Secrets Of A Master Baker

Elisa Strauss On How To Create Cakes To Wow All Comers!

(CBS) 


[Editor's Note: There have been requests for the recipe for the sports-themed cupcakes that Strauss displayed during her segment. Making the decorations requires knowledge of cake-making skills from Strauss's cookbook that were too involved to include on the website. However, we are including the directions for those who have worked with these ingredients before. To get the full directions from "The Confetti Cakes Cookbook," refer to the following pages:

Dyeing fondant and gum paste (page 40)
Creating a dome of filing (page 28)
Covering cupcakes in fondant (page 29)
Dyeing Royal Icing (page 40)]



Sports Cupcakes
CUPCAKES
1 cake recipe, any flavor
1 frosting recipe (see Page 1)
1/2 recipe Royal Icing

MATERIALS
2 pounds fondant
Shortening (for rolling out fondant)
Food-coloring gels: lemon yellow, sunset orange, coal black

EQUIPMENT
Cupcake tins
Red cupcakes wrappers
Toothpicks
Small offset spatula
Plastic mat
Small rolling pin
2-1/2 inch round cookie cutter
Gum-paste veining tool or scalpel
Pastry tips: #2, #3
Pastry bag and coupler
Red food marker

TECHNIQUES
Dyeing fondant and gum paste
Creating a dome of filing
Covering cupcakes in fondant
Dyeing Royal Icing


METHOD

1. Prepare the cake batter as directed. Line the cupcake tins with wrappers. Fill each halfway with batter and bake the cupcakes as directed by the recipe. Let them cool completely.
2. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.
3. Divide the fondant into three equal portions. Keep one portion white and dye the other two orange and yellow. Work with one color and wrap the other two in plastic wrap until ready to use.
4. Frost the cupcakes with a dome of filling. On a surface greased with shortening, roll out the fondant to approximately 1/8 inch thick, working with one color at a time. Use the round cookie cutter to cut out circles of fondant.
5. Since the fondant dries quickly you will want to create the decorations for each cupcake as you cover it. Follow the directions for the particular sports cupcake you are making.


Basketball
1. Cover the cupcake with orange fondant.
2. Use the back of a scalpel or veining tool to make the four lines found on a basketball. The lines need to be 1/8 inch deep so you can fill them in with Royal Icing later.
3. Gently press a #3 tip into the fondant to create a texture of a basketball, staying within the lines of each section.
4. Dye half the Royal Icing black and put it in a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Carefully squeeze the icing into the lines you created.

Tennis Ball
1. Cover the cupcake with yellow fondant.
2. Use the back of a scalpel or veining tool to make the seams of a tennis ball. The lines need to be 1/8 inch deep so you can fill them with Royal Icing later.
3. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip with white Royal Icing. Carefully squeeze the icing into the lines you created.

Baseball
1. Cover the cupcake with white fondant.
2. Using a toothpick, outline the seams of the baseball. Using a red food marker, draw the stitching lines of a baseball on the white fondant. To practice, draw a circle on a piece of paper and create the lines before trying them on the cupcake. If you make a mistake, use a little water or vodka (don’t worry – it evaporates) and a cotton swab to take the marker away. Let it dry and start again.

[fowlerfr]

i'm sorry the mistake is on the cupcake frosting.
#3 direction combine the mild and the vanilla

[fowlerfr]

the red velet cake has a mistake on the directions.
under direction #3 it has add mild and vanilla.

[smjason]

Why tell us we can find the directions on the web site when you did not put them on here? What a waste of time!

[felice07]

where are the directions on how to decorate the sports cup cakes shown on the Tuesday Early Show?