Warning: Some Violence and Much Strong Language.SHE WROTE: Death & Cake
As Bob presses on with Acts Three and Four in which Shane gets closer to the Big Bad and kills more people, I press on with Act Two in which Agnes decorates two wedding cakes. Well, somebody has to. And really, the way Agnes is decorating these two cakes is an act of aggression against her Big Bad so she's being violent, too, in her own way. So I'm studying up on fondant and royal icing and cake construction--yes, I'm watching Ace of Cakes, isn't everybody?--and Bob is doing no research at all for killing people. Once again, life is unfair.
I am also bouncing all over the plot. I've told Bob what happens to Agnes at the third turning point and given him half a dozen scenes for her there, even though I don't know the scene progression for her for Act Three yet. I also know what happens right before the end of the book at the end of Act Four because it's part of a pattern I can see in the book as it shapes up in my mind. Bob doesn't do patterns. Bob does straight lines. My patterns used to screw up his straight lines, but now he just sighs and says, "Bring it on, I can make anything work." He was busy with family stuff all weekend so things piled up and now he has a stack of e-mails from me, some of them multi-paragraph which he hates and some of them only a couple of words, but all of them on Agnes and her plot, talking about patterns or details (two of his least favorite words) none of it linear, and what he really needs is what Agnes does in Act Two.
Well, she's really concerned about these wedding cakes, Bob.
Wait'll he finds out that the next plot point is the wedding dress. But it's going to be okay. Shane can pick up the stuff Agnes needs for her cakes when he goes to Savannah to beat up the Tootaloo brothers and then drive Rocko to the swamp to see Moot. As long as he doesn't get blood on her fondant, Agnes will never know.
Which is how she prefers it.
238 Comments:
Are you baking and testing the cakes? We would be glad to volunteer our services.
Every post makes me more excited to see this book. We can't wait!
New blog!!
Moot is a tourist attraction? Where can I go to see her? (She won't hurt a CherryBomb, now, will she? Umm....maybe if I bring her a cocktail?)
Jenny, you are the antidote to a bad day.
Can I sign up to be a beta cake taster? Though I have to say, one of the scariest moments in my life was when I realized one of my younger sisters had taken up making little fondant fruit-shaped cake decorations. They were not edible, so what was the point? Do you want me to get the recipe? Please say no.
So. If we talk to Bob, we should use small words and short sentences? No paragraphs?
Just asking.
Not that we would.
Talk. To. Bob.
About. Killing. People.
bw
Theoretically.
bw
Oooh, jumping in totally off topic, but I just saw my CP's new book online. It's on the Berkley Jove site, and she's RIGHT NEXT TO NORA!!!
Go take a look. It's so exciting. This is her first single title with a big publishing house. And she deserves it, which makes me all the more excited.
Back to our regularly scheduled commenting...
Jenny said...
As long as he doesn't get blood on her fondant, Agnes will never know.
LOL! Good one. And the Tootaloo brothers. ;+))) I know Bob mentioned them first, but was that name his idea or yours? Sounds like a Jenny-ism but don't know enough about Bob to be sure.
uftcyr (green)
urban fantasy t-shirts can yield romance
Wedding cake and murder--I can't wait! Thank you signing my book for me, Jenny and Bawb, when you were at RWA. I shall always cheRRish it.
Zaza: Bless your heart dear, but there are TWO authors, one on either side of Nora (let's hope she doesn't notice). Which is she?
And if you're looking for another good read, I notice that Virginia Kantra (shameless plug: one of MY friends and a fellow chapter member and, BTW, the originator of the quote "there is no right or wrong, there is only what works and what doesn't work" -- she is so wise it's scary) is listed along the sidebar of this website. Great book! She is so talented and I love her books. But as you said, ahem, back to your regularly scheduled...
Don't worry, J&B, once Agnes/Shane comes out (sometime soon, right?) we'll plug it shamelessly and enthusiastically. To anyone who will listen. And to those who won't.
Gennita: Why did I not meet you in Atlanta? You missed a heck of a good time... Will you all PLEASE stop lurking?
bw
Jenny - back in the day, when I was a good mother and not Mommy dearest, I used to bake, from scratch, all my kids birthday cakes. I've made Princess Jasmine (the princess stuff started here early), I did the rugrats, the little mermaid and Buzz Lightyear. But my all time favorite was when my husbands family came to me and asked to make and decorate a cake for his parents anniversary. The cake was to be a used car lot, where they met. Man, that frosting looked gross.
Yes, I still bake on occasion, but I don't do fancy decorations anymore. One kid complained, and well, that was the end of that. Yep, lots of appolgizing to those little monsters now, saving myself lots of money in therapy bills later.
Glad moot his being fed. She has babies to take care of.
Hi Bob.
BCB - "If we talk to Bob, we should use short sentences." No Bon Bon we should ask him if he's ready for bed yet. And if you must know, that line has become a running joke in our house. That along with sharks poising as bobble head ducks.
Cake baking. Yum!! I can visualize Agnes getting all snarky and slapping gobs of frosting on a cake while swearing about Shane or some other unfortunate male and making the cake sink in the middle.
Mom loved her autographed book, thank you, thank you. She started DLD on the trip, although we gave the poor old duck little time to read. *grin* She claims she's three inches shorter from all of the walking she was forced to do.
Jenny, I just took a walk tonight with my friend who I have converted into a Crusie reader. She said of all the authors she's ever read she thinks you do character best. She says you never repeat your characters and thinks that is amazing. I told her it was sheer Crusie brilliance and I'm waiting for some of the magic to blow my way.
Thanks for the blog. Happy cake baking and writing.
rg
hjlnman One of Shane's buddies
Jen: LMAO! Sorry, have a really strange visual of what constitutes a "running joke" in your house. And really, I can't help it if you kiss and tell...
Sorry Bob, she started it... you remember, back in Atlanta when she asked you-- what? Oh all right. Yes, I'll behave. Geez. Can't even have a little fun around here these days. [grumble, grumble, toil and trouble]
Speaking of shameless, I hear another, ahem, soon-to-be-published author has an excerpt up on her blog. I hear she had to face down sharks and duckies and green cartoon frogs and god knows what all else to accomplish the feat, but you all should go read it. Can't quite seem to remember her name though. She keeps changing it all the damn time.
bw
Hi ya'll .. did ya miss me??
