Finally, Michelle has entered the race...

Whew!!

I don't know about you, but I was starting to sweat bullets about making this month's creation in time.  I was without a sink for two weeks.  If that wasn't a huge annoyance!! But as the Avengers said - Whatever it takes.  I assembled and am ready to roll out with my take on this months Bake - Natasha "Strawberry" Romanoff cake.

I followed a recipe for this one and did fake it with a store bought mix because I'm not that skilled yet with making a cake from scratch.  (Okay, to be honest, I don't have the patience to make a cake from scratch unless I am in the mood for concentrated baking time.) 

The cakes were from a simple box of Betty Crocker super moist white cake mix.  While the cakes cooled, I got the stabilizer cream going, which wasn't anywhere near as horrible as I thought it would be. The assembly of the cake was easy enough and was quickly done. I was baking from my mom's kitchen today and the main reason was because I didn't want to have that cake in my house, tempting me.  Sorry, Mom, it gets to be your temptation until it is gone.

 

My one complaint with the recipe that I used today is that it only called for a pint of heavy cream for the stabilizer cream.  It wasn't enough so you can see bare spots in my cake as I was putting it together.  Definitely plan to double it up if I try it again and will find a use for any that is leftover elsewhere.

 My parents, sister, and myself were the taste testers for this baking experiment today.  All four gave a thumbs up.  My fifth taste tester hasn't had any cake as of the writing of this blog post so his vote is still outstanding. I also haven't told him what the ingredients are. I have a feeling he would say no when he heard the sour cream part. 

I didn't let the strawberries dry thoroughly before dipping the ones on top in sour cream and brown sugar.  The sour cream started to slide off and the brown sugar lumped up.  Lesson learned for next time around - dry your fruit!!! 

I have to admit when Rose said this is what she chose as her pick for our bake of this month I was more than skeptical about it.  I mean, strawberries, sour cream, and brown sugar???  Sounds kinda gross to me.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Who knew just eating a strawberry dipped in sour cream and brown sugar, by itself, would taste like strawberry shortcake?  It was really a surprise and I would definitely add this to a rotation of desserts to make.  Might be more apt to just do this minus the cake. 

Overall, this was a fun bake.  I did a slight fake on it and have absolutely no regrets! I can't wait to see what the month of July is going to bring for Bake It or Fake It!  We're just getting started and guarantee you are going to be in for a great time with us.  

Til next time, Happy Baking! 

- xox -

Michelle

Meet the Bakers: The incredible Chef Rosie

We thought it would be fun for you to know a little about us so we are interviewing each other.
Throughout the post, please enjoy some of the yummies that Rosie has created!

Q: What inspired you to start baking?

A: From when I was a little girl, my aunt and my mom always made a big fuss over the holidays and birthdays. Baking was something special, holiday cookies were a family event. Mom and my Aunt Ida would teach me, and then the three of us would decorate. There was never any criticizing my techniques or saying I couldn’t do something. Their brother, my Uncle Frank always would volunteer to be the taste tester…and sometimes we’d have to chase him out of the kitchen, to guarantee we’d have cookies for the holiday. So from when I was little, I loved baking, the sense of love and pride to give something that I made with my own two hands to someone I cared about. In regard to doing this ‘baking thing’ as a career, six years ago I suffered a traumatic injury, and decided to go back to school to fill up the hours of my day. A local college offered a culinary program, and I took it just for fun. I realized how much I still loved baking, and decided to turn it in to a career. In 2018 I graduated with my degree in Baking and Pastry Specialization, and have began my quest to Save The World One Baked Treat at a Time, working Farmers Markets, Pop-Up Events, and Baking To Order.

Q: What particular bake are you most proud of?

A: That’s a tough one. Prior to doing this as my business, I would say it was a cake I made for my mom’s birthday. She loves spicy stuff and chocolate. So I made her a tiered chocolate cake with chocolate fondant, and the top tier of the cake I added cayenne pepper. I decorated it with gold luster dust and stars.

Professionally, I’d say the airbrushed galaxy cake or my watercolor cakes. Or themed cakes that my customers request for special occasions.

Q: What has been your most epic baking fail?

