Thursday, June 26, 1997 at 9 PM ET in the Kitchen Conference Room -- Cake Decorating with Dolores777 and Pwd sugar - "4TH OF JULY FUN CAKE IDEAS" LETS HAVE A PARTY! 

HUGE FLAG CAKE

4TH OF JULY CUPCAKE KABOBS

HELLO KITCHEN THIS IS THE CAKE DECORATING CHAT HOUR WELCOME TO ALL NEWCOMERS TO OUR LIVE CHATS! WE ARE CHATTING ABOUT CAKE DECORATING..9-10PM EST... ...HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY. FEEL FREE TO JOIN THE FUN...

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EARLENE'S PART:

Fourth of July - family - fun - fireworks - Summer cakes can be lots of fun - fun - fun

WHAT ABOUT A SLICE OF WATERMELLON?

HOW ABOUT A FIRECRACKER. NOW FOR A MORE COMPLICATED HAMBURGER CAKE
  • L2jlu2: Pwd can you do these cakes in another way, don't have airbrush equipment yet
  • SDcaker: Speaking of red, anyone have any non tasting red ideas--I'm always looking to improve
    • DOLORES' PART:

    Here is a 'different' dessert I found in our local paper. Quite interesting. I'm going to try it the 4th. The picture was in black & white.

    MINI COCOA CUPCAKE KEBABS - RED, WHITE, BLUE PATRIOTIC DESSERT

    Mini cocoa cupcake kebabs are a patriotic red, white and blue dessert for the Fourth of July. This dessert, from Hershey's Cocoa, is perfect for an outdoor meal because it doesn't need any serving plates or utensils. Wooden skewers are stacked with red strawberries, white marshmallows and chocolate cupcakes topped with blue sprinkles or white frosted stars. After preparing the kebabs, place them on a serving tray along with a variety of festive red-and-blue napkins or miniature American flags. Or place the mini cupcakes, strawberries, marshmallows and wooden skewers in separate bowls and 'let everyone create his or her own dessert.

    MINI COCOA CUPCAKE KEBABS

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray small muffin cups (1 3/4 inches in diameter) with vegetable cooking spray. In medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Batter will be thin. Fill muffin cups about two-thirds full with batter. Bake 10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with cocoa frosting. Garnish with blue sprinkles and/or white frosting piped onto cupcakes in star pattern. Alternate cupcakes, marshmallows and strawberries on wooden skewers. Makes about 4 dozen cupcakes. The number of kebabs will be determined by the length of the skewer used and the number of cupcakes, marshmallows and strawberries placed on each skewer.

    COCOA FROSTING

    In small bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add cocoa, Conf. sugar, milk and vanilla; beat until smooth and of desired consistency (as you know...add more milk to make icing thinner). Makes about 1 cup frosting.
    Have you gotten this issue of your "American Cake Decorating Magazine" yet? You won't want to miss Pwd sugar's great article about how to start a cake decorating business. This is a really nice clear, easy-to-read article. Also, Carolyn Wanke has one of the most beautiful Lambeth cakes featured near the back. She is sharing some shortcuts she has developed too. AMCDM is available by subscription or from your local book store. You can reach them from their web site at: http://www.cakemag.com
    FOR FLAG DAY: I scanned in a cake picture I thought you might like. It too will be added when I post this week's chat on my web site. Its a Statue of Liberty - CAKE. Anyone here know who created this work of art??? There is just the picture and doesn't say who did it. I have been there and I think it is in complete perspective. Magnificent! The article reads: "OLD GOOYEY: A huge cake - 21,140 pounds, 5,500 square feet - gives Statue of Liberty visitors a tasty Flag Day. The remaining cake will be donated to Food for Survival."

    BELOW IS AN ARTICLE FROM OUR NEWSPAPER I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT FIND VERY INTERESTING. SOMETHING WE DO WITHOUT REALLY THINKING ABOUT, IS TO ADD SALT TO OUR ICING. HERE IS THE 'WHYS.'

    Every good chef knows that salt makes things taste better -but until now, science hasn't shaken out the reason. A new study shows that salt suppresses bitter tastes, bringing sweet and sour flavors to the fore. That may not sound like a big revelation. But it could help food designers concoct more effective salt substitutes for people with high blood pressure. It was a simple experiment by Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia that cracked the salt nut. Breslin offered people tastes of sugar, the salt relative sodium acetate and urea, a bitter substance, in every possible combination. He used sodium acetate instead of sodium chloride because it enhances flavor like table salt without delivering its powerful salty taste, which can confuse subjects. With each flavor combination, the researchers asked their subjects to rate how much sweetness, saltiness or bitterness they tasted. It turned out that all of the flavors inhibited each other, but the sodium acetate salt inhibited the bitter urea more than it did the sugar. So when all three were served together, the result was sweet compared with the urea-sugar combination. "Everything . suppresses everything else, but the sodium is special for the bitter," Breslin said. "If you add salt, you're going to knock out the bitter taste." In the real culinary world, the finding suggests that in baking, for example, salt masks the compounds that give unsalted bread the flavor of cardboard. So in designing a salt substitute, food engineers would want to invent something not just salty tasting, but also with the ability to mask bitter flavors. "Salt does amazing things to food that are probably related to this phenomenon," said Breslin, who describes his work in a recent issue of the British scientific journal Nature.

    GENERAL HINTS:

    Q. How long can I keep royal icing?

    A. I keep it un-refrigerated, sometimes for several weeks. But I would store it in the fridge after 3-4 weeks. Be sure it is stored in Tupperware bowls and sealed very tightly. If it forms crust on it you can't use it.

    Pwd Sugar: That is with meringue pwd - right Not fresh egg whites

    Q. How should I do 'stand-up' cakes?

    A. Use a cardboard 2" larger than the base of the cake. Use a heavier type of cake, Pound cake is good for this. On the Duncan Hines box, they instruct you to start with pudding cake mix, add an extra egg, and use less water. Bake the cake at least a day in advance. Decorate it 2" up from the bottom front first, then do the back (this keeps you from having lots more weight on either side). Continue front-to-back, bottom-to-top.

    Q. How do I price cakes?

    A. Start with around $10.00 per cake mix and add $5.00 for each additional mix used. For some of the cakes featured in the Wilton Year Book, we start with $1.00 per serving, due to all the extra time consuming detail involved. Raise your cake prices slowly. As the cost of living increases, you will need to get more for your cakes. But don't start off too cheap - or you may feel 'walked on.'

    Q. How do I figure how many wedding cake servings I will need?

    A. On the following page is a chart that should help to guide you in this.

    Q. How can I make a cake and divide for 2 different flavors?

    A. You can use the NEW K & S CAKE BATTER SEPARATOR ($3.59 any size). We have them to fit pans that are: 10x15, or any other 10" opening, 9x13 and any other 9" wide opening, 12x18", and any other 12" wide opening. Pan should have straight sides, but it works with slanted ones also. Batter just isn't that runny.

    Q. How do I freeze a cake?

    A. Freeze either iced/decorated or just bare. TO DO: Wrap the cake well with plastic wrap until it is well sealed against freezer burn. Put it in a box the size of the cake tray. Freeze. TO THAW: This is perhaps the most important part. TO DO: Remove cake from freezer but DO NOT unwrap. Let cake return to room temperature before you unwrap so it won't sweat. Expect a 8-9" cake to take 10-12 hours to warm completely. Larger cakes should thaw longer. It can take up to 2 days for a weeding cake tier with a plate on it to return to room temp.

    Q. How can I make really BLACK icing?

    A. Try our Baker's Preferred SUPER new gel food coloring. (Same for red! Takes less red coloring). Make several days in advance.

    Q. How should I store my pastry fillings I buy at Sugarcraft?

    A. Store in the refrigerator just as you would jelly. As with jelly, it will thicken if you keep it for a long time after opening etc. Freezes well.

    Q. What IS Color-flo?

    A. Color-flo is a very hard-drying icing that resembles royal icing. In fact, you mix it the very same way. The real difference between color-flo and royal icing is that icing items made with color-flo will dry much harder and you will have less breakage. You should use color-flo regular consistency for outlining, piping lace, making the class cradle, etc. This icing can be thinned to almost a runny consistency for flooding icing. To do this, you place a pattern under wax paper and pipe out an outline using regular consistency. Then thin some color-flo down to almost runny and flood it over your pattern. CAUTION: Getting color-flo too thin makes problems. TO THIN: Take out the amount you need and add water slowly drop by drop. When you get it thin enough that the color-flo smoothes out to the count of 10, it is thin enough. If in doubt, leave it a little bit thick. You can tap the piece on the table to get it perfectly smooth.

    Q. If I have only one pan and must bake have of my batter then bake the other half, what should I do?

    A. First, DO NOT re-whip the part that is waiting. Let the extra batter sit in a cool place...just not hot, not in fridge...until the first cake is done. Wash, dry and re-grease the pan. Add batter and bake as before.

    Q. What size box do I need for this cardboard? Seems like the "$100.00 question! This is asked here daily.

    A. Always buy a box the very same size as cardboard whenever possible. This is so you cake won't scoot or shift damaging the sides. Please measure your cardboard before you come shopping for a box. We don't know "What size box I need for a cake about this size?"

    Q. Why does my cake bake with a hump in the center?

    A. This is the NEXT question most asked. 1. Try the Magic Cake Strips(c) for even baking. Directions are included and the strips are available in several sizes. 2. If the cake bakes with a sharp hump, your oven is simply too hot. Turn it down to about 325° - maybe more. Any cake is going to have some hump. You can just lay a dish towel on the cake within the first minute after removing from the oven and press it flat gently. If the cake is over-baked, then you use a serrated knife to shave off the hump.

    Q. What is the best way to test for doness?

    A. Box directions of baking time are only GUIDELINES. You must also check it. For a box mix- while cake is still in the oven, press your finger gently in the center. If the cake does not stay depressed, it is done. For heavy scratch cakes this doesn't work as well. A cake tester helps in this case. If batter isn't clinging to the tester, the cake is done. 

    Thursday, July 3, 1997 at 9 PM ET in the Kitchen Conference Room -- Cake Decorating with Dolores777 and Pwd sugar. Help with baking problems 

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