Fondant Baby Blanket Cakes

Posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 12:12 am

Fondant Modeling for Cake Decorators:

$19.76

Fondant cakes are appearing at children’s parties and are the standard for weddings. Home bakers are now learning how to save money by making and decorating their own fondant cakes. Suitable for all skills levels, Fondant Modeling for Cake Decorators is a practical reference to creating too-good-to-eat fondant models for cakes for all occasions. The book describes essential techniques and materials, and it features recipes for all the essential elements of a fondant cake, such as cake layers, icings and fondant pastes. The 180-page model directory includes step-by-step instructions and unique “exploded” photographs that show individual components and how they fit together. The selection of cakes includes: Wedding and anniversary, such as a bride and groom, valentine Holidays and celebrations, such as Easter bunny, fireworks Animals, such as crocodile, sheep, grasshopper, dinosaur Flowers and fruits, such as roses, fruit bowl, strawberries Hobbies and sports, such as musical notes, trophy, swimmer Transport and jobs, such as truck, policeman, building site Children’s themes, such as clown, alien, mermaid, baby rattle. More than 600 photographs are complemented by thorough explanations of every technique, ensuring exceptional results every time. For the home baker who wants to create spectacular cakes and the experienced decorator looking for new inspiration, Fondant Modeling for Cake Decorators is a must-have resource.

Muslin Dream Blanket – Baby Cakes

$49.95

Snuggle up and dream! Unique in the marketplace, Aden+Anais Dream Blankets feature soft and breathable muslin cotton, which provides plenty of warmth without overheating. This plush blanket is generously-sized and uses four layers of fabric, making it ideal for both infants and toddlers. Measures 47" x 47". Pre-washed 100% cotton muslin.

The Art of Cakes

$12.2

Celebrate The Art of Cakes! Having a really beautiful cake—one that you bake in your very own kitchen—can make a special occasion extraordinary. That’s the inspiration behind this guide: to create vibrant, colorful, and unique cakes that will bring a smile to everyone’s face. Inside, you’ll find basic recipes for three types of cakes, buttercream, and royal icing—which is used for piping letters, dots, and other decorations. You’ll also learn advanced techniques for rolling fondant and preparing modeling paste. The irresistibly photographed cake designs look good enough to eat, and they range from the delicate and sweet Beautiful Baby Birthday to Sally Says “Surprise,” and an unforgettable way to say “Congratulations!” or “Best Wishes!”

Fondant

$118

Fondant:

Wilton Royal Easy Glide Fondant Smoother

$4.99

Make the fondant spreading process a snap with this smoother. It works great on the tops, edges, and sides of your cakes.

Wilton Celebrate with Fondant Book

$14.99

The Celebrate with Fondant Book shows how you can create exciting and colorful cakes for birthdays, weddings, graduations, showers, and much more. Rolled fondant is the flexible and easy-to-shape icing that lets you do it all! If you loved playing with clay as a kid, then you will be sure to enjoy the art of fondant decorating! Create easy heart or flower cutouts and simple hand-shaped ball or ruffle borders. Impress your guests with fun figures like clowns and dolls or spectacular floral bouquets and embossed accents. This book features more than 50 projects from fun and fanciful to gorgeously elegant! Soft cover: 120 pages.

Muslin Swaddling Blankets – 4 pk – Baby Cakes

$49.95

Snuggle up! Mom and baby can sleep peacefully with this wonderful Australian swaddle. Plenty of cool, breathable fabric to get just the right fit. These stretchy muslin swaddles are so versatile they can also be used as a lightweight blanket, stroller cover, burp cloth or nursing shield. Makes a great gift too! Muslin is a unique cotton fabric first introduced into England in the late 17th century. Muslin has a light, open weave that allows air to flow seamlessly through the material. The soft natural fibers allow your baby’s body temperature to adjust naturally, eliminating over-heating, but ensuring warmth and comfort. aden + anais wraps will allow you to safely swaddle your baby, giving you confidence that your baby will experience a peaceful and secure sleep. Each blanket measures 47" x 47".

fondant baby blanket cakes

Fondant baby and quilted blanket.wmv

Tabasco Sauce

History

Tabasco sauce was invented in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny, a Maryland-born former banker who had moved to Louisiana around 1840. Initially McIlhenny used discarded cologne bottles to distribute his sauce to family and friends, and in 1868 when he started to sell to the public he ordered thousands of new “cologne bottles” from a New Orleans glassworks. It was in these that the sauce was first commercially distributed, sharing till today a striking similarity to contemporary packaging for 4711 brand cologne. On his death in 1890, McIlhenny was succeeded by his eldest son, John Avery McIlhenny, who expanded and modernized the business, but resigned after a few years to join Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders volunteer cavalry regiment.

