Crock-Pot Chili

This week for Comfort Food Feast, FN Dish had us create a delicious chili recipe in honor of the big football game this coming Sunday!  However, chili is not just for football, but for any day! Chili is just such a perfect comfort meal.  It is easy to make, makes your house smell warm and delicious, and it makes plenty of leftovers!

Now, I have a recipe for my chili that you can find here.  The recipe that I used for this post is exactly the same as my traditional chili recipe, the only difference being the crock-pot.  So, if you are looking to cook the chili a little faster (in under 2 hours), then use the link to my older post for the details on how to prep that chili.  However, I will still provide the recipe for the slow cooker version here, but I promise, it is exactly the same!  I just love to use my slow cooker when I have time on the weekends because it allows the flavors to meld together for longer and makes the whole house smell so darn good!

Crock-Pot Chili (Same recipe as the Sweet & Spicy Chili)

Ingredients:
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 green bell pepper, chopped
-2 teaspoons minced garlic
-2 pounds ground beef
-2 19 ounce cans of dark red kidney beans, strained and rinsed
-1 cup beef broth
-1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
-1 12 ounce bottle Heinz chili sauce
-1 tablespoon cumin
-1 teaspoon chili powder (add more for more spice)
-Extra virgin olive oil (about a tablespoon)
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Sour cream and shredded cheese (optional for topping)

Directions:
Throw all of the ingredients into a crock-pot, and set your timer to 4, 6, 8, or 10 hours (or however long your crock-pot allows for).  I usually let my crock-pot go for 6-8 hours.  I have a programmable crock pot that I love! If you are looking for one or looking to upgrade, I highly recommend this crock pot:

Then, grab a spoon and dig in! Enjoy!

Below are the other Bloggers who participated this week:
Jeanette's Healthy Living: Crock Pot Cincinnati Chicken Chili
The Heritage Cook: Gluten-Free Green Chile and Chicken Taco Bowls
The Cultural Dish: Crock-Pot Chili
Big Girls, Small Kitchen: Healthy Chicken Chili With Barley
What's Gaby Cooking: Smoky Chipotle Chicken Chili
Feed Me Phoebe: Chicken and White Bean Chili
Dishin & Dishes: Lean Mean Game-Day Chili
The Lemon Bowl: Beef Chili With Black Beans
Devour: 4 Twists on Chili for the Super Bowl
Thursday Night Dinner: 3 Most Favorite Chili Recipes
Mooshu Jenne: Pinto Bean Chili
FN Dish: 7 Chili Recipes for the Big Game Pin It

Daring Bakers' Challenge: Gevulde Speculaas

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!

Now, I was so excited to be back in the Daring Bakers' Challenge this month, because I had never heard of Gevulde Speculaas before, but it sounded amazing! I immediately went to my kitchen to check on all of my spices.  Making this pastry definitely forces you check your spices to ensure that they are actually good and have not been sitting in your cabinet for years!

Once I knew all of my ingredients were good to go, I went to work right away! I followed Francijn's advice too and prepared all of the ingredients a day ahead of time so that the flavors could meld together.  I highly recommend doing this if you decide to try this tasty new treat.

Just as a note, although this recipe may seem complicated and appear to require a lot of work, it really does not! It was actually quite simple and enjoyable to make, so don't let the list of spices scare you away!

 Gevulde Speculaas

Recipe Speculaas Spices (From Koken in de Brouwerij)

Mandatory:
-Cinnamon 40 to 60 % of the total amount

-Ground cloves 1 or 2 parts
-Mace ½ or 1 part
-Ginger ½ or 1 part
Optional:
-White pepper ½ or 1 part
-Cardamom ½ or 1 part
-Coriander ½ or 1 part
-Anise ½ or 1 part
-Nutmeg 1 or 2 parts

Directions:

Take at least 1 or 2 teaspoons of ground cloves, ½ or 1 teaspoon of mace and ½ or 1 teaspoon of ginger. 
Add to taste ½ or 1 teaspoon of white pepper, ½ or 1 teaspoon of cardamom, ½ or 1 teaspoon of coriander, ½ or 1 teaspoon of anise, and 1 or 2 teaspoons of nutmeg.
Measure or weigh the amount of spices you have now, and add an equal amount of cinnamon. 

