Every bite of food should be a sweet bite
The last couple of weeks I have taken more than a share of cake decorating classes, either using buttercream or fondant and along the way, I picked up a couple of tips and tricks that can help you make that plain cake into a picture perfect decorated cake. But out of all the tips and tricks that I have picked up one holds the top from all the rest, every single class, every single teacher can not stress enough about this being the most important of all steps.
Unless you have a very expensive scale, bulky containers, large roasts, and the like can obscure the display on the digital scale, making it impossible to get a good read out. To the rescue! Your cake stand. Steady a light weight cake stand on the scare and ste the tare at zero. The cake stand, which is wide enough to accommodte large pans and big cuts of meats, elevates items so that the display is visible.
and to keep it clean, specially when you weight meats, such as chicken, meat, pork. All you have to do is cover it with plastic wrap. If you don’t use the elevating trick above, you can in some cases slide the entire scale into a large zipper-lock bag. The buttons will visible and usable thruough the clear bag.
This past week I took another decorating class and the instructor gave us a great tip for cleaning our decorating bags and tip, because have you ever tried to clean off that greasy buttercream with soap and water? Impossible! She mentioned that soaking your decorating tools in hot water with soap and salt will do the trick. And you know what it does, I got home, put everything in a bowl with super hot water, soap and salt and let it soak overnight. The next day I washed it up and yep, the salt broke down the “greasy” feel on the bag and tips – squeaky clean.
And since are talking greasy stuff. Have you even spilled oil? The mess! I think is one of the most difficult things to pick up and clean up. Sprinkle a thick layer of flour over the spilled oil and wait a few minutes for the flour to absorb the oil. Then with paper towels or a brush move the flour around until it absorbs all the oil, then sweep it up with a dustpan and broom. Final step is to spray the area with your favorite multi-purpose house cleaner (or window cleaner) to wipe away the traces of oil and flour.