Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Save Me!!!!




I've a had week from cubicle hell....and it's only Wednesday. After going to my cake decorating class last night, I was soo tired that I went to bed immediately. As I sit here in my 5x5 square of agony, I am equally as tired today as I was yesterday. I plan to do a post by Thursday so see ya then!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Grand Marnier Souffle

So, I finally took my new KitchenAid stand mixer for a test drive. Needless to say, the experience went as smooth as a baby's bottom. Since I had a friend over for dinner, I decided to prepare something a little simple: Grand Marnier Souffle. Why Grand Marnier?? Well, this week I will be preparing a Grand Marnier cake so I decided to stay within the theme. I found a nice little recipe for Grand Marnier Souffle at Recipezaar.






The star of the show






The ingredients:





The prepared ramekins (brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with brown sugar)



Peeled/zested oranges




Ramekins filled with souffle' batter



The finished product

My thoughts on how it turned out:

I thought it tasted great, however, I felt that it was somewhat egg-y. I'd recommend using 4 egg yolks instead of 6, an equal amount to the suggested number of egg whites. If you want to make this souffle even more heavenly I'd suggest topping it with a Vanilla Sauce.

Vanilla Sauce


4 whole eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups milk
11/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:
Combine sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Boil milk and allow to cool slightly. Gradually add milk to egg mixture (i.e. Temper). If you add the hot milk all it once, it will cause the eggs to cook (not good!) so be sure to add milk gradually, dribbling it into the mixture while constantly whisking. Cook over medium heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain through a mesh strainer into a stainless bowl and cool. If you want to speed up the cooling process, you may also opt to cool it over an ice bath.

If you don't want the added calories, do as I did and squeeze fresh orange juice over the souffle. Simple and divine.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Upgrade!!

After much consideration, I decided that it was time to upgrade my stand mixer. I've been doing alot of baking lately and to be honest, my current mixer just wasn't cutting it.





Out with the old:








In with the new:









The Sunbeam stand mixer was a craptastic piece of poo...and that's putting it nicely. I haven't taken my new baby for a test drive yet but I plan to do so later on this evening. I can't wait to use it!





Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Clownin' Around




This week we had to create the infamous clown (seriously, just google Wilton clown if you don't know, lol) so here's my version of it. This is a dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and raspberry filling. The clowns are light pink with blue striping.


















Check out "spider clown" down there....yeah, that didn't turn out quite like I intended. lol












The shell border I decided to add on










Overall, I am pleased with the turn out, aside from a few technical difficulties. I'm still trying to master the art of a perfectly smooth buttercream. I swear it's like trying to learn quantum physics. Nonetheless, it is getting better.








Next week at the final class for Course 1, we have to choose between the following two cakes:







OR















As of right now, I'm somewhat torn.

I applied!!

By putting one foot in front of the other, I'm getting closer to that goal. I applied to the Orlando Culinary Academy. Orlando is.....6 hours away. This calls for a move!!

*Jumps up from chair and starts dancing around in cubicle*


sidenote: ^^^^I really did do that, you know! lol


I'm sooo happy I could do timetables! Aside from attending college a mere 1-hour drive away from my hometown, I've been here practically my entire life. I love my town, I think it's beautiful but.....it's time to move on. Sure, I'll miss the white sand beaches (Orlando is in Central Florida) and all of my family but this move is long overdue.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Gee, this woman hasn't even gotten accepted yet and she's discussing this as if she put the deposit down for her new home in Orlando, already!". Yeah, I know I may sound as if I'm getting ahead of myself but it's totally intentional. I call it the "Speak it into existence" rule.

I'll be posting my pictures of the clown cake for my Wilton Course 1 Class 3 project this evening so, blog ya later!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Welcome to My Sweetest Dreams!!

As you saw in the last post on my squarespace site (www.cakewalk.squarespace.com), I wasn't a very happy camper. After searching for a name for the site that was befitting to my journey (every variation of the word "cakewalk" is being held hostage by a bunch of unmotivated heifers!) I decided on My Sweetest Dream's. I love it! It say's everything about this journey I've embarked upon. Plus, I love blogger. Squarespace was the most complicated piece of boring crap I've ever seen in my life so I decided to make my move early in my blogging phase.


