Review-Duff Cake Products

Today I began prepping for to make Maddox's birthday cake with a trip to Michael's for a few supplies.

Before I left I remembered I had a 50% coupon from my last trip to Michaels (a couple of months ago). Michael's always has the best coupons. I learned back in the day when I was taking my cake classes that they'll even if you don't have a special 40% off coupon when you go to checkout they will find you one. So even after I read that my coupon expired June 12 I was still pretty confident they'd let me use it.

Mostly I was wanting to use my 50% off coupon on a tub of fondant. That's right, bought fondant was on my cake supply list. Ever since I started baking I've never used bought fondant and have relied on my marshmallow fondant recipe. Back a few months ago when I made Lilly's 1st birthday cake I decided to try Duff Goldman's new line of buttercream fondant. At $20 for a 2 lb. tub I was really hoping it was a good investment and I was very happy to find that it tasted just as good as the homemade kind. Really, it's good!

The main convienence for me buying fondant instead of making it is that my kitchen is super hot in the summer. I'm super cautious about fondant falling apart before I get it on the cake. For Maddox's cake I'm planning on using a combination of bought and homemade fondant. I'll probably use Duff's to cover the cakes and the homemade for the accents. I'm sooo excited about the accents for this cake.

All of Duff's cake products are 25% off this week. This is a good thing since it turns out I got in the most evil Michael's employee line and she threw away my expired coupon. She even had extra 40% coupons lying around on the register that she didn't even offer to let me use. That's not the Michael's spirit! But in the end I still came out pretty good with the 25% off each item instead of 50% off one item. So there!

I also got a fondant smoother since I lost my original one a long time ago. The Duff version and the Wilton version were the same price. So since Duff's was 25% off (and they were pretty much exactly the same) I got that one.

Also, I bought some fondant "texture tiles" for the farm themed cake. It came in a pack of two-brick and wood grain. I was not fully decided if I was going to put a barn on the cake or not but once I made up my mind.

For my last cake project I thought I was going to need some black fondant. I bought this gel color kit and ended up using the teal and gold as well. The black was amazing and I only needed a few drops to get it correct instead of the usual entire bottle with Wilton gel colors. The teal and gold turned out really vivid as well.

Grandmother Chest Pie

I'm calling this Grandmother Chess Pie because both my grandmothers have made chest pie at some point. Not too long ago they each made a variety of it within several weeks of each other, one was lemon, the other vanilla (much like this one). Then my mother started making a chocolate chest pie which everyone went crazy over too. It was then that I really started appreciating chest pie. My favorite part is that it has this really thin crust but is gooey on the inside. Sooo good. It's so old fashioned, but in an insanely good way. It's almost like you went back 100 years and are eating pie with your great-great grandmother and that's a good thing.

This recipe came from my Sweet Carolina cookbook that I've neglected lately. This was the recipe I've wanted to try the most since it is from Rowan County and has the best story to go along with it. It's contributor was 104 when this cookbook was written. She was born in rural Rowan county (not sure which part) in 1899! One day in the 1920's she picked up the telephone to get the operator in Salisbury and instead overhead a neighbor's phone call. Oh, how fun party lines must have been! So it just so happens that when she picked up she heard someone asking for directions to bake a chest pie. So like any good southern woman, she eavesdropped to get the recipe as well. The cutest part, she calls the pies "crusties"!

*I'd suggest adding the pecans. I took the pies to my grandmother's today so I could have a pre-birthday celebration with her since I'll be in Las Vegas on Saturday. She, my cousin Allison and I could have taken out this entire pie!

Chest Pie

Nolie Ridenhour Zimmerman, from Sweet Carolina

Makes 2 pies, 6 to 8 servings each

2 unbaked 9-inch piecrusts

3 eggs

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons cream or milk

1 teaspooon vanilla

pecans (optional)-I made one of each

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the filling ingredients and blend well. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared piecrusts. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 325 and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until done.

Bake Lust: July 4th

So here it is July 4th blogging from Jon's computer and I've baked nothing patriotic. I actually made a cake the other day but chose to go swimming instead of decorating it and I'm totally okay with that decision! But hopefully after traveling to Greenville today, fireworks tonight and probably being lazy tomorrow...I'll be back to bake something good up next week.

