American Baker in Germany

 One of the girliest icons ever. Barbie. My girls love it. When I think of a Barbie cake, I think of a doll cake, but in this case I wanted a more elegant, maybe a bit grown up, Barbie silhouette. I started out frosting a 4-inch cake dummy with vegan American buttercream. And I covered it in pink fondant. Then I rolled out some black fondant and cut out this Barbie silhouette. And I placed it on the cake. And the creases on the side of the cake weren't my favorite, so I covered it with a black fondant bow. I also added a stripe of black along the bottom of the cake. Then I added some black polka dots along the side of the cake and a pink bow on Barbie's ponytail. I think this is about the girliest cake ever. Barbie with at touch of elegance. Watch us make this elegant cake on your YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/_Ttfh3An96I Schaut zu wie wir diese elegante Torte auf unserem YouTube Kanal machen hier: https://youtu.be/yJlwlcVkR6Y

If you’ve never noticed, most sweet recipes call for at least a little bit of salt. Doesn’t that seem strange? I mean, I don’t want my cookies to be salty. Why are we supposed to add salt?  Well, it turns out that salt enhances flavor in general. Instead of making things salty, a small amount of salt will make the recipe just taste more strongly. In fact, rather than make a recipe taste salty, salt generally suppresses bitter and enhances sweet. Adding salt will keep the bitter ingredients, like dark chocolate, from delivering their bite and will allow the sweetness of another ingredient, like sugar, to deliver its sweetness.  Scientists think it’s because the body needs salt to survive and before it was readily available, the body just registered recipes with salt as better tasting than those without to ensure the body got enough salt to survive. Now, what about people with kidney or heart problems who are on low-sodium diets? Do they have to use salt in their recipes? Salt can al

 I decided I wanted to make a cake that looks like stained glass. And what looks amazing in stained glass style? Roses. Here's my version. I started out coloring buttercream a pinkish red, green and black. And I put them in piping bags. The red and green with no tip and the black with a round tip. I frosted a sheet cake dummy with white vegan American buttercream. And I scratched on the design with a pointed sculpting tool. I piped the red onto the petals of the rose and smoothed it on with an off-set spatula. And I did the same thing with the leaves and stems of the the rose. Then I piped on a red border. I outlined everything with black buttercream, including between what would be panels of glass. Then I piped some red borders along the sides and a vine with leaves in the space between. And I outlined everything on the sides in black as well. I am in love with this cake. I think it turned out gorgeous. It actually slightly reminds me of the stained glass in Beauty and the Beast.

This recipe for Johnny cake is from the Caribbean, but whenever I think of Johnny cake, I think of the American revolution. I should be dressed like a pilgrim to make this. Johnny Cake: 3 cups or 375g of flour 2-4 tbsp of sugar 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 2 ½ tbsp butter 1 cup or 225mL of water. Add the flour to a large mixing bowl. Add salt, baking powder and sugar. Mix to combine.  Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients. I’m using my hands for this, but you can also use a pastry cutter or two knives.  Stir in the water. Knead for a minute or two. This will just help the dough stick together better. Split the dough into pieces and press them down, sticking them with a fork three or four times. You should get about a dozen out of this recipe. Then, in a pan with about an inch of oil in it, heat on medium heat. Fry the dough on both sides until crispy brown.  This is how my Johnny cake turned out. However, as you can see, the dough didn’t cook all the way through

 This cake is for a baby christening. This particular design is white on white to symbolize the purity of the child after the baptism. I started out frosting an 8-inch round cake dummy on a gold cake board. And I also frosted a 6-inch cake dummy on a piece of cardboard. And I covered both tiers with white fondant. And I stacked the six-inch on top of the 8-inch. And I rolled some snakes of white together and laid them between the tiers and around the bottom of the cake. And I rolled out some white fondant and cut out a cross. And I placed it on top of the cake. I think it turned out beautiful. Very elegant and clean. Watch us make this gorgeous cake on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ehTkCABc6ZY Schaut zu wie wir diese wunderschöne Torte auf unserem YouTube Kanal machen hier: https://youtu.be/ppG1XUITntI

 If there was one sport I actually followed as a teenager, it would be baseball. I mixed up some vegan American buttercream and colored some red, green and brown and left some white. Then I put the red, green and white in piping bags with a medium round tip, a small round tip and a grass tip. Then I placed my 6-inch cake dummy to one side of the cake board. I frosted the cake and piped some red lines to look like a baseball. And I piped some pointed v-shapes onto the lines. And I spread some brown buttercream in a baseball diamond shape around the baseball. I piped the bases and lines with white buttercream. Then I piped grass all over the infield around the baseball. Then I spread some green in the outfield and piped the edge with grass. Yep. I love it. It absolutely looks very appropriate for baseball season. Take me out to the ball game! Watch us make this baseball cake on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/qDwCTVSkwIo Schaut zu wie wir diese Baseball Torte auf unserem YouTu