March 2011: While I'm Young, Spring!

Is it me, or does winter get longer every year?

Well, the snow certainly didn't deter business. Sugar's enjoyed an unusually busy February and is hoping that March is equally so. It was also the month for people to challenge me with their requests - Superlove Ninja cookies anybody? And I overcame my fear of fondant AND made my first topsy-turvy cake! Whoo hoo! There was also a Wayne State themed graduation cupcake tree made of 100 cupcakes - three flavors and each cupcake was decorated with the celebrant's initials. Yes, Sugar's spread a lot of joy in February...we hope we helped some people get through it!

As spring gets closer (or so I keep telling myself), it's time to think of cheerful and fun flavors, like our lemon-lime mango, strawberry or peanut butter cake. Showers, both baby and bridal, are being planned, so if you're involved in either Sugar's can provide a sweet tray, decorated cakes or the ever popular cupcake treats.Having a St. Patrick's Day celebration? We can provide Irish-themed cakes or cookies for your drunkfest (shortbread cookies can help soak that whiskey right up!) Or perhaps you just need something to help you get through the rest of this cursed winter - Sugar's can help!

Okay, enough promoting. Here's a few facts about salt that you may or may not already know:

SIX USEFUL THINGS TO DO WITH SALT
1. SMOOTHER COFFEE Salt masks bitterness and brings the more subtle flavors out. Try adding 1/8 of a teaspoon to coffee grounds for every 72 oz pot to reduce bitterness.
2. MORE TENDER SCRAMBLED EGGS Add 1/8 teaspoon salt for every two eggs right before cooking. Salt keeps egg proteins from bonding, which means a weaker protein chain and no rubbery eggs.
3. CLEANS CAST IRON Warm 1/4 inch vegetable oil in your cast iron pan for 5 minutes, add 1/4 cup kosher salt then scrub with paper towel. Rinse well and repeat if needed.
4. SMOOTHER GARLIC PASTE (Come on, I know you make your own!) Just sprinkle kosher salt over your minced garlic and finish by crushing into a fine paste using your kitchen knife. Now throw that fine garlic paste into your aioli and enjoy the fruits of your labors!
5. KEEPING YOUR GREENS THE GREENIEST Throw in 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt for every quart of water you're boiling to cook green vegetables. Salt stabilizes chlorophyll and keeps your veggies from turning into that high school cafeteria green - which I actually find strangely comforting, but that's just me.
6. GET YOUR BEERS CHILLED FASTER Salted ice water chills drinks faster than regular ice water or the freezer. The presence of salt causes the water's freezing point to lower, so you can drink your PBR 's more quickly than if you had thrown them in the freezer or in regular iced water. So for every bottle of wine or 3 to 4 12 oz bottles of beer or soda, mix 1 quart water with 4 quarts ice and 1 cup of table salt.

Speaking of the wedding season, a certain client of mine has a really nice invitation business that I'd like to mention to all of you. Check her out at: http://www.soinloveinvitations.com/index2.php

That's all for March - here's to the end of winter, and spring already!

Sugar's November 2010

HOORAY FOR HALLOWEEN!

It's always fun to create cakes for my favorite holiday, and here's one I did for a children's Halloween party. Amazing what you can do with a little black food coloring and a whole lotta buttercream frosting!

GETTING READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Like I always say, start thinking about what you'd like Sugar's to create for your holiday table. And please take note: I will be out of town starting November 24, so let me know ahead of time so I can get your order delivered or ready to be picked up before I board that Amtrak on Wednesday.

AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR...THE BOOZY BAKER!

For this month's tip, I wanted to share a recent book find. Friends are always throwing links to me about baking and cakes that they think I'd enjoy, and one such link led me to buying a recipe book called "The Boozy Baker." It's by a woman named Lucy Baker (really, that's her name!) and so far all the things I've tried have been successful and delicious. The Southern Comfort Red Velvet cake is a good example - just enough in the batter and the frosting, and you've got one heck of a twist on a southern favorite. So check it out, and if you end up buying the book, let me know what you've tried and how it turned out!

That's it from Sugar's this month - enjoy November, and stay warm!

September 2010

Sugar's was happy to help celebrate a 60th wedding anniversary with the above red rose themed cake, and a marriage that also took place the same month. There was a bit of trepidation involved with the wedding, I have to confess. The design was one I had never tackled before, and while it was a simple one, you can see that one false move with the black detailing would have doomed me completely. Whew!

Fortunately, I had my commercial interior designer husband with me at the delivery. He's always invaluable as far as being another pair of eyes as well as providing general moral support. He's also the one to finally convince me to walk away from my cake creation, lest I fuss interminably with final details. At this particular job, he came up with the blue ribbon scrolls to decorate the otherwise vast and boring white table cloth. Pretty clever fella, don't you think?

I'm happy to report that Sugar's is building a nice reputation for providing affordable wedding cakes to couples with a limited budget, so many thanks to those who keep referring me! I just got another wedding in October, and have also started booking for spring. And I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity for you all to have a nice treat for family and friends for Halloween and the soon-to-be-upon-us holiday season, so mark your calendars to contact me early so I can accomodate your orders.