So here is my favorite America inspired baked good complete with recipe and instructions:

Starry Cherry Pie

And for those of us that are more ambitious:

Whipped Bakeshop

DIY cute cupcake pendants

Amazing USA rainbow cake

Pretty Berry Star Cake

Baking Lust: Cool Off

Maybe it's the heat or that it's sort of my favorite color, but I've really been loving some cool minty hued cakes lately. I've come up with a new challenge...it's summer and I need things to do. So whatever my baking lust theme is, I need to make something based on this theme. I'm thinking a minty cake will be completed later this week.

And cupcakes!

And macarons!

1. Style Me Pretty 2.WOW Factor Cakes 3. Martha Stewart 4. Cuppacakes 5. Flickr

S'mores Cupcakes

Maybe it was because it was the first day of summer and s'mores are the unofficial summer treat but the cupcake stars aligned and I got an idea. Yesterday, I saw this post by Jordan for S'mores kits. After saving that idea away, I wanted a s'more. Right then, in the 96 degree middle of the day with no campfire around and in the middle of downtown Salisbury. Not really an option. Then I saw that Martha's Cookie of the Day was S'mores Cookies. Okay idea Martha, but a s'more cookie wasn't enough. I needed a s'more cupcake. I actually went to bed and layed awake thinking of different combinations to make the perfect s'mores cupcake.

Here's what I came up with:

Cupcake:

The cupcake would be chocolate, nothing else was never an option. I used Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe because it's the best chocolate cupcake. To make it a true s'mores cupcake, I added graham cracker crumbs on top of the cupcake batter once I put them in the cupcake tins. Bake 20 minutes and you get a perfect graham cracker chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate Topping:

I melted a Hershey's Bar and put a huge spoonful on top of each cupcake. I could have used fancier chocolate but I wanted the authentic s'more taste.

Marshmallow Frosting:

I totally made this up.

1 stick of unsalted butter

2 (7 oz) jars of marshmallow cream

3 cups powdered sugar (give or take)

It was really all over the place but that I blame my kitchen being 90 degrees. Tastes just like a melted marshmallow though!

Add some more graham cracker crumbs....

Right after these photos were taken I grabbed up a cupcake and quickly moved to the sink since it was melting everywhere and proceeded to eat a cupcake in 3 bites. I tasted just like a s'more and it wasn't until the last bite I noticed how good the chocolate cake was with the rest of the s'more taste. Messy, yes. But isn't that the way s'mores are supposed to be?

Raspberry and Peach Sorbet

After finishing up my last teacher workday I decided to treat myself to a pedicure, a very long overdue pedicure. Harris Teeter is right next door so I went in to grab a magazine and raspberry lemonade. I mean I always like Martha's ideas and photos but imagine my excitement when I read in the latest Martha Stewart that you can make raspberry sorbet in a food processor! Raspberry sorbet is my summertime favorite frozen thing ever!

After my pedicure I went back into Harris Teeter and grabbed some frozen raspberries. I couldn't just stop with raspberry and got some frozen peaches as well. Martha also had this huge spread about peaches and since I didn't have any good fresh ones around to bake with, I figured peach sorbet would work for now. And does it ever! Sooo good, both of them. Maybe I'll never have to buy the pricy sorbet in stores anymore!

Raspberry Sorbet

Makes 1 pint

12 oz frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Mix sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Pulse frozen raspberries in food processor until they are a very fine crumble. Add sugar water to the raspberries while the processor is running until it is smooth. Pour into freezable containers and place in freezer until firm, around 2 hours.

Peach Sorbet

Makes 1 1/2 pint

16 oz frozen peaches (or use whatever size you can find)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Mix sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Pulse frozen peaches in food processor until they are a very fine crumble. Add sugar water to the peaches while the processor is running until it is smooth. Pour into freezable containers and place in freezer until firm, around 2 hours.

Lilly's 1st Birthday

These were for a co-worker's little girl Lilly's 1st birthday. Lilly was having a garden party. Very sophisticated for a one year old! But when you are named Lilly you need to have a garden party! The cupcakes were mostly lemon cake with vanilla buttercream. I did make some vanilla cupcakes too for the little kids. I'd almost forgotten about how great this buttercream recipe is.