Even since it has been made known that I love to bake I have been getting a few birthday cake requests. I am by no means a professional (yet!) and my skills quite limited that I was shocked that someone would ask me to perform such a task! However, I felt very flattered and was most of all excited to have the opportunity to play-ette the role of “baker” to a “client.” I had so much fun planning and researching recipes that I think I probably enjoyed making the cake more than everyone who ended up eating it.
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January 26 2010 | Cake and Dessert and Thoughts | 12 Comments »
I really love baking for birthdays. Cakes, cupcakes, frosting, sprinkles, piping…is there anything more delightful than that? My cakes never turn out as pretty and whimsical as I imagine them, but I try not to let that get to me, it’s all part of the fun. I do though get stressed out a little bit before I start baking, when I’m trying to decide what cake to bake. There are so many different recipes out there and so many resources to get them from, that I find it overwhelming to say the least.
There is a sort of thought process that I go through when a birthday starts to approache. I first think of what kind of sweets or desserts this person likes and try to create a list of flavor profiles like: chocolate and strawberries, or lemon and almonds. Then I start the “research.” I look everywhere. I go to food blogs, the Food Network, my cookbooks, magazines, and I also go to the bookstore where I grab any cake/baking book I can see and look through each one of them. This thought process lasts for hours, days, sometimes even weeks and in the end I usually end up with two or three recipes that I like. There’s always one cake candidate that models the flavor profile list pretty well, while the others are more geared towards something I would like or something I think would taste amazing. I mean, don’t some people say you should give a gift you would like for yourself? Well, in the end I usually do the right thing, and pick the right cake.
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August 12 2009 | Cake and Dessert and Recipe and Thoughts | 5 Comments »