March Madness!

Well, not exactly... but it is when you have an exam to study for... and I do procrastinate... a lot. :)

Here's a recap of my month plus one from today:

Easter Egg Cookies

I have a co-worker that really loves my cookies, whether it be gingerbread or sugar.  This time, she wanted sugar cookies in egg shapes.  Unfortunately for me, I do not have an egg cutter besides a really big one.  So, I took a normal circle cutter and bent it into an egg shape.  I mourned the loss of the original roundness but I didn't want to waste time to buy another cutter.

Then, it was just a matter to piping some royal icing as outlines or whatnot.  To get the sprinkles to stay on the cookie, I applied a thin layer of corn syrup, and waited for it to dry.

And she loved them! :)

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Super Mario Birthday Cake, Take 2

I remember making cookies for Riley when he turned 1... now he's 3!  Where did the years go?!  He's really into Super Mario anything, so it was also his cake of choice.  His mom told me that the kids do not like fondant at all (bad experiences).  Instead, the chocolate cake had vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream filling and sides, and white chocolate ganache on the top.  Mario was actually a royal icing transfer, as were the dots, squids and coral.  The green blocks had to be made of fondant but they can be easily removed prior to eating.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Riley!

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Sonic Birthday Cake

Originally, Kaiden wanted a Wolverine cake.  Then I was told he had changed his mind and wanted a Sonic cake instead.  The design is loosely based on what my friend had submitted.  I decided to make a royal icing transfer of Sonic's head in a ring.

The cake was vanilla with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  The whole thing was covered in blue fondant, and fondant and royal icing details.  I am super proud of the yellow and brown checks... those took the longest to make! 

 

Happy 5th Birthday, Kaiden!

 

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Mini 60th Birthday Cupcakes

These chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream were for a 60-year-old.  The topper design was based on the actual decorations they had for the party.  The black fondant circles were splattered with orange, blue and green colours.  Then, I piped teal and purple royal icing on top.  For the final touch, I sprinkled disco dust all over them.

Happy 60th Birthday!

Something Old, Something New...

Yes, it's been a while since my previous post... made even longer because Blogger did not want to upload my images (WARNING: this will be a long update)... I was busy with my latest order, which is now complete!  So, here were my projects over the past few weeks:

 Maple Leaf Gingerbread Cookies

Fall Gingerbread Cookie

These not-too-spicy cookies were made from my standard recipe which produce soft and chewy results. My boys love them (especially Owen).

My intention was to donate two dozen cookies for a United Way bake sale at work. Unfortunately, the event was postponed and there was no way that the cookies would still be fresh a month later. So, I gave them all away to my colleagues, but I didn't have enough. I had to bring the extra circle cookies I made for the people I missed in my department. Hence, two different designs.

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Piano Keys Birthday Cake

A colleague's husband's birthday was coming up, and I was asked to make a cake in the shape of piano keys. Keeping in mind that she commutes by transit, I made it 4"x12" to fit inside a 12" square cake box. The keys were white fondant/gumpaste mix and black chocolate fondant/gumpaste mix, and the moist chocolate cake was surrounded by chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.

Happy Birthday, Mr Pianist!

* * *

Louise & Ken's Wedding Cakes and Cupcakes

My good friend got engaged two years ago, and at the time, we were working at the same office. She asked me to make her wedding cake, and of course, I didn't refuse! She wanted 50 cupcakes and a small bride's cake. In addition, she wanted to surprise her husband-to-be with a Batman-themed groom's cake and 50 cupcakes. All the cakes were red velvet with cream cheese icing.

I was also invited as a guest, so it made delivery of the cakes pretty tricky. Her venue, Old Mill Inn, could not guarantee fridge space and would only allow me to set up at 4pm (the reception started at 6:30pm). I had to scrap my original plan, which was to drop everything off before the 2pm wedding ceremony, then return to the venue to set up. So, to ensure the cream cheese icing wouldn't get spoiled, I had my husband buy 10 bags of ice to put in the trunk to act as a fridge (and thankfully, the weather wasn't too warm).

Set-up took longer than expected, but everything was completed on time, thanks to the help of my husband (<3). Oh yeah, the boys were with the in-law's, so that was also a bonus (who wants noisy kids at a wedding?). I was disappointed with the lack of lighting at the cake table (you can barely see the bat) but I guess the room wasn't designed to spotlight certain areas.

Bride's Cakes

Groom's Cakes

All the decorations were made out of a fondant/gumpaste mix. The bride requested mini calla lilies, roses, orchids, and hydrangea's - all in white. I made these to top the cake, as well as for the cupcakes (orchid only on cake). The groom's cake consisted of chocolate fondant buildings and bat on top. The bat cupcake toppers were made up of black royal icing transferred to a fondant/gumpaste mix disk.

I made the cupcake stands and the cupcake wrappers. It wasn't the brightest idea to start the projects the night before delivery, but they turned out OK. The beautiful bride and handsome groom loved their cakes, and that's exactly the reason why I do the things I do for my clients. :)

Congrats, Louise and Ken!