My First Baby Shower...As a Hostess

A few years ago in 2010, I hosted my first ever baby shower for one of my closest friends, Stephanie. She was expecting an adorable baby girl so of course, we went crazy with pink!

We had appetizers and sangria but my favorite part of the shower was the candy bar I created. I used candy from literally, across the country: Walmart in AR, Dylan's Candy Bar and Pappabubble in NYC and Fresh Market in Memphis , TN (before we had one here). I also made hand-decorated sugar cookies from scratch.

Check out the pics!

 I found these, it's a girl candies, at Papabubble in NYC.

 Below are our yummy lollipops, beer glasses with marshmallows and pink jelly beans; the raspberry punch (sprite with raspberry sorbet) is in the back of the photo.

 Little ducky and flower sugar cookies.

 Below is a photo of one side of our baby - banner. We hung baby clothes, booties and bibs with little pink baby clothes pins on ribbon from the banner. This was a cute decoration that the mom-to-be got to take home with her and use!

 Below is the diaper cake.

Night 4: Results

Monday night: time for chocolate!!!


Having found my gold and white cake recipes, it was time to move onto my favorite type of cake: chocolate. Growing up, my Mymama (my name for my grandmother) made the most delicious chocolate fudge cake. Of course, that's the one I wanted to start with and it was an easy decision to make!


Mymama had given me her recipe (from memory) years ago but I was curious to see how it matched up with the versions my mom and aunt had. Fortunately by piecing all three together, the correct recipe was found. I have copied it here for you below. The cake was truly moist and flavorful and the icing was to die for. We shared it with a group of friends last night and seconds were passed to everyone. 


Now, before we get too deep into the details of the recipe, I have to share a funny on myself. Like any good baker, I thoroughly read the ingredient list before I started making the recipe. On the ingredient list it said PET milk. While at the grocery store, I looked on the shelf and grabbed the can of milk that had a pet's face on it (a cow) and bought it. The first round I tried to make the icing, I couldn't get the sugar to dissolve! I can be impatient in the kitchen, so I then thought, maybe I didn't let it cook long enough over the heat. For round two of icing, I copied the exact same method but gave it even longer to melt and yet, the same result happened, completely grainy base! After two attempts, I have learned that the issue is usually caused by human error (me). I re-read the recipe and then promptly Googled PET milk, which OF COURSE is evaporated milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk! For the third round, I made the icing with the right milk and it turned out beautifully. What a gaffe!


Back to the cake baking and making! Mymama recommended icing the cake pretty quickly after the icing is made and I now understand why, as it cools, it really becomes like fudge and is thick and not easy to work with. I would let the icing sit for a max of 2 minutes after it is made and then start applying it to the cake.


This cake baking session was also the first time I had utilized the tips from Bakerella: 1) to wrap the cakes immediately after they have been cooled from the oven about 5 minutes and 2) use a sugar water spray to keep the cake moist. Of course, they worked!


Mymama's Chocolate Fudge Cake

16 oz. can Hershey Syrup

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup self-rising flour (I also learned self-rising flour has baking powder & salt in it; if you only have all-purpose flour, not to fear as you can mix your own, see link here: Homemade Self-Rising Flour

4 eggs

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Add syrup and then flour.  Bake in 2 layers at 350. Mymama did not give a time for baking. I started watching mine after 20 minutes and it came out at about 24 minutes. As always, test the middle for zero crumbs, with a toothpick. 

1 ½ cup sugar

6 T. butter

1/3 cup PET (evaporated milk)

7 oz. jar Marshmallow cream, but use 1/2

Pinch salt

6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a medium size pan and stir over low heat. After everything begins to melt/mix, boil 1 minute until no grains of sugar are showing. Remove the pan from heat and add ½ t. vanilla, 6 oz. choc. chips and ½ of a 7 oz. jar of marshmallow cream.  Stir and then spread onto your cake.

Night 3: Search for the Great White Cake

Night 3 of baking commenced today and thankfully, my sous chef was back in town and by my side to help (that would be my husband :) 

I'll go ahead and cheat the details below by saying: WE FOUND TWO WINNERS! First was recipe 1 (I will call it white wedding cake) and the second was recipe 2 from Bakerella (Moist Yellow Cake). I paired it with the buttercreme icing I made on Monday night and what a delicious treat!

Here is what I'll be working on this week:

1) perfect chocolate cake recipe

2) designing the bakery's signature royal icing pieces and colors

3) trademarking my future bakery's name

4) we'll see; any plans past three can be hard to keep during a long work week :)

Details from Night 3 - quest for the perfect white cake: 

Recipe 1 from: Can You Stay For Dinner (The Very Best White Cake).

These little cakes have an almost perfect white color. They taste light, fluffy and delicious. The only odd thing about them is that they don't separate from their cupcake wrapper very easily...odd? The recipe was for 12 cupcakes but this one made 60 mini cupcakes.

Recipe 2 from: Bakerella (Moist Yellow Cake).

