Spring is here!
Warm(er) weather, pollen, caterpillars, and blooming flowers are making their way into the world. As much as I understand that caterpillars turn into pretty butterflies, I still do not enjoy them falling on my head every time I go on a walk where cascading trees are present. Eek.
I have to say the most inspiring part about spring has been the beautiful variety of flowers that have been blooming. I had a long Easter weekend, which gave me the spare time to enjoy some spring weather and of course, baking.
First I have been experimenting with new mediums other than gum paste for cake decorations: Sugar sheets and Modeling Chocolate. Both were fun use and took a little practice to get the hang of it - the modeling chocolate was very tastey compared to fondant and actually edible compared to gum paste. The sugar sheet was edible as well - but with a different texture and mild sweetness to it.
I made the modeling chocolate out of candy melts and corn syrup, and colored it with gel food coloring. After the "clay" was set I used it to make a peony cake topper:
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| Modeling chocolate Peony |
I also made a peony cake topper with the sugar sheets - I had to color the petals by hand with candy coloring which is oil based. Water in regular food coloring would dissolve the sheet! The hand painting took some time, which made my impatient self a little restless.
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| Sugar sheet peony (made with Wilton Sugar Sheets and colored with Wilton Candy colors) |
I'd say both came out nicely, but I definitely will be trying again with wafer paper next time around and decide which medium I want to use and that will hold up well in Florida weather. The modeling chocolate peony stayed in tact. I experimented with putting it in the fridge for a few hours and then taking it out to sit at room temp- it didn't sweat or get gummy, it stayed dry and the petals stayed together.
Unfortunately, the sugar sheet did not last against the beach side humidity, the petals kept on wilting and would not dry completely, so I will have to rule that one out. Wafer paper may work better as it is not as heavy - will have to test it!
Next I put together a little Rosette Cake that was layered with dark chocolate cake and cheesecake! The wedding couple I am working with are looking for some cheesecake alternatives to wedding cake, and this is one of the options I was thinking about including in their tasting. It is a nice balance of cake and cheesecake - I really loved this combination of flavors and textures. You get the best of both worlds!
The Rosette cake I made is 6 inches in diameter, with 5 layers total (3 layers of cake and 2 layers of cheesecake), and frosted with white chocolate Italian meringue butter cream! I served this cake after an Easter dinner - everyone said it was delicious! The cake was a nice balance of sweet white chocolate buttercream, creamy vanilla cheesecake, and dark chocolate. A few of us went for a second slice! I just realized I have been using exclamation points way to much in this post.
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| Dark chocolate cake - smelled so good out of the oven! Click here for the recipe |
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| White chocolate Italian meringue Buttercream (Click here for Italian method recipe) - Add 8oz melted white chocolate (cooled for about 10 min) and mix into to batch of vanilla buttercream |
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| Homemade cheesecake layers - Yummy! |
