Flip Flop Cake

My second cake. Made in June of 2010.

Just a few weeks after the Blue Jeans Cake that I made, Jamie asked me to make a cake for our friend Melissa's birthday. Still looking for something easy but desiring a little bit more of a challenge, we decided to make a flip flop cake together. Melissa loves flip flops. She lives in them. She was known to take her business shoes off and wear flip flops around the office fairly often!

We watched this video and used this template.

If you notice, the flowers are completely different sizes. We had never made flowers before so they are laughable but we tried! This was also the first cake that I filled. We used a nutella buttercream filling and chocolate cake. The sand is brown sugar. Everyone loved the cake, it was delicious!

Tips:

If you have never leveled a cake before, a cake leveler is a great investment! It really helped me out when I almost ruined this cake. They are only a couple of dollars.

Pipe a line of buttercream around the outside of your cake board so that brown sugar sand does not fall off when you are transporting the cake.

Blue Jeans Cake

I showed this cake in my very first blog post but I thought I would dedicate a post to each of the cakes that I have made. The most recent cake that I made was this one that did not turn out so well but let's start at the very beginning, shall we?

I stayed up all night watching youtube videos on cake decorating one night and couldn't get it out of my head. I had always watched cake decorating shows and thought I would love to do that but never really looked into it. Watching youtube videos with real people decorating cakes in their own kitchens really made me think about it though and I started considering the fact that maybe I really could do it.

My friend Jamie was about to graduate college and said that I should practice by making her a cake. I was nervous but went back to youtube to find something that seemed manageable for a first attempt. I then came across this video.

Jamie is a total hippy at heart so I decided that I would make her a bell bottom jeans cake.

This was the first time that I had even heard about things like "crumb coating" or "piping".

I also made her these cookies:

I did a few graduation hats but the others were "Peace, Love, and Happiness" themed. I had never even heard of royal icing at this point. These cookies are decorated with a glaze made from powdered sugar, milk, and food coloring.

Tips:

If you have never decorated a cake before, even something that is considered to be so simple can intimidate you. I know it intimidated me! My number one tip for a beginner (or really all cake decorators) is give yourself enough time. Start early, stay up late, do whatever you have to do to not be rushing right before you need to deliver or serve the cake.

Practice your piping on a napkin or paper plate to make sure that you have cut the right size hole in your pastry bag. If you are using a tip, it is still a good idea to practice first, just to make sure you have the hang of it. I would like to say my piping has improved dramatically since this cake but I really have a long way to go and a lot practicing to do.

Crumb Coats are really important because they catch all of the crumbs so that your final coat of frosting is smooth. Do not skip the crumb coat!

The hardest thing for me was getting the final coat of frosting smooth. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong, I had done the crumb coat and chilled the cake for the right about of time. I now know that I was not using enough buttercream. Don't be shy with your buttercream! It is easier to get it smooth if you have plenty to spread around.

Don't be ashamed to use the template provided here.

Don't expect perfection your first (or sixtieth) time.

Anything Look Different?

Well it should! I love the new blog design and I hope you do too! Becca from Jumping Jax Designs was so accommodating and didn't even yell when I asked her to change things! She was a joy to work with and I highly recommend her. I still have to work on my other pages in my menu bar, don't click on them yet, they are empty! Lol!

Hope everyone is staying warm out there!

We have almost made it to the weekend :)

I don't know.

"What is your next step?"


I don't know.


"Are you going back to school?"

I don't know.

"What are your goals?"

I don't know.


"So what, you've just given up on baking?"

No. But baking doesn't pay my bills.


"I thought going to pastry school was the whole reason you moved to Chicago"

No. The whole reason I moved to Chicago was to get away from certain people and have new experiences. The decision didn't revolve around baking but if you have sixteen grand lying around throw it my way and I'll be happy to start pastry school. Otherwise, shut up.


I feel like my life consists of getting asked these questions over and over again. Like they are on a CD stuck on repeat. The person that asks me usually asks like they are offended when I answer "I don't know". Like they are victims of my "wasted potential"or something when in reality, maybe they should think of how completely embarrassing that is to admit. I don't know.

I am the type of person who gets a idea for a career or business and totally throws myself into the idea.. Until the next one comes. This has caused everyone to not take me seriously when I try to tell them the next big plan. A couple people I have told about my newest plan have actually said "oh it is just a phase, you'll be over this in no time". Thanks for the support. Honestly though, can I blame them for having that outlook? How many ideas have I started and then abandoned? The cycle usually goes like this:

Idea-Excitement-Complete devotion to idea-Telling family and friends-Total discouragement- Idea thrown in the trash.

