Day 25

If tonight could be repeated I would love to do so. I am on my back porch over looking a large tree, with a soft breeze that comes just at the right moments. Let me drive this moment home...It is amazing outside, I have made the Chocolate Cherry Pound cake without problem and got to sit outside and type my churches newsletter while eating strawberries. Sometimes, life just cant get better. As I was typing, the air would waft out smells of the cake baking and it smells... heavenly. It is light and flaky (not too flaky like last time), chocolatly goodness oozes out of it and I have watched the sunset as my oven did all the magic. Love it.

I simply love baking and love my back porch. I feel like the two should somehow always go hand in hand. Oh and the icing on the cake (Pun intended), Ya Ya planted me herbs so I can use them in my baking. How cute is that?! Sadly, she only knows the names of them in Greek so hopefully I can figure that out on my own.

No pictures tonight, I am trying to upload a video from the IMPACT team so I don't have a memory card free. I will post one tomorrow of the cake.

Day 24

My second and third attempt of Fondant have ended poorly. The 2nd was very close but would tear every time I tried to roll it out. I contacted Rose and received an answer to my question (unlike Julie and Julia, my author writes me back!) Rose said that Crisco has changed their formula so it does not work the same as it used to and I was guided to go and get Organic Shortening...which meant I needed to go back to my favorite place....Whole Foods.

I tried the third time and this time, I also tried using a substitution that is listed in the book- you can use a smaller amount of water and substitute corn syrup for the Glucose. I figured, why not? The worst thing that would happen is it wouldn't work and I would try again. This substitution resulted in the Fondant becoming clay on my hands making it impossible to move my hands and fingers.

My next cake requires Fondant but I need to go get more Glucose and Powdered Sugar to be able to even try. I am getting confidant in my Fondant skills because their cant be many more ways that it can go wrong. After all Thomas Edison said "I have Not Failed I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”  My Husband asked me before the 3rd try if I was"Con-Fondant" that my next try would work...
I said of course I am but this time I mean it. :)

I did go on ahead and make a couple of cakes while a few ingredients that I need to work the kinks out of, come to fruition. I started with the Chocolate Cherry Almond Pound Cake, I unfortunately became distracted and mixed some ingredients incorrectly and did not realize this until after the cake was baked. The cake tasted fine but because the batter was not stabilized while I was mixing the ingredients you could not cut it without it flaking apart in your hands. This is the cake I needed the Brandied Burgundy Cherries to make so I have to remake the cherries and then do a second run on the cake. This one will be easy solely because I know what I did wrong.

The next day I  made the Golden Butter Cream Cake and chose to make the Perfect Chocolate Whipped Cream to frost it with. This one turned out grand. The cake itself does not make a dome because it is usually prepared in layered cakes. It has a golden brown crust with a golden yellow and brown top. I was able to frost the cake the way I used to at my old bakery which was a lot of fun for me and made me quite reminiscent.

Today I made more Brandied Burgundy Cherries but with much more control then the first time. I even was able to tidy up while I was preparing them.

Throughout the past 24 days of baking I have thought about one day having a bakery of my own. I would have great joy in doing this. Maybe one day...

Day 20

Fondant is sooo hard, my first attempt ended with it becoming so sticky that I couldnt get it off my hands! I had to go out and buy more powdered sugar after that try because I used everything I had to try to fix it. Sigh

I had to scrap the first batch because it just wouldn't work out. I gave it another go tonight and it was better but now every time I try to roll it out it tears. I spent a good chunk of my time tonight searching online for some guidance and then decided to ask the one who wrote the book! (My "Aha moment" for the day) I went to Rose's website and left a note and am now hoping that someone will write me back soon. I will be starting up the Chocolate Almond cake while I wait for my answer or some Divine clue that will solve my fondant woes. I am at least reassured that I know that most bakers just buy fondant in bulk when making wedding cakes so once I get this recipe down, I will just have to make the last Chocolate fondant in the book before I go to the premade kind.

Hopefully I dont have Fondant dreams/nightmares tonight...
 

I found this video of Rose

  This video is actually of Rose's most recent book, not the one I am following. I love her giggle and happiness while she is explaining her passion for baking.