A: *Laughing at the memory*. Again, this was before I had become a professional. But I had made a tiered cake for a group I had belonged to. I didn’t know about using dowels or cake boards to stabilize the tiers. I just thought you staked the cake, and it sat pretty. I had to transport this cake about 30 minutes from the house, and my mom sat in the back seat holding it. The entire ride she kept saying ‘the cakes fine, just keep driving.’ Well by the time we got to the house where the party was, the tiers of the cake had slipped and slid, and looked like a topsy-turvy cake. ironically years later I ran in to Chef Duff Goldman and shared my story of this with him. He laughed and gave me a hug…and told me not to feel bad. That he’s had those moments himself, even doing this professionally. I always keep that in my mind…and I will always be thankful that Chef Duff turned an embarrassing moment in to a funny story to share.

Q: What is your baking dream goal?

A: My dream is to one day have a store front. I keep going back and forth between envisioning it strictly as a bakery with tables, chairs and coffee or a small café with some food items and of course all the baked items I can whip up.

Q: What is your favorite thing to bake?

A: I love to bake anything for my mom and my husband…. whatever they want I will attempt it. My mom loves a basic chocolate chip cookie which frustrates me as I think ‘really? you just want a chocolate chip cookie?’ But I love making Christmas cookies with her which one is an Italian Knot Cookie, the recipe being in our family for decades. No matter what year, how many cookie exchanges we do…that’s my mom’s go to…and I love making them with her. But on a professional level, I my favorite thing to bake is either cupcake cakes in the shape of a customers request…or even a fancy pastry or cake, like tiramisu cake…it is tests my skills and puts my degree to true use.

Coming up next: Meet Miss Michelle

Chef Rosie's June Submission for 'Natasha' Strawberry Romanoff Cake

     Hello there and welcome to June...welcome to Bake It or Fake It. Where Michelle and Chef Rosie take on a baked good each month and see  which of this dastardly duo can bake it and which one will fake it. I'm not going to lie....for Chef Rosie, the month of June is hopping. I had double-markets last weekend, and this weekend I have double markets again. In the grand scheme of things, I probably shouldn't have opted to have my dessert squad over tonight to take the 'Natasha' Strawberry Romanoff cake for a test drive tonight. Because even though my dessert squad is gone for the night....I have a flurkin that simply needs (not wants) to cuddle, Vegan Lemon-berry Loaf Cake to make for this weekends events, and packages of two different kinds of Cuppers to frost too. Oh yeah, pricing and labels. Yeah, a bakers job is never done...when she's trying to take over the world one baked treat at a time. 
     Wait. What's a dessert squad you're asking? Well since Michelle and I decided to create this blog...I needed people who would be taste-testers each month of said dessert.  Because who can eat a whole cake (my husband....sssshhhhh), but more importantly who would want to eat a whole cake (ssshhhh again, that would be my husband.) So I have recruited some local friends who would be willing to be part of my test kitchen, my guinea pigs if you will. But enough about them and what my weekend is like. You all want to get to the dessert, right?
     Without further ado, I bring to you 'Natasha' Strawberry Romanoff Cake: a spin on the classic strawberry and whipped cream dessert. 

Top view of 'Natasha' Strawberry Romanoff Cake

     So the recipe that we are following this month called for a box mix. However I opted to make my cake from scratch, to keep it on a challenging level. I baked my cake the night before and opted to (Avengers) assemble it today. I won't lie, since graduating from college, I haven't had the need to make stabilized whipped cream (which was the frosting for the cake), and reading the instructions....I was a bit nervous. Especially since it was our first challenge! But DUDE!!! It was so easy!

• OK, some tips and secrets from the pro to you all. You can cream your butter, sugar, and incorporate eggs and let your mixer run without worrying about compromising the texture of your cake. However once you add your flour and other dry ingredients...you do not want to over mix your batter as you will develop the gluten, and wind up with a tough, rubbery cake. And who wants that? Keep your batter light and fluffy!

Getting your gelatin to the right consistency. Make sure it's gooey but 'gooey before you put it in the whipping cream and powder sugar mixture.

Oh beautiful stabilized whipped cream. I can just eat you up with a spoon!

