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physics geek posted:My roommate and I saw KISS at the California Mid State Fair this summer, so for her birthday I made her this: What kind of frosting did you use for the face? Was it royal? It looks so smooth.... Also, that llama cake is freaking CUTE.
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Oct 6, 2009 14:29
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It was just a butter and powdered sugar frosting. The reason it looks so smooth is because I used the method for making frosting pictures Sixx described in this post.
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Oct 8, 2009 00:24
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I finished off the Pumpkin S'more cupcakes - let me tell you, the marshmallow was the bane of my existence. I first tried the recipe paisleyfox posed - I was impatient and didn't let it set for as long as it needed to. So I went to the ol' stand-by, 7-minute icing. For some reason, I couldn't make it work. Twice. So I just ended up melting a bunch of marshmallows and adding pumpkin/spices to it. Oh god, are they ever tasty.   I covered the pumpkin marshmallow with chocolate ganache and graham cracker crumbs. And the tombstones - delicious delicious tombstones.
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Oct 9, 2009 05:44
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does anyone have any good cup cake transporting solutions? I'm looking to take about two dozen, by bus, by myself.
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Oct 9, 2009 17:16
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PezMaster posted:I finished off the Pumpkin S'more cupcakes - let me tell you, the marshmallow was the bane of my existence. Can I please have the actual recipe? Do want.
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Oct 9, 2009 18:15
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blue_kameleon posted:does anyone have any good cup cake transporting solutions? I'm looking to take about two dozen, by bus, by myself. Go to Wilton, Bed Bath & Beyond, or any other place that sells baking stuff. They make holders to transport cupcakes in. I think they usually hold 24. They're not that expensive, either. Any other solution you come up with will probably become a sticky mess and be stressful as hell.
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Oct 9, 2009 18:31
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Devi posted:Go to Wilton, Bed Bath & Beyond, or any other place that sells baking stuff. They make holders to transport cupcakes in. I think they usually hold 24. They're not that expensive, either. Yup, I'd probably go with something like this: 
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Oct 9, 2009 19:04
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Made a cake for work. White cake with lemon curd filling, both out of Joy of Cooking. Frosting was from a Lady Baltimore recipe on epicurious, without the nuts and fruit. Decorated with candied lemon slices. I'm pretty disgusted with the way the frosting looks, but I was out of time and it tasted alright at least.
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Oct 9, 2009 20:00
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Captain Stinkybutt posted:Can I please have the actual recipe? Do want. Yessir! There are more pictures on the Cakery blog too if you're interested. C&C Cakery posted:Ingredients
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Oct 9, 2009 20:59
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Thanks! I will make these as soon as I am able to - I've been dying to make cupcakes lately anyway. Mouthwatering.
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Oct 10, 2009 06:38
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jollygrinch posted:Made a cake for work. White cake with lemon curd filling, both out of Joy of Cooking. Frosting was from a Lady Baltimore recipe on epicurious, without the nuts and fruit. Decorated with candied lemon slices. I'm pretty disgusted with the way the frosting looks, but I was out of time and it tasted alright at least. Ugly cake = good cake. This doesn't always hold the other way round, see 'cassata siciliana'.
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Oct 10, 2009 10:58
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No matter how many times I bake cupcakes I can never get them smooth on the top. I always end up with a crack in the middle. What's the secret to getting a smooth, perfectly round cupcake top?
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Oct 11, 2009 01:09
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grumples posted:No matter how many times I bake cupcakes I can never get them smooth on the top. I always end up with a crack in the middle. Too much flour Too little liquid Too hot an oven Over beaten Batter not spread evenly Not enough fat Warped pans Pan too near top of oven Overfilled pans If you think that all that is fine, the problem might be your starting mixture. You know when it says "Beat butter and sugar until fluffy"? They're not talking about 1 or 2 minutes with a spoon - try 5/6 minutes with a mixer on high. Ever since I put a little more time into the butter/sugar mixture, my cupcakes have gotten better at forming perfect little domes. Also, here's a list of common cake failures and how to fix them. I always find it super handy, especially when you're experimenting with recipes.
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Oct 11, 2009 05:51
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Yeah, someone else gave me the same advice a while back about beating the butter and sugar for way longer, so I have been doing that and I think the texture of my cupcakes has improved. I also mentioned to someone else that my cupcakes still weren't the texture I was looking for - not light enough. It was also just suggested to me that our flour in Australia is different to the stuff overseas, and perhaps adding some cornflour may help. In all honesty... my cakes and muffins are fine, but it's cupcakes that tend to go funny for me! Will have to keep experimenting. Thanks for that link. Lot's of useful information there. PezMaster posted:Because baking is pretty much science, it can be any number of variables, including:
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Oct 11, 2009 06:25
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So, I made a test tier last night for my sister's wedding cake. She said her theme is white and red, so this is what I came up with: I think the piped border makes it look like a birthday cake but she loved it! I might do dots instead of a starred tip. My main goal was to try to get the buttercream as smooth as possible. I'm happy with it. Thank god for putty scrapers and Viva paper towels.
