Day 5. A photo of myself today

Technically this should have been posted yesterday but pictures weren't taken until the evening and then it was just too late! So these are actually photos of me yesterday. But it couldn't have fallen on a better day... 

For my sister Sandie's 30th birthday my sister Windy and I took her out to Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle. We had never been, but it was so much fun! We went all out dressing up (the show playing is a 1920s gangster theme)... though my sisters looked much better than me because I had to go the make-my-own-costume route. Whatevs.

I hate pictures being taken of me right now as I'm still sporting far too much pregnancy weight that I haven't had time to do anything about. Although after watching those fabulously muscled acrobatic women last night I am seriously ready to start working out again!

Speaking of working out we got to me Dreya Weber who has done many things but to any fellow P90Xers out there you might recognise her from the workouts!

Dreya Weber people!

This chick is seriously muscled... don't be fooled by how thin she is! She's my new inspiration. I am getting back in shape.



Afterwards we came back to my place for some cake...

Happy 30th Sandie!

And I would like to, of course, thank my helpers:

Matthew who helped me make the cake...

and Miles who helped me get ready....



it's my birthday too, yeah

As I said in my last post, we also celebrated my sister Windy's birthday. Her flavor request was simply: coconut. I've been wanting to make something with coconut for a long time... but hadn't really had a good reason! I decided to make pound cake with coconut buttercream frosting, and coconut on the outside. This cake was so good, but really really rich!

For the cake I just used a pound cake box mix, and substituted milk for the water in the recipe. I baked it in three 6" round cake pans to give it a different size and shape (since it was going to be sitting along side the lemon meringue cake). I made coconut buttercream frosting and used it to both fill and ice the cake. After it was iced I covered the outside in shredded coconut.

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Coconut Buttercream

3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. coconut extract
3 tablespoons water
6 cups powdered sugar (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter.
2. Add coconut and water .
3. Gradually add sugar, a little at at a time, until all of the sugar is
incorporated. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl often.
Continue to beat until icing is light and fluffy.

* Refrigerated in an airtight container, icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.
* This recipe makes enough to fill and ice a standard two 8" or 9" round layers, or three 6" round layers.

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I'm suddenly really craving a piece of this cake...

they say it's your birthday...

I haven't posted a recipe for a little while... I've been making a lot of cakes lately and so I've been trying out lots of new recipes. My strawberry swiss meringue buttercream recipe is by far the most popular and most googled post on my blog. Maybe because it is a slightly unusual recipe? I'm not sure. Speaking of unusual recipes... I've got a couple new ones (well, at least one is a bit unusual)!

 

In my family we always try to get the family together to celebrate birthdays on the Sunday closest to that persons birthday. I should mention that I have a rather large family... so there are certain times of the year when it seems like we are celebrating a birthday every week! Well last Sunday we celebrated birthdays for my sister Windy and my hubby Aaron... which means lots of cake!

I have become the unofficial-birthday-cake-maker over the last year (mostly because I enjoy it) and while I don't always have time to try making the cakes look fancy, I do take the opportunity to try out new recipes... or just make up my own.

 Today we'll start with my hubby Aaron... Aaron's favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie. Only problem is, he doesn't like pie crust. Weird? I think so. In my family we will happily eat ONLY crust!

Maybe we are weird.

Anyhow, I thought lemon meringue cake sounded like a good idea! I try to make cakes from scratch, but there simply wasn't time this weekend... in the future I'll have to try doing this the real way!

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Lemon Meringue Cake

Cake:

Lemon cake mix 

 1 cup whole milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tsp lemon extract

Bake according to box directions.

Filling:

1 can lemon pie filling

Meringue:

6 egg whites

3/4 c sugar

1 tsp. cream of tartar

In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, use the whick attachment and beat egg white until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

To make:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress.
2. When cake is completely cool, torte in to as many layers as desired.
{I cooked the whole thing in one 8" round, and split it in to 3 layers}
3. Assemble cake on a flat cookie sheet {or any flat equivalent... you will want 
something without a lip on the edge} - fill between layers with lemon pie filling.
4. Make meringue according to directions. Generously apply meringue to all 
edges of the cake, mounding any extra on top. Swirl into peaks if desired.
5. Bake cake about 10 minutes, or until meringue starts to brown. 
Be careful not to over bake!
6. Let cool only a couple minutes, then using a large spatula,
slide off of cookie sheet and onto cake plate.

