Baker's Christmas List: Keep It Simple, Stupid

Things are happening.

The trees are changing. White stuff is coming down.

Cakes are being planned and made.

New techniques are being tested and tried.

And those stupid stores are putting out Christmas things.

Free People display
that I want in my stairwell

UGH! I don't want to even hear about Christmas until at least December.

It's too much! No No No! I want to be a Grinch and deft my ears and blind my eyes to all the shiny, glittery, cheery stuff until after November!

I actually love Winter Holidays, just when it's time. Not. One. Moment. Sooner.

But I also like to plan ahead.

My family is big. No, not just big, BIG!

Starts off with the typical Mom and Dad, two older sisters, older brother, and me.

People got married, so add on some brother-in-laws.

Not bad, right?

I became an aunt when I was 6.

So add on my three nieces and three nephews.

But hold on, my husbands family is my family too.

Pile on another Mom, sister (or sista as we like to say) and brother.

Then there's another brother-in-law and a very soon-to-be sista-in-law.

Oh and can't forget four more nephews and two more nieces.

Plus, the big kicker: I'm a GREAT-Aunt.

So there's another baby nephew to spoil.

SPOIL?! I'm not flush with cash! I wish!

Hey Lottery, I'll take that over here. I need to buy Christmas presents for my massive family.

Oh look, I didn't even mention my awesome Aunts and Uncles, Grandmas, Grandpas.

(Thank goodness I'm a baker and they usually don't mind getting goodies. Usually...)

Thankfully my family started doing a draw for Christmas, so I only have one couple to get presents for on my side. So that squishes the list down a lot.

And the other side aren't big on presents, just time. So we hang out and have fun together. I give treats when I have enough time to do them up (aka not in school, working multiple jobs, only up for a day...)

So since my list of purchases have been simplified I'd thought I'd help all of you with buying for the baker, caker, popper or cookier in your life.

Before we get into the lists here's the easiest way to get ideas for them other than the blantant: What do you want? There's nothing wrong with asking that, but it does take away the surprise.

So what's the magical way to figure out what to get them? You ready for it? Really really ready?

Listen.

What? That's not magical enough for you. Read the title of this post. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

What is that person trying to accomplish right now? What technique are they wanting to try? What's new that they are interested in?

If you take the answers to one of those questions and do 5 minutes of research, you'll get some great ideas.

But incase that isn't possible for whatever reason here's some help from the Holiday Elf.

First, we will start a list for the baker:

• Olive Wood Spoon -> olive wood can withstand 260 pounds of pressure before breaking. No more breaking wooden spoons with this. Plus they are very pretty. You can get them at Canadian Tire or Home Sense for under $12

• Citrus Rasp or Microplane -> Not this:

Zester
Do not use to zest a lot of citrus
You will hate it

But this:

Microplane/Rasp
Can zest citrus in seconds
Excellent for making Rustic Curd.

It cuts down time zesting to seconds. Anything that cuts time in the kitchen is a plus!

• A Big Whisk -> Not your momma's whisk. Standard whisk has about a 10-12 inches. My big whisk is 16 inches from end to end. Why does that matter? Eggs. More importantly, egg whites. With a big whisk and a big bowl you can whip those up into stiff peaks in no time!

• Bowls -> Set of nesting steel and glass bowls. Easy storage, and multiple sizes for all the project (including whipping up egg whites)

• Chopping Mats ->  A set is excellent. Chopping chocolate, fruits, nuts. Cut one or two up to use for scraping out bowls, smoothing icing or ganache, or smoothing out those oh-so-difficult spherical cakes. Okay, maybe this is for the caker too.

Okay, now for the caker:

• Chopping Mats! Yup, again.

• Clear Cake Scraper -> Clear so you can see what your doing, multiple sizes for all your small and tall cake needs, and beveled so it's lovely to use. Oh, one last thing, acrylic so it's not going to warp over time. Giving your caker the best, straightest sides every time! Stencil, ganache, and more. Get them here while they are currently on sale. 

• Acrylic Cake Boards -> For the home caker or for home use only (not for clients, deposits are messy.) For moving in-progress cakes around, getting those sides nice and straight by sandwiching the cake between 2 boards (same size of course.) They can be pricey but here's a place for a good deal on them. They also have some fancy doweling sets to go with it, but I'd leave that up to the caker if they want to use that.

• Sculpting Tools -> These can go from Wilton's various sets, to clay sculpting sets (new, of course,) and finally, to my favourite, Sugar Shapers

I just love these

These come in regular and mini, soft and firm. Costly, but the best for doing figures (if that's what your caker does.)

• Texture mats (or stencils) -> To get these things from the cake section they are really pricey. Never fear, I'm not talking about those fancy things. This is very, very outside the box, or aisle. Like sink mats:

 Press or roll these into fondant for some really cool texture for a castle or manhole cover. They even have them with flowers that would be nice on its own or under some watercolour style painting.

Or painting stencils:

Ok, the roller one is fancy and more for a specific design. For these I'd look for smaller designs, keeping in mind that most cakes are 8-10 inches in diameter so a huge design is going to overpower the cake.

Now the Cake Popper:

• STRAWS -> Sorry for yelling, but it's so simple and easy to find. Paper straws for making the pops (the part you hold.) It's nice to have some cute designs to go with the creations. Michaels usually has those packages of 12 or so for cheap, like a buck. 

