Threadcakes Baking Competition

When it comes to decorating cakes, anything could be your source of inspiration. How about turning your favorite t-shirt design into an edible work of art? Well, the creative folks at Threadless.com have done exactly that. They started this fantastic online baking competition called Threadcakes and it's going on right now. Here are some of the winners from last year (photos courtesy of Threadless.com and Threadcakes.com)

I had a chance to browse through their cake gallery this week and the entries so far have been amazing. There were quite a few cakes that I was really impressed with, including Zombie at Tiffany's,  Bitter Teeth , Why is an Owl Smart? and Phascolarctos Cinereus. What's so cool about this competition is that each participant shows you the step-by-step process (with photos!) of how they made their cake. I really enjoyed reading the stories submitted with each cake and I got to learn some new cake decorating techniques for use in the future.

It's not too late to participate. Bakers and non-bakers are welcome to enter. The contest ends August 16 so check outThreadcakes.com, pick a design and start baking!

Monogrammed Birthday Cake

 

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make an elegant yet simple monogrammed cake. I made this one for my friend Ket.  I used her favorite colors red, pink and gold to match her ultra-feminine style :-) 



After I covered the cake with rolled fondant, I measured halfway up the sides of the cake and marked it with paring knife. I mixed together some red food coloring and a little bit vodka then applied it to the bottom half of the cake. This is the same painting technique as the one I used for my birthday cake and the mini wedding cake. I added some more vodka to the red food coloring to lighten the color and applied it to the top half of the cake.

I made some fondant scrolls and attached them to the sides of the cake. Some of the scrolls were lined up straight and some were tilted just a little.  I thought it would make for an interesting design but I think it was so subtle that it wasn't even noticeable. Oh well. I still like how it turned out.

My sweet friend Maggie came over to visit while I was decorating this cake so I gave her a quick lesson on how to paint the fondant scrolls. I showed her how to mix together the gold luster dust and vodka then she painted the scrolls with a small paintbrush. She did a fantastic job!

I used the same monogramming technique I used for my cousin's wedding cake. I painted the round plaque with red food coloring before placing the monogram on top. Then I painted the monogram with gold luster dust. 



Voila! The finished cake :-)

The Twilight Cake

With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse out in theaters this week, I thought it was about time that I finally write about the cake I made last month. It was for my dearest friend, Juls. She's the biggest Twilight fan I know and so when her birthday came around this year, I just knew I had to make her this cake. 

Since I'm not too familiar with the Twilight series, I had to do a little bit of research.  I looked at the book covers and tried to figure out how to incorporate all the elements into one cake. The black background was the first thing that jumped out at me so that became the main color of the cake.  I decided to make the symbols on the book covers out of rolled fondant and place them on top of the cake. As for the flavor, there was no debate; it had to be a red velvet cake.



I thought it would be a cool idea to write popular book quotes on the side of the cake. I didn't want to ask Juls because I wanted it to be a surprise so I just searched for them online.  I used a small paintbrush and a mixture of silver luster dust and vodka to write the quotes onto the cake.

Here are some of the book quotes I decided to use:

"And So the lion fell in love with the lamb.
What a stupid lamb.
What a sick masochistic lion."

“If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.”

"I promise to love you forever, every single day forever; will you marry me?"



For the scrollwork pattern, I made fondant scrolls and attached them around the base of the cake. I painted them with the same silver luster dust/vodka mixture as I did with the book quotes.



For the apple, I rolled some fondant into a ball and gently pressed around the top with my thumbs.  To create the stem, I just rolled a tiny piece of fondant and attached it to the top of the apple. I painted it red and brown using Wilton icing colors.



For the ruffled tulip, I used the tools in my Wilton Flower Making Set.  I cut out a piece of rolled fondant and pressed it inside the leaf mold. Then I ruffled the edges using the foam pad and one of the sticks. I made two more petals using the same technique.  For the falling petal, I used a small rose petal cutter. I arranged the petals so they would look just like the ruffled tulip on the New Moon book cover and used a very thin paintbrush to color it red.  For the stem, I just took a skinny piece of fondant and painted it green.



For the ribbon, I took a long piece of rolled fondant and cut it into two pieces.  To create the frayed edge, I used a paring knife and basically dragged the knife across several times.  I shaped the ribbon to look like the Eclipse book cover and then painted it with red food coloring. 



The chess pieces were basically shapes made out of rolled fondant that I stacked on top of each other.  For the pawn, I made three round discs on the bottom, an hourglass for the middle and another round disc and a ball for the top.  The queen was made pretty much the same way except for the crown. I took a strip of rolled fondant and used a rose petal cutter to shape the top of the crown. I wrapped the strip around a ball and placed a tiny ball at the very top. I used my FMM geometrical cutter set to make four white squares for the chessboard. I arranged them in the center of the cake and placed the pawn and the queen across from each other using two of the white squares.



