Friday, December 11, 2009

Fancy Flours

I found a wonderful new site, and how sad I am that I did not find this site about three months ago... http://www.fancyflours.com/ It's called 'Fancy Flours' and they are packed with inspiration that can make your imagination run wild!!! Everything on this site is amazing and mostly about vintage... For those of you asking, the wedding is next Friday, December 18th...I'm going to go to our local cake decor store and hope that I can find a mold like this one...I would order it from this site but I don't think it would get here in time, well, unless I spend a million dollars on shipping, that's not an option...

As you know, I'm making the cake... wouldn't it be awesome to make candy jewels as embellishment? This is what the site had to say about this mold...

'Make your own teardrop jewels with is versatile mold. Perfect for making your own edible jewels, this mold makes 114 pieces in assorted teardrop sizes. Shapes measure approximately .25" up to 1.2". This hard plastic mold is designed to withstand heat up to 375 degrees. Mold is reusable. To make you own cake jewels, use our Isomalt Crystals, SKU: 6750-CK-IS-1,with the following recipe:

Recipe for Isomalt Cake Jewels or Hard Candy YIELD: Fills approximately 4 tray molds of .75" sized cavities. 1 cup Isomalt 1/3 cup distilled water (we recommend distilled water because hard water will cause the coloration to change with some food colors) Gel food coloring as desired Candy Thermometer Prepare your molds by spraying them with Pam or lightly oiling them. Combine Isomalt and water in a 1 quart heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat while stirring with a wooden spoon until crystals are dissolved. Dip a pastry brush in water and wash down the sides to prevent crystallizing. Insert a candy thermometer to monitor temperature. You may have to wash down the sides with water one or two more times. When the mixture reaches 250 degrees, add your food coloring. You may have to experiment to get the exact color you want. As a guideline, we use 3 drops of Super Red food coloring to get a deep ruby coloring and a scant half drop of pink for our pale pink jewels. Allow the temperature to reach 315 degrees and remove the pan from the heat. Please note, the syrup is VERY HOT so you should take precautions to prevent burns. For easier pouring into your candy molds, we recommend pouring the hot syrup mixture into a one or two cup Pyrex measuring cup. Pour hot syrup into molds and allow to harden 10 minutes. Unmold onto waxed paper. If the weather is humid, wrap in candy bags to prevent the candy from becoming cloudy.'

And even though I'm somewhere between Wedding and Christmas, they have so many other cool things, I will definitely be shopping on this site... like this pkg of little ballerinas, I think it said 12 for $3.00 so reasonable!
And they're different than the one's our local cake decor shop carries... head on over there, I promise you'll lose your mind and want one of everything like I did!

They even have vintage cake toppers that are oh so cooool...although I did get sticker shock when I seen the price on these...but the reality of it is, if they are truly from the 30's, 40's, 50's then you can kind of understand...especially since I've looked at fresh from the factory toppers 'made in japan' for $100 plus...so I think the fact that cake toppers are so expensive in general could justify the price of the vintage ones...actually looking at it from that perspective, they were really reasonable too...

And who wouldn't love to see this little group atop their wedding cake...well ok, I could think of one, but I'm trying to stay away from passive aggressive sarcasm so I'll move on... 'COME ON, JUMP UP AND DOWN WITH ME, I DON'T WANT TO GO TO WORK TODAY, I WANT TO STAY HOME AND DREAM AND PLAY!'


While I'm at it, I found this pic of a vintage wedding dress, I would have liked to have been married in this dress...ahhh, wistful, dreamy, the women of the 30's, 40's and 50's really had femininity down, didn't they?
Ok, have to run...today's the last day of work and then I'm off for the next week returning to work on the 21st...that's something off my plate so I can be happy for that...oh, and Mitzi arrives in 4 days, not counting today...hurray...so that's another happy thought for today!
Toodles and blessings, XO Keke
P.S I published post and realized this pic was lost at the bottom of the page...
Who's ever heard of 'Barley Candy'...


Just look at this candy stand... 'Cherry Kingdom' definately needs one of these and according to the site it will virtually last forever! Read below the site notes...
Candy Cake Stand Medium Red
( SKU Number: 5100-BC-MCPR-1 )
Completely edible, this medium cake stand makes a very unique presentation piece. The dish is 4.5" in diameter and the base is 2.5" tall. The cake stand is handmade from barley candy and arrives in two pieces, a dish and a pedestal. The pieces are easily assembled and instructions are included. About Barley Candy... the ingredients of in Barley Candy include Cane Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water, Barley Water, Natural Flavors & FDA Certified food colors. Titanium dioxide is in white or opaque colors only. All candy is handmade and is nut free, wheat free, fat free and sodium free. Barley candy is harder than most candies so we recommend that you do not bite the candy as the effect is similar to chewing ice. Barley Candy is basically crystallized sugar, a natural preservative. When stored in it's sealed bag, it will last almost indefinitely. For best results, store below 75 and in less than 40% humidity. For long term storage in humid climates you may want to keep your candies in a glass or metal covered container. Plastic will not protect as well from humidity. Barley Candy is a very old sweet. Twisted sticks of Barley Sugar were originally made in the 17th century by boiling down refined cane sugar (a new product at that time) with barley water, cream of tartar, and water. During the 18th century metal molds were used to create the wonderful variety of shapes known as Barley Sugar Clear Toys. These became a popular Victorian Christmas treat. Many people who have grown up in the Northeast will recall these candies which were often made locally by someone's grandmother or the wife of a doctor or pharmacist. This candy has a simple, yet distinctive light sweet flavor, which is a fond remembrance from childhood. The addition of barley water (a starch) alters the surface tension during cooking, producing a more long lasting candy

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Hello Keke
Thanks for stopping by...December 18th is a great date! :) It is also my birthday.
Congratulations
Blessings
Rebecca

Jo said...

You have a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeus blog. I love everything vintage. Those buttons on those dresses -- beautiful.

You have an exciting few weeks ahead of you. And what a wonderful time of year for a wedding.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Jo