Fresh from the Oven

If the shoe fits... EAT IT!

2011-11-01T09:17:00.012-04:00

I love how conversations start for cakes like these...

"Hi, we're having a birthday party for my daughter, and we'd like you to make the cake. Can you make a high heel?"

"Sure thing. How big do you need it?"

"Enough to feed 150 people, and we'd like it to match her dress. I'll have her send you a picture."
"Wow."

This time we had more time to plan and prepare. :)

I met with the the mother and daughter in their home with cameras rolling. We'd already had a pretty good idea what we were looking for because I'd done some lengthy research on high heels, their construction, etc. I found a nice designer high heel with a red sole (I'm told those are pretty pricey) and started sketching designs for supports. We knew we were going to "fill in" the shoe so that there was enough cake for everyone.

During the meeting, they came up with some pretty rockin' ideas for the shoe. Fuchsia to match the dress, lots of sparkle, edible diamonds in the silver leaf of the design, silver soles, and a personalized "brand" name for Hope.

After conversing with my father (a.k.a. the carpentry guru for That Little Cake Place) we designed and constructed the "skeleton" of the shoe. This was started on Monday night and completed on Tuesday.

We added green Styrofoam under the angled portion and sculpted it to give us the ball and heel shape of the shoe.

I started baking Monday night with the help of my sous chefs. We baked 4 half-sheet cakes in vanilla flavor Monday, baked 2 additional half-sheets on Tuesday, and made all of the pink cream cheese icing. Wednesday evening I started putting together the cake and realized that we hadn't baked enough, so I did an emergency baking session Thursday morning before I went to work.

While I finished putting the cake together and covering it with icing, my assistant, Amy, tinted the other half of the fondant fuchsia.

With the sole and insole covered with gray fondant that will be painted silver later, and some fuchsia on the toe.

Completely covered in fondant.

The following are "finished" shots on my kitchen counter. I'll admit the lighting isn't all that great so you can't see the true color, but you get the idea. We covered the entire cake in pink cake sparkles to make it look like a sequined shoe, put the silver leaf pattern on and added clear edible diamonds for emphasis.

You can barely see it, but there are fuchsia edible diamonds around the top edge of the shoe. Here is Hope's "brand" on the insole.

And more various angles for your viewing pleasure...

And here it is at the venue. There was better lighting there, as you can tell...
There were also lights built into the board so that when the lights were dimmed, they shone on the cake and made it sparkle. When Amy and I delivered the cake at 2 p.m. Friday, it was just us and the film crew. They added the sticky notes to make sure no one would touch the cake, mistaking it for a non-edible center piece.

In speaking with Hope's mother later on, she said no one believed it was cake until they cut it. That's the kind of compliment that makes my day and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling about what I'm doing.

Happy birthday, Hope!

And Then There Was Cake!

2011-10-03T14:50:00.004-04:00

Hubby and I did the home inspection on our new house Wednesday morning. We're closing on 10/28 (yay!!!) and I'm very excited. I got a call on my cell phone towards the end of the inspection, so I left Hubby with the inspector and took the call.

"We'd like you to do a cake for our baby shower."

"OK, sure.

"It will be on the baby shower is being filmed for a TLC documentary, so you'll probably want to step it up a notch."

(gulp) "OK, sure thing.

"We need it delivered on Sunday."

(in three days?!?! trying not to pass out) "OK. That doesn't leave much time, do you have time to meet today?"

...

I couldn't believe it. It wasn't just filming the event and the cake will just happen to be there. No, not that simple. They were filming the entire process... planning, preparations, setup, the works. About 2 hours after the call, I'm at the Holiday Inn in town talking to the crew from Firecracker Films about what's going on, why they are filming, what they are filming, and what I needed to do. They don't have a title yet, but it is about travelers (gypsies) and their celebrations in the USA.

This production is out of London, England, so they also had way cool accents.
So I meet with the ladies - Nettie (grandma-to-be) was throwing the shower for her daughter Dallas (5-1/2 months along and due to deliver about the time the show airs in January 2012), and had 2 other daughters (I'm not sure if the third was her daughter or a close relation) with her to help plan. We talked cake for about an hour with the camera rolling, pausing, asking questions, retaking to get a different point of view, a different reaction.

