Double Birthday

Last Saturday I had two birthday cakes to make, in between a baptism, and three birthday parties. It was a little crazy, but so fun to be making cakes again! I feel like it has been so long since I've been busy crazy making cake after cake. I have another one to make this weekend! :)

This first cake was for my son's best friend, Andrew. He was having an Indiana Jones party. His mom and I have decided to sit ourselves down and try to really recreate this scene... in downtown Shanghai. I just didn't have it in me this year. So I made a really lame, simple cake so that the really awesome part-the Lego set- would really stand out. I hope it tasted good!

The second cake is up on the list of my all time favorites! I just love using the grass tip! It is so fun. As I was putting the grass on the square cake, I decided that I would really love to try and make an Oscar the Grouch cake sometime... so anybody who wants one, let me know! This cake was for my cousin, Megan. She loves soccer and wanted a soccer ball cake. Hope you liked it Megan!

I was trying to get a close up of the grass. It really looks so cool!

Kaylee's Birthday Cake

This year Kaylee wanted to have a ladybug picnic. I was really excited to try a ladybug cake. I was nervous about getting a good red and black without using an entire bottle of color. I tried something new, and was pretty pleased with the result. For the ladybug I used premade frosting from the store. Rather than starting with white frosting, I used strawberry and chocolate for the red and black. The chocolate tasted great!

Kid's Cakes

Here are some fun kid's cakes. I enjoy doing cakes for little kids, especially my daughter. Every cake I make, she tells me how beautiful and lovely it is. The best is staying up really late finishing a cake, and listening to them find it the next morning. It really boosts self-esteem, ya know? Not a favorite, but my little Star Wars fanatic LOVED it!

I was pretty pleased with this cake, but Louis didn't think too much of it. He is my toughest critic, and it's good. When he really likes something, I feel like a million dollars. So, I'm always aiming to please him, and hoping the people I'm working for are easier to please!

I don't know why blogger does this, but I loved this little cake. I made a larger one to go with it. The picture of that is on here under "Tricks of my Trade."

I cringe everytime I see this cake. I was not feeling well when I made this, and it shows! I had wanted to make it really an awesome looking train, but it just kept falling apart. I guess we all need some bad times to appreciate the good, right?

This cake was a referral from a friend's relative's friend. I have never met the people I made this for. I really liked it, and I hope they did too! The little girl loves horses. I saw this picture of a horse online and gave it a whirl.

This cake was for my "cousin-in-law." Her daughter was having a pink poodle party. I really wanted to perfect this, but it was a pretty hectic day. I'm just glad it looked close to a poodle.

This was the first cake I made for someone not in my family. My sister's friend is allergic to gluten, so she made her own cake, I assembled and decorated. It was fun! I should get her recipie, because I could just mold that cake. It was one of my all-time favorites, and very time consuming.

That turtle is what she brought to give me an idea.

This is from Charles' first birthday. His first word was "duck." The white and blue bubbles are made from color flow. It was leftover from my cake class. I liked the effect.

Kaylee's Cakes

Because Kaylee is fast approaching another birthday, I thought I would post pictures of some of the cakes that I have made for her over the past couple years. The pictures from her first and second birthday are on "old fashioned" film, and I have no scanner, so these three will have to do. Her fourth birthday cake was not a favorite of mine, though she loved it. I made a tiered cake and on the bottom was a wand and the top had a princess crown. I forgot until it was too late that she wanted a pink cake. My quick fix was to douse the white frosting with pink sprinkles. Not the cutest, but she loved it anyway.

4th Birthday: Gma's chocolate cake

5th Birthday: White cake, two layers; Barbie's dress is a rice krispie molded in a mug.

3rd Birthday: Three layers of white cake (from scratch). This was my first attempt at roses.

Lost and Found!

No, I didn't fall completely off the face of the Earth, just hanging on! I found some pictures that were "lost" on a hardrive that crashed a couple years ago. I just found them last night! Here are a few....

I made this wedding cake for my cousin. It was Grandma Mary's chocolate with Raspberry filling. It was HARD to get the fondant to cover those huge layers! I was in quite a panic about all the flaws on it. The top layer was perfect, until my darling child climbed onto a chair and stuck in a finger! Grr!!! Thank goodness for florists! Isn't amazing how fresh flowers can transform a plain, ugly cake?

My friend's parents were celebrating their anniversary. This cake was gorgeous in the magazine, but really hard! It was the most difficult one I have attempted thanks to the stringwork. I would like to continue practicing. I love the look of stringwork, but it is so hard to get just right!

The flowers are made from royal icing and were sitting atop a small overturned bowl. The top two layers are rice krispies, the bottom was spice cake.

BIG Birthday Cakes

Just last spring I had a request for a sheet cake. It was my first attempt, and I think it went well. There were a few snags and some moments of sheer panic, but where would we be without that, right? I learned some things and was excited to try again. My friend provided me with two more opportunities. Her mother's birthday cake and her grandmother. The first was in April, hence the springy pastel colors. The second was last weekend, so I chose some fall/winter colors. I experimented a bit with the design on the most recent cake and I really had fun.





My first sheet cake. Not bad for a first try. I used Grandma Mary's chocolate cake recipe. If you look close you can see some crumbs in the icing. Grrr.

The second attempt.... I think this was Grandma's chocolate with German Chocolate Filling... I should write these things down somewhere where I'll be able to find it again!

I learned not to level the cake. It is huge, but it works the best! No crumbs, no uneveness. Just a nice, smooth, HUGE, cake! Can you tell the difference in height? It was much more drastic in real life, believe me!This actually went pretty quickly, considering all the lacework. This cake was white cake. The filling was good old frosting.

(Wilton says these cakes feed 108)

Requested Recipe

I have heard back from a few people wanting to try out the fondant recipe. I hope you like it as much as my kiddos do.

Marshmallow Fondant:
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 T. water
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c pwd. sugar

Place marshmallows in cup measure and pack them in. (I usually double this and just use one 16 oz package, or I'll eyeball it and just dump half the package in.) Place in microwave safe bowl and add the water. Microwave about 20 seconds until they "puff up." I always have to do more, but go slowly. Stir in with a spoon until it's all "soupy." Add the powdered sugar. I usually use four cups or 1 lb. of sugar. Knead it with the spoon until it's all mixed well. Then you can knead it on a lightly greased (with Crisco) surface.

I love this recipe because I can color it without coloring my hands. You just add the color when it is at the "soupy" stage. Also, you can add flavoring. I find that it tastes best to add it during the "soupy" stage so you aren't nuking the flavoring. Keep this covered in an air-tight container so it doesn't dry out. If it's too hard to work with, I stick it in the microwave for a few seconds, like ten or so, and it softens right up, like playdough!

You can also make chocolate or white chocolate fondant. I have yet to try the white chocolate:
for Chocolate:
add 1 oz. melted chocolate
1 t. cocoa powder to basic recipe

White Chocolate:
add 1 oz. (maybe 1 1/4 oz.) good quality white chocolate, melted to basic recipe.

Try it out. Tell me what you think.