200 Pub Quizes - Cake Celebration
Hey reader!
I have been working as a pub quiz host for Geeks Who Drink for just over 2 years now. It has been a really fun opportunity to seem like I know trivial information that I definitely don't know! A few weeks ago I was celebrating my 200th pub quiz. I decided to revisit a project I had taken an interest in a few years ago - making cakes. Quizzers like cake!
I don't really do a lot of cooking or baking normally. Cooking is an awesome project and I love trying new things, but food has always felt a little temporary. Making a bar of soap, or a puppet leaves me with a long-term tangible thing, while cooking creates a meal that (hopefully) is gone because you are an impressive amateur chef.
Speaking of, there is a new show on Netflix, Nailed it, where people attempt to make awesome things with mixed results. It is definitely one of my favorite things right now. I will leave you all to decide if I nailed this one.
I was hoping to cite my sources, but I was looking all over and couldn't find the original article I read about using milk in box cake recipes. Whoever that awesome person was that gave me that idea, thank you! You are very attractive and deserve accolades and early morning snuggles.I have previously tried making cakes from scratch and have been really frustrated. Once I wound up with a batter so watery it leaked right out the sides of my cake pan. Sad times for my counter.
Using a cake mix is a safer alternative for my counter, but are you really baking then? I guess its the same argument about making soap and I figured out a way to rationalize that one, so I am going with it. I did make the icing myself so that's a plus.
Anyway, I wanted to make a 3 tiered cake. I had never done that before, so why not try it when attempting to feed 60-70 people. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I had a serious cake related fail with the light silver cake pans once, and that left the bottom of the pan pretty burnt up. I had to put wax paper on the bottom and then wrap it in foil to avoid another counter-related cake disaster.
Cutting the rounded top off of the cake always feels like a waste of cake. I know I could make cake pops with it, but that seems like a lot of additional work. This leads me to another random reason baking is not my favorite thing. I don't keep a lot of perishable things in my apartment. There were not one, not two, but three trips to the market to pick up ingredients that I didn't have. We aren't talking complicated things either. I had no butter, milk or oil. I feel like adult humans keep those things in their home. Unless they are dairy free I suppose. Those poor people.
Since the official mascot of my pub quiz is Duckie, a stuffed duck from 2 Easter's ago, the cake would be duck themed. That meant making yellow frosting. I think my cake looks like it could be seen in the dark. It is pretty bright. I had forgotten an important cake decorating step - the crumb coat.
Crumb coats are thin layers of icing whose only purpose is to create a barrier between the pretty icing and the cake. It keeps the crumbs away. I forgot that step and got really frustrated with the amount of crumbs in my icing before a quick googling reminded me of my error. I never claimed to be a baker.
Once all the cakes are iced it is time to stack them up and make your tiers. Don't just slap them on top of each other! You might think a cake could handle the weight of another cake, but it definitely can not. Wedding cakes usually have wooden dowels (so appetizing) inside them to hold up the multiple layers. I need all my wooden dowels for puppets so I used straws.
I learned an important lesson here. I left my straws poking up just a little above the cake. I should have sunk them in all the way and allowed them to be a support for the cake and not the only thing the cake sat on. The trip to the bar to present the cake was the most anxiety provoking part, largely due to its structural integrity. I always thought those cake reality shows were playing the drama up, but cakes are not the most structurally sound things. I wouldn't recommend living in one. Not just because it isn't structurally sound, but I imagine ants are a major concern.
Normally, you would use icing and run a bead along where the cakes meet to hide the cardboard each cake is sitting on. I needed to get to the 200th quiz or this cake was going to be pretty useless. So I used some delicious home made cotton candy to hide the seams. The intention was for that cotton candy to be yellow. Lemon heads were used but apparently they just look white when they get all cotton candy-fied.
I used some numbered candles and rubber ducks (the actual Duckie would look pretty bad sitting on a cake) to decorate.
I guess it was pretty tasty because there was only one slice left at the end of the night. Quiz was pretty fantastic and everyone nursed their hangover and serious sugar crash the next day. Here is to another 200 quizzes. How many tiers would I need to have on that cake?!
I still don't think I am the world's best baker, but the cake was tasty and Duckie was impressed.
