behind the scenes

Let's save all the dramatic introductions and jump right into the first blog!

I titled this "behind the scenes" because some of you may be following Kruffles (formarly The Sweet Touch) and see all the cakeballs that pass inspection, but what no one sees on THAT blog is what goes on behind the scenes in our lives and in my kitchen!

So I'll start with a cakeball blog - SURPRISE!

At least I promise to make it interesting!! Actually, I think you'll find it pretty entertaining. I don't have as many pictures of this fiasco, but I'm sure the ones I do have will suffice.

Last weekend I had an order for a Baby Shower. That wasn't the challenging part though. I'm now pretty good at mixing baby blue and baby pink icing colors. No the challenge for this particular event was twofold. 1. The customer wanted them shipped to LAS VEGAS (side note: I have not yet perfected my shipping methods and I have decided not to offer this service UNTIL I know it works.) Well she asked for them to be sent overnight to the desert and me the people pleaser, complied. 2. I used fondant for the FIRST time! Yes ok I'm sharing ALL my dirty little secrets on this blog. I have NO formal training. (yet)

Ok well lets skip #1 for a moment and jump to challenge #2: The Fondant.

Right, well, I bought the fondant (already made; gasp!) AND already baby blue (some of you may have closed this blog by now - for those of you that can stand to read on -thank you for not judging me! Or at least thanks for wanting to see what happened!)

Ok all I had to do was make the initial "J". Lots of little baby blue "J's". Simple enough. I rolled out the fondant. Used my "J" fondant cutter. Carefully peeled them off the surface (my counter top- again gasp! I have no fondant mat. YET!)

Here they are. My cute little Baby Blue J's



I then read in my new Wilton's icing book that you should set them out overnight to harden. I had 8 hours before they had to be finished and dropped off at Fedex.

Ok so I panicked. Then I turned to GOOGLE! I found a comment that said "Place them in the oven at LESS than 150 degrees for a few minutes and they will dry out." PERFECT! I have a little toaster oven - it starts at 80 degrees. Perfect.

I went back into the kitchen. Put my J's in the tray. Put the tray in the oven. Turned the oven to 80 degrees. Turned around to take my cakeballs out of the fridge. Turned back around to check on my J's ONE minute later and this is what I saw....



Yes. They MELTED! They melted AND burned!

I started over. Now with 6 hours to go.

Here is the final product!



Those were all taken with my iPhone. Here's a picture of them from "Flashy" (yes most everything in our house has a name!)



Ok so you're still wondering how I got them to harden...Well...I...didn't. They hardened as the hours ticked by. :-)

Ok what about (Challenge #1: Voyage through the Desert via Fedex) you ask. Well... I don't know. She received them on Thursday morning and sent me the message:

"Got the Fedex package! Thanks! Will let you know when I open them!"

Then another email came Friday:

"Took them out of the Fedex boxes. Your boxes are cute! Haven't opened them yet! The boxes look great though! Will keep you posted."

Friday night:

"Have decided to open them at the Restaurant on Saturday morning right before the shower. Will let you know how they look."

That's the last I've heard. I have been on my hands and knees praying since Wednesday! This is a VERY important customer! WHY DID I SAY YES?!?!

Ok breathe... I'll announce what happened when I hear from her. A prayer from everyone that reads this wouldn't hurt! :-)

Now you know what REALLY happens in the Touchstone house that doesn't and will NEVER appear on The Sweet Touch blog!