Michele's Mermaid Treasure Cake

I love all of the details on Michele's cake; the raised sandy island, the multitude of mermaids swimming and dancing, seashells, palm tree, pirate, and treasure chest.

NOTE: For a template and step-by-step directions on how to make the treasure chest visit the Step-by-Step link on the Decorate page of whimsicalbakehouse.com.

Sugar Crystals in Kaye's Buttercream?

Colleen's Q: Each time I've made a batch of Kaye’s Buttercream, (using a Kitchenaid 6 quart Professional mixer), the boiled sugar crystallizes on the side of the mixing bowl near the rim as I slowly pour it down the side of the bowl into the whipped egg whites. Inevitably, some of those crystals get into the icing, clogging the pastry bag tip. I've resorted to stopping the whipping process after all of the sugar is incorporated and transferred the contents to another bowl. I then wash out the crystallized sugar in the mixer bowl, re-add the contents and then whip in the butter. I have fewer crystals - but the butter doesn't fully incorporate or the end result is not sweetened enough. What am I doing wrong? Here are some additional questions:
· What should the exact temperature of the sugar be when it is ready for use? (After the 7 minute boil).
· What temperature should the egg whites be at? I've been going with room temperature.
· Do you separate your egg whites from fresh eggs or do you think I can purchase the liquid egg whites found in the grocer's dairy section?

A: First, to avoid sugar crystals in your buttercream make sure, while the sugar is cooking, to wash the crystals off the side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Also when pouring the sugar into the bowl of the electric mixer, pour it in a continuous stream that hits just the egg whites, avoiding the side of the bowl and the whip. If it easier to pour the sugar into a Pyrex first, than do so.
As far approximate temperatures, you can start whipping your egg whites when the sugar reaches 242° F and pour the sugar into the egg whites when it reaches 255° F.
Since we make our buttercream in a 60-quart mixer, we use pre-separated pasteurized egg whites (I assume that is similar to what you find in the grocery store) but we separated fresh eggs for the recipe in our book. Although it easier to separate the egg white from the yolk when eggs are cold, you can make the buttercream with the eggs at room temperature.

NYBG Gingerbread Adventures Exhibit

For this year's NYBG Gingerbread Adventure exhibit I made a street scene from the story The Pied Piper of Hamelin. To learn more about how I created see, http://www.whimsicalbakehouse.com/img/The%20Pied%20Piper%20of%20Hamelin.pdf.

It is on view until January 2010.

Baby Feet Cookies?

A customer placed an order for 40 baby feet cookies for a baby shower, but then cancelled the order last minute. What were we going to do with all of those feet? My mom asked me to think of something, and here is what I came up with...

Samson the Cat

I made this cake (way back in August) for a friend of my son. The cat and mice are based on one of her favorite books, Samson and the Church Mice. I still smile when I look at the photo, so I thought I'd post it.
The mice, cat ears, and cat tail are made of marzipan. The cat was sculpted from cake and is iced with tinted buttercream that I texturized using a skewer.

October Inspirations

Check out our two new Step-by Step directions: Autumn Bounty and Eyeballs.

Trick or Treat Cupcakes

Here are some new cupcakes I designed for Halloween.

Piping Tips (aka Decorating Tubes)

Each type of tip (round, star, petal, etc.) has a number range. For example round tips start in the 0’s and go up to 12 and larger. Find one that suits your piping application.
With the exception of the Rose all of the following tips are meant to be fit with a coupler, ring, and pastry bag. Different brands of tips, like Ateco and Wilton, use the same numbering system for their tips and are interchangeable.
See the following links for a full selection of tips: (WILTON brand) http://search.wilton.com/?q=tips and (ATECO brand) http://www.cakedeco.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?p_catid=242&page=1

BASIC PIPING APPLICATIONS
Lines and Inscriptions
Round tip (# 0-12) or pastry cone
Rosettes
Star tip (# 16-18, 27…)
Shell Border
Start tip (# 16-18, 27…)
Dots
Round tip (# 1-12)
Bead Border
Round tip (# 1-12)

MISCELLANEOUS PIPING APPLICATIONS
Crazy Curls or Cornelli Lace
Round tip (# 1-5) or pastry cone
Rickrack Border
Petal tip (# 102-104) or Flat tip (# 44 or 45)
Crazy Border
Any Petal, Round, or Star tip
Cloud Border
Round tip (# 6-12)
Ruffled Ribbon Border and Ruffled Swags
Petal tip (# 102-104)
Flat Ribbon
Petal tip (# 102-104) or Flat tip (#44 or 45)
Thread Swags
Round tip (# 1-5)
Fabric Swags
Chrysanthemum tip (#79 or 81)
Spiral Swags
Star tip (# 16-18, 27…)
Lattice
Flat tip (# 45)
Plaid
Assortment of Flat and Round tips (# 42 or 89 multi-openings, 44 or 45 flat, 1-8 round)
Bows
Petal tip (# 102-104)
Basket weave
Basket weave tip (#46-48 range)

FLOWERS and LEAVES
Some of the following flowers, in addition to the piping tips, may need a pastry cone or small round tip filled with tinted buttercream or chocolate to pipe details like flower centers, dots, seeds, etc.
Roses
Large Petal tip (# 125)
Miniature or Tea Roses
Petal tip (#103-104)
Buds
Petal tip (#103 or 104)
Poppies
Petal tip (#103-104)
Blossoms, Daffodils, Violets, and Pansies
Petal tip (#104)
Daisies, Coneflowers, and Black Eyed Susan’s (Full and Perspective)
Petal tip (#103-104) or Round Tip (#5-8)
Chrysanthemums
Mum tip (#79 or #81)
Lilies
Leaf tip (#352)
Sunflower
Leaf tip (# 352) or can substitute Leaf tip (# 67)
Hydrangea
Petal tip (# 102 or # 103)
Grapes
Round Tip (#5-12)
Grass
Multi opening tip (#233) or Round tip (#3-8)
Leaves
Leaf tip (# 352 or # 65-68)

Whimsical Bakehouse Decorating Classes

Click on the following link to take a peek at the upcoming Whimsical Bakehouse Fall Class Schedule.
http://whimsicalbakehouse.com/img/fall2009schedule.pdf

Betty Crocker Videos - Part II

The new Betty Crocker videos I appear in are now posted on howdini.com, bettycrocker.com, and you can find links to them on the Decorate page of my website.
They include: Crumb Coating a Cake, Safari Cupcakes, Barnyard Cake and Cupcakes, Fire Truck Cake, Panda Cake, Mermaid Cake, Guitar Cake, Turtle Cupcakes, Football Cupcakes, Robot Cake, Pony Cake, and more...