Vanilla and Strawberry Cake-
1/4 sheet, 2-layered vanilla cake with Tahitian Vanilla frosting, with fresh sliced strawberries and strawberry glaze. Completely frosted in the Tahitian Vanilla frosting, decorated with fondant strawberries and sugar flowers with green icing accents.
I guess it's been a while! Things are slow in the cake department for me as of late (part to do with a lack of events to bake for, part to do with my last year's teaching job) so there hadn't been a reason to post until now. So I'm brushing off the dust and getting back to the sweet life!
(this cake is chronologically newer than the posts to come, I have a small back log of cakes to post later!)
Ok! Back to the cake! It was a cake I happily made for a good friend for her 30th birthday. She was an attendee at my 30th (what seems like a hundred years ago!) and given it was a pirate-themed "dinner-and-a-show" type place, making a cake for her big day was the least I could do to say thanks....and I'm sorry!
She told me her only demands were that it said Happy 30th and that the rest was pretty much up to me. This was both a blessing and a curse-to quote David Bowie & Queen: this is (myself) UNDER PRESSURE! Being that it was summer, I wanted to find a way to incorporate that into the cake somehow...Think, Think, Think...
While I was thinking, I went to check in on my strawberry pot and give it a drink when I saw this-
the cutest little strawberry I'd ever seen!
(I know you can't tell how diminutive this little guy is, but let's just put it this way, it would blanch at the sight of a hummingbird!)
But I finally had my inspiration, so off I went, to Michaels cake/baking isle!
And what glorious thing did await me there? None other than my favorite cake baker's mug plastered on a handful of items-Duff (Ace of Cakes) has his own line of cake decorating helpers!!! Swoon! And although the 2 lb. bucket of fondant was a bit on the pricey side, I snapped up a bucket of white, a tube of green decorating icing, some sugar daisy flowers and leaves (as you can see, the leaves didn't make the cut) and headed home to create.
Now, I've been working with fondant for a good while now. This is what I know: Wilton's is not fit for human consumption, Satin Ice is fantastic and chocolate fondant is a gift from the baking gods. (see post *Martha, Martha, Martha* & *Bridal Shower in Pink & Brown*) But THIS fondant, words can't describe the heavenly scent that hit my olfactory system as I opened the container. Light and airy, sweet and delicate, it was all I could do to not take a big spoon to it and dig in! I was intrigued because although the bucket seemed the same, this was not the same as Satin Ice, so I did some quick research and found that this partnership of decadence is with Fondarific. And I couldn't agree more!
The cake itself is the same fluffy vanilla cupcake recipe I've used in several of the cakes posted here (*Frog Princess* and *Vroom!Vroom!* to name a few). The frosting comes from the same recipe book, I've made it a zillion times, but because of the use of fresh strawberries I decided to tinker with the flavor a bit. I have that William-Sonoma 3 pack of vanillas; Madagascan, Mexican and Tahitian; at home and typically go straight for Madagascan. They all smell amazing! Madagascan goes with just about everything, Mexican is best with chocolate based goodies and Tahitian has an almost tropical fruit undertone that takes you to a white sand beach surrounded by sapphire blue waters while sipping coconut cocktails.....(I so need a vacation!) Tahitian vanilla worked like a charm and complimented the strawberries and frosting perfectly.
The strawberries were gorgeous this time of year and I bought extras so I could snack, you know, for artistic inspiration while I was busy with the cake! I decided to try making a glaze with the strawberry juices, but once mixed together, I worried about the spongy cake soaking it up too much, especially since I knew I wasn't covering this cake with fondant. I balked, draining most of the glaze from the strawberry filling. I kept having images of this cake "bleeding out" strawberry juice to the horror of everyone at the party...I was hoping for ooohs and aaahs, not ewws and icks.
Making the fondant strawberries was so much fun, and theraputic! Jabbing at lumps of fondant with a sharp object, in this case a bamboo skewer, can do wonders for anyone with a soul-sucking job like I had recently. Not only was that fondant filling my house with sweet smells, but it was a dream to work with too. Adding color and kneading it to the desired color didn't take a sledgehammer for once. And given that our weather had peaked in recent days, I was impressed that it seemed to wave off atmospheric threats to it's composition. *50 pts. for a burst of SAT words!
Assembly was a breeze, but the loser of this cake turned out to be the pre-made icing leaves I bought at Michaels. It seemed like something I needed...at the time. But once the cake was close to completion, I realized they were not destined to partake in the strawberry party. Oh, well, they'll get used...some day!
Being a "fun"employed teacher, I know that kids (of all ages) are robbed of celebrating their summer birthdays during the school year. I don't think it's fair either, personally, I think the solution is to just go year-round anyway, but that's another post for another blog. So to all of you with summer birthdays...
But it probably wouldn't hurt if you started embracing your half-birthday, or, you could choose any random day and celebrate your "Un-birthday"...You know today is my un-birthday, too!
Happy Un-Birthday to ALL!