Top 10 reasons why I like the Cake Boss

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I would really like to tell you all about today's Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, which was loads of fun and is going to raise TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund with your help! However, I am so exhausted that falling into bed is about all I will be able to handle tonight. I'll post more details soon. For now, let me share with you the top 10 reasons why I think Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro is a total dude. And thanks, Rachel, for getting me hooked on the Top 10 genre.

10. He sat on the couch after the event and chatted with our group of starry-eyed food bloggers for a good half-hour with no indication whatsoever that he felt it to be an imposition.

9. He stood next to me in our group photo.

8. He brought his crew to help us with the cake decorating, and they were all dolls.

7. Even after the competition was over, he and his boys helped those of us who still wanted to practice our buttercream and fondant skills. (Notice the overturned bucket covered with buttercream borders in this photo of my teammates Jessie from Cakespy and Kelly from Evil Shenanigans.)

6. He admitted that he curses like a sailor in the shop (this New York native has a soft spot for rough-mouthed men - reminds me of my early days in magazine publishing, for some reason).

5. He can make buttercream roses like you've never seen before.

4. He signed the aprons Electrolux gave us to wear at the event, Cake Boss t-shirts, publicity shots, and I think even a few napkins. Ad infinitum, gladly and without complaint.

3. He posed for pictures with each of us individually, in our teams, as a large group, with many cameras. Ad infinitum, gladly and without complaint.

2. When one of the members of the Electrolux marketing team called her mother to tell her she was standing next to the Cake Boss, he took the phone and left a message on her mother's voice mail.

1. He autographed a picture for my kids.

Coundown to Kelly Ripa, day 1: Ellen's cupcake party

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One day to go until I'm decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund! Get ready to help me spread the word about the contest, because I'll need lots of mouthpieces out there rallying the troops to bring in the votes. Photos of the cakes we decorate at Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause tomorrow will be posted on the Kelly Confidential website, and for every vote cast, the wonderful and generous Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Can you imagine a better reason to bug your friends?

Today, my last Countdown post, is devoted to Ellen, one of my best friends from college, and the cupcake decorating parties she's thrown for her sons' birthdays. It's a great idea: Cover the table with newspaper, set out blank cupcakes, fill a bunch of zip-top bags with brightly colored frosting, add bowls of sprinkles and nuts and other decorations, and there you go - instant party. And at the end, you've got cupcakes! Can you tell which ones the grownups made?

Now I know what to propose for my kids' birthdays next year. In Los Angeles, however, we can do it all outside and hose down the patio when they're done!

 

 

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 1.5: Cakes by Gisele Perez

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Yes, I know I already posted my Countdown to Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause today. But I got these great photos from LA food blogger and caterer Gisele Perez, and I wanted to share them with you. I've had so much fun in this series looking at all the different cakes, cupcakes and other sweets my friends have made!

Says Gisele:

The photo above is a birthday cake I made for a friend last year. I used easy decorations - fresh flowers and sugar  molded instruments, sombreros etc. purchased from cake decorating store. [Erika says: Good tip for those of us who can master the basic icing steps but have neither the skills nor patience to mold fondant or gum paste.]

German Chocolate cakes (below) often don't have much decoration, but I always like to finish them off by icing the sides and adding a shell border. It makes for a beautiful presentation, and I think it helps to "sandwich" the cake together- German Chocolate can be delicate. I use Rose Levy Beranbaum's Milk Chocolate Buttercream (a truly luscious buttercream) to finish. It's one of those recipes which requires the buttercream to be at just the right temp to use, but it's definitely worth the trouble. I use Callebaut's Bittersweet and Milk Chocolate.


Because the traditional German chocolate cake recipe (included on the Baker's German Chocolate packing) makes a slightly crumbly cake, I always give the  sides of the cake a "crumb coating" of the buttercream, then let it set for a few minutes in the fridge before giving it a second coating.

   

Crumb coat on the sides of the cake

Second coat of frosting on the sides of the cake

The finished cake with its shell border

Beautiful, yes? These are cakes I definitely think I could handle. Thanks, Gisele!

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 2: Cakes by Paula

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Two days to go until my adventure with Kelly Ripa and Electrolux, decorating cakes with Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund! Our group of 15 Foodbuzz food bloggers found out a few days ago that we'll be at the taping of Live! with Regis and Kelly on Tuesday morning (that's February 9, 2010). Who knows if we'll be on camera, but even so you might want to tune in. I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't mention the event, which is happening later that day, and at least point the cameras in our direction for a few seconds. Guess all the shopping for makeup was worth it! 