For my Gevulde Speculaas, I mixed the following proportions of spices:

-2 teaspoons nutmeg

-1 teaspoon cloves

-1 teaspoon ginger

-1 teaspoon cardamom

-1/2 teaspoon mace

-1/2 teaspoon white pepper

-1/2 teaspoon coriander

-1/2 teaspoon anise

-Cinnamon equal to the amount of spices I used

(This picture is from Francijn, and illustrates how she uses her spices to make the mix)

Almond Paste Recipe

Ingredients:
-7/8 cup (210 ml)(125 gm)(4½ oz) raw almonds (or 1-1/3 cups (320 ml)(125 gm) (4½ oz) ground almonds)
-5/8 cup (150 ml) (125 grams) (4½ oz) granulated sugar
-1 large egg
-1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) lemon zest

Directions:
If the raw almonds still have their brown skins, remove them as follows:

Bring water to a boil, add the almonds, cook them for one minute, drain immediately and let cool for a few minutes. Rub them between your fingers to remove the skins. 

Grind the almonds for one or two minutes in a food processor, until you see nothing but very small pieces. (Or skip this step if you use ground almonds.) Add the sugar, and grind for another one or two minutes. It must be very fine after this step. Add the egg and lemon zest until all ingredients are combined in the food processor. 

Store the almond paste in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Although the flavor gets better as days pass by, it is not wise to store the paste for too long, as it contains a raw egg. 

Speculaas Dough Recipe

Ingredients:
-1¾ cups (250 gm) (9 oz) all purpose (plain) flour
-1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking powder
-¾ cup (150 grams) (5-1/3 oz) brown sugar, firmly packed
-a pinch salt
-2 tablespoons (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) speculaas spices
-3/4 cup (1½ stick) (175 gm) (6 oz) unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

-Milk if needed for combining 

Directions:
Put flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices in a bowl.  Add in the diced butter and knead until smooth.  Add a little milk if the dough is too dry, but only add a small amount, a little at a time.  I only ended up needing 1 tablespoon of milk once the butter smoothed out and held the dough together. 

Wrap the dough tightly and put in the refrigerator for at least two hours or over night.  Since I made the dough a day ahead of time, I stored it overnight so that the flavors could really meld.  You can also freeze the dough. 

Assembling and Baking the Gevulde Speculaas

Ingredients:
-Speculaas dough
-Almond paste
-Whole almonds without skins for decoration
-1 large egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water for egg wash
-Shallow baking pan, 8x10 square or round, or 8x8 (whichever you prefer for the size and design you want to cut your pieces).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your baking pan. 

Then, divide your speculaas dough in half.  Roll out one half of the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about the size of your baking dish.  Press the dough down into the baking dish until it covers the entire bottom of the dish.  Then, taking a little bit of your egg wash, brush the wash over the dough in the pan. 

Next, take your almond paste and press it evenly over the dough in the pan.  If you made the dough ahead of time, then you can use your hands to push down and spread out the paste.  However, if you just made the paste, it should still be smooth and soft enough to spread out with a spoon or spatula.  Using your egg wash again, brush another layer lightly over the almond paste. 

Then, take your second piece of dough, and just like the first piece, roll it out and place it down on top of the almond paste.  Brush the remaining egg wash on top of the dough, and decorate with almonds as you desire.  

Bake the pastry in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.  Once done, let the pastry cool completely in the baking dish before serving.  

Cut the pieces up as you wish and enjoy! This pastry truly was so delicious and made my kitchen smell so wonderful! I actually really enjoyed having this with a cup of coffee and it reminded me a lot of an almond coffee cake.  Thank you again to Francijn for having us make this traditional Dutch pastry.  It will surely be making an appearance in my kitchen again!

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Pizza Pizza Pizza! Three Delicious Variations

This week for the Comfort Food Feast, FN Dish had us make one of the ultimate comfort foods that everyone loves - Pizza! Pizza is just one of those meals, that no matter how old you are, you could always eat with a smile on your face! There is just something about pizza that brings back childhood memories of weekends with friends, sleepovers, and summer. Ah the finer days of life!