They wanted the cake to be BIG. LOTS of bling, sparkle, shine, shimmer, glitter. It had to be impressive. It had to have diamonds and lights. It had to be pink and purple, but not just any purple. It had to be a "SEXY purple". It had to be almost 4 feet tall. It had to feed 100 people. Yikes! They had a design in mind from the cover of the Wilton Yearbook and a vision.
With the side interviews done and payment arranged, I went to work planning.

I sketched my design...

I went late-night shopping at Michael's for bling and sparkle and other shiny supplies...

And that was Wednesday.

But what to do about the lights? In speaking with a co-worker (at my day job), he suggested lights from the auto department at Wal-mart. I found some rockin' directional LEDs that would bend into a circle for under each tier.

I picked up my apprentice cake decorator, Amy, on my way home from work Thursday, and we started making fondant decorations while the first cakes were baking. Hubby was very supportive and kept the kids out of our hair.

"Mommy is NOT here. Don't go in the kitchen."

4 dozen cupcakes and 1 GIANT cupcake done, fondant bits made, we ended at about 9:30 that evening and I took her home. I have 5 pounds of purple fondant, 5 pounds of pink fondant, and a tray of assorted molded, painted fondant bits on my counter.

Friday I got Amy on my way home again and we worked until I had to take her home at 9pm. We made more fondant bits, baked more cake, etc. After I got home, I was up again until 11:30 baking more cake.

Saturday morning while Hubby took the kiddos grocery shopping, I was making icing, crumb coating and chilling cake, and covering cake with fondant. Amy came over again to help me finish decorating the cakes, coating with sparkles, pearl dust, bobbles and bits until about 9:30 again until the decorating was done. I took her home, and then I started fabricating the boards, supports, stringing the lights, covering with that crazy glitter paper, and working the bottles. There's glitter EVERYWHERE! I'm still finding it on me, my husband, the counter, the floor, the cat. I can't get rid of it! It was a late night, and I finally went to bed at 1:30 am Sunday.

Sunday morning (later Sunday morning), I got up, loaded the back of the Explorer with the cake and assorted accessories (with the seats down, it took up all of the space from the driver's seat back), picked Amy up on my way, and went to the Holiday Inn to set up. The camera crew was waiting to film us. Oh, boy!

They filmed us unloading.

They filmed us setting up.

They filmed us fighting with the wires on the lights.

They filmed us adding bits to the cake.

They stopped filming when I had to make a last minute run to Sheetz to pick up two 9-volt batteries and some duct tape.

We managed 10 minutes of uninterrupted work time when I got back without cameras. :) And after a brief scare with the top lights and their functionality, we stepped away from the completed cake just in time for Nettie and company to walk in (film crew in tow) and see it.
They loved it, and this is what they saw...

(please ignore the kooky cake lady in the next picture)

I wish I could have gotten a picture of what the cake looked like with the lights dimmed. It was awesome. But they were filming, so I couldn't just whip out my camera. :(

This is a picture of Amy standing next to the cake for reference of how tall it was (almost 4 feet). I'm 5'10" and I had to REACH to get that top diamond on it.

It was the biggest, most complicated cake I've ever done. I'm glad it turned out so well and that they were pleased with it.

The Cake Lady's Apprentice

2011-03-30T09:50:00.004-04:00

Last night I had help from the ever talented Amy making cakes for Troop 163's Blue and Gold banquet. Did I mention that cake decorating seems to go faster when you have company to talk to, and even faster when you have help? Between the two of us, we had all of the cakes completed in 3 hours. By myself, I would have been up past midnight still working on them. :)

Here she is, posing with the completed cakes and sporting her very own "That Little Cake Place" t-shirt (made by TeeZerts... you can check them out here). After the banquet tonight, I'll post the actual pictures of the cakes online. Happy Caking!

Breaking News

2011-03-22T09:45:00.001-04:00

The Mill Creek Ward Young Women are teaming up with Troop 163 Boy Scouts this year and holding an auction to benefit both organizations and raise money for this year’s programs. The auction starts at 6pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 and stops when everything is gone! That Little Cake Place is donating 3 cakes for the event, so we hope to see you there!

