Get in our kitchen, learn cool stuff

You know you want to learn how to make a seitan roast and decorate a kick ass cake for Thanksgiving! Sign up for these amazingly fun classes that I will be teaching at the bakery, through Portland Community College (PCC).

Vegan Holiday Baking Series click this link, then scroll down a bit.

I found it a bit difficult to understand the classes and how it all works on the PCC website, but I’m also not the best at computers. I’m giving you all the info here just in case, but you should sign up through the PCC page. You can take the entire series, or just one of the classes.

Vegan Holiday Baking Series

Sweetpea Baking Company owner, Lisa Higgins, invites you into their top notch kitchen to share secrets for yummy, (I would have said delicious, or extremely pleasing to your palate) professional looking Holiday treats! Celebrate the Holidays (why do they keep capitalizing holiday?) vegan style without animal products and wow your guests with creations from your home kitchen. Includes bonus tips and suggestions for allergy-free (gluten free, soy free, nut free!) cooking. This series should not be missed! (that’s right!)

Ice Box Cookies: Easy Treats!

Wednesday October 14th 6:00-8:00 pm

Get a jumpstart on holiday baking this year, with simple recipes that can be baked-as-needed for great gifts and holiday treats! Step-by-step instructions includes tips for successful vegan baking.

Modern Cake Decorating

Wednesday October 21st 6:00-8:00 pm

Give your cakes a new look! Learn the latest and greatest creative techniques to decorate holiday layer cakes and cupcakes like a professional. Includes pastry bag basics, working with ganache and writing with icing – no animal products!

Perfect Pie Secrets

Wednesday October 28th 6:00-8:00 pm

Your friends and family will be amazed by your perfect pies! Learn the secrets of a flaky crust, how to build a lattice top, and the basics of holiday pumpkin pie. This class will be very hands-on!

Savory Seitan

Wednesday November 4th 6:00-8:00 pm

Unveil the mystery behind homemade Seitan! Class covers new ways to make and cook Seitan, including pepperoni style, chick’n fried, and a holiday roast. It’s easier than you think!

I am most excited about the cake decorating class – it is my favorite thing to teach and I have been wanting to do a class for a long time. Each class will be very hands on (wear clothes that can get dirty!) and you will take recipes and treats home with you.

Sign up! Sign up a friend! Come hang out with me. I’ll even take your picture standing in our giant oven.

Anatomy of a Cake

I was having a discussion awhile ago with someone about the popularity of cupcakes. We were talking about what the next bakery fad would be after everyone got tired of filling little muffin cups with cake batter. Layer Cakes, we decided. Taking it to the next decorating level. Feeding the masses instead of just a single serving.

Then, a few weeks later, I read it in the paper. The Oregonian agreed, so I must be right! They said our snickerdoodle is the best in Portland, which it totally is, so I pretty much believe everything they say. (note to self: call Isa and tell her to start working on ‘vegan layer cakes take over the world’.)

The fad just doesn’t seem to be taking off, and I feel like maybe it just needs a jumpstart, so I am going to dispell some of the mystery behind decorating a layer cake. You can do it, and I promise, people will be impressed.

Katie was decorating a bright blue cake for a birthday recently and I used it as an example. We don’t usually use so much food coloring, but this was a special request.  To get started, you bake a cake, in two round pans, preferably with straight sides. This makes icing the sides easier later. Pop the cakes out of the pans, and sandwich them together with icing. We use a rotating cake stand, but you can use a plate, or foil covered cardboard or whatever flat surface you have handy.

did i mention you should trim the top of the cake flat?

It really helps at the point to have a decorating spatula. You can buy one at most grocery stores I think, and it really is worth the $5 to have your friends lavish you with praise for your skills.  You can also use a butter knife in a pinch. Get a good grip on your new spatula, and start spreading icing on the top and the sides of the cake. Do your best to avoid touching the cake at this point, so you don’t pull a bunch of crumbs into your icing. Spread using a back and forth motion, like you are carving down a snowy hill on your snowboard.

Katie decorates like the wind.

This cake will end up smooth on the sides, which is a lesson for another day, so pay attention to the photo above. Consider the words “controlled chaos”, because  this is how Martha Stewart decorates almost all of the cakes in her magazines. Keep the mess within your control and huzzah! you have a beautiful cake that looks like you planned every swirly piece of icing. If swirling your spatula isn’t working, try making the icing spiky, or striped. Just try to keep it uniform and it will look planned. Cover the top of the cake, as well as the sides and start feeling proud of yourself for what you’ve accomplished.

smooth as a baby's.... well, you know.

This is the hardest part. How will you decorate the top of the cake? What will make my cake stand out from all of the rest? This particular cake ends up fairly simple, because we had to leave lots of room to write happy birthday on it, but i have a few do’s and don’ts to help you.

DO

• Have faith in yourself and your ability to write on the cake. Try printing, it is easier than cursive.
• Use chocolate. or coconut, or fresh fruit, or nuts, or crumbled up cookies. Give the cake texture.
• Keep symmetry in mind, but don’t over do it. The rule of thirds works well for round cakes.
• Add height. Go big, or go home! Well, you probably are home, so just go big.

DON’T

• Misspell any words, unless it’s on purpose.
• Use poisonous flowers, like calla lilies.
• Try to do any criss-cross pattern. It never looks good unless you get it perfect.
• Use more than 3-4 different colors.

icing poops.

This cake has very basic piping on it which you can easily do at home. Cut a hole in the corner of a plastic baggie, fill it with icing, and squeeze it out into little plops around the edges of the cake. Practice a bit first on a cutting board if you are unsure of yourself. If you have a pastry bag and tips, get fancy!

hey J.T., you're famous.

Make sure you spell birthday right, so your cake doesn’t end up on cake wrecks, and ta-da! Pour yourself a drink and wait for the oohs and aahs to begin.

Let me know when you feel like you have mastered this, and I will up the ante with a more difficult cake. Layer cake fad, begin!

-lisa