Day 17

My next cake has parts that need to be prepared before you can actually make the cake. This recipe is called Chocolate Cherry Almond Pound cake. My first adventure with this cake is locating some ingredients that I thought would be easy. Almond paste, whole Hazelnuts with the skins, Cherry jelly and two ingredients for the Brandied Burgundy Cherries I have to prepare in advance- Cognac and pitted Cherries that have been canned.

We tried a few places and found some of the ingredients at our local Dominic's but the Hazelnuts... they were the fun part. We had to go to a place that my husband and I just don't enjoy, Whole Foods. I know they have a lot of fans and I say more power to you if you do but my husband and I, we prefer the local grocer or deli. As we walk into the location we instantly entered a wall of trendy items that seemed just a little odd like, sustainable flip flops (my flips flops have sustained quite well, thank you very much, I don't need self proclaiming flip flops on my feet) or "conventional" yellow bell peppers  to which my husband mentions "what would unconventional bell peppers be?" We then find a worker who helps me locate my nuts, this man was practically running ahead of me as I limped behind him (my leg is still not back to full strength since the work incident) and almost took out some lady with a cart as we came barrelling through the store! As I weighed out the nuts, a man with a cart parked right in front of me and wouldn't move his cart to let me out until he decided if he wanted organic pecans or organic halved pecans. After a little chat with me about which one I thought he should get, he let me through and off we went to the cashier. We of course picked the lane with the one person who has her daughter running back to get her lactose free organic milk..it's milk it should have lactose.

We left the store feeling like we went through a roller derby but with whole Hazelnuts with the skins in hand.

Tonight I created the Brandied Burgundy Cherries and jarred them so they can marinate for "at least 12 hours before use." You can actually jar them indefinitely, which I find quite interesting, I wonder how many of you will be receiving some this year..

   

Day 16

Today, I served as my churches Delegate for Nazarene Mission International. It was wonderful to hear a message from a Global Mission President from Jamaica, she was such an elegant speaker. When I came home today, I was rejuvenated from her message and in very good spirits while I created my White Spice Pound Cake. This recipe calls for cinnamon, cloves and eggs white (to lower cholesterol)... now the kitchen smells like Christmas Cookies!! Not what I was expecting but not that bad either. I never have enjoyed cloves or cinnamon but I know others really do so this may be better as a fathers day cake ;)

While this was baking my husband prepared our music for tomorrows service and I decided to take a peek at my up coming cakes. I am not sure if I should have because I have to make Brandied Cherries (Which I can jar for gifts in the future), a buttercream that calls for glucose (does anyone know where I can find this at or what it looks like?) and the one thing I have been fearing the most....Fondant.  I have heard some pretty dramatic stories about making this from scratch. Did you know that  it is recommended to only wear white when making this from scratch because even one fleck of lint can completely alter the color of the fondant?! On a positive side, once you have made the fondant you can store it indefinitely.

 After tasting the cake, my only dislike is the cloves, I dont like the texture of biting into a stem type spice. However, I am sure that is a preference to the spice so other might like it. I think the last two cakes far surpass this one as far as taste goes.

Day 14

After letting the Lemon Poppy seed cake fully saturate overnight, airtight in the refrigerator, it came out perfectly.

When I first pulled it out it was hard as a rock but while it came up to room temp, I decided to start in on the Chocolate Bread which has multiple steps for preparation.

The first is creating a chocolate paste out of Dutch processed cocoa. Cocoa has a few things that makes it better then straight up chocolate, it creates a firmer texture in the batter so it is more dense, it gives the cake a stronger chocolate flavor and I guess from what I have been reading has a lower acidity...I suppose that is a good thing. You have to let this cool before continuing so this recipe took the longest time to make so far.

No trouble with this cake, which was great because I don't think my fingers could have taken another burning.

I placed the Chocolate Bread in the oven and went back to the Lemon Poppy seed. I carefully unwrapped it and as each layer came off the house became overwhelmed with the smell of sweet sugary lemon. My hands became sticky as the outside of the cake is tacky like a sticky bun. I sliced it open and to my surprise this cake is the BEST cake I have ever eaten! I have worked in a bakery before and we made lemon poppy seed cupcakes but they have NOTHING on this cake! I was expecting something sour after last nights taste of the syrup (I just made the scrunched up face again because I thought of the taste) but I was wrong. Best Cake ever...

