As a junior in high school I became fascinated with cooking and baking. I had probably read all of my moms cookbooks five times over. Saturday mornings were spent on the couch watching Julia, Jacques, Yan, and the Two Fat Ladies. Every week day I would pop my VHS into the TV and set it to record from 10:00-11:00 a.m. so I could come home from school, pop my cardboard Totino’s pizza in the oven, and Martha Stewart. (By the way I totally love Totino’s I know they are not that great in taste or health but let’s be honest I at two this weekend.) And Martha is totally my idle.
That year for Christmas I was given a mixer, pans, baking sheets and a CD ROM of 1 Million Recipes! I was in heaven. At a youth activity for church we were having a baking contest, most kids brought mom’s best cookie recipe, or some variation of a box cake mix, I brought a two foot tall Croquembouche or cream puff tower.
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Image Source: Wilton.com |
So to say that I have mildly obsessed with cooking for a looong time, is pretty correct.
While in an ideal world recreation would to a huge part of my life, I have definitely been doing way more cooking the past four years than mountain climbing.
And I feel blessed that my cooking is now leading to something that helps me feel fulfilled and useful to our family.
A family friend trusted me with catering her wedding last Spring, and then another friend that Summer. And while I do enjoy cooking of all sorts, I really love to bake, and coming up this March another friend is trusting me with her wedding cake. Let’s all send our prayers heaven ward that it turns out ok.
So in preparation for this wedding I have been getting my feet wet in the fondant world.
When I mentioned last week that I have been busy I wasn’t lying, last week was one baby shower cake, one wedding open house for my brother-in-law, one bridal shower for my to-be sister-in-law, shopping for Kacen’s birthday, making Kacen’s birthday cake, and all the other day to day that is my life.
Today I will share with you the two baby shower cakes I have done in the past couple of months.
The first was back in December. My dear friend Christie and her husband Derek have received their handsome little guy through adoption. Christie and Derek love motocross and hope their little guy will love it too.
This was my first attempt at fondant. And I was pretty happy with the final result.
I used box cake mixes and tub frosting. Not that those are bad but, if I am going to be selling these things in the future the craft needs to step up a little bit.
As a baker and chef I care waaaaayyyy more about taste than looks, my personal style is rustic charm when it come to food. I don’t care if things look just so, as long as they taste AMAZING! So the pretty cutesy cakes kill me. I need the inside to be just as amazing as the outside. However with two kids running amuck all day it becomes a three day long process baking from-scratch cakes, making from-scratch frosting and fondant, dyeing, rolling, cutting, yada yada yada.
The second cake was for my friend Vai. She will be having her their child, a baby girl named Neilani. And if this third baby is anything like the other two she will be just too adorable to handle.
The top tier was this Pineapple-Coconut Cake the bottom tier was a yellow box cake mix, doctored up and dyed ombre, with this super yummy Fresh Strawberry Frosting. Both were crumb coated in my favorite Butter Cream, of course found on MarthaStewart.com. and covered with Marshmallow Fondant.
That was quite the process; two cake batters, three frostings, plus homemade fondant. I will definitely have to take a smarter approach next time. But it was super yummy. Yeah my hand writing needs a little practice, I will definitely work on that for the next one.
I have to take the same approach to baking and cooking as I would school. It takes a lot of time and money to get myself properly educated and equipped to do these things. It will take a lot of practical hands on experiences to become skilled at this craft.
Now, is this my ideal job? No. But I do feel useful doing it. I feel like I am learning and growing as I study out the best recipes and techniques.
Tomorrow I will show you the other Martha-esque things I was up to last week.