Car Cake for my son

There were 2 cakes that I made for my son this birthday! One was on the actual birth date and the other for the party. My son love CARS! He has hell a lot of car toys and of course broken a lot too! He has this hot wheels car set that he got as present last year! He loves playing with them all the time. I took one as my model and made this cake. He was so excited while making this cake. He came n kissed it lot of times. After the cake cutting, he started crying! He was upset that his car broke! Poor lil' boy! So we didn't cut the Tom's head on the party day! Didn't want him to cry! ;-)

The cake here is yellow butter cake with buttercream frosting covered in red fondant!

Tom and Jerry Cake

Here is the Tom and Jerry cake that I made for my son's 3rd Birthday Party! Went thru' lot of trouble while making this cake. But it was all worth it! My son was very happy. Couldn't ask for more!

Baby Shower Cake

This  is an Espresso cake with Mocha buttercream made for a preggo girl's sendoff. The sugar baby is made of fondant. Really loved the way the baby turned out, considering its my first attempt with fondant baby figurine. I heard that she loved the cake. Hope the baby did too! :) Made more cupcakes personalized with everyone's name on it.

Here is the upclose shot of my sugar baby cake topper

Baking Ingredient substitutes

After coming back to India, I am mostly looking out for substitutes in baking since we don't get all the baking supplies and sometimes have to order from distant places. Here are some of the substitutes I used in my baking and got successful results! Its not my own substitutions. These are something that I gathered all over the net and thought would be helpful to other bakers too!  


Self-raising flour
         I had the biggest trouble with my sponge cakes, since I got used to baking all mine with the self raising flour when I was in US. I searched and ended in vain. I was happy when ibcablr told me they had the self raising when it was actually just maida and i ended with brick like cakes for my son's birthday. Somehow I realized that something is wrong with the flour and added some baking powder(something flashed at that time) and it went better.
So, here is the substitute

• ½ tsp baking soda 
• 1 tsp cream of tartar 
• 8 oz plain all-purpose flour  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix well just before adding the liquid




Espresso powder substitute
If you are unable to get instant espresso powder and a recipe you are contemplating calls for this ingredient, it is worth noting that you can substitute espresso powder with 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of regular instant coffee, preferably dark roasted. The regular instant coffee that is used as a substitute for espresso powder will give the same cooking results as the espresso powder and the only difference that you will find is that the coffee won't give off the deep roasted flavor that the espresso does.


When using instant coffee as a substitute for espresso powder you should try to use coffee powder. This is mainly due to the fact that many instant espresso powders are quite fine and mix very easily whereas many of the instant brands of coffee are quite chunky and granular and a much harder to mix. One way to avoid this is to mix the coffee with boiling water first


Sour cream substitute
The sour cream is used not only for texture, but for the tang it has. It's used in a lot of chocolate cake recipes. Sour milk can be a replacement, which is also a buttermilk replacement in baking recipes - milk with vinegar, or lemon juice. To make 1 cup use 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup. Otherwise sour cream and plain yogurt are interchangeable in a recipe. So how ever much sour cream, use that same amount of plain yogurt. To do the sour milk trick, or even buttermilk, you'll be effecting the texture and crumb of the cake, and will also need to cut out some liquid from the recipe.


Cake Flour substitute


To make 1 cup of cake flour, add 2 tbsp of corn starch to the bottom of the measuring cup and fill the rest with all-purpose flour. Or, remove 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour in every 1 cup specified in the recipe.


Pastry Flour Substitute


To make 1 cup pastry flour from regular all-purpose flour , remove 1 tbsp all-purpose flour for every 1 cup.

Dutch Processed Cocoa powder
To make 3 tbsp of the Dutch processed cocoa poweder, use

• 3 tablespoons (20 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, or
  
• 1 ounce (30 grams) unsweetened chocolate plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (reduce fat in recipe by 1 tablespoon)

Strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup (60 ml) equals 2 tablespoons (10 grams) instant espresso powder dissolved in 3 tablespoons hot water  

Corn Syrup 
Liquid Glucose can be used in place of corn syrup. Its more like a condensed form of corn syrup. Take a one cup measurement container and add 2 teaspoons of water into the cup, then fill the cup up with glucose. Heat it a bit in the microwave to melt it down, glucose is so thick. Blend and proceed with the normal instructions. Or, in some recipes you can just replace the corn syrup with equal measurement of liquid glucose.

