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...