Custom Cakes, Cookies & Cupcakes - Are you really getting what you pay for?

I have been a home baker now for the past 6 years.  I went from baking for family and friends birthdays (which they never had to pay me for),  to baking beautiful deserts and treats for the masses, but of course, for a fair price.  But what I think is a fair price for all the love and work I put into these custom designed cakes, may not be what the person is expecting to pay if you have never purchased a real custom designed cake.

For years we have been accustomed to running to Public, (or whatever you local grocers name is), and buying an already decorated sheet cake for about 2.00 per slice (which is the average price for a mass made grocery cake.)  But here is what you are getting for that low bargain price.... A LOW QUALITY BOXED CAKE MADE BY A MASS MANUFACTURER.  These cakes are made in a large warehouse in sheets.  They are then cut to size and wrapped and frozen, then shipped to your local grocery store.  At the grocer, they can leave these sheet cakes in the freezer for as long as 6 months before they take them out for an order to decorate them.

Now, lets talk about the decor.  Do they use REAL buttercream with butter and shortening and soft powdery confectioners sugar and premium flavors and colors? NO.  They use lard and corn syrup.  Yep. This is why they last so long in the storage freezers on display and when you take them out and put them in direct sun, they don't melt.  Lard solidifies when its refrigerated.  And then becomes a jelatenous substance as its defrosted in the display cases, making them look fluffy.  If you are looking for a custom "Themed" cake, look no further than their catalog!  Where you will find flat 2D landscapes, covered in the same colorful lard, and then topped off with plastic figures.  Yep, thats it!  When you are using sub-par products, that have been frozen and then slathered with solidified sugary beef fat and plastic, then you get what you pay for.  A cheap cake.

When you order a REAL custom specialty cake, whether it is from a home baker like myself, or a specialty bakery, here is what you will get.  A fresh, just baked cake (usually about 24 hours old if that.)  Fresh ingredients like eggs, cream, and butter.  You are going to get REAL Buttercream icing tailored to your specific flavor and color!  Real Butter and shortening, real vanilla, confectioners sugar and its all beated either with a hand held or stand mixer, to the perfect consistency for the design you request.  If you ask your grocer for a fondant cake, most of the time you will get a cocked-headed look followed by NO, we don't do THAT here.  You can't even find fondant in a grocery store!  But with a custom specialty baker, you get that wonderfully sweet marshmallow fondant, smoothed over the perfect covering of buttercream and then beautifully designed into something that will leave all of your guests in awe....  The fillings are important too!  I will always use the freshest berries and fruit in my fillings. Or make home made puddings or ganache in both dark and white chocolate.  Grocery cakes... well... lets just say, they aren't that fancy.

Time is also of the essence when I make a custom specialty cake.  I take at the very least, about 6 to 8 hours to bake and decorate a cake to feed about 30 to 40 people. More people, means a MUCH longer process. Between the time it take to prep the batter, put it in the proper size cake pans and slow bake them checking them every 20 minutes to make sure it doesn't over cook and dry out, and then cooling the cake pieces properly, you are looking at about 3 to 4 hours on its own.  The decorating process definitely takes up the rest of the time. Putting together the cake with it's fillings and coating it with the first layer of buttercream. Allowing it to chill in the fridge so it sets nice and sturdy, to then receive the layer of decor. If you want a fondant cake, then you will be paying more because of the work it takes to color it, roll it and then shape and mold it into the decor of your choice.  For Buttercream or Royal Icing flowers and decorations, it is a little bit easier, but still requires a lot of product and time to ensure it sets in place before it's taken to its rightful owner.  Tiered cakes are also beasts all on their own.  They require actual hardware, like dowels and plastic trays to make sure that the cake doesn't fall apart during delivery and it doesn't sink into itself due to it's sheer weight!  All of that is extra money that you will have to pay for.

So when we look at a price breakdown of what a custom cake for 30 to 40 people would run you, lets look at the apx. cost of the products... (grab your calculators!)

Eggs - $2.50 per dozen (we use about half of that so $1.25)
Cream - $5.00 for a Quart (we use half of that so $2.50)
Flour (All Purpose 5lb bag) $8.99 (about half $4.50)
Flour (Cake flour, 5lb bag) 8.99 (same here $4.50)
Vanilla (1 oz.) $3.50
Sugar (4 lb bag) $4.50
Confectioners Sugar (4 lbs) $7.00
Butter (8oz box x 2) $6.00
Shortening (8oz) $4.00

Now comes the expensive part...
1 5lb container of pre-made Fondant (enough to cover a cake for 30 people) $30.00
1 2lb container of pre-made Fondant (enough for some small decorations) $15.00
1 .5 lb bag of gum paste (added to the decorating fondant to make it solidify like candy) $11.00
Food Coloring in various colors - about $2.00 worth
Cake round covered in decorative aluminum - $4.00
Cake box beg enough to fit your 25 lb cake - $4.00

Right now we are at $103.75 just for product! And that doesn't include any kind of fruit filling, chocolate or pudding.  And what happens the the bakers time... Are we not getting paid for the 8 hours of work we put into it?