Pizza is also extremely easy to make, and thank God too, because ever since we got our pizza stone, my hubby has been requesting it every weekend! I may have to cut him off for a few weeks... The beautiful thing about pizza though (aside from it's taste, smell, texture, and, well, everything else), is that you can be as creative as you want to be! In the mood for something simple? Then just use tomato sauce and cheese as your toppings. In the mood for something more elaborate? Then try different meats and veggies as your toppings. The opportunities are endless when it comes to pizza!

Since you can never have too much pizza, and you can never have too many varieties of pizza, I made three different variations. Hopefully these three variations will make you hungry and inspire you to try some of your own experimentation...

 Pizza Three Ways!

Ingredients

For the Dough (enough for 2 large or 3 small pizzas):
-3 1/2 to 4 cups flour (Please Note: I use whole wheat bread flour, but in general, if you use all-purpose flour versus bread flour, just know that the texture and taste will be different.)
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 packet rapid rise yeast
-1 1/2 cups warm water

Directions:
Start with 3 cups of your flour, and add to a bowl with the salt. Set aside.

In another small bowl, pour in the olive oil, sugar, and yeast, and then pour in the water. Stir just a couple of times to mix in the sugar and yeast, but then let it stand for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid becomes frothy and foams from the yeast.

Once the liquid foams a little, pour it into the flour and mix. At this point, I usually just take off my rings and dig in with my hands. Slowly add more flour a little at a time if needed.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and continue kneading for about 5-10 minutes, or until the dough because smooth. Lightly grease a bowl and place the dough in the greased bowl. Cover with a dry towel and let sit in a warm, dry, place for an hour. I sometimes put the bowl under the oven light if I am in a rush!

This is the dough prior to be kneaded... 

...And after being kneaded

After an hour, the dough should have risen and doubled in size. Turn the dough out on a clean and lightly floured surface. Literally punch down the dough and knead again for a minute. Divide the dough in half (if making 2 pizzas) or in thirds (if making 3 smaller pizzas) and place the dough halves in separate greased bowls. Cover the bowls again with a towel and let rise for about another 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the dough has risen again, you can plastic wrap it and refrigerate it for later use, or roll it out to use right away.

If using right away, make sure to preheat your oven to 475 degrees F, and let the pizza stone sit in the oven while it is preheating.  If you do not have a pizza stone, you can also use a regular baking pan.

Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita Topping:
-1 recipe of your favorite tomato sauce
-About a 1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese, sliced
-Fresh basil

Directions:
Roll out your pizza dough to about 12 to 13 inches.  Lightly drizzle just a little olive oil on the dough and spoon some of your tomato sauce onto the dough, making sure to leave about a 1 inch border for the crust.  Once the sauce has been spread out on the dough, top with slices of mozzarella cheese and some fresh basil (use as much or as little as you like).

Slide onto your pizza stone in the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes.  In order to slide the pizza in, I use parchment paper and leave it underneath the pizza so it can be easily moved in and out of the oven.

White Pizza

White Pizza Topping:
-1 cup ricotta cheese
-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
-1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Basil and oregano to taste
-Olive oil
-Fresh parsley for sprinkling on top

Directions:
In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a little basil and oregano.  Set aside.

On your rolled out pizza dough, lightly drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle with garlic.  Spoon out the ricotta cheese mixture onto the dough, leaving about a 1 inch border for the crust.  Evenly spread out the mixture and then top with the shredded mozzarella.  Finish the topping off by sprinkling some fresh parsley on top.

Slide onto your pizza stone and bake for 10-12 minutes.  In order to slide the pizza in, I use parchment paper and leave it underneath the pizza so it can be easily moved in and out of the oven.

Caramelized Onion & Sausage Pizza

Caramelized Onion and Sausage Pizza Topping:
-1 pound ground sausage
-1 16oz package of mushrooms (optional - my hubs is obsessed with mushrooms so I always use them)
-2 onions, peeled and sliced
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 tablespoon butter
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Gorgonzola cheese for sprinkling
-Freshly chopped basil for sprinkling

Directions:
Melt the butter and olive oil in a skillet and add the onions.  Cook the onions until they begin to caramelize (turn brown and golden) - about 20 minutes.  Once the onions are done, add in the sausage, mushrooms, salt, and pepper.  Continue cooking for a few more minutes until the sausage has cooked.