I saw Bryan. He looks just like Regis Philbin in a cabana boy outfit. And his photography is excellent. Really excellent. We have an artist here people!
I also gave a dear friend who is going through divorce hell her first Crusie. It was Fast WOmen of course. Her soon to be X makes Tim the Spineless Cheating Weasle look like Gabe.
I'm off to bed catch your blogs later and I'll share my drag-queen night. My favorite performer was Penny Tration.
Hugs!
JEN- You have excerpt? And we had to hear it from a scouring powder? Shame on you! I'll be over to read it in just a sec.
Since everyone else is going on tangents did you know you can make your own, one of a kind, custom, Converse Chucks- I kid you not- http://www.converse.com/index.asp?mode=c1&bhcp=1 I think my sister, who had forty twelve dozen pairs in jr high and high school is going to get a gift certificate there for Christmas/Birthday
kszfoo- one of those annoying metal things that you hum through and it makes noise
Jenny....
I like cake...
ZAZA....
I'l have to start looking for "Double Dare" by Saskie Walker.
JenT....off to your blog to read...
ygpqikx red
youth gives people quick intelligent kicks Xtra
i must say, Bob, wedding cakes are very important. the whole point of a weddding is the party, and the party is only as good as the cake.
or so i'm told.
so it's very important Agnes is dealing with cakes. cakes can make or break the ceremony.
or so i'm told.
Jenny, you would love this. my mom used to make me cookie cakes. it's just a big cookie the size of a cake and it tastes so good. chocolate chip cookie, of course. you just put cookie dough into one of those cake pans and then, after some heat and time, you get a giant cookie. great stuff.
yes, i can be simple. you got a point?
will go check out those sites. cookie cake. man, that was some good stuff.
BCB: you could clarify a little. geez. it's on JJ's blog with those other authors, not on her web page, which i went to first.
http://killerpassion.blogspot.com/
and JJ, i'll tell you what i think of it, as soon as the server goes back up and i can read it.
and why aren't you shamelessly self-promoting here? come on, you know we like it. (not like that, for the love of all that is holy get your minds out of the gutter)
oh, well that should teach me. the excerpt is below, not through the link on the blog. whoops.
i wouldn't be making those mistakes if you shamelessly self-promoted, JJ.
JJ: i like it. good last line to end it with. makes you want to read more.
but question: she isn't going to be one of those heroine's that's all "oh, he was just a little persistent" when he's about to rape her on the kitchen floor, right? i hate that. hope she punched/kicked tom in the family jewels, really hard.
other than that, i liked it.
uh, we really don't stay on topic any more, do we? oh well, it was a nice try.
JJ: last thing. on your home page of your web page, you have
"I'd also like o invite you"
forgot a t.
ok. night all.
oh, guess i should have just e-mailed you. whoops again.
ok, ok, i'm leaving now.
green: jtnev: JT never even voted.
Conscripted cherry - I wasn't sure what you were looking for and I might be a little late, but there is this Latin saying
Si tacuisses, philosophum mansisses
meaning: if you had kept quiet, you would have been a philosopher (and now you went talking about it all over the place, you made a fool out of yourself...)
I wish I would remember that saying more often. Sigh.
Is anyone else here a serious hobby cake-decorator? Just asking. I have done sugarcraft work for decades, and even used to write a regular column for a cake-decorating magazine.
The wedding-cake motif has come up in JC books before (e.g. Kate's friend Jessie in Manhunting is a cake-decorator), so I wonder if JC herself practises the craft?
Jenny I can't wait to read about wedding cakes and death and wedding dresses and death. Sounds great. Also sounds like a lot of weddings I've attended.
Bob just read the paragraphs one word at a time. And patterns are lines arranged in precise ways. They aren't always straight lines but hey that makes it more interesting.
Glad you are back Kyra and Antitigress
Hi gennita low
Agtigress my Mum used to ice cakes back when she was first married and my aunt won ribbons and made a business out of it. Iced my wedding cake as a wedding gift.
Oh Jen-t, I do the good mummy birthday cake decoarting routine every year - well twice actually as I have two kids.
The easiest one I did was a medieval castle using lamington fingers -basically just put on my brick laying hat and layed layer upon layer of cake finger with cholate icing. Damn it looked good too and the kids just picked off a brick at a time - no plates.
Other ones have taken hours and somehow never quite turn out like the godamn perfect picture. I HATE that!!!
I remember my mum made my brother a Dalek cake for his 8th birthday - he was a Dr Who nut. Actually we all were. It was great. Amazing what you can do with smarties. Just as well he wasn't as in to cybermen.
Blood on the fondant - what a visual feast. Gross but compellng all at once. Keep writing guys - sounds fab.
xlloke - xtra loving looks or killing expletives
Jenny - A good friend of mine made my wedding cake. It was a really excellent marble cake with simple white frosting and gardinas (my flower of choice for the brides maids.) Anyway, it was very simple, no bride and groom on top, just simple flowers. I loved it. And it was small. Now I had 250 people at my wedding (remember, I'm a princess), so we laughed becaused everyone thought the cake was too small. By my friend, the ingenious woman that she is, also made sheet cakes for serving. So, we cut the cake (did not shove food at each other until we got to the the honeymoon suite) and as soon as we done, the waiters brought out everyone elses piece. My guests were amazed.
Only problem - we kept the top for our one year anniversary, and two weeks before that - my mother's freezer went while she was vacation and well, I begged my friend to make me another one just like the first one. She did, so I guess that's why we are happily married after 18 years on the 27th of this month. Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic.
Thanks everyone for checking out my stuff. And OH - Ryan is a fighter. Trust me, she can handle what comes at her, and all by her little self, but why bother when she has Jared.
OH- Thanks for finding the typos! I'm really bad about that and I like work on my website at like 2 in the morning.
BCB - you're the best, in a weird way, I mean thanks, but somehow I think in the process you slammed me yet once again, but love you anyway, Bon Bon!
So, DH printed a copy of the cover for me - it's on my desk, it keeps one daughter and youngest son out of my office, but it actaully attracts middle child. Geez, I wonder why? Okay, I do really love middle child. He's actually kind of like me in many ways and he's really cute! However, he's going to put his mother in a mental institution before I'm 50, I'm sure.
