Not drowning but waving*

Today was a momentous day – Mish left for the adventure of nesting and subsequent motherhood, I made cupcakes that look like ta tas, we discovered that jelly and cake is not a bad mix, and I found out that if you use cultured unsalted butter to make strawberry flavoured icing, it ends up tasting like strawberries and cream!  

To celebrate our colleague’s last day, and to honour my lost bet to Navonod (for mentioning the word “ta tas” in a professional, work-related telephone conversation), I decided to bake the impressive and much-longed-for-in-childhood swimming pool cake, and some boobalicious cupcakes.

  

tray full of ta tas

                                          soothing booz.

Naturally, I had forgotten that I was also going out for dinner, so I headed home from the shops after an Ethiopian feast with a sack full of strawberries and cream lollies (to represent nipples), jube rings, musk sticks, jelly babies and teevee snacks (malt sticks). I stuck with vanilla and chocolate and strawberry as a classic Neapolitan combo for these cakes – vanilla buttercake with chocolate frosting and blue heaven** jelly and chocolate cupcakes with strawberry icing.

The lilo on the pool is made from snakes joined together with some frosting, the fence is teevee snacks, and the little people are jelly babies. The cake-making, commenced as it was after a big dinner and late at night, went surprisingly smoothly. The cake was even and brown, the cupcakes took longer than expected and were slightly dry but still tasty.

The pool is made by hollowing out the centre of the cake (the instructions said to level the top of the cake and then hack out the innards for the pool hollow – but why the need for 2 steps?). So I dug out the centre of the cake (mmm cake offcuts) and let everything cool down overnight with the intention of decorating the next morning.

I had not, though, remembered that something about these Canberra winters requires me to sleep for a minimum of 18 hours every day, so getting up early to finish the decorating and making it to work in one piece was dicey. I managed though, with the only mishap being the absence of a cocktail umbrella.

Luckily, S and J came to the rescue with a craftily folded piece of paper and a plastic knife (see image). I have to say, that umbrella really completed the scene. The cake looked a bit lacklustre without it and I didn’t want to let Mishy down.

So with the swimming pool and edible ta tas  completed, the only thing left to do was wait for afternoon tea time. It came eventually, of course.

The only thing missing? The presence of our Dear Leader (shoutout: LVV).

Bye Mishy... and to quote someone highly emotional and articulate “Enjoy the kid”

xx Martha

*thanks Stevie Smith

** yes, blue heaven IS a flavour. It doesn't mimic a fruit or something else - it's a stand alone flavour.

PS. From the archives: My 4th birthday

Betty x

Happy birthday to ... me

Kinda. It was not exactly my birthday, but it was the one year anniversary of being in my current job. And what better cake than the number 1.

This particular cake was well-celebrated in my family, with myself, sister betty and brother betty all having this cake in some variation for our first birthdays. (see picture evidence.)

Again (and being for a different audience) I decided that the simple chocolate cake was a goer, as was my new lamington tin. (and actually a tin this time, I’m quite over bendy bakeware!)

The cake turned out beautifully, however it appears I forgot to consult the AWWCBC book until this point – when I realised I should have made two loaves instead of a rectangle. (Which would also explain who my mum always used the loaf tins for this cake – she must have started with number 1 and just kept going.)

Not to worry however as the cut-out cake took a near-perfect number 1 shape … just a lot of leftovers!

A quick layer of icing (using the ends of my chocolate frosting) and it was smartie time! The best part of the cake.

This was no occasion for Coles beanies, only real smarties would do. Applied in no particular order, a pretty good replica of the cake in the book was taking place. I may have run out of smarties for the sides, but never mind … I ran out of frosting first. And you would never tell from the picture…

The verdict:

The cake: perfect

Effort: 4

Decoration: 8 (would be 10, but took off 2 for missing the sides).

Another masterpiece to be consumed by my colleagues.

Betty x

Rising to the cupcake challenge

The stakes were high and so was my confidence as I prepared to make my giant cupcake masterpiece.

There is a bit of a story to the cupcake tins. They were a suggestion of the EA to the GPB and seeing as Martha had her car broken into that day, they seemed the perfect online purchase for a cheer-up surprise present. (Surprise, it didn’t turn up ‘til three weeks later and you had to go collect it from the post office before they returned it to the sender.)

Back to the cake. Deciding to keep it simple, the recipe choice was easy – Chocolate Cake 1 – ‘a simple recipe a child can make’.

Even my photocopy of Mrs Betty’s recipe book reveals how well-worn chocolate cake page 83 is, many words have been re-written in after sticking to page 82 – testament to the recipe’s status as family favourite.

Having baked this cake hundreds of times as a child, I knew there was no way I could go wrong.

