Red Velvet...Anything!

Hi Everyone!!
I hope you're all doing well. I'm doing great. I have a wonderful assignment I'm excited to talk about, but without pictures yet. So I'll just show you some Red Velvet pictures to go with the post :) A post with no pictures is no fun at all!!

So a girlie I know called me and asked if i can bake her some healthy cookies with low calories. So I came up with some ideas, found some recipes from my trusted books, and this weekend I am hitting the kitchen. I have 5 recipes I want to try, but I'm not sure I will bake them all. I mean...I will get stuck with dozens and dozens of cookies. I was thinking of maybe baking 2 of them, see how she likes them, and then try another 2, and then keep the 5th one for later? I guess we'll see :)
But don't you love this whole expiremental thing? I feel so much better if I'm doing it for a customer rather than just baking in the kitchen to try new things on my own (with my fiance as a test subject, who eats everything anyway!)

But anyways, who likes Red Velvet?? I remember the first time I ever say a Red Velvet recipe I was amazed. I mean...a RED CAKE?? I did give it a try.. it seems like forever ago. I wasn't selling my baked goods back then, I was only doing it for special occations. That's when people started telling me that what I baked was too yummy to go to waste.

This is my 25th Birthday Cake. The inside is a Red Velvet, and the frosting is a Marshmallow frosting I found online. Let me tell ya! Even though people loved it, I found that I had over baked the cake so it was a bit on the dry side, and the Marshmallow Frosting wasn't the greatest match. But i had some cousins visiting from England, and they tried this and LOVED IT! They even told me they found a bakery they go to just for this cake. Btw...the flowers are real. I didn't know where I could find sugarpaste to make sugar ones...speaking of, that's a whole different story, but the first thing I ever did in my life that has to do with confectionary, was the sugar paste roses! I must've been 5 or 6 years old.
What do you think? Not too shabby eih? It was the very first time EVER I had frosted anything!

2 Years after the above picture, I decided I wanted to give it a try to go a bit more pro on this whole baking thing. I made a pricelist, added some of my best recipes on there, downloaded a software that helps you price cakes, and started giving out my menus. I had a tasting event (paired with a birthday party) and my 2nd order was a Red Velvet Cake. Remember this one? That was a whole lot of chaos!

Then I baked one for my neighbor, of which a have a picture of what the inside looks like (but during the cutting of the cake, the picture wasn't all that great) Here it is.

And then, I baked some more Red Velvet Cakes :) But it doesn't stop there. We have all heart of Red Velvet Cupcakes (or most of us). I baked some of those, too. One time, I didn't have enough color, so they seemed like they stayed out in the sun and faded out.. I don't think I have a picture for that (like I'd post it!) Then some other time, I baked them...and I photographed them as if they were models on a catwalk!!

Don't they look pretty? I think they do :). And even though you see it's a Red Velvet on the Cupcake Liner, I had to cut it up so you can reeeeally see the inside.

You know what happened next, right? Well I couldn't take it to the customer like this! So I just had to eat it! (I actually only had 1/4 of it, my fiance the other 1/4 and we took the half to my brother-and-sister-in-law to-be (that's a long word!) so they can try it. Well the rest were for the order I had so I couldn't take them a whole one. It's ok, they understand :)

BUT, the most versatile Red Velvet anything I ever baked was...Red Velvet (drum roll please....) BROWNIES!!! I KNOW, RIGHT? So moist with Cream Cheese Frosting on top.. yumm!!! I baked these for my Valentine's Bake Sale, but I hadn't taken a picture before I put them out on the table. My aunt remembered these and ordered them for a meeting she was having, so I took the chance to photograph them. They are how you see them: moist on the inside, crispy on top, covered with Cream Cheese Frosting. AND, they are Brownies! So there's melted chocolate inside there!

This is it you guys. Many pretty pictures for you to look at until next time :)

Don't forget to like Fairy Cakes on Facebook, too.

Have a great day :!) -xoxo-

Last bits for Valentine's Bake Sale

This post is waaay too late, but better late than never. As I had promised, these are the last few bits of the things I had for my Valentine's Day Bake Sale.

The last post I published was about the Sugar Cookies. Well, these ones I left for this post because they were special. The reason why? Well because I got the idea from the decorated cookie. I saw the picture, but didn't read the instructions, missing an important point: the cotton candy...well it kinda melts. And my house is very humid, do these didn't stay fluffy for too long. But I think I did I pretty good job with them.

What I don't have a picture of, is the brownies I made for the event. Everyone kept asking for brownies instead of cookies, so I thought I'd make different kinds that aren't currently on my menu:

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting: They went well with Valentine's Day.

White Chocolate Brownies with White Chocolate Glaze: For those who asked me to bake something with white chocolate.

Chocolate Chip Brownies with Cappuccino Buttercream Frosting: For the coffee lovers.

A few days after the Bake Sale, I asked people which brownies they liked the best so I can add them to my menu. I didn't get a clear answer. Some liked the Red Velvet, some the White Chocolate, and others the Cappuccino ones. So I think it is safe to say that I will be adding all 3 flavors on my menu. I also had orders of these from the people that had them during the Bake Sale.

The last thing I made, and it was very last minute, but successful, is Chocolate Covered Marshmallows. I was initially thinking of putting these on sticks, but to keep the cost down and the price much lower, I kept these as "finger" food.

I was so excited about the Bake Sale that I completely forgot to take pictures of the dessert table once it was completed. So here is a picture of me with some of the things I had for sale that day:

Test Kitchen

Goodmorning Everyone!!
I hope you all had a GREAT weekend. Mine was the usual: Work on Saturday, bought some birthday presents after work (I get off at 5, shops close at 7), went to my friend's house for coffee Sunday morning, had some good-tasting lunch at my in-laws' to-be, and spent the afternoon in my kitchen testing recipes :!)

