Monday, August 16, 2010

Hersey Bar Cake aka The Best Cake in the World

This weekend Isaac wanted to get a taste of baking and decorating. We didn't get to do much decorating because of the cake we chose but it was still worth it. At least for me.



You can use:
1 box of any Chocolate cake. (German, Devil's Food, Swiss, etc)
1 box instant vanilla pudding (just the powder, DON'T make the pudding)
1 1/2 c Milk
2/3 c oil
3 eggs

Bake at 350 until done. About 30 minutes. One of mine took longer than the other by about 5 minutes. Not really sure what was going on but it ended up turning out fine.

For the icing:
8oz cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
1 c regular sugar
12 oz Cool Whip (NOT lite)
6 crushed Hersey Bars

I tried this with Lite Cool Whip, not to make it healthier, there is no way to make this healthier! But because it was the only kind. Mix together both sugars and the cream cheese. Fold in the Cool Whip and Chocolate. Let this sit in the refrigerator until the cakes cool and you want to ice them.

Finally the cake is better once iced if you let it sit in the fridge for a night.

Happy Baking!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Baker's Secret

Here's a tip for all the bakers out there. Ever have a cake or loaf of bread stick the pan no matter how much you spray it? Well no more. Here is a simple recipe that will save your baked goods from now on.

1c Criso or other shortening
1/2 c oil
1/2 c flour

Blend all together. Now this doesn't look very appetizing at all, but there is no taste at all. To apply it in your pans, I use a ziploc bag. Just use the bag as a glove and smear Baker's Secret all over the pan, bottom and sides. Another way to spread is by using a pastry brush. I'm not a huge fan of the silicone brushes. They don't pick up much at a time.

Will keep refrigerated FOREVER! But you won't need it forever. This is likely to become one of your favorite kitchen tricks.

Happy Cooking!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Gift Just For You!

This week I tackled covering a cake with fondant and making a big fat bow for the top. Covering the cake was as bad as I thought it was going to be.  (I do know that I will be buying a bigger rolling pin before I do another one though.) I learned though that a square cake is easier to cover than a round cake. So I guess I will be doing only square cakes in fondant. The bow gave me a little more trouble. My fondant was a little too thick, and I wasn't able to work fast enough. You need to really work fast with this stuff or it will start to crack and tear. My bow started to crack at one of the seams. So the group setting wasn't all that great for me tonight, but Isaac and I will be attempting another one this weekend, so we'll see if that does any better.



This cake did give me another idea. The blue, even though it looks Carolina blue, it is actually more of a Tiffany Blue. So maybe I'll do a blue cake and put a big white bow on it and fix up a Tiffany bracelet to drape over the box. I'll let you know how that one goes too.

Happy Cooking!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Banana Cake :)

Well this weekend I spent some time working with fondant. Did I keep anything, no. I was going to, the the ants attacked.

So needless to say, all the fondant is in the dumpster now. But before the attack I started working on a ladybug and bumble bees. Here is the lady bug.


So some of the things I learned. Food coloring is not good for painting! It took forever to dry and was still tacky even when the color didn't bleed onto my finger. Second, use fondant to make the dots and face. It looks pretty good in the picture but not so good in person. I took a carving tool and poked a hole then filled it with food coloring. It looked super cute before the paint, but once it got painted, I think small fondant balls would have been better.

So, on to the really important business. We all know the cake is the star. I tried out the modified banana recipe after my first one failed miserably. This one turned out not so bad! It hasn't fallen apart and I trimmed off the top of one so it would stack flat and it was pretty good. Very subtle banana flavor, so I'll try adding another banana next time.

Even better, the banana takes out A LOT of the fat! So yummy and better for you :) Happy Cooking!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fondant Flowers

So once again I was proven wrong with my first thoughts about this material. I had said in a previous blog that I thought the flowers looked too cartoon for me. Well I guess I'm wrong. They look more realistic than I first thought.


Tonight we worked on daisies, waterlilies, calla lilies and mums. I really like the color scheme and hopefully will do a cake with this soon. I've wanted to do one for a little while, so maybe sometime in this class.


The daisies I think are super cute and so easy! They are cookie cutters :) The water lilies are made the same way with just an extra layer on top.
The mum is actually made with the same form, but there are six layers to make the mum. (the spikey ball looking figure in the top picture.)


And finally Calla Lilies. Simple "cigars" sprinkled in crystal sprinkles and then hearts painted with luster dust, these are green, but you could use any color.

So again I was proved wrong. I know this wasn't that long but there wasn't a cake to talk about. Look for  next weeks blog, Birthday Present Cake!

Happy Cooking!