Cake Wreck......nearly!

In every cake makers journey there will be a cake wreck.  That inevitable disaster.  I don't care how good you are it will happen at some stage and possibly more than once.  Sometimes it may be your own fault or forces outside of your control.  I have been pretty lucky up to this stage.  That is until yesterday......

I have been apprehensive about this last week for months.  I agreed to undertake a vegan wedding cake for an old friend I used to work with.  I was nervous about doing it as this was totally out of my depth but at the same time was up for the challenge of working on something new.  I had already made a chocolate vegan cake before so I understood the science behind the recipes to make it work.  In fact when it came to the baking everything went beautifully.  I even discovered that you can make a chocolate ganache out of dark chocolate (Whittakers 72% is vegan) and coconut cream.  

What I wasn't prepared for was the fondant.  The brand of fondant I usually use is not vegan so I used a different brand that people rave about so I was incredibly confident that it would be super easy. (I should have known better!)  I got my cakes beautifully covered in ganache and covered in fondant and attempted to put a central dowel through the bottom two layers as the cake was travelling for an hour and a half (cake supports are incredibly important with wedding cakes).  My first attempt at this did not go well and I had to take the middle layer off, peel off the fondant and re-cover it.  This put me behind a good hour and a half.   I have to say that there were a few choice words coming out of my mouth when I was doing this! When I finally had the whole cake covered and put together with dowel and support in, ready to be decorated, I sat back and looked at it.  My heart sank.  It wasn't perfect.  In fact it was far from perfect.  The once beautifully laid fondant was starting to buckle, air bubbles were everywhere and it just didn't look professional.  My initial thought was that maybe I was being too critical.  I decided to wait until my husband got home from work to get his second opinion.  He confirmed my fear.  It wasn't good enough.  

What went wrong?  I have never had this problem before so I knew it had to be the fondant.  I would have to start over and it was already 7pm.  It was going to be a long night.  As soon as I peeled the fondant off of the cakes I realized what went wrong.  The heat had caused the fondant to sweat underneath and caused airbubbles and buckling of the fondant.  I decided to brush the ganache with a syrup as well as place the cake in the fridge once covered to let set.  After painful cleanup of the cakes I finally had all three cakes re-assembled and put back together, ready to decorate by 11pm.  My plan had been to wake up early and finish decorating but my husband was a champ and ready to bear with me for the long haul.  I carried on and even got a lesson in air brushing from my husband (I did manage to get a new compressor).  What I thought would be the most difficult part of the cake (the airbrushing) actually turned out the easiest!  Finally at 2pm I had the cake completed and it was much better.  It still was not how I usually like my other brand of fondant but it was good.......I was proud of my effort and that I had persevered and had not settled for the minimum. There is something very rewarding in fixing a mistake and making it right. 

Here are some photos of the cake (100% vegan - dairy and egg free! the small cake was an additional gluten free one also vegan for a guest)  as well another cake worked on this week.  

A Lesson Learnt

This week has been a somewhat disappointing week in my world of cakes.  For Christmas this year I was generously given a cake airbrushing kit, complete with compressor, the airbrush and several colors.  I had wanted one for some time so was super excited about this BUT was also slightly nervous and daunted about picking up this new skill.  What if I was terrible at it?  Suddenly I built it up in my head to be a huge thing and so the kit remained in the box looking at me with a sad face every time I went past it.  "Please use me!" it would say, but I would rush away, pretend not to see it and ignore it.  I was not ready yet.

