Photos from Just a Bite Desserts (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 4)

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I am so tired from all the preparations for my trip to New York to decorate cakes with Kelly Ripa and the Cake Boss (not to mention my job, my family and the occasional bit of exercise) that I'm not going to write much today. But I wanted to show you these photos from Just a Bite Desserts, a new baking company on Long Island started by partners Paula Rosenthal and Janis Lieberman. I've known Paula since kindergarten, and it just occurred to me that a few days back I wrote about Craig, another hometown friend who's fixated on cake - isn't that funny? Is there something about Long Island and cake?

Anyway, Just a Bite's philosophy of dessert is very close to mine: Taste is as important as appearance; small bites are better than big hunks of cake; abundance is better than scarcity. I really love the way they decorate their desserts - not over the top, not frilly, just pretty and colorful and festive. I asked them a few questions about their new business.

So why cake - and why now? 

Just a Bite: Our premise is to make delicious-tasting desserts and treats that can be eaten in one or two bites. Nowadays, everyone is rushed for time and generally health- and fitness-conscious, but people still like their desserts. In small sizes, just a bite, they can have their cake and eat it too without sacrificing taste and with no time to waste! :)

What's your approach to cake - is it more about how it looks or how it tastes? 

Just a Bite: Our desserts are all about looks AND taste. We recently did some field research and discovered that a lot of local, homemade-style bakers are offering cute items in food stores that make you want to buy them because of their looks, but once you taste them you'll never buy again! It was a very eye-opening and fattening experience!

What's been the biggest challenge as you build your business? 

Just a Bite: Our challenge right now is to find a commercial kitchen space within close proximity to where we live. We live in suburbia and traffic is horrendous. In order to properly balance our families and our professional lives, we need to stay local, so we're spreading the word. If anyone has a kitchen they'd like to rent out part-time, feel free to contact us!

Is your family sick of cake yet?

Just a Bite: Are you kidding? Food is bliss in our houses! Our families consist of foodies only too willing to taste test all of our desserts. And they're not afraid of telling us what they think! We've gotten quite a few interesting comments. It's a good thing they're family! :) Our kids gather their friends and have them taste test too. Thus, we are covering all ages and getting great feedback.

What do you do with all the "experiments" as you're testing recipes? 

Just a Bite (Paula): I've made several parties in the past few months that had a tremendously bountiful dessert tables. At the end, I gave everyone tin trays and Ziploc bags so that they would take things home. I'm also known for bringing desserts to my kindergartner's sports class. They're intended for the kids to eat but I've gotten emails and phone calls from the mothers telling me how much they loved whatever it was I brought in that day. It's nice to know we are baking things that are appealing to all demographics!

What's your personal favorite? 

Just a Bite (Paula): My personal favorite are Janis's secret recipe Caramel Chocolate Brownies. They are loaded with caramel, chocolate chips and walnuts and are sinfully sensational! She makes them in bite-sized squares, but one is never enough.

Erika here again. Okay, I'm only a teeny bit jealous that Paula and Janis get to spend all day baking delicious treats like the ones pictured above. Maybe more than a teeny bit. I'm so happy for them - hard work ahead, for sure, but doesn't it sound like fun? Visit the Just a Bite Desserts blog to keep up to date on their business as they launch it and make it grow, and for lots more delicious pictures. Thanks Paula and Janis!

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 5: I'm ready for my close-up

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Wednesday February 3, 2010, is a very important day in the History of Erika. Today will hereafter be known as The Day of the Eyelashes. Because today, for the first time in forty-three and a half years, I put on mascara. And I did it for Kelly Ripa and the Cake Boss. (Yes, today we got a hint about our celebrity cake decorating instructor: Looks like it will be Buddy himself.)

Now let me reassure you that I was in fact a 13-year-old girl at one time. I played with purple eyeshadow and Bonne Bell lip gloss. I learned how to cover up zits and contour my imaginary cheekbones with blush. But for some reason I could never bring myself to wear mascara. My eyelashes were good enough that I never had to, and I was always afraid I'd poke the wand into my eye and ruin my contacts.

But now I'm middle-aged, I've had Lasik surgery, and everything, including my eyelashes, seems to be fading. So when my friend Hilary and I went to Sephora on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica at lunchtime to buy the makeup I knew I'd need for next week's cake decorating event in New York, I decided to take the plunge. Mascara. The end of a bare-lashed era.

I explained to Mercedes, the lovely Sephora consultant who helped me, that makeup and I have been polite strangers ever since I graduated from middle school. I told her about Electrolux and Foodbuzz sending me to New York to decorate cakes with Kelly Ripa for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. I told her the competition will be filmed. She was really excited, she understood what I needed, and she got to work.

