Traditional Pound Cake

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This is a traditional recipe for pound cake. It’s just a pound of everything! Now you can add to this recipe or even take away if you like. Some people like to add flavoring or fillings such as nuts or chocolate chips for their pound cake.  Whereas others want to make their cake healthier so they cut the butter by half and add oil to replace it and cut the sugar in half and add  splenda. No matter how you do your recipe this is the one you always start with.

1 Lb Flour

1 Lb Butter

1 Lb Eggs

1Lb Sugar

Poured Fondant

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Poured Fondant Recipe

6 Cups 10x sugar

4 oz water

2 Tbsp corn syrup

1 Tbsp flavor

Sift the 10x so there are no lumps in your fondant. Place the 10x into a bowl than gradually add your water, corn syrup, and flavoring; mix well. Once fully mixed store your fondant in a sealed container. When you are ready to use your fondant heat it up in a metal pot, when it is at your desired consistency it is ready for you to use it.

Marbling Fondant

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Marbling fondant is a great way to add extra color to your cake. I would choose either two color from the same color palette for a subtle effect or two totally different colors for a bold effect. Rolls your two colors of  fondant separately into long ropes, than twist them together like a candy cane, from here roll your fondant into a smooth ball; now your fondant is ready to be rolled out to icing your cake.  If you want a more marbled look just repeat the steps again. I prefer just to use two colors of fondant, some people use three or more. The look will be different each and every time you marbled fondant.

Irish Potato Candy Recipe

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Irish Potato Candy Recipe

Melt the butter, than add the corn syrup, vanilla, and salt to a bowl; than add your dry ingredients except for the cinnamon and mix well. The candy will be soft once mixed so I recommend to refrigerate it for an hour or two till it firms up. Once firm roll the candy into potato shaped balls and roll in cinnamon. ENJOY!

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup corn syrup
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/ tsp salt
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 1lb 10x sugar
  • cinnamon

Ultimate Cake Off

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Does anyone notice on this show how after the second challenge the winner of the taste test is never announced? The show just comes back from commercial break and you see the competitor choosing who is gonna sit out for a half hour. I thought the editors of the show just screwed up once but the more I watch the show I realized it’s the same way each show!

Snow Ice Cream

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Making snow ice cream is easy and fun to do. Kids love playing with snow and they love to eat it, so why not add some sugar to it! This recipe can also use lactose free milk for those of you who are lactose intolerant. You can add broken candy, cookies, or chopped fruit for a different spin on this vanilla ice cream.

SNOW ICE CREAM

12 oz milk

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup sugar

1 gallon clean snow

Add the milk, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl and mix until smooth; than add clean snow until you get the consistency you desire; add any additional flavors and enjoy!

Marzipan Recipe

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Marzipan is a great medium to work with. It is usually used to make shaped fruits and animals. Whether tinted or airbrushed the marzipan holds color very well. It is also used to fill chocolates, as an ingredient in pastries, and to cover cakes. Some bakeries even add a layer of it underneath fondant so your cake taste even better! You can also flavor marzipan which is also a favorite of mine.

Here is my marzipan recipe

5 lbs Almond Paste

2 1/2 lbs 10x

2 1/2 lbs Poured Fondant

Substitute for Fat in Baking

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When you want to change your recipe to make it healthier, why don’t you try cutting some of the fat.  By cutting some of the fat in the recipe and adding fruits such as bananas or applesauce in its place, you will make it healthier. However be carefully when adding fruits, it may change the taste of the finished product and the time it needs to bake.

Cake Airbrushing Instructions

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Using an airbrush machine to decorate cakes will save you a lot of time. It is a quick way to add color to your cakes.  While the airbrush machine is a bit pricey, you may find it worthwhile for the time it saves, allowing you to decorate more cake.

Cake Airbrushing Instructions

  1. Add a smooth layer of white icing to your cake
  2. Pick out what colors and patterns you will be working with
  3. Draw the pattern on your cake with edible black gel or just free hand airbrush it
  4. When airbrushing spray color on a paper towel first to make sure you are spraying at the right pressure
  5. I suggest airbrushing at a 45 degree angle a few inches away from the cake
  6. When filling the airbrush with color make sure not to over fill the color so it doesn’t spill out
  7. Make sure to clean your airbrush equipment with water or alcohol between each color

Now that you finished airbrushing your cake, you can add additional decorations as desired…

Fastnaucht

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Fastnacht Day means “fast night”. Fastnachts are donuts typically square with a slit in the top. They are sold on Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. They originated from the Pennsylvania Dutch as a way to use up the remaining fats and sugars forbidden during Lent. Fastnachts are yeast raised donuts made from potatoes and fried in lard. They are square to represent the 4 gospels.

Gumball Machine Cake

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Wow, a gumball machine cake actually made out of cake! I’m glad to see someone tried to do this gum machine entirely out of cake and candy, instead of putting a plastic bowl on top. I would have airbrushed the white part of the cake a light color than added some darker colored dots; this way when the gumballs and candy were put on the gumball machine it would look fuller.

Cupcakes

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CupcakesCupcakes appeal to all age groups; therefore they have become more popular in recent years. We have seen cupcakes go from something you had with desserts to being the main dessert. Cupcakes have become the main dessert at birthday parties and weddings thanks to some creative ideas. Cupcakes can be made into many shapes for birthday parties.  The cakes can be decorated simply or over the top. The cupcakes just break apart from the cake, so it is not as messy as a normal cake. There are also cupcake towers used for birthday parties and weddings. When using a cupcake tower you can have a variety of cake flavors, decorations for your cakes, and it usually it is a bit cheaper than a tiered cake. They can be filled with a variety of flavors, coated with different icings, and then decorated with sprinkles, flowers, fondant animals; whatever appeals to you.

Cake Classes

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I am always looking for ways to further my knowledge in the pastry world. I read articles online along with books and I belong to a professional organization but the hardest things for me to find are classes to take. I’m not looking to take some of these cake classes that cost upwards of a thousand dollars just a simply class. I mean yeah it would be nice to sit down for a few days and learn from these people but I just do not have that kind of money to spend or the time to take off from work especially in this economy.

I know Wilton offers classes at local stores but I’m too advanced to take them at this point.  The local colleges offer classes but I took them already when I when to college. So where does this leave me? Am I going to have to drive a far distance to be taught for one day a skill or will I just have to shell out all that money to learn from the so-called best?  I guess I just have to teach myself from the numerous books I am beginning to accumulate.

Crafsty now offers classes online at a reasonable price. They can average around $40 bucks but a good sale makes them $15. I recently took my first one and I am in love with them!!!! They are perfect for me, I am advanced enough that what they are telling me to do, I can do successfully!