Taking Martha’s advice, I decided to double the recipe, figuring that I could always make another cake with any leftovers.

Revisiting this recipe proved simple enough for Betty to make, though beating out 200 strokes with the wooden spoon (the method instructs ‘do not use electric beater’) did take its toll on my left shoulder!

Into the lightly greased silicone bakeware and into the oven, all was looking good for a perfect result.

The first sign that things weren’t right should have come when the cakes weren’t ready on the buzzer.

The second, when the cakes started crumbling when I lifted them.

The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eight, ninth … etc. was when the smoke alarm went off – again and again and again … although snothing was even anywhere near burnt! Rapid tea-towel flapping under the alarm ensued, with quick darts to close doors, open windows and turn on the exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom to clear the air … and when all that failed I gave up and removed the batteries. Grrr.

Turning the cakes out of the moulds turned out to be a complete disaster, leaving almost a quarter of the cake stuck to the mould.

What should have been a perfect swirly, cherry-worthy top was instead a crumbly mess, resembling instead one of the rocky mountains. And to top it off (pardon the pun) the brilliant tip from Martha to sit the silicon bakeware in a biscuit tin (for ease of transport in and out of the oven) had overheated and burnt the bottom of the cake (cheap Safeway tins will do that I have now discovered).

The pressure was on to make a big save in the decoration.

Figuring that traditional was the way to go, the only filling it could be was raspberry jam and cream. Remembering to buy full cream instead of light (it doesn’t whip) I was on a roll filling the cake. Until I realised I had quite a lot of cream left over. What to do with it. Now I do love cream, but even that was a bit too much for me to eat! My brilliant plan was to create another layer of jam and cream lower down in the cupcake (like you would a sponge cake) which successfully used up all the cream.

 Now it was time for the decoration. I still had a tub of my very own chocolate fude frosting leftover, which I applied liberally all over. A dusting of rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top and we were close … it just needed a little something … and raiding my gift-wrap box came with the perfect adornment – a pink ribbon. Now I should mention here that this was to be my friend Josh’s birthday cake, so to ‘masulinise’ it, I wrote ‘Happy Birthday Josh’ in blue glitter. Perfect.

Transportation proved a slight drama however. Remember that extra layer of cream? Well it turns out that wasn’t quite so stable in the car … however a quick cleanup and reposition of the ribbon before arrival meant no-one ever know the difference.

The final challenge was in the cutting and serving – it was basically a mess. Turns out cupcakes really aren’t meant to be shared.

The verdict:

Effort: 6

Presentation: 9 (for the cherry on top)



Overall, a cool idea, but probably not worth the trouble.

Betty x

PS. For all my firefighting friends out there – I did replace the batteries in the smoke alarm when the non-smoke subsided. Cakey bakelicious does not endorse the taking out of smoke alarm batteries and we recommend photoelectric smoke alarms … only working smoke alarms save lives!

Cupcake Giganticus

This is a challenge not set out in The Book but of Betty's own making - spying some silicon "giant cupcake" baking kits on sale, she decided that we both could use one.

I don't think the consequences of Cupcake Giganticus was fully appreciated at this point.

It starts off seeming relatively simple: any cake mix ("where's the any key?"), divide in half, put half in the top and half in the bottom, then put a lid on the bottom which then forms a hollow in the base with which to stuff creamy goodness.

Yes, simple. So on a night where I managed one culinary disaster before 7pm, I took on the giant cupcake. I lived to tell the tale, but only just.

I started from first principles: the plan was to make a basic AWW butter cake mixture (tick!) to form the cake part. Comments? It would have taken 1.5 times the quantity and would have been the better for it.

Next stage: create the filling. I whipped a small container of cream with a few generous tablespoons of lemon curd to soft peaks.

I turned the cake from the mould (perfect - not a crumb stuck to it, very impressive). It was fine but the hollow was rather more shallow than I had anticipated, so I was left with an excess of filling. On top of the lemon cream I placed some fresh raspberries.

Instead of proceeding with the fluffy frosting as planned, I decided to ice the cake with the remaining filling.  Then I popped two maraschino cherries on top (after eating half the jar before any of them made it near the cake) and decorated with "fairy dust" (sprinkles).

Result? Blobby but presumably tasty. It was supposed to be a bon voyage cake to the Big Boss but it's not quitehow i anticipated. I was going to try again but weariness got the best of me!

PS since I know you're reading this, LVV, we're going to miss you - a lot.

xxMartha

The cake will go on and on…

Note: this post is actually a few weeks old and I have been put to shame by the speediness of Martha's cooking ... better late than never! - B

Well the birthday celebrations certainly did go on and on – but when you reach 80 there is a lot to celebrate!

Two weeks later the big night arrived – April 14, 1912  the night the Titanic would sink – with Grandma and family aboard celebrating her birthday.

