Cool "Caking" Gadgets

Adjustable Cake Ring...

Ever since I saw this in a baking book, I've been wanting to have one.


It's basically a stainless steel round, the diameter of which can easily be adjusted to the cake size you want. It's what pastry chefs use to achieve their perfectly shaped layered cakes and pastries.

A friend had recently gifted me with a Target card and so I went off and rewarded myself with a Sunbeam coffee maker and this cake ring.  I couldn't wait to try it on a cake idea I've had on my mind for sometime.

This is my cake version of a Filipino favourite, Buko (Coconut) Pandan, traditionally served as a salad/dessert with pandan jelly cubes and strips of young coconut in a creamy dressing.

Two-layered pandan chiffon cake, filled with whipped cream and coconut, sides covered with cake crumbs and topped with a layer of pandan flavoured gelatin.

I assembled the whole thing in the cake ring and left about 1/4" space at the top for the gelatin.

My whipped cream layer at the cake top was uneven, hence that white spot.

We couldn't wait to unmold the cake and eat it, so as soon as the gelatin set, I carefully removed the cake ring and sliced up the cake. 
 

Yummy!


Clay Extruder...

As the name suggests, this handy thing is really for clay but is widely being used for fondant as well, to easily create hair, grass, ribbons, bows, vines, letters, blocks, etc.   It's quite expensive but I reckon, is a pretty good investment if you are into moulding for toppers and other cake decorations.

Comes with 20 disc designs!

I tried the extruder yesterday and it was fun, just like playing!  My youngest son kept asking if he could try it.  The only thing I didn't enjoy about using it was that I had to clean it afterwards.  Can't leave any traces of fondant/gumpaste inside the tube or they will dry hard.


I used the extractor to make the hose and the lines on the helmet.  This topper is for a fireman themed cake I'm currently working on. 

I'm sure I'll have lots more uses for these cool gadgets in the future.  Can't wait!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

 

Mocha Chiffon Cake

Another cake done, this one for a 70th birthday.  I wanted to decorate the cake with something special, something I've never tried before.  Thought a fondant bow would be nice.

With the help of this tutorial, I came up with this gumpaste bow to use as my topper.  To achieve this particular look, I embossed some embroidery prints on the gumpaste then brushed it with gold shimmer dust before cutting the strips for the loops.  After each loop had dried, I thought of experimenting by painting over the prints with antique gold edible paint.  That made the prints stand out more, don't you think?

I had a bit of trouble assembling the loops though.  I used royal icing at first to "glue" them altogether but even after a day, the royal icing remained soft.  Rather than take the risk of it not hardening, I took the bow apart again, cleaned off the royal icing and used melted white chocolate instead.  It ended up kinda messy around the center...and that explains why I decided to add some roses.  They're there to conceal the mess.

The final cake is a two-tiered (6" and 10") mocha chiffon frosted and filled with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  I may have rolled out my gumpaste a little too thick because my bow was quite heavy.  I had to put it on top of a small cardboard round supported with straws underneath.

Speaking of mocha chiffon...I've been getting tons of emails requesting for a copy of the recipe I use.  Instead of emailing them one by one, here it is now for everybody's convenience.  For frosting, I usually make Swiss Meringue Buttercream but you can use any buttercream recipe of your choice.  Add a bit of coffee dissolved in a little boiling water to make your frosting mocha flavoured as well.

Enjoy!

MOCHA CHIFFON CAKE (recipe suitable for an 8” round, 3” high pan)

{A}
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons white sugar for egg yolks
{B}
¼ cup corn/canola oil
4 egg yolks, from large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons water*
2 teaspoons coffee powder*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
{C}
4 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
{D}
6 tablespoons white sugar for egg whites
*dissolve the coffee in a little boiling water, then top up to have a total of 6 tablespoons of water/coffee mixture.

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, combine {A} well. Add in {B}. Beat with electric mixer or by hand until smooth and well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, beat {C} on high speed until frothy. Gradually add in the sugar {D} and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Gradually and gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour batter into an ungreased 8” round, 3” high pan.
4. Bake for about 55 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan into wire rack immediately and cool completely.
5. To release cake from pan, carefully run a thin knife around sides of pan and invert cake onto a cake board. 
6. Cut cake in half horizontally.  Fill and frost with buttercream and decorate as desired.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM (adapted from Shelly Kaldunski's Cupcakes book)

3 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the eggwhites and sugar. Set the bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer), about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan.

Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the eggwhite mixture until it is fluffy, cooled to room temperature, and holds stiff peaks (the mixture should not look dry), about 6 minutes.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the salt and the butter, a few pieces at a time, beating well after each addition. If the frosting appears to separate or is very liquid after all the butter has been added, continue to beat on high speed until it is smooth and creamy, 3-5 minutes more. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Jacket for the cutest little girl

I know this girl...she's the most adorable little thing ever. She is the kind that makes you wish you had small kids again. When I learned she was going to turn 3 in April, my first thought was that I wanted to make her a special birthday cake.  But of course, I wanted to give her some other present apart from the cake and when I found this pattern on Etsy, I knew this was going to be what I would be making for her.

My first try was supposed to be some sort of practice jacket, using only remnants and other materials that I already had in my stash but it turned out beautifully that I would say, it's more than good enough to be a gift.

Pink polar fleece lined with a floral Japanese cotton fabric.  Perfect for the coming winter!

Heart applique with fabric matching the lining

I ditched the ribbons (as with the original design) and instead, added a couple of heart appliques to match the lining.  The jacket is no longer reversible but that's perfectly ok.  It all came together very easily.  The only tricky part was sewing the outer sleeve to its lining along its small opening.  It took me a while to figure out how to correctly do it.  Overall, I would highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to make something like this.

Now, I'm thinking of making another one.  Or should I do one with a hood this time?

Baking burnout

I baked and decorated 4 cakes and 48 cupcakes in a span of four days and I am feeling absolutely exhausted.  I love what I do but it does take its toll on me when it's this hectic.   I only took pictures of two of the cakes cause the others weren't anything out of the ordinary.

For a 37th wedding anniversary.  It's mocha chiffon filled with caramel custard and frosted with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Close-up gumpaste roses.  I love using embossing sticks to make designs on my topper.

A beyblade-themed 7th birthday cake.  Again, it's mocha chiffon (as requested by the celebrant's dad), filled and frosted with Swiss Meringue buttercream.



My kids don't own any beyblades so I just kinda invented my own.  They're not that great though.

I am earning a fair bit with this homebaking thing but honestly, I am not really after the money.  Every cent actually goes to loved ones back home who need the money more.  I am not saying this to brag or to give credit to myself.  All these cake orders are but blessings for which I am really grateful.  To have an unselfish purpose simply gives more meaning to all the hard work.  At the end of the day, after all the measuring, mixing, baking, washing, and decorating, I rest knowing that I am doing a good thing and this truly gives me great joy in my heart.  What better reward is there?

So...inspite of the burnout....I am more than welcoming new baking opportunities.  Keep them coming!

My First "Wedding" Cake

The reason for the " " is because the cake is not actually for a wedding. It is for a marriage enrichment program culminating in a renewal of vows. It is, in fact, not just for one couple but for 40.

I was given just a week to think about how to go about doing this cake. I've never done a wedding cake before so the apprehension was definitely there. When I was given a rather small budget, my first thought was it was enough to make a decent two-tiered cake. Clearly, I was so clueless as to how much wedding cakes cost! When I saw this and this, I knew my cake was going to be a huge bargain.

But as my son aptly put it, even if I wasn't going to get paid for this, I'd still give it my all. True. So here it is...just finished it early this morning...my first ever two-tiered wedding cake!

The top tier is an 8" chocolate chiffon and the bottom tier is an 11" mocha chiffon. The cakes are filled and frosted with Magnolia Bakery's creamy vanilla frosting. All the decorations were made from gumpaste.

I got the idea of the bride and groom topper from a Carol Deacon book. I borrowed the book from the library months ago and photocopied some of the pages that I thought might come in handy for me in the future. I really had a blast making this topper!

So that's it for another new thing for me. Would I want to do this again? Certainly! The experience caused me a bit of anxiety but it was all worth it in the end.