Finally this week, I built up the courage to take it out of the box and have my first attempt.  The kids were in care and so I was a free woman with the day to spend airbrushing.  I read the manual and even called my husband to double check the voltage.  I plugged it in and she was ready to go.  I started my first sprays and so far so good, I might be able to do this I thought to my self.  All of a sudden the compressor stopped and the airbrush wouldn't go anymore.  I looked up from my work to see the compressor smoking and a sinking feeling hit me.   I blew it up.  The voltage was wrong.  I had read the manual and thought I had read the voltage right but failed to look at the actual compressor and written on it was the voltage 110-115.  We have a voltage here of 220-240 (the compressor had been bought from the States).  What a disappointment!    It was a lesson learned to wait for my husband when using technical machinery for the first time. I did have a good cry and felt a little better when I learned I would have had to buy a transformer to use it which could have cost more than buying a new compressor here.  This afternoon we will go hunt for a new compressor so watch this space for cakes coming up with some airbrushing hopefully!  In the mean time, have a look at a few of the cakes I did the last few weeks.  One was for an off road runner who loves my cakes pops and the other was for a friend of my daughters.

Happy Valentines Day

I knew today was going to be a busy day.  Every second was planned out and needed to go perfectly or it could be problematic.  I woke at 6:45 to find my two angels still fast asleep.  Already the day was looking up.  Usually they are bouncing out of bed at 6:15.  When I finally heard them stir, I went to let them out (because we lock them in) and my daughter had climbed into my sons bed and they were giggling over a book.  Such little things give you such joy.  Oh happy valentines day to me!  It was going to be a good day!  And it was.  Everything went like clockwork.  The kids were superbly behaved, I got everything done that needed to be done and I even fit in a phone conversation with my mum and my sister.  Days like these you feel like super mum ready to conquer the world.  Days like these give me strength to get through the days that go completely wrong.  

Part of my day was to make 40 cupcakes and a small birthday cake for my daughters kindergarten.  Because it was started on Valentines Day, hearts play a big part for the centre.  I used the logo as part of the cake and love the ombre ruffles up the side.  The afternoon was a beautiful high tea for all of the kids and the mums.  They even served the kids their own tea in cups and saucers.  A wonderful party for a special day.  Happy Valentines everyone.  

  

Back to cakes!

Its been a few months since I have done a cake and what a way to get back to it then with these three fun cakes!  The Xtreme cake was so much fun to make as I love wakeboarding and snowboarding.  This was made for a 21st.  The tuxedo/board shorts cake was also for a 21st and was made to fit the theme casual/formal.  Sounds like a fun night!  Lastly the super cute truck was for a 1st birthday and I have to say was my most challenging cake to date, BUT I am super proud of how its turned out.  Its great to be back.

Holiday Update

Its been quite some time since I have posted anything.  So much has happened and life has been a bit full on since November. Christmas in itself is always busy but this crazy baker undertook making 1500 cake pops in December.  I had no idea if this was achievable but I was hoping like mad that I wasn't crazy.  When I found out at the end of November that 1000 of the cake pops were needed in one week and not spread over three weeks I initially panicked.  How was I going to manage?!? After a moment however I had a sense of peace and knew that there was a reason for this and that I would get it all done.

I don't talk about my faith much here but this was so significant to me.  I felt Gods gentle voice of reassurance and knew he had it sorted.  He had my back.  I took a deep breath, got my wits about me and went to work.  Within less than one week (with the help of my mother in law, friends and my amazing husband) I managed to make 1000 cake pops, two cakes and spent several hospital visits with my precious Grandma.   At the end of that week on a Sunday night my dear Grandma went to be with her maker.  Had I had to make cake pops in those weeks following I would have been a wreck.   There were other little things that fell into place as well that I won't go into but I am still emotional over the fact that God showed such great love for me by sorting out the little things for ME?

Its so hard not to focus on the bad things that happen and wonder WHY God?? How could you allow this to happen?? Why did you take my Grandma before we were ready for her to leave, why have 26 young children been shot at a school or why did parents of 10 children and a young vibrant 19 year old lose their lives while serving you?? But bad things do happen and unfortunately no one is exempt. Good can come out of the bad and God can use it and I am so thankful for that but what I am also learning is that God is still showing up and walking amongst the wreckage.  He may not be able to erase the horrible things that happen but he cares about each and every one of us and he is taking care of the little things, loving us in the little ways that we don't and may not ever see or understand.  

