Piñata workshop, Rainbow Sprinkles, and Community Bakes!

Home Cake Decorating located in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle since 1962

EDITION #02

The Baker’s Dozen

Rebecca is the new owner of Home Cake Decorating Supply in Maple Leaf Seattle

Piñata by @garciaspinatas — see new workshops below!

Hello, Baking fam!

Welcome to the Baker’s Dozen Newsletter!

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈🌈

I can’t believe it’s June already — five months in, and I’m still so excited to be here! We’ve done a shop makeover, recently cleaned up the back room (have you been in to see all the sale and free stuff?!), and we’re getting ready for a fun-filled summer.

We’ve got our first community craft nights planned! Join us for Mini Piñata Workshops in July and August. We’ve also got free cookbook exchanges planned for July 25 & August 29.

We also want to hear what you'd like to learn or teach. Decorating workshops? Demos? Crafts? Something completely different? Fill out our survey to let us know!

I’ve had some fun baking this month. I attended Seattle Baking Club’s May Fruit event — so many great bakes! Now I’m getting ready for the Seattle Cake Picnic in July. It’s a fruit theme, so I'm thinking something with blackberries or cherry. What are you baking with all our yummy PNW fruit this summer?

FYI: I’m going to take a day off on July 4, so we’ll be closed that Saturday.

The Proving Box: Mini Piñata Workshop

viral Dot Cake made by Home Cake Decorating

Join us on July 8 for an evening of crafting, community, and a little friendly chaos. Our first-ever Mini Piñata Workshop is July 8 at 6:30pm in The Proving Box (our new space at the front of the shop), led by Heather from @garciaspinatas. We're keeping it small so everyone gets personal attention and goes home with something they’ve had fun making. Additional session August 12.

Each attendee will choose one mini piñata shape to make during the workshop (a cupcake, a slice of cake, or, our personal favorite: a stick of butter) and we’ll provide some fun fillers too. You'll also take home templates and instructions for all three, so you can keep the party going.

Tickets are $45 and include all materials, an instruction guide, and 10% off Home Cake shopping on the night of class. Spots will go fast — grab yours at homecakedecorating.com/mini-pinata-workshop.

Curious Crumbs: What sprinkles are best for a confetti cake?

We have lots of options and it’s about time we tested them all out for you! The standard rainbow jimmies or sprinkles (depending on where you’re from!) are always touted as the best option, but we wanted to be sure, so we tried ‘em all out.

We tested five options: sparkly rainbow jimmies, pastel rainbow quins (flat discs), rainbow nonpareils (crunchy beads), crunchy rainbow jimmies (without white), and the ‘standard’ soft rainbow jimmies (left to right, above)

Don’t get me started on the whole history of sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, hundreds and thousands…maybe we’ll do a deep dive in an upcoming issue!

The nonpareils bled color into the batter as soon as we started mixing. It was kind of interesting if you want to make a rainbow cake, but the colors were very muted. Actual food color would certainly make a better rainbow cake. The batter looked great, but the final cake was mildly pastel rainbow.

It’s a toss up between the rainbow jimmies with white in the mix or whether to buy all the colors individually and make your own mix without white. The white sprinkles get lost in the batter, so they are unnecessary, but only an issue in that they reduce the overall number of sprinkles going in - but in that case, just increase the quantity! You could make your own mix or use the rainbow mix without white. Those worked fine too.

The shiny rainbow mix is a waste of beautiful sprinkles because while they did the job for a confetti cake, the shine is lost. These would be better for topping a cake or cupcakes.

The rainbow quins worked great and didn’t bleed, but again it’s kind of a waste because you can’t tell the shape inside the cake.

The Verdict: No clear winner — lots of great options. But avoid nonpareils in the cake…on top for a Dot Cake though, they’re perfect!

Many great options, but avoid the nonpareils (center)

The Community Table: Community Bakes

Recently we’ve had some neighbors bring in some yummy bakes to share.

Edie and Erica made these delicious Gluten Free Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts using the Ateco Donut Cutters from the shop. They were piping hot on delivery and oh-so-yummy!

A gal from the Skagit Valley Farmer’s Market (I’m SO embarrassed that I cannot remember your name!!) made these super cute carrot cookies for opening day using AmeriColor food colors and packaged them up in our cello treat bags.

Thank you all so much for sharing!

🌈🌲🦄 We’re making great progress on donations for Camp Ten Trees, the PNW’s only residential summer camp programming for LGBTQ youth, their allies, and kids of LGBTQ & nontraditional families. We’re still selling Pride Edible Images through the end of June, so if you’d like to donate, swing by and pick some up!

Home Cake is donating $15 for each sheet of our Pride designs edible print cupcake toppers purchased in May and June. Camp Ten Trees has been close to my heart for years because of its work creating safe and joyful spaces for LGBTQ youth. Let’s help them create amazing outdoor adventures this summer!

Also, If you need a Pride flag, I’ve got some for sale in the store.

Shop Notes: New Merch — Cake Pop Molds and Supernatural products!

Cake Pops — do you love ‘em?

I hadn’t made them with a mold before and I think I really need some more practice! I’d love to hear your tips and tricks because while I got some great compliments, I know we can do better!

Bake them in a pop-baking mold? Do you use the steam method? Or the standard frosting method? Tell me everything — but mostly your best tips!! We got some fun molds in the shop from My Little CakePop Shop in various shapes: popsicle, round disc, cupcake, cube, tube, and snowman/bubbles.

We now carry Supernatural brand

dye-free food colors and sprinkles!

All Supernatural products are free from the Top-9 food allergens by ingredient and are 100% vegan. Have you tried them? Let me know what you think!

🚨Shop Closed: I need a little break, so we’ll be closed on Saturday July 4 (and our regular Sun/Mon close days) while I travel to see some friends. We’ll be open regular hours 10-6 on Friday July 3 and will reopen as usual on Tuesday July 7.

The Mystery Ingredient: One brushstroke away from being too extra

Oohhh…we had a lot of great guesses last month! Several folks guessed it was a Piping Tip — and it was Russian Tip #249. Congrats to our winner Hudson. Keep an eye out for your congrats email with instructions to pick up your prize.

This month’s Mystery Ingredient is one brushstroke away from being too extra. Think you know what it is? Stop by and take a guess.

To enter for this month’s prize, drop by the shop to submit your guess by July 18th. I’ll randomly select one winner from all precisely correct entries (no purchase necessary; email required for entry to notify and confirm winning) and announce the answer and winner on social media and in the next newsletter.

mystery close up image of an item in the store

So excited for you to be following along with us! See you soon at the shop and don’t forget to show me all the fun stuff you’re baking! Rebecca 🖤🧁

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