An Anitabot themed Birthday cake

All I wanted for my birthday this year was to make a cake with my friend Kristie. I actually wanted to sit down with her so I could learn some techniques since she is more advanced than I am. Some skills that I wanted to work on were tiered cakes and fondant covering. As I have mentioned before, I had no idea how to ‘finish’ a round cake that is covered in fondant.

Kristie liked this idea because she also wanted to practice being creative.

We decided the theme should be ME. That is, things I like. It’s hard to believe that this is a cake for a 32 year old but we came up with a 3 teired cake:

Bottom Tier: 8″ round with Muppets on it
Second Tier: 6″ round with Rabbids on it
Top tier: 4.5″ round with my ‘anitabot’ face on it.

Wonky cake

Wonky cake

There were so many options we went through but decided on these in the end. Lego was a big contender but after looking up pictures of lego cakes we realized how hard it would be to sculpt lego out of anything.

The biggest and most important lesson I learned during this process is that I have a huge disconnect from reality. In fact, we both do. In our heads, this cake was going to be gigantic. In reality, it wasn’t.

The bottom layer was supposed to be an ode to the Muppet Theatre. Specifically, we wanted it to reflect the end of the intro song where all the Muppets are in that weird archway thing.
Seen here from the Muppet Wikia:

Muppet theatre arches

Muppet theatre arch thingies.

We failed to measure the height of the cake, and realized how large our arches were. Then there was the case of the super melty cream cheese frosting that caused the fondant to slip. We had planned on making the columns to support the arches, but there was really no room for that. If we ever make another muppet cake (and I actually hope we do), I think we’ve learned a lot.

Rowlf, Beeker and Bunsen, buckling.

Rowlf, Beeker and Bunsen, buckling.

Rowlf

Rowlf

We chose to do flat Muppet ‘busts’, because we thought it would be simpler than 3D muppets. I think we did a great job of that. I do realize that Rowl isn’t normally within the arches in the opening of the show since he’s in the orchestra playing the piano, but he’s my favourite muppet. I created Beeker, Rowlf and Fozzie. (Beeker is my other favourite muppet, tied with Rowlf. Fozzie is… fine). We omitted Miss Piggy because she has the most detail of all of them!

Gonzo, Fozzie & a Rabbid

Gonzo, Fozzie & a Rabbid

We Also thought that there would be room atop the 8″ muppet cake for the wee rabbids I sculped out of fondant to live. But as you can see, not quite. The rabbids were somewhat difficult to make. I tried to make ears, eyes, arms and legs separately, but they were too small to stay together. I ended up sculpting the head and ears out of one piece, and adding the eyes on. The body with legs and arms was another piece. This worked well. If I ever make another Rabbid cake (which I hope I do), I’ll also have many lessons under my belt.

The top layer – the Anitabot face, was the easiest. I did however learn about cutting cake boards. I couldn’t find a 6″ or a 4.5″ cake board, so I had to cut them down. The best way to do this involves a compass and a protractor. It DOES NOT involve free handing it with an exacto knife.

I made the Rabbids and the cakes earlier in the week. I coated them on the Friday… and we had about 6 hours of made decoration, so we were a bit more rushed. This cake was just for me and a chance for us to play, so we weren’t beating ourselves up over our mistakes.

work in progress

work in progress

For me, there’s definitely 4 distinct stages to cake making

  1. 1) The design/planning phase where I figure out what it’s going to entail
  2. 2) The preparations part where I think this is going to be the best cake ever made
  3. 3) The actual decorating where I realize my dreams are much higher than my skills, and I realize this cake is going to be the stupidest, ugliest, crappiest thing ever made
    4) The subsequent pleasure I feel when it didn’t turn out so bad!

We definitely rushed this cake, but there was a sort of fun with that. It tasted great! I think my next cake project will be no more than 2 layers with one cohesive theme!

Quick Owl Cake for Jenn!

Jenn's Owl Cake

Jenn’s Owl Cake

In what is quickly becoming a tradition, I made a birthday cake for my sister-in-law, Jenn. She loves owls so I decide to make a simple owl cake. Why the odd colours? Mostly because those are the prepared fondant colours I had pre-made from previous cakey endevours.

I had even less success than the PB & J Time cake in terms of fondant covering. I still haven’t figured out tho make it seamless… and have no idea how to get the sharp corners on the top. I don’t mind the look of the rounded corners, but there’s something about that sharp, crisp corner that looks appealing.

I also failed to properly take into account the size of the cake surface. I eyeballed the owl, entirely and I was pretty pleased how it turned out, except that I wanted it to be a lot smaller!

