Recap: Alisa's Party with Guitar Cake

On October 10th, we hosted Welch Lab members and friends at the house at a going away party for Alisa.

 

Alisa and I worked together closely in the lab and have been friends for more than three years now. 

She is a hilarious, vibrant, intelligent and beautiful person who brightens every day in the lab, and she will be greatly missed.

Alisa reads the lab cartoon & quote board made by Taro.. ahh, inappropriate memories.

We were excited to host a party for her at our house - it was close to home for most people and not such a daunting task after the last few weeks of dinner parties. 

The whole Picasa web album of the party is here.

It was actually an easy cooking week for us, since the party was a true potluck we only made a couple of dishes.  John made his first true smoked meat in the Big Green Egg smoker: slow-cooked pork shoulder which hung out in its spice rub for 12 hours and then cooked for more than 18 hours from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. It was served with a peach sauce and he achieved great flavor and texture with a true smoke ring! Yum! The spices were a bit Asian inspired so I made a ramen noodle salad:

Crunchy Cabbage Salad (From K.S.)

1 head cabbage, chopped (I used a med napa cabbage and 1/2 a small red cabbage)

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1-2 carrots, grated

2/3 c slivered almonds (toasted)

2 tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)

2 packet Ramen noodles, uncooked, smashed up.

(Chicken, or Oriental flavor for vegetarians)

Dressing:

~1 c. olive oil

1-2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

4 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Seasoning packets from Ramen Noodles

Toast sesame seeds and almonds in a dry pan until just browned. 

Stir dressing together. 

Toss dressing w/ rest of ingredients a little before serving. Will stay crunchy overnight.

We had an amazing and totally delicious spread of food including pot stickers, lasagna, sweet potato and bean casseroles, fried chicken, spinach dip, korean grilled beef and veggies, lamb steaks, cheese from Cheeseboard, cookies, and more that I'm forgetting...

And we played a rollicking game of Yankee Swap:

And I made a guitar-shaped cake for Alisa. 

How do you make a guitar cake?

Bake three boxes of cake mix up in a casserole dish, large loaf pan and two small loaf pans. I placed a mason jar (jam jar) in the upper middle of the big cake for two reasons: it made a perfect hole in the body of the guitar, and it serves as a heating core so the cake bakes a little faster and more evenly.

Cut out a guitar-body shape from the large cake:

Put together the body with some trimmed loaves for the neck and top:

I wanted to frost the cake with my go-to chocolate frosting recipe. I tried to stabilize it with some extra ingredients and ended up with a big curdled mess. I didn't want to waste all that butter and fancy cocoa powder so I added some extra stuff to try and make it into brownies (recipe below). You can see the brownies above the cake, which I ended up frosting with chocolate ganache. The ganache worked out as it was very firm and a little shiny, and held the cake together well.

I made marshmallow-fluff fondant for the top of the guitar body and the knobs. I used this recipe. It was much easier than I thought, and truly ends up like adult play-doh. There are many variations; if you don't eat gelatin (in mini marshmallows) you can make the fondant with a jar of marshmallow fluff instead.  It's a little difficult to get the colors even but it works after a lot of kneading. I made ivory as a base color for body panel which was rolled out, cut using the same template as the body shape, smoothed with my hand and then painted with a little tan, gold, and brown food coloring to look like wood:

I then made a brass/brown tone for the knobs & tuners, which I dry painted with edible "luster dust" for shine:

I painted angel hair spaghetti with brown food coloring and then luster dust for the strings:

I put it all together with some melted chocolate and white candymelts for the details and to hold it together.

The finished cake:

Alisa "plays" the cake:

Chocolate Frosting Brownies recipe:

1 1/2 sticks butter (12 Tb)
1 cup Cocoa
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cream or half-and-half
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Splash o'booze1 tablespoon corn syrup (probably optional)

2 tablespoons shortening (optional)

3 eggs

1/2 to 1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2/3c walnuts 

Melt butter& shortening. Stir in cocoa. In electric mixer, Alternately add powdered sugar and cream, beating until smooth. Add vanilla extract and corn syrup. You will probably have frosting now, because you won't mess it up like I did.  Add eggs and the batter will come together, sift in flour and baking powder and mix until combined. Fold in some walnuts or chocolate chips. Turn into rectangular baking pan lined in parchment and bake at 350 for 60+ mins or until done.