End of October Post (Belated!)

"O" is for "occupied"... which was what I was last month!
Here's what kept me busy:

Team Umizoomi Cake (#3)

This cake is making it's third appearance on this blog for 3-year-old Gabriel!  It is comprised of 2 layers vanilla and 1 layer chocolate cake and vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  And dark chocolate ganache before the fondant covering, of course.  It also survived the rainy weather the day of delivery.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Gabriel!

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William & Owen's 1st Halloween Party

This was the year that they would be old enough to appreciate it!  Having made a few friends in the East, we had a total of 11 kids.  No haunted house, though, because I thought they were still too young.  Maybe next year.

Items on the menu on tent cards... with creative names:
Monster goosebumps (grapes)
Bleeding hearts (strawberries)
Decrepit spinal discs (crackers)
Bone shavings (mozzarella cheese)
Dried pus (cheddar cheese)
Fried skin (tortilla chips)
Blood 'n guts (salsa)
Frankenstein's vomit (strawberry yogurt)... nobody touched this!
Vampire juice (cranberry juice)
Yellow bile (lactose-free milk dyed yellow)... nobody touched this, too!
Zombie urine (apple juice)
Satan's sweat (bottled water)
Bug-infested mold (chocolate chip cookies)
Deadly candy (Smarties... but I labelled it "M&Ms" in error)
Yummy worms (gummi candy)... this disappeared fast!
Rotting flesh (various deli meat)
Fried goblin brains (popcorn)

 

I had activities planned, but it was too rainy for an scavenger hunt in the backyard (my minimalistic house made it hard to hide things indoors).  Instead, we played musical chairs (where the adults had to play first to garner some interest with the kiddies), we passed a chick for the "Hot Potato" game, and attempted to have a dancing party (no one took the bait... the majority were boys, so I guess the plan failed before it began).  Other than that, the boys William's age were running around the house.

There were a few superheroes at the party.  3 princesses also attended.  William was a robot and Owen was a dragon.  James was a zombie (again) and I was a mime (that broke the golden rule of silence).

The party was 10am to 12pm.  Who thinks it's crazy to have a kid's party that early on a Saturday?  Yes?  Then, join James, 'cuz he thought I was nuts.

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Vanilla Cake Eyeballs

Mixed with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, I dipped it in white chocolate wafers, then painted on the blood vessels and topped with a black Smartie.  I brought these to a kid's Halloween party the next day, and a lot of kids didn't want to touch them at all.  I guess it looked more realistic in unjaded eyes.

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Spiderweb Cookies

I did it again.  For each house that we visited on our trick-or-treating rounds, I gave out one or two of these cookies.  Just plain sugar cookies, with royal icing web and spider.  Sprinkled with disco dust.  Many people were surprised at receiving something in return after handing out candy! :)

Happy Halloween!

Fuchsia Birthday Cake

Happy mid-October!  That means Halloween is coming up... then, Christmas!  I can hear you all protesting... :)

Anyway, on to my latest cake.  It was for one-year-old Tasha, and my neighbour friend wanted something similar to the boy baby shower cake I made, but change it up for a girl's birthday.  And add a "1" block on the top (made of Rice Krispies treat).  I used hot pink a.k.a. fuchsia fondant (white chocolate and regular mixed) so it's not the traditional baby pink.

Before I covered the chocolate cakes in fondant, they were filled with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and had a dark chocolate ganache shell.  The block also had white modelling chocolate before the fondant treatment.

Everyone was happy with their cake... some kids had seconds, some kids asked for seconds but were denied the request by their parents (smart!), some ate part of the cake but mostly the fondant and were bouncing off the wall (William).  The birthday girl seemed to enjoy it as well, even though she was stripped down to her diaper.

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Tasha!

End of Summer... Boo Hoo Hoo!

Alas, the hot weather will be coming to an end.  Summer vacation over.  School begins.  See you later, August!

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Giant Incredible Hulk Cookie

This year, The Avengers came out in theatres. How fitting that my co-worker's nephew wanted a Hulk cookie. Not any normal sugar cookie, but a HUGE sugar cookie. This one was about 10" so I had to put it on a 12" board. The royal icing covered the entire cookie, and I added edible marker details. Let's just say it was a smashing success!

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Barbie Silhouette Birthday Cake

Dear Solmaz requested a cake for a little girl turning 1.  I modeled the design after Bobbette & Belle's Barbie cake... simple silhouette with girly frills.  I used hot pink, rather than baby pink.

The 3-layer chocolate cake was filled with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kira!

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Star Wars Birthday Cakes

Lucky Joaquin got two cakes for his 2nd birthday... a tiered cake with R2D2 and various fondant Star Wars icons along the sides, and a sheet cake with fondant Yoda.  R2D2 was made of Rice Krispie Treats and fondant.  Yoda is just plain fondant.  The cakes itself was chocolate with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream (Yoda cake) and chocolate ganache (R2D2 cake).

 

 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Joaquin!



February Projects, Part 2

Here's the story... originally, I had a Spaceballs cake order due for yesterday. This was taken months in advance. So, I planned accordingly and took two days off work, enough time to complete it. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a colleague asked for a baby shower cake. I didn't want to say no, so I said yes, thinking I had ample time. Who could've predicted that I'd get sick on Valentine's day and did not get better until a week passed? The last couple of days were hectic, let me tell you! Staying up Friday night 'til 2am baking was not fun; I felt like keeling over from sleepiness. Unfortunately, due to my lack of time, the photos are not taken in natural light.

Spaceballs Cake

The couple: die-hard Spaceballs fans. I mean, quote-every-single-line-from-the-movie-type fans. She wanted tall cakes, so each tier (8" and 10" rounds) had 3 layers... making it over 12 inches high. It was so HEAVY! The cakes were red velvet with cream cheese icing, wrapped in black fondant. All the decorations were made from either fondant, gumpaste or modelling chocolate. The Winnebago and Princess Vespa's dress had Rice Krispies treat bases. If you've seen the film, you'll get the little details I tried to represent.

Happy Jack 'n Jill, Kristina & Gary!

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Baby Boy Shower Cake

This cake was based on an existing design, but I've switched some elements, like adding the blocks and booties. The blocks had Rice Krispies treats as the foundations. All other elements were made of gumpaste and fondant. The filling for all tiers was vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream icing; the top 6" tier was red velvet cake; the 8" middle tier was vanilla cake; the 10" bottom tier was marble cake. I now understand why the cakes from televised cake decorating competition shows could get so heavy!

Both were completely assembled when I put them in the trunk... and remained intact during the delivery process! It's so nice to not have to carry any caking supplies to set up the cake... but the trade off is the possibility of it falling apart along the way and lifting a product that weighs a ton.