I guess what they don't know is I can read through statements like this: "Yeah.. Uh, thats good but what about starting a bakery? I thought you were going to do that?". I know that means "Yeah I don't like this idea, can we go back to the bakery?"

I am standing still. Not moving. Grasping at air.

When I was an employee I was working towards becoming a Manager. Once I was a Manager I worked towards becoming a Senior Manager. Now that I am a Senior Manager, I have nothing else to work towards because being a General Manager of a movie theater is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. People keep telling me that I should work towards that anyway. Why? What is the point of working towards something that I don't want to do? What a waste of time and effort. Every day I go to work, count money, come home, sleep ridiculous hours, and repeat. There is no learning, there is no progressing. Which would be fine, I wouldn't have to constantly be learning something if I was doing what I want to be doing.

"Just wait"


Two words that I am so tired of hearing. Why tell me to wait to start something that I want to do? What am I waiting for? For the site to build itself? For the inventory to stock itself? For the business license to come in the mail without me applying for it? What? When is it going to be the perfect time? There is never a perfect time for things like getting married, having a baby, or starting a business. Those are things that you can never be prepared enough for. You can never have "enough" money saved. You just have to jump.


"You just want to do something else so bad you'll do anything. You just grab any idea that comes to you and run with it like this one will work when it won't."

You're a jerk.


Today, my best answer is simply, I don't know. Today, that is all I have.

Because honestly, I don't know where I will be in ten years. I don't know where I will be in five, or two, or even one.

All I know is what I am doing today. Going to work, counting money, going home, sleeping ridiculous hours, and praying that I won't be repeating forever.

"I Hate Valentines Day"

Remember the movie "Valentines Day" that came out last year? It had every famous person alive in it? Well Jessica Biel's character was a mess the whole day because she hated Valentines Day. She even went so far as to have a "I Hate Valentines Day Party". Now I may be a newlywed, completely in love and all that jazz, but I love that idea.

My feelings about Valentines Day are mixed. I love all of the hearts and pink things you see when you go in a supermarket but the actual day? Eh, not so much. Every year I build it up in my head even though I PROMISED myself the previous year that I wouldn't do that again and then... Something always happens. One Valentines Day, I spent 3 hours at a gas station in my car that was broken down and my cell phone was dead. I just had to wait for someone to find me. That was a great one.

 Last year was the worst because my brother had gone into the hospital for a serious condition the day before. My husband (Then Fiance), bless his heart, has never really "gotten" holidays. He doesn't really see why they are important. I remember walking up to him at work last year and saying "So.. You really didn't get me anything? Like, I am not going to go home and find flowers, am I?" Poor thing, didn't know what to say. He just stuttered a little and said "I thought with everything going on with your brother, you wouldn't even want to think about Valentines Day"... Oh, men.. Their logic is so completely backwards sometimes.

So these cookies are for all the girls that consider themselves "chronically single", for the girl that just broke up with her boyfriend of four years, for the cynics that refuse to buy into a "Hallmark Holiday", for those of us whose husbands/boyfriends/ whatever has to work that day, and for everyone else that just hasn't ever had a good Valentines Day.

Valentines Day King Cake?

I admit it, I had no purple, green, and yellow sprinkles on hand... But I would like to say that I just wanted this Kings Cake to be a Valentines Day treat lol.

Have I always lived near New Orleans? Yes. Have I ever had King Cake? No. Surprising, I know, it is basically a sin and I am not sure how it happened. It just never looked appealing to me. At this time of year back home the superstores are filled with them though so I thought I would bring a little home to Chicago for Colin's sake, at least.

The recipe can be found here.

It was fairly easy to make but it took a long of time because you have to wait on the dough to rise twice. I used a cream cheese filling instead of the one on the recipe but I wish I wouldn't have. I don't know what happened, but the filling was not very good. The bread is delicious and the glaze on top makes it even better but I won't even give the website I got the filling recipe off of lol. Just go with the brown sugar filling, I am sure it is delicious lol.

Please Forgive Me...

For being absent lately...

When I got home from my parents house last week I was prepared to bake like crazy and get several posts scheduled... Unfortunately, my immune system had other plans and I came down with a virus! Oh no! I am on the mend now but of course, Colin has it now.

As soon as I can get this house sickness free, King Cake is on the menu!

Get ready :)
I know I am.