Happy fourth everyone :) Sorry
I'm a day late :/
Thanks to an overhyped hurricane warning in Norfolk, the fourth was a bit of a bust this year.
All the fireworks were either postponed or cancelled, and none of my people (myself included) were really feeling too festive. Other than pounding a couple Mike's Strawberry Lemonades (an independence day tradition ;) I did nothing Fourth of July related yesterday.
Thanks to an overhyped hurricane warning in Norfolk, the fourth was a bit of a bust this year.
All the fireworks were either postponed or cancelled, and none of my people (myself included) were really feeling too festive. Other than pounding a couple Mike's Strawberry Lemonades (an independence day tradition ;) I did nothing Fourth of July related yesterday.
But this holiday didn't go unnoticed.
Even though we didn't do much on the
actual day, I did spend the last week baking in preparation for our Fourth of
July potluck at work :) We celebrated on Thursday (we were closed for the fourth. awesome;) and I decided to go all out. I hadn't baked in a while and couldn't decide on just one dish to bring, so I made three:
Freedom Treats
Freedom Treats
I tried a few new things with my holiday treats this time around. Some were successful, others were a pain in the ass (but overall worth it).
The plate on the left are white chocolate dipped strawberries with blue sprinkles. These are always easy, though I will say that dipping them in the sprinkles is tougher than I thought. You have to dip the strawberries in the chocolate, let them cool a little bit and then dip them in the sprinkles. I tried to so dip and dip and it was a mess.
The cupcakes on the right are chocolate with buttercream frosting, pop rocks and jolly rancher stars.
Holy shit you guys, making those stars was an ordeal.
It sounds simple in theory:
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Sprinkle broken bits of jolly rancher on the foil and place it in the oven at 350 for 3 minutes.
Press oiled metal cookie cutters into the melted candy, leaving it to cool.
Press oiled metal cookie cutters into the melted candy, leaving it to cool.
After the candy has hardened, peel it off the foil and use the unused jolly rancher for the next set.
Sounds simple as shit right?
Sounds simple as shit right?
It's NOT.
First off, it's almost impossible to find metal cookie cutters and even harder to find star shaped ones.
I finally found 2 at Williams Sonoma (good lord that place is magical) and was able to get the process started. Here's a tip, if you plan on ever doing this (and you're planning on making more than just a couple shapes) make sure that you have a decent number of cookie cutters. I'm talking like 5 or 6, otherwise it's going to take FOREVER.
Second, do NOT leave the candy in the oven for more than 3 minutes. Not 3:30, not 3:10, 3:00 exactly. Because burnt jolly rancher is probably the most vile thing I've ever tasted, and I don't want you to go through that.
Third, shit breaks.
Seriously, you can melt the jolly rancher flawlessly, oil the cookie cutters like a pro and wait the perfect amount of time before trying to peel these suckers off the foil and they will still break.
Overall I think it took me 3 hours to make 12 stars.
Like I said before, the result was worth the time, but this is definitely something that needs to be perfected. I noticed that it did get easier as I went, but it was still a delicate process. This idea is actually pretty awesome and creates a lot of cool possibilities for candy making or cake decorations.
Like I said before, the result was worth the time, but this is definitely something that needs to be perfected. I noticed that it did get easier as I went, but it was still a delicate process. This idea is actually pretty awesome and creates a lot of cool possibilities for candy making or cake decorations.
I know that I'll be doing this again, and hopefully it will go smoothly now that I have an idea of what NOT to do.
The cake in the center of the photo was my favorite :)
It's a five layer cake made up of white and red velvet cakes with buttercream frosting.
It's a five layer cake made up of white and red velvet cakes with buttercream frosting.
I'm not going to lie, I was so proud of how it turned out.
I've made layer cakes before, but nothing this intricate. And the crazy part was that it wasn't difficult at all.
I found this diagram tutorial on pinterest:
The keys to making this cake a success are making sure each layer is measured properly (I used a cake leveler) and that you don't use too much frosting in between each of the layers.
Other than that it's (dare I say it?) a piece of cake ;)
I'm lame as shit but you love it.
So yeah, I had a lot of fun baking for this lovely Independence Day, and can't wait for next time. I've got some co-worker birthdays on the horizon and I've got big plans ;)
I hope everyone had a safe and memorable fourth and I will see you all soon :)
I hope everyone had a safe and memorable fourth and I will see you all soon :)
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