Cake for Kristen

Cake decorating class is on hiatus for the Christmas holiday. So far I've been averaging baking and decorating a cake a week. I was starting to wonder what I would do for this week/past weekend. Kristen, a friend in my class, mentioned her birthday was on Saturday and wanted a cake, but felt weird making one for herself. Bingo! I offered to make her cake for her. I needed the practice and something to do with the lovely fondant roses I had been working on. It helped to have something to do being snowed in on Saturday too.

I had some leftover chocolate buttercream from the Oreo cake. I mixed some raspberry preserves into it and used that for the filling between the 3 layers; 2 milk chocolate and 1 white in the middle. The exterior is chocolate buttercream.

My problem is, I start making cakes without thinking about how I am going to transport them. I have a cake carrier from my grandmother, but the cover was too low for this cake. I ended up using the bottom portion of my cake carrier inside a large cardboard box, balanced on the seat in my car. It made it to Kristen's with few noticeable smudges. One leaf fell off the bottom border, but it was easily re-attached.

You should check out Kristen's work on her blog Let Them Eat Cake.
She makes some really beautiful cakes.

On a side note, I had a very positive admissions interview at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts on Monday. By the time I was sitting in the unemployment office an hour and a half later, I got a message from the director of admissions telling me the wonderful news: I had been accepted in to the Pastry Program starting in January 2009! I bet no one has seen such a look of joy and happiness on the face of someone waiting to file for unemployment.

I'm still working out the details and trying to secure financing (the big IF factor) before I can officially announce my student status. So everyone hope that it comes through. I got the will, now I just need the way.

Break from Cake

Tonight I tried out a recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks: Bread Tomato Garlic by Jill Dupleix. This cookbook is based on a lovely concept of quick cooking recipes that require only 3 main (and very few supporting) ingredients to make. The format is great and the recipes even better. This one is called Pear, Chocolate, Cream. I made a few changes to the recipe to make it my own. I used smaller seckel pears, poached them in sparkling apple cider, used 60% bittersweet chocolate to make the ganache, added a tiny pinch of cinnamon, and made my own ginger caramel sauce to compliment it all. Simple, warm and comforting dessert.


And 5 minutes later.......

Blessing in disguise?

Do you believe in omens? I do. In the summer of 2004, I was barely two years out of college, living and working in Columbus, OH and feeling very stuck and stagnant. Since college I had dreamed of moving, traveling and living a very full life. Instead I found myself working a job that sucked my soul, living with a roommate that kinda made me crazy, and had a boyfriend who, well things just were not working out there. I started looking for my escape.

I had visited Boston several times before and always felt kinda drawn to this area. (though now I'm not sure why) My brother Philip offered to let me come live with him in Massachusetts. There were many "what ifs", but somehow things fell into place. I was working for Bose, which is headquartered in Massachusetts, and it turned out my current job in Ohio was available at a location in MA, 15 mins from where Philip lived.

I started to make my transition. A week or so before I was to move, I was still nervous, being 24 and not sure what I was getting myself into. I stopped by a consignment shop I had sold clothes at to collect my earnings and explain that I would be closing my account since I was moving to Massachusetts. I collected my money: $14.50. When I looked at the two quarters I was given, they were both Massachusetts quarters. Coincidence?

Fast forward 4 1/2 years. They seem much like a blur to me. Being in Massachusetts had it's challenges at first, and still does, but I don't regret the move and the chance I took at all. It has lead to some amazing experiences and wonderful friends. I eventually left Bose to take a job at EH Publishing as a front desk/office assistant. I enjoyed working with the people at this company and quickly made many friends. 2 years ago in October I was promoted to Traffic Coordinator for the Internet group at EH. Things got a little trying in this position and that is when I really started questioning what I really wanted to be doing and cooking/baking started to become the evident answer.

Once again I was nervous to take a leap. Despite not being completely happy in my job position, I was comfortable. I knew the people, I knew what was expected of me, I knew the hours, the routine.....I wanted to break out of it and go do something that made me wildly happy, but I was scared of leaving that zone.

