Cali Trip, Red Devil's Graduation Cake and Gum Paste

Just got back from the big family trip (nine adults, one toddler) to Cali. We had a great time - I flew a cake with me for my sister, ate self-serve, soft-serve yogurt at least four times and watched turtle racing (just like on "Rob & Big").

In short (or long kinda) I:

• watched my little sister graduate with her MFA from the TFT department (theater, film & television...I didn't know either) at UCLA where Oliver Stone gave the commencement address - he decided to talk about politics, war and the sad economy instead of give an uplifting congratulatory speech
• ate Giant Cheetos for the first time (amazing)
• saw a taping of "Chelsea Lately" and got called out by the warm up guy (who is also the tour guide in the police station in "The Hangover") - we had to move seats so he saw me and Brad stand up and he yelled, "hey, where'd you two meet...computer class!??" just because we were both wearing thick-rimmed glasses....seriously. it was funny tho - and we are pretty big nerds
• spotted CJ from "Top Chef" taking a smoke break outside his restaurant; saw Tim Meadows at brunch
• drank GIANT margs at least twice; saw my brother get a "talking to" from the rent-a-cop for wearing his sweatshirt hood up in the bar (WTF?) - this was a crappy bar too, not a Brent Bolthouse club or anything
• got to spend quality time with my whole fam!
  

I also decided that I wanted to make my sister a custom, costume designer-themed graduation cake. I wanted her to have an awesome cake and I also wanted to experiment with gum paste so I would know what I'm doing with it when I start making the birthday cakes in a week or so. Gum paste is pretty much like edible sugar play dough - fun times, like a kid again!

In my head it seemed so easy and made complete sense to bake a cake in Chicago and fly with it to LA. And, also take the somewhat delicate gum paste decoration items with me as well. I have to say, everything really worked out the way I wanted and there were absolutely no complications with security or the taking of the cake on board. I googled and you can take cakes and pies on the plane - I printed the TSA Web page that had this info and took it with me to the airport just in case. I was NOT going to dump this amazing red cake in the trash!

Everything arrived in great shape and nothing was broken or smashed - yes, success! I did not make and take frosting though, just ended up buying some at the store. It still tasted good, like that hydrogenated oil taste you just can't get from homemade. ;)

If you are interested in successfully taking a cake (undecorated) with you somewhere on a plane, here's what I did:

• baked cakes two days before departure; let cool completely; wrapped layers in plastic wrap and foil; kept in freezer until morning of departure
• pulled out random, perfectly-sized insulated bag that we happened to have and lined with towels
• removed cake layers morning of departure; separated layers with cake boards to keep them straight; put in insulated bag; put bag with cake into large carry-on (not the rolly kind)
• tucked two large zip top bags in bag
• after going through security, made Brad get zip top bags filled with ice from Starbucks
• put ice bags around cakes and zipped insulated bag
• kept insulated bag in carry-on until on the plane; removed it from carry-on and placed under seat in front of me; put cakes in fridge upon arrival at beach house
• voila!

It was a pretty secure fit under the seat, but I also had my feet there to keep it from jostling around.

If you are interested in more about the actual cake, see below:

I used our family's traditional red devil's cake recipe, upon the graduate's request. Our version of this cake is a little different than ones you've probably had from a bakery - I can't really describe the taste - it just tastes like RED cake! It has buttermilk, coffee, cocoa powder and LOTS of red food coloring. A lot of other recipes don't use coffee and call for vinegar. I think the addition of coffee really enhances the cocoa and buttermilk for a completely unique-tasting cake. It was still moist and delicious even after all the traveling.


Working with gum paste was definitely interesting and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the end result - since I had never used it before. Stay tuned for more gum paste in birthday cake posts.