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Oct 11, 2009 18:47
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I can't even tell you how amazing everything in this thread looks.
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Oct 11, 2009 20:52
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jennyinstereo posted:I think the piped border makes it look like a birthday cake but she loved it! I might do dots instead of a starred tip. My main goal was to try to get the buttercream as smooth as possible. I'm happy with it. Thank god for putty scrapers and Viva paper towels. Remind me again about the trick with the paper towels? Do you literally use them to smooth out the buttercream by wiping it across the cake? My buttercream always gets little divots and bumps - the sides or your cake looks so smooth and clean! Also, I second that dot tip.
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Oct 11, 2009 23:00
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Made four dozen of these for my two year old nephew's birthday party. He loves sharks.
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Oct 11, 2009 23:23
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PezMaster posted:Remind me again about the trick with the paper towels? Do you literally use them to smooth out the buttercream by wiping it across the cake? My buttercream always gets little divots and bumps - the sides or your cake looks so smooth and clean! First, get the frosting as smooth as you can using your frosting spatulas, scrapers, etc. Once you've got it looking decent, let the buttercream crust for 15 minutes. Then take the paper towel, gently lay it on the frosting and use a scraper to essentially scrape the frosting smooth. You must be gentle or you'll actually start pushing the frosting around (which we don't want). Or, you can use a fondant smoother or your hands to use gentle pressure over the paper towel (a gentle rubbing with your fingers) but I like using scrapers, as I find they do the best job (better than your hands or a fondant smoother can do). Here's a good video example that I actually used to learn the technique. jennyinstereo fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Oct 12, 2009 |
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Oct 12, 2009 00:16
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Made my first cake from scratch on Saturday! It was a simple yellow cake with buttercream frosting. I didn't level the cake well at all, as you can see, but it is my first time and I haven't gotten any of the fancy tools yet. A few questions before I make my next one... The cake came out really crumbly and almost tasted like cornbread... did I put in too much flower? You can see from this pic how it was practically falling apart.  Also, I went with the fondant, as you can see. I had trouble with it folding over in on itself at the bottom. Is there a trick to help with that? Just practice?  I covered my mistake with fondant circles, the piping I regret doing. It looks half-assed 
York_M_Chan fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Oct 12, 2009 |
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Oct 12, 2009 21:57
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If you are finding your buttercream too "airy" you can work it on the table(marble is preferred) with a spatula to smooth it out. If you are using a french buttercream you can whip it and add small amounts of simple syrup until it smooths out for you. When I did my brother's wedding cake I made and filled all the layers ahead of time. Including inserting all the dowels, and wrapped them in a layer of plastic wrap/foil/plastic wrap and froze them. It survived the 3+ hour trip from my place to theirs including a day of sitting in the back of my car, and when I unwrapped it all the layers were all still cold to the touch. Here's a 1st Birthday cake I did for some family friends for over the weekend.  Everyone thought it looked and tasted terrific. It was four layers vanilla sponge, chocolate sponge, vanilla, chocolate, with chocolate ganache in between layers all covered in french buttercream. The letters and discs were all pastillage. The little cake was for the birthday boy to destroy, and boy did he.
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Oct 13, 2009 03:51
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Thumposaurus posted:This is adorable and looks super delicious. What kind of buttercream did you use?
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Oct 13, 2009 14:09
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Pooptron2003 posted:This is adorable and looks super delicious. What kind of buttercream did you use? Thanks, I used a French buttercream using some vanilla sugar I had to make the syrup for it. A quick recipe off the top of my head would be 16 yolks 1 cup of water 680 grams of sugar 3# of butter You would combine the water and sugar in a pot and bring it up to 240°F Meanwhile you will be whipping your egg yolks with the whisk attachment on a mixer at high speed. When the sugar syrup is at the right temp slow the mixer down and pour the syrup into the egg yolks in a steady stream. Turn the speed back up to high and let it whip until the bowl feels cool to the touch. Then add your softened butter in pieces allowing each piece to be absorbed before adding another. Once all that is done ice your cake!
