April & May Creations

I had it all figured out... I had booked time off work specifically for a grooms cake that was placed months ago.  And then I get a request for a donation of a slab cake for Yellow Brick House's fundraising gala, which was due a few days before the grooms cake.  So, I was able to start working on the gala cake (vanilla cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream) and complete it a day ahead of schedule.  The theme was black and white, but I decided to add a yellow house to represent the organization.

Then... my youngest had a fever on April 26th, which got worse as the day progressed.  By evening, his fever was so high he had a fibrile seizure.  My husband called 911 and the ambulance arrived quickly.  We were at the hospital for 2.5 hours, but he didn't have a second seizure (which could've happened at any point after the first).

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On April 27th, I started to get chills and achiness and a fever.  My first thought was, "Holy crap, how am I going to finish the grooms cake due in two days?!"  I had to rest a lot, because my body refused to co-operate.  Luckily, after taking naps here and there, I was able to complete the cake at 4:30am on the wedding day.  I made a few finishing touches after a 3-hour sleep, and was completely done by 10 am.  Baking the day before the deadline is something I don't normally do, but I knew that it wouldn't take as much time as the decorating, so it wasn't as high a priority.

The theme for this red velvet cake is "The Nightmare Before Christmas" because that is one of the groom's favourite movies.  The characters took the longest time to make, and they are made of fondant/gumpaste and lots of floral wire.  Sally and the Mayor are in white, because this was for a wedding after all.  Jack was tricky to assemble because of his thin limbs.  Easiest to make was Zero the dog.

Congrats, Kristina & Gary!

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I had a request to make Mickey Mouse cookies.  But, since I didnt have a cutter, I traced the shape by hand (good thing it was only for a dozen).  No royal transferring, just piped straight onto the cookie.  I added some pearl lustre dust to his head for a little sparkle.

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Finally, my last item for the day: a tea party themed bridal shower.  The teapot cake was strawberry with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and the cupcakes were red velvet, half topped with a blob of cream cheese and the other half piped with the meringue buttercream.  Since the details were not finalized until last Friday, I only had all of Saturday and half of Sunday to work on it... not enough time to have detailed work done, unfortunately (see the flowers).

I had trouble with the cup, but it looked passable.  Other problem areas: the spout and handle - they didn't want to stay on.  I just hoped they didn't fall off during the shower.  I do love the little cupcake fondant/gumpaste toppers, though.  They were easy to make once I got the hang of it and they were painted with gel colours mixed with clear vanilla.

Congrats, Zrmena!