Here Comes the (Product Developer)... All Dressed in ... (Hot Glue and Icing Sugar)

Winter means home time, which means, I better have a project or two up my sleeve to keep me out of the shops on the weekend; and with our great friends' wedding, why not volunteer to hand-make their gifts? What did I sign up for? Well, originally only a bespoke cork-board for the wine-loving couple. However, I also managed to rope myself in to making the cake. I'm not complaining (when I'm fed up of hot glue or egged-petals sticking to my fingers or for sweeping up lemon zest from the floor for the fifth time in a day)... "You do it to yourself" Thom Yorke.

Outcomes of my endeavors will be presented in two ways: 

1) A mix of business and pleasure- some scantly written details of how I scaled up a wedding cake.

2) A self-explanatory pictorial montage of cork-boarding.

1) Scale up exercise: 

First: Determine the number of consumers in which you are serving product; which makes me giggle because "serving product" is not terminology of the normal person, rather of a Product Developer; and off topic, it super makes me giggle because it reminds me of how upon winning a box of *!gasp!* Celebrations, we dissected the contents to count how many "units" of each flavour were in the box. You know you work in Product Development when... In any case, I found a super-handy website to help me estimate portion numbers for this endeavour. http://www.icedjems.com/2012/08/cake-servings-guide/ 

I know I need cake for 65 people. I don't want to be shy with the portions/ account for waste, so estimate for 70 portions; furthermore, the "portions" are certainly NOT to be the typical 1" square servings that are expected at a wedding. I opt to follow the "Party Cake" guidelines.

Next: up-scale your chosen recipe: 

Lemon sponge. Sandwich style. Normally for an 8" tin.

Earl Grey Creme Patissiere

Apricot Jam

Lavender infused (set) Chantilly cream

I will make 1x decorative round three-tiered cake: 6" on an 8" on a 10" (should serve 40-ish) + another 8" on a 10" to dish out. Below is what it looks like in my head? And as you see,I mean the recipe, NOT the finished product (I'm not that visionary and will "deal" with whatever monster I create).

It looks like 5 sponges, 2-kilos of Creme Pat and 35 freaking eggs, that's what it looks like! 

Starting somewhere, I got stuck-in early in the week with the Creme Pat. The more I get out of the way leading to the big day, the more I can relax the day before. This being said and the cake being a sponge, I opted to take Friday off as holiday to ensure the sponge would still be spongy on the day. My wedding guest pet peeve: $#!+ food- meaning dry, bland cake... (and the traditional cold finger buffet that the UK is renowned for... barf! But that's for another blog).

 Earl Grey infused Creme Patiessiere 

Line them up! Friday came and I got busy. I know you don't see 35 eggs, but I can assure you the missing 16 are in the 2kg of Creme Pat in the bowl on the right. 

Two other notes I'd like to make: 

1) I cheated out on making the jam. Get over it. Another time. (yes, that is tired sarcasm you detect). 

2) As there was one vegetarian (of course), my moral code kicked in and I decided to test out the VegeSet. A little red devil on my shoulder wanted to stick with gelatine, but as it is my job to make sure that food is fit for purpose and safe for consumers, I invested in the vegetarian suitable option. Comment- stick to gelatine, it works better :) Just kidding. I need to play around a bit more with the substitution, but a straight swap for liquefied gelatine for liquefied VegeSet was not as effective as the standard preparation.

 Ingredients out.

 Mix it up.

  

Pour it in and let it bake.

(Apricot) Jammin'

Stack it up and spin it round. Note: Fantastic Christmas prezzie from my Sister-in-law: a cake turntable. It seriously beats the dish on the bowl trick.

Pestled lavender buds into the Chantilly cream.

I was tasked with a vintage, natural look to decorate the cake, and crystallised flower petals were on the top of the list of ways to decorate the cake. "You do it to yourself, you do". But really, I do honestly LOVE a challenge... and these challenges in particular. 

Straight to the Internet to figure out how to crystallise the flower petals. 

Suggestion #1: use organic flowers (to avoid pesticides)- and thank goodness Valentine's day was around the same time as this task. I managed to get some discounted leftover roses (about the same cost as fresh conventional ones). 

Suggestion #2 (and in line with the moral nature of my job): use reconstituted powdered egg whites (they are pasteurised) as they are safe for the immuno-compromised.

And so you know, this is what you do:

1) Paint flower petals with egg wash.

2) Dip flower petals in fine grained sugar

3) Place onto baking paper and let dry. Some websites say 6-8 hours, others say "overnight". The petals in my house really needed 24 hours (and the room is heated with a log burner).

I can say the task took about as long as I expected. It is tedious and pernickity, so good tunes will bring you along. One more Top Tip: don't be heavy handed with the egg wash nor the sugar to allow for crisp drying. Some of my heavily egged petals didn't fully crisp. On the other hand, insufficiently egged petals wilted by the time the cake was cut and served. And, apparently you can freeze petals that you haven't used...good to know.