You all know that I am just a self-taught homebaker, right? I've never attended any baking class whatsoever. So...if I can create something like this from scratch, all of you out there with dreams of making and selling beautiful cakes from your own home kitchen, can do so too. Go ahead and chase your dream!

Prince Charming Suit

I generally like being challenged into making things I've never made before...but sometimes, I get myself into these difficult situations just because I find it so hard to say 'no' to people.

I recently met this young mom in the baby shower I attended a few weeks ago.  One day, I got a very unexpected phone call from her.  She said she was so impressed with the handmade baby presents I brought to the shower that she thought I could help her with something.  Her son is turning one year old in April and she was wondering if I could make a Prince Charming costume for him to wear on his birthday party.

I've sewn just a few clothes for my youngest when he was a toddler.  They weren't very good at all.  But then again, that was years ago and my sewing skills weren't that good either.  So I thought, why not?  I'd give it a shot.  If it doesn't work out, at least, I tried.  The timing was in a way perfect cause I just got myself a second-hand overlocker/serger from eBay.  This was a great opportunity to try the machine out.

She sent me a link to this awesome tutorial and provided me with Size 1 top and pants to base my patterns from.  I got to work right away.  Three days into the project and not without much frustration, I managed to finish it.

The royal blue colour was the mom's choice as she had already purchased a hat/crown to match.  I used satin for both the coat and the pants. It wasn't the easiest of fabrics to work with but I reckoned it was the most appropriate and the most comfortable for a baby.  The trims on the pants, collar and belt, as well as the frill on the shoulder (the epaulettes) are all gold (but look yellow on the photos). The tutorial was a huge help though I changed some things to make the whole process easier.  Having the overlocker was great!  The seams were all nice and neat.

Would you have asked to be paid for making this suit?  I didn't, inspite of everyone around me telling me to do so.  I asked payment for the materials alone.  I am not a professional seamstress and I don't want people to expect me to do a flawless job just because I am being paid for it.  I did my best and that's enough satisfaction for me. 

Would I do this again?  Maybe not.  I sew my own shorts because they're pretty easy to do but baby clothes???  My son was joking me that soon, people will be asking me to make wedding gowns.  Oh please!!!!

Speaking of weddings, here's a sneak peek into another challenge I got myself into...

  
Will keep you posted on how that went!  Wish me luck...

Alone again

I never would have thought that watching re-runs of Dragonball Z and That's So Raven with my four kids nearly every single night for the past two months would make me miss them as they all went back to school.  While in the past, I would look forward to being alone again after the lengthy vacation, this time around, it's like a big part of me had gone missing.

We didn't do anything much out of the ordinary during the school holidays.  It's summer and we didn't even go to the beach, not even once!  Personally though, I feel my family bonded a lot more by staying home .  We played boardgames and ping pong, watched our favourite TV shows and laughed together, stayed up late every single night.  Considering three of my kids are teenagers, I think doing these things with them was priceless and worth much more than any trip to the beach.

So now, I should get back to normality, to my old routine and to faithfully doing my chores (which I slightly neglected when my kids were around).  I surely am looking forward to more sewing, baking and more computer time too!

Before I end, here's a simple laptop sleeve I recently sewed up for my daughter.  I made her a laptop bag at the beginning of the school year last year but after using it for sometime, she found it difficult for her to be carrying that plus her heavy backpack.  This one, she can just chuck in her backpack along with her other stuff.

I used the leftover denim from the laptop bag and appliqued a couple of flowers which are actually cutouts from a curtain material I found at the Op Shop a long time ago.  I lined the denim with fusible fleece and used pre-quilted material for the inside (again, a leftover from the laptop bag).

The laptop fit rather snugly because of the thickness of the bag layers but I think the snug fit is actually a good thing.

Close-up of applique.  I think the blanket stitch really adds a nice look to it!

That's about it for now.  It seems I'm getting distracted again.  There's so much to do around the house.  I better get moving.

Have a good week!


P.S.

My patchwork pillow tutorial has been featured in Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Pillow Tutorial Round-up along with a bunch of other cool tutorials!  Stop on by and check out all the links!