So here is how the typical baker averages out the way they are going to charge you for a cake.
They will ask you how many people this cake is going to feed and what specialty decor you want on the cake (because remember that some decorations, especially very themed ones like for kids parties, are going to be extra.)  The regular cost of a specialty cake without all the extras is usually from $3.50 per person for a buttercream (simple) cake, to $6.00 per person for a more elaborately decorated cake, like for special birthdays, or weddings and anniversaries.

So for a middle of the way decorated specialty cake, with no special filling and covered with fondant for 30 people, you are looking at $4.50 per slice = $135.00 for a spectacular, show stopping, freshly baked, moist and delicious cake!   Not a bad price for the centerpiece of your event that everyone will get to enjoy.

So the next time you call a specialty baker to order one of those amazing cakes like you see on Cake Boss or one of the other network TV shows that galavant extravagant cakes, remember that WE are not a grocery store.  We put love, though, attention to detail and fresh ingredients in your cake to make sure you REALLY DO get what you pay for!

If you want to contact me to make a beautiful and delicious dessert for your next event, look me up on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesweeterymiami  and check out the cakes, cupcakes and special hand decorated cookies I custom make for my customers. (I do ship out cookies and cupcakes all over the US.  Standard Food Rates will apply).

NOTE:  ****The cost of products used to make these cakes are an average based on my market here in Miami.  Some bakers will buy these products in bulk and may vary by a couple of dollars, but it's still in the ball park ;-)

(All cake photos displayed have been cakes I have made for my customers.  Photos cannot be used for personal or business use.)

Home Office Organization DIY - Keep your mail in check!

I'm always looking for ways to organize and keep things in a place where they are easily found.  Lets face it, with a family of 4, a dog, a bird, a turtle and several saltwater fish, I would need to be a professional to keep everything in check all the time.  So anything that will help me to keep things as tidy as possible, is of great importance.

This simple, yet satisfying project, took all but 30 minutes to complete and cost about $5.00.  Yep you saw that right... $5 buck-a-roos!

Once of my biggest pet-peeves is having loose mail sitting around all over the house.  One of us walks in and puts it on the dining room table.  The other one puts it in the kitchen.  A few stacks go on my desk, or gets lost in my husbands pile on his.  Before I know it, I have no clue where the water or light bill is, and I can't find the coupons that were just in the mailbox yesterday!  So I've come up with a super-cool idea to get everything in one place so I know what to file, what to pay and what to throw away.

Here is the list of things you will need for this simple DIY Mail organizer project...

First, look around your garage for a piece of scrap board, an old drawer bottom, or the backing off of an old dresser or piece of furniture that you would have had to build yourself.  If you don't have anything laying around, you could go to Ikea, Target, Walmart and speak to their warehouse manager and see if they have anything laying around that they can give you.  (Believe it or not, this works really well at these locations since they would just throw this stuff away).  The piece should be big enough to hold at least 2 letter sized accordion files top to bottom.  The piece I used measured 24" tall x 12" wide.  I used the bottom of an Ikea dresser drawer that fell apart and has been sitting in my garage for months.

The next thing you will need are 2 according files.  The plastic kind from the dollar store work perfect since they are light weight (each were $1.00). You will also need some super glue AND some hot glue, as well as chalk board paint (which I already had from previous projects) and a set of frame hanging hardware that can be purchased at your local hardware store (apx. $1.90 is what it cost me). Oh and of course, a box of chalk from the dollar store as well, ($1.00).

First thing you have to do, is take your piece of wood, cardboard or door skin, and spray it down with two coats of chalk board paint.  You want to make sure that you do this in a well ventilated area, (outdoors is best) and wait about 20 minutes between coats.  Let your final coat dry at least for 1 hour before you start to glue stuff on.

Once your chalkboard is dry, you can take the accordion files and first put the super glue on the back of one, and then a thin bead of hot glue so it will adhere to the board while the super glue sets.  repeat this on the second accordion file.  Wait for about 20 minutes to make sure that the super glue is fully cured before attempting to pick it up for the next step.

Once the glue has dried, turn the project over and adhere the frame mounting brackets to each side of the back of the board, making sure it is totally even.  Fasten the wire cord to each of the mounting brackets and securely tie them.

Use some chalk to draw up some cute stuff around your board or to simply outline in what folder you want which piece of mail!  It really is that simple!  Take less than an hour to make, and you can enjoy organization for years to come.

