Baking Tips and Tricks

What's that thing called when you have tons and tons of work to do but you simply keep finding ways to distract yourself and get around it? When you have hundreds of pages to read, but Pinterest and the idea of making perfect sugar cookies just begins to consume you and take over what was designated as work time?? Ahhh yes... procrastination!


Luckily for you, that means beautiful pictures and great tutorials on how to make the most perfect cookies and cakes one can imagine....

Unluckily for me, that means no going out tonight and a date with my textbooks...but that means I get to stay in and have study break baking sessions right??? Yes, I believe so!

I did not make the hilarious cupcakes above but perhaps me and cookie monster could give it a shot...

In the past few years or so, I've learned a few tricks of the trade that have had a huge impact on the sweets I've baked up and how I work in the kitchen. Had I known these tid-bits of advice earlier I probably could have saved myself from a few disastrous events in the kitchen -- but we practice so we learn. Here's a collection of some helpful tips that I felt necessary to write down for myself and for anyone who may need a few pointers here and there.

1. Presentation is key: we can spend hours in the kitchen working on the perfect vanilla cupcake with pastel pink frosting but unless we present is correctly, it won't get the credit it's due. Wehn we give present for example, we love to wrap them in pretty wrapping paper and curled ribbons and such because it makes the gift that much more precious and exciting to receive. It's important to view what you bake as a present so that it too looks more appealing and presentable.

- photography skills circa 2010 -

My skills before -- I know, so creative right?! Compare those with the cookie monster cupcakes pictured above and you can see how just taking a few minutes to put it on a tray or get the right close-up is very important. Kudos to the lady who made those cupcakes by the way!

2. Use a crumb coat: ever wondered how some bakers get their cakes to look so perfectly smooth? I'm not talking about when they use fondant (that's a whole different story...), but when they use frosting and there seems to be no clump or speck of cake crumb in the mix? A crumb coat people! When frosting a 3-layer cake I use about a cup of the butter-cream frosting to lightly frost the cake. It doesn't need to be a thick layer -it should be almost transparent, but just think enough that it captures all those crumbs and doesn't allow them to blend into the thicker second, and final frosting coat.

3. Things you need to invest in! While all the supplies can be pricey (paying $7 for a cup of sugar tends to get on my nerves...), it's important to invest in the right goods like high quality baking pans such as  these by Fat Daddio's that are a breeze to clean and never get those weird and impossible oil stains.

Also, cake strips like these  when placed around the cake they help keep it even at the top and avoid that pesky dome shape. This is especially important when you want to make double, triple, or any layer cake that needs to be perfectly flat and smooth.

I should also note that an electric hand mixer such as this one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (get the pink!) is totally and completely different from a hand as a mixer. I bought the electric hand mixer about a year ago in hopes that it would be more efficient in smoothing out my cake batters (it did a great job taking out any clumps). I later realized that when making frosting in which the butter neeeds to be perfectly whipped and blended with the sugar, this is a job that only an electric hand mixer can achieve! Get one mixer and you'll save your sore arm and your failed frosting a lot of trouble!  

Parchment rounds are also great for releasing cakes from pans with a no-mess job. After buttering and flouring my cake pans I've learned to place one at the bottom of the cake pan, pour my mix, and let it bake. The cake comes out perfectly and I simply peel the parchment round off, leaving a smooth, moist cake ready to cool then frost.

4. Timing matters! I used to think that there was no real difference between baking a cake for 30 minutes or 37 minutes...turns out there's a huge difference. If a cake is done at 30 minutes, those extra 7 minutes can make the edged slightly burned, the inside not as moist or dense, and completely change the taste of your cake. I didn't realize this until last week when I used a recipe for the second time but actually paid attention to the baking time recommended and the difference was huge! I mean catastrophic huge. This is especially true with cookies because to acheive that perfect moist inside and subtle crispness on the outside you should never go more that the recommended time.

5. Follow the recipe exactly: While there may not seem like a huge difference between buttermilk and regular milk when its 7 AM and you reaaaalllly dont feel like going out to the market in your pajamas, there actually is a huge difference. Take that extra time and go buy a new box of baking powder if you've had yours for a decade or so like I did, and when making red velvet cupcakes always use buttermilk (the buttermilk reacts with and against the vinegar to deliver that unique taste we all adore and are obsessed with. So always.stick.to.the.RULES!