December 16th, (this past Tuesday) due to the slumping economy, I was informed that my job was being eliminated at EH and I was being laid off. I cried. No, I sobbed. Not because I was sad to be leaving EH, but because I didn't think I was ready, and I never imagined this would happen to me. Coworkers shared my tears, hugged me and assured me that I would be ok. As I took their words of comfort to heart, I started to realize this was supposed to happen now. This was the 'nudge' I needed to get out of the comfort zone and start living my dream. I reminded each person as they wished me luck, that if they need cakes or pastries of any type, to call me!

A short 2 days, many, many phone calls to my family, friends and now ex-coworkers, emails back and forth to the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and one pastry class observation later, I feel like nothing has ever felt so right in my life. I am almost giddy. There is a tiny voice way in the back of my head that tries now and then to freak me out, but I squash it quickly. Some people told me to take some time off, I haven't. I'm on a roll chasing my dream and forging it into reality. I am determined like never before to make life submit to my will.

So what have I been doing in my free time other than phone call, class visits, and filling out loan applications? I'm going to the gym, I'm enjoying sleeping in a little, I'm making fondant roses as you can see. I bought 18 eggs, a bag of flour and some more powdered sugar and tomorrow during the snow storm, I'm going to bake up a storm. And somewhere between here and there (where ever there is?) I'm going to clean.

A new chapter starts now.

The Ambitious Oreo Cake

This weekend I took on my most ambitious cake thus far. Not only was it the biggest and most work intensive cake, it had to be done in secret because it was for Pete's surprise birthday party on Saturday. Pete is known to many of his friends as, "Oreo" (rhymes with his last name), so when I thought up the design for this cake, I couldn't think of anything more fitting.

I found a 16" round cake pan at Michael's. Kristen, a fellow cake decorator, pointed me to a blog with a great recipe for an Oreo cookie cream filling, and 3 batches of chocolate cake batter, 1 liter of heavy cream, and entire bag of Oreo cookies, 4 sticks of butter and about 2 1/2 lbs of powdered sugar later. Oh and about 4 hours of labor. Voila!
Next time you eat an Oreo, take a close look at it. There is a lot of detail on one little cookie. I wasn't able to completely recreate the design, but I think I got it pretty close. Pete seemed pretty pleased.


The Oreo cookie cream filling is highly addictive. Sandwiched in between two layers of moist chocolate cake and covered in chocolate and vanilla buttercream. Goes great with a tall glass of milk.
















Tomorrow night we are playing with Fondant again in class. We will be making Fondant roses and flowers. Then next week is the final class for level 3 and then I will start level 4, which is more Fondant and Gum Paste.

I've got competition

The following is an email I received this morning from one of my blog followers. It was a great start to my day. Make sure to see the photos below that were attached to the email.

Jenni,

I realize of course that you have a few entry cooking "classes" under your belt and have made a few fancy cakes and deserts, but it is tough to beat true culinary talent. Especially when it is concentrated in one family like ours. Please note the hard work going on in the icing department (cookie decoration is serious business) along with our award winning taste testing department (he not only can eat the cookies, but he knows the word for it!!) Also note the wonderful consistency of the base cookies and combine that with the fanstastical decorations ranging from super heroes and villains (Iron Man and the special "why so serious" Joker cookie) to our loaded sugar bomb special with more sprinkles on it than you can shake a stick at (or at least the shaker itself). Keep up the good work and we look forward to watching you progress and hope to one day welcome you to the true elite of the baking world.

Sincerely,
Derek
CEO Brown Baking Company

President and VP of the company hard at work.

Their workers take decorating seriously

This one is the taste tester.

Can you see Iron man and the Joker?

Look at those lovely sprinkles!

Derek is my brother-in-law. The photos are of my sister Elizabeth and my nephews, Joshua and Thomas. Joshua loves cooking with my sister and especially likes to help stir the batter when making muffins. It makes me happy to see that he loves cooking and decorating, much like his Aunt Jenni.

