I got 3 inches!
So baking was a success yesterday. Each tier has been filled, tightly wrapped in saran wrap and foil, and placed lovingly in the freezer. In Rose’s book, she notes that cold ingredients and old baking powder cause compact volume. Even though my baking powder isn’t old, I opened a new can. I thought my ingredients were at room temperature, but just to be safe, I was extra cautious yesterday. And it seems to have worked out!
I forgot to take pics pre-freezer. I ended up redoing the bottom tier, so I have a 14″ filled but uniced cake up for grabs taking up room.
You’d think I’d be sick of eating cake by now. I just had a piece of scraps with some of the rum syrup and vanilla buttercream – DE licious.
Lesson #1: Must-have tools
Magi-Cake Strips - Soak them in water and wrap them around the pan for even baking – works wonders for large layers!!
Cake Release – this wonderful combination of oils comes in a squeeze bottle, requires no refrigeration, and you don’t need to butter, flour, and parchment over and over. Just pour a little in the pan and brush all around. A great timesaver!
Large waxed cake boards – use these to invert and transfer each layer. I also cut them up for the base of each tier instead of buying special-sized ones.
Extra stand mixing bowl – the largest KitchenAid can only mix batter up to a 14″ tier. I sped up the process with two bowls, and divided out all the dry ingredients. It went a lot faster and I didn’t have to pull out the same ingredients multiple times.
Extra set of pans – these I didn’t have. It took me an extra half hour to do each layer (2 layers per tier) because I had to wait for the cake to cool enough to take out of the pan, then rewash.
Lesson #2: Level your oven racks
After the first couple of layers, I noticed that there was a slight dip on the front left corner of each one. My husband used his trusty leveler and leveled the oven, then checked the racks. It worked MUCH better afterwards.
Lesson #3: Make a LOT of buttercream and have TONS of ingredients
If you’re using buttercream and are not experienced with making large cakes, make 3 or 4 times the amount that you think you need. You may need to use extra buttercream to achieve the proper tier height, and leave room for mistakes (see last post)! The buttercream can be frozen for months, so you don’t waste anything.
Also have on hand tons of: sugar, confectioner’s sugar, shortening, butter, eggs. Let’s just say I went through 7 1/2 dozen eggs like it was nothing.
Filed under Cake, Wedding | Comment (1)Mistake #1: Not practicing ahead
I wish I had been a little more cognizant of the fact that without practicing ahead, I may very well buy twice as many ingredients because I will inevitably need to make more. My husband warned me this might happen, and my procrastinating self loves to ignore good advice.
My #1 problem: cake volume. I’m using Rose Levy Bernbaum’s Cake Bible, and she is a chemistry wizard. Of course, not having worked with pans this size before (and only some experience with the recipes), I’m doomed to hit a brick wall. I was up last night leveling and icing my 14″ layers to put in the freezer, and it looked AWESOME. Only when I started washing the pan did I realize the total height was only 2.5″, not the required 4″ for a regular tier of cake. At 3 in the morning, you can imagine how devastating this realization would be.
My #2 problem: Only one pan for each tier size. I should have dropped the bucks on another set of pans, but being cheapo, this more than doubles my baking time since I have to wait for the tiers to cool before I can put another one in. I’m also probably compromising the batter volume by having the rest sit out for so long.
So here I sit, waiting for my ingredients to reach room temperature, making more to either add on top of the ones I made, or, if the heavens are with me, for each of the layers to rise to their 1.5″ potential.
Either way, the cake tastes awesome. Thank frickin’ goodness.
So far (don’t know what I’d do without Costco):
-Cracked 50 eggs
-Measured 25 cups of cake flour and 12.5 cups of sugar
-Incorporated 12.5 sticks of butter
-Added 8 cups of milk
-Mixed 5 lbs of confectioner’s sugar, 6 cups of shortening, and 6 sticks of butter into buttercream icing
And after I get these layers baked, I’m halfway there. Except for the 8 additional hours of fondant, stacking, and piping ahead.
Filed under Cake, Wedding | Comments (2)Counts
For the next week, my life is going to follow the following formula:
50 cups of batter
28 cups of buttercream
4 cups of strawberry jam
2.5 cups of Kahlua
120 minutes mixing
290 minutes baking
+1200 minutes pulling my hair out (just kidding!)
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My first wedding cake
Did I mention I also have to bake a sheet cake for a graduation?
Stay tuned for the play-by-play. Time lapse if you’re lucky.
Filed under Cake, Wedding | Comment (1)
C is for Cookie
Baked some chocolate chip cookies for a surprise bridal shower at work. I think I’ll need to start getting an ice cream scoop to help make them the same size, although I must say I do prefer the hand formed look. Someone from the shower ordered oatmeal raisin cookies from me!!
Filed under Cookies | Comment (0)
Man that looks good.
I’m not big on buying exotic herbs and spices to make particular dishes. I’ve been able to come up with some decent marinades to kick up our grilling a notch. Since I never write anything down, I hardly remember exactly what I did (I take after my dad in this respect).
Voila, grilled flank steak marinated in dijon mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil. Sliced it thinly atop a salad of greens, tomato, and avocado, with homemade lemon vinaigrette. Not sure what else.