The best part about this project is that you can have your kids help you with it, and make it a family event.  This organization unit can be used for college students to organize their papers, students to put their homework, or even to sort craft projects and fabric!  You can also customize it to a larger board to include more folders and using colorful chalk, make great designs.

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Flaky Pastry Breakfast Ring - Delish & Healthy!

The holidays are creeping up on us very quickly.  Every year I have a special breakfast that I plan for my family on Christmas morning.  I always start planning ahead as far as what I'm going to make, and I always think of things that I can prep the night before and leave in the fridge to then pop into the oven the next morning.

This little gem comes from the idea of stuffing croissant dough with all kinds of delicious things, but taking it to the next level, by using those convenient pre-cut triangles and creating a beautiful breakfast ring.  That takes care of taste AND presentation!

You can make this recipe for all kinds of occasions. And you can customize yours to include either sweet stuffing like cream cheese and guava paste or Brie with some peach marmalade or fresh fruit filling.  I've also made this with Nutella and cream cheese and it makes a fantastic sharing desert to take to any festivity!

The recipe is actually quite simple.  You need to purchase...

2 pre-packaged croissant tubes
6 eggs (or egg beaters to make it healthier)
1/2 cup of milk (lowfat 1% is what I used)
6-7 slices of turkey bacon (if you prefer regular bacon, you need to half-cook the bacon first)
2 cups of shredded Mexican blend cheese
salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (to taste)


Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  (If you have a convection oven, use the convection fan instead, since it cooks everything more evenly.  If you don't have one, that's okay.  Just make sure that you have an oven thermometer to make sure your oven heats up to the proper temperature).

While the oven is heating, make your eggs.  I always use them soft scrambled
so they are still a little runny when you put them in the pastry and they finish cooking in the oven.
To make the scrambled eggs, crack all 6 eggs into a large mixing bowl and add a 1/2 cup of milk.  The trick to getting fluffy eggs is the milk.  This also helps to keep them hydrated while baking.
Once the egg and milk mixture is combined, pour onto your pan, already pre-heated to medium heat.  Whether you cook the eggs with butter, or olive oil, it's up to you.  I like to add the omega 3's to the meal for health reasons, so I use the olive oil instead.  Make sure that you are constantly stirring the eggs since they can stick and burn if you just leave them without constant motion in the pan.

While the eggs are cooking, you can start to prepare your croissant wheel.  Take a large cookie baking pan and start to place your triangle in a circle around the pan.  You will use 1 tube of pre-packaged croissant dough for the outer spokes.  Make sure that you overlap the corners to form a bonded seal on the dough.   Once the outer ring is made, take your 2nd package of dough, and spread the triangles in the inside of the circle with the spokes facing in. Again, make sure you over lap them so they form a nice large dough base to place your stuffing ingredients.

Now it's time to spoon in your eggs.  While they are cooking, make sure to season them at the end before spooning them into your prepared ring.  Make sure to spread the eggs evenly on the dough base you have created so the bottom is what is going to cradle the eggs and bacon.  Once the ring is full of eggs, take your bacon, slice each piece in half and form them in a crisscross pattern over the eggs.  Follow the pattern all the way around till you have covered the eggs around the ring.

The next step is easy as long as you follow the pattern.  Start folding in the internal spokes of the ring over the eggs and bacon.  Once the inner ring is folded over, then start on the outer spokes going in the opposite direction.  The croissant dough is not going to fully cover your filling.  Once it's baked it will fill itself in slightly.  The rest will be covered by the cheese during the last step of the process.

Once your spokes are completely folded in, use your hands to gently form the outer edges of your ring into a circle and form the bottom edges of the ring around the filling.  This will help to keep the eggs from spilling outside of the ring during the baking process.

Now you are ready to bake!  Place the cookie sheet into the oven for 15 minutes.  Let it cook the full amount of time.  Once the 15 minutes are up, open the oven and add the shredded cheese over the top of the ring and then put back in to the oven for another 5 minutes.  This will allow the cheese to melt and crisp over the pastry.
Once it has completely cooked, take it out of the oven very carefully and let it sit on the counter for about 5 minutes to let it cool slightly before serving.

Depending on how many people you have to feed is how you will cut the ring.  I usually cut it into 8 thick pieces and drizzle with my homemade tomatillo salsa (get the recipe here Tomatillo Salsa Recipe).  This is a hearty breakfast that can be served as the sole meal item, or if you are planning a brunch, you can cut it into 16 pieces if there will be other items to accompany this dish.

The best part of this recipe is that you can really make this your own.  You can add tomatoes, onions and green peppers to the eggs while they cook to give it some texture and add another dimensions of flavor. Or you can add some sausage or ham into the eggs, instead of using the bacon.

The healthy part of this meal is the fact that you can substitute the eggs with egg beaters (for less calories and cholesterol), we used turkey bacon instead of the full fat pig version, and you can use low fat cheese and croissants instead of the regular full fat version.  These small substitutions will not limit you on flavor, but will certainly help to make your meal much healthier!

