The Whimsical Bakehouse

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Upcoming Events

My mom and I are scheduled to "appear" on Everyday Food with Betsy Karetnick (Martha Stewart Radio on Sirius) on Tuesday, February 9th at 12:15. The theme of the day is chocolate; we'll bring in some of my mom's yummy chocolate recipes and some of my chocolate method designs to talk about.

On March 6th we will be attending The Random House Book Fair in Westminster, MD. We'll be signing books, judging a decorating contest, and I'll be giving a decorating demonstration.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Cook for Love Videos

I just shot a series of three decorating videos for Cook for Love, a culinary non-for-profit dedicated to the PKU community. Brenda, the co-founder, has taken numerous of my decorating classes and always went above and beyond, often bringing in her own cakes and cookies, just so she could learn how to decorate them.
This series highlights cookie decorating, cupcake decorating, and cake decorating for the holidays. Whether you are on a low protein diet, or not, these videos take you step-by-step through some of my basic decorating techniques, including the chocolate method. There are plenty of ideas to work with.
The site http://www.cookforlove.org requires registration, but is worth visiting. You can see that Brenda put her heart into it.
The videos are linked to the pages below or can be accessed through What's New on her homepage:
http://www.cookforlove.org/recipe/royal-icing
http://www.cookforlove.org/recipe/buttercream-frosting

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

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.