American Baker in Germany

 Sourdough starter is one of the things that I find the most magical of all things baking-related. You take water and flour and time and poof, you have a whole bacterial colony. How cool is that?  In case you were not aware, sourdough bread does not use commercial yeast. Yeast is a fungus that is sold in a dormant form. After activation, yeast "wakes up" and begins eating the food given to it and creates air as a biproduct. This air is what makes bread light and fluffy. Without yeast, bread is very heavy and not very nice to eat. What do you do without yeast, though? What if you don't have yeast around? Well, you can create your own colony of good bacteria that has a very similar effect. This is called a sourdough starter. In case you didn't know, bacteria is everywhere around us. On the surface of your skin, inside your body, on the surface of every table or countertop. Usually, there isn't enough there to bother us. Our body can keep them at bay to the point tha...

 This cake was for my own daughter's birthday cake for our family party. This is a 6-inch red velvet cake frosted with white chocolate ganache. I also colored some of the ganache with gel food coloring white it was still liquid. I colored some teal and piped a pearl border along the bottom of the cake. Then I piped some polka dots on the side of the cake. I also colored some pink, which was a bit warm because of the natural yellow of the chocolate. I piped it in swirls along the edge of the cake. The rest of the cake was just placing the 8 candle and laying a doll onto the cake. If you're curious, this is Center Stage. This was exactly what my daughter wanted. She was so happy with the cake. Happy 8th Birthday, Sabrina! Watch us make this simple piped cake on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XR8Va8gidFI Schaut zu wie wir diese einfache gespritzte Torte auf unserem YouTube Kanal machen hier: https://youtu.be/ruCGRSVpUFU

 This is my recipe for chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. Very decadent. Very delicious. Still light and fluffy. Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream: 7 egg whites 2 cups (400g) sugar 2 cups (500g) butter 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar 200-400g dark chocolate (melted, but not hot) Separate your eggs. You only want egg whites. Put them in a heat-proof bowl (either metal or glass). Whisk together egg whites and sugar. Also add the vanilla sugar at this point if you are using it. Heat the mixture over a double boiler (baine marie) until the sugar grains are no longer tactile and the mixture is hot to the touch. Whip the meringue to stiff peaks. It should look glossy and gorgeous when it's ready. Add the butter a tablespoon at a time until all the butter has been incorporated and there are no more chunks. The mixture will probably be quite thin at this point. If you haven't already melted your chocolate, you should do that at this point. Continue to b...

 This cake was a special request for my husband's cousin's 40th birthday. I made two full recipes of vegan chocolate cake. I made this cake in a 10x10 inch square cake, trimmed the sides and cut it in half.  I filled and stacked the cake with chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. The day I made this cake, it was swelteringly hot. So, you may notice that as time goes on. I cleaned up the buttercream off the sides and put a cut out of a VW bus onto the side and cut around it. Once I was happy with the carving, I frosted the cake with the chocolate buttercream and cleaned up the cake board. Then I cut out some black fondant and placed it onto the bottom strip of the cake. Then I added a wide strip of red around the middle of the bus. Notice how this sags as time goes on. Did I mention it was a sweltering day? Make sure to get that V on the front of the bus. Then fill in the top with beige. We're getting there. The vintage VW buses have a ceiling that pops up to form bunk beds....