Next week I have another food based project coming so get excited!
Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
I have been working as a pub quiz host for Geeks Who Drink for just over 2 years now. It has been a really fun opportunity to seem like I know trivial information that I definitely don't know! A few weeks ago I was celebrating my 200th pub quiz. I decided to revisit a project I had taken an interest in a few years ago - making cakes. Quizzers like cake!
I don't really do a lot of cooking or baking normally. Cooking is an awesome project and I love trying new things, but food has always felt a little temporary. Making a bar of soap, or a puppet leaves me with a long-term tangible thing, while cooking creates a meal that (hopefully) is gone because you are an impressive amateur chef.
Speaking of, there is a new show on Netflix, Nailed it, where people attempt to make awesome things with mixed results. It is definitely one of my favorite things right now. I will leave you all to decide if I nailed this one.
I was hoping to cite my sources, but I was looking all over and couldn't find the original article I read about using milk in box cake recipes. Whoever that awesome person was that gave me that idea, thank you! You are very attractive and deserve accolades and early morning snuggles.I have previously tried making cakes from scratch and have been really frustrated. Once I wound up with a batter so watery it leaked right out the sides of my cake pan. Sad times for my counter.
Using a cake mix is a safer alternative for my counter, but are you really baking then? I guess its the same argument about making soap and I figured out a way to rationalize that one, so I am going with it. I did make the icing myself so that's a plus.
Anyway, I wanted to make a 3 tiered cake. I had never done that before, so why not try it when attempting to feed 60-70 people. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I had a serious cake related fail with the light silver cake pans once, and that left the bottom of the pan pretty burnt up. I had to put wax paper on the bottom and then wrap it in foil to avoid another counter-related cake disaster.
Cutting the rounded top off of the cake always feels like a waste of cake. I know I could make cake pops with it, but that seems like a lot of additional work. This leads me to another random reason baking is not my favorite thing. I don't keep a lot of perishable things in my apartment. There were not one, not two, but three trips to the market to pick up ingredients that I didn't have. We aren't talking complicated things either. I had no butter, milk or oil. I feel like adult humans keep those things in their home. Unless they are dairy free I suppose. Those poor people.
Since the official mascot of my pub quiz is Duckie, a stuffed duck from 2 Easter's ago, the cake would be duck themed. That meant making yellow frosting. I think my cake looks like it could be seen in the dark. It is pretty bright. I had forgotten an important cake decorating step - the crumb coat.
Crumb coats are thin layers of icing whose only purpose is to create a barrier between the pretty icing and the cake. It keeps the crumbs away. I forgot that step and got really frustrated with the amount of crumbs in my icing before a quick googling reminded me of my error. I never claimed to be a baker.Once all the cakes are iced it is time to stack them up and make your tiers. Don't just slap them on top of each other! You might think a cake could handle the weight of another cake, but it definitely can not. Wedding cakes usually have wooden dowels (so appetizing) inside them to hold up the multiple layers. I need all my wooden dowels for puppets so I used straws.
I learned an important lesson here. I left my straws poking up just a little above the cake. I should have sunk them in all the way and allowed them to be a support for the cake and not the only thing the cake sat on. The trip to the bar to present the cake was the most anxiety provoking part, largely due to its structural integrity. I always thought those cake reality shows were playing the drama up, but cakes are not the most structurally sound things. I wouldn't recommend living in one. Not just because it isn't structurally sound, but I imagine ants are a major concern.
Normally, you would use icing and run a bead along where the cakes meet to hide the cardboard each cake is sitting on. I needed to get to the 200th quiz or this cake was going to be pretty useless. So I used some delicious home made cotton candy to hide the seams. The intention was for that cotton candy to be yellow. Lemon heads were used but apparently they just look white when they get all cotton candy-fied.
I used some numbered candles and rubber ducks (the actual Duckie would look pretty bad sitting on a cake) to decorate.
I guess it was pretty tasty because there was only one slice left at the end of the night. Quiz was pretty fantastic and everyone nursed their hangover and serious sugar crash the next day. Here is to another 200 quizzes. How many tiers would I need to have on that cake?!
I still don't think I am the world's best baker, but the cake was tasty and Duckie was impressed.
Next week I have another food based project coming so get excited!
Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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