Oldies but Goodies

Being as I am on a self-appointed "cake hiatus" and am not planning on returning until the twins' 3rd birthday, I thought this may be a good time to post a few of the cakes I made in the past... before the blog.

The Pooh Bear cake was for Kendra's 1st birthday.  Gotta go chocolate all the way...makes for better "first time cake" pictures. :-) Raspberries around the edge, her personal fav at the time!

This was a Birthday cake for my Grandma a few years back. It was a spice cake with pumpkin pie ice cream in the middle, a cream cheese/butter cream frosting and dark chocolate cut outs.  It also had some gingersnaps crumbled around the edges.  This would have been a VERY yummy cake, however it was my first attempt at an ice cream filling and I didn't give it long enough to set up.  It made a real mess when it was cut in to!  But it was pretty before.

The Lady Bug cake was for Kendra's 2nd birthday. She had a fun party with all her little friends and was also a lady bug for Halloween that year.

I think part of me wanted to have kids so I could make birthday cakes and Halloween costumes! :-) This was the first year Kendra had 2 birthday cakes.  (that has almost become a tradition now)  The Princess castle was for her "friend" birthday party.  I was a mess that day as I had 5 month old twins at the time!!   But that didn't mean Kendra didn't deserve a rockin party (insert my BFF to the rescue) ~ maybe she was even more deserving that year as I had just turned her world upside down by bring two new babies into it.  It's possible the TWO cakes was my way of compensating?  The second, crayon box, cake was funny, because I have pictures of me decorating that with a baby on my hip!  Both were fun to make.  I had no idea I would taking cake decorating so seriously 2 1/2 years later!  Good times!

A Love Story!

My grandparents just celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary!  Wow, that is a long time!  My Mom called me and asked if I would do the cake.  I was almost in tears!  I was SO "caked out"!  If there was anyone I wanted to do a cake for it was my family.  I had just done like a million cakes in the blink of an eye, and my creative juices were all washed out!  I had no idea what to do for this cake.  Finally at the last minute I pulled this out.  "A 61 Year Love Story"  I had their wedding picture printed on sugar paper and made a very simple book cake using their two favorite cake flavors, spice and dark chocolate.  I covered it with a cream cheese butter cream and added the first initial (in my grandma's favorite color) of every person that was "made" because these two people fell in love 61 years ago.  My family started with Jack & Jeanneane Lake on March 4, 1949. They made Linda, Carol and Carl, and in turn they made Jennifer, Jason, Ryan, Katy and Kimberly, who eventually made Tyler, Lucas, Everett, Isabella, Kendra, Kayne, Avalon, Travis and Trevor.  This was a chance to do something very personal. I would LOVE the opportunity to "make up" for this one, but it did turn out OK and really tasted very yummy!  That spice cake with the cream cheese...yikes and wowzers!!
Happy anniversary Grandma and Granddad.  I love you.

March 6, 2010

Refief Society Birthday

I LOVE the fact that I belong to the largest womens organization in the world!  The ladies of the LDS Relief Society in my ward are awesome!  When I got the phone call and was asked to make the cake for the Relief Society birthday party, I was heartbroken and excited all at the same time.  I had WAY overloaded myself with cakes and was just not sure how I was going to do it.  Maybe I would have someone else do the baking and I would decorate.  Well then my BFF/baker decided it was time to have her baby, just kidding. ;-)~ It was ok of course and it wasn't too complicated of a cake. I really enjoyed this one.

Marks words when he came home and opened the fridge to see it were "Holy Cow!" I obviously impressed him and that made me feel really good!

Dark chocolate fudge cake with chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries between each layer, covered with a chocolate cream cheese/butter cream frosting and garnished with huge chocolate dipped strawberries. YUMMY!!! I was so happy I was able to eat this one! The Relief Society seal was edible and done in sugar paper.  I found out at the party, that the relief society president herself did not want the seal on the cake. Oops! But everyone seemed to enjoy it and she told me that was the cake she wanted for her next birthday, minus the seal.

March 4,2010

A Return Customer!

