PSR Goes International (kinda)

Sometimes the baking business is the pits.  Dishes to wash, invoices to write, budgets to magically budget.  If you think our lives are some magical fantasy episode of Ace of Cakes or something, that's very far from the truth.

But for every ugly dish we have to wash and dry long after we want to crawl into bed, we have moments that are fun and special and remind us why we got into this business in the first place.  Moments like this weekend, when we completed our first international order.

An international order for PSR is like the Pittsburgh International Airport claiming it's an international airport.  Sure, they have a daily flight to Toronto and Cozumel, but most people don't think of the PIA as an international travel destination.  Same with a bakery in Pittsburgh.  International orders?  What?

Here's what happened, though.  A woman contacted us from the UK to let us know her son's birthday was coming up, and he was now living in Pittsburgh.  She was hoping we could bake and deliver him a cake.  It took some planning, since most of our customers pay with cash or check on delivery (thanks, PayPal!), but once the logistics were worked out, we decided to make a cake with a Welsh dragon on top.  And write "Happy Birthday" in Welsh on top.  Because, you know, we majored in languages in college (nope, we didn't).

The cake turned out fantastically, though.  Take a look at some of the photos below of the prep work and finished results!  And stay tuned, we still have another wedding cake and birthday cake coming up soon that you'll want to see (no, really, you will!)

The head and neck of the dragon were molded from rice krispie treats.  It's a light-weight replacement for cake that's easy to sculpt)

Also, if you're like us and didn't know the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom, we found this handy dandy map for you.  This isn't just a baking blog, you guys, we're here to educate!!

Vanilla

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know we sometimes wax poetic about flavorings.  In our humble opinion, many a good baked good can be ruined if the flavoring of something is off.  Too strong a taste, it cancels everything out, too little a taste it leaves you feeling underwhelmed.  It's what can make or break a baked good.

Vanilla, then, is the master flavor to us.  Even if you've only ever baked chocolate chip cookies using the directions on the back of the package, you've used vanilla.  Our sister (who claims her kitchen is her 'walk-in closet') even owns vanilla.  That she purchased on her own, at the grocery store.

The problems casual bakers have, though, is there are too many vanilla options anymore.  Which one do you use?  The paste, the extract, the imitation, the seeds??  What started as a quest to just make some chocolate chip cookies to go along with the chick flick you're about to dive into has turned into a colossal headache in front of the spice rack.

We feel your pain. And we're here to help.

We own just about everything in the world vanilla-wise.  No, seriously.  We're going to break it down for you in an easy-to-understand guide right now.  So that next time, you won't have to stress about which vanilla to use.  You will look like a vanilla guru because you'll already know.

1. Imitation Vanilla

Imitation Vanilla is what you owned in college when you had to bake something for that bake sale your favorite club was holding but still had to make rent that month.  It's cheap, especially when you see the list price as $2.99 and the pure vanilla extract at $5.59.  Heck yes, imitation vanilla all the way!

When to Use It:  We use imitation vanilla sometimes, and don't want you to think it's a cop out.  In certain situations, it's not.  Here's our rule of thumb for vanilla: if it's not one of the main flavors you should be tasting, then use the imitation.  Vanilla enhances the flavors in products, makes them pack a punch in your mouth.  If your chocolate cake recipe calls for some vanilla to be added to the mixture, the writers of your recipe didn't lose their minds -- the vanilla is there to make the chocolate taste punch.  But, since you want to taste the chocolate in the cake, use the imitation vanilla in this situation.  Half the cost, same effect.

2. Pure Vanilla Extract

All of your grandmothers had this stuff floating around in their kitchens like it was milk.  You'd ask for vanilla, they'd head to the pantry and return with 12 of these bottles, because they were on sale, and who doesn't want 12 bottles of pure vanilla extract??

Vanilla extract can run from your supermarket off-brands to bottles full of "Tahitian Pure Vanilla".  That's code for liquid gold, pretty much.  Yes there's a taste difference between the Shop-N-Save Pure Vanilla and Tahitian Pure Vanilla, but there's also a price difference.  Generic pure vanilla will run you $7 for 4 oz. on a bad day.  Tahitian Pure Vanilla is $15 for that same 4 oz.

When to Use It: If you don't have vanilla bean paste (see below), use this whenever you're baking something where vanilla is the main flavor you want to come through.  Vanilla cake, blondie brownies, even chocolate chip cookies.  And whenever you're making icing!

3. Vanilla Bean Paste

Ahhh, have we ever told you of our love for vanilla bean paste?  We LOVE vanilla bean paste.  It is the nectar of the gods, we swear.  Vanilla bean paste can be used measurement for measurement the same as vanilla extract.  Vanilla bean paste, though, is thicker, like a syrup, and full of actual vanilla beans.  When you make something with vanilla bean paste, you'll be able to see the beans in whatever you bake.

This stuff is expensive too (the 4oz. bottle above was $13), but my oh my we cannot recommend this stuff enough.  Once you switch over to this, you'll never go back to vanilla extract.

