86-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 19, 1998
Sam Decorates Happy Cakes To Relieve Stress
JINNY WILT
Adams Co. Correspondent
If you’re looking for a cake
with a bit of whimsy you want to
talk to' Sue Ann “Sam” Seiple
about her hobby.
“I dan’t do a serious cake,” said
Sue Ann, who says people won’t
know who she is unless she’s re
ferred to as Sam, as she stood by a
table loaded with cake forms, in
structions, catalogs, and cupcakes
she had made as samples.
After all her marriage to Ster
ling Seiple the couple lives in
Red Lion on Halloween
prompted a wedding cake of black
and orange.
Describing herself as “hyperac
tive” Sam explains that baking a
cake is her way of dealing with
life’s stresses.
“Just give me my oven,” she ex
claims.
Sam got interested in decorat
ing cakes about nine years ago af
ter friends first became involved.
Today she has 90 percent of the
Wilton forms. A storage shed
holds much of her collection.
Grabbing a box from a nearby
table, she is delighted to tell all
that she has just gotten a Winnie
the Pooh cake form for which she
waited 3'A months.
“My grandson, Darien Seiple,
almost 5, is a Mickey baby, Gram
my had to make everything Mick
ey Mouse. My granddaughter, De
siree McKensey, 2, is Winnie the
Pooh,” she said
“Winnie the Pooh will be baked
for my granddaughter for Christ
mas. but he’ll be dressed as Santa
Claus. Instead of holding his
Sue Ann Seiple of Red Lion displays her most recent
cake form of Winnie the Pooh. She plans to bake the cake
for her granddaughter for Christmas, dressing the bear as
Santa Claus. She has about 90 percent of the cake forms
available from Wilton Enterprises of Woodridge, 111.
honeypot, he’s going to have a
Christmas bag of presents.”
In many cases the cake figures
can be interchanged and decorated
to fit whatever the event Instruc
tions often show the various cakes
that can be made from one form,
but the baker still has the option to
be creative.
The oldest Wilton cake form
Sam has is of a sneaker and dates
back to 1967. She found it at a
yard sale in Ocean City. The new
est of course, is Winnie the Pooh,
a 1998 pan. Each pan is dated.
Hie pans are made either in the
United States or Korea but all are
licensed by Wilton Enterprises of
Woodridge, 111., she said, and
most of hers come from yard
sales.
“I collect them because they’re
just a pleasure. I buy them because
I collect them. I don’t know what
ever got me liking a cake pan,”
she said, stroking an aluminum
cake pan of a rabbit
“I can’t do serious cakes, ’cause
I can’t get serious enough to do
them. If it’s happy I can do it” she
said.
She prefers baking her cakes for
children because they’re not as
critical as adults. And children get
to pick colors and flavors because
it’s their cake.
She’s quick to point out that
cakes made from “scratch” work
best in the pans. While she does
use pre-mixed cakes, she said they
will often fall, where the ones
from “scratch” don’t
The length of time it takes to
decorate one of the cakes depends
on the amount of detail, but be
cause of her experience, Sam said
Home
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Cake baking and decorating are a hobby that relaxes Sue Ann Seiple of Red Lion.
The snowman, house and cupcakes are just a few of the desserts she makes using
cake batter made from “scratch.” Pre-mixed cakes tend to fall, she said.
she can finish a cake in about one
half hour.
“The secret to decorating a Wil
ton Cake is they use a star design
and the closer you get the stars
the bigger the tip the fester it
goes, the smaller the tip, the lon
ger it goes. I use all different sizes
of tips to do every cake for a rea
son. It gives the cake dimension.”
The cake most often requested
from Sam is Hershey’s Cocoa
Cake. The recipe for it follows.
Sue Ann Seiple, a Wilton cake form collector, puts icing
on a cake shaped like a house. It is one of the many cake
designs she bakes. Baking cakes is a hobby she’s been
involved in for the past nine years.
BANANA CAKE
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box instant banana pudding
4 eggs
H cup vegetable oil
‘A cup milk plus 1 teaspoon
vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 large bananas mashed (use
very ripe bananas)
Mix ingredients and pour into
ungreased tube pan. Bake at 350
degrees. Test in about 40 minutes.
CARROT CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Combine sugar and oil. Add 1
egg at a time mixing well in be
tween. Then add next ingredients
one at a time to above mixture.
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2V* cups all-purpose flour
3 cups grated carrots
After mixing all ingredients
bake at 3SO degrees for 4S min
utes.
HERSHEY’S COCOA CAKE
VA cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
V* cup Hershey’s cocoa—not
Nestle
154 teaspoons baking soda
.1% teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Vt cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla (Watkins
white double strength is the only
vanilla Sam will use)
Mix all ingredients well. Then
add 1 cup boiling water. Mix well
again. Bake 350 degrees for 30
minutes.
•Test cupcakes after 20 min
utes.
Following is the frosting recipe
she uses on most cakes.
WILTON SNOW WHITE
BUTTERCREAM ICING
% cup water
12 cups confectioners’ sugar
VA cups white vegetable
shortening
V* teaspoon salt
‘A teaspoon white vanilla
V* teaspoon butter extract
•You can add 2 tablespoons
meringue powder if you’re plan
ning to make icing flowers for de
corations.
Following are some of her
“scratch” cake recipes.