Just to give a little insight to those that are reading for the first time, this site is simply an online diary documenting me going after my goal of one day becoming a professional cake decorator and bakery owner. It's a personal memoir that just so happens to be available to the public so even if no one is reading it, there will always be content here......for myself. I want to be able to look back years from now to see where I started. I'm a beginner who daydream's of Food Network challenge's and the ability to design cake's that will leave you awestruck. So, follow me one step at a time and let's see where this goes!

Wilton Course 1, Class 2

Happy Valentine's Day!!!


So, I finally decorated this sucker last night......at home. Yeah. You see, my course instructor lacks the desired ability of time management. She spent the first 20 minutes of class waiting on one of the students to arrive THEN she blamed her having to "teach us" (Ooooh, the irony) as the reason for us not having enough time to complete our cakes. Her inability to properly teach (and the fact that she is a hater! lol) has also aided in my decision to take Course 2 elsewhere. But, I digress.


Back to the subject at hand. Here's the cake. It's decorated. Not nearly as elaborate as I wanted to get. I was tired and my bed was calling my name, so I answered. But, what you do have is two hearts intertwining. Hey, it's holiday appropriate. They are two different shades of pink. I would go into detail about the tip and technique that I used and what not but that would just bore you to tears. Besides, there's an email to the left of the page just waiting for you to drop aimless questions in it! lol











Saturday, February 16, 2008

My first cake!!

Okay, let me be clear:





This isn't the first cake I've made however this is the first cake I've made without aimlessly slapping the icing on it. lol Thie cake is a strawberry/yellow cake with a stawberry flavored buttercream filling and buttercream icing. The strawberry cake has chopped strawberry pieces that were frozen a day prior to baking.







I put a dam in place to hold the filling in:








Tasty light pink strawberry flavored filling......Mmmmm, lol







The strawberry layer (with chopped strawberry bits)






Front view of the layers







BEFORE smoothing out the frosting





AFTER smoothing out the frosting (front)







AFTER smoothing the frosting (top)





Tomorrow night this puppy will be decorated in class! I can't wait. I'm so excited. I'm not certain what's going to be done to it but I'll be sure to post pics. Thanks for reading!


Wilton Course 1, Class 1

So, I went to my 1st class on Tuesday night along with 2 very good friends of mine. I must say that even in the first night, I left with more knowledge than I went in with. I learned how I could've kept my raspberry filling INSIDE my cake by placing a dam of icing along the edge of the bottom layer. Now, ask me how stupid I felt when she showed us this "technique". I mean, seriously??





That has to be BY FAR the most simplistic idea ever but did I think of it? Well, of course not. Instead, the hubby and I discussed different scatter brain strategies like, cutting a recessed hole in the the top of the bottom layer then pouring the filling inside of it.......... We're such boneheads. lol. Anywho, my project this week is to bake and torte a cake. I'm allowed to bake 1 cake but I can bake 2 if I desire to have a taller, 4 layer cake. We have to put icing on the cake and take it in with us along with 3 additional cups of icing (1 cup Stiff, 1 1/2 cups Medium and 1 cup thin). I can't wait! I will bake my cakes on Saturday and freeze them until monday. I really don't want to drive all the way home just to pick up the cake but I certainly can't leave it in the car all day. And I REFUSE to put it in the refrigerator at work. I am trying to spare any lives that may be lost if someone should decide to get frisky and put their lips anywhere near it. Be ready for my 1st batch of pics on Saturday. Oh my.

Start your engines.......

....I hear them gearing up! lol I signed up for Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1. It is basically a 2-hour class that I will take once a week for the next 4 weeks. Needless to say, I'm sooo excited. The bonus in all of this is that a close friend of mine signed up for the classes as well! I will be sure to post pics of my 1st project and leave myself open to all ridicule or praise (more than likely ridicule, lol) no matter how awful the outcome. I'm optimistic, though. Now I just have to figure out who to feed it to.

.....And so it began

.....the journey, that is. I've created this space to document a dream. I've always marveled the beauty of cakes that are equally pleasing to the eye as they are to the palette. Over the years, my admiration has manifested into a desire to not only appreciate this beauty but to also learn how to create it myself. Throughout this journey, I will document all of my "creations" with photos (no matter how embarrassing they may be) and descriptions. Now, keep in mind, this is my FIRST time doing this so if you're expecting something like this:








Or this:









........be prepared to have your expectations lowered.....for now! Give me some time and I hope to change that.

 
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