When to Use It: Whenever you want to die and go to vanilla heaven.  Anything where you want the vanilla to shine through, that's when you should be using this stuff.  And it tastes amazing in a vanilla buttercream icing.  Trust us on this.  No, don't trust us, go make some right now!!

4. Real Vanilla Beans

Where it all begins...getting back to the roots of nature with an actual vanilla bean. If you've never worked with an actual vanilla bean before, have some patience, and buy an extra one just in case.  It takes a lot of patience to split it open and scrape out the seeds inside.  The result, though is fantastic -- vanilla in its purest form, the way it was meant for all of us to enjoy.

When to Use It:
You can mix in a real vanilla bean seeds any time a recipe calls for vanilla (along with some vanilla extract, to help it mix throughout).  One of our favorite things to do with a vanilla bean is to make vanilla sugar.  Find an air tight container, fill it with sugar (both white and raw will work), split open a bean and nestle it deep into the sugar.  Let it sit for a long time.  Long time as in you forgot you even put that container up on that high shelf until it's time to make Christmas cookies and you're looking for your gingerbread cookie cutter long time.  The vanilla will seep into the sugar and you'll have some wonderful vanilla sugar for baking with.  Or for coffee.  Yum, vanilla sugar in coffee is amazing!

So there you go.  You feel like such an expert now, right???  You're welcome!!

The Case for Fake Cake Tiers

In our ongoing (though often neglected) "The Case For" series, we examine some unconventional baking ideas, habits, or recipes that might not be what you'd see in your typical bakery.  Click here for The Case For Gluten Free and here for The Case for Buttermilk.

Wedding cakes!  We'll admit, we have them on the brain recently!  We have a wedding coming up in less than a month's time, so we've been slowly prepping everything for the big day.  (also, the wedding happens to be the day before PSR shuts down for a well-deserved week of sun and sand and vacation, so getting to that wedding is our only goal right now).

There are so many people who will tell you so many things about choosing the right wedding cake.  You've probably heard all of these and more before:

"Choose a baker who will offer you a discount."

"Avoid fondant at all costs."

"Skip the big cake, go with a small one to cut and sheet cake for the masses."

"Skip the cake all together, go with cupcakes or pies or something memorable."

"Never over-order cake, not everyone eats it."

"Go with classic flavors."

"Go with crazy flavors."

"Save money by requesting fake cake tiers."

Some of these we agree with...some of these make us cringe.  Eventually, if we ever have the time, maybe we'll debunk the pros and cons of each of these.  For now, though, we'd like to take a look at the last one: Saving money by requesting fake cake tiers.

It seems like a novel idea: if you want to save money but still have an amazing cake for all to admire, the cheap solution (and the one that doesn't leave you with mountains of uneaten cake), is to go with a fake cake.  Simple, right??

Well, it depends on who bakes your wedding cake.  Bakers greatly differ in opinions on whether they will offer a discount at all.  A very common theme for many bakers reads something like this: We still have to decorate the cake, whether it's real or imaginary, so it's the same price!"

To the baker's credit who make these arguments, fake tiers are not easy to decorate.  They are usually made of Styrofoam, which is not easy to cut or carve.  It is also extremely light-weight, which makes it hard to decorate it as you would a nice, thick, dense cake.  Often times it can slide right off the tray when you go to press icing to it.  

Bakers too, have to purchase the fake tiers, which usually doesn't run super cheap, and keep them well preserved until the big day.  That sentence might make you laugh until you accidently drop a 20lb bag of flour on the tier and the Styrofoam warps, leading you to spend more money to replace it.  Trust me, it's happened to me.

Our argument for a reduced price, though, is very simple: we're willing to discount the cost of fake tiers for the flexibility it provides to our bakery.  In the baking world, that cannot be understated.  Because cake is fresh, and must be served fresh, there is only so little "prep work" a bakery can do to get ready for a wedding.  Yes, we can buy all the supplies early, make sure everything's cleaned and ready to go, sometimes if we have to carve a cake we might even bake and freeze it ahead of time so that we can manipulate it as needed, but when it comes down to it there's very little we can do prior to the 48 hours before an event when it involves real cake.  God forbid an actual emergency pops up in our real lives or something.

Fake tiers give us the flexibility of time, though, which is so cherished.  If we want to start decorating the tiers a few days earlier than usual, it doesn't matter.  No one's going to eat it, so as long as it still looks good, we can afford to start the decorating a little earlier than usual.  This allows us time to make sure every last detail is correct and perfect, and gives us enough time to shower before we actually deliver our cake.  

Laugh all you want, but showing up for a delivery with powdered sugar in your hair is not all the rage we thought it was going to be.

The bottom line, if fake tiers are what you're looking for, you need to shop around for a baker who will discount it for you. Some will and some won't.  We discount fake tiers anywhere from 25-40%, depending on what you order with us.  That discount is for the flexibility we have as bakers when we're tasked with decorating a fake tier.

No matter what, your wedding day is about you.  So make sure you choose a cake that fits your needs.  If you want to save money and still have a beautiful cake, do your homework and find a baker/bakery who can help you with your vision.

And if you want to discuss fake tier pricing with us ever, we'd be glad to sit down with you and go over it all.  It's definitely worth the meeting with us!