Looks like a fun place to work. I'm going to have to apply for a job there when my skills have improved enough to meet their expectations. :-)

Almond Snowflake Cake

Tonight's cake class was the introduction to Fondant. I have mixed feeling about Fondant. On one hand you can do some really cool stuff with it (anyone who has ever seen an episode of Ace of Cakes knows what I'm talking about). Fondant is like edible silly putty and just as much fun to play with. The downside of Fondant is, well it doesn't really taste like anything and it's got a heavy in the mouth texture. None the less, I was looking forward to playing with Fondant tonight.

Last week I let my coworkers vote on the flavor of cake for this week. Almond was the flavor picked. I picked the recipe, "Grandmother's snow-high almond cake" from the Pillsbury's Best Baking Book originally published in the early 1950s. It's a butter cake, meaning the fat comes from butter. Most cake mixes today rely on vegetable oil for the fat. I'm struggling with my "from scratch" cakes, despite my courses at the CSCA. Oil cakes turn out pretty good for me, but butter cakes are still not producing the exact results I'm looking for. This one wasn't an easy one either. After creaming all the wet ingredients minus the 4 egg whites, you then beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with some sugar and fold into the remaining cake mix right before pouring into pans and baking. I hoped with the beaten egg whites the cake would have a nice fluffy texture. The cake came out with a nice softness and a light almond flavor, but did not rise nearly as much as I had hoped it would. Back to the drawing, er uh mixing table.

I think the best part of this cake is the all butter almond buttercream frosting. There is a nice thick spread of it between the two layers of almond cake. Then the entire outside of the cake was frosted with the remaining buttercream and then robed in Fondant. I tried to roll it as thin as possible in order to not have it completely mask the flavor of the buttercream. I'm hoping they will meld a bit.

With the cold spell we had today in the Boston area, the first light snowfall we had yesterday, and the recipe title, I thought a snow themed cake was very appropriate. A slice of this and a steaming hot mug of tea or cocoa might be all you need to beat the winter chills.

Christmas came early......

In the form of a Kitchen Aid Pro 6 mixer! I really wanted a red one, but when I found this one going for a good price on craigslist, color was the least of my concerns. I have been drooling over the idea of having a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for some time and after using one at the CSCA during my baking classes, there was no going back to my $20 hand mixer I bought at Wal-mart. I want to play in the big league now; I need big league equipment.

I thought last years gift of my Anolon non-stick cookware was the one of the best Christmas gifts ever, but Pete has managed to top himself this year. When he said he would like to buy the mixer for me as my Christmas gift, I questioned him, "are you going to do the same thing you did to me last year? Because if you are, I'm just going to buy this myself, I have things I need to make with this BEFORE Christmas!". Last year I was with him when he bought me the cookware. It was early December. Since I was with him and knew what my gift was going to be, I figured that meant I would get it right then and there. NOPE! He took it home with him, wrapped it and then presented it to me at his family's Christmas gathering. Oh, gee I wonder what is in this box? He said he'd let me have the mixer this time. I offered to let him take the dough hook with him to give to me on Christmas, but he left it here. Good thing, I want to try making brioche.

I also got some nice gifts from my Mom when I was home for Thanksgiving. A cook book that had been my Grandmother's, a metal milk can we used to keep the pasteurized goats milk in when I was younger, some mixed dishes that have been retired from her kitchen, a much coveted jar of her homemade salsa (which I had ask for with my fingers crossed) and a jar of sour cherry jelly- made from the cherries that grow on the bushes around my parents house. Mmmmm! This may turn out to be the tastiest Christmas yet.

The place I call Home

These days people move around a lot, living in many different places. I've lost track of the number of apartments I have lived in, considering I've moved at least once a year for the past 6 years or more. I remember my boss at the radio station in Dayton talking about calling Indianapolis "home" even though she had grown up someplace else. Indianapolis was where she has spent a good amount of time and felt most like Home to her. I was living in Miamisburg, OH at the time, in a house with my older brother Paul. This was my first residence post living with Mom and Dad.