Back to the Chocolate bread, I created a Kahlua syrup to baste the cake in and once the cake is cool, I will taste it. Right now it looks great, and the chocolate and lemon smells in our kitchen are intoxicating. I love baking.



   

Day 13

Ah, it just feels so good to be at home baking. There is something very therapeutic about the act of baking, and I believe it is becoming a lost art due to competing against a world of grab and go services. But may I be the first to say that baking is not something that your grandmothers did way back when because they didn't have a choice. Its FUN. Its the tasty-ist science project that you will ever come across, sometimes it will explode in your face (or all over your kitchen) but sometimes it will turn into a melt in your mouth morsel that will make you wonder why you ever bought cake from a grocery store.

Tonight I made the Lemon Poppy Seed Pound cake with a Lemon Syrup glaze. This turns out to be a 24 hour process, after having a lemon zesting party (a sad party of 1, me), and freshly squeezing lemon juice. I made the cake, to my amazement the cake has come out just fine even though I had MANY bloopers tonight.*

*In making this cake, I added the poppy seeds and lemon zests to the wrong batch (the wet not dry), had to bring the butter to room temp by turning up the heat in the house (which actually worked) because I have learned what happens when you don't have it the right temp, forgot to place my favorite item -  magi strips around the pan to adjust to the proper heating (I placed them on after two minutes after baking and seared my finger tips a little) and fumbled the cake, due to the seared fingers tips, into the oven causing a slight tilt in the baking.   

Once the cake was almost finished, I glazed it with the syrup. Top, bottom and sides. I decided to taste a bit of the syrup to see what it tasted like and let me tell you, I did a double take.. It was soooo tart from the lemon, I felt like one of those babies on commercials that taste something sour and their face scrunches up in displeasure. Shocking and something I did not need at 9pm at night. Later, I read that you need to let the syrup rest in the cake so it looses some tartness, now you tell me. Jeez.

 I now am instructed to fully wrap the cake in plastic wrap and let it set in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving. There will be pictures of the cake tomorrow side by side with a yummy Chocolate Bread.
 

Travel plans

I am at Midway Airport waiting for my flight to New Hampshire to visit family and scout some homes for my family. Sadly, I just went to look at my cook book to see what I could make while in NH at my Godmothers and realized I left it at home!! Noooo! I am going to attempt to get it downloaded to my Nook (I highly recommend this product) so I can take my book with me and study it.

Starting next week I will be able to focus more on my baking, family always comes first ya know.

Enjoy your weekend I will blog more soon.

Day 8

My church is having a rummage sale this Thursday,Friday and Saturday so I am busy creating chocolate bars. Some of the ones I am making are "Delilah's Dark Chocolate", "Modern day Manna" (Milk Chocolate), "Prayerful Pecan", "Churchman's Chocolate" (White Chocolate) and "New Test-a-Mint". Tomorrow the baking will continue will a "Lemon Poppy seed Pound cake"

Day 7

I took a day off yesterday to enjoy the company of my husband while we attended a soccer match at Toyota Field. The Chicago Fire played the Seattle Sounders and we scored front row tickets, including the party deck, directly to the right of one of the goals. Amazing experience!

Today with a clear head from my deflated cake experience and multitude of feta cheese with a side of  Greek pasta, I decided I was fully prepared for a second round with the "Perfect Pound Cake". Prior to the event, we attended church then went out to purchase chocolate for an ongoing fundraiser I have been doing for my church (Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Chocolate Bars).

While in the store I found the item that made my day...Magi Cake Strips. If you have not heard of these amazing little creations, let me tell you about them. They are heat resistant fabric strips that wrap around your cake pan to force the batter in the center to cook first, allowing the whole cake to raise at the same time. No more hilly, or sometimes cake mountain, cake tops!   