And how did it all come together? See for yourself.

Voila! I can definitely say that the time was worth it! I felt chuffed with what I accomplished- it was a freaking tasty cake, that's for sure! I can also say that I am my own worst critic. I was disappointed how small the cake looked when it was in a big room rather than my kitchen. And in hindsight, I would have scaled back some of the piping (two lines vs. three- but I needed the third line on the day when I assembled the tiers on site). But most importantly, the bride and groom were super happy with their present (and perhaps most-most importantly, so were the mothers).

 Touch up kit on site.

And to wrap this entry up, below are the photos of the other present that we (with much help from Craig and also from my friend Ollie and his saw) constructed. I'll take orders, if you see what you like! It would be nice if this hobby will make me money by keeping me out of the shops on the weekends!

Home for the Holidays

It's been a while- and I'm not talking about this blog (yes, it has been a while with the posting, as well). It's been a while since I've been home, and even longer for the holidays. So when my sister decided to stage an intervention to get me home, I snapped it up! We worked it out that it's been 5 years since we've had a sisterly Christmas.

Top tip about booking holiday travel- if you fly on Christmas Day, the flights are extraordinarily less expensive. Heathrow was not too busy, and I was hoping for a festive flight, salmon and rice didn't quite live up to expectations and neither did the lack of Christmas movies! The bonus in flying west is that I had 24 hours of awake Christmas time! Exhausting?! You're right.

Welcome to Canada, and the weather is perhaps a bit colder than I was asking for (-15C on average) with a heck of a lot of snow. Good job I brought my winter boots! My Dad must have been reading my inner mind's shopping list knowing full well that I would need a new winter coat, as the first Christmas present I opened at home was a new winter jacket- Sochi Canadian Olympic Team style!

From the airport with my Mom to my Babcia's for a quick visit and spot of Borscht to warm the insides and then off to my Aunt's for dinner with my Dad and his side of the family and what would begin a Turkey marathon. It felt good to be home and celebrating with family, and I forgot how nice it is to be surrounded with Christmas decorations. I have been extremely minimal in my decorating (even non existent this year), getting into the habit of "what's the point?". But it did and does put a smile on my face when I walk into a room with a decorated tree, lights in the windows, and some tinsel and garland trimmings around the room. But then again, I like most things that sparkle.

So what does Christmas look like with my family and friends? Like I said, I spent the first night back with my family on my Dad's side. Turkey, meatballs, Tourtiere, potatoes, asparagus, salad, and raw veggies. It's not a Canadian party if it doesn't have raw broccoli! For dessert, a selection of Company's Coming best Christmas cookies and something that I forgot about- coconut caramel squares! Yum!!! I think I will make that a resolution for the new year- bake more squares! I've done well to bring Nanaimo bars to work a couple of times, and I think the UK is ready for more than Millionaire Shortbread or flapjacks (not pancakes).

On Boxing Day I visited my friends Sharon and Jace for what was meant to be lunch (and turned out to be Turkey Dinner #2). This was what Christmas is all about- visiting friends and family, catching up on old times, new gossip, and how things are generally going while watching the kids play with their new toys. As the afternoon (and dinner) cooked on, I was welcomed into Sharon's family and heeded with the honours of carving the turkey for Christmas Dinner. Turkey Dinner #2 included a ham, potatoes, sprouts, beets, broccoli (steamed), salad, and a festive lasagne (anything goes!). Dessert a la Sharon's husband Anthony was something I'd never had before and will definitely try to re-create: Yam pie! I forgot to take a picture, but I can assure you it was well delish!

Moving on to Turkey #3, it was time to have Christmas with my sisters- about time! This was to be a little bit less of a traditional Turkey Dinner, with escargot, bacon wrapped moose, stuffed peppers, and dolmades; although, I did get a second chance at carving the bird.

However, this wasn't the first time the three of us got together as I finish up by telling you how we organised a typically Canadian gift (or so I have been told) the day before. The story goes that Craig and I bought a reprinted old map of the area we live in, we thought it was cool, so bought it as a gift for friends of ours. We wrapped it up in the frame and brought it over. The first thing our friend said was "Is this a picture of the two of you? Because that's such a Canadian thing to do". 

And I thought about it- he is totally right! As a Canadian or someone who knows Canadians, you surely must have at some time received a picture of someone as a gift. School photos, Sears photos, family Christmas Cards- it happens all the time! My point was reinforced when I showed up at my Dad's place to see that he had on display two pictures from his at-work son. My Dad got these as a gift! He can't have two pictures of his rent-a-son up and none of us (love you, really J-Rod)! To the mall we went to get some pictures taken for Christmas gifts- with a lack of standard department store photographers and in true Carriere sisterly fashion, these were never going to be your ordinary pictures. 

Merry belated Christmas! Love, Kristyn, Leanna, and Nadia