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Oct 14, 2009 00:22
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Project wedding cake was a success! (mostly) I ended up not having enough buttercream (I made 6 times the usual amount and still ran out) so I couldn't pipe around the bottom of the top 2 tiers but I used rose petals to cover up the edges. It wasn't fantastic looking but nobody seemed to think it looked bad. Most importantly, my sister loved it and that was all that mattered. I made all of the cake layers, fillings and frosting in advance. Wrapped each layer twice in plastic wrap, then once in foil. Froze them all in the freezer. I made buttercream, ganache and lemon curd. Those all went in the fridge in ziploc bags. On Friday, my husband and I made the 10 hour drive from Maryland to Montreal with the cake layers packed up in a box and the frosting and fillings in a cooler. Saturday, the day of the wedding, I got up early to assemble the cakes. Filling them went extremely quickly. Frosting was quick as well but I was stressing about getting the buttercream smooth enough. I had issues with the large bottom tier but ended up using rose petals to cover mistakes. After all 3 tiers were frosted, I packed each one in a cake box. We had to bring people in our car to the wedding so we had people in the car hold boxes. I held the largest tier on my lap, best friend had the middle, and other friend held the top of the cake. We didn't have any issues at all with sliding or anything. When I got to the hall, I stacked the cake tiers, piped around the top, added flowers, and called it a day. If I ever make another wedding cake, I'm going to make much more buttercream and not use ribbon around the tiers. The ribbon was hard to keep level and I thought it looked bad (no one else did, or they were lying lol) I could have done a much better job if I had more time but I did the best I could! Next month, I make her baby shower cake. I'll document that as well. So anyways, after this wall of text, here are a few pics!     
jennyinstereo fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 20, 2009 |
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Oct 20, 2009 03:20
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/\/\ thanks for documenting the process! I seriously would have freaked out half way through if I didn't have enough buttercream - probably would have gone to DQ and picked up an ice cream cake instead. And, yeah, I really don't understand the whole 'ribbon on the wedding cake' fad. Brides are weird. I had another baking adventure this week. This time it was for another cupcake contest where the theme was "Music". I made the Lola (la-la-la-la Lola!) - Cherry Cola cake with Champagne buttercream and a chocolate mustache on top:   Wasn't my favourite cake in the world - way too moist and thick. Ah well - now I've got to switch gears and start making tons of Halloween cookies!
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Oct 21, 2009 18:27
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PezMaster posted:I had another baking adventure this week. This time it was for another cupcake contest where the theme was "Music". How did you do?
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Oct 21, 2009 18:33
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PezMaster posted:/\/\ thanks for documenting the process! I seriously would have freaked out half way through if I didn't have enough buttercream - probably would have gone to DQ and picked up an ice cream cake instead. Yeah the ribbon was a nightmare. Never again. I am making her baby shower cake next month so I'll document that too. I LOVE your cupcake 'staches. What recipe did you use for the champagne buttercream?
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Oct 21, 2009 18:34
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blue_kameleon posted:does anyone have any good cup cake transporting solutions? I'm looking to take about two dozen, by bus, by myself. My mom mailed me cupcakes from LA to Montana last summer by putting them each inside cut-in-half plastic party cups. like, one to set it in (trimmed to half height JUST to the height of hte cupcake) and one whole one put upside down on top of that for the lid. Really creative. Packed all the cups side by side and put a bunch of packing stuff/paper on top, wrote "THIS SIDE UP" all over it. but there are "cupcake carriers" for short term transportation. google it.
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Oct 21, 2009 21:12
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York_M_Chan posted:How did you do? The results of the pumpkin cupcake contest I talked about oh so long ago come in the next few days. The theme for next month is peanut butter - which means it's time for me to whip out some Peanut Butter and Pickle Cupcakes. Awwwww yeah. jennyinstereo posted:Yeah the ribbon was a nightmare. Never again. I am making her baby shower cake next month so I'll document that too. I LOVE your cupcake 'staches. What recipe did you use for the champagne buttercream?
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Oct 22, 2009 04:43
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PezMaster posted:"Pumpkin S'more" Cupcake - Moist chocolate/gram cracker cake with pumpkin marshmallow on top I'm going to try the recipe on your blog soon. Sorry if I missed it, but how many cupcakes does it make?
