Messy Monday: Fondant Flop

When I made the Sesame Street cake for a friend's son's birthday, I had been excited to try fondant. It started good enough...I made a marshmallow fondant recipe that was easy and actually tasted really good! Click here to go to Peggy Weaver's tutorial.

This picture shows my result:

Looks like I succeeded, right? Wrong. I started rolling it with my pin that I thought was non-stick, and used corn starch like I was told, but I kept hitting sticky parts. Plus my counter was a huge sticky mess. I was not a fan...although the problem could be fixed with a cutting mat (that it turned out I needed anyway...keep reading!) or by patience while I was kneading...I didn't knead long enough and with enough powdered sugar. I guess I'm not the person to make fondant! So I decided to scrap using my marshmallow fondant, and use the premade fondant I had instead. This is my cake:
This is my fondant covered cake. I think it's headed to the cover of Martha Stewart! Okay, so my first attempt flopped. When I rolled it, it wasn't in the right shape I guess...I'm having a hard time remembering what my dodo brain was thinking! I think I put the cake on the fondant and tried to move it up to the top of the cake...at least I was smart enough to figure out that I was doing it backwards.
Since I am a determined person, I was not going to leave it at that! I rolled the fondant again.
You're probably thinking, "THERE you go!"
yes.......yes......it's working.......
Yay! Time to cut the excess...with my pizza cutter....
Voila!
Okay, here's another messy part of my experience...I got so into making the fondant letters, rolling my pizza cutter around to make them, that I didn't realize I had no mat underneath, and I made some cuts on my counter. Go ahead. Shake your head. I deserve it.
Got a kitchen catastrophe to share? Email kitchendoughdough@gmail.com to be featured on Messy Mondays!

Messy Monday!

If you aren't familiar with Becky of Project Domestication and Utah Loves Cupcakes, let me fill you in...

She loves Utah and she loves cupcakes! I love to read Utah Loves Cupcakes to keep up on all of the Utah cupcake gossip.

Becky shared this with me:

"Okay, I have a total mess up every once in a while."

That doesn't sound too bad...

"My favorite tasting cupcake recipe is the Salted Caramel Cupcake by Shelly Kaldunski in her cookbook "Cupcakes. It's a fabulous recipe but like every other time I make it I have this:

happen!!!

I'm not sure if it sinks because I overfill the cups or if it is an altitude problem. To my knowledge all my leavening/rising ingredients are up to par."

Anyone have any advice for Becky and her yummy volcano cupcakes? (hehe. Sorry Becky...the picture just reminded me of lava!)

It sounds like she's made these cuppys a lot, so I'm sure she's not filling them too much. My thought is that it may be the altitude...a lot of recipes that I get excited about don't turn out tasting the best...but don't ask me, I'm a doughdough!

I love hearing about your mishaps! Keep the submissions coming to kitchendoughdough@gmail.com!

Totally spaced it on Messy Monday!

It is barely Tuesday, so hopefully you'll forgive me. I'll tell you what I was doing all day on Thursday's post...

But for now I do have a funny story to share! I laughed out loud at this submission from Frieda of friedalovesbread.blogspot.com! Perfect for a messy Tuesday...

"I love my Kitchen Aid mixer. My boys gave it to me for my birthday several years ago, knowing that they would be the beneficiaries of home baked goodies. 51 weeks later, I was making some wheat bread dough, which takes quite a bit longer to knead than the traditional white dough. I decided to leave the kitchen "just for a moment." The smoke alarm came on. I went back into my kitchen and my Kitchen Aid was on FIRE! Flames were spouting out of the sides of the on/off and lock switches! The flames were only centimeters away from the underside of my cabinets...I yanked the cord out, pulled the mixer away from the cabinets and waited for the flames to die down.

I called Kitchen Aid and they said, "What?! Your mixer caught on fire? What were you doing?" After giving them the details, they reminded me that I still had one week left on my original first year warranty. They sent me a brand spanking new mixer, complete with a shipping label to return the fried one.

I am happy to say this mixer has served me well over the 15 years, though I still watch it closely..."

Too funny! Who knew a mixer could go up in flames...and not just any mixer, the famed Kitchen Aid! Thank goodness it happened on week 51, and thank goodness for Frieda's story to give us a laugh!

Submit your messy kitchen stories and/or pictures to kitchendoughdough@gmail.com!

Messy Monday!

Thanks to Jen at Delightful Delicacies, we have a Messy Monday!

I laughed out loud when I saw this picture:

I only laugh because it looks like something I would do! And I had no CLUE what it was! Any guesses?

Jen tried a recipe for a Daring Bakers challenge, and says on her blog, "I'm sure you're wondering 'what in blue blazes does this picture of tar have anything to do with a Daring Bakers challenge?'"

Did anyone guess lavash? If you're a doughdough like me, you don't even know what lavash is! (and is it la VASH? or la VOSH? lay-vush?)

This is what Wikipedia had to say:

Lavash (also known as crackerbread) is a soft, thin flatbread made with water, flour, and salt. (Click here to see the full article!)

You'll learn even more at delightful delicacies! Go there to get some more laughs and some fabulous recipes. You'll see that this was truly a fluke, for she is an awesome cook!

I don't think I've ever looked forward to the next Monday on a Monday! Keep the submissions coming to kitchendoughdough@gmail.com!

Messy Mondays

Be a guest blogger on kitchen doughdough: I want to hear about your messes!

Last night after baking strawberry shortcake cupcakes (they were delicious...post coming soon!), my kitchen was again a disaster. Every time I bake I have the hardest time keeping things clean and organized. Scroll down to the end of this previous post to see an example. (Shameful, I know.)

So, I thought, why not give the world's kitchen doughdoughs a chance to show off their kitchen disasters?! Please email kitchendoughdough@gmail.com with your kitchen catastrophes and include pictures if you can! You can submit pictures of the aftermath of your culinary experiences, a story of a good meal gone bad, accidents in the kitchen-anything you think is an entertaining mishap! I am SO excited to hear from you. I will feature your submissions each week on Messy Mondays! (My Mondays are always messy whether I'm in the kitchen or not!)