Mercedes quickly found the key ingredient: a matte mineral powder foundation that will keep me from looking shiny on camera but doesn't feel like you're wearing Vaseline on your face. I am naturally a "glowing" (okay, shiny) person, so this part was important. Then she helped me find and put on mascara, some eyeshadows, and an eyeliner. I walked out with a tiny little bag and a new boost of self-confidence. Bring on the cameras! Bring on the cakes! My nose will be perfectly matte, and my eyelashes will be a mile long, thanks to the lovely Mercedes. If you're in Santa Monica and you need a makeover, she's your girl.

Top 10 things NOT to say to Kelly Ripa (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 6)

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Rachel saves day 6!

I was watching my older son's basketball game at school this afternoon with my friend Rachel Kaganoff Stern, whose son also plays on the team. Rachel, who writes the amazing blogs Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen (food) and The Not Quite Daily Dispatch (travel), asked: So what's today's Kelly Ripa post?

I said: I got nada. I'm on empty. Blank page. I was supposed to go practice piping frosting with Clemence from Gourmandise Desserts, but she burned her hand and was too injured to get together this morning. A few friends have promised cake photos, but so far - nothing.

And then Rachel, who is one of the wittiest women I know, said: Have you done a Top 10 list yet? And proceeded to rattle off some great one-liners in the key of "Top 10 things not to say to Kelly Ripa when you first meet her."

And I said: Rachel, I love you.

So here's her list. If you think these are funny, go read Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen and The Not Quite Daily Dispatch. You won't be disappointed.

Top 10 things not to say to Kelly Ripa when you first meet her at the Electrolux cake decorating event next week

1. I love my new Miele dishwasher.

2. I’ve always wanted to meet Regis Filbert. Did they name the nuts after him?

3. How do you like being married to Frank Gifford? Do you get really good seats for the Super Bowl?

4. You and that Antonio Banderas make one cute couple.

5. I loved you on General Hospital.

6. I get very anxious around celebrities. I took two Valium, a Xanax, and an Ativan 15 minutes ago and I’m sure they’ll kick in any minute.

7. By the way, I forgot to mention that I’m allergic to gluten, eggs, dairy and wheat. As long as the cakes don’t have any of those ingredients I’m certain I won’t go into immediate anaphylactic shock.

8. It didn’t say not to, so I brought along my mother, my Aunt Vera, my 11 children, and our pet weasel, Fred. Oh heck, where’s Fred? I just had him a second ago.

9. When do I get my free appliances? I’ve got my cousin’s pick-up idling out back.

10. You can see my 10 best cake decorating successes at www.cakewrecks.com.

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 7: Chocolate cake fail

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One week. Seven days. In exactly one week I will be in New York, decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and 14 stellar food bloggers on behalf of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Foodbuzz and Electrolux have a great few days planned for us. Meantime, I'm here at home in southern California, obsessing about cake and trying hard not to get sick. Yes, of course: My husband and both kids are sick, just when I absolutely have to stay healthy. I'm taking my vitamins, washing my hands and giving air hugs - that's about all I can do at this point, other than pray.

After that great cake lesson with Clemence of Gourmandise Desserts, I figured I was ready to try my very own cake. So yesterday I made this:

Unfortunately, I discovered that I was not ready to solo.

I realize that you may be looking at the cake above and thinking, "What's she talking about? Looks perfectly tasty to me." Ah, but looks can deceive.

The cake itself was an experiment. I wanted to make a chocolate yogurt cake, so I adapted my favorite yogurt cake recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini by substituting 1/4 cup cocoa powder for the same amount of the flour. I also added the zest of a Cara Cara navel orange (highly fragrant) and used triple sec instead of the rum the original recipe calls for. I think the cake, on its own, would have been okay. But I overbaked it. So it was dry. Pretty, though:

Thanks to Clemence, I knew enough to let it cool all the way through. And I had no trouble splitting it into two layers. But I forgot to even out the top. Ah well, I figured, I'll just turn it upside down and put the cut side up. But the top layer was domed enough to make a big gap between the top and bottom layers.

And then there was the frosting. I wasn't brave enough to try the Swiss buttercream Clemence had made; somehow, the raw egg thing made me nervous, even though Clemence assured me that the sugar syrup cooked the eggs thoroughly. But the whipped ganache, that was something I thought I could manage.

Wrong.

I made a ganache with my normal ratio of one pound of chocolate (Trader Joe's 72 percent Pound Plus bar) to one cup of cream; to accent the orange flavor, I infused the hot cream with the zest of another lovely Cara Cara navel before I poured it over the chocolate. I let it cool. I put it in the mixer with the whisk attachment and turned it on. But instead of becoming a light, fluffy, mousse-like puff like Clemence's, mine was an oily, curdled mess.

No, I didn't take a picture of it. I was too busy crying.

I pulled the mixture off the mixer, stuck the bowl over some simmering water, and melted it again until it was smooth. I left it to cool again, longer this time. And when I whipped it the second time, I did it at a lower speed. It worked, more or less. Still never got as mousse-like as Clemence's. But it was spreadable. So I spread it over the bottom layer, then over the top and sides of the cake. Unfortunately, because of the upside-down domed top, there were some big gaps on the sides, which I filled in with frosting. You can see the effect of that in the slice I cut:

See the notch of pure ganache? That's where the cake layers didn't come together and I used the frosting to hide it.

