Guest Post - How to Make a Cute Coconut Cake

I am very excited today to be hosting my first ever guest post. Damian Wolf  is a part time blogger and online enthusiast. He contributes to many blogs, including cake decorating course Sydney , which is considered as one of the sweetest Australian websites. He has kindly offered to share with us his recipe for a scrummy coconut cake - read on below...

You will be the hit of the party or get together with this fantastically creative and delicious coconut cake recipe. Just about everyone loves coconut, and just about everyone loves cake. When these two favourites collide, it is like tasting a sweet tropical paradise. With its sprinkled coconut icing, this scrumptious desert adds a special touch to any celebration. This coconut cake takes the cake indeed!

Don’t worry if baking is not your specialty. This recipe is foolproof and very easy to follow. First, we will bake the two layers of butter cake and then we will tackle the frosting. Just follow each step and everyone will think you are a true pastry chef.

BUTTER CAKES

Ingredients:
32 tbsp soft butter, or a little over four sticks (450 g)
2 cups sugar (450 g)
4 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
4 cups sifted flour (380 g)
1 1/3 cups milk (315 ml)

Directions:

• Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees.

• Prepare two 9 inch round pans with either baking paper or butter.

• Use a hand mixer to beat butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Be sure to add one egg at a time to best blend the ingredients.

• Add half the milk & flour, and fold into the mix with a rubber spatula.

• Once these ingredients are well blended, fold the rest of the milk and flour into the mix.

• When the cake mix is completely blended, pour it into both cake pans and smooth over the top to make a clean and even top edge.

• Bake for 55 minutes at 175 degrees, using a fork or toothpick to test the center at the end of the 55 minutes.

• If the fork or toothpick has wet cake batter when you pull it out of the cake, continue to bake it for another five minutes.

• Let the two cakes rest outside of the oven for 20 minutes.

ICING

Ingredients:
2 cups sour cream (454 g)
1 ½ cups sugar (338 g)
4 cups shredded coconut (300)

**Adding a few drops of red food coloring will give the cake a fun pink hue that is perfect for a little girl's birthday party.

Directions:
• In a large mixing bowl, gently mix all ingredients together.

• Be sure to wait for at least 20 minutes for the cakes to cool before spreading on the frosting. To be on the safe side, set the two cakes in the fridge for a few minutes to cool.

• It is very important to frost one butter cake at a time. Set one cake on the plate you will serve the cake on. Set the other cake on any plate.

• Frost the cake that will be on the bottom first. Completely cover the cake, adding a thick layer to the top.

• Frost the sides and part of the top of the top layer.

• Using a large cake knife, or flat spatula, gently pick up the top layer of cake and set it down on the bottom layer.

• Frost the top of the cake.

• Top with a birthday candle and keep chilled in the refrigerator.

All that Glitters is Not Gold

Recently in UK caking circles there seems to have been a bit of a stir about glitter on cakes - is it edible or not?


Often packaging has been confusing or misleading, and the situation hasn't been helped by people seeing TV chefs using the stuff with gay abandon on their creations.


The Foods Standards Agency (FSA) has decided to take a close look at what is going on. You might like to read this letter from the FSA to the Director of Trading Standards regarding the misuse of these products.


In very simple terms, there are glitters (and dusts) on the market which are labelled as being foodsafe and 'non-toxic'. These are not the same as 'edible'. What it means is that they are safe to come into contact with food items, but they are not designed to be consumed (although  if consumed they aren't toxic). These glitters are intended to be removable decoration, not consumed along with the food item.


My black and white shoe cake is an example of non-toxic glitter being used in the correct way - while being perfectly food safe, the shoe is not intended to be eaten and was removed completely from the cake before consumption.


At Canterbury Cakes you may see glittery decorations, which can be easily removed (and when you collect your cake you will be advised as such), but you will never see our any of our cakes with glitter applied in a way that it cannot be removed  - as a result, perhaps the cakes may not be as pretty and sparkley as some things you may see on the web, but I take the safety of my clients very seriously and when you think about what glitter actually is (see what Wikipedia has to say), small particles of plastic and metal, would you really want to be eating it? I certainly wouldn't!   

How to Make Coral for a Novelty Cake

I am decorating a nautically themed cake this week and the great thing about this kind of cake is that you can include loads of little details, which is always good fun. As well as obvious sea-life such as fish, crabs and seaweed, I like to add the impression of a coral reef as I think this sets off the theme beautifully. I used this technique previously when making Emily's Octonauts Cake and it really added something to the impact of the cake. I'm not sure where I picked up the technique (so I unfortunately can't credit anyone), but it's simple and quick and I am sure you will love it!  


So, all you need to make some realistic(ish) looking coral is some royal icing (any colour will do; the more the merrier!) and some grape stalks...yes, you read that right, grape stalks!

