~ I Made My First Smash Cake ~

Hello, Hello!  

Can you believe it?  You're reading a post that is not about the Scarlet Pimpernel! :) I (Katherine) realize our content has been extremely biased lately.....sink me!  Well, I'm here to "change the subject" for a little while and talk about.......CAKE!

So, this cake was "commissioned" by a friend of mine, whose daughter was turning 1!  She asked me to make a six inch Deer/Fawn smash cake and even made the antlers for the top herself!  I was a bit nervous as I'd never done a cake like this before, but also excited as the design was very cute!  The front of the cake would have the deer's face and the top of the cake was going to be covered in different colors of rosettes.  The color pallet chosen was a mix of brown, ivory, teal, and dark green.  I have to say I was very impressed with all the work my friend put into designing the cake - it was a really nice color mix!

So....about the process! (I think I'll write the rest of this post in diary-like entries as I work on each step of making the cake! :)

Day 1

Dear Cupcake,

I'm stressed - VERY STRESSED!  

I'm getting confused as to what color rosettes go where on the cake as my friend messaged me the design a while back and it's getting blurry....I think I need to message her again and make sure I have the design straight!

Later.....

Whew....ok, I think I've got it now!  Now to run to the store to pick up extra food coloring that I probably will never need for this cake, but I'm scared of running out, even if this is only a little six inch cake and the amount I think I'll need would only be needed for 3 enormous wedding cakes, but I'm still scared so I'm going to buy it anyway and feel ridiculous when I come home with it!

Day 2

Dear Cupcake,

Today is Prep Day!  This morning I'm going to bake my cake layers, and whip up my beautiful buttercream!  Tomorrow/tomorrow night will be assembling and decorating time!   (writing visibly becomes nervously wobbly)  My brother, Sherlock's birthday party is tomorrow night, and I'm on frying his requested Sweet and Sour Chicken.  Of course, we'll be cleaning up the house during the day to prepare for company, so I may be decorating by moonlight after everyone leaves.  Hmm...well, if so, that's not so bad - then I can watch Hallmark movies on my laptop while I decorate alone to my heart's content!

Day 3

Dear Cupcake,

Tonight after Sherlock's party, 9-ish PM to be exact, I started assembling.  I whipped up my buttercream in the mixer to get it all fluffy and workable again as it was cold from refrigeration.  (I forgot to thaw it beforehand).  Next, I colored some of the frosting light brown (I was using my friend's picture that she found of another deer cake as my guide for part of the design), and you wouldn't believe it, but it took a lot of time to get it to the right shade!  I leveled the cake layers (yes, I'll admit I was overjoyed that I forgot to wrap the pans with my homemade baking strips to make them bake level, therefore having cake trimmings to snack on as I worked).  After frosting and smoothing the cake (which took FOREVER! Note to self: GET A BENCH SCRAPER ASAP!), I made my deer eyelashes out of black fondant.  This looked so simple in the tutorials I watched, but I think my problem was that I didn't have it stiff enough after I added my black coloring in.  I should have probably "kneaded" in some more confectioners sugar and it hopefully would have made a difference - I'll have to try that next time...if there is a next time.  But eventually I got the fondant to cooperate into the lashes I wanted.  (They really made the cake come to life when you looked at the finished product later on.)  As I worked on all the above, I watched Hallmark's "A December Bride" (which has When Calls The Heart's Jack in it - probably the best thing about that movie), "More The Merrier" (starring Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, & Joel McCrea - one of my FAVORITE movies), and Hallmark's "Crown For Christmas" - which has - get this - Captain Wentworth from the 2007 Persuasion in it!).  So at this point, I confess to say it was going on 3 AM. and I went to bed.  I was rather discouraged at the cake smoothing job I did, and then the struggle with the fondant didn't exactly boost my confidence.  But still I had the eyelashes done and as I'd never made fondant lashes before - it was still an accomplishment and a big part done.

Day 4 

-THE DAY SHE'S COMING TO PICK UP THE CAKE-

Dear Cupcake,

After sleeping in till 9 AM, Grace woke me up and reminded me I had a cake to make.

Katherine (drowsy) - No, what cake?  There's a cake?

Grace- Yes....you know, the cake you're making?

Down I went to the kitchen, and again pulled out my chilled buttercream and set to "re-fluff-if-fy-ing" it in the mixer.  (Oh my mixer, how I love thee)  I first had to do some "patching" on my cake as there were a few issues.  Then I separated my buttercream into separate bowls and colored them ivory, teal, and dark green.  