On John’s departure, brother Edward Avery McIlhenny, a self-taught naturalist fresh from an arctic adventure, assumed control of the company, running it from 1898 to his death in 1949. Like his brother, Edward focused on expansion and modernization, as did war veteran Walter S. McIlhenny, who, after serving in the U.S. Marines at Guadalcanal and elsewhere, oversaw the company until his death in 1985.

Today the company remains a privately held firm, presided over by Paul C. P. McIlhenny, sixth in a line of McIlhenny men to run the business.

Production

A Tabasco advertisement from ca. 1905. Note the cork-top bottle and diamond logo label, both of which are similar to those in use today.

From seeds to sauce

Until recently, all of the peppers were grown on Avery Island. While a small portion of the crop is still grown on the island, the bulk of the crop is now grown in Central and South America, where the weather and the availability of more farmland allow a more predictable and larger year-round supply of peppers. This also helps to ensure the supply of peppers should something happen to the crop at a particular location (such as a hurricane). Regardless, all of the seeds for all locations are still grown on Avery Island.

Following company tradition, the peppers are hand picked by workers. To tell their ripeness, peppers are checked with a little red stick, or le petit bton rouge, that each worker carries around. Those peppers not matching the color of the stick are not harvested. Peppers are ground into “mash” the same day they are harvested, placed in white oak barrels with a small amount of salt, and sent to warehouses on Avery Island for a three-year aging process. At the end of the aging process, the mash is drained to remove skins and seeds from the liquid. This liquid is then mixed with vinegar and stirred intermittently for about a month before being bottled as finished sauce. Much of the salt used in Tabasco production is acquired locally from Avery Island’s own salt mine, one of the largest in the U.S.

Avery Island was hit hard by tropical storms in 2005, especially Hurricane Rita. The factory barely escaped major damage. As a result of a long history of dodging tropical storms, the family constructed a 17-foot (5.2 m)-high levee and invested in back-up generators.

Varieties

Tabasco has been produced by McIlhenny Company since 1868. Several new types of sauces are now produced under the name Tabasco Sauce, including jalapeo-based green, chipotle-based smoked, habanero, garlic, and “sweet and spicy” sauces. McIlhenny also produces Tabasco soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce and steak sauce.

The habanero sauce and garlic sauces both include the tabasco peppers blended with other peppers, whereas the jalapeo variety does not include tabasco peppers.

None of these products undergoes the three-year aging process the flagship product uses.

Heat

Tabasco sauce

Heat

Medium (SR: 2,500-5,000)

The original, classic red variety of Tabasco pepper sauce measures 2,500-5,000 SCU on the Scoville scale. The habanero sauce is considerably hotter, rating 7,000-8,000 Scoville units. The chipotle sauce adds chipotle pepper to the original sauce, measuring 2,000-2,500. The garlic variety, which blends milder peppers in with the tabasco peppers, rates 1,200-1,800 Scovilles, and the green pepper (jalapeo) sauce is even milder at 600-800 Scovilles. Their Sweet and Spicy sauce is the mildest at only 100-600 Scoville Units.

Packaging

Classic Tabasco red pepper sauce

Tabasco brand pepper sauce is sold in more than 160 countries and territories and is packaged in 22 languages and dialects. As many as 720,000 two-ounce (57ml) bottles of Tabasco sauce are produced each day at the Tabasco factory on Avery Island, Louisiana. These bottles range in size from the common two-ounce and five-ounce (57ml and 148 ml) bottles available in most grocery stores, up to a one US gallon (3.8 liter) jug for food service businesses, and down to a 1/8th-ounce (3.7 ml) miniature bottle. McDonald’s in North America used these diminutive Tabasco bottles during early McRib promotions. The US military includes Tabasco sauce in Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), and has done so since the 1980s.

Merchandise

In addition, the company has cashed in on its brand name by licensing the production of branded merchandise, including neckties, hand towels, golf shirts, sleeping pants, boxer shorts, posters, Bloody Mary mix, and even casino slot machines featuring the trademarked diamond logo.

Uses

McIlhenny Company now produces numerous Tabasco brand products that contain pepper seasoning, including popcorn, nuts, olives, mayonnaise, mustard, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, grilling/marinating sauce, barbecue sauce, chili sauce, pepper jelly, and Bloody Mary mix. McIlhenny Company also permits other brands to use and advertise Tabasco sauce as an ingredient in their products (a common marketing practice called “co-branding”), including Spam, Slim Jim beef sticks, Heinz ketchup, A1 steak sauce, Plochman’s mustard, Cheez-It crackers, Lawry’s salt, Zapp’s potato chips and Vlasic pickles.