Now after living in Massachusetts for almost 5 years and in now in my 4th apartment here, I am adjusting to the crazy driving, stores closing at 10pm or earlier, and the winter, well not so sure I will ever get used to that. However, Ohio is and probably will always be HOME. It amazes me how much changes while I am gone. I grew up in Farmersville, Ohio, and for those of you who don't know it, it is pretty much everything the name conjures up in your mind: small midwestern farming community. But it is growing quickly. House are springing up where corn and soybeans used to be all you could see. There is now a paved walking/bike path that covers the 1 mile between Farmersville and the community park next to my parents house. Even the community swimming pool has been completely redone, now looking more modern and includes a water slide.

While visiting my parents the day before Thanksgiving, I thought about how much things had changed and wonder how much they will change still between now and my next visit. I took out my camera with the intention of having proof of my farm upbrining for my coworkers who laugh at my, "Jenni on the farm" stories , but it turned into more of trying to make things stand still so I can remember how it was years from now.

Here is my Thanksgiving trip down memory lane just outside of Farmersville, OH, and a little glimpse into where I came from and what makes me, ME.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Tarts

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and yes it has a lot to do with the food. Or maybe I love food because of Thanksgiving? Either way this holiday has always been dear to my heart. All the way back to my childhood days when my family got up early to drive to Cincinnati to visit my Dad's Godmother and attend Thanksgiving day mass with her. We would return home ravenous, and as soon as you opened the door the smell of turkey greeted your nose, and made your tummy rumble even more.

My family's Thanksgiving fare was always traditional. A Large turkey (some years a large as 40lbs!), green been casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows baked on top, dinner rolls and Mom's Cranberry Salad where annual stars of the table. Don't forget dessert: pumpkin pie, apple pie and sometimes my Dad's favorite- Mincemeat.

This year my brother David and his wife Lynn hosted the family gathering in their Lucasville, Oh home. There was no lack of food this year as always. I really wanted to make a dessert since I had just bought these adorable little tart tins, but I got beat out by other bakers in the family. I just had to use the tins, so I made some little sweet onion quiches, inspired by a recipe from a friend.

To add some color and different flavors, I topped some of the tarts with slices of asparagus spears, halved cherry tomatoes, and slivers of mushrooms. I especially liked the asparagus ones and will definitely make these again.

And no doubt you'll be seeing products of these tart tins again soon.....

Two Birthday Cakes

It was quite a busy weekend. Spending time with my sister and 4 yr old nephew in Boston, packing for my week long trip back to Ohio for my FAVORITE holiday, and putting together 2 birthday cakes.

The first little cake was made for my roommate. It allowed me to use some of the many Royal icing flowers I have been making in the level two cake decorating class and also allowed me to practice my basket weave for the 2nd cake. The small cake for my roommate is chocolate, a leftover I had frozen from my baking class. It has a raspberry preserve filling and a buttercream frosting. I hope she likes it. I'm actually afraid she'll think it's too pretty to eat.
The 2nd cake was made for Pete's nephew's first birthday. I was informed that Jonah is "coo coo" for raspberries. This is a vanilla 2 8in layer cake with a raspberry preserve filling, topped with an additional 6in layer, covered in all butter-buttercream frosting and adorned with fresh raspberries. The idea was to make it look like a basket of fresh raspberries. I think Jonah enjoyed that cake, but enjoyed the leftover raspberries I brought, even more.
















I really like the look of the basket weave icing. It's a little tough to do, and very time consuming. I learned a few things from these two cakes that I will definitely apply in my future attempts.

I'm giving a little shout out to Pete here, who was a big help during the Sunday morning frenzy of putting this cake together and icing it. He helped me keep my sanity, and made sure the numerous dishes and utensils I dirtied in the process were cleaned up before I left. Thanks a bunch!

Death by Chocolate

I suppose this is the best possible way to end a baking class. I'm sad that the classes are done, and now I must wait till I can afford to take the next classes in the series. We made cakes last night, from scratch. I went with the chocolate cake recipe and the chocolate buttercream icing. I've made plenty of icing for my cake decorating class, so far no chocolate buttercream. Let me warn you, this icing is addicting.