Action photo of the batter being beat! Look ma....no lumps!

• Next came the 'daunting task' of prepping the gelatin. When making a stabilized whipped frosting, you need something to hold your frosting together, that won't melt or lose structure over time. Enter GELATIN. Your gelatin is going to make your whipped cream frosting sturdy but not hard. Mind you, this cake also can't be sitting out in hundred degree Texas weather all day, otherwise it will melt like an ice cube in hell. The recipe does call for it to sit chilling in the refrigerator for several hours once it is assembled. So while your cake chills in the fridge, you can chill with a glass of wine or a good old gin and tonic. Now when you're working with the gelatin, you want to 'melt' it down to a liquid, pliable consistency...but you do not want to incorporate it in to your whipping cream/sugar mixture while it is hot, otherwise it will curdle the cream. You also don't want it to get cold and solid otherwise you'll have a lumpy whipped cream frosting. So timing is key! I also added cognac to my  whipped cream, to keep in tradition of a true Strawberry Romanoff (which uses cognac or orange liquor. )

Like I mentioned earlier, I had made my cake from scratch, just because that's how I roll.  My stabilized whipped cream was  created, and the complicated part was to keep my husband from eating it before I could put the cake together.  When you make a cake with a gooey filling, you always want to do your border wall of frosting around the perimeter of the cake, to act as a wall. Make it high, and make it think. Because when you put that second layer of cake on top of your base or middle layer, it is going to spread. And trust me, you don't want it seeping out the sides of the cake as that makes the  final project look messy, not sit right, and can even mess with crumb and final coating of frosting.  I held my breath hoping this was the general rule when working with whipped cream frosting and fillings. Plus, being that Michelle and I were taking a leap of making a cake like this, wasn't sure if I would be the one 'faking it', and how would that look as the pro making a mess on her first blog?

• With my stabilized whipped cream wall up, I spread my brown sugar/sour cream mixture on the cake and then topped that with strawberries, and sprinkled brown sugar on top. (Low and behold the sour cream/strawberry filling didn't bleed through my walls!)
• Next came layer two with a repeat of walls, sour cream, strawberries, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. (Success! Again, no reason for crying with uneven layers, or filling bleeding through the sides!) I then topped off the second layer with with my third cake layer and gently pressed to make sure everything set flush and no issues. BEAUTIFUL!!!
• The recipe that we chose did not call for a crumb coat of frosting, but I did one anyway, and let the cake set in the fridge for about 15 minutes. I then proceeded to apply my stabilized whipped cream frosting around the sides of my cake, and the top, and then proceeded to smooth the sides and top with my trusty bench scraper. I used a large star tip to make 5 swirls on top of the cake and placed strawberries in each swirl. I decided it needed a little 'extra' and sprinkled some red sanding sugar on top and called it a day. Placed it in the fridge to chill.

My only creative criticism for myself was when I moved the cake from my turn table on to the cake stand, I broke off some of the border. I also made two small smushes towards the top on the sides. Yes....I am my own worst critic. There were eight of us last night that made up the dessert squad...including my husband and myself. I told them that they had to be brutally honest over what they thought of this dessert, and what they thought of it. They all 'ooohhed' and 'aaahhhed' over the final presentation.They each got a big piece as I got carried away, and made a 9-inch cake instead of an 8-inch cake. There was plenty of leftovers. The only person who did not love the cake was unbelievably my husband Jimmy. He said he loved the flavors, but he wasn't loving this in cake form. Our friend Charles said that it was almost like eating a strawberry shortcake. Chris ate some last night and the rest for breakfast today. He loved it. Nancy couldn't stop raving about it with each bite she took. Paula took ate hers and took some home for her husband and they both enjoyed it. And Archie and Debbie devoured theirs....and Archie isn't that much of a cake person. As for me. I enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite, but then again I'm not a dessert or sweets eater. I just like making all this delicious stuff. If I want Strawberry Romanoff, I'll have the traditional. But in my professional opinion, I found this cake easy enough to make, even for a novice. Go ahead, and give it a try. I can't wait for Michelle to give it a try. Stay tuned....and Happy Baking! xoxo Chef Rosie