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).

* * *

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!

* * *

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.

* * *

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!

William is 4!

Another year has passed (it seems to go by very quickly now!  So, we had his birthday party yesterday.  12 kids... it's not as bad as you'd think!

William wanted a Spider-Man cake.  With 5 villains on it plus Spidey.  I feel bad that I couldn't deliver!  Lots of things came up and I lost a lot of time, and before I knew it, party time came.  Last year, I was on maternity leave, so I more free time.  This year, time is eaten away by my work commute and work itself.  I spent most of my time on everything but the cake. :(

"Wha-sa matta you face?!"



So, the chocolate cake comprised of 3 layers, all filled and iced with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  That's all I did.  We purchased a Spider-Man in a buggy, so he could play with the toy after.  I also found personalized candles (so glad his name was spelled the common way).

The banner, I ordered through www.vistaprint.ca, when they had it on special.  The numbered photos represent the age in which it was taken.

"What?!  I'm eating here!"

I had a few activities planned, but due to damp weather, only one survived: Decorate Your Own Cupcake!  I made vanilla cupcakes, iced them, then used wraps with spiders on it.  I got a bunch of red/blue/black/white jimmies, sprinkles, jelly beans, gummy bears and yogurt-covered peanuts for the kids to use to their hearts' content.  Clean-up was not too bad, so I'm glad we did it.

Owen mixes up the cupcake toppers.

The rest of the time, the kids migrated down to the basement where all the toys were.  When the party was over, the basement wasn't terribly trashed, so it's safe to say we got a tidy bunch of kids (what luck!).

Even though my cake wasn't up to my standards, at least my gingerbread cookie favours were.  I used royal icing (red was made with a ton of red icing paste, gel, and food colour) and food-grade marker to decorate.

We think the party went well; no injuries to report, only a couple of hurt feelings.  We're pretty satisfied with our first daycare-heavy guest list.  The only thing I would've changed is to have a better design and execution of the cake.  I'm going to start planning next year's now, so I won't be in this situation again!

Happy 4th Birthday, William!

xoxo

Vehicle Cakes

What's the best way to get an auto management team all revved up? Why, by giving them a surprise cake, courtesy of their leader! I thought it would be funny to have a tow truck towing a car on the cake, since it's their department.  The cake was vanilla with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream; the toppers were all made with fondant/gumpaste and royal icing, and lace licorice.

* * *

This was for a mommy who wanted a Thomas the train and a school bus figurines for her son's birthday (his two most favourite things). The cake was chocolate with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream with a fondant/gumpaste top and lace licorice tracks.

Both Thomas and the bus were built from rice cereal treats, then covered and decorated with fondant/gumpaste and royal icing.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

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.

* * *

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

* * *

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!

* * *

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!

* * *

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.