Gingerbread Madness!

Surely gingerbread is more associated with Christmas than with Thanksgiving, but hey; I already had a traditional pumpkin pie, why would I want to make ANOTHER pumpkin dessert?! That is simply outrageous. So instead I decided upon a gingerbread cake with a lovely cream cheese icing filling & covered in vanilla buttercream which was dusted with cinnamon!

Happy Gingy

Gangs all here!

that was my father's piece :)

Early November Cake Practice

Hello followers! :)
Sorry I have been so busy working at a retail store; and well, I am sure you are aware of how OUTRAGEOUS people can get the closer it is to Christmas. Anywho, after Halloween I had a mass amount of candy left over to I decided to incorporate it into a cake I decided to make for my coworkers.

So I baked a white vanilla cake with crushed up: Kit Kats, Whoppers, and Hershey Bars. I also whipped up a vanilla french buttercream to coat the outside of the cake to help the fondant stay in place. To make buttercream you boil sugar and water to 145 degrees (brushing off sugar crystals from the side of the pan with a brush dipped in water, then pouring the hot sugar into your egg yolks while beating quickly [which is why you cannot see the whisk]Then after it cools you add butter & shortening until it becomes the right consistency)

For the Icing I had a delicous cream cheese icing that I had added REAL vanilla bean to. So to decorate this four layer beauty, I draped chocolate fondant on it and decorated with chocolate royal icing.

What I will work on for next time: I need to buy dowels to hold my cake in place so it doesn't shift and of course my fondant work. See you soon with my Thankgiving contributions!!

Megan (:

Finished Blog Profile

Finally, I have made my blog look the way I want it to look. I drew everything that is found on my blog's background (Including the Logo) Hope you like it :)

-Megan

Its that Time again: Gingerbread Houses!

Fall Quarter 2009:

So at the beginning of my course in the Baking and Pastry Program our first BIG project was to create a gingerbread house. Easy right? No, not when you do something larger than a house AND you bake your own gingerbread. I made a lighthouse and covered it in royal icing and "antiqued" it with some gold edible dust. candy rocks emphesize my prsentation :)

Side Note: CUPCAKES!

Cupcakes are also very important when it comes to cake decorating. The fad nowadays is to have cupcakes at your wedding along with a small "cutting cake". So here are only  a couple of cupcakes I did while in the Program. :)

"French Toast Cupcakes"

"Lemon Meringue Cupcakes W/ Marshmallow Frotsing, Lemon Curd Center, & Candied Lemon Garnish"

RainyDay Piping Practice

Just a boring day with no special occasion, so I thought "Why not practice my piping". So i made a Vanilla Spice Cake with a Chocolate Ganache filling w/ fresh strawberry slices. The cake is covered in Vanilla Buttercream and decorated with buttercream and royal icing.

It is just a simple piping job; I didn't want it being too busy.

James & the Giant Peach [Shaped cake]

July 2010:
My dad's birthday was right around the corner, so I really wanted to make him something that he would love. He [aside from myself] is my harshest critic so I thought long and hard about what kind of cake I wanted to create. After very little thought I decided upon created a cake that resembled James and the Giant Peach. This was my dad's favorite book as a child, and everytime the movie came on television, he would let me know. It took days to sculpt the fondant James and Mr. Grasshopper. Not only was my dad home and I had to stay up until he went to bed then start my work, but also we were going through a heat wave here in WA, so it was difficult to sculpt them without them melting! Finally, success! I unveiled my hard work and I got the smallest of smirks from my father. This truly was one of the best expressions I could have ever gotten from him.. :P

The cake is lemon with a lemon curd & a lemon buttercream. I used Duff Goldman's [Ace of Cakes] brand fondant. I am thinking of creating my own from scratch to see if it tastes better.

Program's Final Project

Spring Quarter 2010:

The project was to decorate a 3 tier "cake" ---> which for preservation purposes was actually styrofoam cylinders. The fact that styrofoam is substituted for cake doesn't make this project anymore difficult or easy. One of the owners of Wagner's European Bakery in DT Olympia came in to critique our final cake. I decided to do a nature themed cake with birds and lemon flowers. I hand crafted every flower with gum paste; same with the branches and cardinal birds. I hand painted (with food coloring) the second tier to create the illusion of layers of trees and depth. I used a ribbon as teh trim. Let me know what you think!

P.s. this was my first fondant cake. So be nice. haha, just kidding viewers, let loose!

Hello, Baileycakes!

Hello viewers of my newest blog that I have set up to display my cakes I have made. Side Note: I just set up this blog not too long ago, and will be going to work soon so I can't put a lot of time into making the page look like me. Don't worry though viewers, I will create an excellent piece of art to use as my background and it shall be GRAND!

I am very excited to start up this "blog" to show what I can do. So far, I don't have much; that is due to the fact that I just finished the Baking & Pastry Arts Program at my local community college, so I haven't had a lot of time to create amazing things! But again, do not fear, this will change soon enough. Thank you for even coming to this page and showing some kind of interest.

I decided upon the name "Baileycakes" for my puppy Bailey. She died about a year ago due to osteosarchoma (bone cancer) at the young age of seven. She is the only dog I have ever owned, so I felt a substantial loss. I think the name is cute and makes me smile, and hopefully it does for you aswell. :)

Anywho, I will post as often as I can. My first actual cake posts won't be until wednesday (my day off). So hold on to your seats!

Love always, Megan Ashley