Cut the big grape stalk into smaller pieces that you think will look interesting 

Then go to work piping the royal icing onto it - it isn't an exact science so just stick it on there and you can always use a cocktail stick to manipulate it around the 'branches' a little if it's not looking quite to your liking

Once it's covered all over, leave it to dry and then

arrange it with other coloured corals, a bit of sea-life and some weed - voila, a mini-coral reef!

What do you think?

'Tis the Season to be Blogging

This week three of my friends joined the blogosphere. 


The first is Leanne, who has joined the world of food blogging - she aims to use her little corner of cyberspace to inspire other mums with her collection of recipes and photos of the delicious dishes she creates. It can be difficult for mums of young children to come up with dishes which are healthy and wholesome, but also at the same time be tempting for both adult and toddler palates, so I am sure that Leanne's posts will be very well received!


Secondly, is Tasha, who like me is a cake decorator running her own business. I first met Tasha when doing the PME Diploma in sugar flowers last year and we discovered that we actually both worked for the same corporate giant...similarly were putting into place plans for our future 'on the outside'. Tasha's first post is of a fabulous castle wedding cake that any bride would be over the moon with - go check it out!


Lastly, but not leastly, is Ashleigh. Occasionally in life, if you are lucky, you come across someone with such drive and energy that in just a few short years they manage to achieve more than most people manage in a lifetime. I suspect that Ashleigh is going to be one such individual. She is the driving force behind The Canterbury Toyshop, which only came into being towards the end of last year but is turning into a roaring success; but not only is she blogging about the ethos and values she holds dear in her running of the toyshop, she is also blogging about her other passion, being a mum. I really don't know how she finds enough hours in the day (have you got a time machine tucked away somewhere Ashleigh?)


I wish all three of my friends all the best with their four new blogs. I hope that we can all help and support each other along our journey out into the blogosphere, and have a lot of fun as we go! 







Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Personalised Decorated Biscuits

I might have mentioned, once or twice

that I love the idea of decorating biscuits. 

I have been an avid follower of Sugarbelle's blog and, more recently, Lila Loa. Their work is inspirational and it amazes me what they are able to do with a 'cookie'. Every time I read one of their posts I get all enthusiastic about the idea of giving it a go, but then procrastination usually sets in....but not this weekend. A friend was celebrating her birthday so I decided to have a go at decorating  some personalised biscuits for her.

I figured that starting with flowers would be the best bet , as I was hoping they would be fairly forgiving. I really enjoyed icing these and Trudy was very surprised and delighted when I presented them to her. I've got a long way to go before I could even dream of approaching the standard of the two ladies above, but my first few tentative steps haven't been too scary...Yayyyy!

Thanks to DesiComments.com for the emoticons

How to Make a Gumpaste Wizard - Tutorial

The finishing touch to the castle cake (see tutorial How to Make a Castle Cake - Part 1 and How to make a Castle Cake - Part 2) was the wizard sitting on the top so here is how I made him:

First I rolled a ball of gumpaste into an appropriate size for his body, gently moulding it into a a flattened pear-shape.

Then, using my thumb and forefinger, I flared out the bottom to give the impression of some movement, so it would look like he was wearing a gown.

I then rolled out two small tear-dropped shaped balls of black gumpaste and stuck them into place under the gown. I used the dresden tool to put in some folds around the shoes. 

I always like to make sure that the heads of my figures are secured well onto the body while drying, so I inserted a spaghetti stick through the body (this can also help prevent sagging).

To make his head I rolled a ball of flesh coloured fondant and used a cocktail stick to make a little hole where his nose would be. I then rolled a small tear-dropped shaped piece of flesh coloured fondant and put it in place to make his nose. I used a cocktail stick to give the nose nostrils. The eyes are simply small balls of white gumpaste upon which are glued even smaller balls of black gumpaste (I used sugar glue, but you could just as easily use water). I fashioned his eyebrows from small tapering sausages of white gumpaste and used the dresden tool to give them some texture once I'd stuck them into position. Finally, I put his head in place and was then able to cut off the excess spaghetti, leaving just enough to support his hat.  

Of course, being a very wise old wizard, he had to have a substantial beard. I made this from a long tapering sausage of white gumpaste, which I then added texture to using the dresden tool.

The beard was too long when I first held it against him, so I chopped the end until I got to a length that I was happy with and then attached it to his face just under his nose.

I then attached a moustache above it (again using the dresden tool to texture it and coax it into position) and gave him the suggestion of a mouth through all that facial hair!

I then got carried away with all this hair and started putting it on his head, completely forgetting that I had intended to put a cloak on him, so next time I would do that step first to make things easier! So, using similar principles to the beard, I filled his head with hair.

