The Cake that Started it ALL!!!

So this hobby of mine is relatively new. I mean, I suppose I've been baking since I was a little kid, but never with the voracity that I've had as of recent. Well, for Christmas this year, my sister got me the Cake Wrecks book that is a compilation of all of the best (worst?) cake wrecks ever posted on that blog. Blogger Jen of Cake Wrecks classifies a Wreck as: "any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places." So there you have it!

In this book, there is a baby shower cake that made me laugh so hard for being so wildly inappropriate for a traditional baby shower cake that I had to do it. Sister was pregnant and receiving this book as a present was a sign that I needed to make this cake. I should mention that I had never dabbled in fondant before nor had I ever carved a cake, but I sure LOVED this cake and figured that with as many cake shows as I've seen (I'm talking to YOU Ace of Cakes!), I could figure it out as I went.

I started at the local Michael's and grabbed a tub of fondant and a jar of peach dye to make the delightful skin. Then I went home and baked three full cake recipes, one red velvet and two chocolate. I used the chocolate for the belly and the red velvet for the boobs. The carving and crumb coat were pretty uneventful. The boobs were even and pretty proportionate to the belly, so that was about as good as it gets for a newbie (although in retrospect, it would have been nice to have used a denser cake than I used to make for easier carving and frosting)!

Finally, after letting the crumb coated cake rest overnight, I got to the fondant portion and jumped right in with the dye. Little did I know, peach means peach like the fruit, not like my (oh so fair) family's skin tone. So, after like 15 minutes of kneading the fondant and trying to add more white to level out what had become a lovely tanorexic orange "skin," I gave up. I decided to hit up an actual cake store got a whole new, very expensive, tub of fondant and a new tube of dye more appropriately named "flesh." FINALLY! Something I could work with. I also got a suggestion to use the less is more approach to the dye and start small and add more color as needed. This worked beautifully! I had 5 lbs of fleshy fondant and I was on to the rolling out process.

I got it pretty thin, although I kind of wish I had gotten it thinner. Either way, I rolled it onto the rolling pin and with mom's help, transferred it onto the cake, rolling it out gently.

I even remembered the cute little belly button. Unfortunately, I forgot to color the background (cake board) before I put the cake on it- but lesson learned.

See? Flesh-colored! And anatomically correct-ish. The last step was to add the bubbles and I used royal icing for this one. Royal icing involves using egg whites and is excellent for piping, but the icing hardens when it dries so it is not very forgiving. I used two different sizes of tips and got very good at making bubbles, but had an absolute BLAST doing it.

Everyone should break out of the comfort zone every once in a while and try a new adventure- don't be afraid of failing, just be prepared to brag about how massively you failed! That means you learned at leas one massive lesson :)

Here's my completed cake:

And one more:


And next to the inspiration cake in the book:


I wish I knew how to not let the fondant dry out so much, but I suppose I'll learn that with time.

Here's to trying new things!

Peach Cobbler

For those of you who enjoy peaches, or peach cobbler, this recipe is a must try. It is one of Kelly's recipes from Evil Shenanigans. She's a great recipe giver! I really wish I could capture the smell in my house right now to go with the photo, but then I might just have a line at my apartment door.

Either way, as long as you have peaches that are ready to be sliced, this is an easy recipe. Mine decided to give me hassle and as such were not cut into pretty slices, but cut off the pit. Oh well, I figured as long as they're being cooked, it shouldn't matter. Last time I made this for co-workers and it was a smash hit (this recipe doubles very easily). So before the delicious treasure of summer known as the peach disappears for the next 8 months, make this cobbler and be prepared with plenty of ice cream!

You can't tell because this is a still photo, but those are bubbles on the side coming up from the bubbling peachy-goodness zone. See? Now you have to make this! Just to see what that zone tastes like! And to get the smell-o-vision direct to your own kitchen!

Enjoy friends!

Chocolate Chipies

I can't believe that I haven't yet shared the recipe with which I have been having a love affair. Sorry Rick. I think he knows and he benefits from it, and doesn't care. It's an amazing and simple recipe. Be prepared to love me for sharing. Blogger Jamie from My Baking Addiction inspired my initial chocolate chip cookie-off and so when she mentioned a recipe that bumped her then-favorite down I had to try. Without further ado: Big Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I do make some slight changes. The dough is best eaten right away, but if you plan on actually getting to the baking phase, I would let the dough rest 24-36 hours. I didn't make full-on four ounce *gasp* cookies, but I get them large and in charge. It makes about 24 when I make these. I also use half salted and half unsalted butter. I use just over one bag of chocolate chips and at least HALF must be Ghiradelli 60% chocolate chips. At least half (the other 40-50% should be semi-sweet). I have also used Ghiradelli squares chopped up and they work just fine too. Either way, at least half people!!! Finally, I sprinkle sea salt on top to bring out all of that delicious Ghiradelli! Yum. you have no idea. I beg you all to make these and report back any changes you made and if you loved these bad boys as much as I do.