is called to order.

Who's up?
Whatcha workin' on?

Lurkers, talk!!

I'm looking up salt dough recipes for ornaments. So far, they all look pretty much the same.
I'm not sure what to do about frosting. If I use Royal, bugs are bound to find them so they wouldn't keep from year to year. I'm not happy with the thought of using paint either.

Hmmm . . . I haven't made salt ornament sin years. So long I can't even remember how I decorated them.

Easy weekend for me. One, 4 tier cake covered in sparkling sugar. Seriously the easiest cake design EVER!!

Bridesmaid cake. Wedding dress cake on a ten inch circle. Bodice made, cakes baked. Need to decorate bodice, make and ice cakes, fondant then decorate. Delivery at 9am. Hey, sleep is overrated!

Working on a Jungle Cake for a 2 year-old birthday party tomorrow. I want to do the palm trees out of frosting and I've googled my brains out trying to find out what tip to use to make them...any suggestions?

Like palm trees piped onto the sides of the cake? I use a 12 round for the trunks, varying the pressure to be wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. For the fronds I use the leaf tip, again varying the pressure.

hi, making chocolate filled cupcakes sunday, with my nieces help, for the crew at physical therapy, they have me up on my feet again and I want to make a little something for them. And knowing how I feel about cupcakes..well.. they know I really appreciate their dedication.

I am looking forward to being able to be on my feet long enough to bake cakes again soon!!

sew4, I know it won't help now, but I usually bake a 6" round, a 5" round a 4" round and one small wondermold - the pan that has four cavities in it. Makes a nice pyramid/skirt shape.

Now I can't remember if I use the 4" round or not.

sounds good tesso!

Been decorating a gingerbread house for an annual contest around here. Trying to put all of my new piping skills to good use! Played around with some Christmas patchwork cutters. Also going to attempt a Baby Rump cake this weekend for a co-worker's baby shower.

I'm actually making dessert - not cake - for a neighborhood meeting next week. it's been so long since I made anything other than cake or an occasional cookie that I'm really looking forward to a mini dessert bar.

I am working on my sister's 8" bday cake. Lots of flowers but I love flowers so it's all good!

Hi, and happy Friday, everyone I just finished an apple barrel cake this evening and am going to start making the fondant lid for a turkey fryer cake that's coming up next weekend. I used the Hershey's Collector's recipe for the chocolate cake I made this evening and iced it with chocolate buttercream with a tiny pinch of coffee in it. I LOVED the flavor, but the couple we had over for a dinner party didn't say anything after eating their cake. They raved about the look of the cake, but didn't comment about the taste. I finally asked them for their honest opinions, and the husband said it tasted like 'burnt coffee' to him (the wife didn't say anything). I'm so bummed, because I thought it was wonderful. {Sigh} The kids ate it and didn't complain (in fact, my oldest had seconds) but they don't exactly have the most refined palettes lol. I know you can't please all the people all the time, but I am on the hunt for a crowd pleasing chocolate cake and chocolate icing from scratch, and can't seem to find it. It seems like everyone wants the store-bought fudge frosting from a can and all the from-scratch chocolate cakes I've made have been a bit dry (except the one I made tonight, but apparently it tastes like burnt coffee!). What's your favorite recipe, everyone? (Oh, and thanks for reading my sob story LOL!)

Missy

[quote="tesso"][quote="leah_s"]I'm actually making dessert - not cake - for a neighborhood meeting next week. it's been so long since I made anything other than cake or an occasional cookie that I'm really looking forward to a mini dessert bar.[/quote]

what dessert are you making???[/quote]

doing four: bread pudding with Bourbon sauce, almond crescent cookies, Toulouse Lautrec Chocolate cake (waaay intense) and yellow cupcakes with creme filling and caramel bc swirl. OK the cupcakes are cake. That Toulouse Lautrec cake isn't like cakes I do normally.

leah_s, you taught me a new vocabulary word today! I didn't know that palm leaves were called fronds.

Read a tutorial on how to make cherry blossoms from gumpaste and am working on them now.

how come the quote function never works for me?

Leah !! I am so crashing your neighborhood meeting!! and I am coming armed with a very large spoon for that pudding!!

The almond crescent cookies are quite fabulous also. I haven't made them in years and years. The dough is mostly almond paste, with just a wee bit of flour to give it some stability. Then one end gets dipped in chocolate. It's a recipe from culinary school.

leah_s - your desserts sound FABULOUS!!!! I wish you could send some to me in Canada! No cakes for me tonight. Just one tomorrow for my Dad's b-day. Just WASC with lemon filling! Hope everyone has a great night!

Made my first topsy turvy cake tonight (well actually I've been working on it all day) for my daughters 16th birthday. It turned out OK, I learned a lot. Now her and her friends are playing games.

I would be like a tazmanian devil with those crescent cookies. They are one of my favorite holiday cookies.. and so like to hang around my hips for months afterward. I cant stop at just one.. or ten.. or twenty.. want to share your recipe?

Missdavis1976: have you tried Elisa Strauss' chocolate cake recipe? It's the only one I've found so far that gives me consistent results.

I detoured to post some replies for school assigments. Post replies, blow smoke up their skirts, whatever.

Is there a paint that flows like Royal when flooding? I think fabric paint would, but that would get expensive for 240 ornaments.

Just finishing up a "Johnny" Deere cake for a little boy's birthday for tomorrow & I'm pooped!

I have 4 for this weekend...2 birthdays and 2 Anniversarys... all fairly basic stuff, although for one of the Anniversary cakes, Im thinking about practicing my Oriental Stringwork, since its for my DH Aunt & Uncle.

You know what drives me nuts? When someone calls to order a cake, and they tell me they really don't care what the design is , or what the colors are, they are just interested in my cake, not the design of it. C'mon people, give me something to go on here! Does he like sports, fishing, cars, the color red or blue? If I pick something that he's not really into, I know its not my fault, but it really kinda sucks, since he may not be happy with it.

Just sayin!

Hmm, Unlimited, you give me hope. My friend says sacrificing a pastry bag might make paint flow like Royal, but I'm used to Royal and would rather not screw up a bunch of cookies with a "might work."