TIP OF THE MONTH

I know it's basic knowledge, but always read the recipe at least twice before going forward with production. I mention this because I've been guilty on more than one occasion of not having all the ingredients, missing a step, or forgetting to put an ingredient in altogether. Ok, admittedly watching South Park while baking is never a good idea, but it still helps to familiarize yourself with all the items you need (and don't substitute anything - baking is a science, people!) as well as the directions. There's nothing worse than being ready to put something in the oven, then realizing you forgot to add vanilla or you were supposed mix in the egg whites at the end, not the beginning. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but for the most part it will. In baking, you most likely can't fix it. You have to start over, and who wants to do that? Of course, you can always drizzle chocolate over your mistake and call it a day, but better to just make it right the first time.

That's it for September - next month, let us prepare for the harvest season, and Halloween!

Newsletter for August 2010: Sugar's Still Going Strong

WHAT A SUMMER IT'S BEEN!

And spring, now that I think of it. It's been a long time since I sent one of these out and with good reason - I've actually been quite busy these past few months! It's been a combination of things, actually. There were a number of weddings (thanks to all for the referrals) random events, family stuff, and gigs. So all in all it's been good, but I was dangerously close to overload at times because I'm just a girl who can't say no to cake orders.

As I suspected August would be a bit slower, so time to catch up on all things Sugar's. We really enjoyed doing the tattoo cake for a rock and roll couple this spring, and also I finished up classes at OCC until fall (Eek! That's next month!) In June I had a five-week whirlwind course in basic cake decorating, and the picture to the right is one of the projects I accomplished during that brief period of time. It was my first introduction to royal icing flowers, and as you can see the results can be quite spectacular. However, you need some time and effort - perhaps if I'm motivated enough I'll make a nice arsenal of pansies and the like, just so I'm ready. You just never know when someone wants violets to accent their anniversary cake, ya know?

At any rate, Sugar's hasn't gone away - I just had a lot going on these past few months. In fact, you can check out some photos on my Flickr site just to see exactly what I've been up to. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28917915@N06

In the meantime, who wants to make a homemade version of Baker's Joy? Gosh, who doesn't?

Tip of the Month: Make your own baking spray!

Ok, it's not exactly going to be in spray form, but it's still pretty easy. And it works very well, too. Ingredients are quite simple:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup shortening

Mix together until smooth and keep in air-tight container. Apply to cake pans (or muffin pans) with pastry brush and commence baking. Saves money on the spray can version, and I have to admit it's kind of fun brushing the stuff on. And it makes one think of simpler times, when women wore pumps while vacuuming and Edward R. Murrow was still fighting McArthyism under a thick haze of cigarette smoke.

Well, now I need to make a martini. That's it for August, kids - hope you're all having a great summer, and remember...cake is good!

January/February Newsletter ... in 2010-avision!

So far, so good...
As I sit here not looking back at 2009 (because you know, it sucked, to put it mildly) I'm feeling pretty good about 2010. Perhaps this is me building a false sense of security around myself to prevent a doomed outlook, but whatever works, right?

The best thing so far has been going back to school, and boy, do I have lots of interesting tidbits to share. But I'll save that for the end of this blog, because I know you're all dying to know more about the world of baking. Let me just say for now that there were some surprising twists in my mission of learning - like I had no idea how much math and science are a big part of the culinary arts. Of course, the two things that I barely got through in high school, but I persevered. Recipe conversion no longer makes me fall into a quivering fetal position, although I'm probably a little slower than most at coming up with the final numbers. I'd share it with you, but chances are you'll never have to change your favorite biscuit recipe to feed 250 people. However, if you do ever find yourself in that position, let me know and I'll happily guide you through it.

And can I just tell you briefly about my first experience working with one of the chefs as we prepared a lunch buffet for 120? I'm sure you've seen a head chef portrayed as a megalomaniacal dictator constantly berating his or her staff as they cower like sheep. That was pretty much the scene. Fortunately, I've seen enough episodes of Chef! to prepare myself for 8 hours of verbal bludgeoning, and in the end I had learned some pretty nifty things that hadn't come up in class. I'm just thankful he didn't ask me to tourne potatoes. Now that would have sent me running. (Look it up, you'll see what I mean!)

Ok, now let's get back to baking!

This thing called "artisan bread"
You see the word "artisan" a lot these days. Whether it truly is, or if someone just wanted to increase sales with a catchy buzzword, there are characteristics that need to be present if you're going to be flaunting the word "artisan" around:

• Must be handmade - As in, mostly relying on the skill and experience of the baker. Some aspects might be done with a machine, like mixing, but human hands have to be part of the whole process.
• Pre-ferments and sourdough or culture starters were used - A fermented dough or batter is used to provide leavening for a larger amount of dough.
• No chemical additives or preservatives - The ingredients label shouldn't list anything with than two syllables unless it's an herb add-in. You should only see recognizable food items like flour, water, salt, dried fruit, nuts, etc.
• Traditional production methods were applied - Baked in a wood-fired hearth oven? Excellent! Of course a deck oven works too, but artisan bakers try to duplicate original methods as much as possible.

