Finally an update!!

         After the chocolate chip cookies we started getting into this baking thing. We pored over our trusty Cake Boss book and decided that since Buddy is the Cake Boss we ought to try a cake! We decided on carrot cake since that’s one of my favorites. My sister doesn’t like cakes or carrots but we decided to try carrot cake anyways.

          So the most difficult part of the ingredient preparation ended up being the grating of the carrots. I was on carrot duty while sister handled the rest of the ingredients. We were about halfway through the recipe when Grammy came over. I usually refer to Grammy as the family baking expert because she always bakes delicious desserts from rocky road bars to sister’s favorite- apple pie. She decided to watch our baking endeavor along with Dad who had also came in at this time. At this point I said I felt like I was on a cooking show. Probably a comedic one since we were quite entertaining and ridiculous. 

Against Buddy’s advice we used two springform pans instead of two normal pans since we only have the springform ones. Initially I was a little confused as to why it said we should make two cakes but then I realized it was so the cake could be layered with frosting in between so we used two pans. The only problem with the springform pans arose right before we put them in the oven and one started leaking. This made me pretty nervous but we put a cookie sheet under it and all was fine. I was a little unsure when to take the cakes out of the oven because I was having trouble telling if they were done. Eventually I took them out and let them cool etc. When it came time to remove the cakes from the pan I enlisted the help of another family baker, my mom. She helped us transfer the cakes from the pans to plates after they had cooled. At this point I realized I may have taken the cakes out a little too soon because the middles were pretty gooey looking and had kind of come apart in the transfer.

After putting the cakes in the fridge for a couple hours we made the cream cheese frosting which was pretty easy. I used whipped cream cheese since I didn’t have any regular cream cheese and that worked out completely fine. However, frosting the cake is a lot harder than they make it look on the show. That was quite a struggle and I don’t think Carlo’s bakery is going to be hiring me to frost cakes anytime soon. The top of the cake looked kind of plain so I decided to shred a little more carrot to put on the top for color. The end result turned out pretty good if I do say so myself and people seemed to enjoy it. Check out the pictures below and be sure to stay tuned for our next baking adventure.

All our ingredients lined up and ready to go

The cake! See how its kind of mushy in the middle

Our finished product!

Let's start at the very beginning.... Chocolate chip cookies!

Our first attempt at baking was the chocolate chip cookie recipe in the cake boss book. I love to bake but in the past I’ve tended to stick to mixes and simple things like that. I’ve always tried to add my own twist when I use the mixes but I felt it was time for me to step up to the baking from scratch level. So in the middle of a snowstorm after shoveling, making a snowman, and watching a Next Great Baker marathon my sister and I decided it was time to step up to the challenge.

We started out alright following the recipe with minimal difficulties until it came time to add the brown sugar. We had brown sugar but quickly realized it was hard as a rock! Somehow the brown sugar had solidified into something resembling a brick. Since this was the middle of a blizzard my normal solution (forget about this package and run out and buy some new brown sugar) wouldn’t suffice. So I decided to shoulder on and used a knife and a spoon to scrape/ break up this package of brown sugar while my sister handled the rest of the ingredients. This worked out fairly well until it was time to mix. Unfortunately we are not in Carlo’s Bakery so we are not outfitted with a fancy Hobart mixer. We actually don’t even have a stand mixer, just a hand one. So while I struggled to mix the mixture with just the hand mixer my sister started shouting “push through the pain Buddy!!!” My parents who were watching this whole undertaking with amusement found her saying this absolutely hilarious.

The only time I deviated from the recipe was in the instance of the butter, by accident I used salted butter instead of unsalted as it specified in the recipe. When the cookies came out I swore I could taste the extra saltiness but everyone else said they were fine.

In the end the cookies turned out pretty good for our first try. If I made them again in the future I would not make the cookies as large. The recipe said to make the dough balls meatball sized and to make 24 of them but they turned out to be extra large cookies so I definitely would recommend making them smaller. At this point I hadn’t gotten professional about this blog endeavor yet so I don’t have any pictures of our finished product but next time there will be!

My First Ever Blog Post!

So to start off I’d like to introduce myself to blog world and explain what this blog is supposed to be about. My sister and I are huge fans of the show the Cake Boss with Buddy Valastro. We recently got his book Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. We’ve decided to try and bake our way through the book and document our efforts on this blog Julie and Julia style. It should also be noted that I’ve never actually seen the movie Julie and Julia or read the book, I tried to rent it at redbox tonight but they didn’t have it. My hope is that this blog will document our baking trials and triumphs, any interesting adventures that arise related to this quest, and some entries related to the Cake Boss phenomena. Stay tuned for our adventures!