What happens when a cake just doesn't measure up?

The test cake for the Liberty Arts Fabric birthday cake turned out really well - a firm texture that handled well when cut, but was also light and moist. However, it was a lot shorter than anticipated. This worried me as I wanted to make a tall cake, so I needed something to add height to the cake to compensate.

Solution: Rice Krispie squares (or "cereal treats" - hopefully I'm not risking a lawsuit by using a trademarked/copyrighted name) - a solution to short cakes and many of life's other problems. Not only do they function as delicious cake implants (who doesn't like Rice Krispie Squares?), but they also provide a strong base for wood dowels that were inserted into the 8" layers to support the 6" layer on top.

Liberty Art Fabrics Birthday Cake

I had the fortune and pleasure to be asked to make a birthday cake with two accompanying requests: in some way, incorporate Liberty Art Fabrics into the design, and avoid heavy flavours.

I didn't really know much about Liberty Art Fabrics when I started, so I immediately went to their website to look through their fabric patterns online. A folder of inspiration images was started, with a few that were finally picked out to inspire the colour and decoration of the cake.

High-Heel Birthday Cake

First ever high-heel cake!

There's a whole load of tutorials already out there on the web on how to make a gumpaste high heel. However, to prove the point that the internet has too much space (and to use said space to its fullest extent), I'll run over how I did the one you see here.

Blackberry Clafoutis

It's been a while since I've posted (for which I do apologize). And, it's now blackberry season, with a large, rambling blackberry vine behind our office blessing us with an abundance of fresh, luscious berries.


I've been through blackberry and feta salad... blackberry cake with cream cheese icing... blackberry liqueur... you get the picture. (Unfortunately, I did not take any).

And now, with a bunch of extra blackberries, I decided to try a clafoutis recipe from Williams-Sonoma. A clafoutis has a baked custard-like filling, usually with berries or cherries.

Now one thing that I have not figured out is if a crust is typical for a clafoutis. At the bakery I worked at, our clafoutis had a short biscuit-like crust. But a lot of recipes I've seen since are more like casseroles - baked directly in a dish and spooned out for serving.

I like having a crust, as a person who has an abnormal preference for crust (pizza, pie, etc). A crust provides a delicious counterpoint to the creamy filling and tart berries. It also makes serving easier, and I'm all about presentation.


And if you're making one tart, you might as well make a whole bunch of extra tartlets.


A clafoutis is quite simple. Once you have your tart shell (or not, depending), just lay out your berries. Choose your favourite, or any combination thereof. Frozen berries could be used just as well as fresh.


The filling is simply beaten eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, flour, and whipping cream. It's essentially a custard, but not cooked before baking. It's poured around the berries, almost to the top of the crust.


And through the magic of the internet...


Enjoy! And I promise to post soon.

Leaving for a Tea Break...

... in Taiwan. Will be back eventually!

House Cooling

"Don't it always seem to go/ That you don't know what you've got/ 'Til it's gone."

Big Yellow Taxi, by Joni Mitchell

Thankfully, this isn't always the case. With friends, every time we get together, it's another reminder of the times we've spent together, how loved we make each other feel, and how much we value the impact that we had, and will have, on each others' lives.

Something strange...

Something very strange happened today...

... I won something on a draw today. This usually never happens to me; it's always the number that's 1 digit off, or the number I had for the last draw. Feelings of unluckiness may be universal human condition. After all, charity lotteries do have to make some money at the end the day.

But today, things were different. The wind must have been blowing off Lake Ontario in the opposite direction.

Kara Buntin writes a fantastic blog called A Cake to Remember VA, which has consistently offered fantastic insight on all aspects of running a cake business. Even more laudable is her consistency. While some bloggers may slack off for a month at a time and try to post a series of entries to compensate (none immediately come to mind) , Kara routinely updates every other day or every couple of days with a well thought-out post.

Thanks to Kara, I soon will be the owner of my first silicon food-grade mold. In anticipation, I've worked out the first cake I want to try it on.

Here's a sneak peek of what may be to come. Hopefully it will be up to par with Kara's work!