But back to the cake.

The only cake that seemed fitting for such a big occasion was to bake the Titanic itself ...  but with such a busy week at work how to get it done?

I had to employ some time savers – namely Safeway’s already made rainbow cake and mini choc swiss rolls and Betty Crocker frosting (it’s can’t be cheating if it’s my own frosting…).

From here it was a case of building. A BBQ tray was the perfect setting for the cakes to sail the high seas and surrounded by blue jelly the scene was set. Four mini choc swiss rolls made Titanic’s iconic four funnels. While the pre-iced rainbow cakes stuck together beautifully to make the upper and lower decks.

Betty Crocker’s chocolate and vanilla frostings were applied liberally to the lower and upper decks respectively and proved the perfect consistency for spreading. For decorations, what could be more appropriate than lifesavers to create some not-so-traditional-but-very-colourful portholes. And finally, some pre-piped lettering left over from the hickory dickory clock spelled out Happy Birthday to Gran and declared the ship to be HMS Titanic.

The finished product was certainly as decadent as the Titanic itself, if sugar was a unit of wealth I would have been very rich indeed.

The verdict:

Difficulty: 6 - 2 (for pre-baking) + 3 (for difficulty in carrying a it was so heavy) = 7

Tastiness: pure sugar hit



Betty x

Betty’s Family Table

Another late one...but worth the wait!

In an eventful week for baking, I have not only produced a Minnie mouse, but also baked a successful sponge for Grandma Betty’s 80^th birthday with Mrs Betty; and although it involved no baking on my part, enjoyed the delightful tea cakes at high tea at Melbourne’s Windsor Hotel.

The venture started on Sunday evening with Master Chef meets the Women’s Weekly; Mrs Betty recently received Julie Goodwin’s Our Family Table cookbook for Mother’s Day (from a wonderful and caring daughter) and with Grandma Betty’s 80^th birthday the following day, mother and daughter set about the ultimate baking challenge of baking a successful sponge. (A feat that neither had yet accomplished.)

The challenge reminded me of the good old days as a little tacker, when my siblings and I would be lined up standing on chairs at the kitchen bench, helping Mrs Betty with the baking of the day, usually the chocolate cake (simple, even a child can make), anzac biscuits or a favourite (because it involved food dye) rainbow cake (which was really just Neapolitan).

Julie Goodwin’s grandma’s sponge recipe seemed the perfect recipe for Grandma Betty’s b’day cake. Working through the steps precisely, we were a little confused about leaving the egg yolks in (the recipe didn’t say to separate) and set the oven timer to ensure the mixture was beaten for at least 10 minutes. Looking pretty good as it went into the oven, we had the pleasure of watching it rise in Mrs Betty’s fancy new fan-forced oven (purchased when Mr Betty somehow caused the glass to fall out of the old oven door…but that’s a whole other story). Upon delicate removal precisely 25 minutes later, we were relieved to find that the sponge hadn’t sunk and without being able to taste-test, appeared fluffy and a decent height.

On a roll, Mrs Betty suggested also baking a chocolate cake. Keeping to the Masterchef theme, Mum Goodwin’s chocolate cake was selected and mother and daughter set about creating a mixture that called for a shocking 1 ¼ cups of cocoa! Falling a little short, some Cadbury’s drinking chocolate was improvised to make up the extra ¼ cup (and I’m sure none were the wiser!)

This also went in and out of the oven without hiccups, and upon sampling a muffin sized version (later to become Minnie’s ears) was found to be richly tasty with a perfect crunch on the top. Being now well past midnight, it was time for bed for a big day ahead.

Grandma Betty’s 80^th birthday dawned a little cloudy, but this was hardly noticed, distracted by the anticipation of a special surprise planned for the afternoon - high tea at the Hotel Windsor.

A delectable selection of finger sandwiches, scones and of course tea cakes were devoured with much enthusiasm! In addition and much to Grandma Betty’s delight, a special birthday tea cake was also brought over. With stomachs full to bursting, we breezed home to Mrs Betty’s home-cooked birthday dinner and of course … more birthday cake!

The sponge, which had been decorated by Mish-Mash, looked absolutely delightful and tasted even better!

Feeling absolutely exhausted and having thoroughly overeaten, it was time to decorate Minnie. Aided by Mish-Mash now expertise at the vienna cream, I set about cutting the cake into Minnie. The muffin cakes worked perfectly as ears, while the cut-out for the nose easily fitted to become the chin.