Cream of Tartar 

1 tsp of cream of tartar can be replaced with 1 tsp of lemon juice or white vinegar 

Crème fraiche 

Some of the substitutions that can be followed to make a cup of creme fraiche are

• 1 cup (225 grams) sour cream 
• 1 cup (240 ml) whipping cream plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk or yogurt 
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) whipping cream plus 1/2 cup (112 grams) sour cream 
• 1 cup (225 grams) mascarpone cheese 

Sour cream 

• 1 cup (225 grams) plain yogurt 
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) sour milk, buttermilk or plain yogurt + 1/3 cup (75 grams) melted butter 
• 1 cup (225 grams) creme fraiche 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to fill 1 cup (240 ml) (let stand 5-10 minutes) 

This is a note that I refer to when I don't have the right ingredient and I think would benefit others too! Have fun baking! :)

Fondant cake

Its been busy for the past few days and so couldn't post much. The Bangalore weather makes me even more lazy! I will try to post the pics and go blah blah later on. :) Here is my fondant cake that i made for my hubby's friends.(Not really!) Will write the story later on!

Buttercream barbie

Had tough time doing my barbie.When I started with doing the cake, I realized that I didn't have eggs. Felt lazy to go out and buy some. Thought of dropping the idea of making my barbie. Something flashed in my brain. I had some thermocol saved from electronics purchased. So started with the dummy creation. But then I couldn't find my barbie doll! Ransacked through my things and finally found it. Tried new buttercream recipe from a youtube video of SeriousCakes. It came out wonderful! Am going to use the same recipe for all my cakes hereafter. With ideas from over the net, started my barbie doll. Couldn't ask for more. Being my first barbie, I am really happy the way it turned out! 
Here is my beautiful buttercream barbie!

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

 

Whenever we go to the mall, the aroma of the freshly made cinnamon rolls at the Cinnabon shop will pull me! Will definitely order some rolls and cinnamon sticks. The cream cheese that comes with it has the heavenly taste! Just thinking of it, made my mouth drool! So searched for the recipe and found it @food.com. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Servings: 12

• 1/2 tbsp dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar(I grind the sugar in mixie for a few seconds)
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour

FILLING

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/3 cup margarine, softened

ICING

• 8 tablespoons margarine
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Prep Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, margarine salt, eggs, and flour, mix well.
3. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.
4. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide.
6. It should be approx 1/4 thick.
7. Preheat oven to 200°C.
8. To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
9. Spread the softened margarine over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface.
10. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
11. Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.
12. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
13. While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients.
14.  Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.
15. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

Enjoy the rolls!

Cupcakes covered in fondant

Yet another floral cake

Chocolate Cake for my brother

My brother came to visit me and I had to do bake something for him. He likes Chocolate cake, so I made this choco-choco-chocolatey cake. This is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream covered in Ganache!

Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting covered with homemade fondant

I had been waiting to try my own fondant but since I didn't have the Kitchen Aid at that time, I had put up the idea of making fondant. I was watching Scott Clark Wolley's video and I realized that he didn't use any mixer. So I thought, why wait for Kitchen Aid and started his fondant recipe! To my wonder it came better than the one I bought at IBCABLR. Humidity was playing its part! I had few issues(including the sweating of fondant). But then, it wasn't as bad! Next time when I am making fondant, I am gonna switch on the AC no matter what! Without AC I had some consistency issues. Am waiting for my time to do next batch! :)

Rice krispy class with Isabelle

My last class with Isabelle before Halloween! The pumpkin is made of rice krispies and Snoopy is made out of Isabelle's fondant! Was a wonderful class! Missing those fun filled classes! :)

Baking products / supplies in Bangalore

After returning from the US, I was wondering where to get all the baking supplies at Bangalore. There is no one place where I could get everything. Here are a few shops that I visited / found using Google. It was hard to google even. I would be searching for something and would end up finding something else.

IBCABLR. Institute of Baking and Cake Art
www.ibcablr.com
IBCA carries most of the things that u need for baking.

• Cake pans
  
• Bundt pans
  
• Baking books
  
• Silcon molds
  
• Nozzles / Tips . I recently found that they have a tip set something that is similar to Wilton's master tipset.
  
• Candles
  
• Cake Gel
• Isomalt
  
• Baking powder
  
• Baking Soda
  
• Cream of Tartar
  
• Unflavored Gelatin
  
• Clear/White Vanilla Essence. (After finding that Wilton's Clear Vanilla extract is not pure and is just an artificial flavor, I thought why not give it a try. Turned out it isn't that bad. Just cut down the required amount a little in the recipes, and it is good to go for cakes n icing.)
  