A while back I did a Coach Purse cake for a friend of my Mom.  Well he called again and asked for another cake.  This time it was for his wife's baby shower.  He gave me the invitation as inspiration and $150.00 budget.  Although that was a bit much for a cake for 25 people, it gave me freedom and I think it turned out great!  This cake may even be my favorite cake I have ever made.

This was a French vanilla cake with strawberry filling & bit of a bonus.  Instead of just the strawberry filling I usually do, I added REAL strawberries this time with a touch of brown sugar sprinkled on top of them.  It had a cream cheese/butter cream frosting and a little fondant.  The larger peas were a little challenging.  I tried to make them out of cake but that didn't work.  So I tried strawberry ice cream.  That didn't work very well either.  So I had seen this done before (but never really liked the idea) and really it was my last chance, so I made them out of rice cereal.  I don't think I will be using this very often, but it was necessary for this cake and it worked fairly well.  Then my favorites new trick (I learned for the wedding cake, last week) I covered it with luster dust!  What an awesome trick to cover flaws and make it sparkle.  And who doesn't like sparkle? 

February  27, 2010

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Blue and Gold Scout Cakes

A friend called and asked if I could help her makes some cakes for the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold dinner.  Since I had WAY OVER LOADED myself this month, I said yes but only if she could do all the leg work for me.  I didn't know I was going to get the flu the day before I was to start baking.  I did get healthy fast but even just the baking and decorating was still a challenge having just done the HUGE wedding cake.  Not to mention this was only one of 6 jobs I was doing in less than four weeks. (that is a lot for a fulltime Momma of 3)  I will NOT be doing that to myself again!!  The Cub Scouts liked them and in the end, that made all the stress worth it.  It was a special Blue and Gold to me as my nephew was getting his arrow of light that night.  This was a large order for about 80+ people.  It was 3 11x11x2 inch chocolate cakes, one for each badge, Wolf, Bear and Webelos.  Then a golden vanilla 1/2 sheet decorated as a scouting shirt and a hat added at the last minute to make sure we had enough cake.  Each cake is covered in chocolate butter cream and then with marshmallow fondant and I used food coloring markers to write the words and draw the faces of the bear and wolf badges and several things on the scout shirt too. 
A HUGE thanks goes to my sister-in-law for this one! I could NOT have done this without her!!! Love ya Jules.

February 25, 2010

The Wedding Cake

When I was asked to do a wedding cake, I was a bit nervous (BTW those nerves never left!)  I explained to the bride that I am NOT a professional cake decorator!  I am a Mom with a hobby!  She explained what she wanted and then showed me the picture. 

It was the cake Mariah Carey had at her recent wedding, with a few variations.  She wanted 3 tiers and the hearts to be red and white.  I thought I can do this, but it was going to be HUGE (for me)!   Mark was my savior on this cake!  This would not have all come together without his awesome brain! (and his muscles - I will explain later).  The prep work was draining!  I spent many a night in bed thinking and thinking about this cake.  It was so big, but would there be enough?  I didn't want them to run out!  How embarrassing that would be! 

The ingredients...  I have a large kitchen table... this was a lot of food!

The baking of enough cake for 100+ people took 2 1/2 days in it's self!  Bake, cool, wrap, freeze... bake cool, wrap freeze...

The bottom 14 inch tier was 2 layers of dark chocolate fudge cake with strawberry filling.  The second tier was a 2 layer 10 inch golden vanilla with strawberry filling.  And the top tier was a six inch, 2 layer dark chocolate fudge cake with strawberry filling also.  Here is all 3 crumb coated with a strawberry butter cream and ready for fondant.

I have had problems in the past of the weight of the cake "crushing" the bottom tiers (remember the almost flop) Mark was here to save the day on that.  He made me custom plexi glass pacers, and there was NO "crushing".  He also came in with his muscles, when my for arms were on fire & the palms of my hands were bruised from kneading & rolling out fondant!  What a guy!  The hearts & crescents are made of gum paste (also another saving suggestion from Mark).

I covered the whole thing in luster dust.  A perfect finishing touch!

The bride had her own topper and red bows and then we tossed some rose petals around it.

I think the bride really like the cake.  In fact she liked it so much she never cut into it!  She said she wanted to keep it forever.  They served the sheet cake to the wedding guests.

February 20, 2010

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