From Disaster to Tasty treat

Do you remember when we were kids, and we had art class.  There were times when we drew a line that didn't belong and we freaked out.  It wasn't like she let us have pencils so we could erase it.  So she would show us how to change it into something else.

I had that experience the other day with my pie crust for my portfolio show.  I was baking a Graham cracker crust in mini muffin pans to create tartlets.  First they fell.  Silly me forgot to put blind bake rice.  Then they overflowed.  Well, what the heck am I going to do now.  I had a pie crust that I had made in the fridge so I said to myself "If it doesn't work then I guess it is only time wasted."  I mixed a little bit of both and made another test batch and threw them in the oven.  "here goes nothing.  They baked well but they still fell.

This is when panic started to set in I had 12 hours to make everything and I still had to make the marshmallows, caramel, and ganache.  All take time they couldn't be done together.  Then a solution popped in my head thanks to savory class.  Hors d'eouvres called canapes little bites on a piece of bread.  So I baked them just at the bottom of the muffin pan and wallah smore's canapes.

Lessons I benefited from, for this;
Make sure that when your baking something big to do test batches.  You don't want to bake twenty items just to have them all turn sour.  When something does go wrong you don't always have to scrap what you already have.  You can almost always turn it into something else, unless it is burnt to a crisp.  Which I have also done.

I hope this inspires you the next time something goes array.

Beginning

I've been cake decorating for fun since I was eight years old.  I actually never saw myself as a baker.  I was a math major and art major and then a cake major.  I took both my love for math and my love for art and mix the two together.  I am graduating today from the art Institute of California-Sacramento and it is the begining of my life as a Baker.  Currently I am working at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in our little town of Manteca and trying to increase my portfolio.  My ultimate goal in my journey is to become the "Cake Boss" of the west coast, or at least have my own shop.  Fame is not the name of the game but it would be nice to be recognized as a great cake decorator.  And if you'd like to follow, I'll be sharing my story along the way.