February's Enrichment

Hello, Sisters, and welcome to That Little Cake Place. Among the classes offered this quarter is cake decorating with yours truly as the primary instructor. As promised, I'm willing to relinquish one of my top secret recipes for the good of Relief Society, so please vote for your favorite. The winning cake will be featured in the class with all materials provided. I'm hoping everyone has a fun time icing the evening away.

Descriptions:

The (insert fruit here) Cordial in Chocolate - Four chocolate cake layers with two layers of cordial cream filling and one solid layer of your fruit of choice, iced with my special chocolate icing, and decorated with your chosen fruit or icing embellishment.

The (insert fruit here) Cordial in White Chocolate - Four yellow cake layers with two layers of cordial cream filling and one solid layer of your fruit of choice, iced with my special white chocolate icing, and decorated with your chosen fruit or icing embellishment.

The Triple C (Chocolate Caramel Cake) - Four chocolate cake layers with creamy caramel and hot fudge filling layers, iced with my special chocolate icing, melted caramel coating the top of the cake, and hot fudge drizzled over the cake.

The Hex-a-Lot-a-Chocolate - Four chocolate cake layers with hot fudge and chocolate chips baked inside, filled with alternating layers of white chocolate and chocolate icing, iced with chocolate icing, and topped with chocolate shavings.

The Oreo Cookie Cake - Two chocolate cake layers with cookie chunks baked inside, filled with cookie cream filling, iced with chocolate icing, and topped with crumbled cookies.

The Peanut Butter Cup (Cake) - Two chocolate cake layers, filled with creamy peanut butter, iced with chocolate icing, and embellished with icing.

The Italian Cream Cake - Three fluffy layers of Italian cream cake baked with pecans inside, filled and iced with a variation of cream cheese icing (with or without nuts).

Misc. Cakes

Here are the last few cakes that didn't quite fit in any other category.

Exhibit #1: Pretty Pony

This cake was done for my neighbor's daughter. She and her sister loved ponies (her sister's pony had curly rainbow hair).

Exhibit #2: Pineapple Up-Side Down cake

Proof that I can do somewhat normal cakes... in a sheet pan...

Exhibit #3: Power Rangers Party

For another neighbor's kid many moons ago. This Boy and Audie were good friends AND we lived next door to each other.

Even seen a bunny with ears?

So this is a bit of a legend in my husband's family. Apparently, his mother was trying to convince a young boy that eating his veggies would help him see better. She turned around, looked him in the eye, and asked him if he'd ever seen a bunny with ears. She meant to say glasses, but the damage was done. Her children picked up on the error and replied, "No, Mom, but we see them running around with glasses all the time. We don't know how they keep them up there!"

Fast forward a little ways to her graduation. The kids are all grown and she puts herself through nursing school. I promised her a cake for her graduation; my husband and his brother conspired and convinced me to do the bunny.

I made her a chocolate bunny in a stand up bunny cake pan. The first attempt didn't bake very well, and I found the head on the floor the following morning and the body collapsed. Attempt #2 worked much better, this time yielding a solid bunny. I chopped off the ears and mounted them on the cap so that our "ear-less" bunny could blend in with his floppy-eared companions.I made the classes and the board for the cap out of white chocolate. The only non edible parts (aside from the skewers holding the ears in place) are the tassel and the diploma.I used a silicone pastry brush (very soft and floppy) to give the bunny "fur".I don't think she stopped laughing long enough to eat the cake, though I am glad she had a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

Audie's Cakes

I'm not quite sure what happened to the pictures from my oldest son's first, third, fourth, and sixth birthdays are (I know, I know... bad Mommy), but here is what I do have as far as digital pictures...

Exhibit #1: Audie's second birthday

OK, so not one of my better cakes. He wanted balloons, but I felt that this just wasn't enough cake for the number of people there.Ah, now this is more like it. Audie was a BIG Pooh Bear fan back in the day. Unfortunately, summer heat and cakes with icing don't exactly mix.
Exhibit #2: Spidey says Happy Birthday

You should have seen the invitations that went with this party, but as most little boys do, Audie's favorite super hero adorned his cake. Instead of "dolling" it up with a shell boarder, I opted to extend the webbing down and around the sides of the cake. I did get to play with my nifty new letter spacing tool/press so the words were much neater (my handwriting is horrible).