I’m pretty pleased with the branch. This was easily achieved by using a few different wilton food colours. I mixed brown with yellow and the ‘skin’ colour*, which is not brown, but a sort of peach colour.  I mixed these into a long rope of white fondant until they swirled together nicely, then I flattend with a rolling pin! Voila! Instant wood texture. I’d definitely like to use that technique again.

I also used a #3 round tip for writing, which was just oversight on my part. I meant to grab the smaller #2. That’s why the writing looks pretty smushed together. Despite that, it’s still better than some of my previous attempts with writing (perhaps the thickness allows for mistakes to blend a bit more), which I’m pleased with.

In the end, Jenn loved the cake so that is all that mattered. I got a bit more experience and practice with things that are new and that made me happy!

 

*(This of course means caucasian skin tone. Though, nobody’s skin should ever look like this).

Random Recipe weekend: Thayir Sadam, pizza dough from scratch and Alton Brown’s The Chewy.

Ingredients and new nested mixing bowls

Ingredients and new nested mixing bowls

My desire to bake or cook ebbs and flows with little reason. I love the feeling of being consumed with a desire to create something in the kitchen. I generally dislike week night cooking because it’s rushed and I feel lazy after work. However, the weekends give me a chance to carefully go grocery shopping for ingredients and try something new. A few weeks ago  I tried 3 new recipes with varying degrees of success.

Thayir sadam, pizza dough from scratch, and Alton Brown’s The Chewy.

First, Thayir sadam. Surely most of you are probably wondering “what is that?” and “how do I pronounce it?” I am no expert on tamil pronounciation but I would try this “Thire Sod-thum” with the “thire” sound more like one syllable than two distinct ones. It literally translates into yogurt rice, or curd rice. Wikipedia explains the dish better than I could, but I have more to say about my intense feelings for it.

To me, it is a pure comfort food. Due to it’s simple and mushy nature, it’s something children can start eating early on. I like to compare it to something like chicken noodle soup or PB & J sandwiches. They are simple, easy to make and invoke feelings of ultimate comfort and care.

I can’t speak for other south Indians but in most meals I’ve had there is usually plain rice and yogurt available. It’s usually something we might end the meal with as the cool yogurt cuts the spice.  As the article states, there are two basic preparations: the simple addition of yogurt to rice (this is what I consider “end of meal thayir sadam”) and the fancier kind where it is combined with a few spices and made in a larger portion. I like to call the latter “picnic thayir sadam”, because I have strong memories of this being brought to every single picnic I’ve been to with Indians.

This style reminds me of the summer and fun times with my family. I’d never actually made the picnic version before so I asked my friend Naj and he supplied me with his recipe. It’s so simple and there are no hard and fast rules about it, so it turned out well. You could deviate as much as you want but as long as you got yogurt and rice (and salt! lots of salt!) you’d have a delicious dish.  I wonder how people who didn’t grow up eating this dish would feel about it.  Maybe they would like it, but not love it the way I do. To me, it’s a small bit of perfection.

It turned out wonderfully. Since the first making I’ve changed it from bastmati rice to straight up long grain. I prefer that level of mush better.

Thayir Sadam aka Yogurt Rice

Thayir Sadam aka Yogurt Rice

RECIPE:
2 Cups of white rice
2 cups Approx. balkan style yogurt
salt, to taste
2 -3 Curry Leaves
1 small chunk of ginger, diced
2 tablespoons of oil
1 pinch of mustard seeds
1/2 cup of milk

METHOD:

  1. Make Rice
  2. Add milk to rice and mush together. Add yogurt and mix well, put in fridge to cool
  3. Heat oil in small pan, add curry leaves, ginger, and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start popping, throw the the entire mixture (oil included) in to cooled rice. Mix up and let cool again

The second recipe takes us from India to Italy… kind of. I had never made pizza dough from scratch, nor have I ever worked with yeast. Breads & pastries intimidate me because they seem so finicky. This is part of the reason I’ve gone this long without trying them. As I get bored with basic cakes and what not, breads & pastries are the perfect way to challenge myself. I also recall my mom making pizza doughs from scratch quite often and remembered it was fairly simple.  I used quick-rise yeast and I kind of failed. My first batch was a bit of a disaster as it only rised a bit… but I didn’t put it in a bowl and cover it so the outside got dry. Duh. After feeling completely dejected I decided to try again. This time I covered it, and this time it did rise, but only a bit. It wasn’t the right texture. It wasn’t tacky and springy. I decided to bake it anyway and to my surprise, it actually turned out well. The outside crust got quite hard, but the inside was ok. I’ll have to consult with people to figure out exactly what I did wrong. I suspect my water was too hot and killed some of the yeast.