This is a heavy post I know but right now my heart is heavy and that's why I haven't written much lately. I am still sad about my Grandma and have found it difficult facing the idea of making any more cakes since Christmas.  I know that in time it will get easier.  Eventually my heart wont break every time I hear the word Joy or see a photo of her beautiful face and one day I know I will see her again.   I have hope in a Jesus who loves me and is taking care of the little things that are more significant than I will ever realize.

Birthday season!

I love birthdays.  Especially my kids birthdays.  Its the one day a year that you can really celebrate who they are as people.  So often as a mum I am focusing on how I can help my child grow and improve upon the things that they may not be doing well (listening, sharing, etc).  Birthdays are the one time I put aside all of that stuff and just celebrate them for who they are and who they are becoming.  They are a wonderful reminder and to be honest I should be doing it all of the time.  It is so easy to criticize your own kids when you see things that you don't like in them and not just let them figure it out on their own sometimes.  I so often have to stop and remind myself to just "be" and just enjoy watching them and enjoy them.   I also think that sometimes I am so worried about sounding like I am boasting about my child that I forget to lift them up and talk about what they do so well at.

My daughter turned four this week and I will stop and tell you what I love most about her.  Maybe as a reminder for myself and also for her to know as well. She is my bright spark, incredibly enthusiastic and encouraging with an incredibly thankful spirit.  Just on her birthday morning she looked at me and said "thank you for my birthday mum".  It melted my heart.  She is one of the boys most of the time, loving to run around and get dirty and willing to give most things a go.  She is a little artist and loves building with blocks, especially LEGO.  I love watching her concentration when she undertakes what she loves to do. She shares so well because she just wants people to be with her and have fun with her.  My dear girl is an incredible older sister.  She adores her younger brother and they are the best of mates.  She loves to teach and to help other kids.  She fills my heart with so much joy just being with her.  Happy Birthday to my little buddy!  Mummy loves you dearly. xx  

What do you love most about your kids??  Stop for a minute and think about it and maybe write it down.  They love to hear it and will love to read it one day. 

Here are some photos of the birthday party (a joint one for her brother and her) as well as the cake made for kindy!  Enjoy. :)

Homesick blues

Homesickness has a way of sneaking up on you out of no where.  For me it always happens in a public place which makes it somewhat worse.  Years ago it was the supermarket.  All I wanted was a specific ingredient to make a special recipe my mum always makes for Christmas and when I found New Zealand didn't carry it I was a mess.  A couple years later it was the post office when I was told I couldn't mail peanut slabs to my mum for her birthday.  Yesterday, it happened to be the post office again.  I wonder if the post office has many cases of the homesick blues but somehow I think I'm probably the only one that's broken down over not being able to send cookies.  I am pretty sure the lady thought I was crazy.  I mean cookies?  But these were very special cookies.  Time and love went into these cookies and I was SURE I was able to send them.  I had done my research and was sure it was OK    A lesson very much learnt as next time I will phone before I get so excited.  What I have figured out is that its OK to bring baked goods into the country but not to send them.  Next time I will have to hop on a plane to personally deliver them.

After my breakdown I decided I had to give these cookies away.  They were making me too sad.  I was almost very tempted to give them to the ladies in the post office to show them the love that went into them, BUT they delivered me my very bad news so decided it wasn't in me to make their day.  In the end I decided to deliver them to one of my aunties (the next best thing, or third best thing after Grandma).  This particular auntie had had a birthday in the weekend and was burgled twice in the last two weeks so thought she could use some extra love in her day.   It made me feel much better visiting her and I am now only tearing up mildly as I write this (I might have been a blubbering mess).

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mum.  I was sending you these cookies but some mean people at the post office said I couldn't.  Something else is on its way but no where near as exciting. Love you heaps!