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When it comes to baking cakes and cupcakes, a number of interesting issues can rise up if you're not careful and don't follow the right steps. Troubleshoot baking cakes and cupcakes with help from a two-time winner of Food Network's Cupcake Wars in this free video clip.
A number of different things can cause uneven baking in cookies if you're not careful. Find out what causes uneven baking in cookies with help from a two-time winner of Food Network's Cupcake Wars in this free video clip.
Making colored frosting for cupcakes requires you to start with a classic white frosting. Make colored frosting for cupcakes with help from a cupcake artist and baker in this free video clip.
Making a moist cupcake from scratch isn't impossible, but it can be tricky. Learn the secrets to make a moist cupcake from scratch with help from a cupcake artist and baker in this free video clip.
Open faced, oven baked grilled cheese sandwiches are a favorite in many homes. Make an open faced oven baked grilled cheese sandwich with help from a chef and culinary instructor in this free video clip.
White cake frosting can be made right in the comfort of your own home. Learn the recipe for white cake frosting with help from a lead cake designer in this free video clip.
Covering a cake in fondant requires a few very specific steps. Learn how to cover a cake in fondant with help from a lead cake designer in this free video clip.
Cocoa frosting is a great finishing touch for any cake. Make cocoa frosting with help from a lead cake designer in this free video clip.
Stripping your deck surface allows you to change the look of the wood, enabling you to paint it, add new stain or sealant. Commercial deck strippers are laden with chemicals that can irritate your skin and cause damage to nearby landscaping. But you can make your own deck stripper using ingredients found around the home. By mixing a homemade deck stripper, you can be fully aware of the ingredients being used to strip your deck.
You can make vegan organic cupcakes in a very specific way right at home. Make vegan organic cupcakes with help from a nutrition expert and food educator in this free video clip.
Ovens can take a lot of abuse over the course of the years. Because they are used so frequently they get dirty and food spills only add to the problem. One solution -- though not recommended -- is to place aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to contain spills; however, high temperatures can make the aluminum foil stick to the bottom of the oven. You can remove this baked-on foil with items around your house.
The tiny precise folds of paper cupcake paper liners, mimic the zigzag edges of carnation petals. Swirl several layers of liners into a paper carnation with many tightly packed inner petals, just like a real carnation. Paper cupcake liners are available in a wide variety of colors and prints. Mix striped or dotted liners in coordinating colors to create unusual flowers that are perfect for dressing up a gift wrapped in plain paper. Enhance printed gift wrap with an elegant, classic carnation made from plain white paper liners.
Oven-baked clay, also known as polymer clay, is a synthetic alternative to natural clay. It is an ideal material to use for handmade jewelry due to its versatility, ease of use and availability in a wide range of colors. Once baked in the home oven, polymer clay has a low sheen. To create polymer clay pendants that look like ceramic, apply liquid clay over the finished piece. To make a matching bracelet or earrings, purchase jewelry findings at any craft store.
When you need to bake a cake, but have a limited supply of baking pans, rummage through your pantry for substitute supplies, such as vegetable cans. Vegetable cans, which come packaged in tin, can be emptied and reused for baking small cakes. When you bake with vegetable cans it's important to note that the baking time will need to change in order to account for the shape of the cake. It may take longer for the cake to bake than it would in a regular cake pan, because the vegetable can is deeper.
Avoid paying high prices for store-bought cupcake stands. Custom-design your own three-tier, banded cupcake stand instead. Purchase inexpensive cardboard cake rounds and decorate with wrapping paper. Add matching bands of ribbon to complement the theme and the color scheme of your event. This three-tier stand will hold 20 to 24 cupcakes. Find cake stand supplies in the cake decorating section of your local craft store or online.
Three-dimensional cakes are visually dynamic, but they pose a challenge when it comes to decorating them. Applying a single layer of fondant to cover an entire cake simplifies the process, if you are decorating a basic round or sheet cake. But covering a varied surface with raised details is not the easiest task to manage. By applying gentle pressure to the fondant-draped cake, you can shape the fondant to mirror the cake's details perfectly.
