Rafael Longrono's Couture Wedding Cake Demo!

Rafael Longrono's 3 hr. Wedding Cake Demo fundraiser for those Staten Islanders impacted by Hurricane Sandy was awesome!  Rafael was very informative and shared a bunch of tips, hints, and specialty Dominican recipes. Yummy!  Rafael is very warm, articulate, and humorous.  He has a sweet future in cake artistry.

December 2011 Cake of the Month - Reader Showcase!

Photo courtesy of cake designer Roxanne Hernandez.

This stunning gumpaste shoe and shoebox cake was made by one of my readers, cake designer Roxanne Hernandez.  Roxanne is a self taught cake artist, having only taken a few sugar flower classes.  Her custom designed Christian Louboutin crystal pump is extremely detailed along with the hand painted logo on the shoe box cake.

Although the pump is made from gumpaste it is not edible as the sugar paste pump is decorated with real Swarovksi crystals. Roxanne created the mold/shoe design and placed every single crystal on the shoe one-by-one to give it the realism of the real shoe. Check out Roxanne's other amazing cakes at her website, Amazingly Delicious Desserts.

Roxanne grew up in Brooklyn and is proud of her Dominican heritage.  I look forward to sharing her recipe for Dominican Cake in the near future. If you would like to submit a cake or sugar art related article or digital photo for Cake of the Month, please contact me.

 

Toba Garrett to Conduct Workshop June 2009!

We are honored to announce that Chef Toba Garrett has agreed to conduct a Brush Embroidery Workshop with NYC Cake Decorators in June 2009. Anyone who is passionate about cake decorating knows that Chef Toba is a master cake designer and sugar artist and instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City. During her remarkable career, Chef Toba's works have appeared in In Style, Gourmet, Essence, and Sugarcraft Magazines, and her works have appeared in several books. She has also appeared on "Emeril Live!", "B. Smith with Style" and was one of eighteen master chefs chosen to create a showpiece for the 150th birthday celebration of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Chef Toba has also won many international awards, eight gold medals, three bronze medals, and is the author of several books, including but not limited to one of my personal favorites, The Well-Decorated Cake. The book is chock full of hints and tips which elevate cake decorating, and precise piping in particular, to an art. Toba also has quite a few recipes in the book. To get a sneak peak, the following is one of the fabulous recipes for Dominican Cake. To find out how to make the delish meringue icing that tops the cake--you'll just have to purchase your own copy!

Dominican Cake

Courtesy of Toba Garrett, The Well-Decorated Cake

Ingredients
1 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sufar, less 3 Tbsp to use later
4 cups cake flour
12 extra large egg yolks and 4 extra large egg whites (Put aside the 8 extra large whites for the icing)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp light rum
1 Tbsp Dominican vanilla, Bourbon, or Madagascar vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk or pineapple juice
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare two 10-inch pans, brushed with butter and lined with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter on LOW speed (2 minutes). Add the sugar and cream for 3 minutes. Stop, scrape the bow, and cream for an additional 2 minutes. The mixture should be light and creamy.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Sift the mixture twice. Meanwhile in another separate bowl, mix milk (or juice), rum, and vanilla together and hold it aside.
4. On LOW speed, add yolks one at a time to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix until the yolks disappear. Alternatively, add the flour and the liquid mixture in three turns, starting with the flour. Add lemon zest and mix an additional 30 seconds.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the 4-extra large egg whites until stiff (but not too dry) about 3 minutes on HIGH speed. At the end of 2 minutes of beating, add the 3 tablesppons of sugar. Beat for an additional 60 seconds.
6. Carefully fold whites into the cake batter. Pour the batter into prepared pans (two-thirds full). Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 50 minuts, or until the cake slightly shrinks from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Dominican cake will last up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Dina