The classic red Tabasco sauce has a shelf life of five years when stored in a cool and dry place; other Tabasco flavors have shorter shelf lives.

Tabasco sauce is widely used to season a variety of foodstuffs, such as sandwiches, salads, burgers, oysters, pasta, pork chops, shrimp, hot dogs, baby back ribs, hot wings, prime rib, chitlins, gumbo, Po’ boys, french fries, cheese fries, crab cake, scrambled eggs, cole slaw, green beans, corn on the cob, onion rings, barbecue, macaroni and cheese, turkey, catfish, stirfry, nachos, calzones, black-eyed peas, soup and omelettes, pizza, gum, potato chips, Spam, Cheez-Its, popcorn, pudding, bacon wrapped steak, mashed potatoes, pigs in a blanket, french onion soup, oatmeal, egg rolls, olive loaf, gyros, submarine sandwiches, potatoes pommes fondant, pancakes, come back gravy, buttermilk biscuits, and even dipping tobacco. It is also common in cocktails including the Bloody mary and Prairie Fire.

Tabasco and the U.S. military

During the Spanish-American War, John Avery McIlhenny, son of Tabasco’s inventor and second president of McIlhenny Company, served in the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, better known as Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. His son, Brigadier General Walter Stauffer McIlhenny, USMCR, a World War II veteran and recipient of the Navy Cross, presided over McIlhenny Company from 1949 until his death in 1985. During the Vietnam War, BGen. McIlhenny issued the The Charlie Ration Cookbook. (Charlie ration was slang for the field meal given to troops.) This cookbook came wrapped around a two-ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce in a camouflaged, water-resistant container. It included instructions on how to mix C-rations to make such tasty concoctions as “Combat Canaps” or “Breast of Chicken under Bullets.”

During the 1980s, the U.S. military began to include miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce in its MREs. Eventually, miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce were included in two-thirds of all MRE menus. (These same miniature bottles are also included in vegetarian British rations, but are not included in the regular Operational Ration Pack.) During the same period, McIlhenny Company issued a new military-oriented cookbook using characters from the comic strip Beetle Bailey, titled The Unofficial MRE Cookbook, which it offered free of charge to U.S. troops. In response to these gestures, service personnel wrote many letters of thanks to McIlhenny Company.

Most recently, U.S. troops in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom have received Tabasco sauce in their MREs, as well as in care packages sent directly to individual troops courtesy of McIlhenny Company.

McIlhenny Company’s relationship with the military extends beyond combat situations. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps list over 400 mess halls that offer Tabasco sauce on their tables including every Officer’s Mess in the Marine Corps.

Walter Stauffer McIlhenny was a benefactor of the Marine Military Academy. As a result, a bottle of Tabasco sauce can be found on every table in the school’s mess hall. McIlhenny was a member of the Academy’s General H. M. Smith Foundation, and the school named one of its buildings after him.

Tabasco in space

Tabasco appears on the official menu of NASA’s space shuttle program and has gone into orbit on the shuttles. It has also been used on Skylab and on the International Space Station.

Notable and historical references

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2009)

During a 1932 “Buy British” campaign sponsored by the British Government, Tabasco sauce bottles were removed from the tables of the House of Commons dining rooms. The Members of Parliament demanded that Tabasco sauce be returned to their tables.

Tabasco sauce has become an Internet Meme as a symbol for manliness. It is commonly used by Internet satirist Maddox, and by other smaller websites.[citation needed]

Turn-of-the-20th-century baseball player Norman Elberfeld was known as “The Tabasco Kid” because of his fiery temper.

On April 19, 2009 the Queen of England issued a Royal Warrant of Appointment for Tabasco Sauce because of the royal family’s use of it over the years.[citation needed]

Tabasco sauce appears in the Little Rascals 1932 film short “Birthday Blues”.

Miniature bottles of Tabasco are thrown at University of Louisiana football games.

Competitors

Tabasco has many competitors, including:

Bfalo (hot sauce)

Chili pepper water

Cholula Hot Sauce

Crystal Hot Sauce

Frank Red Hot

Louisiana Gold Hot Sauce

Sriracha sauce

Tapato hot sauce

Texas Pete (hot sauce)

Trappey’s Hot Sauce

Valentina (sauce)

Nursery to Toddler

Fondant Baby Blanket Cakes

Tabasco Sauce

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