The cake recipe turned out with a nice texture and good flavor. Once the cakes were cooled, we iced them. I got to impress my fellow classmates with some of the icing techniques I've already learned.

Both cakes were soaked with a frambois simple syrup, filled with a raspberry chocolate buttercream and then frosted with regular chocolate buttercream.
I hope looking at the photos and not being able to actually taste the cake doesn't kill you.

4th Annual Fall Feast

I love to cook, I'm sure that is pretty obvious, but the thing I love more than just cooking, is mixing good friends and cooking. Four years ago I decided to host a dinner party at my tiny apartment in Dedham. The menu I planned included Raspberry glazed chicken, potato spinach and gruyere souffles, a green salad with bacon, eggs, tomato, avacado and blue cheese, and for dessert- chocolate whisky cake and my apple pie topped with a pecan crumb topping.

It was probably one of the most successful parties I have hosted and also the most exhausting. By the time it was over, my friends were full, satisfied and raving about the food, and I felt I had spent the entire night in the kitchen and had very little time to talk with my guests. I started a tradition that year, that I dare say my friends look forward to each year.

This year I wised up a bit. Having a smaller kitchen than my previous apartment, and wanting to be able to enjoy the evening a little more, I decided to make it a potluck this year. I prepare two main entrees and my friend didn't hesistate to fill in with side dishes, desserts and drinks. The food was great and the company was even more wonderful as always. It always feels so appropriate to host this in the fall near Thanksgiving because in a way, it's my Thanksgiving with my friends; I'm thankful to have such good friends to share my cooking talents with.

This years menu items prepared by me:
Rosemary and lemon roast chicken
Braised Beef Shoulder Roast

and I couldn't resist, I made a pumpkin praline tart too.

FNS - Friday Night Sushi

I remember as a child thinking sushi must be the most replusive thing a person could eat. I also grew up in the Midwest and no matter how hard my mother tried to get me to eat fish, canned tuna or anything covered in batter or deep fried was as far as I'd go.

Fast foward to my college years. My taste buds finally woke up and I started to rethink sushi, but didn't really try it till I moved to Massachusetts and then I was hooked. My friend Leah introduced me to Asahi, my favorite sushi restaurant in Brighton. Often we'd meet up there for a friday night sushi dinner before heading off to the Havana club for salsa dancing.

I've wanted to learn to make sushi for some time now, but classes in Boston are few and almost always sold out. The CSCA, where I have been taking the baking classes, offers sushi class too and I signed up.

It turns out that sushi is not really difficult to make; the big challenge is to cook the rice properly and season it just right. Another challenge is to get sushi grade fish. You don't want to take chances with raw fish. Thankfully living in Boston, fresh fish is not too hard to find. Once you have all this, it's really up to your creativity and rolling skills.

I made the spicy tuna roll, one of my favorites. However if I make this one at home, I may rearrange the recipe a bit to suit my tastes. Other fillings we used in the class included salmon, fresh veggies, vegetable and shrimp tempura, and buckwheat soba noodles. Below is a slide show of the other photos I took.



And for those of you who are still squeamish about raw fish, sushi can also be made with cooked fish or just vegetables and it a very healthy meal. Now I just need to get a rice cooker and a sushi mat to try this at home.

Call for help.

I've been receiving much praise and encouragement from everyone lately. I really appreciate the support and the obliging taste testers. Many people have said, 'oh you need to open a bakery', or 'you should do this full time', ect. Believe me, it crosses my mind, even more so as I try new things and receive great reviews. It has always been a dream somewhere in the back of my head, and is now seeming very much in reach.

A coworker today commented that a fund should be started to send me to more cooking classes, and who ever contributes would get to vote on what kind of class I should take and get to eat the results. I'd be more than game for this. But I'm not here to ask for money. I'm going to ask for your help in a much more, well enjoyable way and less-expensive-than-paying-for-culinary-school way. Here is how you can help me succeed and share in the results of my trials.