Cake, there's cake! A show on food tv was tantalizing me with red cake over the weeekend. Must be a cake conspiracy. All I have this morning is a slightly ripe banana. Damn.
Maybe Agnes should watch project runway for some wedding dress fashion tips (snicker). Last week they made "fashion" out of trash.
Fondant - I'll go back and catch up with the comments shortly but want to address this first
Fondant - The friend who came with me to the MD signing back in May has a daughter who wants to be a pastry chef. In fact she's headed down to NC to attend a school there in a few weeks. Anyhoo, she's done some grunt work for a local bakery that does fancy cakes. I know from listening that the fondant is a witch to work with so that should give us some fun scenes if Agnes is using it to channel her aggression!
Hi Jenny! You are my new hero. I'm sort of new here so I've been playing catch up, and just noticed that aside from the about a billion books you have coming out, you also contribute to three blogs. I can't even keep up with you. How do you do it? I want to be you when I grow up. I just read Fred's Book (teehee) and loved it. I'm out to find more this weekend...
And if Shane gets blood in the fondant, you can always make Chocolate Blood Cake:
http://www.myrecipesource.com/cgi/lms.cgi?Action=PRINT_SHOW&id=101561
Krya the red - "I saw Bryan. He looks like Regis in a cabana boy outfit." Bryan looks like me in a cabana boy outfit? Weird.
Did you take pictures? If so you must send me one. I need to get a picture of the man before he posts one. Please, I'm begging!
I've been lurking forever, but is the title of this entry a play on the Eddie Izzard routine "Cake or Death?" Just curious.
MarciaBC (in Kansas, not Oklahoma)
Wow, wedding cake, takes me back. Ours was frosted with buttercream, because I'd read somewhere that while fondant and royal icing are technically edible, they may not be something you'd actually want to eat a lot of. (BTW, is this true? I find those "Food Network Challenge" cake competitions to be strangely mesmerizing, and would like, in a disorganized, probably not going to happen sort of way, to try my hand at decorating. But I only cook things I'd like to eat.)
The primary decoration was a cake topper made of flowers (courtesy of the world's least organized florist, who 1) went AWOL for several weeks before the wedding, and 2) wrote down the wrong time for the delivery, so the flowers arrived about 30 seconds before the ceremony was scheduled to start. But that's another story.) Anyway, floral decorations seem like a good opportunity for creating violence and mayhem with cake-- hidden thorns, poisonous leaves, and ragweed, among other passive-aggressive possibilities!
Jenny- being a bit southern I'm confused by the phrase "two wedding cakes." Are there going to be two weddings or is one of them a groom's cake? In the corner of the world where I grew up wedding cakes were white or another light color. They could be flavored, and if you had multiple layers the layers could be colored, but the main cake was light colored. Then there was the groom's cake. Family tradition has a groom's cake being red velvet. Yummmmmmm- deep, rich chocolate cake with a whole bottle of red food dye dumped in to give it a red color and usually served with cream cheese frosting. Okay, I'm getting homesick now.
I've been to a few weddings where there were two wedding cakes. I guess it's like entree choice. At my wedding the "running joke" (yes, BCB, lots of them when you live with me), was "Where's the beef?" And for two reasons. First, your choice of food had been either chicken keiv (Husband fav) or Salmon with dill sauce (one of my fav) No steak and I guess some found that to be offensive. Geez, they got to have diner at Oak Hill Country club (one of the top 100, maybe 50) golf clubs in the country and all they had to do was bring me a nice gift. Yeah, I'm a princess, I get it. But I grew up next to the course and my husband grew up playing the course. Yes, hate to admit it, but that is the course we belong too. I know, I know, you all hate me even more. And for those of you who don't have a clue, Oak Hill hosted the 89 open, the 93 Ryder cup and most recently the 03 PGA. And we will be doing another big one soon. And if you still don't know what I'm talking about, well, sorry. Golf is awesome. Although I'm still sick of Tiger. Phil! Baby, come one win some big ones.
Oh, what a ramble that was. I wanted to tell you that for me, the key in decorating a cake is that the frosting is firm and holds it shape without crumbling. Buttercream is good, but it's not "real white" and shorting works the best for creating masterpieces, but it doesn't taste the best. But, if you are using food coloring and it doesn't have to be "white" then make the butter cream but add a little butter flavored crisco to help with the firmness of the frosting.
Yes, I am woman hear me roar!
ahlzrp - the noise you are all making right now.
Okay, I just realized I only gave you one of the reasons for the "running joke" of "where's he beef" And No - it has nothing to do with my husband. Geez, leave the poor man alone, he's still trying to recover from last night.
Okay, second reason. Back when I took dance lessons, not taught them. I comepeted in local, regional, state and national copititions. One year my teacher thought it would be cute if I danced to the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise." So, my duet partner dressed in blue, and I dressed in a brown out fit and we duked it out on stage. The joke, she was McDonnalds and I was Burger king (because I actually worked there when I was 16) and her little brother walked across the stage at the end with a sign that said "where's the beef?" And if you don't get that, you're too young to live!
I recently spent lovely online hours checking out cake sites, in preparation for my parents' 50th anniversary party. Fondant scared me, so I ended up making a cupcake tree topped by a teeny cake Mom and Dad could cut.
You know, getting a comment in before the counter reaches 50 is starting to feel like a virgin blog.
Hello MarciaBC! I didn't get in on the whole name thing yesterday, but will today, cause well, I saw I wasn't the only one. Why is it that People can say Patricia correctly - almost every time, but Marcia just escapes them?
Cakes - love cakes - eating and decorating. I took my first class while in High School and it was great,especially since I was still at home, and Mom bought all my tips and materials.
I've done lots of holiday, birthday, and special occasion cakes, but never a wedding cake. Man, o man, what a lot of work just to have it cut to pieces in minutes. Oh well.
Jen-T, I dont' belong to any fancy golf club, but here in Tulsa, we have Southern Hills, and they are hosting the PGA 2007. Should be a fun time, but tickets are already scarce. Only way to get on the course is to volunteer!
