So mostly a success! The fudge should have been cut while it was still soft so it crumbled a bit when I cut it up. Perhaps in my panic I beat up the fudge a bit too much. The recipe is super easy, I'd definitely make this one again. I give myself a B+.
I am a lover of fudge. Of any kind really. When I went back to Banff the first thing I wanted to do was go to the fudge store. They have at least 25 different kinds of fudge. I remember my Grandpa making it when I was a kid. I think it was the only time he actually did anything in the kitchen. That and maybe open some cans of tuna for the cats. I prefer fudge when it's smooth, not granular. The smoothness gives it an extra little oomph.
All this to say, I suck at making fudge. The few times I have tried, it's been a disaster. Shouldn't I have some sort of fudge making gene from my Grandpa, or is it recessive? The last time, it was just plain nasty. I don't know what I did wrong but it wasn't quite solid, not quite liquid either. Flubber! That's exactly what it was. Tasty flubber fudge that was good for spreading on toast.
My friend gave me an easy fudge recipe. It's good, but it's got the granular thing going for it. That and I don't think fudge is supposed to have icing sugar in it.
My husband, the geek, after trying the Flubber Fudge sent me this, the science of fudge:
I chuckled at first but then when I actually watched the video it was quite helpful. I know where I went wrong last time. So, I made fudge tonight. I think I may have succeeded too! I've been typing this as I let it cool, then went back to it to stir it up. The recipe says to beat the mixture for a few minutes and that it will go from glossy to opaque and thicken up. At first I'm whipping it into a frenzy and nothing is happening. Oh crap! Was I supposed to use an electric mixer? I debate taking out the mixer and risking waking Alex up, but I check the recipe again. Hmm nothing about mixer speed. It must be by hand. I go back to the bowl and start mixing again. You guys, it was magical. I could see it starting to crystalize and become opaque. Suddenly it was the consistency of peanut butter cookie batter. Did I really get the fudge to work?
Oh my gosh! It's done! This was seriously a marathon in cake making. It was fun, but I put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel like I've accomplished something. I'm productive and capable! I would say this badboy took me about 10 hours to make over the course of a week. See? I told you I lost my mind. Ah!
Here's the progress of the cake (minus the cake and frosting making part, pretty boring, so I'm skipping to the juicy parts):
Oval Cake with a notch cut out for the small round cake
Cutting the second oval for the wings
I goofed on the shape of the wing so I needed to add an extra piece for the other wing
Chocolate frosting in between all the layers
Crumb coat, kind of melty in the heat, continued to frost the next day
Finished cake at the restaurant!
My sad attempt at a sunflower for Alex's smash cake. Too melty!
Interested....
Diving in (almost frozen from the restaurant's fridge)
CAAAAAAAAAKE!
Lessons learned:
It was easier than I thought it would be (the planning helped)
Cake batter from scratch is way tastier than any cake mix batter (um, not that I eat cake batter)
Butter makes everything better
Frosting can cover all sorts of mistakes, screw something up? Slap more frosting on the problem
I had carefully measured that the cake would fit in the cake caddy. Then I frosted the cake and didn't account for the extra girth (see above lesson)
I need a bigger fridge
Popping the cake back in the fridge during this heat wave was a neccessity
More about the party next time...Must go to bed, no more cake making until midnight.
