Sweet Mary's Baking Tips

I have search for many tips, secrets recipes, magic ingredients to create that most amazing cake.  What I have found out is that there is no "magic", otherwise we would all know what it is and there would be 1000's of cook books that would simply put it out there.. as baking has been around a long time.  What I HAVE learned from all this research is that it really just comes down to mixing and mixing well.  So here are my tips to becoming a better baker:

1.  Potato Flour is a "secret" ingredient, if you think its fun to say you have one. Replace 1/4 c regular flour for 1/4 cup potato flour in every recipe.  This replaces the need for "baking flour" and helps compensate for the tendency to over work the flour when mixing.  Using regular flour instead of baking flour creates a stronger, tastier "crumb" because the regular flour will bond better with your other ingredients (ie..flavor).  The potato flour helps prevent some of the over mixing problem.  It probably does some pretty cool other stuff too but that is beyond my knowledge.  I just love using it.  That is what I know.

2.  Cream sugar and butter slowly and completely.  Get as much air into it as you can.  If you beat it too fast you will actually push OUT the air.  Beat slow to INCORPORATE air into the batter.

3.  Mix eggs really well.  Eggs WANT to help you bind.  This is what they do and they are eager to help.  Get that stickiness worked through out everything evenly.  The result is happy eggs.  Happy eggs = happy cake eaters

4.  Liquids. You can add a lot of flavor to a cake by using liquids that have flavor in them.  Play with the flavors.  Experiment with combos such as booze (rum, amaretto, Baily's, Kahlua), creams, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, extracts, purees, etc

5. "Dry" ingredients. Sift flours, baking soda, salt, baking powder (etc, as specified in the recipe) together. YES...you do need to SIFT.  When incorporating into the batter, be careful not to OVER mix... but also don't UNDER mix.  This is where balance and practice comes in and is the true "art" of baking an amazing cake.  If you over mix you will make the molecules in the flour hard which will cause your cake to be dense and dry (yuck!).  If you under mix, the cake will drop/collapse in the middle or may not bake evenly (gooey cake..also yuck).  You are more likely to OVER mix than to under mix, error on the side of under mixing until you master this art.  Using baking flour helps compensate for the tendency to over mix (which is why we have "baking flour") but if you master the art of mixing real flour properly, you will have a much tastier and robust cake.

So there you have it.  Happy Baking and Have FUN.  Please add any tips that you found helpful in your baking.

Sweet Surrender

 Sweet Surrender  ............. just give yourself over now

Chocolate cupcake with chocolate peanut butter ganache filling and peanut butter buttercream frosting. 

With this cupcake, you will gain many a new follower and your admirers will genuflect.  Trust me...I've seen it with my own eyes.  Or just eat them all yourself...I almost did. 

Recipe:

Any dark chocolate, chocolate fudge, cake brownie or doctored box recipe (my favorite Dr. recipe is cake mix, 4 eggs, 2 TBSP veg. oil, 1/4 cup milk, 1 package pudding mix in complimentary flavor,  mix all together for 2 minutes, bake 350 till tooth pick comes out clean,  generally 40 min)

For the cake in the picture I used a slightly modified Warren Brown Cakelove recipe for chocolate pound cake which included brandy and turbinado sugar.  My version however still needs a little more work.  I wanted to go ahead and show you the other "parts" to the cupcake as they are so incredible that you do not need a "perfect" chocolate recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

Using a melon baller, carve out a cavity in each cupcake after baked and cooled.  Save the cupcake tops.

Ingredients:
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup peanut butter

Bring whipping cream to a soft boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add chips and peanut butter, mix until fully melted.  Set aside to cool to a thick but not solid consistency.  Ganache can be placed in fridge to speed up cooling if necessary.

Once cooled, place in piping bag and pipe into cupcake cavity.  Replace cupcake tops.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:
1 lbs powdered sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, room temperature
1 cup peanut butter
6 Tbs milk

Mix sugar, butter and peanut butter, gradually add milk 1 TBS at a time at low speed.  Add more/less depending on desired consistency.  Once milk is incorporated mix on high speed for 2 minutes.

I think I will go eat the last two that are in my fridge

One note about Chocolate.  I have read different opinions from bakers regarding using cocoa powder or melted chocolate or some combination of both for a chocolate cake.  I can't decide which is better. What recommendations are there out there?  I'm looking for a deep rich chocolate flavor without being too dense.

GUMPASTE GERBER (GERBERA) DAISY TUTORIAL

My brother-in-law got married this weekend and asked me to make the wedding cake.  The request was for Red Gerber Daisies on a 3 tiered, squared, stacked cake.  This was my first wedding cake.  Here's picture of the finished cake:

To make the Gerbers

Gumpaste (I used Satin Ice, the small container makes 16 large + 4 small Daisies)
Non-stick mat (Silplat)
Rolling pin
Daisy Cutters (I used the PME large and small daisy plunger cutters)
Gumpaste ball tool
Red (Fire and Poppy colored) Petal Dust
Super Red Americolor Gel
Forest Green Wilton Gel
Flower wire
Flower tape
Gumpaste "glue" (I use vodka, but you can use water or a paste made from gumpaste and water)


Step 1:  Roll out gumpaste on a non-stick mat.  1/8 an inch or thinner.  I use an upside-down glass to store gumpaste when not using.  I also use an old nylon filled with cornstarch to help keep the gumpaste from sticking to the roller and the mat

Step 2
Place the gumpaste on the cutter and use the palm of your hand to press the gumpaste into the cutter.  I discovered that this works better for getting a clean cut for all the petals, especially when working with the large cutter.  Make sure all the petals are cut through the gumpaste and wipe away excess gumpaste that may get stuck between the petals.

Step 3
Place the cutter down on the non-stick surface and press the plunger down to get the petal imprint on each petal and then lift away the cutter

Step 4:
Use the ball tool to smooth out the edges then place in flower former.  I used the cardboard separator things that come in apple boxes, which I got for free at the grocery store.  Love using free things!

Step 5
Paint the flowers with petal dust.  You could color the white gumpaste with gel prior to cutting as well which will save a lot of time.  I actually did both because I ran short of time, but the hand painted ones did have more definition.  After painting, add the next row of petals by cutting another set of daisies.  You could vary the sizes up for the second layer.

Step 6
For the center of the flowers, I cut out more gumpaste using a small 8 petal flower cutter.  I then cut the flower into 4 parts.  These parts were then placed in a circle in the center of the flower.  The process was repeated for a second row.  I then placed a ball of yellow/green gumpaste in the center.

Step 7

After the flower has fully dried, complete the back.  Wrap the floral wire with floral tape.  Place the wire in a small ball of gumpaste and attach to the back of flower using gumpaste "glue" and let completely dry.  After drying, cut a green flower (I used the small daisy cutter) attach to the back of the flower using a little "glue".  Let completely dry.  These flowers take several days to dry because of the multiple layers of gumpaste.  To speed up drying time, leave overnight in oven with just the light on.  This works really well and saved me a couple days. :-)

Here's final close up of the flowers

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.

The challenge with this project was achieving a nice bold red color.  I tried both painting and using color gel but neither produced the a bold shade of red.   I would love to hear suggestions on how to achieve a solid, bold red color.    Nothing I try seems to work...what is the secret to RED ????