March 2009 Cake of the Month

Wall Street Bull Cake created by member, Kimmy, Kimmy's Kakes

Kimmy began her sweet journey in sugar art when she enrolled in a Wilton Method cake decorating class. She eventually developed her passion for cake decorating into her business, Kimmy's Kakes. Kimmy specializes in 3D cakes like the showstopping Wall Street Bull cake shown above.

Sugar Phalaenopis Orchid (Moth Orchid) Plant

Sugar Orchids were created by Dina, Sugar Designs NYC

Dina, Organizer, NYC Cake Decorator's Meetup, created this beautiful orchid "plant". The sugar art is made from gumpaste and is potted in a real clay pot. It would make a stunning centerpiece for a garden party. The concept is also easily adaptable to a "flower pot cake" where the cake is actually in the shape of a flower pot, or orchids arranged singly or in a spray. The moth orchid is the perfect flower for a wedding cake or any special occasion.

Dina will be conducting several hands-on classes in gumpaste flowers in March and April. For more information, contact Dina at the New York City Cake Decorators Meetup website.

Gumpaste Recipe
courtesy of Kerry Vincent, Romantic Wedding Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 egg white at room temperature
• 185-250g sifted confectioner's sugar
• 3 tsp Tylose powder/CMC (J)
• 2 tsp firm white vegetable shortening

Remove any embryonic tail from the egg white. Put the egg white in a glass bowl and break it up with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar one tsp at a time, incorporating it thoroughly each time. Only when the egg white readily accepts the sugar can the amount of sugar added be increased.

When the sugar reaches the soft peak stage, add the tylose powder and mix until the gumpaste is no longer sticky. Warm the shortening in the palms of your hands and knead into the gumpaste. Double wrap and store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Topsy-Turvy Class

Members beam with pride as they show off their whimsical cakes.

Isa (wearing the pink cap), taught her first whimsical cake group class for NYC Cake Decorators on February 22nd with great results! Members learned how to carve the bottom and tricky top tier, cover with fondant, and dowel. Although top cake designers say that topsy-turvy cakes requests are decreasing, it's still a fascinating technique to learn for all occasion cakes. For more information about upcoming classes with Isa, contact Dina at the NYC Cake Decorators Meetup website.

Member to Compete Against Pink Cake Box and Cakediva in Virginia ICES Cake Show March 2009!

Dianna Lopez and partner Vanessa Greeley with the 2008 winning cake at MACS live challenge.

The 2009 National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia will feature a main live challenge and two smaller challenges. The main challenge was to consist of only seasoned Food Network Cake Challenge competitors but with the last minute cancellation of Jason Ellis, member Dianna Lopez, the 2008 winner of the cake challenge, was invited to compete. Dianna accepted the challenge and will compete against Courtney Clark, Anne Heap, owner Pink Cake Box, and Charmaine Jones, owner Cakediva.

The Art of the Wedding Cake with Chef Toba

Lynn and LaTasha were thrilled to see Chef Toba demo The Art of the Wedding Cake at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) on February 11th! Chef Toba shared her wealth of experience with creating breathtaking wedding cakes for retail sale. She also demonstrated a unique stencil technique and shared tips of the trade. Lynn's ticket was provided compliments of the NYC Cake Decorators.

Chocolate Class with Chef Jean-Rony Fougere

Chocolate Box, truffles, and assorted caramel filled chocolates were made by Dina, Organizer

What's Valentine's Day without chocolate, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, members were excited to learn several chocolate techniques with Chef Jean-Rony Fougere at the DRM Incubator Kitchen in NYC. The Chef took us step by step through the process of tempering chocolate. Guess What? We learned how to temper chocolate using our senses of sight, touch, and smell--no thermometer. Amazing!

The tempered chocolate was utilized to make the lovely chocolate heart and assorted chocolates seen in the above photo. We learned a trick to making caramel which filled the assorted chocolates, created a decadent chocolate ganache, and learned how to duplicate a custom heart design with a food safe silk screen and tempered chocolate. Members sampled the chocolate throughout the class (the best ever!), munched on chocolate covered strawberries, and brought a bunch of goodies back home. Members are looking forward to more classes with Chef Fougere.

Chef stated that when you work creatively with chocolate you may sometimes make a mistake. This is particularly frustrating if you don't know where you went wrong. Here's a hint from Chef: If your chocolate is difficult to remove from the mold it could be that (1) the couveture chocolate was incorrectly tempered; (2) couverture chocolate coating is too thin, or (2) cooling temperature is too low. Here's a tip: one of Chef's favorite shops to purchase custom chocolate molds is the Custom Chocolate Shop in Canadensis, PA.

Chef Fougere's Ganache Recipe (for Tuffles)

500 grams Dark Chocolate
300 grams Cream (Heavy Cream)
50 grams Corn Syrup or Glucose

Start by placing cream and glucose in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Have the chocolate ready in a bowl and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Fold mixture with a rubber spatula. Place parchment paper in a square cake pan. Pour mixture into the pan and let set.

Enjoy!

Dina

Mandarin Orange Cake

This stunning fondant-covered cake was designed and decorated by Aldana, member The NYC Cake Decorators Meetup

Many cake decorators who sell their cakes prefer to make their cakes from scratch using the freshest of ingredients. However, there are times when box cake mixes come in handy. For example, cake decorator instructors often catch the cake box mix sales and use the box mixes to create their demo cakes for the class. When on sale at $1.00 or less a box, the mixes can be a cost effective way of creating a cake to show a class how to tort, fill, and decorate. After the class concludes, these cakes are often donated.

Adding ingredients to the box mix, will make the end product semi-homemade. For additional information on how to make a cake box recipe your own, visit the Cake Mix Doctor Blog or peruse a copy of Cake Mix Doctor at your local bookstore.

The following cake mix box recipe is courtesy of The New Jersey Confectionary Arts Guild, P.O. Box 339, Garwood, New Jersey 0339:

Mandarin Orange Cake

The Cake
1 Box Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix
1/2 Cup Oil
3 Eggs
1 can (11oz) Mandarin Oranges

Add ingredients to the cake mix and bake according to the cake mix instructions.

The Frosting
16 oz Cool Whip
4 oz (1 pkg) vanilla pudding
20oz (1 can) crushed pineapples (well- drained)

Mix pineapples and dry pudding mix together then fold into cool whip. Frost your cooled cake with the mixture.