• Liquid Glucose (which can be substituted for Corn Syrup)
  
• Piping bags Disposable and Reusable bags
  
• Coupler
  
• Canned fruits .Pineapple, blueberry, blackberry, cherry, strawberry, peaches
  
• Orange peel
  
• Lollipop sticks
  
• Chocolate molds
  
• Chocolates. Dark Chocolate(Has Sugar. So, cut down the sugar in icings or else its too sweet) , Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate
  
• Edible silver beads
  
• Colored sugar sprinkles
  
• Cupcake covers
  
• Muffin pans
  
• Cake boards
  
• Sugar flowers
  
• Flavors. like pineapple, vanilla, butterscotch (Don't remember all of them)
  
• Fondant - Order an hour before so they will get it ready. Also check the fondant then and there. I had a very bad batch on a big day!
  
• Gumpaste
  
• Icing colors / Paste colors
  
• Edible photo printing
  
• Airbrush colors and Airbrush kit
  
• Weighing scale. Conventional and Digital(Got one! It measures in kilograms, grams, ounces. Love it!)
  
• Skewers
  
• Parchment paper
  
• Food wrap
  
• Food Mixer
• Kenwood stand mixer
  
• Icing Sugar
  
• Self rising flour
  
• Shortening and Margarine .They have like 4 varieties (cream shortening and then ones used for biscuits, puff margarine)
  
• Glycerine
  
• Piping gel
  
• Whipping cream
• Candy thermometer 
• Hazelnut paste
• Cake dummy
• Dried Yeast
•  Fruit squashes like Kiwi, strawberry
• Fondant tools
• Cake preservative
• Arrowroot powder
• Neutral mousse powder
• Strawberry mousse powder 
• Disco dust, luster dust 
• Almond meal / powder

Hope I have covered most of the things. In case if I happen to see something else, will update. They are located at 46/3 Mission Road, Bangalore. Call their helping line @ 080 - 22106619 They do deliver but you need to pay for the transport cost / courier cost. **I had serious trouble with IBCABLR this week. I got products from them for my son's bday and had a very bad day. They gave me maida instead of self raising flour and the cakes that I baked got harder after cooling! It was the night before the party and I couldn't do much about it! I just warmed it in microwave and left the cake outside till I served. The fondant that I got from them was very dry and crumbling. There was no elasticity. My husband and I sat till 4am to knead it, but it was of no use. It was just breaking. Thankfully, I had the Wilton and Satin Ice Rolled Fondant that I got from US. We mixed them and tried to use. Even then the fondant wasn't sticking to Wilton's one! However I had to cover the cake with the same and the finish wasn't as good as I expected it to be! **

General Food Additives, Seshadripuram

They have almost all the items as in IBCA except that they are well organized. Here are some things that I found there

• Cream cheese
• Self raising flour
• Cocoa powder
• Vegetarian gelatin
• Pillsbury cake mixes(bulk)
• Fondant (Imported from Netherland. Very shiny and tasted good too!)
• Nozzles
• Pans
• Spatulas
• Richs whipped cream
• Bourbon Vanilla extract ( they had a sample! not sure if they have in stock)
• Cupcake liners
• Hazelnut paste
• Vegetable shortening
• Glucose
• Colors
• Glaze
• Gelatin
• Vegetarian gelatin
• Imported Chocolates
• Fondant/gumpaste tools
• All kinds of flavors
• Piping bags
• Baking pans
• Hazelnut paste 
• Disco dust, luster dust
• Canned fruits 
• Candy colors 
• Edible Glitter

Location : 175/3, 1st Main, Seshadripuram  Bangalore, Karnataka 560020

080 23367878

New Arife Lamooulde , Koramangala, Bangalore

This store is my new savior with respect to distance since traveling to Seshadripuram from Electronic city is one hell of a ride. This store stocks almost all the products needed for baking and cake decoration

I might forget to put few items on the list. Please do call them just to make sure they have it in stock! Very friendly staff... And yeah, they do deliver in Bangalore for 200 bucks!