6. Take good photographs: you don't need a fancy camera, a fancy phone will do just fine! I've been sutdying (books) and photos of other cakes and cupcakes from brilliant bloggers and wondered how they made their foods look so pretty. Always in the natural light, always with superb shading, and in the more exquisite setting. Then when I was studying Joy the Baker's blog and she told readers that she used an iPhone, i sought out ways to edit my pictures (blurring the edges, changing the lighting) to make the pictures look brighter and cleaner. This ties in with the presentation point I made first, but I just wanted to note that you don't need a photographer or fancy camera to get great pictures -- just some great apps! Camera plus and Snapseed are my favorites.

I hope these tips help you achieve great baking and blogging results. They have definitely helped me and taught me a lot about what works in the kitchen and what should be "trashed". Good luck with your baking adventures!

Classic Chocolate Cake

While I've been baking for a while now, I've only recently began trying to collect recipes for all my favorite classics like red velvet cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate cake. I nailed the red velvet cupcakes and I am so happy with the recipe I've found, but then it was time to find a great recipe for the ultimate, decadent classic chocolate cake. I've made chocolate cake from scratch multiple times before (such as here and here) but wasn't too satisfied with either of their results.


What to do now? This led me to the ultimate search on Pinterest, Williams-Sonoma, Food Network and pretty much all over the internet. I stumbled came upon this recipe for Black Magic Cake that looked and sounded so rich and perfectly chocolate-y that I had to give it a shot. I mean seriously, look at the picture of the cake and tell me that's not a winner...

- crazy conversions from a 2 layer recipe to 3 -

And a good chocolate cake neeeeds a good chocolate buttercream frosting to complement it, so when I saw this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting that had great reviews and very clear instructions I decided to give it a go. There's no way of knowing how a recipe is going to turn out until you actually go out there and try it (unless it has a cup of salt -- NEVER go there...) so all of this baking, creating, and messing around in the kitchen is all for testing and experimentation -- a project my sweet tooth surely approves of!

- overwhelming sticks of butter -

TADA!!!

- time to dig in -

The cake came out perfectly with the smooth, rich chocolate taste I had been hoping to get. The buttercream frosting was also extremely easy to whip up and had a soft, light brown color as pictured that provided a beautiful contrast against the strikingly black cake. Served with a tall glass of cold milk, this classic chocolate cake is the ultimate treat for any celebration or midnight snack.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's the weeekendddddd!!!!!!! After a hectic and stressful week of school, it is finally time to relax and enjoy the b-e-a-utiful 80 degree weather Los Angeles seems to be blessed with for the next couple of days.  I'll be welcoming the long weekend (Friday class was cancelled for some odd/amazing reason) by spending hours at the beach, stirring up some type of mess in the kitchen, and studying a bit if I choose to be the good student I know I should be... To celebrate the gorgeous weekend ahead, I've decided to share with all of you this recipe for the most insanely delectable chocolate white chocolate chip cookies on earth. If you live in LA, you've hopefully tried Diddy Reese at one point in your life and you've hopefully (if you're anything like me) gotten the massive ice cream sandwich with the chocolate white chocolate chip cookies. They kind of stand out from the crowd of other traditional cookies with their dark brown-black cookie dough and white chocolate chips peeking out -- but don't be afraid to try these puppies because they're truly one of a kind and unlike anything else. I haven't seen them in too many other bake shops around so I thought, why not try to make them myself?

Now is the time to admit that baking cookies honestly scare me a bit since the timing of everything is crucial. When you bake a cake that is done anywhere between 30-35 minutes, there's a whole 5 minute window of when you can take out the cake before it suddenly becomes too late and you enter panic mode (like I usually do). But when you bake cookies, the difference between taking them out at 12 minutes and 15 minutes is prettty much huge. The cookies will burn on the edges, they'll turn to rocks in a few hours, and you'll be stuck baking a new batch of cookies while wasting any butter or sanity you have left....


So when this recipe instructed me to "Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone)" I was hesitant but trusted my instincts that this baker would help me get the perfect cookies still crisp on the outside yet chewy on the inside. What were the results? Better than I could ever ask for! 15 minutes was spot on for the cookies. After they cooled (which for some reason always takes forever when it's 10 pm and all you can do is crave.a.cookie), I took a huge bite into one of these bad boys and enjoyed a deliciously moist chocolatey center that told me I just struck gold with this recipe. Hope you have great results with them too if you give this recipe a shot, which you really should do, and email me if you have any questions or need some help! Hope you guys have a great weekend and enjoy this pictures!