When Juls saw the cake for the first time, she was absolutely blown away. She loved it so much that she couldn't bear the thought of cutting it.  Seriously, she really didn't want to cut her cake.  Eventually, I managed to convince her to finally cut it because I promised her I'd make her an exact replica in a fake cake.  She decided to display her fake Twilight cake on her bookshelf next to her Twilight series :-) 

Bengali Sweets South Ex Delhi !

Ok.. If you are Vying for pure Desi food, want it quickly , want a decent seating with AC in a Paush area Bengali Sweets is the place :-)

We got a chance to taste their Alu Tikki, Chole Bhature, Mock Tails, Dosa Idlys and Chats.

It was all by chance as we din get seating in Pind Baluchi :-)

The Visit Allthough was surprising especially with the Quick Service reasonable Cost and Decent Ambiance.

Since then Bengali Sweets has become a regular place to eat. Anybosy visting South Ex should definately try this ;)

Mongolian Barbeque Kzoo !

While being at US and picking things from here and there I came across "Mongolian Barbeque".

The very name reminds one of Chengez Khan that's it ;-).

I went in without thinking of what kind of food would be inside.A warm welcome by the attendee's and then we went to the place where in we need to select the quality and quantity of raw material that we want in our dish..it includes everything vegetables/spices/sauces..it is like you reap what you sow..also all of this has to be in one Bowl :).

After selecting these we went to the Kitchen or the BBQ place. this is where they grill your raw materials into a full fledged Barbecue dish.They take special care if you are vegetarian.

Once the dish is done you can go back to your seat and eat the dish ( which you chose) with unlimited Rice/Tortillas :).

Experiencing all this made me forget how the food/dish taste's.

It was the way it was served and cooked that too my heart :)

Also considering the fact that all this was not a expensive affair ~8$ ( cheaper than the indian dishes ) which are nowhere less than ~14$.

Overall great ambiance good food "innovative cooking" "excellent service" A place worth visiting

QDOBA - Mexican US Chain !

ok.. so here Iam Updating my retsaurant review.. US in general is not only about KFC McD Wendy's BurgerKing or PizzaHut. The Mexican Food here is quiet popular too, I happened to land in one during my visit to Kalamazoo.The QDOBA where i tried was on Westenedge Avenue.

This one is called as QDOBA .. its a take away type food chain where in you can find items like a Burrito, Fajita or a Gumbo. Nw since I am a vegeterian person I tried Veg version of all these dishes in couple of my visits..

Burrito is no more than a Veg Role the major difference is in Shape where in they wrap the tortila(Chapati) around the stuff( Rice, Sauces,Vegetables etc) in a rectangular shape ours you see is a Cylindrical one :). Gumbo on the other side is Rajma Chawal.,, not as delicious as the one we get in India but ya anyone feeling like eating Rajma Chawal can give Gumbo a try. Along with it they give you an option of unlimited Fountain drinks for I guess $ 1.99.. On an overall sclae a worth trying restaurant especially when you are getting a chance to try different cuisine.

The Rates are anywhere in between 5.99$ - 8.99$.

Pind Baluchi Gurgaon

Unlike Delhi the food at Pind baluch looks like , the same being served in a village ambience. but it doesn't taste that well fo rme.

Near to "Bikanerwala" outlet in sector -29 Gurgaon.I will say one of the best ambiance in NCR region and I think that is the reason they charge more, cosidering the food to be average.




Piece of wood kept on your table would be the menu, .They serve veg as well as non-veg food. . They have some not-so-common items available like - Kurkuri Bhindi, Aam Panna etc to name a few.The taste of the food has suited every pallette that I personally know off. They serve liquor / beer as well. I am a non-drinker so no review on this part.
The Price: As I said earlier, this is not an expensive eating joint. This can be compared to Dana Choga in terms of prices and value for money. In groupf of 3-4 people, a veg dinner / lunch would cost around Rs 150-200 per head, while the carnivores may need to shell our another Rs 50 - 75 per head. No advice for drunkards for reasons already cited. Don’t forget to add the Rs 10 you spend on the parking and some sundry expenses if your kid finds some street vendor selling toys amusing.

Pros:
1. Ok food (Both veg as well as non veg)
2. Good Ambience
3. Well groomed and polite staff.
4. Very affordable prices.
5. Sometimes, good music.
6. No intrusion of privacy
Cons:
1. Relatively slow service - maybe due to the staff diverting some of their attention to their attirte.
2. Presence of slight smoke everywhere as the tandoors are open for public view.
3. It does not have separate alchol and smoking sections.
4. The road near the restaurant are in a bad shape - God forbid if you visit during monsoons.