A Cake Baker's dream

So I just had the most amazing day with respect to my cakes.  Last week in class, my marketing professor was explaining the concept of market segmentation by showing us the cake mix market.  He asked if anyone would like to make cake for the class and bring it in on Monday.  I, of course, was a little over zealous in my response because an assignment like this is a dream come true.  How often does someone get to show off their talents to a class full of their peers?  Sometimes it is hard for me to admit but I don't really think that there are too many things that I am good at but I am sure that I am good at three things.  
1.  Baton Twirling- I did this as a kid but I am sure that I still have some sweet moves.
2.  Being a wife- It is easy to be good at this when you are married to your best friend and love of your life.
And lastly...
3.  Decorating cakes.
I had a class of 80 people to feed, which is larger than any amount that I have ever had to feed before.  To be creative, I decided to do 3 different cakes that would represent market segmentation.  The first would be a light, low fat lemon cake with a light buttercream icing; the second would be the biggest cake made of butter pound cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream icing; the third cake would be a dark, fudgy chocolate cake with the chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream icing.  It took me (and occasionally Bryant) 5 hours to complete all three cakes but the feeling that I had when I brought them to class is indescribable.  Am I the kiss ass?  Yes.  Am I the nerd? Yes.  But did I make everyone in that class a little happier today? Yes.  
I have been wondering for quite some time if I am ever going to find satisfaction in a career path.  Throughout high school, I dreamt of becoming a History teacher.  Then, in college, I wanted to have a career in politics but one year doing that and I found myself changing my path again but this time to the field of accounting.  Now I know that most people do not work in the field for which they received their degree but I think that I am surrounded by friends that are actually using their degrees and I envy that.  Well folks, I have changed my mind once again.  More than anything, I want to bake cakes for a living.  I want to get that feeling that I did when I delivered that cake to class today.  Because the truth is, I am really good at making cakes.
So I want to give all of you a taste of the happiness that I felt.  Here is the recipe for Cassie's fudgy chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate buttercream icing.  Enjoy.


Cassie's Fudgy Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup Sugar                             
1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup unsweet cocoa powder     
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda                     
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk                              
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla                               
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup hot coffee
Preheat to 325 degrees
In a large bowl, whisk sugar with flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt
In small bowl, whisk buttermilk with eggs and vanilla
In yet another bowl, melt butter with coffee
Beat half of buttermilk mix with dry ingredients.  Then beat in half of coffee mix.  Scrape bowl and mix the rest of the coffee and buttermilk mix with the other mix.
Pour batter into two 8 inch pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.


Chocolate Filling
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar                  3 tbsp. oil
3 tbsp. cocoa powder                         3 tbsp. water
mix well by with fork and pour between layers


Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups of powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. milk
Cream shortening and butter.  Once mixed well, add cocoa and vanilla.  Then gradually add sugar and once smooth, add milk one tbsp at a time.  

The way to my mom's heart

So Bryant tells me that I need to be a little more personal in my posts and so I want to give you a back story to the cake that I will be displaying tonight.  
My mom and I have always had a very unique mother-daughter relationship.  Often times I would say that we are more like friends actually (except when I'm sick and then she is definitely my mom because I whine like a child).  Anyway, through the years I have seen my mom go through some pretty bad heart breaks.  My pappy jokes that if her boyfriend could get me to like him, then they are set because I just really didn't think that any of them were worthy of my mom or if I thought that they were, they eventually showed their stripes.  So, last year, when my mom started dating this man named Jimmy, I really didn't bat an eye because I knew that I would dislike him, just like the rest.  Except, I didn't.  
Now let me give you a picture of what I met when I met Jimmy.  He is a tall, solidly built guy who drives a truck and likes Jack Daniels but he also dotes on his little pekingese (or whatever kind of small dog he owns).
Another thing that you should know is that I have two other sisters.  Candace is the sensitive one.  She needs reassurance about things (mainly herself).  I don't mean this to sound bad at all, quite the opposite actually because Candace is a very kind and caring person that she really needs people to treat her like that as well.  Kindness is definitely the way to Candace's heart.  Then there is Maggi.  Maggi is mature for her 10 years of age because she has always been around adults.  Candace and I are significantly older and my mom has always treated her as though she were no different than Candace or me.  But she still likes having a playmate and she needs a good father figure.  Someone to play basketball with or someone to talk to about the Indianapolis Colts.   Play time is definitely the way to Maggi's heart.  And then there is me.  I am sarcastic.  That is my thing and the way to my heart.  And my mom, who has kind of had a bit of an issue with her picker (picker: the thing that helps you decide which man to date), needs someone to treat her like a priority.  She needs someone to handle the good with the bad.  The way to my mom's heart is through her heart.  And this is why Jimmy was different than any other man.  When he met us, he was kind to Candace and he was fatherly and playful with Maggi but with me he was down right hateful... which is why I liked him right away.  But the way that he was with my mom made me absolutely adore him.
I was more than thrilled when Jimmy asked for me and my sisters' permission to marry my mom.  She deserved someone that was sweet to her.  And I was even more excited when my mom asked me to make her wedding cake.  I felt like this was my opportunity to find a way to Jimmy's heart...through his stomach!  


Here is the cake that I served at their wedding.  This one was definitely made with a lot of love.

Roses are red and violets are hard to make

So I did a cake for my friends Tonya and Steve's anniversary.  It was suppose to look like the top of their wedding cake but since they were married in the Bahamas, they wanted some tropical looking flowers around the bottom of the cake.  And can I tell you, flowers are a very hard thing to make with fondant.  I have posted a video about how to make fondant flowers so that anyone trying this will maybe have a better grasp on it than I did.  I am really bummed that I can not find a picture of the original cake but here is the picture of the one that I did for the Taylors.   Enjoy!

The hobby that is making me fat

So for my first blog, I thought that I would give you a background on my new "cake thing."  Last May, my friend Kim asked me to bake a cake for her husband's birthday.  I am still unsure of the reason that I was asked because I don't really see myself as all that talented and at the time, I was still baking box cakes, not that there is anything wrong with that.  But she asked for a specific type of cake; a cake that looked like an iphone.  When I look back at this cake now, I think it is a little busch league but it sparked in me an interest that I had no idea that I had.  But then another friend of mine, Beth, actually liked it and asked that make the groom's cake for her wedding and she also wanted to iphone cake.  Now, in all fairness, the difference between the two is drastic because I did have a little bit of practice in between each event.  But anyway, here is a picture of the cake that started it all along with its much better looking twin.
P.S.- the second one was made with Sara Lee pound cake loaves.