0 Sarah's Birthday Cake

My visiting teachee had a birthday last week, so I whipped up a quick cake for her. I saw one similar to this one in one of the Wilton course books that I teach from. It looked fun, so I gave it a try.

My one learning experience from this came as I tried to make the filling. I searched several stores to find something called Danish Dessert. It's a box mix used to make strawberry or rasberry glaze/sauce/filling. I used it all the time when I lived in Utah. Well, I came to find out that stores in Las Vegas do not carry this item. I found a recipe online that stated it tasted just like the boxed Danish Dessert. Well, I tried making it, but iIt didn't set up like they stated it would, so I had to go back and thicken it with cornstarch. Unfortunately I think I got a little bit cornstarch crazy and put too much in. It thickened it more than I wanted and had a cornstarchy taste. Oops. I know now to stock up on Danish Dessert next time I go up to Utah.

0 Tip of the Day--Quick Rising

Here is a quick baking tip for today. Normally when you are baking bread products (loaves of bread, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, etc.) you must let the dough rise until it has doubled in size before shaping your bread. This usually takes an hour or more unless you use a little trick to make the bread rise quicker. After kneading the dough, place it in a microwave-safe bowl sprayed with non-stick spray. Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave on high power 5 seconds for every cup of flour in the dough (ex. if you used 6 cups to make the dough, you would set the timer to 30 seconds). Next, turn the dough over and microwave again, but half the amount of time (ex. now it would only need 15 seconds). Now just pull it out of the microwave and cover with a cloth until doubled in size. This will usually cut the rising time in half. It is a great timesaver. Happy baking.

0 The Beginning

Welcome friends, family, and complete strangers whom I have never met and probably never will. This is my new site dedicated to my passion--and sometimes obsession--of cake decorating (and anything else having to do with baking and candy making). In some of my posts I will share projects that I have done and/or tips, techniques, and tricks for creating edible masterpieces. I hope you enjoy this site and come back often.