Gingerbread House Challenge 2009

this is our version of the Victorian Farmhouse

My brother had a contest at work to make a gingerbread house. He had asked me for help and I of course said yes. The criteria was that it had to be made from edible parts, it could be made from a kit but not a pre-made house, or you can make it yourself. So we decided to make it ourselves. We don't do things out of a box anymore (unless we are short on time and HAVE to get something together) - everything's made from scratch. So we started one weekend prior to the weekend it was due. Buying all the ingredients - I made the gingerbread dough, while he cut out the template.

Then later in the week to the nights prior to judging, it was crunch time to put everything together. Making the shingles from mint chocolate (melted then cooled), the snow was white fondant (my first time playing with fondant - I was not good at it), the windows were not coming out well - making them out of sugar, and to bind it we used chocolate. We got that trick from watching Food Network's Gingerbread Challenge. It's a good tip. Martha Stewart's tip is to use melted sugar but I don't know how long that would take to cool; where the chocolate, you can cool it faster.

taken from the cover of the book we got - the actual Victorian Farmhouse plan

We didn't get everything we wanted to in our plan - a snowman, trees made of rice krispies, or even snow on the ground, but it was a good effort. Next year, we might go smaller with the size. I want to make this gingerbread house that's made with cake.. we'll see.

It's all about the icing/frosting

I seriously need to practice more on my cake decorating, and attend some cake decorating classes (well I can watch the Wilton online videos and practice at home). I've been watching Ace of Cakes, and I soo wish I could decorate like them. Granted, they usually use fondant and just pipe stuff, but still.. I wish I could pipe. I can't even fill the piping bag correctly and use those tips (that goes on the piping bags). I did some research about icing, and there are different types for different things. So I need to learn how to make a thin (yet dense) icing so that I can practice piping "happy birthday" and any other words. I need to learn the art of applying the correct amount of pressure (squeezing) and writing at the same time. There's angles we're supposed to hold our hand/tip at, and too much squeezing can be bad...

I am good at baking the cakes, but I have no creative/artsy talent - this is why if I ever really opened up a bakery, I would need to hire people who can decorate the cakes. I've tried to use the store bought icings to practice my writing - I should've taken a picture of it before I threw it away, but I threw it away for a reason - it sucked. I have bought fondant icing, which Sam has been using to write on the cakes. Sam usually does my piping, but occasionally I see his words start out a nice size and then the letters start to become smaller towards the end. The downfall is that the tube is difficult to squeeze and sometimes you get fondant buildup and that messes up your letters. This is why I need to figure out how to use the piping bag.

I did google and find some tips on how to ice and smooth out cakes (well if you use buttercream icing). I think my best work is Sam's bday cake... it looks smooth and the writing isn't bad. Yes, that is a cookie monster blue. I bought color paste for the icing. I cheat tho - I use store bought white icing as a base to mix colors and to pipe since I have fallen lazy and don't want to try to make the right type of icing. One day, I will learn. Everything has to be made from scratch! (syke)

Yes, I piped these cakes; all the previous ones, Sam did.

Death by Chocolate

As most of you know, I've been allergic to chocolate, yet I still like to eat it occasionally. I do shy away from chocolate when it comes to chocolate cakes, though they look tempting. People ask me, what is it that I am allergic to? The cocao? the caffeine? I think it's more the cacao than the caffeine because I drink soda and used to drink coffee like no other. I first realized I was allergic to chocolate when I was a kid - going through the lunch line and hearing "you're not cool unless you drink chocolate milk". So I did, and every day I did, I went home with a terrible headache. One day, there wasn't any chocolate milk in the cafeteria, so I had to drink plain white milk - and no headache. So I stuck with white milk and realized I don't do well with chocolate, who cared what the other kids thought. Dark chocolate hits me real hard, the migraine comes fast. Milk chocolate, I can take little bites of because it's diluted or whatever. So if you offer me a snickers bar, I can eat the fun size and be alright. So - it's not that I don't like it, I'm just not supposd to eat it.

Now, that doesn't mean I rule out baking with chocolate. If someone requests a chocolate cake, I will make it. The first chocolate cake I've made was a chocolate cake, with chocolate/strawberry mousse and a chocolate ganache. It was for my friend Mandi, before she left for Europe. The next few chocolate cakes I made wasn't bad, but there was one cake, I think it was the red velvet cake (b/c of the dutch cocoa - or was it the german chocolate cake??) I inhaled the cocoa dust and the next day had a migraine. Yeah, I know.. what?!? I need to invest in gloves and a mask when dealing with chocolate.

I'm sure my chocolate cake days are not over, since everyone but me can eat chocolate. My toughest challenge was a half and half cake. My aim was to make them side by side (vanilla or almond cake on one side and chocolate cake on the other). Sam suggested I have them put in the same pan, meet in the middle and swirl the middle to be a marble cake. It's an interesting idea, so I tried it. I think it worked out, though I had to quickly make another batch of the almond cake to match the chocolate cake. So far, no complaints.

My only complaint, most of my cakes have icing or frosting - no one can see the inside. I need remind Sam to take pics of when they cut the cakes at his work. I need to see how the inside looks.

Strawberries, Bananas and caramel

First strawberry short cake I made

I'm having a tough time figuring out what I want to post and how I want to post it.

