Cake & Energy Drinks

So today, Cake Decorating was much more enjoyable. No cake anxiety! We did character cakes, which should be self-explanitory if you look at the picture. I had every intention of doing a narwhal, but I couldn't get it printed in time for my 8am class, so I ended up doing Elmo. Not my first choice, but it came out really well.

Do not buy a Wilton cake pan in the shape of your child's favorite cartoon character that you will only use once. This technique is so simple and you can do it with any image you want.

Here is the picture transferring technique:

1. Print a large image off the computer (should fit a standard 8x11 sheet). It shouldn't be terribly detailed because you have to pipe it; the more of it that's just outline, the better.

2. Trace this picture onto parchment. You could also freehand if you wanted.

3. Once your cake is cooled and frosted, trace on the parchment drawing with black piping gel or icing.

4. Take the now iced parchment and place it on the cake. BE CAREFUL. This is one of those things that where ever you put it is where it has to stay, so don't fuck it up. Press gently on the parchment to ensure that the icing leaves a mark. Pull up the parchment and you should have a black-ish outline of your character. Don't worry about skips in the line, you are going to go over it.

5. Outline your character with icing in the color it should be. For example, I used red for Elmo, but you would use black for Hello Kitty, green for a Ninja Turtle, etc. For the nose and crayons I outlined in orange; change colors accordingly.

6. Fill in like a coloring book. We used stars to fill in the characters. This, however, is not an industry standard. You could just as easily fill the shapes, then go over it with an offset spatula to smooth it out.

And then you will have a beautiful cake.

Some tips:
Use your time wisely. Make sure you have enough to complete the project; it will take longer than you expect. And multitask: while the cake is baking and cooling get your frosting made and colored.
Make sure your cake is completely cooled. May seem obviously, but no one wants melted frosting on their cake.
The more pastry bags and couplers you have, the more colors you can have ready to go at once.
Try to make sure your frosting is cold when you use it. As you hold it, it will warm up and get loose.
Be careful with colored frosting. Darker colors will stain, and it is better to use a disposable pastry bag for them. Also, I have a giant red spot on my arm from Elmo.

That's all I have to say about that.

I would also like to talk about energy drinks. I was never a fan before, but lately I've totally been getting into them. Right now, I am drinking an Amp Energy drink, which is going to "bring my mind to a whole new level to keep connected, focused, and alerted." It will also "sharpen my game." I'm slightly skeptical.

I find it interesting that they are calling this an energy supplement, which I guess it is, but I don't think people really think of it as a supplement. If that's the case, why aren't Pepsi and coffee supplements? Speaking of Pepsi, the website I took that picture from stated that this flavor of Amp tasted like Pepsi Blue. From my vague memory of Pepsi Blue, I'd have to say I agree, this is probably less syrupy sweet, but the flavors are about the same.

Another thing about energy drinks that peeks my curiosity is the ingredients and their functions. Obviously, caffeine is included, but what are all those other ingredients?

Let's start off with taurine. Commonly rumored to be derived from bull urine, semen, or bile, in all food or medical uses, it is synthetic. Taurine occurs naturally in many foods, especially meat and seafood. Interestingly, it has not been proven to increase energy. It is necessary to skeletal and muscular function, and may lower blood pressure, but no increase in energy. So it seems that it has no adverse effects, but also does no good, except to maybe fix the spike in blood pressure caused by caffeine? I'm clueless. This needs more research than I'm willing to do right now.

Guarana seed however, seems to be more useful. It contains about double the caffeine found in coffee beans. The seeds come from the guarana plant, a member of the maple family that grows primarily in the Amazon. Brazil actually produces several guarana based soft drinks.

Another key player: ginseng. Typically found in "tea" varieties of drinks or "functional foods," it is also used in either its root or leaf state as a dietary aid for people with type II diabetes and sexual dysfunction in males. However, nonclinical uses tend to be too low in dosage to have much effect, similar to taurine.

This drink inparticular boasts that its L-theanine will help me to focus, but its dosage is only 12mg, whereas the taurine and guarana are 148 mg and 124 mg, respectively. Wikipedia has relatively little information here, but basically, it reduces mental and physical stress, and improves mood in a manner similar to caffiene. It also mentions that there is little to no harmful effects in large doses. So why does this only contain 12mg? I'm going to assume that's because there hasn't been enough research done.

Okay, I feel that this post has been thoroughly informative, and more of a step in the right direction. Adieu!

p.s.
Blogger, can you please start putting my images where I leave the cursor? It's a pain in the ass to move them.