Remove the meat mixture from the stove and spook out evenly onto a prepared pizza dough.  Make sure to leave about a 1 inch border for the crust.  Sprinkle the Gorgonzola cheese and basil on top.

Slide your pizza into the oven on the pizza stone and bake for 10-12 minutes.  In order to slide the pizza in, I use parchment paper and leave it underneath the pizza so it can be easily moved in and out of the oven.

I hope you enjoy these three pizzas and venture out to create some of your own delicious concoctions!

For other delicious pizza recipes, check out the links below:

Jeanette's Healthy Living:Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mini Pizza Faces
Feed Me Phoebe:Deep-Dish Polenta Pizza With Onions and Pesto
Cooking With Elise:Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza
Haute Apple Pie:Honey, Gouda and Goat Cheese Pizza
What's Gaby Cooking:Loaded Veggie and Prosciutto Pizza
Sweet Life Bake:Mexican Pizza - Tlayuda con Chorizo y Frijoles
Devour: Unexpected but Delicious Pizza Toppings
Virtually Homemade:Mashed Potato Bacon Pizza
The Cultural Dish:Pizza, Pizza, Pizza! Three Delicious Variations
Thursday Night Dinner:Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza
The Heritage Cook:Gluten-Free Pizza Focaccia
FN Dish:As Quick as Delivery Pizza Recipes
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Bananas Foster French Toast

For the Improv Challenge this month, Kristen at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, challenged myself and fellow bloggers to make a recipe using bananas and nutmeg.  Since I absolutely adore using nutmeg in my cooking and baking and I eat bananas practically every day in my breakfast smoothies, I was so excited for this challenge!

After much deliberation about what to make - banana nut bread, pancakes, bread pudding, french toast, bananas foster - I decided to combine a classic breakfast recipe with a classic dessert recipe.  Enter, Bananas Foster French Toast!

Bananas Foster French Toast

For the Toast:
-4 to 6 slices of Texas toast, french bread, or your own favorite type of bread for french toast
-4 eggs
-1 cup half and half
-2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1 teaspoon nutmeg
-1 teaspoon sugar (normally I may add a bit more, but since the bananas will be so sweet and sugary, I used less)
*Please Note: Sometimes I may need to add a little more half and half or another egg depending on how much I let the toast soak up the ingredients and if I end up needing to make a larger batch

For the Bananas:
-3 ripe bananas, sliced about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick
-1 cup brown sugar
-4 tablespoons (1/2 of a stick) butter, unsalted
-1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional - but I add this in for the breakfast version)
-1 tablespoon of rum extract (optional)
-Chopped walnuts or pecans for topping

Directions:
In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, half and half, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.  Take your bread slices and dip them in the egg mixture.  Flip them over to coat the other side and let soak for about a minute.

Melt the butter in a skillet to grease and coat, and then add the battered slices of toast to the skillet.  Let cook for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove from the skillet and set aside on a serving dish.

Then, in a separate saucepan, prepare the bananas foster.  Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the brown sugar, syrup, and flavoring (if using).  Once the sugar has dissolved, carefully add in the bananas and let cook for a couple of minutes while the sauce begins to boil and thicken.  Make sure to coat all of the bananas with the sauce.  After a couple of minutes, carefully spoon out the bananas and a little of the sauce, and pour them over the french toast. 

Serve immediately and sprinkle with some chopped walnuts or pecans for a little crunch! Enjoy!





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Chocolate Chip Cookie Goodness

This week for FN Dish's Comfort Food Fest, myself and other bloggers had to make the famous chocolate chip cookie! Chocolate chip cookies are an absolute classic! Sure, I may love creme brulee, pecan pie, eclairs, cheesecake, etc... but there is just something so comforting and timeless about the chocolate chip cookie.  Whenever I am craving something chocolatey and easy to make, this is my go to dessert!

