Our contributor, Miso of Miso Bakes, is here with a new tutorial for St. Patrick’s Day …

As many of you know, four-leaf clovers symbolize luck.  However, did you know three-leaf clovers (shamrocks) symbolize happiness?  Many years ago, I stumbled upon a quote pertaining to the two clovers that read something like this, “People step on happiness to find luck.”  So true.  My ears burned in embarrassment and guilt when I first read this quote.

For St. Patrick’s Day this year, I created a cake that represented both happiness and luck!  I made shamrocks and four-leaf clovers out of sugarpaste and used them, as well as crumbled cake scraps, to decorate a cake.  Liking the rustic feel of the cake, I decided not to clean and smooth the top edges of the cake.

Here is my tutorial on how to make the shamrocks and lucky clovers…

SHAMROCKS & LUCKY CLOVERS CAKE
DIY by Miso Bakes

Supplies:

• Green gumpaste
• Small heart shaped cutter
• Rolling pin
• Floral wire (I used 26 gauge)
• Ball tool
• Floral tape
• Leaf veiner
• Toothpicks

STEP 1:   Cut three green hearts out.  Using balling tool thin the curved, top half of the hearts.  If your edges are too ruffled, gently flatten out with you finger.  You want the bottom half of the hearts to be thick enough to insert wires in them.

STEP 2:  Gently press your hearts (face down) onto the veiner.  I like to do it this way so that the center vein of the leaf lines up with the center of the heart.

STEP 3:  Dip one tip of your wire in water and insert into heart.  Pinch the seal.  Let dry completely.  Dry flat as shamrock petals are not really curved.

STEP 4:  Using floral tape, tape the three hearts together.  Trim a bit of the wire so it looks like this.  You will be taping a toothpick to elongate the stem so that you may insert the toothpick into the cake rather than the wire.

STEP 5:  Tape toothpick onto the stem.

STEP 6:  Your three-leaf clover / shamrock is complete!

To create a lucky clover, simply follow the steps above creating four petals instead of three.

You may use these to decorate a cake or cupcakes.  I think it would be fun to hide a four-leaf clover in the midst of shamrocks and see who ends up with it on their slice of cake!  Perhaps they can win a prize!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May you all be blessed with much happiness and luck!

	Miso Bakes Miso is a monthly contributor for The Cake Blog. She is a talented pastry chef with a big passion for cakes. Read more about Miso on her bio page.

Oh for the love of simple sophistication.  There’s nothing like a cake with clean lines and a touch of romance to get your heart racing.  And that’s exactly what we have for you today.  Soft creamy white meets several shades of grey in this polished design created by Kristin Kirkpatrick , owner of Fat Girl Cakes in Virginia.  A textured grey sash, gathered with a delicate fantasy flower, creates a gorgeous focal point and reason alone to swoon.  And then there’s the pearls.  The oh-so-cultured pearls, dropping in for an extra touch of elegance.  Each one precisely placed and gracefully looping around the second tier.  Not to mention their reflection on the cake board.  Put it all together and you have this stunning Pearlescent Shades of Gray Cake.

Kristin of Fat Girl Cakes gives us the scoop on her design:

“A few months ago I was invited to create a cake for Cake Central Magazine’s Pearlescent Shades of Gray feature. They sent a picture of a few inspiration items… a grey dress with some ruching and fabric flowers, a vase on a book, and bobbypins with pearls on the ends.  They requested a grey and cream colored cake that was on the simple side rather than the over-decorated/ornate side. I was in love with the idea and the inspiration items, so of course I agreed to create one.”

More from Kristin of Fat Girl Cakes :

“I love tiers that aren’t white or tiers of color mixed in with white/light ones, so I knew I wanted to alternate the cream with the grey.  Of the inspiration items, the first item that struck me was the dress.  Even though I love rules and order (my degree is in mathematics), I don’t have the patience or desire to make botanically correct flowers and prefer to make fantasy flowers, so I wanted to incorporate the fabric flower.  I also wanted to simulate the ruching and chose to use the smocking roller along with some natural gathering.

The vase on the book didn’t speak to me, but the bobbypin with the pearl ends did.  I loved the way this tier turned out.  So many times I have an idea in my head and they just don’t quite come out the same, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.  I thought mimicking a similar pattern around the base of the cake was a neat way to finish the cake.  So many times we ignore the cake board, and decorating it, or at least covering it in fondant instead of foil, makes the cake that much more glamorous.”

Seriously, sometimes less is more.  And this design is a perfect example of refined simplicity.  A big thank you to Kristin Kirkpatrick  of Fat Girl Cakes for sharing her Pearlescent Shades of Gray Cake with us today.  It is beyond lovely!

VENDORS & CREDITS
Cake:  Fat Girl Cakes
Photography:  Kitt Creative

Today we’re starting a new weekly series!  For years, you’ve been sending in your questions.  Asking for tips and advice on anything and everything baking related.  For years, I’ve tried to respond to as many of your questions as possible.  I’m honored that you would even ask me!  But I have to admit that I struggle to keep up with the sheer volume of your emails.  So I thought it would be fun (and beneficial for all) if we started to address some of the most commonly asked questions here on the blog.  Each week we’ll feature a new baking tip, trick or technique to officially kick off the conversation.  Then, it’s your turn to chime in!  Our little community is filled with talented bakers and an abundance of knowledge… from which we can all learn and grow.  And we’d love to hear your thoughts!  So let’s get chatting about this first Tip of the Week!

So let’s start at the very beginning. One of the first and most important steps for creating great cakes….

The best cakes start with room temperature ingredients.  Plain and simple.  Butter, eggs, and liquids should all be at room temperature before you even begin.  You will seriously see better results with all of your recipes.

Too often, my window of baking opportunity arrives only to find my ingredients still in the fridge.  Cold, cold, cold.  I’m sure I can’t be the only one with this problem.  So here are some quick and easy ways to cheat and bring your ingredients to room temperature, asap!

EGGS

• Place eggs in a bowl and cover with lukewarm water.  Do this when you first enter the kitchen.  Then get out your other ingredients, pans, etc.  Your eggs will be ready when you’re ready!

BUTTER

• Cut butter into small cubes.  Lay out cubes in a single layer on a plate or board.  The room-temp process will happen much faster.
• Or, place butter between sheets of wax paper and pound with rolling pin.
• Use a cheese grater to cut up your cold butter.  This works on frozen butter too!
• Still not fast enough for you?  Place the entire stick of butter in the microwave for 5 seconds on 50% power.  Rotate stick and microwave again.  5 second intervals helps ensure that you don’t end up with a puddle of melted butter.  Every microwave is different, but four intervals (for a total of 20 seconds) gives me the perfect consistency.

MILK

• Microwave on 50% power in 15 second intervals until room temperature.

Do you have a favorite way to bring ingredients to room temperature?  Share it with us!