Here's the problem with whipped ganache, or any ganache for that matter: At room temperature, it's pretty much solid. Either I should have added more cream when I first made it, or I didn't whip it long enough, or something, but this was basically like cake surrounded by truffles. Not what I was going for.

So, lessons learned: Add a little more oil to the cake batter to keep it moist. Make buttercream instead of ganache. And level the top of the cake, assuming your memory is better than mine.

My colleagues still polished it off. After all, chocolate cake is chocolate cake. But next time - better.

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 8: Cake decorating with Clemence, part 2

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Eight days until cake decorating with Kelly Ripa on behalf of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. One word: Yikes. 

When we left off yesterday in the description of my early morning cake decorating lesson with Clemence Gossett of Gourmandise Desserts, all the pieces were ready to go: cakes split into layers, Swiss buttercream whipped, ganache filling light and fluffy.

The next thing we did was clear the counter and turntable of crumbs. Crumbs, says Clemence, are the enemy of icing. We spread the whipped chocolate ganache between the layers, leaving a wide rim so the chocolate wouldn't ooze out the sides when the layers were put together and pressed down.

Spreading the whipped chocolate ganache on the cake layers

We started the crumb coat, the thin layer of buttercream that provides a smooth foundation for the fondant, by slapping a big dollop of buttercream on top of the cake, then working it down and around the sides. Start with more frosting than you think you need, counsels Clemence; it's easier to take away the extra than to work with too little, which will tear the cake.

Top, putting on the first crumb coat; bottom, the finished first crumb coat

The cake and its crumb coat went into the freezer to firm up. One problem I see with doing this in my own kitchen is that if you think I have room in my freezer for a cake on a turntable, you are sadly mistaken. My freezer is full of many delicious things, but it is indeed full. On a good day, maybe I'd be able to make room in the refrigerator. I'll have to think this through.

When the cake emerged about five minutes later, the crumb coat was stiff to the touch. We then put on a second crumb coat - not strictly necessary, but a nice-to-have if you really want the fondant to lie smoothly. Clemence showed me how to square up the top edge of the cake with buttercream so the fondant will drape well. Back into the freezer went the cake for another short stay.

Putting on the second crumb coat

While the cake was setting up in the freezer, Clemence took out the fondant, which I'd purchased at a nearby baking supply store. It looks like pure white Play-Doh. We sprinkled the counter with cornstarch and kneaded it a bit to soften it. Then Clemence put a drop of purple gel food coloring on half of it and kneaded it again to distribute the color - see that beautiful lilac color? Kindly, Clemence did all the food coloring work, as I had to head straight to the office and didn't think showing up with purple hands would make a great impression on my colleagues.

Top, adding color to half the fondant; bottom, rolling the fondant with cornstarch

We rolled out the fondant just the way you'd work with pie crust, turning it every now and again to make sure it wasn't sticking. The only difference is that you don't turn the fondant over, because you don't want the top to be covered in cornstarch. Then we picked up the rolled-out fondant on the rolling pin and draped it over the cake. Using our palms, we kind of cupped and smoothed the fondant along the sides of the cake, working out any pleats that wanted to form by nudging the icing this way and that. It doesn't sound like it would work, but it does, because the warmth of your hand shapes the fondant and helps it stretch and lie flat.

Top, using our palms to nudge the fondant into place; bottom, one cake covered with fondant

When the cake was well covered, we cut off the extra with a small sharp knife. Clemence cut some circles out of the scraps to use as decorations. She showed me how to mold a circle into the shape of a calla lily, with a tiny rolled-up log as the inside. I made two of the three lilies that ended up on top of the purple cake; I'm sure you can tell which was Clemence's and which were mine, but that's okay.

   

Top, fondant cut-outs; middle, shaping calla lilies; bottom, fondant flowers on the finished cake

For the other cake, Clemence got out her luster dust and mixed it with a little almond extract - it must be alcohol, and vodka is better because it's flavorless, but the almond scent was kind of nice, actually. She started painting on top of the cake in a doodly swirly way. This is where my lack of artistic skills really shows. I couldn't think of what to paint at all. So I followed the pattern she'd started, using both the pink and the gold, and I think it ended up looking very nice.

So there you have it - two finished cakes, decorated in under two hours. I arrived at work covered in cornstarch, with the cakes, which were devoured by my grateful colleagues in less than 10 minutes. My office really loves this blog series and all the cake decorating practice that's gone with it. I think they'll be pretty sorry when I go back to zucchini.

Tremendous thanks to Clemence for taking me under her wing. If you're in Los Angeles and have a few hours, sign up for one of her wonderful baking classes. Your friends and family will thank you.