Cookies... Cookies... Cookies... Cake!

Happy St Patrick's Day!



I saw a recipe link to Chef Michael's Smith's diabolical chocolate chip recipe... I say "diabolical" because it has lentil puree in it but you can't taste it... plus, since I made them small, you could easily eat 5 without realizing it. I used green lentils and dyed it green for St. Patty's day.

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Someone was going to another office for a few months ('til end of year, possibly), so I made these star sugar cookies for him.

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And finally, a co-worker needed to raise money for a bike ride in support of the AIDS charity, so I made donations for him to sell...

...Shamrock sugar cookies...

...and a chocolate cake with peanut butter Swiss meringue buttercream. 

I hope he sold everything and got closer to his goal!

Thomas and Chickies

A friend of mine asked me to make a cake for her little boy, who's turning 2. She wanted toy-sized tracks and scenery, and showed me an existing design. This was my take on it, using buttercream and fondant/gumpaste and lace licorice.  We also added a bunch of matching sugar cookies.

The cookies were flooded with royal icing, decorated with edible images printed from frosting sheets, then with royal icing pipework. My hand was cramped from piping.

Happy 2nd Birthday Max!

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Someone from work had a birthday, and I didn't find out 'til a couple of days before. I hurriedly made up a dozen sugar cookies and just sprinkled the yellow sugar before baking. When I brought them to work, I didn't see her all day. Turns out, she took the day off to spend her birthday at home with family. Oh well, the cookies will still be good next week, since I individually packaged them.

Happy Birthday Tara!

Go Leafs Go!

I had a request to make a cake for Saturday, no special design required, only that it had to say "Happy 70th Birthday Dad."

I found out he was a Toronto Maple Leafs fan... I can imagine how hard it is to be a Leafs fan (my husband is one, too)... at the time of the order, the Leafs lost 10 out of 11 games! As a result (and by fan demand), the head coach was fired and was replaced by another, who lead the team to a win this past Saturday night. What a nice birthday gift! :)

The cake was chocolate with sweet and rich chocolate icing. The top was made of fondant and gumpaste with the TML logo, and edible food marker. I used my new dough scraper (baby shower prize) to guide the icing into a smooth finish. Another plus with this icing recipe is that the cake can be left at room temperature for a few days without fear of "melting!"

Happy 70th Birthday!

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.

February Projects, Part 1

I don't seem to have the time to do post updates immediately after a project is completed anymore. Sorry for the delay. :(

Hence, "Part 1."

Big orders coming up to finish off the month (actually, they're due the same day - wish me luck), so stay tuned! :)

Chocolate Cake Cups

These one-bite treats are addictive. Very popular at the office, it will satisfy your chocolate craving. It is a combination of my chocolate cake recipe, vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream icing, topped with Belgian milk chocolate.

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Good Luck Cookies

Someone from work decided to take an opportunity out of the department, but she still would be in the same office. I wanted to make farewell treats, anyway. The sugar cookie was simply adorned with a horseshoe and written with edible marker (some people that I used a Sharpie - I thought that was funny).

Congrats and Good Luck, Sara R!

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Baby Shower Cupcakes

My first-time Mommy friend was having a baby shower and I was asked to bring something. Initially, I had wanted to make the vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream blue, but the prams were blue (moulding wafers). In the end, I thought the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes made a better impact with its simple adornments (and no one had blue teeth).

Congrats, Sara & Rob!

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Owen's Thomas Cake

My "little" 25-pound baby turned two this month. He's not speaking with words yet (long story short, we found out he's only been using 35% of his hearing but will be having surgery to correct it), but he seems to like Thomas. Due to my schedule and whatnot, I only could decorate his cake on the DAY OF HIS PARTY. Talk about pressure! Being off maternity leave to plan parties is tough! It took me 3 hours, but I thought it turned out OK. Thomas in his most basic form. The whole cake top was fondant, with a non-edible birthday flag. The cake itself was chocolate with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream icing.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Owen!

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Purple Ruffle Cake

My colleague wanted a red velvet cake for her friend's birthday. A girl who likes purple and girly things. I chose pearls and ruffles because she sounds like a classy gal. The cake top is black fondant with a royal icing message.

Happy Birthday Nida!

Doll Cake

This cake was made for no particular occasion. My colleague wanted to be a nice grandma for her granddaughter, and ordered a doll cake. 

Why were Barbie's arms raised? Well, the text that was on the cake board said "Soccer Star Kendra" because the little girl is into soccer, so I thought it would be funny for Barbie to allude to the "gooooooooooal!" stance that many players use.

This was my first attempt at a doll cake. I didn't get a special pan (I was considering it) but used two 8" rounds and two 6" rounds. The chocolate cakes were stacked and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream were iced between the layers, then carved down to a dress shape (so much cake was lost... but, I plan on making some form of cake balls out of them - I hate wastage). Then, I made a hole in the cake and dug out some cake. I plastic-wrapped the doll from hips down and inserted her into the opening. The bodice was made with chocolate fondant and decorated with pearls. Finally, ruffles were piped with pink vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream with pearls randomly throughout.

I hope little Kendra liked her cake, because I do! :)

Delayed "Happy 2012!"

The past couple of weeks were used recovering from all the festivities and my hectic December. But I'm back to updating the blog! :)

For New Year's Eve, my colleague requested a vanilla/chocolate cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream icing. No theme in particular, so I wanted to do a more text-y cake. I decided on a few lines from the classic song that is sung to ring in the new year.