First of all, I have to tell you. I do NOT like coconut. Not the smell or flavor itself, but the texture. I try to omit it from my recipes. But see, my fiance? Well that's his FAVORITE flavor!! So he's been asking me to make him some Coconut Cupcakes since...forever! (Especially after our Christmas Cake was a Coconut Cake really). I had never made them before, so I thought I'd give it a try.

He LOVED them! Especially the Cream Cheese Frosting (I added a bit of almond extract this time - since I was testing - to see the difference from it being plain. My conclusion: Too strong of a flavor).

So, since I made him the Coconut Cupcakes that he REEEeeeeAAAlly liked, I should make something I REEEaaally like too, right? YEAP! I'm a sucker for Strawberry desserts! So the other day I bought some strawberries from this girl (you know, those that sell fruit on the streets, or come by your work? Well she came at the shop where I work and they looked really good, so I grabbed a pack). I had them in the refrigerator for 3 days and didn't know what to do with them. So I asked my friends on Facebook, and they suggested the Strawberry Mousse (it was either that or Strawberry Cupcakes with Orange Frosting-recipes I've made before and love, I just couldn't choose all by myself).

 

After I took the pictures, I realized I never left a strawberry behind to decorate! I haven't had one yet. They needed to set and cool in the refrigerator, so I will have one today. I'm pretty sure that they are reeeeeeeeally tasty :) Because they have strawberries in them! You can tell from the picture that this is homemade and not the packaged kind: You can see the strawberry bits!

Other than testing in the kitchen and making yummy gooods, I also baked a Red Velvet Cake for an order (I also baked brownies, but I didn't take a picture of those for you).

This also falls under Test Kitchen because I had many people try it and tell me what they think. Everyone said it was reeeally good...I wasn't all that pleased with it. I think it's because I like the cupcake version much better....due to the fact that cupcakes have a higher cuteness factor!

So, what did you guys do this weekend? Anyone baked something new??

Birthday Party Stress!

After a looooooong day (both in the kitchen and at work) I put something casual on and headed to my friend's birthday party. Her birthday cake was my Red Velvet Cake - for which I was prepared for this time with decorations.
I have to say that I think I mastered the art of "frosting." What I did differently? Well I smothered the cream cheese with the back of a spoon to start with, and once I added the powdered sugar, I beat the frosting for a bit over 5 minutes. With a free stand mixer of course!
Once the cake was frosted, I added some red food coloring to the remaining frosting and created a nice pink for the writing, and completed with some red sugared flowers.

The most stressful thing was sitting there, waiting for the cake to be served so I can see everyone's reaction! I wasn't there for the tasting for ANY of my orders. Everyone just called or texted me after they tried what I baked and told me comments (so far, only positive-cross fingers!) But WOW! I was stressing out so much I thought I was going to get up and leave! Finally we blew the candles and served the cake. Everyone wanted to know what it was because it is a bit strange to see a red cake. They all said they loved it and my friend sent me a message that most of it was gone! (I left a bit early due to the fact that I was super tired).

See, this time, I put some simple sugar syrup on the cake since I had the comment from my future sister-in-law that it was a bit dry. Or actually the comment was that it isn't as moist at my Carrot Cake. Of course there's more things in the Carrot Cake to make it moist such as the pineapple and the carrot. The Red Velvet is more simple. But still, I think it came out ok. Not great just yet for my taste. I need to find a nice glaze to add to moisten it.

I found the recipe for the Simple Syrup in :

Even though it was super simple, I needed the ratio of sugar to water.

SUPER EASY.

So now what?

Ok well my first order was completed successfully, and so was my event. Everyone loved everything blah blah...now? Now what? Do I sit and wait for someone to call? I already handed out my pricelist...and I'm actually breaking even on some of the desserts, but oh well. I love baking, so I don't mind much...yet ;)

But it all started to happen on its own. I had a call bright and early for an order of a cake. I had to bake a Red Velvet Cake, frost it, and write on it "Happy Birthday." I;ve NEVER written on a cake before...what do I do? FREAK OUT! Ok...relax. It's time to breathe sloooowly and take it one step at a time.

Shopping List: The only thing missing is the red food coloring. Ok the grocery store has some. No? Ok ok let's go to the next one? Nope! Not here either...ok now it's really time to freak out!!

Meanwhile, I have to say that I still have my full time job as a store manager (and I work overtime EVERY DAY). So...I had to find the red food coloring while I was on my lunch break, bake the cake...wait for it to cool so I can frost it, AND write on it! YIKES!

My supply store was too far for me to go get the coloring so finally I thought of a place that sells cake boxes, called and voia la! They had it! So I drove there, bought a plastic box for the cake, too and drove crazy fast home to complete my mission. Less than 2 hours left on the clock.

The cake was still warm when I started to frost it so the frosting was dripping, but it was ok. I added parchment paper strips under the cake so I can pull them out and have a clean round cake!


10 minutes left for me to have to be at work! Ok ok fast solution: add a small round tip in a ziplock baggie, add red food coloring in the cream cheese frosting that is left over, and keep a steady hand to write.

Boxed the cake, took some pictures and left to work, getting there only 5 minutes late! (My job is about 7 minutes from my house without any traffic, on my Vespa. By car I would've been at least 20 minutes late!)

Second order: COMPLETE!
Comment: Everyone LOVED the Red Velvet Cake. Phew!