Best of 2011

It's the end of another year!  How did this happen again?? 

I am feeling reminiscent and looking over my year of projects, I wanted to share with you all again some of my absolute favorites.

First, the Incredibly Time-Consuming Shaped Cake Category...Winner is...The Guitar Cake!!!

Rock n Roll baby!

Up Next we have the Impossibly Cute Saturdays, that is Cake Pops, Category:  The Christmas Ornaments!

Soooo cute.  I love 'em!

Yes, I had to go with the Christmas ornaments.  I love them.  I want some of my own:).

And finally, my top choice for 2011, my chef d'oeuvre, my magnum opus, my awesomest of awesome cakes:  The Epic Wedding Cake Category and Best in Show...a little something I call the Colossus of Gant...best wedding ever got the best wedding cake ever (if I do say so myself...).



The Colossus of Gant!

2011 was a sweet year, pardon the pun, and here's hoping 2012 will be better still.  I want to see a full wedding calendar and a many, many new and returning customers. 

God bless you all and thank you for making time for Bake Lore.  Here's hoping I'll be sharing pictures of your very own Bake Lore creation soon! 

Happy New Year!!!

Deck the Halls and All that Jazz

What?  MORE super cute Saturdays from Bake Lore?  Well...if you insist...

What goes better with Christmas tree Saturdays than Christmas ball Saturdays??

What other ideas do you have for Christmas inspired Saturdays?  Snowmen?  Little Reindeer?  The possibilites are endless!



Hey There, Tiny Christmas Trees!

Saturdays at Bake Lore are getting cuter and cuter and cuter.

Look at these adorable little Christmas trees!

Kinda makes you want to sing songs and dance around like a little kid, doesn't it?  I'm in love with these little Saturdays.  They were fun to make, and they taste even better than they look.

These were made with the ever popular buttery yellow cake, vanilla butter cream and covered in white Chocoley dipping chocolate.  I discovered that no candy coating, even the good, expensive kind, likes red gel colors.  Something about it makes the chemistry just go crazy and instead of a gorgeous, smooth dipping candy, you end up with wierd, oily crumbles.  Ew.  So, the red decorations were just a bit of royal icing...as were the stars.

A Taste of Summer

These may not be the most festive or Christmasy confections I've ever churned out during December, but they are awfully cute.  And who wouldn't like to be reminded of a lovely, ripe, juicey watermelon during these gray months?

So I give you, watermelon Saturdays: 

They only look like watermelon.  I shudder to think of the monstrosity that would be watermelon flavored cake.  Ew...these are a much tastier combination of buttery yellow cake with a little splash of pink, a handful of mini chocolate chips and a big fat scoop of Bake Lore butter cream.

And of course, they are dipped - twice - in Chocoley white chocolate.  That stuff is amazing.  I love it.  You turn it any color you choose and it stays that beautiful shiny, silky smooth chocolate Chocoley is famous for.  You get those so-called candy melts at the craft store, and heaven help you if you want them any color but the one they came with.  It's happened to me so many times - thinking it'll somehow be different, and it never is.  A little gel color turns those candy melts into some kind of crumbly nightmare.  It's weird. 

I was actually just on the verge of being forced to go the candy melt route when my Chocoley order finally appeared on my doorstep.  I did a little dance...and a bit later, I took a bite out of one of these cute little pops. 

Saturdays with Baylor Flare

I tried to begin this post by writing witty new lyrics to the Baylor University fight song.  You know, that school in Texas, in the city where David Koresh went bonkers?  Yeah.  There. 

I find myself seriously disappointed in my powers of rhyme and meter this evening, so instead of "crucifying this verse" as Cole Porter might put it, I'll just tell you about my latest project, mmmk?

Baylor-inspired Saturdays in the much-loved green and yellow

I used to live in Washington D.C. - a fun time in my life, during which I acquired several lifelong friendships.  I wish I had the time and money to visit those people every year, but at this point, many of them have scattered to the four winds, like myself, and facebook stands in the place of costly trips these days.

I of course landed in the best place, Southern Indiana.  But my good friend, Lisa, would certainly take issue with that point of view.

You see, she's from Texas.

Yup.  And she's having a Texas birthday this year. 

So she called me up to find out if cake pops...that is...Saturdays...ship well.  Which they do!  And tomorrow morning they'll be winging their way to her door. 

Lemon Cake, Vanilla Butter Cream, White Chocolate Candy Coating

I have had the privilege of calling a few people my friend over the  years who have shown themselves to be the very best, stalwart kind of souls you want walking with you through your life. 

Lisa's one of those people. 

I haven't actually seen her for more than four years, but my son sleeps with a quilt she made by hand, and every day I eat off of dishes she bought for me as a wedding gift years ago.  I have a great suspicion that she has silently come to my aid when I've been most in need, though I can't prove it.  She's on a very short list of people I am sure I will know when I am 80 - and on an even shorter list of people I knowwho will still be able to hold their liquor when they're that old.