To compensate for the day off yesterday and armed with my Magi Cake Strips, I got a little ambitious. I decided to not just redo the Perfect Pound Cake, but also try the next recipe....Double Vanilla Pound Cake. This includes a fresh vanilla bean which creates an infused milk, that in turn is enveloped into the batter. In case you have not used a fresh vanilla bean before, be aware that it is a gross process.

 You cut open the bean (not bad at all)
simmer it in milk for a few minutes (Still good to go on my end and smells yummy too)
then you take it out of the pan and squish the seeds out with a knife (impossible)
or in my case, your fingers (the bean seeds are mushy and coated with warm milk, gross)
then you just toss it in with your wet ingredients.

After some waiting and some concern about when it would be ready and if I would have to try this recipe a third time...I am pleased to report that I finally created the PERFECT POUND CAKE and Double Vanilla Pound Cake-Bundt Cakes. Both are flaky, golden, and melt in your mouth!

Success! 

   

Day 5

My first attempt at the Perfect Pound cake came and left me and my cake deflated. Our kitchen is filled with the sweet aroma of vanilla and butter, which happens to be one of my favorite smells. I ensured that I followed the recipe to a T but I after looking back I think that the butter wasn't completely to room temperature which affected the rising of the cake during the baking process.  The Pound cake is very tasty, flaky and a golden brown color but has a deep crevice down the center. *sigh*

We decided to slice up the cake and give some  to our land lady Ya Ya, so off we went with our practically perfect pound cake lightly coated with powdered sugar.

 (Now, you need to know a little about Ya Ya, She is an older Greek woman who speaks the smallest amount of English. We have even gotten to the point of going to translator.com  to print out what we want to say to Ya Ya so she can understand what we are asking for. Sometimes this works, other times not so much.)

**Knock knock,
Ya Ya "ello?!"
Us "Hi, Ya Ya"
Y"who is it?!"
U "David and Alissa"
Y"Oh, Hold on Hold on." (strange puttering sounds behind the door)
U "Ya Ya, we have cake for you."
Y "Ochay Ochay, you come in now" "come come!" (waves us in)

We walk in and there is homemade pasta EVERYWHERE! On tables, in multiple rooms, countertops every free space in her house. YaYa took our plate and started speaking super fast in Greek, neither of us know what she said but after awhile she had David go get a big plate and a bowl. She handed me some cheese and told me to eat it. Not being a fan of feta but not knowing what she was saying to me, I ate the feta.. She sent us on our way with a large amount of some sort of Greek pasta and a huge container of feta cheese.  I think she liked the cake but really who knows.

All in all not a loss in my book. Second try scheduled for after I return from work tonight.

  

Day 4

Two days ago I hurt my back at work, no grand story behind it. I just finished cleaning a station and walked to the BOH (back of house), I took about three steps and felt a very sharp pain in my lower back. It almost made me collapse from the quickness of it, I didn't twist funny or lift anything improperly so it was a little shocking. With that said, my back has made it a little difficult to do much when I am at home but after some pain meds and laying on the floor for a while last night I am feeling dandy now. I took it easy at work for the past couple of days and have been trying to find gentle ways to sit but I still have high spirits about my year of cake.. I am taking it easy tonight and I will be up and at em tomorrow and that Perfect Pound Cake better be ready to be made. David and I will be heading out to grab a vanilla bean and large eggs and then the baking shall commence!

Day 3

I officially have all the necessary items and groceries to create my first cake on Friday! (still looking for a cake decorating turn table) Unfortunately, I don't have enough space for all the things I had to buy...
What this only means is that I need to clean off a shelf on our china cabinet and create cake place for me to work from. The final step before the Perfect Pound Cake comes to life! **Raises hands like Dr. Frankenstein**

I came to the realization a little while ago that having this project is good for my soul. My normal day at work consists of me anticipating my departure so I can head home but when I get here, I only have homework and house work to do. It was actually getting pretty depressing during the winter because I would also leave prior to the sunrise and come home after the sunset, who would have thought how much that would effect my demeanour. What a change it has been to be able to have this to think about during the past few days, I have been excited to come home because I have a tangible project to do that isn't to further my development in life. I just want to do this because it will be enjoyable. It really changes the way you look at life, I guess sometimes small things can make huge differences in your life.