This is my special column where I post the latest news from A & J and answer your personal questions. Do you have a question that you would like answered? If so, send me an email at ajcake@aol.com, and I will do my best to help you out!
Sweetly yours, Linda
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Truly, I did not remove myself from the face of the earth - just took a little break (maybe a long break) but I'm back and ready to go. Candy classes are in full swing and we had about 50 people at our last class and it was great. I recently went to a candy convention in Philadelphia and it got the candy ideas flowing again. Plus it was a great trip - visited Valley Forge and toured Hershey Pennsylvania. Could there be a better place to live - chocolate town USA! Special thanks to Chris and Holly from Linnea's. You made us feel real welcome!
For those of you who are not local or from California and might wonder just where in the world Glendora is - well we have been in the news lately. You probably read that we just had what we call "fire season" here in California and unfortunately the sleepy community of Glendora which is nestled at the base of the foothills of the Angeles National Forest caught fire big time. 36,000 acres were burned before the fire was contained and this took about a week for the containment. Thanks to those of you who called to see if the store was ok (it was) and those who were concerned for me personally since I also live here in Glendora. Your concern was very appreciated. Now on to sweeter stuff............
If you check out the seasonal ideas page you will see a great "totem pole" of jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Let me tell you how simple this was to make. You will need:
3 regular marshmellows
1 " sucker stick
Orange chocolate
Dark Green chocolate
Dark Chocolate
toothpick
coconut
baggie
green paste color
Thread the marshmellows on the sucker stick letting about 1/4 inch of the stick show at the top. Hold the marshmellows over melted orange chocolate and spoon the chocolate over the marshmellow, shake to remove the excess chocolate and lay flat to dry on wax paper or parchment paper. When dry, dip the toothpick into the dark chocolate and draw on the faces on the pumpkins. Dip the protruding stick at the top of the "totem pole" into the dark green chocolate to serve as the stem of the pumpkin. Color your coconut by putting the baggie on your hand and placing a small amount of green paste color on the baggie. Take the baggie off your hand by turning it inside out (this means that the paste color is now inside the bag) and put the coconut in the bag. Rub the coconut in the paste color so that it turns green. Turn your "totem pole" upside down and put some orange chocolate on the bottom of the marshmellow and coat with coconut. This will dry in seconds. Now you have a very cute and simple Halloween Totem Pole! Try it - you'll like it.
Want to do an easy Halloween cake that will knock the socks off everybody? This cake will look like the pumpkin buckets that kids use to collect their Halloween "loot". Make two bundt cakes. Use two 12" boards that you have put together and foil them with black foil. Place your bundt cakes top to top. If you don't understand this call the store and we will explain. Dowel your cakes with 8" sucker sticks. Crumb ice in orange, making sure to get as far down in the "bucket" as possible. When crumb coat is dry, ice thickly with more orange icing. When the cake has lost the "tacky" feel using Viva paper towels smooth the icing and the Viva will give the look of the pumpkin skin. With black icing and using a number 4 tip pipe on the face. Use black licorice and using 8" sucker sticks, insert a stick on the top of the "bucket" on each side and snip the licorice at each end and thread on the stick. Using a small piece of sucker stick that will form the "bridge" of the handle continue to make the handle of the bucket. Use a 233 tip to pipe grass around the bottom of the bucket and fill the bucket with the Halloween candy available in the stores now. It's a great centerpiece for a Halloween table.
Well - that's it for now. Have any questions or ideas - let me know. Next time we will talk "turkey".
Posted by Linda @ 09:26 PM PST [Link] [No Comments]