Today's post is truly inspiring to me. Get ready for some of the most spectacular cakes you have ever seen from a non-professional baker. If I can make anything a tenth as beautiful and creative at the Cake-Off for a Cause, we will win for sure. These cakes were made by Paula K.B., another friend I've known since grade school. She was always super artistic - I once took a ceramics class in her mom's basement, and I remember standing there looking at the pieces she'd done, mouth hanging open. She's also a superb photographer. But lately she's been turning some of her artistic energy to cake decorating. Okay, ready? Make sure you're sitting down.

 

   

 

 

 

  

 

And here are Paula's notes about the cakes:

These are some of the mini (6-inch) cakes I made for the "summer birthday" kids in Emily's class last year. As you can see, I try to personalize them, so the kids feel a little bit special, especially after having to share their party with a handful of other kids. The cakes are yellow or chocolate. I try to get the "likes" from the moms beforehand! (I love when they give me a half a dozen things they like, thinking they are getting their own sheet cake or something!)

The larger cake was a challenge, but I think it came out great. It was fondant, and I loved working with it. It was like working with clay! I made it for a friend of Ben's for her 13th birthday. They ended up using it at her bat mitzvah. That was pretty cool!


Believe it or not, the icing is store-bought frosting, plain vanilla. I use the Wilton Icing Colors to decorate. There are so many colors to begin with, and they mix like paint (which as an artist I love) so you can pretty much get whatever color you're looking for.


The big cake is fondant, of course layered over buttercream. The cake layers are yellow and chocolate. The balls are fondant...I think I was crazy to do it that way! It was sooo time-consuming, but it looked so much better that way, much more "finished." As you can see, it is not that easy to roll that many and get them all to look exactly the same, but I guess that's part of the homemade charm! I have a set of mini cookie cutters that I did the hearts with...also incredibly time-consuming. I originally started out with polka dots, but it was too plain. Switched to the hearts, and it all fell into place. I also picked up a neat trick: I put powdered sugar on the board when I am working so it doesn't stick. I think it helps with the flavor also!

So - are you blown away? I think I know what Paula's next career will be....

Top 10 reasons the next Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause should be in Los Angeles (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 3)

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Three days to go until Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, where I'll be one of 15 food bloggers decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro himself, all to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:



I'm actually flying to New York a few days early to see my mom and my darling niece and nephew. Except that there's a huge snowstorm in the east - have you heard? So when I actually get to New York today, or even if, is, ahem, up in the air.

So, today's post. Remember the top 10 list from a few days ago on what not to say to Kelly Ripa, penned by my hilarious friend Rachel, who blogs at Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen and The Not-Quite-Daily Dispatch? She's at it again, and she's angling for Kelly Ripa's next cake decorating contest to move west. Kelly, are you listening?

Top 10 reasons the next Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause should be in Los Angeles instead of New York

10.  Kelly Ripa looks much better in a bathing suit than she does in a parka.

9.  Everyone knows that Los Angelenos are more friendly than New Yorkers and are therefore much more likely to share their cake with their neighbors (as soon as they go over and finally meet them).

8.  It's much more difficult to transport a decorated cake on the subway than it is in a car stuck in traffic.

7.  In Los Angeles there's no danger that falling snow will cause delicate cake decorations to bleed.

6.  Mayor Bloomberg has been conducting a clandestine cake bakery sting operation in New York that will soon put all of the cake bakers in the five boroughs behind bars. Carmine "Junior" Persico was heard to say "Let them eat cake" just before they took him into custody.

5.  No one eats in Los Angeles, so there's no danger that anyone will have their cake and eat it too.

4.  Rehab Malibu is the location of the world's premier cake addiction facility. All forms of insurance accepted.

3.  Access Hollywood has agreed to highlight whichever cake decorator most successfully replicates the outfit Lady Gaga wore to the 2010 Grammy awards in frosting.

2.  Contestants on this season’s The Bachelor promise to pre-enact their wedding-cake-cutting ceremony using the official cake of the Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause.

1. You can award cake decorators extra points for constructing a cake that will survive an earthquake.