The other day I made caramel cupcakes with banana buttercream icing. The cupcake was a bit dense, maybe because of the caramel. Sam said it was on his top 5 list of the things I've made. Too bad there's no actual banana in the banana buttercream icing. The actual fruit or syrups aren't working too well with me when I put it all together, so I opted to buy flavoring from my local cake store. Expensive, yes; worth it - well so far yes. The other day I made a hazelnut buttercream icing and several ppl didn't like it. I, myself did not like the way it looked and I used a hazelnut syrup that you get for like coffees or something. I think that didn't work well. Though, about two people said it was "buttery", which I'm not entirely sure what that means, but okay. I do think the combination I used was a bit too sweet - almond cupcake with hazelnut buttercream icing. I had it for my wedding and it was good, but I am no pastry chef.

I don't have a picture of the caramel cupcakes, because well they all look like any other cupcake. hmm what I should probably do is add a little yellow food coloring to the buttercream to look different. I would add a piece of banana but it will turn brown when exposed to air. hmmm

What is it about strawberries? In my cake gallery I have a lot of strawberry desserts, particularly strawberry short cakes. it's difficult trying to find different ways to make a strawberry short cake. Luckily I found 3 different ones. They came out pretty well... I think as long as you have some type of cream filling, and some whipped cream, you're good to go. Before I used to go out and buy whipped cream (Cool whip) but now, I just make my own. I'm debating if I should start using pre-made stuff, it'll save me time and I would be less fatigued, but it's just not the same. Btw, the strawberry flower is not my doing. Sam has talent... so I put him to work. =)

Pecans

This is actually the smaller version of the cake

I use a lot of pecans. Good thing Costco sells them but I think I still need to get two bags at a time. Pecans are great for putting on the side of cakes, esp since I have issues decorating the sides.

I've made this butterscotch pecan cake more than I've made any of the other desserts shown in my cake gallery. I saw it in one of the magazines I subscribe to, and thought I really want to make that. I don't know why. So I made a small one for my guinea pig, and then he asked for another bigger one. I swear the first time is always the best and the second time I make things it's always mediocre-but that's just me. I made it another time for my office holiday party, not many people ate it. I was a bit disappointed, but someone did eat a good portion of the cake. As long as I don't have to throw it out, I'm good.

In any case, I think it ranks among one of my favorite cakes I've made. I think I've tried it but I can't remember. I know I've tasted the icing because the recipe called for rum and not like butterscotch candy or flavoring - I thought it'd taste like rum, but I guess it does taste like butterscotch....

Personally, I like round cakes better than rectangle ones, but the amount of cake that comes in this recipe, I guess you could make a shorter rectangle cake than a tall round cake.

Ube cupcakes/cake

Ube cupcakes with condensed milk buttercream icing and macapuno strings

ube cupcakes (ube topping prior to the buttercream icing)

Ronald's ube cake w/ ube and macapuno strings as a filling

Occasionally I look through my filipino cookbook and want to make everything my mom/aunts have made for parties, but what sucks is that they never turn out the same way. WHY IS THAT? it's that mom/auntie filipina touch that I do not have (because I am freakin american first; not filipina).

I feel I should learn how to make filipino desserts since I only really get to taste it if I buy it myself, or my friend's have a party that serves it. My mom isn't big on making filipino desserts unless someone requests it, but then that's asking too much because she's busy. In any case, I tried to make ube cake/cupcakes. Now, I've only really had ube cake like once - that I can remember and I can't remember what it tasted like. So when I made Ronald's 30th bday cake, I knew I wanted to make an ube cake, but I was afraid it wouldn't turn out right. Luckily the cake recipe I have makes like 3-9" round pans worth. I made 2 and the 3rd batch ended up being cupcakes. Good thing I made the cupcakes, because when I baked the cake, it looked brown and I was thinking "shiet - I messed it up; it should be purple!" Cutting into the cupcakes, I saw it was purple (well more lavender) - so I was relieved. The icing I was not too fond of (I followed the recipe but it didn't look right so I added confectioners sugar). It was alright.

That's when I thought - I'll make the cupcakes again (for my favorite guinea pig) and this time I'll make a buttercream (cause I love buttercream) icing. I think it turned out better, and after chatting this over with my brother, decided to put a layer of ube on top of the cupcakes for added flavor, and then put the icing and then the macapuno (coconut strings). The only thing I don't like about the macapuno on top is that the syrup it's in runs down and makes it messy. =\

Odd note: this is one of the very few desserts that I've made that I actually tasted and liked. I normally do not eat my desserts for two reasons. 1. it's usually baked for someone else so I don't get to really cut into the cake (and no, there are no leftovers for me, but that's okay) and 2. I am my own worst critic.

Red Velvet cake

This weekend I made a red velvet cake. First time - it was for an order for a co-worker's mom's bday. The cake I thought was thick, I didn't realize how big and fluffy it would become. The hardest part about baking certain cakes, is that being self-taught, I am still trying to figure out how to convert a recipe for a 9" round cake pan to one that is 11x15" rectangular. Some sites have said 3x's the original recipe, but I don't know how accurate that is. I shaved off a bit of the top of the bottom layter to make it shorter and I tasted the "crumbs" (yeah so moist and not a huge chunk resulted in crumbs). For a person who is allergic to chocolate, the crumbs didn't affect me. It was really good and really RED. My finger is still red from the food coloring. ugh!

In any case, the red velvet was a success. I will try to upload some pics of the inside of the cake - provided by my friend.

Muriel's Bakery

coming soon!