Now, although chocolate chip cookies may be a classic, I find that they are also one of the most debated cookie recipes out there.  There are so many versions out there that just trying to look at them all on the Internet can give you a headache! I have been known to jazz up my cookies from time to time  by adding nuts or white chocolate chips, etc.  However, no matter how many different ways I try my cookies, I always end up going back to my tried and true recipe.  It is simple, quick, and delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
-1 cup shortening
-3/4 cup sugar
-3/4 cup dark brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-Just under a teaspoon of salt
-2 1/4 cups of flour
-1 12oz bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together the shortening and sugars.  Once combined, mix in the eggs and vanilla.  Slowly mix in the salt, baking soda, and flour.  Just add the flour a little at a time until well combined. Then, last but not least, mix in the chocolate chips! And steal a few for yourself to eat too..

Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop out the dough in round mounds and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Place the cookies in the oven for 9-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.  The time will really depend on how big or small you make your cookies and how hard or chewy you like your cookies.

Once done, remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.  Then, pour a large glass of milk (or coffee - these are a great breakfast too!) and enjoy every bite of your chocolatey goodness!





















For more great Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes, check out the links below:

Big Girls, Small Kitchen:Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie Breakfast Bars
Jeanette's Healthy Living:Gluten-Free Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
What's Gaby Cooking:Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Lemon Bowl:Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
From My Corner of Saratoga:Chocolate Chip Cookies
Napa Farmhouse 1885:New Year's Resolution Chocolate Chip Cookies
Red or Green?:Tao's Double-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Made By Michelle:The Best Blondies, Ever
Cooking With Elise:Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sweet Life Bike:Dulce de Leche Chocolate Chip Cookies
Virtually Homemade:Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Cultural Dish:Chocolate Chip Cookie Goodness
Thursday Night Dinner:Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Dishin & Dishes:Chocolaty Chocolate Chip Cookies
Daily*Dishin:Chocolate Chip and Candied Bacon Cookies With Pecans
Devour:5 Takes on Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
FN Dish:The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie



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Rainbow Cake Tutorial

This post is going to be a little different compared to my usual recipe posts.  As some of you may know, I also like to make cakes on the side for fun, and I am often asked how I got into it and how I actually make the cakes themselves.  So I decided to dedicate this post to a little tutorial!

During college I began making cakes on the side for some extra money.  After graduating, I continued to grow my side business and began adding weddings and other catered events to my repertoire.  Now that I am done school though and am working full time, I ended up slowing down once again, and am only making them occasionally.  However, I still often get asked how I bake the cakes, how I come up with designs, and how I actually carry out the designs.  To be completely honest, I have no actual cake decorating background.  I just kept on practicing and with each cake, the finished product became better and better.  I also do my best to stick to the ideas and designs that people request, and if people do not have any specifications, then google search becomes my best friend! 

Normally I do not take photos of my cakes and pastries until they are completed, because once I am in the zone, I just trudge through until I am finished.  However, with one of my more recent cakes, that was actually for my little sister, I decided to photograph it (when I remembered) and create a step by step tutorial since this cake was honestly fairly simple and a lot of fun to make!

Rainbow Cake Tutorial

What you will need:

-1 vanilla or white cake recipe (choose your favorite), doubled

-About 5-6 cups frosting (I used my own vanilla frosting for this recipe, but it does not matter if you want to use chocolate or any other flavor frosting that your prefer)

-Satin Ice fondant in white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  You can either buy all of these colors individually, or make them yourself by mixing the white fondant with the proper color. 

-Piping bag or plastic sandwich bag with a corner cut off

-Confectioners sugar for rolling out the fondant

-9in round cake pans (I have several of them, but if you only have one or two, just keep rotating them out).

Please Note:

Many people do not like fondant.  In fact, I do not even like fondant.  However, when I discovered Satin Ice, it honestly changed my outlook on fondant! Normally fondant can taste really chalky and chewy, but I love using satin ice because you can get different flavors, and I find that it is the most pliable and easiest to work with.  However, if you have a fondant recipe or brand that you like, then stick to that, but I would definitely recommend trying out satin ice. 

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to the temperature that your cake recipe calls for. 

Prepare the batter of your favorite vanilla or white cake recipe, and make sure to double it so that you have enough batter.  Divide the batter evenly amongst 6 bowls (or do 3 at a time, which is what I did to save dishes).  Dye one bowl red, another bowl orange, another yellow, etc etc until each bowl represents a color in the rainbow. 