The screen in Apple’s iPad uses a special type of scratch proof aluminosilicate glass. The glass is flat, hard and glossy -- well-suited to the iPad’s touch-operated interface. As the iPad’s screen is a high-resolution display and a control surface, the scratch-resistant glass is an important feature, as it keeps the thin screen from cracking from normal bumps and jolts.
A centerpiece banner atop your cluster of cupcakes is a creative -- and edible -- way to maintain the theme of any party or get together. The concept behind this decoration idea is for each cupcake to have one topper that contributes to the centerpiece banner as a whole. For instance, a birthday party banner that says Happy Birthday might have one letter as a topper for each cupcake, so that the first cupcake's topper is H, the next one is A and so on.
Toddlers love breaking, peeling and stepping on crayons. After time, scattered pieces and frazzled nerves may force you to redirect your child's energy. For a much-needed break, or a rainy-day project, try melting crayons into larger pieces. Crafting crayon blocks from useless crayon fragments provides a fun lesson in recycling. And mixing the colors to create new hues tests your young artist's mind.
Wire or china cupcake trees are beautiful and festive, but they're also expensive and awkward to store. With a few craft supplies, create a tiered cardboard cupcake display trimmed to perfectly match your party decorations or table linens. Use this same sort of display in different sizes to set out tea sandwiches, brownies, even hot and cold hors d'oeuvres.
The popularity of cupcakes has led to them making appearances at weddings along with or even in place of traditional wedding cakes. The cupcakes can be set up in a central location or can be used as a centerpiece for each guest table. Many brides opt for a homey touch to these cupcake centerpieces by creating them out of regular household items, such as plates, cups and candlesticks. You can use champagne glasses to create elegant cupcake stand centerpieces for your wedding reception, bridal shower or other event.
Decorative frosting and multiple layers can make cake just as appealing to the eyes as it is to the taste buds. To some cake and pastry chefs, layers and frosting are merely a canvas. Airbrushing has become a popular tool for dessert chefs, allowing them to paint edible works of art onto the surface of cakes. If you'd like to take your cake decorating skills to the next level, there are essential airbrushing techniques you should know about.
There are a great many people who don't like or are allergic to many of the common ingredients found in baked goods, such as eggs. Fortunately, just about every one of the basic ingredients in a cake can be substituted or omitted, including eggs. There are many different things that you can replace an egg with, but one popular alternative for baked goods is a banana.
Creating a tiered cake can be a trial. In addition to constructing the cake, you have a lot of space to decorate. Finishing a tiered cake in fondant eases the stress immensely. Many home decorators find it difficult to apply frosting evenly to a broad surface. It is much easier to achieve a smooth, final presentation by enrobing a frosted cake with rolled fondant. To assemble a two-tier fondant cake you should apply the base layer of fondant to each tier before reinforcing the cakes with dowel rods and stacking them.
Nothing suits a summer pool party better than a swimming pool-themed cake. Whether you're attending a neighbor's backyard bash or hosting a birthday party for your favorite little swimmer, a cake with a pool on it is both impressive and relatively simple to make. Start with your favorite cake and frosting recipes and add blue gelatin and a few candy decorations to transform a plain cake into a pool party show-stopper.
The "Backyardigans" show features five animal friends -- Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Austin and Uniqua -- who use their imaginations to make-believe wonderful adventures in their backyard. The show, with its fanciful music and dance numbers, is popular with the 2 through 10 age group and makes an excellent party theme. Use store-bought fondant, buttercream frosting and box cake mix to save time.
Fondant gives a cake a finished look, and is often used to make wedding cakes and larger birthday cakes look more professional. Airbrush a fondant-covered cake to give it a sheen or color, making it look more finished.
