sharing the knowlegde part 2 - cookies

I can't remember if I've talked about cookies. Eggless cookies, that is.

I was browsing the net for about anything interesting there was out there. Ok, I'm lying, I was looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe because I'm craving it. Then I remembered what I have used before in my cookies to replace eggs: plain yogurt and cream cheese. The cookies don't become golden brown, but they are so good. There, I'm craving a cookie, again.

I work with men and sometimes, when I want to make them happy, I bake them some cupcakes and cookies. I have never told them they are eggless since my husband thinks they will not eat them if they know they're made with tofu and other healthy things.

So I don't tell them and let them enjoy.

slacking off

I'm terrible with time managing. Ask any of my friends, I am always late. In fact, at one point, they decided the time they would give me would give me for the events and gatherings I was to attend would be half an hour before they started. Didn't work. I figured it out.
With cakes, having no time managing skills is quite an issue. I found that out on my son's last birthday. I had big projects. I wanted to make a skyscraper from which Spiderman would hang and jump. I don't like fondant, I didn't have chocolate clay, so I used chocolate buttercream. I started at 11 pm the night before. Needless to say it looked rushed, which it was, and frankly terrible.
Too bad I didn't take a picture.

judging the others

Yesterday was a holiday. We were taking it easy, lounging in bed and watching TV later than we usually do. That's how we got to watch a show we hadn't seen in a while, even if it's one of our favorite, Cake Boss on TLC. We, and I can speak for myself and hubby here, are amazed at what this team of cake makers can do. We've learn so much from that show on techniques and materials. I have to go research chocolate fondant now as I didn't know it existed and they mentioned it last night.
But I have to admit, the final result is not always pretty. They put so much work into something that doesn't look good, in my opinion, in the end. Of course, everybody marvels at the result because the technique is flawless and there is an incredible amount of work and time involved in the process.
In the meanwhile, my husband and I are gaping at the TV, having a hard time believing the brides would love their cakes, keeping in mind that they were a complete surprise to them since these cakes are custom-made and they are only shown a sketch of the final result.
I'm too picky I guess.

of dragons and cakes

I'm slacking off during the week and now, I'm back for seconds on the weekend... I spent about an hour on the How to Train your Dragon IMDb and I just had to come back. I know my son's birthday is months away, but he lives HTTYD right now and I've been spending a lot of time thinking of the dragon cake I will be making for him.

I will be trying my hand on the main dragon: Toothless. I've discussed my plans with my husband and he is definitely on board. He loves to work on the details of my cakes. Of course, you have to take my word for it, but I have made progress in the cake making department. They are much more elaborate.

Anyway... I digress. What I'm looking for right now is the material to make the wings. Fondant is too soft, marshmallow fondant does dry a bit, but is still soft, chocolate clay is hard to work with and a little heavy... gum paste? We'll have to try. It will take a lot of coloring though.

Good thing we still have time...

it all started with Gerard Butler

The TV was on one day, playing Lara Croft, the second one. I was watching distractingly until Terry Sheridan appeared on screen. I had seen that face before, a few times, but never actually wondered who that was. He was entertaining and devilishly sexy. So I wandered on the guy's IMDb board. That's where I met Le*. Being this great caring and giving person, she sent us quite a few gifts, including some cake decorating supplies and molds. One of them was of Lightning McQueen, my little one's favorite movie character. No need to tell you he was ecstatic.




That's all it took to get me hooked.

*not her actual name, but she knows who she is :)

shaky debuts

One of first attempts. Not pretty, but yummy. No worries, it gets better.

sharing the knowledge

Well... it's starting off quite well. I skipped a day and didn't even realize it.

Apparently, there are many ways to replace eggs in recipe. Here's what I experimented in cakes:

Apple sauce - gives the cake a different yet delicate taste. Works better on mix than made from scratch. However, the texture of the cake is different. The cake crumbles easily and is hard to decorate. Doesn't work in cookie or pastries that require a large amount of eggs (éclairs, for example)

Egg replacer (sold in most health food stores) - this is a cheap way to replace eggs. A box is the equivalent of 100 eggs, but for the price of a dozen. The cake is not as tasty though. I haven't tried it in other pastries, but it works with crepes.

Silk tofu - when beaten well before to incorporate, this is the greatest in cakes and muffins, especially if the recipe requires several eggs, like lemon cake. They come out light and fluffy, and since the tofu takes the taste of whatever it's in, so delicious. I wonder how it took me almost 3 years to finally use tofu in my cake recipes.

I haven't tried other substitutes, but I'm still looking.

sweet child of mine

When my son was 10 months old, we decided to introduce him to eggs. As soon as he put them in his mouth, he started rubbing his eyes. We thought he was tired, until he started swelling and throwing up. We rushed to the hospital to be told he was allergic.

The positive point of our trip to the hospital was that we found a paediatrician that day when we had been looking for a while.

When his birthday came, we looked everywhere for eggless cake that we could purchase, but despite the fact that more kids are allergic to about everything, we couldn't find any.

We researched the internet to find various alternatives to eggs. I stopped at the apple sauce. With a cake mix and apple sauce, we finally had our birthday cake, very dense, but oh! so yummy and with a delicate taste.

I became the official cake maker.

Jumping feet first

Well, here is my first post. I will try and keep it short and simple... which will be a challenge for someone as wordy as I am.
I loved cake, I loved pastries, I just didn't know how much I would love to bake them until my son was diagnosed with several food allergies. It wasn't an issue until I tried to find an eggless birthday cake. I decided to bake one myself and discovered it was fun, but not only fun, very calming as well.
Now, I bake when I'm stressed out, I bake for everyone and I spread the joy.

Conquering the world one lil' piece of heaven at the time.