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Oct 25, 2009 18:36
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Prof. Ann Mary Ann posted:I'm going to try the recipe on your blog soon. Sorry if I missed it, but how many cupcakes does it make? Oh! And if you make any changes, be sure to tell me. I'm pretty new at transferring recipes from the bowl to the page - usually I just add what I think is right, sans measuring cup, but a written recipe forces me to measure. The marshmallow part might be off a bit (that's the only part I didn't properly measure)-- you might need a bit more marshmallow and a couple tablespoons more of pumpkin, I'm not sure. Taste it and make modifications if you need to, and let me know if you do! PezMaster fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Oct 25, 2009 |
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Oct 25, 2009 18:51
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First time making/using fondant...  How should I get the excess icing sugar off? Pastry brush? Also, how should I stick my fondant to the cupcake? Should I put something between the cupcake and fondant? I just pressed it down and it stuck. Finally, I used a bit of water to stick the fondant on fondant... is this right? I used this basic fondant recipe: http://www.gingerbread-house-heaven.com/fondant-recipe.html
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Oct 27, 2009 11:15
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As far as I know, you use buttercream/icing of choice as the glue to hold fondant to cakes. A pastry brush should work fine to get all the sugar off. I've seen some people just dab a wet paper towel on it, but I'm not sure if that will have any effect on the fondant.
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Oct 27, 2009 13:48
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grumples posted:How should I get the excess icing sugar off? Pastry brush? I generally wipe away excess sugar with my hands. Though, I suppose you could try a brush. I've just had more success with my hands. I stick fondant to cake with either buttercream frosting or clear piping gel. It acts like glue and if any squeezes out from under the fondant, it dries clear. To stick fondant to fondant, yes, a little bit of water will do the trick or again, clear piping gel.
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Oct 27, 2009 19:14
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RE: pumpkin smore cupcakesPezMaster posted:Oh! And if you make any changes, be sure to tell me. I'm not a knowledgeable baker. I pretty much follow the recipe since I don't know what will render it an inedible lump. I did substitute the flour for white whole wheat flour. Also I almost forgot to add the milk and yogurt so that resulted in me not adding the ingredients in the order listed.  The resulting 17 cupcakes didn't rise into nice little domes. They're a bit gooey as well, but they are delicious. What do I need to adjust?   (Marshmallow and chocolate ganache not pictured.)
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Oct 27, 2009 23:11
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You can brush the fondant with a little alcohol on a pastry brush to dissolve the excess sugar and give it a little shine. Just let them dry thoroughly afterwords. You want the brush to be almost dry, vodka works great for this.
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Oct 27, 2009 23:45
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Prof. Ann Mary Ann posted:RE: pumpkin smore cupcakes Good News! These little cupcakes aren't supposed to have perfect little domes - The recipe had to be strong enough to be filled with marshmallow. If you wanted a dryer cake, I'd take away some of milk/yogurt or add a pinch more baking powder and a bit more flour. Also - it looks like all your chocolate chips fell to the bottom. You want to lightly fold in the chips when the batter has just been mixed. Also, the too much liquid/not enough flour problem could cause that as well. Of course, it could be a BILLION other things too - the science of baking is a cruel mistress. I'm super glad that they are delicious - for that is the most important part. How did the marshmallow and ganache go? (The marshmallow is the hardest part) 
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Oct 28, 2009 01:17
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Yes, I do not know how to correctly fold in an ingredient. I shall have to learn for next time. Since the cakes already seemed so small, I didn't want to cut a hole in them. I poured marshmallow on top instead. Some I poured to the edge and let the papers hold it in. This wasn't a good idea since now getting the paper off the cake becomes a tricky mess. I used the about.com pumpkin marshmallow recipe from the other thread. This was my first time making any kind of marshmallow. They turned out too dense and chewy for my liking. I thought they were supposed to be light and fluffy, but maybe I just did something wrong again. They taste ok though. Maybe using pumpkin syrup instead of puree would be better? I was lazy and didn't use a double boiler, but the ganache came out fine. I want to try your cayenne pepper pumpkin cupcakes too. Although I know mine will be nowhere as cute as yours. :3
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Oct 28, 2009 05:49
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We tried the cayenne pumpkin cakes yesterday. For some reason the frosting did the whole batch and there was a LOT left over, so we made some basic yellow cake mix cupcakes too. Then we had like three and a half dozen cupcakes for two people, so my husband took most of them in to work and they were gone in an hour. So at least 30 people think they're great.
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Oct 28, 2009 08:38
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I may not be as crafty as the rest of you, but here is my contribution. My daughter turned 5 recently and all she wanted was a volcano cake.  As I said, I am not a cake genius.  the lava. Not too great, but the rowdy bunch of munchkins thought it was the coolest thing ever. And a random party picture.  Yes, I'm the mother that thinks its a good idea to give children a croquet mallet and let them whack a pinata. My daughter said I'm "the coolest mom ever." She's pretty righteous herself.
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Nov 18, 2009 22:43
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