Step 2:

Once the colors are all mixed, add each batter to a round, greased pan and place in the oven.  There will be less batter in each pan since it was divided, so don't worry if you think you have less - that is correct!  Just keep in mind that the cooking time will be less.  My cakes were done in 14 minutes, so keep an eye on them. 

Step 3:

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pans.  Once cooled, flip each cake out of their respective pan.  I then immediately wrap the cakes up in tin foil or plastic wrap and place them in the freezer to chill for awhile.  Don't worry, they will stay perfectly moist! In fact, people are often shocked after eating one of my cakes when I tell them that I always freeze them after taking them out the pan.  although they are in the freezer, cakes do not really freeze all the way through anyway, and it makes cutting and decorating them A LOT easier!

Step 4:

After a couple of hours (or the next day, whenever you are decorating), remove the cakes from the freezer and cut off their tops to even them all out. 

Step 5:

Use a flat, clean surface for this next step (I just used a cutting board).  Take the purple cake and place it cut side down.  Pipe a layer of frosting on top.  Piping the frosting helps to give a nice clean layer of frosting when you cut into it later.  Once the layer of frosting is piped on, even the frosting out if needed.  Then, take the blue cake and place it cut side up on top of the purple cake.  Make sure you have the blue layer cut side up and not cut side down like you did with the purple layer.  Basically, what you will be doing, is rotating each layer of cake, cut side up and cut side down.  This helps to keep everything even and clean. 

Frost the top of the blue layer, and then place the green cake on top, cut side down.  Continue frosting each layer and placing the cakes on top of one another, rotating the cut sides, until you have this: 

Step 6:

Take a long, sharp knife, and cut part of the cake off.  I did not cut it evenly down the middle, but rather, I purposely cut it unevenly so that I had a larger piece to work with and would waste less cake.  

Once you cut the cake, you can either eat the smaller piece, save it for another use, make cake pops out of it, etc etc.  Just make sure you save the larger section since this will be your rainbow! Take the larger section, and wrap it up again with tin foil or plastic wrap, place in the freezer, and freeze for a few minutes. 

Step 7:

While your cake is in the freezer, take a cake board and cover tightly in tin foil.  I always use cardboard cake boards so that is why I wrap them, but you could use a flat serving dish if you have one.  Once the board is wrapped, take a dollop of frosting and place it in the center of the board.  This will act as glue and help to keep your cake in place once you place it on the board. 

Step 8:

Remove the cake from the freezer and carefully unwrap it.  Place the cake, cut side down, on the cake board, and press it down slightly to make sure it sticks into the frosting.  Once the cake is centered on the board, evenly frost the entire outside of the cake.  

Step 9:

Roll out a chunk of the Satin Ice white fondant and use powdered sugar to keep it from sticking.  Roll it out until it is nice and thin and then drape it over the entire cake.  Slowly start to lightly press and smooth out the fondant on top of the cake.  The frosting will act as the glue for the fondant, so make sure when you start to press and smooth it out, that it is placed on evenly. There will be extra fondant hanging off of the side, so just use a knife to cut that off.  

Once the cake is completely covered in fondant, roll out the red fondant just like you did with the white, only this time, cut it into a long rectangular shape.  Take a damp paper towel and lightly wet the top of the cake before placing the red fondant on top.  The water helps to hold pieces of fondant together.  Place the red fondant piece just over the top of the cake (the top of the arch) and allow it to slightly go over the edge as well.  Lightly press down to seal.  Continue rolling out each color of fondant into thin strips, lightly wetting the cake, and then placing each strip down one at a time. 

Step 10:

When all of the strips are on the cake, take a clean, damp, paper towel and lightly rub it all over the entire cake.  This will help to remove any of the sugar that was left from rolling and help to give the cake an overall shine. 

Using your piping bag and frosting, pipe little twirls and circles around the bottom to create the clouds in order to complete the look.  Then, after all of your hard work, dig in and enjoy! :)

Please feel free to leave comments and/or contact me if you have any other questions! Also, feel free to check out some other cakes that I have made...

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