while I go off and do something else. It cuts down the time I normally would spend using to mix either by hand or with an electric mixer.

2. Cake Pan--------If you're going to bake a cake, whether it is big or small, you need a cake pan. Cake pans can be found in all kinds of sizes, Most recipes usually ask that you use either an 8 inch or 9 inch round pan.

3. Rolling Pin------ A good sized and slightly heavy rolling pin is good. I own a wooden one which has handles and has been very handy for me in the kitchen especially when I have had to roll dough for pastries. 

4. Mixing Bowls-----Three good mixing bowls : 1 1/2-quart, 2 1/2-quart, and 4- or 5-quart bowl. I have many different mixing bowls and thing is to make sure that they are deep and very stable.

5. Measuring cups & Spoons-----Can you remember a time when you ate a very delicious dessert someone made and when you asked for the recipe, they said that they could not give it to you because they did not know the exact measurements they used? It can be very annoying, that is why someone invented measuring cups and spoons.... When you follow a recipe, and it calls  for 2 cups of flour, even the best pastry chef out there uses a measuring cup. If you don't, you might end up putting too much or too little, which will affect the outcome of that cake.

6. Rubber Spatula-----There is nothing like having something you can use to scrape all the batter you have in your bowl into the cake pan. it does the job that no spoon can do for you, unless you want to leave the rest in the bowl for the kid's to lick on.

7. Pastry Brush-----They come in many different sizes, and i mainly use mine to apply an egg wash to my pastries right before I bake them to give them a nice golden color to them.

8. Pastry Bag & Tips----You can't be a cake decorator, if you don't own these. They are very essential in cake decorating. I have seen people use all kinds of tricks to make their own pastry bags. Some have used ziplock bags or used parchment paper to make them, but if you're going to decorate an entire cake, why not save yourself the time and energy and buy some.

These are just some of my top eight essential baking tools, whether you are want to start baking, are just starting out or have been baking for awhile.  

Welcome to my new blog!!  Towards the end of last year I had started a new blog elsewhere, but have recently decided to make a change to start this new blog. I will be showing you some of my own work and will be sharing some things i come across and find interesting. My goal is to post something at least every other day. I am super excited and I hope you too are.