Julie Stottmann

Hi! My name is Julie Stottmann. I am 44 3/4 ;-) and I live in Louisville, Kentucky. I am a home baker and call "caking" my full time hobby! I make decorated cookies, cupcakes and cakes and love modeling fondant figures. I have been married for 9 years to my husband Andy and have 2 step sons. We have a new college graduate and a new high school graduate - can you say Empty Nest?!?! My husband is retired from the Army and so I am hoping that we will soon be doing some traveling now that the kids are on their own! We are big Disney fans and love vacationing at Walt Disney World.

My love of cake started when I was little bitty! I have a picture of me sneaking up and sticking my finger in my uncles wedding cake while he and my aunt were cutting it! My mom took Wilton classes when I was young so that she could make cute birthday cakes for my brother and me. I loved it when she would come home with her latest creation from class. I was absolutely fascinated by the Wilton rose!

Fast forward 30 years and I started doing simple cakes for friends after I took Wilton classes myself! After a near cake disaster, where frosting was sliding off my cake as I delivered it, I realized that if I was going to continue making cakes and having any kind of business, I needed a better frosting recipe! This realization lead me to Sharon Zambito and her American Buttercream Youtube video - God bless High Ratio Shortening!!! As luck would have it, just a few weeks later Sharon was here in Kentucky doing a class and I was so thrilled to be able to attend. I was completely hooked and found in Sharon the most incredible mentor. There is no way that I would be where I am, or maybe even still doing cakes, if it wasn't for her and her incredible teaching and encouragement! I would never have been able to create the things that I do without her tutorials. I feel so blessed to have this wonderful community of Sugar Babies to share with, ask questions and bounce ideas off of! Everyone is always so encouraging and helpful!

My favorite part of making cakes is the look on the recipients face when they see their cake or when a child is completely excited and jumps up and down - that totally makes my day! My least favorite part of making cakes is the clean up!!!

Pink Lemonade Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter....Cut into 1/2 inch slices onto waxed paper to soften slightly (still very cool to the touch). If it becomes too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes. Do not soften in microwave
4 large eggs
3/4 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate (thawed) ( if you cannot find pink, you can use regular frozen lemonade)
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon lemon extract
zest of 1 lemon
pink coloring gel, if you want the cake layers to be pink

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round pans.

In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine dry ingredients for 30 seconds.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs, Pink Lemonade concentrate, lemon extract, zest & milk.

With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly like coarse sand. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl.

With the mixer on low speed SLOWLY ADD 1/2 of the egg mixture, increase to medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. The batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. ADD THE PINK GEL COLOR, Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

Let the cakes cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out.

Works well for cupcakes

Makes 7 cups batter

______________________________________________