“Thank You Teachers!” by The Cake Artist



Teacher's Appreciation "Apple Cake"

My sweet niece, Katherine, the other day asked if I could provide a cake for her school’s Teachers Appreciation Day Luncheon. I was delighted because I thought it would be a very good idea to do an apple cake. I told Katie to let her teacher know that I would be doing an apple shaped cake.

To the left is the cake I made, a vanilla cake filled with vanilla buttercream, covered with a paste made of carved cake and buttercream. I love to use this under my fondant especially for carved cakes. Toba Garrett calls it “spackle” and I believe it’s a wonderful idea. I got the recipe from her book The Well-Decorated Cake (Oct 1, 2004).I colored the fondant light red then airbrushed it red and leaf green for depth. The ‘bookworm’ I created using fondant. The apple stem is actually the dowel that goes through the cake to the cake board and I cover it with chocolate fondant.

The Process

Carving the cake was a task. I set the cake up in three stacked tiers with the middle tier being the tallest. I baked 2x12x2-inch round; 1x10x2-inch round and 1x9x2-inch round cakes. Each cake is splitted horizontally into two layers. I filled the ten-inch round and placed on cake board, insert dowels; then placed another ten-inch board on top where I began stacking the 12-inch cakes. Dowels are inserted for support, then a ten-inch cake board is placed on top where the nine-inch cakes are stacked. With buttercream sticking out I placed the stacked tiers in my freezer to firm up for about one hour. After taking the cake out I carved from the top to form the shape I was looking for, then carefully flipped it over to carve the bottom…this is when I said a quiet prayer. Things can happen and if it does you will have a very entertaining ‘cake story’ to tell your friends. So be very careful when you are doing the turn. I stick the cake in my freezer  while I used the carved pieces with buttercream to make the spackle paste. I add a little little coffee creamer to soften the cake to form a nice paste. I remove cake from freezer and apply paste filling in all the open pockets and try to get it completely covered. I apply a real heavy coat because it does taste delicious under the fondant. Place cake in refrigerator this time for about 20 minutes to firm up. Remove and apply a coat of buttercream, I apply a light coat or enough to give a smooth finish. The buttercream helps the fondant to stick and I get no air pockets. The size of the fondant to cover the cake I calculate using an un-scientific method…do you want to hear it? Well, I use a product which I purchased from Sweet Wise called The Mat, I love this product. I can roll out my fondant between the mats and move it around without getting stuff on the fondant before covering my cake. So this is how I carved and covered the cake.

I Am a Cake Artist!

Well, Katherine’s teacher was beside herself when she saw the cake. She actually was expecting a sheet cake with an apple on it. So, this is what you get when you ask Auntie Jeannie to bake you a cake, I try very had to do ‘ordinary’ or simple,  believe me I really try. But every time I get the chance to push the envelope, I some times put it a little to far. Nevertheless, that’s the example I was to teach Katie that you can do whatsoever you set your mind to do. Katie said her teacher said, “Your aunt is an artist.” I  smiled when she told me because I am more and more seeing myself in that fashion: I am a Cake Artist!
Hope this information was helpful to someone. Drop me an email if you have any question or leave a comment on this post.
Walk good and happy caking…
Jeannie

Bumpy Delivery–Red Roses Wedding Cake

For those days delivering cake when you don’t feel like a Cake Boss!

No matter how you try to deliver a cake in the best condition possible, some times the ride can get really bumpy for delicate cakes.

Last month I worked hard on over two dozen red roses and buds for a wedding cake which was delivered to the quaint Redlands Golf and Country Club down in Homestead, Florida. If you are familiar with South Florida and South Miami-Dade the Redlands is considered “rural” since the area has a number of farms and livestock. Travelling from Broward County we took the turnpike, then west on Kendall Drive and south on Krome Avenue. During our drive I believe I counted us going over three set of railroad tracks! That can’t be good for a stacked three tiered buttercream cake even if I was driving a Cadillac.

About three blocks from the club, the unthinkable happened…one of the dowel skidded on the greaseproof cake board that the bottom cake was on causing the two top tiers to collapse onto the bottom tier. When I asked Rena, my able assistant with this cake delivery, to check on the cake in the back, I went into shock when she shouted: “Oh my! Jeanette…the cake!!!!!” That was enough to cause me to take my eyes off the road and look behind to see the nightmare any cake decorator dreaded happening to them. The smell of sweet buttercream and the aroma of fresh cake mingled with my panicking “Ooohh nnnooooo!!!!” was enough to make me pull the vehicle over, yes on very rough swale, that was . You maybe wondering if I took pictures of the catastrophe…no, I didn’t that was the furthest thing from my mind. All I was thinking about was, how am I going to fix it in time for the wedding. Thank God I usually plug a bit of extra time in the event something like this happens. However, I do have pictures of the cake before the collapse and what I actually displayed. The chef at the club humored me when I was busy patching the two damaged tiers by saying that he felt like he was watching Cake Boss. At that time I did not feel like Buddy but I asked he for two aspirins for the headache (LOL).

This is the cake before we started the drive (below). Notice there are four tiers…

This is the cake we displayed (below). Ooops! We only have three tiers where did the other go? Left in the kitchen to be cut and server. Yes, I know it’s an expensive bad habit I have, but I always make more than enough cake, for this very same reason (LOL).

Since this delivery I am no longer takes cakes stacked before setup unless I am travelling in a hovercraft or we are in the real space age.

Happy caking and baking ‘till next time so walk good…

Jeanette “Baking Jeannie” Jackson