Valentine's Day Gift Boxes

It's no secret I love holidays -- ask any of my family or friends and they can tell you I'm probably planning some little party or dessert extravaganza to celebrate. Anything from Thankgiving to Fourth of July to Purim is just a reason to bake and have a good time with friends! Who doesn't want to do that?

 So when Valentine's Day came rolling around (after I baked this Valentine's Day Cake) I was looking for ways to embrace the Hallmark holiday with my family and friends when inspiration suddenly hit me. For Thanksgiving I had given each of my friends a homemade pumpkin pie as seen in this post A Time to Celebrate, so I decided that for Valentine's Day I would give each of my friends and family a gift box of different and delicious cupcakes! One box for each of my 6 closest friends and my aunts and uncles. I spent my simply perfect Wednesday morning, afternoon, and night making 80 coconut, red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla cupcakes which I then packaged into adorable, little boxes with personal notes for each of my family and friends.

Obviously great preparations are in order...

I used a coconut cake recipe from a Williams-Sonoma baking book (which I will share later!) and simply put it into cupcake form by changing the baking time from 30 minutes to 20. I paired it with this heavenly coconut cream cheese frosting by Ina Garten which went together perfectly. Once they finished baking (and cooling) I simply frosted and generously coated the cupcakes in shredded coconut, easily leaving them looking tasty and professional. 

The vanilla cupcakes I used were from this book Cupcakes! which I accompanied with a vanilla buttercream frosting (also from the Williams-Sonoma baking book) that turned out perfectly. The chocolate cupcakes I'm sad to say weren't as good as I hoped...

                         

I used (yet another...) Williams-Sonoma chocolate cake recipe which was even more shocking as to why the cupcakes didn't turn out as moist or rich as the picture makes them look. I'm pretty sure there was an error on my end because, lets face it, a Williams-Sonoma cookbook is basically the bible. The cupcakes were still tasty (especially when frosted with the chocolate buttercream frosting once again from the William's Sonoma baking book...) but I was definitely on the search for a better chocolate cake/cupcake recipe.

                      

Now for the prized, perfect, simply amazing red velvet! What to say about these gems - they really turned out perfect. Kudos to The Brown Eyed Baker for her Red Velvet Cupcake recipe that really cannot get any better. It's perfectly red, moist, and has that great cocoa flavor of a red velvet without overwhelmingly and suddenly turning into a chocolate flavor. I used the Williams-Sonoma cream cheese frosting recipe from the baking book but definitely prefer the Sprinkle's cream cheese frosting recipe I shared here for it's texture and supreme taste. 

I got much praise and great reviews for the cupcakes (chocolate didn't seem as adored as the rest) but that only leave's room for improvement! Any baking I do whether it's simple chocolate chip cookies or a huge 3 layer cake only adds to my experience, helps me practice, and allows me to master to this passionate hobby of mine. 

                            

Cheer Up Sunshine!

I'm a very lucky girl. I'm surrounded by loving, supportive, and healthy family and friends. I've been given the finest education, and I live in one of the most vibrant cities in the world. But that being said, we all have some really bad days when it feels like nothing is going right. Anything that can go wrong pretttty much does and when it feels like things can't get any worse at that moment and you're making your second trip to the apple store in under three hours -- you then find out your computer has crashed...again. 

Apparently I'm supposed to back it up a lot more often that I have (which is around once every 4 years?) You would expect me to learn my lesson after this happened for the first time a few months back, but apparently not.

- Carrie didn't know either - 

Some 15 hours later my tears have finally managed to dry up and I'm inspired to write this post because while it has been the crappiest week on earth, I also know that I am like I said, a very lucky girl. So in an attempt to not let the little things get to me, to not mourn the loss of thousands of pictures that are now swiped off my computer, and to not let this bad week turn into a bad month, I'm going to list a few things that have still cheered me up this week:

1. I have the best sister in the world - and that's not something I'm just saying, I truly believe I have the best sister out there that anyone could ever, ever ask for. She's been so helpful, attentive, and supportive all week so even if everything seems to be going terribly wrong, I'm still pretty damn lucky to have her by my side.