I then rolled a thing piece of darker gumpaste and cut a cloak out of it. I did this freehand, but you may want to make yourself a template to ensure it's even.

Luckily, when I came to attach the cloak, the hair was still soft enough that I could manipulate it out of the way so my earlier eagerness didn't result in disaster (phew).

I then gave him arms. To make these I rolled two tear dropped pieces of gumpaste and then fluted the ends using my thumb and forefinger to give the appearance of the long sleeves. Using the small ball tool, I made holes in the end for his hands. As his arms were quite heavy, once they were glued in place, I supported them with sponges until they were dry enough to support themselves. 

For his hat, I rolled a thin piece of gumpaste and cut out a disk for the rim. I then rolled a tear-drop shaped piece of gumpaste, which I thinned to almost a point at the end, to make the body of his hat. It simply slotted into place on top of the disk and was supported by, and completely covered, the last part of the spaghetti that had been protruding out of his head.

Finally, he needed some hands. If you check out my earlier post (Gumpaste Hands) there is a great link to a Lorraine McKay tutorial on making hands which I have found invaluable and I am sure you will find interesting at the very least.

To make hands, you start with two tear-dropped shaped pieces of gumpaste (everything seems to be tear-drop shaped today, doesn't it?) and you flatten them out at one end so that they have an almost paddle shape.

Then, using a knife or a scalpel (it was a scalpel in this case as these hands were tiny!) cut the paste to give rudimentary fingers and thumbs.

Next is the tricky bit, and where Lorraine's tutorial is really good at demonstrating the technique. To make the fingers look more realistic, you have to gently roll each individual finger, slightly pulling to elongate and tapping the end to shape. In the picture below you can see the difference between the shaped and the unshaped fingers. 

Once you get the hang of it and can do this step relatively quickly, the gumpaste should still be flexible enough for you to position the fingers into realistic poses. It's not so clear below because of the sponge in the way but I made a little magic wand for the wizard to hold and was able to manipulate the fingers so that he was gripping it.

I allowed the figure to dry overnight before positioning him on top of the cake. By that time his arms and hands were dry enough to be able to support themselves without the help of the sponges.

I hope you have found this helpful. I would love to see some of your own creations!

How to Make a Castle Cake Tutorial - Part 2

This is the second part of my tutorial on how to make the castle cake pictured above. For the first part please see here.

Previously we made the turrets, covered and coloured the board and placed the cake in position; so now it is time to make the walls. 

First, I rolled out a piece of fondant to the appropriate thickness (depends on how thick you like your icing on the cake) and cut it to the length of the side wall. The height was slightly taller than the height of the cake as I needed to allow for the battlements.

As with the turrets, I used the impression mat to give the look of a stone wall and I used a small square cutter to cut out the battlements. Then I cut in three arrow slits using the method described in part 1.

As the fondant is soft and it can be difficult to stop the shape distorting while handling it, I popped it into the freezer for a minute or two just to cool down and stiffen up. This allowed me to then put it in place without any stretching or distortion. You can use a very thin layer of buttercream, or jam or sugar glue to stick it in place; whatever is your preference.

I then put the roof in place - simply a square of fondant given the treatment with the impression mat. It is easier to put the roof on at the start rather than putting all the walls in place and then trying to put it in place.

I then added the second side wall. 

Next was the back wall. When I measured the fondant for this I took into account the fact that the side walls had been added, so it was a little wider.

The front wall of course needed to incorporate the drawbridge and portcullis, so I used a large square cutter to cut out the space in the middle of the wall. I put just two arrow slits on this wall, one either side.

Once the wall was in place on the front, I put the turrets in place and then used the airbrush to give it all some colour

I cut a thin piece of black fondant to put into the space at the front. Even though I used the same sized cutter as I had on wall, it still needed a bit of tidying up to make it fit neatly. The thinness of the black gave the illusion of the walls being thicker and that there was something inside the castle. I knew that I wanted to add a portcullis, so it meant there would be room for this without it standing proud of the walls.

Any visible icing sugar marks were easily removed by painting a little leaf glaze onto the affected area (you could use vodka or even water, very sparingly, to do the same thing).

Next was the drawbridge. I cut out a thick square of brown fondant, using the same sized cutter as above, and marked it up to look like it was made of planks of wood. 

It's the little details that always make the difference, so I always try to remember to put in things like nail marks etc. The colour of the fondant seemed a bit 'blocky' to me, given that the rest of the castle was airbrushed, so I used some brown dusting powder to give some texture and depth to the wood grain.

It slotted in to place perfectly. Just the right length to go over the moat and on to the grass :o)

Then it was just a case of adding some rope/chain to the drawbridge and the portcullis.

As the party was to have a magic theme, I decided that the castle needed a resident wizard. My next post will be a tutorial on how I made the wizard model that sat on top of the cake.

Until next time...