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This cake was sooo good! Very moist, and very lemon-y! I think I'm going to have to try tweaking the recipe though, my only problems were that #1: I overcooked the meringue a little and therefore had some issues with it "sweating" ... oops! I have to be more careful next time. And #2: in one spot the meringue wanted to pull away from the cake (on the side)... not sure what I can do to counter that... it's probably the sort of thing that I will just have to experiment with.

In any case, it was delicious!

{ Everyone please take note of the gorgeous blue cake stand! My mother -in-law got it for me at the French flea market we went to! I only have one other cake stand... it's a really pretty Waterford crystal one that we got as a wedding gift... it is SO pretty, but I told Aaron this stand is more my style. "You can have a style of cake plates?" ...yes, I can! This is it. }

linking to:  

Remodelaholic

Just a Girl
My Repurposed Life

 

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This recipe (and more) can now also be found at my other blog: Killer Zebras
*link to this recipe here: Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 I recently discovered this recipe, and it is quite the crowd pleaser. When I first saw it, I dismissed it as something I would probably never take the time to make because it sounded difficult and time consuming. I eventually ended up giving it a try because... well, it sounded good! And WOW, is it good. It's very light and fluffy, and not at all too sweet. It's also much stiffer than it appears, which makes it great for filling cakes. I wanted to make some special Mother's Day cupcakes for Karen, so I went with French Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing. So good!

And so pretty, if i do say so myself! 

I've had several requests for the recipe, so I thought 
I'd post it up for anyone to try.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1  1/4 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup egg whites

2  1/2 (1  1/4 cup) sticks butter, softened

1/4 cup strawberry puree

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together sugar and egg whites.

2. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water. Whisking constantly, heat until all the sugar crystals have dissolved and the mixture is hot. Get it as hot as you can, being careful not to cook the eggs.

3. Put the bowl back in the electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture forms a stiff meringue and the bottom of the bowl comes to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

4. Stop the mixer and replace the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer to low speed and add the butter, a few cubes at a time. When all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer to medium speed and beat until fluffy.

5. Set the mixer to low speed and add the strawberries. Once the strawberries are incorporated, scrape the bowl and continue to mix on medium speed until you have a smooth, creamy texture. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled, it will become smooth again with continued beating. If the buttercream is too liquid, refrigerate until completely cool, then rewhip.

{You can use the buttercream immediately, store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or refrigerate it in an airtight container for ten days.}

{For vanilla flavor, replace strawberries with 3 tablespoons vanilla.}

{After storing the buttercream in the fridge, you need to reconstitute it before you can use it. Bring to room temperature and beat on medium speed until smooth.}

{This recipe makes enough to ice 24 cupcakes, or fill one 8" or 9" round cake.}

Am I making you hungry yet?

Well, I know at least one person who loves it:

linking to: Remodelaholic Recipe Linkup

Wilton Level 1 Class 2

Last night was my second Wilton decorating class, which means finally some hands on work! The first class we mostly talked about what we were going to learn, the different thicknesses of icing, and a demonstration on how to ice a cake. Last night we used our practice boards to learn the star tip:

how to print (this is the most difficult one for me - being left handed it would be much easier to write backwards... then again, it's not easy to write backwards):

and how to do dots:

We also learned the first of the three steps to make the "Wilton rose" 

Afterward we were told to utilize what we had just learned - and decorate our cakes! Sounds fun, except I had no idea what I wanted to do. Some of the other girls came with a clear concept in mind, but I had nothing. I don't do well with nothing! Some people can just go for it and pull something beautiful out of thin air... but I am not one of those people! One of the girls had brought some flower cookie cutters for her own design and graciously let me use them. I stamped some flowers randomly around on the top and sides, and started piping. 

I added the dots last as an afterthought because the cake looked boring, and I think they were a good addition..also it means I got to practice dots. Then I figured the cake needed a border, or at very least I should practice a border, so I added those.

I've got mad piping skills, right!? Just kidding. Here is my finished product:

What do you think? Like my color scheme? I randomly colored the icings I brought, just for fun, so there was no real color theme. It isn't my first choice of color combos, but it could have been worse! For my first cake, I think it came out alright! And, thanks to one of the girls in my class being a sweetheart and giving me a coupon she wasn't planning on using, here is my cake in my brand new cake carrier. Hooray for no longer worrying about dropping my cakes (I would definitely do something like that)!