Jenny, thanks for the update. And congratulations on the progress on all your projects.
Cakes, frying pans, alligators, hitmen, and mobsters. Can't wait!
Good day all.
Corinne - correct. A talented pastry chef can do a lot of cool stuff with fondant but its pretty much for looks. Fondant, for those not familiar, isn't a frosting. Its more like edible playdough. You can shape it and create thin layers to sort of drape over the cake. It gives the cake that ultra smooth look.
Tigress - I took some decorating classes about 100 years ago and was into it for a little while as a hobby. Did some pretty cool cakes for various events; but it takes time and after a while I got tired of cleaning up afterwards.
All that cake talk. I have been craving cake for a week now. Now a whole blog about cake. Such a pain in the butt for me to have cake: gotta make it without eggs, because i am deathly allergic to eggs. But frosting, i can do frosting...yummm
Phenila - I have a fab chocolate cake recipe with no eggs. Let me know if you are interested.
There may be British English / American English differences here, but the definitions in BE are as follows:
Buttercream is a fat/sugar mix, soft, and tastes good provided the fat is butter. In Britain, it is generally used as a cake filling, not a covering, and must be chilled to keep. This is, I believe, the traditional covering for American wedding cakes, which are soft cakes, right?
Royal icing: icing sugar and egg- white. Dries very hard, though you can add a little glycerine. It is used for the covering of rich fruit cakes, over a marzipan / almond paste base coat, and for making very delicate and intricate piped decoration, such as lace-work. It tastes good. A royal-iced rich fruit cake will keep in an airtight container, not frozen, for at least a year. To make a smooth covering surface in Royal icing requires skills analogous to those of a plasterer. It is not easy.
Sugarpaste: (originally known in Australia, where it was invented, as 'plastic icing', and sometimes incorrectly called 'cold fondant'). It is made from sugar and glucose syrup (also called liquid glucose, and possibly the same as US corn syrup, but I'm not sure about that), sometimes with a little white fat. It is the perfect covering icing, which can be applied at all kinds of cakes, rolled out in a sheet, like pastry. It can be shaped into simple forms, though for intricate sugar modelling, flower paste is better. Sugarpaste does not taste nearly as nice as Royal icing, though it can be flavoured. It keeps well. It can be bought ready-made (at least, it can here), is easy to handle, and gives a beautiful smooth surface.
Fondant is technically a boiled sugar icing, and is indeed very, very difficult to handle. It is poured on, like simple glacé icing (sugar and boiling water), but is used chiefly for sweet-making rather than cake-covering.
There are other sugar preparations, such as Mexican paste for modelling (contains gum tragacanth) and pastillage, which dries so hard it is like ceramic, virtually inedible, which contains gelatine. It is excellent for things like plaques upon which one can paint or air-brush decoration using food-colours.
MCB - your description of 'fondant' is definitely sugarpaste. It is EASY to use, honest! So it looks as though in American English, sugarpaste is called 'fondant'. I wonder what you call 'fondant'? Really only professional chefs use true (boiled) fondant.
My SIL is a big Jeff Gordon fan. For her birthday, her friend, a professional cake decorator made a Jeff Gordon Race Car cake. It was extrordinary. Finely detailed. When it came time to cut the cake, she was to be given the first piece. Her comment was that the cake was too beautiful, and she couldn't eat Jeff. Of course we all were ROFLOAO. One of the men in the group assured her that Jeff wouldn't mind if she ate him. I think she was red faced for about an hour after that.
Sorry, me again. We don't use the term 'frosting', and I am not sure to what degree it equates with our 'icing'. To us, 'icing' is any sugar mixture used to cover and embellish a cake.
agtigress - I now know more about icing, frosting, whatever, then I had ever wanted - thank you.
Favorite cake - angle food with strawberries. DH just likes to play with the whipcream.
I want to eat cake now. Yummy...
Agtigress--I finished cataloguing my books yesterday and was trying to remember which Crusie book you have yet to read--I believe it was The Cinderella Deal. Any others? They will easily fit into my luggage for the return trip to school, so no worries. --- Hope you are doing well. I will email you when I get back to the UK (mid-Sept) and we can figure out a day and time to meet up. Take care.
Tigress I think you are correct. Also I have heard of a 'poured' fondant and also a boiled icing which sound like much the same thing. My grandmother used to make a boiled cake icing but whipped eggwhites into it so it had a spreadable texture. But you did put it on while still warm and it did harden some, almost like a meringue.
icing/frosting ... used pretty indiscriminately over here.
For our birthday’s, my mom would decorate beautiful character cakes: Popeye, Rainbow Bright, Smurfs, and more. I loved the cakes, but I’m not a fan of frosting on cake. The carefully detailed frosting would be rudely scraped off my piece and deposited on whichever brother’s plate was closest.
Then we discovered the wonderful world of DQ ice cream cakes. Had some good years with DQ. Now I’m lucky if I get a dilly bar. (That was my 17th b-day) I’m still not a fan of (any kind of) frosting on cake, but I love the occasional frosted graham cracker.
klhojvay: Karen loves how often Jenny vocalizes astute YEC.
Is there anything on this planet better than that first cup of perfect coffee on a beautiful summer morning? Possibly, but I'll take the coffee for now.
Agtigress, I put myself through part of college making and decorating ice cream cakes for Baskin-Robbins, and worked for awhile at a local ice cream shop that made its own ice cream and ice cream cakes.
After Valentine's Day at B-R I went home holding my left arm and sat in a stupor for hours.
At the other store, I made a three-tier all ice cream cake and it had something like 90 roses on it. The shop owner delivered it on a day that was 90 degrees and humid to an inn that was about 45 minutes away. I just hoped for the best.
G&T
Jenny informed us ... So I'm studying up on fondant and royal icing and cake construction--yes, I'm watching Ace of Cakes, isn't everybody?--and Bob is doing no research at all for killing people.
Well the answer, Jenny, is to have your next collab be about a romance author or an art teacher or an English literature professor. Then Bob can do all the research.
Christina: yes, it's The Cinderella Deal that I have never even set eyes on, let alone read. That's the only one, though.
I hope that by the time you are back for the autumn term, I shan't still be travelling to an from Wales every few days.
klhow could anyone be a big Jeff Gordon fan? We like Tony Stewart around here. cherry magic sheryl has whole outfits that are Tony related. I bet the cake was really something though. LOL at the comment.
jen-t only you could come up with a song called "Cheeseburger in Paradise," and then dance to it. Loved the idea though. /,D
There is a great wartime chocolate cake recipe (WW11) made with Miracle Whip Salad Dressing that lasts for a week or so and is moist as anything. I only make that chocolate cake if I am baking from scratch since it is a family favorite. The Salad dressing sounds awful but it took the place of eggs so maybe you could eat it phenila. I will gladly give you the recipe. It is the easiest cake to make too. So easy cherry magic sheryl made it when she was 4 yo and it was delicious. I showed her how to measure the ingredients. She did the rest.
green myopfew
My, Oprah prefers female exercise writers.
blogger didn't like me slamming Oprah.
green nebklpx
Not everybody believes killers likely panic, Xavier.
Had to go get the recipe card for the cake. I looked in my recipe box and all the recipes are marked up and old. You can tell which ones we liked best. They are all filed in the front of the box out of order with dirty fingerprints all over them and barely readable. Well, what can I say I have had some of them for 44 years.
Miracle Whip Chocolate Cake
2 cups (cake) flour 4 Tbsp.Cocoa
1 Cup white sugar 1 Cup Water
2 tsp.baking soda l C. Miracle Whip 1 tsp.Vanilla
Put liquids in well of dry ingredients. Stir to blend. Do not beat. Bake at 325-350F 30-35 minutes
Very delicious.
blue iyvdrbhq
In your very dubious realm Bob has quiet.
Corninne said:
"because I'd read somewhere that while fondant and royal icing are technically edible, they may not be something you'd actually want to eat a lot of. (BTW, is this true?"
In the cake decorating class I took, they told us to add a layer of the regular class icing under the fondant to make it taste better.
All this talk of cakes is making me extra hungry.
My Mom made a raisen pie for my ninth birthday...whole pie for me...don't think I've had it since...
evnrcfw...red
even now Robert, Crusie find words
The flavour of sugarpaste is normally improved in British and Australian icing practice by the fact that, like Royal icing, it is almost invariably applied over marzipan. Two quarter-inch layers are necessary for a really good surface, so if one uses two layers of sugarpaste, one could flavour one or both of them - vanilla, peppermint, almond - anything that goes well with the taste of the cake itself.
Royal icing simply tastes of sugar, which most people like. Same stuff as merinque, but prepared differently - just sugar and egg white. Sugar paste is blander, but certainly not unpleasant.
The one you wouldn't want to eat is pastillage, and that's because you might break your teeth. Also, some people are 'tasters' of gelatine, and dislike it.
You people are evil.
I've been good all day and I look here and it's Cake-O-Rama. And lunchtime. And food day at work. And - you got it - we have 3 cakes over here. There is one that hasn't been cut into yet that is in serious jeapardy. Do you think anyone would miss half a cake?
My wedding cake was made by by DH's supervisor's mom. It was a white chocolate cake with raspberry filling and buttercream icing. Save me a fortune and tasted fantastic. I can understand the blood on the fondant issue because once we cut into it, ... well, we don't have a whole lot of photos after it was cut.
Anyone remember the armadillo cake in Steel Magnolias (or Aluminum Daffadils as it is known in my family)? A red velvet cake with grey icing. ROTFLMOA!
Lard icing is the best. I think I actually get irritable with that wimpy whipped topping stuff, at least on birthday cake. Unless it is a margarita cake, but that is the only exception!
bzzimr: Baking zippy zebras interest me. Really.
Okay since Scope posted hers, I'll post mine:
WACKY CAKE
3 cups flour
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
¾ cup oil
½ cup cocoa
2 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
Sift together dry ingredients. Mix remaining (wet) ingredients separately. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Mix well. Pour into prepared 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
I know - strange ingredients. But its a big favorite in my family, especially made with my mom's peanut butter frosting - (basically a buttercream but she substitutes peanut butter for some of the regular butter)
Kiss not geese, Tal guided kindly.
The growling sound you hear is my stomach. Very interesting discussion of cakes and toppings. Still giggling about the Jeff Gordan story.
We always had a cake from a local bakery for birthdays when I was growing up Pound cake topped with what I know now was lard icing.
DH grew up in NJ and had cakes with filling and whipped cream frosting (icing)
He thinks our cakes are dry. I think their frosing is wimpy.
My personal favorite for frosting cake when I used to make and decorate them for family birthdays was a 7 minute frosting. Cooked sugar and egg whites I believe. I don't have a cook book available to check. It's hard to make decorations with though.
SDCB Get someone to put your family recipes onto a disc and then spread them out to various people. All mine were lost to a fire. I'm hoping to replace them but my mom always called me to give her her old recipes I'd copied so am not sure she still has them all. And many other people I'd gotten recipes from have died. Not looking for 'poor baby' comments just making a suggestion.
Also if your family has favorite recipes from the cookbooks churches and organizations put together and sell, copy them too. They can't be replaced.
Of course my family has trouble remembering the days when I cooked and decorated cakes. DH does a lot of the cooking right now. Yep, he's a GAM He does cooking, cleaning and laundry when he's home so I can write.
Hi everyone who usually lurks or who has been away.
Ol'biddy LOL posting in first 50 feels like virgin blog. So true.
Um did anyone else notice JenT bragging earlier? About us leaving her poor DH alone because he's still recovering from last night.
No wonder he printed a copy of your cover for you:)
oh god. i need a piece of cake now. esp to get a picture of JJ and her vibrating bed out of my head. (thanks rss. i managed to ignore it till you).
agtigress: see, Jenny doesn't need to research, she can just ask you for the BE version. (BTW: how are you doing? how's your dad?)
welcome MarciaBC and corinne. see, all we needed was to talk about cake, not chocolate, and the lurkers come running. :)
CC: why does the groom get the better tasting cake?
if i every do get married, i'm having a chocolate cake. well, maybe i'll have this really tiny, itty bitty "regular" wedding cake, all light colored and stuff (and i've had some good ones but nothing compares to chocolate), and then bring out the chocolate.
one of my friend's, when she gets married, is basically just having different layers of pastries. so each layer is a kind of pastry, and the top is a "cake piece".
oh, tal, on a completely different subject (hey, people were shamelessly self-promoting earlier), Anne Bishop is coming out with Belladonna in March 07 and is writing a new Black Jewel's story.
just in case you didn't know. which i kind of doubted. because between you and ag, you guys seem to know a little bit about everything.
too bad they don't have "couples" on Jeapordy.
MCB: yours sounds like the "Cockeyed Cake" from the I Hate to Cookbook - except that author Peg Bracken doesn't hold with sifting, and, as with Scope Dope's, you can mix the dry ingredients IN THE PAN, then make a well, etc. It really is quite good - and VEGAN, should one ever be required to feed such a person.
Isn't it curious how much people look back at the "good old days", when people were seriously concerned about the cost of an egg or two? Food is so cheap now (unless you buy all organic or artisan-produced goods), in the U.S.
I wish I had the dexterity for serious cake decoration - I've tried (although I haven't tried any of the more recent stuff, though I bought some of the supplies in a weak moment at Michael's). But, with a combination of regret and relief, I decided I got a more elegant result using chocolate curls or chopped nuts than with my misshapen efforts.
uygavvwz: Ultimate YEX Gives Author Vicarious Victory with Zippers!
Diane - that's actually the instructions as originally handed down, the make a well and mix in pan bit. I just find it so much easier to mix in the dang bowl than in a cake pan. And what's a mixing bowl when you have to clean all the measuring tools anyway?
Decorating, back when I did it, is all in the consistency of the icing. Too moist and it won't shape, too stiff and it doesn't flow properly.
SDCB: I hate to say it, but "Cheeseburger in Paradise" is an actual song. Jimmy Buffett (sp?) I think. Jen-T didn't just make that up.
I make a wickedly good genoise which can be eaten as a cake or cut up to make petit fours. And it's best after 2-3 days after the icing/frosting has a chance to seep into the cake a bit.
Cake. And I'm still not eating sweets. Sigh.
Ace of Cakes! I just saw that this weekend. The guy and his friends makes these serious complicated looking cakes. I couldn't watch for very long (would rather read), but the Cherry and I were probably watching it at the SAME TIME. or not.
Ok, time for lunch.
Orangehands said: (BTW: how are you doing? how's your dad?)
Thank you for asking, Orangehands. He is still alive, and my husband and I are returning there tomorrow: another 250-mile drive. We are both very tired, because we are not young things, either.
I was afraid at the weekend that he would die within the next couple of days, because he seemed to be fading fast, but he has rallied a little. Impossible to say how long he has left, but he is in no pain and is still at home. My mother, also 91, is bearing up well, but I know it will be very hard trying to help her when he is gone. I doubt if he will be with us for more than a couple of weeks at most, but nobody can really predict. He isn't interested in reading the papers or watching TV any more, and spends a lot of time sleeping.
Sorry, that may be more than you want to know. I realise that many of you have lived through all this, but I don't think the experience of others really makes it any easier when one has to face the reality. He has been a good man and a good father, and has nothing to fear, whatever beliefs one has.
ag: i'm glad he's not in pain. i watched my uncle in five years of pain, my aunt for about six years, and it was almost a relief when they died.
ummm, not sure if that's very comforting. ((((hugs)))) and CB love. i'm glad you have the memories of him being a good father and a good man, though. hopefully it'll bring you some kind of comfort.
We discovered a cake made by a bakery near us that has replaced me making birthday cakes--chocolate carrot cake with toffee buttercream icing. YUM! If this discussion on cakes keeps up--oh, hell, I am going to end up buying one. Yum! Damn. Yum! Damn....
Tigress--say as much as you choose, it won't be too much. I'm glad he's at home still, and in no pain. My thoughts are with you.
Tigress -
"a good man and a good father"
The highest of praise.
Antitigress. You, your husband and your father and mother are in my thoughts and prayers.
(((HUGS))) agtigress
Thank you, everybody. Your kind thoughts and prayers are deeply appreciated.
AgTigress - we do all want to know how both you and he are doing; sometimes we don't ask because we don't want to add to your weariness. I hope you can continue to find comfort in one another.
AMC - your alternating exclamations reminded me of the young woman in Linda Howard's To Die For when she lost her temper and kept jarring her wound. The cake sounds fabulous.
I just started looking at a new "cookbook" called The Ethical Gourmet. Lots of recipes (unfortunately for me, too many are for fish, which I prefer not to deal with at home, but I appreciate the encouragement to buy sustainably harvested varieties), plus lots of discussion of what are ethical choices for the sources, including some of the trade-offs - plus a chef's appreciation of flavor and texture, and modifications of cooking technique when one goes from conventional to free-range meats.
Very distracting.
gpmnk: after glamour-geek's had a shot at one
dearest Limping-Mustelidae, loved your verification. I remember that scene from TDF!
bon cheri bomb said...
Zaza: Bless your heart dear, but there are TWO authors, one on either side of Nora (let's hope she doesn't notice). Which is she?
Yes, I deserve a "bless your heart" for that one. She's Saskia Walker, the one above Nora. Prime Interweb real estate, that. BTW, thanks for taking a look. Even though we've been friends and CPs for ten years, I still get all squealy and excited when something like this happens.
phenila said...
Such a pain in the butt for me to have cake: gotta make it without eggs, because i am deathly allergic to eggs.
I make this cake I call an Oops Cake because the first time I did it, I didn't notice the eggs sitting on the counter until the cake was almost done. It was just a package mix, Duncan Hines, IIRC, and it came out very dense and moist. It was chocolate, so dense and moist were just perfect. Why don't you try that?
agtigress said...
glucose syrup (also called liquid glucose, and possibly the same as US corn syrup, but I'm not sure about that)
Nope, not the same. I used to use the "liquid" glucose in my char siu coating (Chinese BBQ pork). It was like crazy glue! Very thick and a real mess to work with.
AND...
I hope that by the time you are back for the autumn term, I shan't still be travelling to an from Wales every few days.
Please take care of yourself, too. I did the same thing when my mother was hospitalized for several months. Add the stress and worry to all the travel time and trying to fit everything into an already busy schedule, and it can knock you on your lily white tush. So, take care. Just read on and see that you have a hubby to help out. That's wonderful.