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Why Bath Salts, How to Use Them and How to Make Them!

Bath salts are one of those bath and beauty products that most people don't seem to get. As a matter of fact, I get loads of people asking me what they are for and how to use them. Most think that you need a tub to use them, so they instantly discount them as a waist of money. If they only understood the benefits and its many uses,  they would think twice about putting it down.

Bath salts are made up of three simple elements...mineral or epsom salt, softening oils and aromatic essential oils. Each component has its partcular task. The salt softens the water, while the oils soften your skin. And of course, the essential oils soften your mind with aromatherapy. Its pretty basic when you think about it. But why use them? Just to soften? Heck no!

Salts have been long known to be a theraputic treatment in healing muscle tissue. When disolved in warm to hot water, you can soak your body or individual parts of your body in the solution, to replace lost electrolites in soar muscles. It also acts as a natural anti-inflamatory and reduces stress on your joints.

Softening oils are light, non-scented, natural oils occuring in nuts and vegetables. The most common of these oils are sweet almond, olive oil, walnut oil and sesame oil. They have the most similar molecular structure as the natural oils produced by our bodies. 

This is why they are more easily absorbed through the skin and create the best hydration and moisture.

Essential oils are expelled from all kinds of natural herbs, spices, fruit and flowers. These are the aromatic oils that are used for both aromatherapy as well as for healing purposes, depending on what the needs of the users are. Within bath salts, essential oils are used mainly for aromatherapy since the water really diffuses the oils and the health benefits correlating to absorption are not as prominent. Some great essential oils to use would be lavender, orange or citrus oils, rosemary, basil, or some of the warmer since like cinnamon, clove or ginger. These are great additives to relax the mind and for therapeutic purposes to relieve joints.

To make your own bath salts, you have to follow a fairly basic principle of ratios just like you would a recipe. First you need to measure your salt. Remember to you epsom coarse salt for the best results. For every cup of epsom salt, add 1 cup of your base oil and 20 drops of the essential oil of your choice. You can mix your aromatics to create unique scents as well. Just make sure that you use scents that would compliment eachother. (For example, flower scents and fruit scents don't mix well.)

Once you created your own unique blend, make sure that you store the mixture in a glass jar. Do not use plastic since some of the essential or carrier oils can eat through the thin lining. Also, store it in a dark cool dry place. Make sure that when you're ready to use your bath salts that you are using clean dry hands to scoop out the salts to put inside your bathtub. Try not to add any water to the mixture since this can cause it to get moldy.

Now that you know the great benefits of using bath salts, treat yourself to a luxurious spa like bath at least once a week! You will be stress and pain free in no time!

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Fall Scented EASY Linen spray that deters Dust Mites! - DIY

As fall approaches, we start to pine for those wonderfully warm scents and colors to envelop us in our homes.  This is the time for the aroma of baked pumpkin pie and spiced rum to spread throughout every room of your home.  The bedroom should be no exception!

While playing around with some new scents and attempting to re-create those fall scents in a healthy and chemical free way, I actually discovered a fantastic method of using the ground spices instead of fragrance oils that could be harmful to your pets, your home environment and your furniture.

Here is how it's done...

First, take a small pot and add 2 cups of water and begin to boil. Add 1 tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice, Clove, nutmeg & Ginger. (Or, you can purchase a pre-mixed jar of Pumpkin Spice from one of the popular name brands at your local grocer.) Boil for 20 minutes and then remove from heat and let it sit undisturbed till it fully cools. DO NOT put it in the refrigerator to cool.  What is happening during the cooling process, is that you are allowing the natural oils from the spices to infuse the water without it separating. If you cool it down too quickly, the oils will separate and it will not be as effective.

Once it has completely cooled, you want to take a piece of cheese cloth to strain out all of the spices from the infused water. Once seperated, discard the spices and place the infusion into a mixing bowl. Now you are going to need some kind of dry alcohol. The best kind to use here would be vodka. Not the flavored kind and it can be cheap vodka. Stir in 1 cup of the alcohol till it's completely mixed.  

Now you can pour the mixture into a spray bottle and enjoy the scents of Fall anywhere you wish!

A note towards dust mites... they hate the smell of clove, peppermint, lemongrass and citrus. It drives them away and has been proven to kill the little suckers. So if you have thick fabric upholstered couches, have a love of throw pillows and down bedding, this natural spray will kill them with the alcohol content, disinfect your sheets and repel them from coming back with these scents. Talk about a win win product ; -) !

I've tried this same method using citrus fruit rinds and herbs to make all kinds of wonderful natural linen sprays. But this one is my all time favorite. Try it today! Takes no more than 20 minutes to prep and weeks of refreshing aromatic enjoyment.