Vegan baked eggplant is a nice, hearty dish that can feed multiple people. Learn how to make Vegan baked eggplant with help from the author of "The Accidental Vegan" in this free video clip.
Oats are a highly nutritious grain, but quick to spoil if not handled correctly. They contain an enzyme that acts on the oils in the grain, turning it rancid in as little as a few weeks. To prevent this, oats are given a gentle roasting at the beginning of the milling process. This par-cooking deactivates the enzyme and gives the oats a mild but pleasant nuttiness. The partially cooked oats are called groats, sometimes spelled grouts in older cookbooks. Finely milled groats, called "steel-cut" oatmeal here, can be used instead of rolled oats to bake oatcakes.
A great Shepard's pie can include a layer of corn for additional flavor. Make the best Shepard's pie with a layer of corn with help from the Executive Chef at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in this free video clip.
For a chef on a budget, riblets make a tender, satisfying alternative to full-sized ribs. Riblets are ribs that have been cut in half, so they are only 2 to 4 inches long. Because they come from the same cut of meat as traditional ribs, all the same flavorings and cooking techniques apply. Marinate your riblets overnight before cooking them to give them a melting tenderness, and brown them when they are nearly done to top them with a sweet or smoky glaze.
Make miniature pies for a whimsical take on a favorite dessert. You don't need any special equipment, just your favorite pie crust and a muffin tin. Make pies bite-sized by using a miniature muffin tin, all you need to do is adjust the baking time. Before you add your filling, bake the pie shells for a few minutes to ensure that your miniature crusts keep their shape. This process, known as blind baking, prevents the crust from becoming soggy from wet fillings. It's also used for fillings that don't require baking, like custards and cream pies.
Tiered cakes are usually made of at least two cakes, stacked or tiered one upon the other in order of size. The bigger or biggest cake is normally at the bottom of the tier, while the smaller or smallest cake is on top, depending on the number of tiers. The cakes are usually highly decorative, and the tiering serves to provide a visual impact as well as reduce the amount of space required by the cakes. You can choose to place cake boards between the layers of a two tier cake depending on the method of stacking and the moisture…
Tiered cakes can provide a flowing, dramatic appearance for any celebration or event. Cakes are heavy, and stacking them can cause the layers to compress in the middle, ruining the even, level look. Internal reinforcement can provide the stability necessary to protect the finished product. Support the tiers properly to reinforce the center weight of each layer, maintaining the smooth, balanced finish.
Eggs burn easily when cooked at high temperatures. The top of the egg may look perfectly done while the bottom is baking onto the bottom of the pot. Cooking for a longer time at a lower temperature helps eliminate this issue. Removing the baked egg from the pot without damaging the finish on the interior requires a mild cleaner that loosens the egg without using abrasives. Egg residue tends to lift easily from the pot once it's loosened sufficiently.
Presenting your cupcake on a stand is an elegant way of displaying your flair for baking. Many cupcake stands are designed in towers to present multiple cupcakes, but you can display your single creation on a stand designed for one cupcake. The display could be an aesthetically-pleasing way to present cupcakes at a party. For example, you could create a more pleasing presentation of multiple cupcakes by having a single erected cupcake overlooking the others.
Decorate plain plates with glaze and then bake them in the home oven for a custom look. The paint and plates you choose for this project play a big role in the finished look, so select your supplies with care. Use a design or pattern and color scheme that will complement your home or create an accent for a special holiday. Finished plates can be used in a variety of ways, and once baked, the design is permanent.
When setting up your booth at a bridal show, remember that appearance matters. Make eye-catching cake displays to make sure that your booth is the center of attention. The cake is a very important part of the wedding ceremony and you want your display to be the most memorable.
Sodium chloride is also known as rock salt and is the most common form of ice melter. This is because sodium chloride is less expensive than other ice melters (such as calcium chloride). Rock salt is effective down to roughly 20 degrees Fahrenheit. If you wish to make your own ice melting devices using sodium chloride, rather than continuing to purchase sodium chloride cakes, you can easily do so. The process requires an old pair of stockings and can be completed fairly quickly.
