Lessons from Cake Class

1. Oven temperatures can fluctuate over a span of 50 degrees in the process of baking.  So if you set your oven to 350 degrees, it will be cooking your cake from anywhere between 300-400 degrees.  This is what makes your cake dome on the top (which is bad).

In order to bake your cake at the desired temperature:

1.       Let your oven preheat an extra 15 minutes before you put your cake in.  When you open the door the heat level will drop drastically, letting it heat up the extra 15 minutes will keep the temperature up.

2.       Place a pizza stone or unglazed terracotta tiles on the bottom rack of the oven.  The stone (and tiles) will absorb the heat when the oven is in a warming cycle and release the heat when it is on a cooling cycle.  This will make your cake bake more evenly.

3.       Wilton Bake Even strips. I haven’t tried them yet myself, but my classmates swear by them; the tops of their cakes were almost perfect so I am sure they work.  Basically they are strips of heat resistant fabric that you soak in water and pin around the base of your cakes. The moisture prevents cracking and prevents doming.

2. How to make a cake mix taste homemade
1. Instead of using vegetable oil as the instructions call for, use one stick melted butter.  Yes, it is indulgent; but it is cake! Cake is supposed to be indulgent!
2. Instead of using water, substitute any clear juice. Don’t worry, it won’t taste anything like the juice you put in.  It just comes out as a background flavor that no one will be able to place.  I used Capri-Sun, all of their flavors are clear and one pouch is exactly one cup.
3. When making chocolate cake instead of using water (or juice) use coffee.  I hate the taste of coffee, but in the cake it just makes it taste more chocolate-ey!
3. Fillings for your cake
1. I LOVE caramel!!! This is the easiest caramel sauce to make, and it is super thick.  Oh yeah, and it is only one ingredient- sweetened condensed milk.  Take the wrapper off the can of milk and submerge it in water in your Crockpot. Cook it on high for 8 hours then cool it in the fridge for several hours.  When you open the can it will be ooey gooey caramel.  Delicious.
2.  Chocolate Ganache. I haven’t tried this recipe, but I am told it is fool-proof.  Take one carton heavy cream and heat it on the stove to almost boiling.  Add 12 oz dark chocolate chips.  Stir.  When it has completely melted, chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  It also makes a great ice cream topping…so I am told!
4. Frosting your cake is super easy…if you have the right tools
1. Get a cake turntable. Seriously.
2. The huge icing tip is a huge timesaver.  I will never ice a cake without it now.  I am spoiled. Tip 789
3. Use and offset spatula, the straight ones make you put your fingers in the cake.

By the way, never lift the spatula off the cake. Always swipe it off the side of the cake.  This way you won’t pull crumbs to the top of the icing.

4. Use one tablespoon of meringue powder in your butter cream.  If you let the cake harden in the fridge for 30 minutes or so, you will be able to put that smooth finish on your cake.  Take some parchment paper and set it on the top of the cake
4.  Making professional looking cupcakes is way easier than I thought.
1. There is a special tip for filling your cupcakes.  You can use more frosting, or a specialty filling. Tip Bismark 230
2. As long as you have the right tips, your cupcakes will look EXACTLY like the ones in cake shop windows. Tips 1M, 22, 12
5. Taking a cake decorating class was way better than learning it on my own.  I can’t tell you how much I learned and how excited I am to take a fondant class.  I highly recommend it. 

Note: Please be kind when critiquing my cake.  It was my first time piping lettering and I know it is terribly off center and not parallel. I am sure it annoys me way more than it annoys you, because it KILLS me. J

Yarn Wreath with Crochet and Felt Flowers

I LOVE this project!

It was really quick (it only took me about one week of about an hour or so a night) and cheap with dramatic results.  I always strive for my crafts to look store bought and expensive.  Not to pat myself on the back but…. I think I definitely hit the mark on this one!