Class 2 down, 2 more to go for this level. Since I don't have another class for a week, I'm going to be starting on my next project which is refinishing my dining table and chairs. I don't have tons of time so I will be doing one piece at a time. I think I'll start with the chairs. I'll post pictures soon! ...I would also like to point out that these pictures were taken with and actual camera. YES I have finally found the charging cable, so my camera is up and running (it's only been missing since last November)!

P.S. How do you like the new look of the blog? The last one was just too dark for me.

More cookies & How to ice a cake

My nephew Elliott had a birthday this last week and got to bring a treat in to his class. He liked the cookies I made at easter so I made some more for him to share at school! I was trying to get some sort of theme out of him but pretty much all he would give me is "no girly colors" and "no girly designs". So specific! He liked the patterned ones I did for spring so I decided to just go with that. Again, I still don't have a proper working camera so please bear with the less than ideal iPhone photos!

There were a total of 38 cookies, so I'm just posting picture of a few of my favorites. I started mostly with plaid but in the end I had the most fun doing argyle and those came out as my favorites!

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And on to the next: tonight is class 2 of my Wilton cake decorating classes. Last week I didn't post because, well, you don't really do much but sit and listen for class 1! Tonight however, we get to be hands on. So here is my blank canvas ready to be decorated:

It took me ages to get the icing that smooth. I kept smoothing and smoothing for what felt like forever. Finally I decided that this was just not happening and instead I went to my trusty source for all things that need answering: Google. I knew there had to be some secret to smooth icing! I found this great video which was so helpful! She uses a paper towel, however the only papers towels we have are patterned. I did the initial smoothing with a paper towel, but then I went over it a second time carefully with wax paper and it really did the trick! I'll post pictures tomorrow of how the class and the decorating goes. Wish me luck!

Chocolate-E

A couple weekends ago we had a joint birthday party for three family members and I ended up making two of the cakes. Mainly I just thought it would be a fun chance for me to get to play around with cake decorating! Little Emily just turned 1 and since there were going to be other cakes there as well, I decided to just make a tiny one for her. Unfortunately I didn't get that many good pictures of the cake as a whole (and my step by step pictures were mostly taken on my iPhone) but here is a look at her cake:

I am really quite horrible at writing on cakes, so I didn't want to attempt anything that would guarantee the cake looking bad. I had the idea to make a big chocolate E for the top and I happened to have some white melting chocolates (although I'm sad to say that next to the white flowers it looks yellow!). I'm sure there's a name for the technique I used (surely I'm not the first person to do it!) but I'm not sure what it is. Here is how I made my cake topper:

First I printed out the letter I wanted to use (I realize this is not the letter E I ended up with). I wasn't sure exactly what size I wanted so I printed out a few. Keep in mind the letters need to be printed out backwards!

Next I melted down the chocolate and - ideally - would have loaded it into an icing bag with a small writing tip. I, however, could not find a single icing bag in the house. I considered using a plastic sandwich bag but  last time we bought them Aaron accidentally got the Ziplock Evolve bags. All things considered, they are a nice buy because they are made using a lot less plastic... however, they didn't seem strong enough for my purposes. The best I could find was wax paper. Looking back I probably could have gone online to find a good way to make your own icing bags... but I was not patient enough for that! I just fudged it and it wasn't great... but it seemed to work pretty much ok. Here's a look at my wonky icing bag:

Nice, right! Well it did the job. I put a piece of wax paper over the letters and carefully filled in the E. The chocolate melts harden fairly quickly and by the time I went to smooth out some of the lines, they were already hard. In hindsight I should have smoothed the edges as I was working, but so much for that.

Originally I wanted to do a fancy cursive E, but when I was looking through fonts on the computer, they all seemed so thin. I didn't think it would hold together... but I had lots of leftover chocolate so I thought I'd give it a try. I may have also doodled a bit....

When they are fully hardened, flip them over and carefully peel back the wax paper. What you should have is a nice smooth top and the bumpy part on the bottom won't show! They both ended up coming out great, so I went with the cursive E. I will say though, it was much more fragile than the other one and ended up breaking in 3 separate places... luckily I had plenty of chocolate to glue it together!

So what do you think? Now that I've done it once and know better how the chocolate hardens, I think they would come out much better. I'll have to find an excuse to try this out again soon!