Here goes my list

• Blue bird Maida
• Blue Bird Corn Flour
• Blue Bird Self Raising Flour
• Margarine
• Gelatine
• Cake Pre-Mixes
• Whipped Cream
• DLecta Cream Cheese
• Canned fruits
• Pie fillings
• Glazes
• Americolor Icing colors
• Belgium Chocolate Flavors
• Color Spray
• LorAnne Oils/Flavors
• Candy Flavors
• Morde, Purato, 2M, Cacao Ivory Chocolate bars
• Callebaut dark and white Callets
• All kind of silicone moulds for cake decorating
• Sugar Lace Mix
• Fondant - Fonda Frost, Vizyon of various colors
• Tylose
• Sugar Lace moulds
• CAke boards
• Boxes / Carriers
• Beautiful Stands
• Acrylic plates
• Cupcake boxes
• Fondant Mat
• Icing Sugar
• Caramel filling
• Butterscotch
• Dried Fruits
• Almond meal
• Coconut Dried
• Air brush kit
• Various cake tins
• Piping  nozzles n Bags
• Cupcake sprinkles
• Metallic paints
• Isomalat
• Wilton Meringue powder
• Thick cake bases

Address : No.227, 1st Main, 7th Block, Koramangala 7th Block, Bangalore - 560095, Behind Bosch Gate
Contact : +91 9611238222,+(91)-9611238222

INDUS HERBS
www.indusherbs.com

• Pure Vanilla Extract
  
• Vanilla Pods

Am planning to visit this place soon, as I am in bad need of a good vanilla flavor This place is located at #74,3rd floor, Shankara Arcade, Vani vilas Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore.

R B Mangharam Foods Limited
http://makechocolates.com/
I was looking for chocolate transfer sheets and found out this store. They have a wide variety of molds. They have the Silicon cake molds, Cute cookie cutters and lot more! This store would be quite useful for someone interested in chocolate.

• Praline Moulds RB Series, RA Series, MA Series, RM Series, Assortments , Kids Korner
  
• Economy Moulds Valentine Hearts Lollipops Slab Moulds Bar Moulds
• Special Moulds : Dessert Cups Personalised Moulds Silicon Moulds Polymoulds
  
• Hollow Figurine Moulds : Christmas Collection Santa Moulds Easter Collection Easter Eggs Fill 'em Up !
  
• Celebration Moulds Novelties Animals
• Machines Kitchen Aid Mixers, Coffee Grinders, ChocoMan Two Cute Chocolate Packaging Texture Sheets for Chocolate
  
• Bakery Moulds : Cake Moulds Muffin Moulds Cake Stand Moulds Cookie Cutter Moulds

Yes, they do have 3 models of Kitchen Aid mixer. I was searching for kitchen aid mixer at Bangalore desperately and ordered them from Delhi at CCDC which is on its way!(I got it now and am happily baking! Love Kitchen Aid!) I wonder why I wasn't able to find this website during that time. Here is the link for the kitchen aid mixer! http://makechocolates.com/kitchenaid.html
This store is located at # 322, 4th Phase, Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore - 560058

Danny's Chocolates
http://dansfoods.blogspot.com/

• Buttercups, Metallic finish trays, baking trays
  
• Piping bags
  
• Dark chocolate - Barry, Callebaut, Sicao slabs Bitter chocolates and Extra bitter Chocolate chips Flavoured chocolates Callebaut - Strawberry , Crisp Pearls (Dark and White)
  
• Truffle Shells Fillings - Hazelnut, Caramel and Coffee fillings
  
• Gift boxes and PVC boxes
  
• Chocolate transfer sheets 
• Cute cupcake liners that can be baked in
• Liquid colors and Extracts

They are located at #79, 16th Cross, 4th Phase, J.P Nagar, Bangalore-560078 . I got myself a big compound of Belgium dark chocolate. Tastes great with less sugar. Will be great to make chocolates!


SPAR , Koramangala
They had wide variety of cheese. I found out that they carry cream cheese. Was great relief as I was wondering wat to pair with my red velvet cake, my hubby's favorite! Got Brittania cream cheese and Happy Cow Cheese (Cream). Made cream cheese frosting for the red velevet cake I prepared! That was YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Also they have

• Redi Whipping cream
  
• Heavy cream
• White Whipping cream and Chocolate whipping cream sold in loose. It has added sugar n flavor.
• Vanilla Beans (bit costlier compared to Indus Herbs but they were longer)

They had Mascarpone and Sour Cream. (Those 2 were missing when I last visited!)

