Crushing on Bread, Glorious Bread

Me with My Baby - I mean my Baguette

I can't believe its been a whole month since I blogged - well, a little more than so its time to play catch up. April totally got away from me but in a good way, with lots of cakes & small parties and then a week long getaway to San Francisco to the San Francisco Baking Institute to take a baking class about Baguettes. Baguettes you may say - what's the mystery about baguettes. Well, let me tell you. I thought I might be bored (!) because I've done some home bread baking and thought I knew what was going on but it turns out, I knew NOTHING. Well, almost nothing. The baguette is bread in its simplest, artisan form: flour, water, yeast & salt (and sometimes a little malt) so it makes a great canvas to illustrate the way bread works and how you can effect the result. More importantly, how you can adjust your recipe/mixing in order to get the result you would like consistently. Before you fall asleep let me just add that the end of every class, we got to eat the baguettes we made - and they were GOOD. Okay, and let me now admit that I am such a brown noser that the couple of times the teacher complimented me on my baguette, I blushed with pride. The class gave me insight into how different ingredients in baking work and as someone who does a pinch of this, a handful of that,
I now realize what a science baking truly is (DUH!!)


Our finished baguettes, waiting to be critiqued

Look at those air holes - now that's a Baguette, oh and did I mention its MINE?!!!!

Crushing on Cupcakes

I have a love hate relationship with cookbooks. The pictures show such promise but you never know if the recipes will really work. That's why most of the time, I do my recipe shopping online because you can read reviews.One of my favorite things to do is shop the book sections in TJ Maxx and those kinds of stores and while in HomeGoods last week, I found a cupcake book by a former baking editor of Martha Stewart and it was LOVE. Simply called cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski, the simple recipes and gorgeous pictures suggested ooey gooey cupcakes, the kinds we all remember from childhood - so I thought, YUMMY and bought.

Cupcakes might be the most perfect little treat you can eat. Even done up in the most elegant of styles, they are still cute and accessible - there's nothing arrogant about a cupcake in the way some giant confection covered in chocolate and surrounded by a sugar cage might intimidate. I've done them a few times for weddings, but my favorite presentation is in combination with a cake for a small event - usually for a mixed group of adults and children so I get to decorate a cute cake and cupcakes. But most often I make cupcakes as gifts for people - so I can give all the special people in the my life a little bit of sweetness for their day.





I've now tried three of the recipes in the book and they're pretty good: the banana caramel cupcakes, easter nests and strawberry. I've had to make some modifications for altitude but other than that they are delish! And making the banana cupcakes got me to make caramel, which I've always been afraid to try - liquids boil at a lower point at altitude and all I could picture was a steaming, sticky sugar mess but it WORKED! Spurred on by my success, I'm going to keep trying the recipes -what I really like about the book is there is enough variety to come up with some of my own combinations - Chocolate covered banana cupcakes, anyone?

Crushing on: SPRING

I know I know this is supposed to be about cakes and things edible but there's something about Spring in the air that you can almost taste. I took a ride with my friend Vicki and her sister Calli and kids to the Daffodil Garden just south of Running Springs. Started fourty years ago by a woman and her husband (and planted by them) daffodils cover the hillside and bobbed gently in the warm breeze. I'm actually sighing as I write this it was so beautiful, with only the buzzing of bees and tinkling wind chimes to disturb the peace. Even the visitors seem to know its a place of quiet, lowering their voices and just taking it all in. The really sad fact: this is the LAST YEAR and I just got to see it. I wanted to share pictures and invite anyone who's coming up to Big Bear Lake to go -it closes this weekend FOREVER!

Crushin on Cinnamon Buns

Sometimes, its not just about the cake. I'm trying to perfect my cinnamon bun recipe and I think I'm getting pretty close. Or else I will wind up really chunky and not in a cute sort of way. I can't resist these - I must admit, there's a secret ingredient which I'm not going to share but YUM for sure! Like a cross between challah bread and cinnamon and cream cheese - gooey and a little but not too sweet (because of the glaze) and warm and satisfying. You know where to get you some - from ME! No seriously, anyone looking to be a taste tester?

Crushin on Vegas, Baby

Anyone who knows me knows I love Vegas - you eat well, sleep all day, shop hysterically and then go home, more tired than when you came but happy. I woke up this morning just dreaming about hearing the pop of the bellagio fountains and the bargains to be had at the Williams Sonoma Outlet in Primm. Oh, gambling, well, that's not really my thing, I got it out of my system in Vermont (but that is another story and certainly not about cake although I have done a red barn but I digress). I was thrilled when couple weeks back a wonderful supporter of my art in cakes asked me to do a dice cake.
What fun this cake was! Poker chips bear the anniversary couples initials and cards that are "blackjack" have a picture of them - it was their 21st anniversary. What's inside? My current favorite filling - vanilla bean cake with bananas foster filling and whipped cream cheese frosting - YUM!!

But it doesn't end there - this past weekend I was asked to do another "21" themed cake inspired by Vegas for twins Nick & Jen:

Asked to make a little bit feminine, red roses definitely fit the bill. I carved the cake to elongate the lines and make it seem taller. What's inside? Red Velvet Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting - taking the "red" theme to a new level. Oh what I would give to be getting in a car and driving the three short hours from Big Bear to Vegas - but since its not "in the cards" I'll just have to content myself with playing with cakes!

Cake Crush: Crooked Cakes or Topsy Turvy

I love making topsy turvy cakes. They are one of the most challenging cakes to build (and they are built) because I can never decide exactly what I want to do with the designs on the layers - the sky is always the limit. I have fun creating the embellishments: curling ribbons or swirling swirls and flowers and then deciding should it have polka dots? diamonds? embroidery? The daisy cake was actually for a wedding inspired by vintage tablecloths.

Welcome to the Crush!

Welcome to Cake Crush. When naming the blog, I wanted to come up with a word (combined with cake of course) that described both the art of cakeing - and the spirit in which I approach cakes. So I came up with "crush" Crushing on a particular object or pattern and making it into a cake and also feeling crushed by cake sometimes - the Crush of the rush of cakeing - how it gets very intense at the end of the week sometimes with last minute orders and my inability to both say no and do a lesser job - I always go full tilt. I would say that I Crush on other people's art when it comes to cake as well - I constantly work on my technique and vision to try to get better. So here goes - not sure where it will take me but check back and I'll share my cakes of the week, as well as revisit older cakes and techniques.