Updates pics of our shop

Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures! I finally remembered to bring my camera. I really should get one to keep there permanently. Anyway, here's our set up. It's more function that pretty but at least we can work out of it now. We'll work on making it pretty as we earn more money. :)

Exhausted but the shop is ready!

Today our shop passed the final inspection from the health department which means we can open! Although I might wait a week or two to officially open since I am completely wiped out. :) This endeavor was a lot of stress and work. But I'm looking forward to working out of my shop and advertising. It took us a while to find a plumber and get the sinks installed but thankfully we were able to find a good plumber who took care of it quickly. I'm so excited to move in and start working. Have I already mentioned that? I have a lot of cake sketches I want to turn into cakes but have been too preoccupied with business stuff. But first I have to give my house a thorough cleaning since it's been neglected lately. Thanks so much everyone for your support and well wishes!

This is what's been keeping me busy

A few months ago, my friend and I decided we'd finally like to start our own businesses. She would keep her business and I would keep mine, but we'd split the rent on a commercial space and just share the shop. Since then we've been trying to get everything lined up, business plans, finances, buying up equipment as we found it at a good price, etc. We also fell in love with a space for rent that used to be a restaurant, which meant we wouldn't have to renovate it too much. We finally signed the lease a couple of weeks ago so I cleaned it up and took pictures to show off. It's so cute and kind of secluded which normally wouldn't be a good thing for a business but since we'll only be open by appointment only then it's perfect for us. And as an added bonus, we were able to find another girl to share the rent with who wants to open her own cookie business. Now the only thing in our way is all the permits and licenses we need. The first and easiest one that we have to get isn't proving so easy to get. In fact, it's stalled everything since we can't even turn the electricity on until we get it. I've been nicely harrassing them a couple of times a day so hopefully it will pay off soon. At least before I lose it and bust into their office with my big rolling pin. Oh, and here are pictures of my shop.

Doberge Cake

I recently video taped myself making a chocolate doberge cake for my brother's birthday. A couple of friends were asking me how to do it so I figured I would share it with all of you. You start with 2 layers of yellow cake. Then it's filled with chocolate bavarian cream. Homemade is definitely the best. The cake supply stores sell some premade but it's pretty gross. Here's the recipe I used but next time I will use milk chocolate instead of semi sweet because I'm a milk chocolate kind of girl. This was found on grouprecipes.com

Chocolate Bavarian Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/4 oz. unflavored gelatin (one envelope)
5 oz. chocolate, chopped (semi sweet or milk)
1/4 cup water
5 TBS sugar
3 large egg yolks

• Put the 1/4 c of water in small bowl & sprinkle the gelatin over it.
• Put the egg yolks into a large bowl & whisk lightly to mix.
• Add the sugar & whisk until smooth.
• Put the milk into a saucepan & bring just to a boil.
• Gradually whisk the hot milk into the yolks.
• Then return the mixture into the saucepan.
• Cook the custard over medium-low heat, scraping the bottom of the pan constantly with a wooden spoon.
• Cook the custard sauce until it reaches 165 to 170°F on an instant read thermometer
  
• Run your finger down the middle of the custard, & if the trail stays it's ready).
• Melt the chocolate in a microwave.
• Stir the softened gelatin into the custard, whisking until the gelatin is dissolved.
• Whisk the custard into the chocolate.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl & allow this to cool to about room temp.
• Place in refrigerator for 20 mins, stirring every 5 mins.

Be careful when whisking the milk into the yolks. If you put too much hot liquid too quickly into the yolks, you will have scrambled eggs. Just pour in a small amount at first.

Ganache
by: Chef Taz

8 oz. cream
1 TBS butter (optional but makes it stay really shiny even after refrigerating)
1 oz. sugar
12 oz (340 g)chocolate

Footnote
White chocolate use nearly double the chocolate to cream
240 ml cream
455 g white chocolate

• Break chocolate into 1/2 oz pieces and place in stainless steel bowl.
  
• Heat cream, butter and sugar to boiling. Pour over chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Stir from center out until smooth. After refrigerating 1 hour then fill your piping bag
• Or use to ice your cake by pouring or spreading (allow to cool to room temp first)

So there are the recipes I used to make a Doberge cake. You can also make a lemon doberge cake by using lemon filling, white buttercream, and poured fondant icing with a little lemon extract added. Very good. And here's the video demonstrating how I made it.

Cake Cookie Sandwiches

I made this recipe out of desperation one day. I wanted something sweet and chocolate but I was out of everything I could possibly use to make anything decent. No chocolate chips, no cocoa powder, no milk, I think I may even have been out of sugar. What I did have was some frozen buttercream and one chocolate cake mix. I definitely didn't want cake but I remembered hearing someone mention being able to make cookies from a cake mix. So I looked it up on the internet and found this recipe that called for very few ingredients. Perfect! They came out similar to the Doozies from the Great American Cookie Co.

Cake Mix Cookies
By Jan White

1 pkg. cake mix (any flavor but I've only made chocolate)
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water

Mix well. Just like cookie dough, drop on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes. When they've cooled down spoon buttercream on one and sandwich together. Feel free to add chocolate chips, nuts, oatmeal, whatever you want in your cookies.

