January 21st, 2014 - How to make/decorate a cake

As I've said in previous lessons, I'm getting better at cooking.  Moving in with someone who doesn't view "Spam sandwiches" as an acceptable dinner has required that I do so.  There is one area, however, that I haven't quite mastered.  And that would be baking.

Let me qualify that by saying that I can follow the recipe on a cake box or brownie mix with ease.  But I had never attempted baking something from scratch, until today.  This was a two part lesson, starting the night before, so I had two gurus.  First, my fiance Elizabeth showed me how to make the cake and the icing.

Now, when it comes to dessert, I'm really more of a pie guy.  Cherry is my favorite, but pecan, pumpkin, and coconut cream are all contenders for the title.  With that being said, there is one kind of cake that trumps all cakes, and all pies as well.  That would be the carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  It really doesn't get any better than that.

So of course, for my first time making a cake from start to finish, I decided to go with my favorite.  I used a Kitchen Aid Mixer and some great recipes that I found, and I came up with three cakes and a tub of icing.  The process was much like make the abelskiver, as it involved mixing eggs, flower, baking soda, and salt.  There was also some vanilla extract thrown in, as well as carrots and almonds.  And love.  Lots and lots of love.

One of said cakes and the tub of icing...

I brought the cakes into work, where Dana Cummings showed me how to decorate it.  First, we put the first layer on to her rotating cake table.

A lazy susan for cakes!

Next, I applied some of the icing on to the top of the cake.  We decided to make what is called a "naked cake," which is apparently in fashion now (that's what Dana said at least).  This means that you do not ice the sides, but instead only put icing on the top of the cakes.

The first layer...

Then, I stacked a second layer of cake on to the top of this one.

Very serious about my cake placement...

Dana then showed me how to do the "swirl technique":

First, press the icing knife into the middle of the cake and begin turning the cake table

Continue swirling out...

Until you get something like this!

Once I got the swirl down, I practiced making carrots.  To do this, I combined food coloring with some of the left over icing.

Baby Carrots

When I was confident enough, I put them on the real thing.

The finished product!

Judging by how quickly the cake was eaten by my co-workers, I think that it was resounding success!  What surprised me the most was how easy this was.  Cake Boss, watch out, because I'm coming for ya!