Materials needed:

·         One skein Yarn, (two if you want a complimentary color for roses, scrap yarn will probably be enough for at least a rose or two though)$3

·         Foam Wreath (Mine was about 12 inches in diameter and flattened on top with rounded sides)$5

·         Felt squares (In the kids section in Michaels, a steal at only 29 cents a sheet!)$2

·         Fabri-Tack (my favorite fabric adhesive, but feel free to use what you are comfortable with)$4

The yarn part of the wreath is easy enough…just wrap  the yarn around over and over until the whole wreath is covered and tie off in back.  I made sure mine was neat and made sure none of the yarn was overlapping.  I have seen variations of this wreath with loads and loads of yarn piled on in every which way, that can be cute too; but I am way too OCD for that.

Now for the fun part…the flowers.  Ok, I admit none of these flowers are my original designs.  This section will have lots of links, but these were the links I found most helpful for me!

Felt Dahlia: http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2010/05/06/mothers-day-felt-dahlia-corsage-a-few-notes/

Felt Rosette: http://thecraftedsparrow.blogspot.com/2011/08/felt-flowers.html

Felt rose (???):http://www.thediydish.com/promo/theDIYdish_FeltFlowersPattern.pdf

Yarn Rose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0W2W1_YAg0

To attach the flowers I used floral picks with pearls on the end. They are totally unnecessary but I love pearls and couldn’t resist.  The Fabri-Tack worked great to attach all of the flowers to the wreath with only a few seconds of holding it in place.

That’s it!  I gave this one to my mother because it reminded me of her, but the very next day I was back at Michaels for more materials.  My next project is an Spring themed one for my front door! No worries-I will post a pic of that one too!

Total cost: $14

Crochet Blossom Pillow

As you know I just finished my Ripple Crochet Afghan.  I wanted to make one more pillow that was a little different and had some texture.  I found this blog (http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/blooming-flower-cushion.html) with a wonderful tutorial for what I call the Blossom Pillow.  This was a really quick project, it only took me 4-5 hours to complete over the course of three days.  Keep in mind this blogger is from Europe and apparently crochet stitches are different across the pond!  Make sure you read her notes at the beginning of the tutorial for the conversions!

Total Cost: $7.50 (for pillow form)

Ripple Afghan

I am finally getting to decorating the living room.  The walls are yellow and the couches are brown, so naturally I leaned towards green (coincidentally my favorite color) for an accent hue.  I whipped up a fun afghan for the kick off of all my living room projects.

I found this pattern (http://lemondedesucrette.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/summer-time-ripple-the-graphic-pattern/) on Pinterest .  I love it because you can make it any size you need!  I made my afghan EXTRA WIDE, (about the size of the top of a king size bed).  It is great for sharing on movie date night with the hubby!

The hardest part about this pattern is deciding how many chains to make when you first start.  It has to be a multiple of 11 plus four chains.  You want to make it a little longer than your desired length because it will shrink a bit when you start the ripples.  Once you get to the second row, you won’t need the chart anymore and you can pretty much crochet on auto-pilot.

Total Cost: $40 (I got all the yarn BOGO!)

Easy Peasy Pillows

Buying readymade pillows can be VERY expensive, so I decided to make mine.  The trick is to play the sales.  I bought my pillow forms from Joann’s when they were 50% off, so they were just $5 each for the 20 inch square forms.  The home décor fabric was 40% off and I bought 3 yards for $18.  And lastly, I needed piping, I bought 3 packages for $1.50 each.   All in all I spent $40 for three large pillows. Most of the large premade pillows I found were that price for one!

Ok… as promised, the directions for Easy Peasy Pillows:

With the fabric still folded over, cut three squares 20 inches wide by 20 inches tall (or however big your pillow form is).  With right sides facing in, pin your piping between the two layers.  The rounded side should face the inside of your pillow.  I like to start in the middle of one of the sides working towards the corners.  When you get to a corner, you have two choices: square or rounded.  I like rounded, but use your own discretion!

You will need to leave almost a full side open to fit the pillow form in.  On the last side that you need keep open I recommend machine sewing the piping down on one side; this will minimize the amount of hand sewing you will need to do.  When you finish your three sides and four corners flip the pillow right side out.  Insert the pillow form and pin the open sides together.  Using a ladder stitch hand sew the final side together.

See! Easy Peasy!

Total Cost: $40