The icing proved a challenge all round, being a little thick it didn’t stick to the cake easily. We also experienced some dramas in icing a levelled chocolate cake with white icing – cake crumbs got through the icing, resulting in Minnie with blackheads … lesson learned: either flip the cake over first, or perhaps let a thin layer of icing dry before adding the top layer…

Despite this, (and some laziness icing round the edges) Minnie was taking shape. Pink wafer biscuits were cut to shape to make her nose and tongue, while a liquorice strap (finally found in Burwood East Coles) was painstakingly cut into thin strips to make the mouth, chin line and my first attempt at eyelashes. Finally, pink jubes make the eyes, and a ribbon for her hair had Minnie complete … only to be demolished, blackheads and all by an eager RMIT ’83 graduate and fellow employees, who accepted the post-it-note-stuck-to-a-fork-stabbed-in-the-cake-and-left-in-the-mess-room invitation to ‘eat me’.


Betty x

PS. a bonus picture of my early days doing the Mickey Mouse march...

PPS. check out the hickory dickory clock post for a new pic x

Pray for mercy, from Puss...in Boots!

Yet another cake which seems easy but ended up having a higher degree of difficulty!

The weekend away with Aunty, Uncle, Cousin, Mr and Mrs Martha started off with a long drive late at night, plenty of rain, and a baby albino koala (so cute!) and finished with an epic fail.

In between the long, lazy and country-fresh-air days and long, lazy and boozy evenings, we got stuck into the old family albums for proof of Mrs Martha's cake decorating prowess, and got to reminiscing. The one thing we tried to reminisce about but couldn't was the story of Puss in Boots. None of us remembered what it was or why we thought it was so cute nor why the hell the AWW put him in The Book.

PiB is particularly poignant because, according to my reliable interwebs source (wiki), the story is a French fairy tale written by a retired civil servant. Whoop!

Anyhoo, according to wiki, the story is "about a cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master."

 The AWW prototype


                                                                                                                                                           Inspiration from the movie Shrek2

My feeling is that actually, PiB uses trickery and deceit to gain poor baked representations of himself from unsuspecting and not-particularly-talented girls like Martha and Betty (sorry Betty, I mean that I am not particularly talented, not you - of course!)


Naturally, I had my own muses to help me with the design, the furkids Carl and Lenny:

But in the end, they just slept while I toiled away with apricot and "leaf green" Vienna cream.

Anyway, thanks to the assistance of Mrs Martha and the supervision of Aunty Martha, we managed to put together a semblance of the original:

Degree of difficulty: 7.5 (licorice is a bitch to shape when it's thick like that, and because the cake had so many cut sides, it was hard to ice without getting crummy).

Time taken: 2 hours not including baking (which, I should add, I had to do from scratch under Mrs Martha's direction), and that was with my able assistants.

Alterations to the recipe: nary a glace cherry to be found at the farm, so we went with red smarties. Also, apparently they don't make green smarties anymore so I used blue. Next time? Ditch the licorice and pipe thick chocolate icing instead!

xxMartha

Cakey Bakey Heart*

* all credit to the birthday boy for the title of this post. That's YOU doncra.

I love baking and I love this project, but boy - I am really glad to know that the birthday on Wednesday is the only one listed in my office for June. Of course, technically, this means I am giving my manager the boot, but whatever. Don't take it personally, dude.

One reason I will be glad for a break in June is that my pantry is stuffed full of homebrand candy, and I have no idea what to do with it all. This cake added to my large candy collection with spearmint leaves, large and small jubes, bullets, licorice allsorts and chocolate-coated sultanas. If anybody has children who want to rot their teeth out, please come to my house (when I'm not there, preferably)...

Anyway, on to the cake. I was incredibly sensible this week and bought most of my ingredients the day before I baked. Naturally I forgot some of the key ingredients but at the very least I was able to spend my Sunday morning baking the three cakes (two loaf cakes and one round pudding basin) while watching Meet the Press and Insiders.

The pudding basin idea is cute but my oven apparently doesn't cook too evenly, so it was a bit lopsided. Nothing that a bit of trimming couldn't handle though. And then, thanks to Jess for her very helpful tip, I coloured a whole bag of coconut to be "grass", using a freezer bag and some vigorous shaking action. Awesome.

The hardest part of today's cake? transporting it. How to do it, how to do it... 

Martha's Great Engineering Feat of 2010: Putting Boot Cake into Plastic Crate and Transporting for Several Kilometres... Safely!

Degree of difficulty: 5.5

Alterations to the recipe: It is impossible to find miniature candies like in the picture, so i improvised with quartered jelly beans, spearmint leaves and jubes. Once again, I used the provided icing with one of the packet cakes to adhere the grass to the cake board. Also, my chocolate icing always ends up paler than in the book... no idea why but it tastes fine!

Other comments: this cake should feed a LOT of people. It's three cakes skewered together.

And, Family: I promise you guys will be the beneficiaries of the next one

xxMartha

And, after the carnage: