Celebrate My Whimsy: whimsy

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Sweet & Sassy Sugar Cubes

Sometimes when you are having a party, event, tea party or simple gathering, it's the little things that make your shindig over the top and keeps your guest talking. If you have the time, these treasures are so incredibly easy to make but you need to at least start the night before giving at least 12 hours to cure. A year ago I won a contest with Duncan Hines. Part of the Prize package was making things and learning little baking secrets. I've been making these little gems ever since the chef showed me how. If you have left overs and are brave enough, the little ones will love these little treats! And if you really really want to get all fancy and stuff, get a hollow Easter egg mold, add a little royal icing to the outside and decorate away.

Sweet & Sassy Sugar Cubes

Granulated sugar

Food coloring

A little bit of water

Molds

The molds below were purchase from my local 99cent only store. They have tons to pick from during the holidays. I also have a rose mold that I paid good money for. The rose mold is for baking and is a little bit flimsy for rubber. They do not hold up as well as these below which are harder rubber made for ice cubes but when you need to push the cubes out, the rubber does give.

1) Start by putting your sugar in a bowl. Use any amount you'd like because this is going to be made by feel, not measurements. We all live in different climates and humidity. I'll give an approximate though. For my two molds, I used about 1 cup sugar.

2) Add a drip or two of food coloring. If you put too much color, you will need less water.

3) Mix until the color of your sugar is uniform.

4) Add a little water at a time, about 1 tsp to start, and mix well by hand. You need to feel the mixture and may end up with blue or other colored fingers if you have a lot of coloring in your sugar.

5) Keep mixing until all water is mixed in. The feel you are looking for would be similar to "Moon Sand" or when you're stepping on the sand near the ocean waves. Not too wet, but when you put it in your hand and make a fist, it starts to make or mold into a little ball. If you still need more water, add just a wee bit at a time until you reach this consistency. Then you are ready.

6) Spoon the sugar into the molds and press firmly in. This will be similar to when you pack brown sugar into a cup.

7) When you are done, brush the excess sugar away and let these sit in a dry area overnight.

8) The next day, test one by turning the tray upside down, push gently on the back of the cube and see if it's nice and solid. *hint* ~ make sure that the mold is close to the counter when you are releasing it or it may break. If they are all ready, remove them and store in an airtight container or serve.

Mustaches

Stars

Roses

Hearts

Sky's the limit!

And guess what, these make sweet little gifts for parties and showers too!

Patriotic Flag Cake

What could be more festive than families and friends gathering to watch the whimsy in the sky of fire bursts and fireworks? Not much. So I really wanted to make a festive cake for the occasion that could stand up for the cause, a great celebration of the Land of the free! Pretty much, I think this delicious cake did just that considering it was so pretty and so patriotic. God Bless our great country!

Patriotic Flag Cake~
Two Red Cakes
One white cake
One blue cake
Frosting
*note~ I used the recipe below for my white and blue cake. It was delicious and it held up well to being cut!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/tender-white-cake-recipe

1) Cut cooled cakes into the following shapes below. One red cake was cut in half and then set aside. The other red cake was cut in half and I took a small round bowl, set it on top of the half and cut out the small circle. All extra scraps and half of cake I put aside to make cake balls for a later date.
2) For the white cake, I cut it in half. I kept one half and with the other half, took the same small bowl, set it on top for my template and cut out a small circle. Again, extra pieces were set aside for later use for cake balls.
3) For the blue cake, I cut just the top off to even it ( you'll need the whole cake for this part) and used the small bowl for a template and cut out the middle. (Middle piece saved for later use.)
Now to begin~

4) I started with half of the red cake and placed it on my serving platter and lightly frosted the top.

5) I placed the white on top, frosted it and then the red on top of that and frosted it. Easy enough so far.

6) I placed the blue round on top next.

7) In the center, gently place the white round inside. I frosted the white round.

8) Now, in the center, I placed the red round in and I gently pressed on it to make sure it was even with the blue layer.

9) Lightly frosted the whole cake.

10) To frost my cake, I decided to do an ombre (layered blending color look) style using a star tip. In a separate bowl, I added blue coloring to about a cup of frosting and mixed well.

11) I frosted the first layer of the bottom of the cake making little rosettes by making a circle and a half motions.

12) For the next layer of rosettes, I emptied the remainder of the frosting from my frosting bag into the bowl with blue frosting, added about 1/2 cup of white frosting and mixed well. Now I have a lighter shade of blue to frost the middle layer.

13) I repeated the next step for the next and last layer of blue by adding more white frosting.

14) For the very top layer, I used white only making rosettes on the outside top, moving in to fill in the center. Then I added a pretty marzipan flag that I made just for the occasion. Find the recipe and how to for the Marzipan flag here... http://celebratemywhimsy.blogspot.com/2013/07/homemade-marzipan.html

And Voila... Here's a pretty cake for the holiday. And now for the best part....