Make That Cake: Gilded Lily

I have been absentee. I apologize. I took some time off of baking to lose 25 pounds. I'm getting married in a few months and... well... there are side effects of baking! Namely, effecting the size of my sides. Yeesh.  But I've come up with a compromise!

That cake is a dummy cake. It's a very nice 6x8 inch round piece of styrofoam. It takes the edge of my baking needs, but I'm not desperate enough to eat it. Talk to me after another 10 pounds and I might be singing a different tune!

Recently I made a friend's wedding cake. There was no reason whatsoever for her to pay $800 for a three tier cake when I could make it for $100. Baking skills can save you a lot of money. So can having a wedding cake that is mostly styrofoam. Her cake had two layers of styrofoam and one layer of real cake. She still cut her cake, it looked amazing, nobody knew the difference but it saved hours of baking, and a lot of supplies. Those layers of cake each cost $3. Consider it.

This is the first in a series I'm calling Make That Cake. This cake is a small one tier beauty. I'll be making cakes in all shapes and sizes and pieces of styrofoam. Again, I'm getting married people. I need to not be near cake for a while. 

This is probably the simplest of the cakes I'll be doing. It is elegant, simple, modern, and lovely. If you repeated this design over two or three or more tiers, you'd have an amazing wedding cake.

DISCLAIMER: This tutorial is about spray painting an edible golden stripe onto your cake. This DIY is starting with a fondant covered cake.Covering a cake with fondant is a tutorial all it's own. If you don't know how to cover a cake with fondant, then use this video to crumb coat your cake and then this Martha Stewart video will teach you to cover that cake with fondant. I'm also starting with a pre-made calla lily. That, again, is it's own tutorial (not to mention a big hassle to make. I highly recommend buying them).

Make That Cake: Gilded Lily

Supplies: 

• 1 fondant covered cake (the cake shown here is a 6 inch wide 8 inch tall round). 
• parchment paper, additional newspaper
• 1 gumpaste lily
• edible gold spray paint
• cake stand

Instructions

1. Cover the cake with fondant. 
2. Prepare a large area by covering with newspaper or additional parchment paper. 
3. Wrap a large piece of parchment paper around the cake (make sure a straight edge is along the bottom)
4. Ensure that the wrap is straight with about 1 inch of the bottom of the cake exposed. 
5. Pin the parchment paper in place, or tape it. I use pins that stick into the cake so the parchment cannot slide. 
6. Place cake in the middle of your prepared painting area. 
7. Spray the exposed area with gold edible food spray. Also spray your gum-paste lily. 
8. Allow to set for half an hour to dry. 
9. Remove the parchment paper. 
10. Transfer the cake to a cake stand. 
11. Adorn with a your golden lily.

Butter Beer! aka Butterscotch Soda

When it comes to store bough candy I don't care for many of them. For most candy bars the chocolate coatings tastes like wax, and the fillings are so processed  I cringe when I look at the labels. For all my food prejudices, caramels never take a bullet. No matter what they are made of I love them dearly. Part of it, I'm sure, must be a bit of childhood nostalgia for Werther's Originals. I love them then, and can't seem to kick the habit now.

I've been doing some recipe creation for an online bridal magazine and they requested an attempt at a butter yellow soda. To be closer to butter yellow I could have used other candies, but when I heard butter I thought of butterscotch, and then caramels and of course that meant walking to the CVS next to my office to buy a band of cheap candy. Darn you, nostalgia, you will be the death of my diet.

That poor little bag of caramel didn't know what was coming. The full bag made it's way into a food processor, and was ground into a fine powder, then thrown into boiling water to make a delicious butter caramel syrup. (Frankly, I think this would make a good harry potter butterbeer as well).

The end result is a soda that tastes just like the candies...which I consider a great thing! I don't mind saying I kicked a few back, and the reason that bottle up there is alone, and only half full is that I didn't want to stop drinking the soda long enough to photograph it. I really love my caramels.

I hope you enjoy this soda. I'm on vacation this week in California. Hooray! Ten day trip full of good friends and good food! I've stocked up a few recipes to post while I'm gone. I may be on vacation but I'm a still a food addict.

Cheers! (and fake butterbeers!)

Caramel Soda

1 cup caramel hard candies, ground into a powder (not one cup of powder)
1 cup water
club soda

Boil together the water and hard candy powder for a few minutes until just combined into a syrup. Allow to cool, stir frequently.

Add one part caramel syrup to two parts club soda. You may have to shake a wee bit to combine.

Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies with Marshmallow Fondant and Royal Icing

If you are looking for a sugar cookie with a little more UMPH to it these are for you! Easier than meets the eye, but with all the look of having taken years to make! 

One line reminder to vote for Cherry Tea Cakes in the Express Night Out Best of DC Food Blogger Vote through September 30th! See instructions here!

I tell ya, the Daring Bakers challenge coming at the end of the month was a LIFE safer for me. With my friends' wedding that I am catering coming up this Friday I have been frazzled! It's been absolutely fabulous to have a post done ahead of time! 

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

We were asked to make cookies of what September meant to us....and this September has mostly meant wedding plans. I made some cookies that would be graceful and lovely just like the bride, and as "colorful" as the husband (he he, they are my friends. I can tease the groom!). 

The picture below will show you just how much time I had to put into them, and all the steps. I mean....geeze. What a cookie! But so cute and so worth it! I'd totally do this again! 

My apologies in advance for a week of posts that were predone (i.e. Iron Chef, Daring Bakers, and Baking with Butchie) posts because this week I am in wedding catering meltdown! 

See you next week for a normal and sane Jana! 

Basic Sugar Cookies

½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Cream together the butter (I do not allow butter to soften), sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
 

Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5 mm. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Marshmallow Fondant

1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows

4 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully put the melted marshmallows into a greased stand mixer and stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.

Coat your hands with powdered sugar and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch.

Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Roll out to desired thickness. Press with any designs desired. Cut using same cookie cutter as was used for the cookies. I personally spread a little corn syrup as a glue on the underside of the fondant to help it stick. Adhere to the cookies and decorate with either royal icing.

Royal Icing

2 ½ - 3 cups Confectioner’s Sugar, un-sifted
2 Large Egg Whites
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined. Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites. Beat on low until combined and smooth. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.