• Daubers, sponges or other paint texture tools -> Great for those little polka dot pops, splatter or sponge look (with metallic edible dust and everclear/vodka.) Or to create different textures/patterns on those little cake balls. For the daubers you can get them from the Martha Stewart paint section at Michaels.

• Cotton gloves -> You know, those ones that the fancy chocolate stores' use to package your special treat. They come in very handy when doing cake pops that have no stick, or for placing chocolate decorations on pops, whatever.

• Sanding sugar -> Not the expensive little tiny bottles at Michaels, but the bulk stuff at Bulk Barn (or you can make you're own if you're feeling adventurous.) Get some cute jars, little ribbons to decorate and you've got a gleeful popper on your hands. Also can be done with sprinkles, dragees, quinn's, chocolate curls, etc.

Pretty sugar

And for the cookier:

• Cutters -> Seems like a no brainer, but you have to be creative here. Chances are you're cookier will already have those holiday sets and basic shapes that go on crazy 50% off sale around this time. So go fancy or more custom. Ever see those giant snowflake or Christmas tree cutters at William Sonoma? Now that's fancy. Or hear that she keeps getting asked for special characters from the new best movie? Go down to etsy.com and look up a name with 'cookie cutter' and I bet someone will have it.

• Paint brushes -> Have you seen what people paint on cookies now? It's crazy-pants. And wonderful. And makes me jealous and want to paint. Different sizes, shapes required for different designs.

• Silpat mat -> Makes for perfect cookies. Also goes nicely with that cookie sheet you've got them already.

• Everclear -> Or Vodka if you don't have access to Everclear, but Everclear is better. The high proof evaporates quickly leaving more colour and less sogginess. Cookiers use this with luster dust or food colour gel to make paint.

Not my hands

That's all I've got for you. If you need more help you can leave a comment and I'll try to get creative for you. If you're trying for last minute then I'll do a rain dance for you instead.

Happy Hunting.

Two Beautiful Women: A Special Tea Time Cake

I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

I have two Grandmothers. Well, one Grandma and one Oma.

They are 92 years old. Born a few weeks apart, a large distance apart, and they are great friends. 

This was a tea party for my Grandma. She is a lucky Valentine's Birthday Lady. I believe that means she was born with an extraordinary amount of love. She is the most lovely and giving woman I could ever know. She can make you feel comfortable and wanted with a smile, and her eyes always twinkle with joy and laughter. She is a wife of 62 years, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. She is the girl that's the first to befriend you, embrace you, and make you part of the family. I'm sure she was the school ambassador, if there were such things then. I guess they call these kinds the Pillar of the Community, but I feel that falls short.

My Oma is just as amazing, but in a different kind of way. She is straight forward. She says what she thinks and she gives no apologies for it. She is independant, stubborn... A true vrouw. When I called her to invite her to the party she says, "Oh Sarah. I haven't heard from you in ages. What's wrong with you?" (I'm bad at keeping in touch with people. When I want to call them I'm either at work or it's too late to politely call.) She never ceases to amaze me. She is legally blind, has worn hearing aids for as long as I can remember, and has lived alone for almost as long. And she hates it when people try to assist her constantly. She is proud, but humble enough to ask for help when she needs it.

But I digress. You're not really here to read about my gushing over my Grandmothers.

You're here to listen to me brag about cake. And flowers. And laugh about my casualty.

Apparently floral wire is irresistible to cats. Makes them jump up on tables and pull a resting gumpaste flower onto the floor where it go crash.

I wasn't impressed. But I didn't want the flower to go to waste.

So it sat on the cake stand; at the base of the cake. German Chocolate Cake with classic Pecan Coconut frosting. That frosting is a family favourite. It's between all those layers, and dolloped on top. The cream cheese honey frosting was really only for show. Naked cake needs some thick buttercream to be smeared all over it. It's a sexy cake like that.

My Grandma loved it. She doesn't like chocolate, so this was a White Chocolate cake. With flowers. One that my Grandma took home in a little vase I got for her. My very first gumpaste flowers. Another look at those shall we?

I'm pretty happy with them. Some minor things I'd like to add for next time, but I don't think anyone noticed the calyx was missing. Foliage wasn't needed for this cake, the flowers were more than enough.

These are fragile beast though. The two in the back cracked and chipped quite a bit. Only a small piece cracked off the light pink one. If you're going to make gumpaste flowers, make sure you pack them well, but not tight. Make sure they don't touch anything. I mean anything. Each other, floral tape, a table, some feathers...

Ok, I'm exaggerating. They aren't that fragile, but you need to be careful when handling them.

But don't worry we didn't just eat cake. Cookies, tortilla rolls, cucumber sandwiches, cake pops, veggies and chocolates were on the spread. You can guess what the kids ate and what the adults had.

Everyone visited, drank tea, coffee and juice, and visited some more. My Aunt was awesome and brought the Valentines my Grandma collected over the years.

Sixty-two years worth of Valentines, from her children, friends, and my Grandpa. Sixty-two years, starting in 1953, the first Valentine's Day they shared as Husband and Wife.

They didn't sit together for the Tea Party, which was a rare thing. We don't have many pictures where they are separated, or not holding hands, or something along those lines.

They are still in as much Love as they were when they were first married.

If not more.

Happy Valentine's everyone.