CNY Cake Decorating Competition

I had the great opportunity to compete in the CNY Cake Decorating Competition in Ithaca, NY this last weekend. The theme of the competition was Classic 50's Music. I chose to do a 50's Stratocaster and a 50's transistor radio to represent the the birth of rock and roll in the 50's. I competed in division two which was for semi-professional cake decorators. I won third prize out of the eight in my division.  It was a very well organized competition with a lot of events going on as well as workshops and an edible fashion show done by some professional chefs, some from the Food Network. 

I made the radio out of decadent chocolate cake covered with marshmallow fondant. 

The guitar is made of cereal treats and covered in marshmallow fondant and the details done with fondant and then painted by hand with food coloring. 

I look forward to many more competitions in the future!!

Gender Reveal Cake

Some good friends of ours are expecting a baby and for the announcement they asked me to make a gender reveal cake for them.  They dropped off the sealed envelope from their doctors visit and I was the only one who knew if they were having a boy or a girl. We decided to do a white cake and dye it either blue or pink and cover the cake with little fondant cutouts of teddy bears alternating between pink and blue. The filling they chose for the cake was Vanilla Italian Buttercream.

And in their New York City apartment there was at least 50 people packed in to hear the big news as they cut into the cake and served it to all their guests. And...

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiderman Cake

The other day I got a text message from a good friend of mine here in New York City asking if she could pass on my contact info to her friend. I of course said yes. Her friend ended up being the Tour Manager of The Killers. She was looking for a baker in the city that could do a Spiderman cake for the guitarist's son, who is turning seven years old. She contacted me and sent me a couple pictures of some ideas. I decided to do one of the buildings as the Empire State Building. They saw the Spiderman play here on Broadway and then back to the hotel for the surprise cake. I dropped the cake off this afternoon. It turned out awesome!! See the pictures below!

The majority of the cake is made with rice crispy treats except for the top of the Empire State Building, which is Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Italian Buttercream Filling. 

Spiderman is made out of compressed and molded rice crispy treats and covered in white chocolate and hand painted with food coloring. 

Cello Birthday Cake

What a great way to start out my week. A coworker of mine asked me a few days ago to make a birthday cake for her aunt. She asked for a Orange Chiffon Cake with Mango Cream Filling and covered with lavender colored fondant with a cello on top. Another great success for The Mighty Baker!

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Our good friends and neighbors had their anniversary yesterday and the husband asked me to make a lemon cake or a lemon dessert of some kind. After much deliberation in my mind, I decided to make a lemon chiffon cake with lemon Italian buttercream icing. It turned out great and they loved it! 

 Lemon Chiffon Cake with Lemon Italian Buttercream Icing

Easter Cake

This weekend was great! I did a cake for a Easter egg hunt party in Central Park. I did it for Lesley who is a good friend of my wife and I. She gave us a color scheme for the cake and had us take it from there.  My wife and I designed it and my wife had the genius idea of making a cameo to go on the front of the cake with the design of Pat the Bunny on it. It turned out great! Also the piped design on the cake was inspired by the invitation that Lesley sent out for the party. The colors were based on the color scheme that she gave us. You can check out Lesley's Blog for more pictures of the cake and the party. Also she is the one who we did the Charlie and Lola Cake for a while back for her daughters second birthday.

Vanilla Cake with Fresh Strawberry Filling

Butterfly Cake

A week or so ago my wife and I asked our daughter what kind of birthday cake she wanted and she responded with "I want a butterfly cake." I then asked what colors of butterflies she wanted and she said she wanted blue butterflies. I was so stoked to do her cake this year! First of all because she is my daughter and I love her so much! Secondly because I have not done a cake in far too long. This is a problem I need to fix. So if you or someone you know lives in New York City and need a custom designed cake please send them my way. Anyway, back to the cake, it was a hit! We invited over a few of my daughters friends and they had a butterfly party and of course loved the cake!

This was my first time using Gum Paste. I cut the butterflies out of gum paste and then hand painted the design on with food coloring.

 

It is a luscious melt in your mouth moist white cake with lime buttercream icing.

Cookies for Kids Cancer

A couple weeks ago I received an email at work saying that the company was participating in a cookie drive for Cookies for Kids Cancer.  I of course volunteered instantaneously. I was going to make something new that I had never done before, but about a month ago I made little Linzer type cookies for a work function and everybody loved them and many people requested that I make them again for the cookie drive so that they could buy them all. Instead of making them in circles I crafted them toward Valentines day. The cookie drive was a great success and my cookies flew off the table quite quickly and were loved by many! It was great fun to bake these for such a worthy cause!

Napoleon Strip (Mille-Feuilles)

As some of you may know, I am baking my way through the textbook used at the French Culinary Institute here in New York City. I bought the book about a year and a half ago and have learned some great things and have crafted some masterful and delectable creations.  I went and got a tour of the school a few weeks go and would love nothing more than to attend their pastry school someday.  But until that day I will be perfecting the techniques and recipes that are in my book.  A couple of days ago I attempted to make classic puff pastry and it tasted great, but just did not have the right consistency.  Wanting to get it just right I tried again yesterday and started the four hour process it takes to complete the puff pastry recipe. Below are the fruits of my labor. All made from scratch in my small New York City apartment!

Bakewell Tarts

Bakewell is a small town located in beautiful Derbyshire, England. I visited this small town about seven years ago and was introduced to a delicious pastry called the Bakewell Tart. Well, for those of you are are English or know about these delectable treats will know that it was actually the Bakewell Pudding which is famous and authentic to the small town of Bakewell. The two desserts differ slightly. At any rate I have been working on recreating this pastry and after lots of recipes I have finally nailed it! They are absolutely delicious! 

Bakewell Tart is a tart that consists of a sweet tart dough, spread with a layer of jam and a almond sponge filling!