Now....rosette time!  It's just funny how challenging it can be to pipe rosettes in a supposed "random" pattern over the top.  It's like looking at someone else's graceful "messy" bun that looks oh, so easy, but when you try to recreate it in front of your mirror - disaster, frustration, and hair pulling ensues!  But anyway, after I started and got a rhythm going, it went much easier.  I kept calling Mamma and Grace to come look at the cake, asking them if the flowers and leaves, etc. looked evenly placed.  Finally, after much debating/re-piping/re-frosting/hyperventilating....it was finished!

Here are the pictures taken at the birthday girl's party:

Ain't it cute???  (squeals with delight)  I'm so happy it came out good - it was an answered prayer!  :)  

So, that's all, folks!  

***Please leave me a comment below and tell me what you are baking/cooking in the kitchen these days?  I'd love to hear all about your cooking adventures!***

Also, if you decide you want to create a deer cake, I'd be happy to share any of the videos I used as tutorials/inspiration.

Till Next Time....

Katherine <3

P.S.  Just to let you all know, this week's Scarlet Pimpernel video/post will be on the late side again. We've been prepping for our friend's Cookie Contest & Exchange and have been quite busy all this week, so we apologize.  We hope that things will settle down soon and we'l be posting our videos punctually again on Thursdays.

In The Kitchen: Pizza Edition

Greetings from the kitchen! Today we are going to talk about Pizza, namely Sourdough Pizza. If you are looking for a delicious pizza recipe look no further. 

My Pizza History

Growing up, we always made our own pizza crust and sauce, but occasionally we would treat ourselves and order pizza from a delicious place called Franks. After we began eating kosher, we no longer ordered out pizza, but I never forgot that special taste and we never found a recipe that tasted the same...till now! Well, actually it's been so long since I've had pizza from a restaurant, I can't correctly judge it, but this pizza is to DIE for and it's SOURDOUGH , so it's better for you!!

The Sourdough Part

Mom started making Sourdough bread a couple of years ago and we all love it. It is a very economical way to make bread and the sour/fermenting process breaks down the phylactic acid in the bread making it easier to digest.

  Mamma began her sourdough experiment with little round loaves for sandwiches and then branched out to waffles, crackers and all sorts of other things. Last year our friends introduced us to the Grilled Colby and Jalapeno Jelly Sourdough Sandwich and OH MY WORD PEOPLE, IT IS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!

Back To The Pizza

Alright, so we got our amazing recipe from  In Jennie's Kitchen. Here are the links to her recipes

Sourdough Pizza Crust 

Cooking The Crusts

Walk Through

On Tuesday I was in charge of making the pizza, so here are the pictures I took!

Here is our recipe written out very nicely by my dear Mamma

Here is the starter all set to be mixed

Thank heavens for our Viking Mixer; this dough can be rather tough to mix by hand! And now the dough can stay in the fridge for a week or two. The longest we've ever gone is 2 weeks and you could taste a slight sour aftertaste when cooked, but it was still delicious.

Here is our dough all ready to be made up and baked.

My baking station. You will need flour or your dough will stick and a pizza peel will make your life so much easier.

 

Zee oven ziz preheated for 30 minz wiz zee pizza stone inzide!

Here is the finished product ready for the oven. We like to make individual pizzas since it's much easier to transfer to the pizza stone in the oven. I like to make the crusts extra thick so that when they are cooked they're still a bit doughy inside which is so heavenly!!! When cooked they sometimes bubble up like the Boboli brand you can purchase in grocery stores and look incredible.

In the oven on the stone they bake for 7-8 minutes. Normally we put extra toppings on top, such as mushrooms, onions, Morning Star sausage, peppers... but I was in such a hurry I forgot!! I didn't get a photo, but Mom's new favorite kind of pizza is ranch tomato. We spread Ranch dressing instead of pizza sauce and slice up tomatoes and sprinkle with cheese and bake it like usual. Mom doesn't eat the regular pizza anymore, she likes it so much! 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the baked pizzas and we shipped them out to feed some hungry workmen the next day, so you'll just have to make it yourselves to see the final stage and taste the goodness!!!

Finale

Well, there you have it! Are you hungry yet? I encourage you all to give this recipe a try and see what you think. Have you ever made anything with sourdough? What is your favorite kind of pizza? Do you ever make your own pizza crust? 

Tell me all about it the comments down below!

See ya'll next week

Grace Avender