Chloie's Cakes Continued...

Ok, so my daughter wasn't always so girly...

Exhibit #1: Why a separate cake for baby's first birthday is a good idea

So this was the cake for the adults. It started out as a rocking horse, and with some imagination, became a cow.This was the smaller cake I'd done for her to tear into.... and this is why we like little cakes.... especially when her big brother (2) helps her. I won't show you the carnage that was her cake... it was brutal.

Exhibit #2: Spike!!!

This idea came from the 2002 Wilton yearbook (http://www.wilton.com/idea/Happy-Birthday-Spike) with a little addition of my own. I'd been itching to do this cake for a while.

The cake is actually pound cake as the pan's instructions recommend, as is the block in front.I goofed a little on the spikes. Instead of using candy melts, I used almond bark... not a good idea. I had to freeze the spikes to get them to stand up straight.Funny thing about this is, as we were cutting the cake, I noticed the spikes and toes dissappearing... then discovered my daughter with purple all over her face... hmmm.

For Scooby Doo fans everywhere!

This cake was for my youngest's third birthday. In case you're wondering, He LOVES Scooby Doo. I decided to do something a little different this time. Instead of doing a Scooby, I did the Mystery Machine. Instead of killing myself trying to draw Scooby and Shaggy, I opted to print/paste/color them next to the Mystery Machine. This cake actually started out as a 9x13 yellow cake... I cut and stacked 3 layers, skewered them to keep the whole thing from sliding over, and iced away!

Here's the proof that I do these things... my sweetheart had the camera... there was nothing I could do to prevent it...I tried to match the colors as closely as possible. It's not like my 3-year-old will notice if the green is a little lighter or darker, but I like to be accurate. If you're wondering, the gloves are to prevent my fingers from looking like Easter eggs when I'm playing with dye or black icing which is quick to tint fingers.Here is our close-up of the side...... and the finished Mystery Machine.

Snowflakes and Cordials

Here it is, folks, my crowning achievement: my wedding cake. I spent the month prior to the wedding making snowflakes on the backs of cookie sheets out of royal icing and storing them in parchment-separated layers in a box marked "Fragile".

The cake was baked 1 week before the wedding, wrapped in plastic, and stored in the garage (thank you Jack Frost for cold temperatures). Monday, I filled the cake with layers of cordial and strawberries and raspberries (my groom likes raspberries, and I like strawberries). Adding nothing more than Knox gelatin to the fruit set up remarkably well; I was impressed with the texture and stability of the filling when it was completed. Crumb coat on, and back out the the garage for another day. Tuesday, I started decorating... white chocolate icing covered the cake; white on the top, but I decided to tint the sides blue for contrast (it took almost all of the blue dye I had because I tinted the entire mass of icing at once for consistent color). Still using white chocolate icing, I piped the lines, beading, shells, and swirls, then attached the snowflakes to the cake in the void beneath the line work. I sprinkled the tops of the tiers with edible cake sparkles to give it that "just snowed-on" effect and called the tiers done.

Construction with standard 1/4" dowel for support and stability, and my sweet groom made the separation using 1" dowel and rounded hexagon plates.

Over all, this cake took about 30 hours to complete (if I condensed it down), but if I do say so, I am rather proud of this work, and it tasted as good as it looked. With the extra snowflakes, I scattered them over the ruffle and around the cake on the table to carry the theme and decorations over.

In case you're wondering, my groom picked out the cake topper... she started out as a blond, and he started out as a light brunette. I dyed her hair red and his black to more accurately depict us as a couple.

Here I am the day of with the cake.
** Note: These pictures courtesy of Sonja's Photography in Winchester, VA. Check out her website at http://sonjasphotography.smugmug.com/galleries

Chloie's Cakes

My daughter is somewhat more girly that I ever was... I'm still not sure where she got it what with 2 brothers and all. Still, see if you notice a theme...