The pizza

The pizza

The last thing was Alton Brown’s The Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie. I’m always after the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. It’s a classic and every baker should have a solid go-to recipe. The chewy part is non-negotiable for me. I will eat a crispy chocolate chip cookie*, but I’d be a willing participant in the farce. Also, no raisins… YUCK! I do enjoy oats, nuts and other ingredients, but in the end I’m a purist. Again, I’d eat and possibly enjoy a chocolate chip cookie with other ingredients, but it wouldn’t be the same as a pure chewy chocolate chip cookie. (The alliteration is what makes it extra awesome.)  I would consider THIS to be my standard, it uses vanilla pudding powder to keep them chewy. This works, however they get flat and don’t look the best.

*President’s Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chunk cookie is the only crispy one I enjoy – but even then it’s dependant on being dunked in milk.

Alton Brown's The Chewy in progress

Alton Brown’s The Chewy in progress – NO RAISINS.

My cookies turned out delicious. One thing I find with home made chocolate chip cookies is that the standard amount of salt is a bit too much. I can usually faintly taste it and I do not like my sweets and salts mixed together. I reduced the salt by a bit and it was perfect.

Alton Brown's The Chewy - completed

Alton Brown’s The Chewy – completed

The finished product is a bit dark and I think I baked them for a few minutes too long – but they did retain their chewiness!  I think this will be my new standard for the CCCC (Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie) for NOW. I’ll have to keep experimenting and looking for new recipes.

So that’s it! It’s enjoyable to add to my repertoire. There will be more coming soon!

Alton Brown’s Plain ‘Ol Brownies with Valrhona cocoa

I am unabashedly in love with chocolate, unapologetic about my feelings and thoughts toward it and unheeding in my consumption. Perhaps I fit the cliche of a woman for this reason, but I care not. I love the stuff. Over the past few years my taste buds grew and changed and no longer could I palate the taste of standard milk chocolate. Bubbly aero bars which were once irresitable became a turn-off. Until I saw that they had a dark chocolate version. It’s still not that great, but dark chocolate is. As my tastes literally change, my sweet tooth subsides to reveal a love of the slightly bitter.

A few years ago my parents did a tour of Europe. My mom asked me what I wanted from there and I couldn’t think of anything. Morever, what could they bring that wouldn’t over burden the suitcases they would be taking through 16 different cities in a mere three weeks? I soon realized the answer was chocolate. I asked them to bring back chocolate from every country they visited.

And the spoils came: Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, England, Austria and France. They were different types, sizes and price ranges but they had one thing in common: they were all vastly superior to North American ‘chocolate’.

My god, the europeans know their chocolate. For the record, German chocolate remains my favourite. The home of the black forest cake has got to know a thing or two. France may have tied that with something my mom picked up randomly:

Valhrona Squares

Valhrona Squares

I recognized the name from friends who bake. It was also mentioned in the book Confetti Cakes as the best quality cocoa money could buy.  The chocolate was delicious. It was dark and slightly bitter, but still had some sweetness. I only ate a square at a time because I found it so perfectly rich. I enjoyed the packaging as well – it just looks so French and sophisticated!

I recently ran out of my standard cocoa powder and decided to use this opportunity to buy the good stuff: Valrhona cocoa. I found it at the St. Lawrence market.

Valrhona Cocoa

Valrhona Cocoa

I paid $15.99 for that box. Yikes!

I decided to make a dense and rich brownie with my new, expensive cocoa. I don’t have a go-to recipe so I browsed through my collection and randomly picked Alton Brown’s from this book: I’m Just Here For More Food X Mixing + Heat = Baking. Despite having this book for over a year, I’ve made nothing from it. I do refer to it from time to time just to understand the science of baking better.

The Valrhona cocoa smelled amazing as soon as I opened the packet. I have a weak sense of smell but the aroma still struck me. I can’t describe it really well, but it was heady, and smelled rich and more chocolatey than other cocoas.

The brownies turned out pretty danged great

Brownie that I wish you could smell

Brownie that I wish you could smell

They definitely have the taste of a “dark chocolate” brownie, if such a thing  exists.

I submit to you that ‘dark chocolate’ is just regular chocolate; regular chocolate with the most cocoa. The less cocoa and the more milk you add, the lighter the chocolate gets. Bittersweet, semi-sweet, and milk are all mixes of different proportions of milk and cocoa; and then there is the aberration known as white chocolate, which is not chocolate as it contains no cocoa. Also, it is gross.

As if baking wasn’t expensive enough, I now think I always want to bake with Valrhona. It’s definitely worth it.  Another fun thing about this baking project was using my new Cuisinart food processor. Alton Brown recommends sifting dry ingredients together by pulsing in a food processor as opposed to using a sifter or just hand mixing.

Processor and Mixer aka Cuisie & Kitchie?

Processor and Mixer aka Cuisie & Kitchie?

I wonder if that contributed to the excellence of these brownies. Either way, I’m pleased with the result and had fun creating them too!