Back to cakes. Does anyone remember those Bacardi rum cakes? I was looking through some old magazine of my mothers and saw a recipe. It sounded delish. I'm going to try it with chocolate cake instead of yellow, though. All this talk has got me champing at the bit to go down and get mixing. ;+) No frosting, though. I'm with whoever it was (Lori?) that said they didn't like it. Just a nice dense chocolate cake with some fresh whipped cream or really good vanilla ice cream, my idea of heaven.
zoaxbq (green)
Zoe operated as Xavier's bimbo queen
"He has been a good man and a good father" I can think of no higher praise. And I agree with "GPMNK" we hope we are folks you can come play with and leave reality behind for a few minutes. On the other hand, you know we do care and we are here for you, and every other CB, when reality gets overwhelming.
Louis- Love raisin sour cream pie- it's a close second to my grandma's dried apricot pie.
Scoop Dupe- I agree with Robin about getting recipes copied- I am very fortunate that one of my aunts compiled a family cookbook this past year- it had many of my grandmother's recipes in it and was a comfort when she unexpectedly passed away a few weeks later.
OH- Don't know why the groom gets the yummier cake- guess it's so much of the wedding is about the bride he has to have something that is special for him.
a friend doesn't like cake so much- and another friend of ours is known for making the most amazing cheesecakes- the result was a unique wedding cake done so that it was the tiers and bridge thing with 4 different decorated cheesecakes and 6 or so other ones that we cut in the kitchen then brought out to serve- don't remember all of them but one was chocolate pumpkin swirl
college friends husband didn't like cake so the groom's cake was mini apple and pecan tarts- very yummy
I'm a scraper of frosting- I like cream cheese frosting and a good 7-minute frosting can't be beat- but the Crisco/powdered sugar stuff is going to get scraped off in a hurry- I use it when I'm decorating because it is easy to work with, takes color well, and holds it's shape well- but I don't eat it- can't remember, but I think I started not liking Crisco frosting when I was young and I decorated a cake and kept screwing up and wound up licking the icing off my fingers and got sick
Zaza - thanks for the clarification on glucose syrup. It is, indeed, very thick, but of course one has to warm it in order to incorporate it in sugarpaste, if making the latter from scratch. When warm, it flows freely, and it is colourless and pretty tasteless. It is used a lot in the commercial manufacture of sweets (candy). I wonder what corn syrup is, then?
gmpmk was me. I knew I would do it!
AgTigress - Such a blessing that your father is not in pain. I hope you can take comfort in that fact.
"A good man and a good father..." As someone above said, there is no higher praise.
Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Just to say you people are wonderful. Major icky, creepy weirdness (which I shall not rehash here) in my life yesterday and reading this and knowing it would make me focus on something else and make me laugh has been a great boon. Thanks everyone!
O.K. gg - you cannot, I repeat, CANNOT leave us like this. WTH???? Speak up - who do we need shovels for?
najwbcv
no (one) ask Jenny where Bob cruises vicariously
Tigress: corn syrup is also used in making candies, but its fructose rather than glucose. Don't know what difference that makes really. The most common mfr here is a company called Karo - and its pretty much all they are known for although I suppose there must be something else the make. But they are so well known for their corn syrup that's its often just called Karo syrup. And I think there's a dark version too.
G-G dear. What's wrong? Do you need shovels?
Tigress: You're correct, until you've been through the loss of a parent you really don't understand. My dad died 10 years ago this month. It's the unexpected things that always get to me. That first spring, going into a store to buy my mom a Mother's Day card, it hit me that I'd never buy another Father's Day card. I had to just leave the store. OTOH, I was fine on the first birthday after his death, and the anniversary of his death. Sad of course, but not inconsolable.
My mom used to make (probably still does) a boiled chocolate frosting. Best stuff ever. I'm not all that fond of cake, but chocolate cake with mom's chocolate frosting... YUM! She cools/hardens it a bit, while stirring, by submerging the bottom of the pan in cold water. But geez, watch out if you so much as LOOK like you might try to run water in the other sink during this process. Apparently even one stray drop of water in the pan will ruin it. You pour it over the cake and once it sets, it's firm and smooth. Not hard exactly. God. Now I'm homesick.
G-G: Sorry about the icky weirdness. The planets must have been out of alignment yesterday. My day was a b*tch, too. Better today, even though I'm still employed and my boss has not yet even started his evolutionary arc.
bw
Indeed(Channeling T'ealc from Stargate 200).
Karo syrup comes in regular and dark versions. I use the lighter one to make caramels at Christmas (only if there is no humidity) and have attempted to use the dark to make penuche (bad idea).
mcb--I am going to try that recipe tonight. Thank you very much! Sounds delish.
GG Shovel at the ready
BCB LOL about the evolutionary arc
JenT did you get lost on your hockey/golf runs today?
rxjubie Dr. ordered gummy candy
bon cherry bomb said...
My mom used to make (probably still does) a boiled chocolate frosting. Best stuff ever. I'm not all that fond of cake, but chocolate cake with mom's chocolate frosting... YUM! She cools/hardens it a bit, while stirring, by submerging the bottom of the pan in cold water. But geez, watch out if you so much as LOOK like you might try to run water in the other sink during this process. Apparently even one stray drop of water in the pan will ruin it.
It must have lecithin in it. Lecithin is used in a lot of candy making, and a lot of chocolate meltables for candy making have lecithin in them. It makes the chocolate flow more freely and harden with a smooth surface. The first thing you learn about lecithin is that one drop of water an the whole thing will seize up.
So, if your mom is pouring the kind of chocolate they use in dipped chocolates over cakes, well, bless her heart, those are probably some cakes I'd be happy to have frosting on. ;+) (in case you weren't sure, that was a GOOD bless your heart, and I think we need some way to distinguish one from the other here)
My mom has this recipe for a very light chocolate drop cookie. They're pretty bland on their own, but she puts a "square" of chocolate on each one when they come out of the oven. When you get to the last one in the pan, you go back and spread the now melted chocolate with a knife. When it hardens, oh, baby, oh, baby. I am soooo there. And does anyone remember when the sections in a Hershey bar were actually square?
gg and all the rest of the CBs having bad wierdnesses, take heart, shovels on the way, wielded by CBs.
szvrume (red)
the noise a little kid makes when he's playing with his racing cars (or a big kid)
g-g: i have daggers. pretty, pretty daggers. they're all nice and sharp. and my alter is very clean.
just saying.