2. I'm currently in the works of making business cards and a website to showcase all the sweets I make, so I'm incredibly excited/nervous/over joyed.

3. A friend introduced me to Justin Timberlake's new song Mirrors which I almost immediately fell in love with and has been on replay ever since.

4. I found what is undoubtedly the best chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream frosting recipe in the world. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting a few weeks back that were fine (to say the least) but a little on the dry side. So what to do? I went on a search of course! Thankfully, Pinterest led me to this Chocolate Buttercream frosting and this insane Black Magic Cake. I only made a smaller one layer 9-inch cake this past weekend to try out the recipe but I fell so in love with it I'm gonna make a larger one this upcoming weekend for PATH. I know Shanee loves chocolate cake so hopefully she'll like this one too.

5. While most of the contents of my computer are totally gone and that includes the recipe book I've been working on, I've been able to find most of my precious recipes by checking my tagged pins on Pinterest and by going through the countless emails with recipe links that I've sent to myself. At least technology has given me that!

6. The best of news: I spent this past Friday baking a cake for my first official customer! I spent all week running from store to store so I could buy supplies that have now become an investment in my business. My customer requested a triple layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and white fondant at a staggering 12 inch size since the cake was for a 50+ person party.

- intense and powerful red dye waiting to be mixed -

- 12 cups of the best cream cheese frosting - 

Considering the fact that this was the largest cake I'd ever bake and it was the most professional cake I'd make yet, I had several mini-freak outs throughout the day. But, after spending most of Friday on the cake it thankfully turned out beautiful and I got only the best of reviews.

And even after the worst days I'm lucky enough to still have a lot to look forward to -- this blog being one of them. I hope anyone going through a rough patch can find at least a bit of ease by thinking about all the good things going. It doesn't sound like much but you'll soon find the list to be very long and it will definitely cheer you up, similar to how it's just worked for me.

Sincerely,

The (now much more Blissful) Baker

Challah

There are few things that get me really excited about the weekend. Sleeping in, grabbing lunch with friends, lazy Sunday's catching up on Grey's Anatomy and Revenge, you get the picture of my weekly ritual...

But to end the long weekday and welcome a sweet weekend, Friday nights always mean family time at my grandmother's house for Shabbat dinner. But whether you're Jewish or not, there is some type of get together your family keeps up that brings you all together in the best way possible. So when we get together I always look forward to conversing with family, a good movie and of course, the food.

Now while my grandmother spends all day making everything at the table (Shabbat dinner is always by far the best meal of the week), we always buy challah bread from a near by bakery until a few weeks ago, I decided to make it myself.  I had made it once or twice before in school when I was younger and decided to give it a shot using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen who gives the best directions and is so unbelievably helpful and clear. The recipe ended up yielding enough dough for four loaves of challah instead of the two that I expected, but that just meant more challah and French toast in the morning so hey, I'm not complaining...

I actually really want this...

Making the dough was surprisingly very easy and only took about 30 minutes or so. I tried making it with poppy seeds the first time as you can see in the picture, and then opted for sesame seeds this week yet both versions turned out equally great. The only issue I'm having is that it's not as light and fluffy inside as I'd hope for it to be so that's something I'm working on, but there's something about homemade bread straight out of the oven that definitely makes it better than anything I could get from a bag.

I've only used this recipe twice and have had great results both times. It is instructed on Smitten Kitchen's website that it should work equally well if I freeze half the batch and save it for later use, so I have about a loaf's worth of dough waiting for me in the freezer until I put that to the test Friday morning. Stay tuned for how it turns out and until then, I hope you have a great week.

Previews and Pictures

Happppy Tuesday everybody!! Sounds like a contradiction, no? It's still so far from the weekend, I have hours of homework ahead of me, and I can't stop thinking of baking supplies I want to buy from Michael's Arts and Crafts...

Nonetheless, we still have a lot to be thankful for (like chocolate, the best friends a girl can ask for, and more chocolate...) so let's get happy and start blogging :)

 Great news: I have a first official client who put in an order for one of my cakes! Even though she's one of my family friends so I'm not really sure if that counts (I'd like to think it does!), she asked me to make a cake for a party she's hosting this weekend. Since I'm always nervous and excited for these kind of things I obviously make a practice cake this weekend...