When I was lonely and lost in a big city, God gave me a good friend.  I enjoyed many happy evenings in her company, and only wish I could help celebrate her birthday in person.

Here's to you, Lisa.  I thank God for allowing our paths to cross, and I pray God's blessings on your head. 

Happy Birthday.  Go eat cake:).

The Ongoing Saga of Saturdays

Here at Bake Lore, we affectionately call cake pops Saturdays - because of the extreme cuteness of my three-year old and his obsession with high-quality baked goods. 

He coined the phrase, and I just love it.  It makes me smile everytime I hear it.  So when I had someone actually call and request them by name - that was great.  Aside from playing to my motherly girlishness, it also gave me the opportunity I've been waiting for to try the products from Chocoley Chocolate.

I bought two pounds of their dipping and enrobbing formula - "Badda Boom Badda Bing" - love their name for it!  And compared to Wilton's candy melts and the candy coating in the baking isle, this chocolate is like a different world!  Smooth, way tastier and just a gorgeous finish. 

2 dozen "Saturdays"
buttery yellow cake, vanilla butter cream with white chocolate coating

Bye bye, "rustic" look - hello smooth and sensational:).

I highly recommend!  I will be purchasing more from this company in the future - - possibly to cover a dozen Saturdays for YOU:).

"Saturdays:" A Work in Progress

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I'm a master at every decorating technique in the world.  The fact is that I'm 100% self-taught, and I usually put myself on a steep learning curve.

There are some skills I have down and could do in my sleep, and others are a work in progress.  I have a bad habit of reinventing the wheel when I'm in the kitchen.  I'm so curious to learn how things work I often forget to look to others who've been there and done that. 

Well, let me tell you, you can get some pretty delicious concoctions with that method - but they're not always beautiful.  Although, I'd definitely call them cute. 

Go Patriots!  Cake Pops - or Saturdays as we call 'em at Bake Lore -
to honor Terre Haute North High School, ye olde alma mater.

Why is it that I disliked high school, but harbor such strong feelings of school pride?

These are the latest greatest cake pops - every time I make these, I try a new coating.  This one is not a keeper.  Tasty though it may be, it never got thin enough to make things smooth and lovely. 

My next batch will be covered in Chocoley chocolate.  It may bump the price up a bit, but it will be worth it for a smooth finish and a reliable flavor. 

In addition - that "candy coating" in the bake isle at the grocery does NOT like food coloring.  I tried to make red and blue out of that mess and it it turned into something I thought might eat ME.  Not cool. 

So, the cake pops - or as we call them "Saturdays", cuz when you eat one, it feels like a Saturday! - are a work in progress.  That's how I have learned all my tricks so far...this one will be perfected soon.  I love the process...I love the learning curve. 

Rustic? Cake Pops

I am a fan of the fad.  I love cake pops.  I think they're cute - and for me - infinately practical, as I get to use yummy cake scraps to create something totally new.

Now...I've been playing today.  I had some candy coating in my stash of goodies over here, so I thought I'd make a few cake pops and start getting used to this new medium. 

I will soon master the smooth look, but today, I felt like a 10 year old again.  Dipping and striping and rolling - it was fun.  My finished product wasn't quite sellable, but it'll takes a few batches to get it right. 

I can't help it...no, not perfect.  But I think these
are still pretty cute.  Admitedly, I am biased.

I haven't decided if I should call these shabby chic or maybe...ahem...rustic? But one thing I know I can call them is tasty.  I have it on the best authority...as documented in the following super cute picture:).

"Deez are good!" ~ Andrew, Official Bake Lore Product Tester

So, here's to learning a new tool for the trade.  I'll be keeping you posted on my progress, as always:).

Cake Pops are COOL. So says Starbucks. So say we all!

I've been baking a lot this week.  *GASP*  Got me a cake order for a Saturday morning delivery, and I ended up with a bowl full of scraps, as usual, and nothing to do with them except toss them or eat them.

Eating them is not an option.  I have only recently rediscovered that I have a waist, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Tossing them is just wasteful...as opposed to waistful, which may not be a word, but, as I have already said, is not an option.

So, I had to get creative.  What do you do with a bowl full of fresh, tasty cake scraps?

Cake Lore Cake Pops!
A little white cake, a little vanilla butter cream,
some poured fondant and a gum paste flower

You make CAKE POPS!  This is my first try with cake pops...turned out pretty darn cute, and tasty too, if I say so my self.  (Okay, okay...so I ate one.  There may or may not have been four right before this picture was taken.  Gee whiz.)

I used my usual ingredients, Cake Lore butter cream and tried my hand at poured fondant.  A delectable edible...and hopefully a sellable edible too!