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

As if we needed an easier way to add volume to our hips, someone discovered how to make a cake in the microwave within a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, it's really quick and easy so I find myself making it when normally, I would bypass sweets because I don't feel like going to the trouble of baking. The recipe I found that tastes the best was posted on an online forum by a woman named Jeanie, so that's as much as I can credit her. I make mine in a bowl because my mugs are kind of small (and it's easier to *cough*double the recipe.)

Chocolate Mug Cake

2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (I mound them for a little more chocolate flavor)
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon oil

"Mix together all your ingredients and stir well. Put the cup in the microwave and cook it on full power for 60 seconds. Depending on the power of your microwave, and your altitude (go figure) you may have to cook the cake longer. Only cook in additional 15 second intervals, because an overcooked cake is no good, and it's even worse because you're microwaving it. Trust me, you think an overcooked cake out of the oven is dry and yucky, try having a solid wedge of dry microwave cake sometime. No fun. Once your cake is finished, it should be nice and fluffy."

Chocolate Mousse

For her birthday, my friend requested a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse. I had never made chocolate mousse before so I was excited to try it out. I watched a couple of videos on youtube and found a recipe with good reviews and actually got it right on the first time. So it's pretty easy. It's basically a fluffy chocolate pudding. Here's the recipe I used. It has egg yolks in it so I recommend buying fresh eggs even if you already have eggs from last week in the fridge.

Heavenly Chocolate Mousse
By Christy Freeman

8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup water, divided
2 TBS butter
3 egg yolks
2 TBS sugar
1 1/4 cup whipping cream, whipped

• In a microwave or double broiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water, and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted. Cool for 10 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and remaining water. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F, about 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate mixture.
• Set saucepan in ice and stir until cool, about 5-10 minutes.
• Fold in whipped cream.
• Spoon into dessert dishes and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

I like this recipe because the egg yolks are heated to kill off bacteria. Which was probably negated when I added the whipped egg whites. I didn't want to waste perfectly good egg whites so I whipped them to the soft peak stage and added a TBS of sugar even though the recipe didn't call for them. I folded them in like the whipped cream and it gave the mousse a little more volume. If you want your mousse a little denser then don't bother with the egg whites. To whip the cream, it helps if the bowl is chilled so just stick it in the freezer for a few minutes. I also didn't bother to cool the mixture in an ice bath since that sounded like too much work. I just let it cool on its own while I whipped the cream and egg whites.

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Heavenly-Chocolate-Mousse/Detail.aspx

And here's a video demonstrating how to make mousse in general:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqDa7sdEcGs

Stop prescription drug abuse

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and kindness when Jared died. We are very fortunate to have such good friends and family. I made a video in memory of my brother mainly to spread awareness of the growing problem of prescription drug abuse. We live in a time where we can get effective medicine for many ailments and I used to think that was a good thing. However, their regulation is very lax and they've become easy for people to get and misuse or abuse. Many teens are self medicating or abusing prescription drugs because they think they are safer or they can find them in their parents medicine cabinets. I encourage parents to learn as much as they can about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and to teach their children. Keep your prescriptions locked away and hidden. When you don't need them anymore, mix them with something gross like cat litter or coffee grounds, seal them in a non see through bag or container, and throw them in the garbage. Please don't flush them down the toilet or sink since they can harm the environment. I've included information and links to reputable drug prevention sites on the video page. Please take a few minutes to learn what you can about prescription drug abuse. It's become a major problem and is claiming so many victims.

Romantic Cakes Contest

Yay! I entered my topsy turvy valentine's cake in the Cakecentral online cake contest and I won second place. Yippee! Although I'm surprised it placed at all. There were some cakes that put my cake to shame, they were so well done. Oh well, unless they say they made a mistake in counting the votes, then I think it's awesome I came in second!

Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake

Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake....a nice pineapple cake recipe to try ! Great !

INGREDIENTS

• 450 g Crushed pineapple
  
• 125 g Butter
  
• 375 g Mixed fruit
  
• 1 c Sugar
  
• 1 ts Mixed spices
  
• 1 ts Baking soda
  
• 1 pn Salt
  
• 1 c S. r. flour
  
• 1 c Plain flour
  
• 2 Beaten eggs

INSTRUCTIONS

Boil first 7 ingredients for 10 mins. allow to cool. Add sifted flours and eggs. Place mixture in a 18cm (7") square tin lined with greaseproof paper.

Cook for 1 hr. at 160 C. (320 F).

Test with skewer. Leave in tin for 5 mins. , then turn on to rack to cool.

Store in airtight container.The pineapple cake recipe with fruit is ready to serve...enjoy !
angel-food-pineapple-cake recipe

Banana Pineapple Cake

Banana Pineapple Cake Recipe
...try this nice pineapple cake recipe ! Great !

INGREDIENTS

• 3 c. flour, sifted
• 1 tsp. soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 c. sugar
• 2 c. bananas, diced
• 1/2 c. salad oil
• 1 (8 oz.) crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Important - do not use electric mixer!) Sift together first 5
ingredients in large bowl. Dice bananas and add to the dry ingredients. Then add oil,
pineapple with juice, vanilla and eggs. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Pour into a 9
inch greased tube pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool in pan.
Remove from pan. Don't frost. The pineapple cake recipe is ready to serve...enjoy it !
pineapple-cream-cheese-cake recipe