For the sake of cakeI love cake! The strange part about me saying this is that I think eating cake is all good and fine, however I would probably rather eat cookies, cuz I am a COOKIE MONSTER and that's just me. Give me a choice between a chunky cookie or a slice of elegance and I will pick the cookie nearly every time. I could instead re-phrase "I LOVE CAKE" to a more specific "I love the concept of cake!" I love the way cakes look, how they are symbols for PARTY and CELEBRATION. They are food of happy times and meant to bring joy. I could also say "I love the act of making cakes", as it is an art form all on it's own!!! Cake decorating is one of those areas in life where the worlds of pastry and fine art collide... and it's a weird and wonderful zone. I've realized however, that I spend a lot of time looking at pictures of cakes and thinking about making them, more than the actual act of making them. I have learned and read enough to know how certain cakes are produced and the various fascinating techniques that are used. But, I haven't had much practice in actually making them. It's time to stop being the naive viewer in the art gallery saying "I could do that" and to actually get out there (or stay at home) and actually JUST DO IT. My problem is that I seem to be always waiting for the right occasion for which to bake a cake, because I have this mental block that says: you need an occasion to bake a cake. What if we flipped this? What if the opposite became true? What if... the cake created an occasion for itself? The cake is the cause! (Tiny epiphany, cue tiny fireworks and explosions of inspiration). I need to make time for cake. Resolution: Stop waiting for an occasion and just bake a darn cake. For the sake of cake! Try new techniques! Make ugly messes! Because this is how we learn things. My goal for 2019 (this is dangerous, now that I am officially announcing it as a goal,) is to each month make one cake, using a baking or decorating technique that I have never tried before, or one that I need more practice with. I figure this will be fun, because cake is fun. It's like painting or any other hobby, only you can eat it. If I mess up, it's just cake. I will be learning and growing as a baker, and I will have delicious treats to share with family and friends. Please help me eat all this cake that's about to happen. January: A cake for a FiestaIt's 2019, it's a new year, it's a new dawn, it's a new day! And... I have a new home! Naturally, my roomies and I wanted to throw a housewarming shindig to make things official, and to brag to our friends/show off our new digs. After rejecting my suggestion that the party be themed "House" or "Warm" (appropriate, yes! But also lame? kay fine) we very quickly agreed to having a fiesta themed housewarming party. My favorite theme. And so with this in mind, along with the long-time desire I've had for wanting to make succulents out of frosting... I designed the Paloma Cactus Cake! If you are thinking "What in tarnation is a Paloma?", let me tell you... Firstly, it is amazing. A Paloma is a cocktail with a fun name and even more fun ingredients: tequila (my spirit-spirit), grapefruit and lime. SO, I wanted to let these flavours set the stage for my fiesta-party-cactus-cake. This is a triple layer cake, using grapefruit and lime zest and juices AND TEQUILA to flavour the sponge and the frosting. To really bring it home, I (generously) soaked each cake layer with a dousing of tequila-grapefruit-syrup. This adds flaaaayyyyve and helps prevent the dreaded dry-cake-phenomena. Between the layers is a grapefruit curd, then the whole shebang is frosted with paloma frosting, and decorated with little buttercream succulents. I giggled a lot when making these tiny guys cuz they're just so darn cute! Buttercream decorating like this takes a decent amount of time and preparation and makes a decent sized mess. However, being able to pipe the succulents then keep them in freezer until you are ready to decorate makes life that much simpler and tidier. And remember the golden rule of kitchen: clean as you go. The "sand" crumbs that you see are made from leftover cake scraps that I toasted until crisp in the oven, snacked on a few, then blitzed them up in the food processor. Definitely room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with how this first attempt worked out :) So glad I finally made the time to try this! If a grapefruit-lime-tequila cake speaks to your soul, then lucky you, here is the recipe! It tastes just as tropical without the tiny cacti, but they do make life fun. Happy Baking! Paloma Cakerecipe from Wilton
Paloma Frostingrecipe from Wilton *note:when I made my cake, I only used half this recipe of frosting, and it worked, however I had absolutely none left over and probably could have used a little more to cover the sides of my cake better. If you want to be safer and have some frosting leftover, use the full recipe.
Grapefruit CurdRecipe adapted from Martha Stewart
CAKE ASSEMBLY!
Buttercream SucculentsSwiss meringue buttercream is my favourite for piping, because it is so silky smooth. Below is a favourite recipe of mine that has the addition of white chocolate, which I believe does two wonderful things: helps stabilize the buttercream, and also helps it taste delicious. You can use your own buttercream recipe if you have one you like, or you can even use the paloma frosting if that feels simpler, however you may have to adjust the consistency by adding milk or icing sugar as needed. I liked the contrast of the two frostings on this cake, for their different appearance, textures, and flavours! White Chocolate Buttercream
I would be silly to try and leave instructions here, for I am certainly no expert on this topic. Instead, here is a link to a video that helped me as I endeavoured on this time consuming but deeply satisfying procedure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRTNu-8026k High five to Wilton, thank you! And there we are! Easy right? Get ready to make a mess :) Speaking of which, I can't help but include this beautifully grotesque image of the cake-eating-aftermath: Nobody wanted me to cut into the cake, however I am happy to report that it was worth it as the cake itself was in fact delicious as it was pretty. Yay for cake! We are off to a grand start.
2 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Tiny Tea PartyIt's about celebrating the tiny things. Categories
All
© 2015 Larissa Costella
All Rights Reserved (All images and content are my own unless otherwise noted) |