randomness and Mater

I was trying to work the "jump break" feature but for some reason is not working. *sporks blogger* I'll keep trying on it.  For what I can see is not like the LJ cut of Live Journal, when you can get "in and out" of the cut and hide stuff. The one here, once you call use, hides the rest of the post.  But I'm going to try now *crosses self*

Edit: it works! The only thing is, like I mentioned, once you do the jump break, the rest of the post will be under the "Read more". I hope Blogger fixes this so we can have text in and out of the "cut".  Anyway, in order for me to see that it worked, I had to sign out. 

first fondant cake

My very first cake covered in fondant. I've been baking for years, but my attempts at decorating were, well, let's leave it like that.  My hand was not steady enough for buttercream piping, the way my grandma used to do, and I thought it was too labor intensive.  I tried using spatulas but it was always a huge mess.  I knew my cakes were good, so I was focusing more on flavor than in decorating them.  Until I started to watch Ace of Cakes.  I saw them (the bakery crew) working on fondant and it looked easy.

So I looked around for a recipe for fondant, found one, made the fondant.  Then I baked this little cake and decided to try.  I was so pleased with the results.  For a very first cake, it looked smooth enough.

The main reason for me wanting to start focusing a bit on decorating was my niece.  For two years that I went to her birthdays and had to endure a Walmart sheet cake that taste like, well, like a cake bought at Walmart.  After the second birthday enduring this crappy cake I told my sister-in-law that I'd bake my niece a cake for her next birthday, so I had the motivation to start practicing.  After a few disasters (luckily, only a few) I felt confident enough to try and bake my niece her princess castle of a cake.

Looking back, I wish I had done a few things differently, like the towers, but I tried to make the most without going  broke. Still, I feel proud of this cake. For a first effort of stacking, pipping and whatnot it wasn't too shabby.  This cake was only my 5th or 6th effort at working with fondant. 

I've put together a "Catalog" of sorts where you can see these and other cakes I've done.  I'll try to update the catalog as often as I can. And I'll try to post other pics of older cakes here as well. 

 https://sites.google.com/site/arioscakes/home

Not a cake post

I haven't baked in a while, hence why I haven't been posting here.

I recently bought the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have to say, if you love using your Kitchen Aid mixer for your baking endeavors, you'll love making homemade ice cream with this beauty. Just follow ANY recipe recipe for homemade ice cream (you can find them anywhere in the Internet). Pour into the bowl, turn the Kitchen Aid on, and let it go!

Below is a video I made when I was making my first ice cream.  The recipe can be found here: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2009/06/stop-screaming-for-ice-cream-and-start.html

I then decided to try on a strawberry ice cream recipe I also found online.  Not that I'm a big fan of strawberry ice cream, but my brother-in-law is, and since I'm bringing the ice cream maker to his folks house for Xmas, I decided practice was needed.  I decided to make another video as well. (making ice cream and videos is becoming addictive)

Things to remember:
Using this ice cream maker does requires some planning beforehand.
It's better to prepare the mixture the day before you're making ice cream. Or prepare it a few hours beforehand to let it set.
Store the ice cream bowl in the freezer, at least 15 hours. Better to leave it overnight.
Make sure you're ready to pout in the mixture into the bowl as soon as you get it out of the freezer.
Turn the mixer into the lowest speed. You don't want splashes all over the place. Trust me, the ice cream will be done in less than 30 minutes.
The ice cream will be like yogurt when you're done.  You can serve like that or store in the freezer for a couple of hours before finally serving.

first post

This is where I'll post pictures of my cakes and the process that went into creating them