First of all, let me just say that whack and yellow, err, I mean, Steelers, did not even deserve to be IN the Superbowl. Did you notice how they didn't even shake hands when the game was over? Pfft. They can take their terrible towels and dry their eyes with them. Sore losers. The Jets should have been the ones competing for that Lombardi trophy anyway. They're the ones who worked hard. They're the ones who had the toughest schedule in the playoffs, and they pretty much took out all the competition for everybody, and yet for some reason, nobody gives them any credit. That's alright though. We'll show them next year.
As difficult as it was for me to make a Superbowl cake without my Gang Green's logo on it, I gritted my teeth and frosted and frosted until my hands fell off. No, seriously, it was A LOT of work. I have so much more appreciation for cake decorators now. Even though, most of them use fondant, which is probably a lot more easier than having to steadily hold your hand in the air as you draw yard markers down the field....which by the way, results in uneven yard markers. I only thought of using a ruler AFTER I got up, looked at my cake from an aerial point of view, and realized that my lines were completely uneven. When I say I'm a trial and error baker, I mean like, 90% errors.
Oh! Did I mention that my nephew also dug a piece out the side of the cake with his fingers before I started frosting it! Yup. As if it wasn't bad enough that the side of cake had somewhat gotten stuck to the pan when I was inverting it. No worries though, I kept my cool...kind of. I mean, he's three years old so I can't really blame him for not understanding the concept of not touching things that aren't yours. So, I just screamed his name at the top of my lungs. Then I contemplated whether or not I should make a new cake or just try to fix the one he partially ruined. I decided to fix it.
Surprisingly enough, all I had to do was just fill the hole with some frosting, and the cake looked like he hadn't even touched it. So then I felt bad about yelling at him and I gave him a hug and told him to promise to never touch my cakes again. He agreed. Did he understand what he was agreeing to? I guess I'll have to wait and find out.
Did my complications end there? No, of course not. Why would anything ever go the way it should? That's so overrated. So of course, the one time I need to use green food coloring, it turns out that it's about to run out. But thank god for years of watching Sesame Street. I could never forget that yellow and blue make green. However, if food companies don't start selling frosting that is already colored, I'm going to invent it myself and get rich. For real. They've come out with all different kinds of flavors for frosting, even different types of frosting, like whipped frosting. They even have gluten-free cake mixes! And yet, nobody thought to sell colored frosting to make life easier?
Oh well, food coloring will have to do for now. By the way, not only do yellow and blue make green, but chocolate frosting and blue food coloring make black. That's right. You heard it here first. Tried and tested. I bought the fudge frosting, so it's a bit darker than regular milk chocolate frosting. Dark chocolate would probably work really well too. Of course, black food coloring would have also made my life easier, but I have nobody but myself to blame for that. Black food coloring has indeed been invented, I just didn't go to the proper store for it.
But ultimately, I feel that learning how to improvise is the key to becoming a good baker. If you're wondering how I improvised the uneven yard markers on my cake, well, there wasn't much I could do. I knew that I was going to be placing the football on top of them, so I didn't fret much. It covered most of the lines, so you could barely even tell. As for the football, no, I didn't carve it out of cake. It takes a true cake boss to do that. I simply used Bakerella's oreo truffle recipe, and instead of shaping the mixture into truffles, I shaped it into one big football.
And then came the hard part...getting the football on top of the cake. I used a lifting spatula from each side to hold it, and prayed to God that it would not split in half. Well, the good news is it didn't split in half. The bad news is I couldn't get it off the spatulas. So I had to manually slide it off with a knife, with the help of my mother, of course.
At the end of the day, I was definitely pleased with the outcome of this cake. But you know what topped it all off? Watching the Steelers lose. Now THAT was definitely the frosting on the cake.
you are the smartest person alive to do that with the football. using the truffle recipe, i mean.
ReplyDeleteThis is so awesome. MashAllah!
ReplyDeletewow that is really great!~ sorry, random blogger :P
ReplyDeleteFrom a at-home decorator to another.
ReplyDeleteUse wilton icing, and tips and bags. I know they are the most expensive but well cleaned and dried professional bags last lifetimes. The tips are replaceable, hard to damage and come clean with hot soapy water and in the dishwasher half the time. The icing colors are gel based and are by far the most sworn by colors amongst decorators. They do darken with time so use sparingly, let sit a bit then come back when you first start using them and mix well. Rulers are great, use a toothpick to make a line or dots and then draw over them, tons easier than having to scrape and redo. When your cake is done baking, put it into the freezer overnight if possible. Pull out the next day, flip onto a cooling rack and tap the back of the pan with your hand. Might have to tap hard/hold pan better to give it a good whack or loosen the edges first with a butterknife, However this keep sthe cake moist, and the rapid cooling makes it pull away from the pan so it slides right out usually. If you have a pan with edges use solid shortening not spray on a paper towel to get all the nooks and crannies. If it doesn't get to room temp your cake can crack once the icing is put on because of the pressure and moisture buildup. It usually doesn't take long though.
I can't think of any other tips and tricks, oh and the wilton recipe for icing may have a bunch of ingredients but is the easiest and most reliable (doesn't melt easily ect) to work with for make at home icing. Use real vanilla, it is a little more expensive usually but is the most important, I suggest watkins. Many vanillas have a off-taste or color, this one doesn't.
That's all for now, hope it helps!