Fall Goodies

Halloween candy and all those flavours that scream fall are out in full force. Are you excited for the change in seasons? I am! The crispness in the air makes me feel like something exciting is just on the horizon.

We spent this week working in groups to create an edible cake that can be sold in the market place. My group was really indecisive, but last Thursday, I mentioned the idea of a fall themed cake because I had the sudden urge to make a zucchini and pumpkin. Surprisingly, a few of my group members were thinking the same thing! We pulled up some ideas from Google and got to work.

I really wasn't sure how this cake was going to turn out. We wanted pumpkins, we wanted leaves, we wanted a barrel basket. It'll all work together somehow, right?

Our inspiration

We discussed with our chef how we might go about making the pumpkins. We thought that making them out of solid gum paste or mexican paste would make them heavy, both visually and physically. And what did she suggest? She said she would teach us to make blown sugar pumpkins! None of us had ever worked with sugar before so we were all really excited. (Sugar class is next semester.) If you've ever worked with sugar, you'll know it makes you sweat! First things first, we got the isomalt and water up to the temperature of 163C. (Isomalt is a very pure form of sugar that is easier to work with but is also very expensive.) Add the color and then pour it all onto a non-stick mat. Work it a bit to cool it down to around 151C.

That's when you pull out the heat lamp and get to work! Yup, that's right. To make the pumpkins, you have to shape a lump of sugar that is at a lovely scalding 150C! We all wore two pairs of rubber gloves but it still burns through if you're not careful. (I have blisters to prove it!)

Forming sugar around the air pump

Pumpkin patch!

The next day we spray painted them to make the pumpkins less...neon. :)

While that was going on (only one of us could make pumpkins at a time), the rest of us were pumping out leaves. Each one had to be hand stamped, shaped, and left to dry over night. The next day we hand painted them, brushed them with a touch of bronzer, and steamed them to give them shine.

Leaf factory

Securing our sugar pumpkins

Just before we started assembling the cake, M and I banged out some ladybugs as a last minute addition. They added just the right touch, I think. :)

The finished cake was a bit surreal to me. It was hard for me to grasp that I was a part of creating this awesome cake! It was amazing when it was done. The night before I was concerned that we hadn't done enough. I looked at the other cakes being made and they were so fancy! All we had were leaves, pumpkins, and barrel planks. How would that compete? But it did! One of the better cakes, dare I say?

The usual routine for these cakes is to remove the top two tiers for sale in the Marketplace and then to cut up the bottom two tiers (to learn how to properly cut round cake). But our cake was so beautiful, the Chef told us not to cut it. The head of the baking and pastry arts department decided to buy our whole cake as a birthday cake for the founder of our program! What an honor!

I'm sure you're wondering what other awesome cakes our class made. :)

I really loved the Cheshire cat tier of this cake and there was so much detail. This cake was also sold as a whole in the Marketplace rather than being cut up.

Alice in Wonderland

Mushrooms are cute too!

A golden anniversary cake for a special SAIT guest. The amazing thing about this cake is only two people made it while all the other groups had 3 or 4 people. All those poppies took forever, but it was worth it.

Next week we'll be finishing up our sugar flower bouquets and our individual cakes. We have total creative freedom with this cake. I already have a plan in the works and since it's me, you know it will be something "different". :)