Ok, so it's not about cake or the sweet stuff, but I still think it's pretty interesting. At some point I will be attempting some kind of bread recipe away from the safe guidance of my instructor, so wish me luck with that - I'll let you know how it went!

Next time, who knows what new information I'll be sharing with you. Perhaps a basic pie recipe to get you through the rest of winter, or how to assemble a meat slicer blindfolded. Until then, keep warm and think about cake!

Sugar's Newsletter December 2009

To the right, a little something I did for Macy's Christian Dior team (Somerset Collection) for their holiday party. I wanted it to match the J'adore perfume bottle which was going to go on top, and I think it turned out quite elegant.

This holiday season is going to be tough for a lot of people, but perhaps it will remind folks that it's best to just focus on being together with family and friends. Who needs another pair of socks, anyway? And you barely wore all those turtlenecks from last year. Of course, I'm not suggesting that you not make some attempt at keeping our economy going - I'm just saying there are other ways to celebrate this time of year that don't involve the mall or stressing over gifts in general. What say we discuss what treats we can have in the house?

Putting the Hot in Hot Cocoa
It's nice to keep it simple, but sometimes you just gotta have something extraordinary to get that festive fire going. How about some hot cocoa variations to get you started?

Aztec Hot Cocoa for 2
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 red chili pepper, split with seeds removed
1 cinnamon stick, around 3-4"
1 1/2 oz chocolate (bittersweet)

Simmer milk in saucepan with vanilla bean, cinnamon and chili. Heat through for about a minute. Whisk in grated chocolate, and continue to simmer until melted. Remove from heat and 'steep' for another 10 minutes. Strain out the spices and serve with slice of Like Water for Chocolate cake.

Brown Sugar Hot Cocoa
Ingredients:
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup water
4 cups hot milk
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/8 tsp salt

In a double boiler, melt chocolate and water together. Slowly mix in milk, sugar and salt. Whisk until chocolate is smooth and blended. Serve with a nice slice of Snickerdoodle Cake.

And if you just feel like using instant hot cocoa, have a can of Redi Whip handy and put any of these in your cup to give it an extra bit of merry:

• Kahlua
• Chambord raspberry liquor
• DeKuyper Buttershots
• Hot Damn

All of which pair well with any of Sugar's chocolate cakes, as well as K'booms (a favorite of the folks that make Garden Fresh Salsa in Ferndale).

Sugar's Holiday Special Discount!
If you order anything by Monday, December 14, you'll automatically get 10% off your total! So check out the site (http://www.sugarsinfo.com/) and the flickr.com gallery and let us know what we can do to make your holiday season extra festive!

Thanks, everyone - be happy and stay warm!

Raquel

November 2009

I really love it when someone give me a general theme, a color palette and then just lets me do my thing. The above cake was done for a lovely bride who wanted champagne, gold, silver and black details, with Chinese characters that represented some aspect of marriage. I chose "happiness" and "love", and added the orchids to also reflect the couple having exchanged vows in Hawaii. Mahalo for the creative freedom!

This month, I thought I'd start throwing some learnin' into this blog to maybe get some of you interested in the art of pastries, so for November I thought I'd show you how to make ...cream puffs!

Cream Puffs? Cool! But aren't they hard?Not at all. And once you make a bunch of them, you can keep them frozen until say, Thanksgiving, or the next time you're planning on watching The Devil Wears Prada and need some bon bons to go along with your champagne. Here is a simple recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, which everyone should have in their home:

Ingredients for choux paste (that's French for "that stuff you make cream puffs out of")
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and grease 2 large cookie sheets. Then put butter, water and salt in 2 quart saucepan, and heat until boiling.
2. Throw in the flour all at once, and mix with wooden spoon until a ball of dough forms and doesn't stick to sides of pan. This happens fairly quickly - then you're ready for the hardest part, which isn't really that bad if you are strong like ox.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition until smooth. (My arm tends to get tired during this, but that's about as bad as it gets).
4. Now the fun part. You can either use a spoon or a pastry bag for this, or you can even use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. You just need to get uniform mounds onto the sheet pan, perhaps 12 about 3 inches apart. Leave a swirl on the top of each just for extra sass, then bake 50 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, cut a slit in each puff, then return to oven for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven off, and leave them in there to dry out another 10 minutes.

When puffs are cool, try any of these ideas:

• Fill with ice cream, drizzle with carmel
• Fill with custard, vanilla or chocolate pudding, and dust with powdered sugar
• Fill with whipped cream, drizzle with chocolate sauce
• Eat with your favorite stew - cream puff pot pie style!

Great. Now I'm hungry. Well, guess I'm off to throw some cream puffs together - if you decide to try this recipe, let me know how it turns out. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!