Fatima Bakery
I was on my way from Malleswaram after delivering a cake when I happened to drop at the store. They had more groceries compared to bakery items. Some items that I found their shop were

• Whipping cream
• Chocolate chips
• Chocolate sprinkles, colored ones as well
• Citric acid
• Baking powder
• Chocolate syrup, butterscotch syrup
• Canned cherries, pineapple, mango and some fruits which i don't remember now
• Cake mix

They are located at Hosur Road, Richmond Town, Bangalore


Food World, Koramangala
They had the Betty Crocker Cake Mixes and Ready to whip Icings.

Nilgiris, Brigade Road

• Flavor. They had lots n lots of clear flavors and oils.
  I got quite a few bottles for myself.
  Few of them that I remember at the top of my head - Clear Vanilla flavor/essence, Clear pineapple flavor, clear raspberry flavor, clear banana flavor, clear strawberry flavor, mint flavor. They also had various aroma oils and colors.
  
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese I felt it was too costly compared to Brittania cream Cheese
  
• Whipping cream
  
• Fresh cream
  
• Gelatine powder
  
• Sugars Icing Sugar , brown sugar, muscavado
  
• Golden Syrup I asked for Corn syrup and they gave me this. I didn't buy it since I have never used that before
  
• Betty Crocker Brownie Mix
  
• Cake Mixes They also had Cooker Cake Mix. Someone without an oven can try that
  
• Marshmallows
  
• Citric Acid Crystals
  They also had lot more small packs with chemical names, which I dont even remember at this time.
  There was a fruit store outside the Nilgiris, which carried fresh Peaches, Strawberries, blueberries

More, Forum mall, Koramangala
Marshmallows Found it at last. Gonna make rice krispies soon!

Godrej Nature's Basket,  Koramangala

Found huge varieties of cheese here

• Cream cheese
• Mascarpone
• Feta cheese
• Goat cheese
• Rice krispies
• Marshmallows
• Sea salt
• Fruit Preserves
• Canned fruits

http://www.naturesbasket.co.in/
They are located at CMH Road, Richmond Town and  Whitefield as well.

Online shops that carry baking and cake decorating products, India

ZANSAAR.COM

• Light Brown Sugar
• Dark Brown sugar
• Demerara sugar
• Corn syrup
• Gluten free cake mixes (Vanilla and chocolate)
• Gluten free self raising flour
• Gluten free natural egg replacer
• Golden syrup
• Baking pans includes some of Wilton pans (Lightning Mcqueen, Tasty fill min cake pan)
• Wilton 3 tier cooling rack
• silicone molds

http://www.zansaar.com/baking-mixes-c-111624

Also if you are looking for products from US like food color, books, bakeware, edible markers, pans, please have a look at http://www.junglee.com

PASSIONATE BAKING
http://www.facebook.com/Passionatebaking

They carry almost all of the cake decorating products

• Wilton products
• Edible colors
• Fondant tools
• Cookie cutters
• Cupcake liners
• Cake stand
• Measuring cups /spoons
• Molds
• Chocolate transfer sheets 

and a lot more.

They deliver all over India

CCDS, Delhi
http://ccdsshop.com/

They have all that you need for baking and cake decorating!

• Wilton products
• Silicone moulds
• Bakeware
• Gum Tex
• Satin Ice Rolled Fondant
• Cookie Cutters
• Fondant cutters
• Meringue powder
• Reusable piping bags
• Gel colors
• Liquid Glucose
• Chocolate moulds and transfer sheets
• All Wilton piping tips/nozzles
• Vegetarian Royal Icing

They deliver all over India.( I got my Kitchenaid from them)

GOURMET COMPANY

http://www.gourmetco.in/categories/Baking-NEW/cid-CU00060808.aspx

• Light/Dark/Light soft Brown sugar 
• Caster sugar
• Satin ice rolled fondant
• LorAnn flavoring oils
• Cake decorating stuff like jimmies, sparkles, pearls, glitter
• Disco dust
• Gel colors
• Golden syrup
• Natural egg replacer

IndianFoods
http://bakersbaazaar.indianfoods.in/index.php
I was desperately looking for Wilton products in India and came across this website. I talked to them. They sell the tips and most of the Wilton products including pans, cookie cutters, Icing colors, sparkles, toppers, fondant , gumpaste tools, glycerin, etc, etc.,

bakerSmart
http://bakersmart.co.in/ 

Gourmet Supplies
5 Rose Lane,Richmond town, Bangalore, India 560025
http://www.facebook.com/GourmetSupplies