Form the start, I knew I would like this recipe because you whip the butter and sugar for 7 minutes, like a frosting! The batter is yummy (and zero calories, right?). Since this recipe makes enough for three 8" layer cakes, I made two trays of mini cupcakes and two 8" layer cakes. Now, I'm just waiting for the minis to come out of the oven.The buzzer just went off and they look perfect and smell delightful.

Recipe 3: I got this one from my dear friend Emily. There isn't a link to this one, I'll post it at the bottom of the blog. Unfortunately, my food processor is broken, and I did not make superfine sugar. Instead, I added confectioners sugar which made the cake very unsweet. The texture was good though, as was the coloring.

Recipe 4 from: Sweetapolita (an Old Fashioned White Cake). I tried one of hers the other night and they weren't what I was looking for (not enough flavor). I was anxious to see how this one turned out but unfortunately, it was not very good either. The texture was a little too thick as well.

The more I bake, the more I learn about baking (yes, a novel concept but in the south they say: edjecadud LOL). For example, here are my lessons from tonight:

1. I am on a quest to find the perfect baking time for mini cupcakes. As of Night 3, that appears to be about 8 minutes and 5 seconds. 
2. I learned from Bakerella, that you should drop the cake pan of batter to get the air bubbles out (about three inches in height).
3. To make great egg whites, they should be as close to room temperature as possible. In fact, for any type of baking, it sounds like room temp for eggs in general is best. 
4. In using all of these eggs, most recipes only call for egg whites...NOW, what to do with all of these unwanted egg yolks? Last week, we made homemade custard () but we can't do that every week or I'll gain all of my lost weight back!
5. Bakerella (gosh, she knows all!) also advised the following two tips to keep your cake as moist as possible: a) to wrap the slightly cooled cake in saran wrap to capture moisture and 2) create a sugar water mix to spray on your cake layers to create ongoing moisture throughout the life of the cake. The funny thing about this mix is that hummingbirds would love it, as it's quite close to the concoction we make for them (sans red dye).
6. Superfine sugar - no, it's not good looking sugar. Actually, it is granulated sugar crystals that have been ground into even finer sugar crystals. You can make your own via a food processor. Powdered sugar is not interchangeable for superfine sugar. 

Recipe for Test #3:

Dry ingredients...

2 and 3/4 cups of flour

1 and 3/4 cup of super fine sugar

2 teaspoon of baking powder

3/4 teaspoon of salt

  

Wet ingrdients...

3/4 cup unsalted butter

5 egg whites

1 cup of milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

Cream butter and then add egg whites one at a time untill mixed. Add milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Sift all dry ingredients, then add to wet ingredients.  Fills two 8 inch rounds!  Bake 325- 350 for 20 to 30 minutes!

Night 2: Results

Night 2 was a success!

1. The salted caramel buttercreme on the banana cupcakes with salted caramel drizzle was so good.

2. I made banana cupcakes with chocolate chunks and banana icing. The recipe called for cream cheese in the icing which I think competes with the peanut butter flavor. Separate from the cupcakes, it tastes fine but together, I think it's a little off. For the next recipe, I will try a pure buttercreme with peanut butter.

3. I also decorated the white cupcakes and 10" round cake layer from last night with royal icing flowers from my friend, they're lovely!

Roasted Cod Dinner & Night 2 of Baking

Yum yum yum! I made a roasted cod recipe tonight for dinner and it was delish and super easy. Aka = winning combination!

I did omit the garlic bread crouton and the anchovies and it still tasted refreshingly great and it also was filling. Cod was the type of fish I used. Here is the link to the recipe.

I also roasted slices of zucchini and boiled green beans. All vegetables were supplied from our Harvest Share basket from the Farm, by the Cobblestone Project: http://www.cobblestoneproject.org/.

On a different note: BAKING! I took my confetti cupcakes to work for a few of my friends (with trusted pallets) to try. I also sent a few home with a coworker who has three children at home, their opinions mean a lot! So far the feedback has been that the icing is delicious and everyone liked the cake too. I still may try a few cake recipes but it's good to know one is OK to use and to continue to perfect.

Tonight...I plan to:
1) bake banana cupcakes and ice with a salted caramel icing
2) ice the 10" round cake I baked
3) relax...my back is killing me!

I'll post results back later!

Night 1: Results

Here is the verdict:

1) icing - AHmazing!

2) cake - not quite right. I will continue to adapt/search

I'm going to take them to work tomorrow to poll a few additional people for their opinions.

Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes and Icing

I have an addiction to the ease of using cake box mix. In my bakery, I can't use it! I want to ensure that every item is made from scratch.

Therefore, I had to google some recipe ideas to see if I could find the perfect solution to my problem.

Tonight I am trying my interpretation of Sweetapolita's fluffy vanilla cake with whipped vanilla bean frosting: http://sweetapolita.com.

I am looking to accomplish the following tonight:

1. delicious mini cupcakes
2. a perfect layer cake 
3. delicious cake squares that can be used for petit fours and icing that can melt onto the petit fours
4. determine if this cake and icing freezes well