Exhibit #1: Care Bear for Chloie (age 3)
Notice the pink... she even picked out the Care Bear we made. We did a yellow cake for this one, and it was gone shortly thereafter.
Exhibit #2: Mermaid for Chloie (age 4)
Yellow cake again, this time she picked Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid.Exhibit #3: Pink Princess for Chloie (age 5)
Again, notice the pink. This time we did a strawberry cake with pink and chocolate icing. Luckily, I didn't have too much of a mess to clean up this time.

Retire me Pink

I loved this woman. She was such a sweet lady, and I was sad to hear of her retirement. While planning this cake, I talked to her for a few minutes about her hobbies, favorite colors, etc. Much to my surprise, she didn't have any. She told me that by the time she got home, she was so tired that the only thing she could do was to go to church on Sundays. In spite of her short list, she still gave me the inspiration for her cake. She loved pink, and she was a Methodist, so the colors and the cross were easy...
... but then I gave her a to do list for here new found freedom.

"Now I can sit back and relax, kick my shoes off, visit friends, read a book, and see the world!"

The 3 Chocolate-Tiers

Mmmm... Chocolate...This actually started out as a small project. The birthday girls couldn't decide what cake to have, so they asked for a little of each. The top layer is yellow, the bottom layer is chocolate, and the middle layer is a marble of the two. The whole thing is iced in whipped chocolate icing with chocolate butter cream roses and edge work.

From what I understand, they were having a lot of people at this party. Both ladies had their birthday on the same day, different years, and a mutual friend was throwing them a party.You should have seen us trying to fit this into my car...

Bowl Me Over

Unique people deserve unique cakes. Jimmy is unique, or at least his mother tells me so. His favorite sport-ish type thing to do? You guessed it... bowling.
I used the Wilton Sports Ball pan for the bowling ball, and a 9x13 carved up for the pins.I covered the ball with chocolate icing, then used what was left of the white icing to smear it into the chocolate to give it the marble look that bowling balls are notorious for.

I even gave it finger holes, though I wouldn't recommend actually using them.

Gone Fishin'

Every once in a while, I get to do something kooky.Again, I got to play with food-safe markers... fish and kelp later, we have a cake......with it's own hip wader-wearing fisherman......made from icing, pretzels, and a marshmallow.

Getting a little Racy?

Forever Earnhardt
This is a half chocolate, half yellow sheet cake for my good friend's birthday. if you haven't guessed, he is a HUGE Earndhardt fan. I used the same method for the picture as I did on Zieger Field.

The Old Car
Another friend, another race fan. My mother is also a big Junior fan, so I really had to keep her away from the cake. She was happy with a picture of it, though.

I used the race car shaped pan from Wilton and did my best approximation of the car, using Mom's model as a reference.

Character Birthday Cakes

Bob the Sponge


Otherwise known as Sponge Bob Square Pants. My mother-in-law was little confused when she coined the term, and I can see why. I still cringe when I hear his dolphin-like cackle. None the less, my sweetheart LOVES Sponge Bob. He saw me do this cake for a friend and BEGGED me for one of his own.

Lightening McQueen and Sally

I actually liked the movie Cars by Pixar. My kids love it, too. This cake was for Damon and Amira, the son and niece of a co worker. It was all I could do to keep my kids from keeping this cake.

Detox Rubik's Cube

This was done for a friend of mine that wanted to celebrate 1 year drug and alcohol free. The top half of the cake is yellow, the bottom half is chocolate. You'll notice that 2 of the sides are completed because until I found this link (http://www.rubikssolver.com/) that was about as far as I'd ever gotten. In its finished form, the cake was an exact likeness of a workable Rubik's Cube.

Father's Day

For the handy man of the house, I got to play with fondant for the first time... yay. I did manage to put a tape measure around the edge of the cake with real measurements. The neon (Yikes!) nuts and bolts were... fun, but he liked the cake, so I can't complain. This is what happens when I play with food-safe markers...

Her father apparently loves wolves, and I did my best rendition of one howling at the moon. She also asked for "from your little firefighter" written around the sides of the cake.