Create colorful cupcake appliques to attach to your fabric craft projects. Use a bright solid color of ruffle fabric to create the textured icing and a coordinating patterned fabric to form the base. Keep the base a simple one color to represent the color of the cake or use a bolder pattern to create the cupcake wrapper. Creating the appliques requires a basic knowledge of sewing, though hand stitching is suitable for even beginners.
One way to create a big-cake look without baking a lot of cake is to make the upper tiers of the cake with Styrofoam. Unless you cut into the fake cake, no one ever has to know your secret. Serve your guests from the bottom “real” layers of cake. While bakery suppliers sell frostings designed for display cakes made from Styrofoam, you can make your own fondant, suitable for Styrofoam cakes. This way, you can use the fondant for your real layers, as well as the Styrofoam ones to maintain a consistent look.
An average cupcake lover enjoys a sweet treat now and then, but a real aficionado will wear a cupcake as an accessory. A realistic looking cupcake made of ribbons is relatively easy to make with two types of ribbon and some cardboard. Grosgrain ribbon is flat and will serve as the wrapper for the cupcake. Korker ribbon has natural curls and will make a delicious, fluffy "frosting" for your accessory. Glue an alligator clip to the back of the cupcake to make it easy to attach to your clothing.
Buttercream icing is made with either butter or shortening, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla and a small amount of milk. It creates a basic white frosting. By varying the quantities of each ingredient and adding corn syrup or food coloring, the consistency of buttercream icing will vary to accommodate a variety of cake decorating techniques. Design your decorations and make your buttercream icing in the consistency best suited to your creation.
The legend of the Pied Piper tells of a man in pied clothing who is hired to lure rats from a town, but when the townspeople refuse to pay for his services, he retaliates by luring the children away from their parents with his magic pipe, never to be heard from again. The Pied Piper is a classic costume that has endured over the years and can easily be created by repurposing modern clothing.
Anyone who has been frustrated while trying to frost a cake with buttercream, royal or other icings can understand the usefulness of rolled fondant icing. Whether it's getting crumbs in the surface of the icing or tearing the surface of the cake, rolled fondant icing makes all those issues moot. Plus, rolled fondant can mask any surface imperfections the cake may have. Placing rolled fondant on a round cake is a matter of getting the proper consistency and placement.
Create a professional-looking dessert by using fondant over your homemade cake. Fondant is a sugar-based confection that can be rolled onto cakes for an ultra smooth finish or pressed into shapes like edible play dough. Professional bakers use fondant for wedding cakes or expertly decorated celebration desserts, and you can attach fondant to your cake with ease.
Achieving the correct consistency for frosting is tricky, especially for an amateur attempting to make the delicious treat from scratch. Royal icing is the standard used by bakers to create a product stiff enough to stand up on cupcakes and other confections. It can take years of practice to perfect a royal icing recipe, which isn’t much help when you immediately need cupcakes for a birthday party or bake sale. Stiffen store-bought icing with an ingredient that won’t alter its taste, giving you the consistency you require.
Cupcakes are a great treat for parties, special occasions or even just a regular afternoon. Make cupcakes with help from a recipe developer and cookbook author in this free video clip.
Eggs are a basic ingredient in cake recipes. Bakers create few if any cakes without eggs because the ingredient plays so many crucial roles in the baking process. The only exception to egg inclusion is when bakers prepare vegan cakes. Even then, an egg-like substitute is in the recipe in place of the authentic product. Eggs provide moisture and flavor and support the structure of the finished cake. Eggs are indispensable; contemporary cakes wouldn't be possible without them.
You can make an outside baking oven with brick, rocks or even mud, like adobe. Protect your oven regardless of what it's made of by adding a layer of stucco, topped off with a layer of paint, to protect it from the elements. Build your outdoor oven at ground level or raise it off the ground with a base of several courses of bricks.