I wont be putting up pictures of the cake I made this weekend just so that next week when I blog about the cake and share pictures it's that much more special. But, I will tell you it went amazingly well and I'll share this recipe of the best red velvet cake I've made ever.

So around now is the time that I should probably confess I was a little bit of a thief this weekend and stole Sprinkles cream cheese frosting recipe :/ Not that it's hidden or anything, but when my friend had a sudden craving for Sprinkles this week and we stopped by the store and they just happened to have the frosting recipe printed out on those adorable cupcake mix tins... I had to check it. So after (quickly) jotting it down, I spent the next day testing this recipe out and let me tell you it rocks.

(The Best Ever) Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

8 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups powdered confectioners sugar


Basically, I first set the mixer on medium-high and blended the cream cheese and butter together, then slowly added the other ingredients in that order. The vanilla extract I usually use in my recipes has a brownish tint, but I bought this colorless-vanilla extract (from Michael's of course) so that the frosting could still have that bright, whiteness to it that gives it such a great contrast with the red velvet cake.

I highly recommend this frosting since it not only has great taste but texture as well! And since I won't torture you with all of this writing non-sense and not provide you with anything to feast your eyes on since let's be honest, this is a baking blog and you're probably expecting to see a picture of a cupcake or something... I'll share some pretty pictures that have motivated and inspired me recently. Hope you enjoy them too :)

Elegant & Clean

- cheers to independence -

Food Art

No Pain, No Gain

Valentine's Day Cake

 Winter is awesome. Besides the truly terrible weather, were granted with: 

a good two or three months of celebrations like Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas, New Years...

school break and friends coming back from college

the chance to bring out our cute boots and beanies again :)

But what happens after? February slowly creeps up on us and BAM -- suddenly its Valentine's Day. No, I'm not going to go on a rampage complaining about this holiday like you're probably expecting now. Truth be told, I think Valentine's Day is actually quite adorable and it gives me an excuse to spend a night with friends, make dinner together, and share a good two or seven bottles of wine...

But this year I love Valentine's Day just about 100x times more because it's the perfect opportunity to bake pretty pink and red desserts all week long and excuse myself by simply saying ... hey, its for Valentine's Day.

I decided to get in the holiday spirit a bit early this week. My lovely Saturday morning was spent baking a 4-layer red velvet cake topped with vanilla frosting and covered in a smooth layer of fondant - all made to perfection by moi, if I may so myself.

Making the cake from scratch left me incredibly nervous for its results and led to me searching the web for a good two hours until I found the perfect recipe. I usually trust websites like Martha Stewart, Cupcakes and Cashmere, or Smitten Kitchen (whos currently featuring a killer Salted Caramel Brownie recipe that I'm dying to try). But ,when I found this "Sprinkles copy-cat recipe", I felt pretty safe. I frosted the cake with this vanilla frosting recipe by Martha Stewart but found it okay so I'm still looking for a better recipe out there.

- And thats only the half of it -

Now for the fondant. This stuff is very scary. I still don't fully understand how it looks so perfect when other bakers use it, but I'm on a mission! Instead of buying a store bought one ($9 for a box of sugar is a tad bit annoying if you ask me), I opted to make my own using this recipe which worked out really well and is surprisingly very easy to follow. I made it two days before and kept it in an air tight container which kept it pretty soft, but it would be better to make day of in the morning just so its easier to deal with and tastes more fresh.






I love how the cake turned out with the huge red bow on top and the mini red hearts all over -- I dont think I've made a cake this popular amongst my friends and family. I do wish that I got the chance to slice into it and see how it turned out on the inside, but taking it to PATH this week was once again a great experience. Shanee wasn't working when I stopped by late that evening, but I did drop the cake off with a man (who I didn't catch the name of) and a woman named Danita, a tenant of PATH. She had the prettiest blue eyes and was incredibly sweet -- and to top it all off, when I dropped off the cake she asked for my number incase I'd be able to do a cake for an event coming up soon! She asked me if I had a business card (which I'm now in the process of making) and pretty much made my day. I hope they enjoyed the cake and I'll definitely be looking forward to running into Danita again.


Now, I'm going to spend the rest of my evening buried in Williams-Sonoma cookbooks and online baking blogs until I find the perfect vanilla frosting recipe. Until I get a few hours in to bake, the vision of these beauties will simply have to do...

- STUNNING - 

dying for a bite!