Next time you need a cake, a pie, a dessert and you start to think, 'oh I'll just stop at the market and pick something up', STOP! Call me and tell me what you need. I will only ask that you contribute to the cost of the supplies (which in most cases is going to be much less than the cost of that less than exciting dessert you're going to end up with from the local grocery). This is going to be a benefit to both of us. I will get practice on making the cake, decorating it, and baking to suit someone elses tastes. You will get the freshest and best possible dessert for a small cost. So, what do ya think?

I really need to improve my skills, cause I may have promised to make a friend's wedding cake for them as their wedding gift......thankfully I don't think they've set the date yet. :-)

Bite size cream puffs and pizzettes = Very busy Sunday

First, I just want you to know it is waaaaaaay past my bedtime. This is unfortunately becoming a Sunday night habit for me. My Sunday started off with a pumpkin muffin for breakfast with Pete and then church with my roommate, followed by a trip to Trader Joes and upon returning to my apartment, a flurry of cream puff making and then off to baking class. Return home, visit with my downstairs neighbors, mix up Royal icing for cake class tomorrow and just as I start to think about going to bed.....Oh I can't disappoint all of you who have been anxiously awaiting my next post (even if it may only be one person). I hope you appreciate my sacrafice of sleep to bring you this up to the minute post.

Tonight was the third class; meaning we covered breads, and sadly also that next week is the last class of the series. Once again very many tempting options to try. I was going to offer to make the Rosemary Garlic bread. Trying to go savory since I've been inudated with sweets lately. No one offered to make the pizzettes; the first recipe on the list. I didn't want my classmates to hungry, so I stepped up the plate.

I've tried making bread on my own before. I get the concept of using yeast, letting the bread rise, ect. My downfall with bread is I get impatient with it. I learned a few things tonight. Apparently, I have never kneaded the bread enough in the past (this I am told will not be nearly as time consuming once I get better at it), and the difference is noticeable now that I have tried it. I experimented with rolling out thin crusts and hand strecthing a slightly thicker crust. I found I prefer the thinner rolled crust. It sgves the pizzette a bit of crunch. The hand crusts were a little too, uh doughy. The pizzettes turned out to be very tasty with great toppings of carmelized onions, portabello mushrooms, peppers and sauteed spinach. I also used fresh and regular mozzerella to top the pizzettes. I can't wait to try this one at home. I love a good pizza.

The bite sized cream puffs turned out lovely. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to run off to class. I'll have to make filling later this week. Oh, but then I'll have another reason to post.

Sorry I can't satisfy your hunger for food right now, but hopefully this satisfies your hunger for another post. :-)

Baking Class II: Frangipane Fruit Tart

We had the opportunity in class tonight to make one of several items; the frangipane tart, a sweet potato pie with a praline topping, lemon curd tartletts, a blueberry cheese pie, a cherry pie, a savory pot pie, or a tomato pesto quiche. Tough choice, but I have always admired the beautiful glazed, fruit topped tarts you see in the pastry case at Whole Foods, or the local grocery. I even tried my had at making them a year or so ago, but didn't have the recipe for a good filling. So I jumped at the chance to make one tonight.

The filling is amazing. Its made of butter, almond paste, eggs, lemon zest and a small bit of flour. I got to use the school's pretty red kitchen aid mixer to make the filling. The frangipane smelled amazing, just like marzipan. Once the tarts had baked and cooled, I got to top them with the sliced fruit and glaze them with a mixture of apricot jelly and kirsch. Seriously, I had to get my hands on some kirsch. Maybe I just need to make one of these tarts on a weekly basis. Oh heaven. And I just bought a removable bottom tart pan at Home Goods yesterday.

The pictures are not the greatest, but this tart tastes heavenly. I have been a fan of marzipan since the first time I had a marzipan heart from Godiva several years ago. This probably also means I would like Amaretto liquor, but I've never really had it. Might have to start using it to flavor some of my upcoming cake creations. The almond paste in the tart filling stands out just enough to please any amaretto, marzipan loving, tart eating person.

Cake decorating level 2 starts tomorrow night. I will be learning advanced flowers and colorflow. Don't ask me what colorflow is. I have no idea. Once I learn it, I guarantee you'll see examples right here. So hang in there, there is more good stuff to come. I promise. :-)