Cake Testing - Pineapple upside down rum cake

I recently tested out this recipe from cdkitchen.com. (I have had pretty good luck with their recipes)  It was for a Pineapple Upside Down Rum Cake.  My co-worker has been asking for a cake like this since I first started the cake decorating classes back in August 2010.  I have never made a rum cake or a pineapple upside down cake before and so I had no idea how to tell if this was a good recipe or not. 

I purchased this adorable individual pineapple upside down cake pan from Amazon.  Well, my co-workers birthday was yesterday so although the cake was not delivered to him on his actual birthday due to snow...I baked the recipe last night and made one pan of these.  (I had left over batter, but was way too lazy to bake it up.)

I have a pineapple allergy so I made three with pineapple rings and made three like regular rum cakes.  I used Myer dark rum and while it was pretty expensive I read up and found that this was a recommended dark rum for baking with.  Remember when cooking with liquor - you are cooking out the alcohol and are being left with the taste/flavor.  You don't want something that is cheap and tastes gross...it is good to put your money into what will soon be in put to the test on your taste buds. 



Without delicious pineapple :(

 It was not a hard batter to make it was difficult to put into the pans because it was a thicker batter and did not pour and settle like a typical boxed cake mix.  The difficulty to this recipe was really that it had multiple components with the glaze, fruit, and batter.  I baked it 5 minutes less than the recipe called for and when I did the toothpick test the cake was still gooey.  I let it bake for the remaining 5 minutes and although the cake is still moist...it probably could have cooked for a couple minutes less. 

I like my rum cake rummy so I also poked some holes into the bottom of the cakes and put a little of the left over glaze on the bottom as well.  Overall, I really liked the recipe it had really nice flavor and texture.  My co-worker had a great suggestion for me to add peach rings to the bottom of the pan as a substitute for the pineapple I am allergic to.  I am definitely going to make it again and try that out!


The birthday boy's cake...two cherries instead of just one!



Budget Buster - Wilton Class

I was very excited to start the Wilton cake decorating classes at my local craft store.  It seemed a pretty good bargain too at $27 for the four week course (one night each week).  With $5 off coupons for the two follow on classes I figured I was getting a pretty good class for not too much money.  The course ends up being a budget buster though.  Here's what I ended up spending:

1. $71 for the class "tuition"
2. $99 for the toolkit that I thought would provide the tools I needed for the first two courses (not the case)
3. $50 for the course 2 and 3 class kits (after the 40% off coupons)
4. $50 for decorator icing
5. $8 for chocolate decorator icing
6. $11 for colored fondant
7. $20 for gum paste
8. $7 for white fondant
9. $3 cake leveler
10. $10 cake lifter
11. $9 cupcake decorating kit
12. $10 tip covers
13. $6 couplers
14. $6 various decorating tips
15. $8 icing colors
16. $4 piping gel
17. $6 meringue powder
18. $14 turntable

GRAND TOTAL $392!!

 

This doesn't even include the cost of parchment and wax paper, cling wrap, cake boards, and ingredients for making the cakes.   Now this all was spent over 12 weeks so at $32/week it really sneaks up on you.  I didn't really have to buy everything that was on the list.  If you are interested in the class here's some tips to make it more budget friendly.

1. $72 - just buy the class kits with the 40% off coupons and it ends up being cheaper than any of the bargain tool boxes
2. $7 - make your own butter cream and cut down the cost of frosting significantly
3. Skip the colored fondant - I didn't really miss it and I just used the $0.99 color to tint it for the class 
4. Skip the cupcake kit - the cupcake nail was stupid and I didn't use it at all and the only tip I needed was the filler tip - order online before you start the class.
5. Skip the tip covers - or buy only one pack when you get to the royal icing class.

Grand total $234 a $158 savings!  To save $30 more skip the extras like the cake lifter, extra bag of gum paste, extra tips, extra colors, and extra couplers.

Tip for Tuesday ~ Online Sources

I get all kinds of ideas online.  I also do a whole lot of my supply shopping online.  Here are some of my favorite online sources and what I use them for. 

Knitting-warehouse.com
This is my go to resource for buying crochet supplies online.  My favorite products on this site are the travel OK bamboo crochet hooks, Caron's simply soft and simply soft eco yarns, and Bernat's satin yarn.  My all-time favorite purchase was the Eagle good to go knitting tote which unfortunately the website doesn't carry anymore.  I would highly recommend getting one if you can find it somewhere!

wilton.com is my go to for all things cake decorating.  From ideas, techniques, to purchase of specialty cake pans I check this site to see if I can find it here.

goodybeads.com
I get many of my beads here.  My favorites from this site are the lamp work beads, the metal spacers, and metal round beads.

crochetpatterncentral.com has a huge library of free patterns for crochet.  I tend to scan this website for ideas when starting something I have never made before.  I usually get an idea of how it is put together and then change it up with colors and pattern to get exactly what I had in mind.  For the most part I have had success with the patterns and have had very little failures.  Tip: (pretty much all yarn brand websites also have a free pattern section for both crochet and knit.)

ehow.com is a vastly useful site.  I have used it to get everything from instructions on how to recover lamps and dining room chairs to making my own stencils.  I love browsing through ehow to research projects that are on my list and to find shortcuts and directions on things I haven't done before.

Project Pictures - Cake Testing DISASTER!

I wanted to test out my 3 mini-tier cake pan that I just got.  My cousin is getting married in August and asked me to make her a wedding cake with a small tier that they can freeze for the one year anniversary tradition.  I immediately had feelings of stress and anxiety:

1. I have trouble saying no to people.
2. I have never done a stacked or tiered cake before.
3. The wedding is more than two hours away from where I live.
4. The wedding is an outdoor wedding which means fondant - and fondant is not my strong point.
5. It is for some one's wedding!!!!  Stress!!

So when I saw her over the holidays and she asked me about it I started with a firm no.  Then I felt really bad and said... "Well, I can make you a cupcake.  Literally one cupcake for you to do the cake cutting ceremony and one for you to freeze."  When she said it could be the tiniest cake in the world and said it could be kept inside so that I can use butter cream v. fondant I caved like a cheap Ikea bookcase.  I felt infinitely better about the whole thing when I ordered a mini 3-tier cake pan.  They are supposed to look like tiny cute wedding cakes and so last night I tested baking and decorating them.

They are evil Satan Spawn!!!

I now give you pictures of the disaster also known as the demon cakes that refused to be iced by any means.  

The Damage in Total 

This one was an attempt at poured frosting...frosting failed.
Ben still ate it and said it tasted great.

This one was iced, re-iced, attempted quick-set fondant,
scraped off  quick-set fondant, and iced again.... I gave up.

This one I sort of liked.  Basket weave is the way to go.
There were two color flow birds that looked like they
were kissing, but one broke... one by itself = not so cute.