Revealed: Project Ziggurat

I hear you out there.  Yes, I know you've been checking in to see if I've published the pictures of Project Ziggurat. 

Well, your faithfulness is now rewarded.  I present to you, with no small amount of pride, Project Ziggurat (or: The Cake that Ate a Blog).

Aside from a little cardboard and a few wooden dowels, this thing is completely edible.  It took 60 cups of rice cereal...8 bags of marshmallows...5 pounds of fondant...2 chocolate cakes...an entire batch of buttercream icing...a vat of royal icing...and a great deal of supporting infrastructure. 

The top tier, as well as the bottom two tiers, are made entirely out of cereal treat.  He wanted an epic cake, but was only feeding a handful.  So, we went the fake-cake route, and only the 8" and 6" tiers are delicious chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.
I had ordered a brick texture mat to make the fondant work easier.  But, alas, the mail was slow, so all those bricks are done by hand.

Then the piping...oh my goodness...the piping.  Let's hope I ge this right...

First we have Arabic:

Then Hebrew:

Next is Paleo-Hebrew or Proto-Canaanite:

Then Middle Egyptian (which was almost tossed for a few choice words Amy had to describe just what she thought of near eastern languages as her hand was cramping up in protest):

And finally, Akkadian or Neo-Assyrian Cuneiform:

And what does it all say? 

Josh is 33. 

Actually, the part I've shown you here probably just says "Josh is..." The text wraps around the three sides not bearing the stairs.  Needless to say, I'm happy to write in modern English, without the need to draw birds, triangles or other pictures to get my point across.  Heaven help me if we are ever forced to learn Chinese. 

But, truly, my brother Josh is celebrating 33 years, and this was his choice for his party this year.  I hope it makes the trip up to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in one piece, where it can be enjoyed by his Biblical Archaelological and Near-Eastern Linguist type friends.  Yes, he really is that smart:).

Happy Birthday, Josh!  I love you dearly, as you can tell by the herculean effort I made for your cake.  I hope you and your friends enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the challenge of making it!

Almond Bliss

I love naming things.  I've always named my cars, instruments...and children too I suppose:).  But I hit a roadblock with my almond cake. 

So I went to the internet, made an appeal to my facebook friends (WHAT?  You haven't found Bake Lore on facebook yet?  Ok, go HERE, now.  Once again, I will wait.)

And thanks to their helpful suggestions, I've decided to call it Almond Bliss.  I love almond flavored confections, especially around the holidays, but a hint of almond also makes for a perfect bridal taste.

I made this cake last night.  It was ordered for flavor not beauty, so I thought I'd try to find a good every day cake look for it.  Yes, I added some sugar flowers, but this is me.  I can hardly move without making a sugar flower or two. 

Almond Bliss has already graced the table of at least one wedding reception.  I'm struggling to remember how many I've made - but this summer it will be back in action, making wedding guests happy and hopefully sending them back here for more.

Best Buttercream 2.0

I've been experimenting in my kitchen.  It's a little dangerous.  It's a little crazy.  It's a lot messy.

Project numero uno on my list has been conforming what I do to Indiana's cottage laws...those are the laws that allow you to sell baked goods made in your home for profit.  I have a double plus good test kitchen at my disposal, but frankly, it's a lot of driving and a lot more overhead.  And mamma needs to make some bank.

The major issue for me is the butter cream I make.  It's an itailan merangue butter cream, which is basically a lot of egg whites, beaten and cooked slowly with boiling sugar at the soft ball stage.  It's divine. 

But ye olde health department frowns on the use of eggs, thus making it pretty much a requirement for me to be in an up to code kichen.  The rest of my menu falls perfectly within the regs, so it's kindof important for me to find a way to keep the divine while loosing the egg.

traditional itialian meringue butter cream, with real egg whites

Don't know why I didn't think of this before: HELLO, MERINGUE POWDER!

new and improved with meringue powder

Dang!  I always have a giant tub of this laying around for royal icing and gum paste glue, so why not use it like it was intended and make some icing out of it?  Well, I did it.  And it's awesome.  Dare I say, it's even slightly more awesome than the real egg version, and also quite a bit easier to make. 

Same glorious sheen, same lightly sweet flavor, same gorgeous consistency...and for whatever reason, it's also slightly whiter, which makes decorating that much easier.  We have a winner! 

left: with meringue powder, right: with real egg whites
I can see the difference, I swear.

And Bake Lore just got one step closer to a full 2012 calendar.