American Baker in Germany

Let's talk graham crackers. Graham crackers are very loved in the US. A lot of American recipes call for graham crackers. Usually it's to make graham cracker crust for cheesecakes or something similar. There's nothing better. But what exactly are graham crackers? Believe it or not, graham crackers have been around for a very long time. It all started with a religious movement headed by a man named Graham. The Grahamites believed very strongly in following a healthy diet. They ate whole grains and avoided white flour. As such, products started popping up geared toward this group. Graham flour is finely ground whole wheat flour. Graham crackers today look like this. They are sold typically in rectangular shapes and have perforations to help you break it the size you need.  But at the end of the day, they're basically just whole wheat barely sweet cookies with a touch of cinnamon.  They are very popular to make graham cracker crusts for no-bake pies of all kind...

This cake was actually for a baptism, but I was basically allowed to bring anything I wanted. So, I decided I wanted to try a trend that I've seen around for the past several months. The first thing I did was mix up some gourmet sprinkles. This is my own mix of four or five different kinds of sprinkles of various sizes and colors. Aren't they colorful?  Then it's very important to have a fairly tall cake. I would actually consider the size I made to be pretty much minimum. I had three layers of vegan chocolate cake. Mine was a seven inch round.  Then I fill and stack the cakes. I filled and frosted this cake with my vegan American buttercream. So, this cake was 100% vegan.  Next, I crumb coat the cake. And chocolate cake with white frosting? It needed the crumb coat.  Now, before I frost the cake again, I press some sprinkles onto the side of the cake. That they went down to the bottom was kind of a mistake, but it doesn't matter that much. You basicall...

This is an easy recipe. Only 3 ingredients. I have to mention a few things about royal icing, though. Why royal icing? Well, royal icing contains egg whites, which makes the icing harden as it sets. The longer it sets, the harder it gets. Why would you want your icing to do that? A couple reasons. First off, royal icing acts like an edible glue to stick things to your cake. Second, is that you can pipe decorations with stiff royal icing, let them harden, and pick them up to place them on the cake. Thinner or flooding royal icing is soft and you can cover your cookies with it to make a perfect-looking frosting job on cookies. Now, I have to mention that royal icing isn't known for its taste. It's not something I would go out of my way to eat. It's more for decoration than taste. So this recipe is not meant to frost a cake. It's meant to flood cookies or create decorations for a cake. Royal Icing: 2 egg whites 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 350-450g (about 3-4 cups)...