BCB: your boss has an evolutionary arc? to show where he came from?
zaza asked "And does anyone remember when the sections in a Hershey bar were actually square?"
yeah. it tasted better back then too.
love frosting. frosting is normally better than the actual cake part.
you think if we keep talking like this Jenny will blog just so she won't have to see all the yummy cake ideas?
OH asked: you think if we keep talking like this Jenny will blog just so she won't have to see all the yummy cake ideas?
I figure she knew we'd start talking about all the cakes/frostings we'd ever made or eaten, post a bunch of recipes, talk about techniques, and she wouldn't have to do as much research. Clever woman.
zaza: No lechithin. I actually went and looked at the recipe earlier, wasn't sure I even had it, and I can't believe I've never made it. Some shortening, butter, cocoa, baker's chocolate, vanilla, some other stuff. That recipe and the one for homemade cinnamon caramel rolls are the two that my sisters and I all decided we'd never share with anyone. I have no idea why we decided this, but it was unanimous. Someday I'll make a batch of rolls and you all can come over and feast. Oh. My. God. They're best right out of the oven, all warm and gooey, and you put butter on them so it melts and runs down your hand while you eat it. Sunday brunch, anyone?
DD18 just called to tell me what she had for dinner. She is so happy she can chew again. Pizza! she exclaimed. Good, I said, glad you can chew. And chicken, she said. And mashed potatoes with gravy. And melon: cantelope and honeydew. And grapes. And rolls. And for dessert, she had CAKE. I remember when my metabolism worked that way.
bw
fkzrog: what Jen says when she sees Kermit
I made a pie in high school that i lost the recipe for...if anyone has something similar, or can tell me how to find it, I'd appreciate it. It had raisins, sour cream, cinnamon and cloves and 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. It was called vinegar pie, as a matter of fact. I got the recipe from a cookbook specializing in historical recipes (I'm pretty sure American Heritage was in the title). It was an extra credit assignment for my high school history class. The smell of it baking was just heavenly, and the taste lived up to the smell.
AgTigress –
Icing and frosting are synonymous here. Fondant is 1 C water, 3 C sugar, cook to 238 degrees, worked up as candy. Buttercream is used as frosting; royal icing is used mostly by professionals. Usually corn syrup is listed as high fructose corn syrup. Fructose and glucose are C6H12O6 (numbers should be subscripts), but different arrangements of atoms. Corn syrup (called glucose syrup outside US) is mostly glucose. Karo brand is corn syrup.
About your father, I’m glad you’re getting to say goodbye. I didn’t, and I’ve always regretted it.
My grandma used to make white rice pudding. As an extra special treat, she'd put raisins in it. And sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Most godawful excuse for a dessert you've ever eaten.
But it was tradition. Christmas Eve dinner (the white meal, my sisters and I would call it, as we tried not to gag): lutefisk, mashed potatoes (no gravy), lefse, and rice pudding. And milk, of course. My parents and my grandma used to look forward to this meal all year. Thank god tradition prevented this hideous accumulation of inedible blandness from happening more often. Have you ever been in a house where lutefisk was being cooked? Though I do love lefse.
GP: Yeah, it's the "what if's" and "if only's" that cause the most pain. Live with no regrets. Good advice, hard to do.
bw
AMC: I don't have it, I don't think, but I know I've seen Vinegar Pie somewhere. Do some searching on the net. Might take some time to narrow down the possibilities but I'm betting you'll find it or something awfully close.
Phenila - let me know how it turns out!
Vinegar pie? A few were made for the museum this spring- I'm thinking we don't have the same recipe you did- everything sounded yummy but I'm thinking it was made with too much vinegar as it had a definite vinegar twinge- which was odd because the write up on it declares that the vinegar flavor bakes out- this was an historic recipe and may be the one you're looking for- if you want it let me know and I'll talk and get one tomorrow-
My ex-fiancee used to make a buttermilk pie- another one of those variations on the theme of custard pie- very wonderful- was really good if raisins soaked in something potent and spirited were added
btuda wrote: Anyone remember the armadillo cake in Steel Magnolias (or Aluminum Daffadils as it is known in my family)? A red velvet cake with grey icing.
I loved that scene! Made me wany a slice of armadillo, which, crazily enough, is one of my astrological signs (according to Tal's list that she posted on a previous blog).
Agtigress--If there is anything that I can do for you, just let me know. I fly back Sept. 19.
As for the cake talk---cakes have never been the dessert of choice in my family. The greek side does pastries (best baklava ever is made by my aunt) and the american side focuses on other things. My grandmother used to make tons of desserts at Christmas, including my favorite, chocolate peanut butter balls. Had a lovely family moment a few years back when grandma was teaching me how to make them and my mom was there helping out. Three generations all together, making a mess in the kitchen. Doesn't get much better than that.
avetwh -- a vet was here
CC--I'd appreciate it if you could get that recipe for me. Thanks a lot!
Jenny--you probably already know about "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Berenbaum, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. I haven't baked from it, but I have used a couple of recipes from her "Pie and Pastry Bible" with great results.
Geez, I got out for dinner and you people have party without me! I haven't caught up on all the posts, but i will in the morning - someone above mentioned my vibrating bed, and well, a hot man is in it, hopefully naked so I'm going to bed. Good-night.
I'm master of nothing!
Tigress - thinking of you.
Here in Oz we pretty much just say icing to cover anything that covers cakes. Icing sugar, butter, small amt of milk. Or mock cream is often used as well.
Never heard of sugar paste except the kind they used to stick in little girls hair to make it curly. But if you said frosting we'd know that meant icing also.
We aren't as big on marzipan over here - in fact I can taste a drop of the stuff in anything and since living in the UK many years ago where it sems to go into EVERY baked goody all I can say is thank god. Loved almonds - hate marzipan.
It certainly used to be the practise in my mothers generation to use marzipan layer under wedding cake icing.
Now I'm hungry too....