The Perfect Coffee Dessert

This weekend I had my kitchen again and I totally took advantage of it.  My husband's birthday is this week and if you know him you know he is not one for desserts.  I wanted to make him a birthday cake, but I knew he would not eat it so I remembered one of his favorite treats, almond biscotti.  This traditional Italian treat is simple and delicious (and even better when dunked in your coffee). 

Biscotti are twice baked and the history behind them is that they were intended to have a long shelf life.  The ingredients are simple, eggs, sugar, flour, toasted almonds, almond extract, baking powder, and salt.

So much to learn

I have discovered that I still have so much to learn about decorating cakes, but I will only get better by practicing.  What you see below is my practice.  A coworker retired and she happens to be the biggest Red Sox fan I know (and that says a lot because you would think everyone in Boston was, but she is truly the biggest fan).  So what better way to practice decorating then to attempt a version of Fenway Park while also giving something special to a friend. 

Attempt is the key word.  I made a sheet cake covered in fondant.  I did not use the fondant from Michael's or AC Moore, I found Satin Ice online and in some local cake stores and it is a big difference.  It does not taste bad at all.  I then attempted a scaled down version of the Green Monster made out of rice treats.  Next was attempting a hat which was made out of rice treats and covered in fondant as well.  I really need to do a lot of practice covering cakes with fondant, that is all I have to say.  The cake part was easy, but let's just say I was very sad when the Green Monster fell over.  But there was recovery and a sad attempt at making it all work.  So here it is, not the best, but I am happy with it and happy I got the practice.  Most importantly, my friend loved it.

Ways to keep your house warm

What a beautiful day today.  The windows were open and the house was nice and cool.  Only problem was that I haven't been apple picking yet so no pies to make and I was not up to baking a cake because that will be next weeks project (and I mean project). So I decided to warm things up with some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies.  When I make chocolate chip cookies I like to use the Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips and I use dark brown sugar.  Using dark brown sugar will make the cookies chewy.  Finally, I only use the mixer to combine the sugars, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt and baking soda.  For the flour and chips I use my hands with a spatula to combine.  Baked at 325 for only 10 minutes makes them nice and chewy.

Here are a couple of pictures and stay tuned because next week I will be making a cake for a friend who is retiring and I'll give you a hint, she's from Boston and likes baseball.

The flowers completed

In my last blog I posted a picture of the flowers I made and that the cupcakes were in the oven.  Well, here they are complete on the cupcake.

Flower practice

Whether you call her a hurricane or a tropical storm, it's ugly out there and I am stuck in the house.  So what better thing to do then to practice on my decorating.  I am really trying to improve on my flowers so you will probably see repetitive posts on flower practice.  In the oven now are some cupcakes for me to decorate using these flowers, but I just wanted to post what I had so far.  I was so excited to use my edible pollen, this stuff is fantastic.  I picked it up at a cake supply store which is heaven to me.  The only problem is that as I keep practicing I find more tools that I want and it can become an expensive hobby, but it is a really fun hobby.

Monster Truck

In my blog yesterday I mentioned that I was making 2 cakes for my friend.  First was Thomas which I posted yesterday and here is a picture of the second cake I made, Monster Truck.  No carving involved, but I did use rice crispy treats to form the ramp on the cake. 

1st Try At Carving

My best friend had asked me to make two birthday cakes for her boys.  One was turning 2 and the other one 8.  Of course I said yes and was excited to hear what kind of cakes they wanted.  First words out of her mouth was Thomas the Train for the 2 year old and then Monster Jam Monster Truck for the 8 year old.  I was excited and new right away my idea for the truck cake, but for Thomas I wanted to try something different.  Someone suggested the cake pan, but I really want to try new techniques and learn new ways to decorate cakes, so I looked online and how quickly I came upon a 3-D Thomas cake. 

I had planned sufficient time to get both cakes done.  I took a 1/2 day off from work on Thursday to bake the cakes and the day off on Friday to decorate so that there was no need to rush on Saturday the day of the party.  I wish it were as easy as that.  I ended up staying the entire day at work, but I was confident I had plenty of time to bake the cakes and not be up late.  I was wrong.  I got the first cake in the oven and started the second, but my dog was sick.  Sick enough to concern me so off we went to the ER.  I was there for a long time and thankfully she is ok now, but she did have to spend the night in the hospital (poor pup).  Anyway, that was more time lost.  When I got home, cake number two went in the oven and yes it was a late night.  Although baking helped me keep my mind from going crazy worrying about my dog.

So today was decorate day and my first attempt at carving out and stacking a 3-D cake.  It is not as easy as they make it look on TV, but I took my time.  There were a few errors in my measurements so I was a little disappointed that some of the pieces were not the right size, but I made it work.  I found this great kit online which supplied the dimensions and a few pieces such as the face and wheels.  What a great way for a beginner to try out their first 3-D cake.  Directions were easy to follow and while it took some time to complete and there were errors, I was happy with the finished product.  I hope the 2 year old is happy tomorrow for his birthday.