#1 – A White Chocolate Strawberry Cordial – The ultimate combination of succulent strawberries and white chocolate… in a cake! Win the bidding and take this tasty treat home with you the night of the auction. *bite-sized mini-cupcake samples will be there for you to try.

#2 – A Triple-C (Chocolate Caramel Cake) – Ooey, gooey caramel, rich fudge, and knock-your-socks-off chocolate cake in one decadent package. Win the bidding and take this tasty treat home with you the night of the auction. *bite-sized mini-cupcake samples will be there for you to try on this one, too.

#3 – The ‘Boid’ (Eagle Scout Cake) – Since this is also an auction to benefit our Boy Scout Troop, it is only appropriate that we should auction a cake for an Eagle Court of Honor. Win the bidding on this cake, choose the flavors and design, and tell us when and where, and we’ll provide one rockin’ cake for your scout’s Court of Honor!

But wait… there are other nifty things there for you to bid on to support our youth and their awesome programs. Join us for a night of food, fun, and fundraising for worthy causes at the Martinsburg Chapel located at 1050 Lovelace Way in Martinsburg, WV.

2011-03-09T08:33:00.003-05:00

We did a baby shower cake last week for delivery on Saturday. This was our first order through the website! The whole thing was done in colors selected by our client for a baby boy. She wanted baby items on the cake (like bottles, diapers, binkies). When It was done, it looked a little bare on the top (no pun intended) so I added a little sleepy bear in footie pajamas and a little tail.

A new look for the blog

2011-02-03T11:55:00.002-05:00

After creating thekookycakelady.com and seeing the original look next to it, I finally decided to give it a look that worked better with the website. What do you think? We also decided on a new name seeing as the website is emblazoned with "That Little Cake Place" already. I think I like it.

We're still working out the bugs... you know, tweaking the pages until I'm satisfied with the layout and content, adjusting pictures, adding, deleting, updating... the list is endless. Who knew html was so much, uh, 'fun'. Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for. Fun.

*digs through the pile of books for the 'HTML for Dummies' edition*

Yeah, lets go with fun.

We're on Facebook!

2011-01-26T09:29:00.002-05:00

I finally got the page up on Facebook for That Little Cake Place. I'll start posting links to special offers only available to Facebook users next week so keep an eye out! Especially around holidays and big events.

And you know one is coming up!

I'll give you a hint... love is in the air!

See you soon!

Recent Cake News

2010-12-15T07:51:00.015-05:00

Well, fellow kooky cake fanatics, there have been some updates recently...

We ordered our first batch of T-shirts yesterday from TeeZerts, and they should be in next week. I'll post pictures of them when they get here. For my little Sous Chefs, they even say so on the front. I can't wait to give them to the kiddos for Christmas for when they help me in the kitchen.

We've also done a few cakes recently worth posting pictures of.

For Abbey's 7th birthday.For a Lego fan of carrot cake.For the Eagle Scout.And for the Incredible Young Women of Winchester.

Houston, we have a website!

2010-09-15T10:40:00.004-04:00

It's true!!! After a long week of tinkering, we've finally launched thekookycakelady.com! Be sure to check it out and see what nifty things we've come up with. :)

I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me. Now we can get the word out to everyone about these tasty goodies. We're working on the gallery and posting pictures; I have to talk to my web designer on the best way to do that, but for now you can see some in my facebook album here. I'm also considering a redesign on this blog so that it matches the website a little better. So in the mean time, wish us luck!

Oh, and by the way, be sure to follow us and be another person who likes cake so you can stay up-to-date with holiday and seasonal specials offered through our site!

You're how old?

2009-09-30T20:52:00.003-04:00

There seems to be a rash of birthdays towards the end of summer. We decided to combine my two older children's birthdays into one party to celebrate. First, we have Audie... he turned 7 this year and is a BIG fan of Ironman. So much so that he dressed up as the metal-clad character for Halloween last year.Chloie turned 6 this year on the first day of school. Poor girl, she just doesn't understand yet. She wanted a strawberry cake that looked like a wedding cake.Our final birthday exhibit is from a friend at work. Her mother turned 60, and she wanted a cake with flowers and this little heart-felt message.

The Temple... II

2009-09-29T22:00:00.007-04:00

Remember a while ago when I was obsessed with the leaning temple I did for Stake Women's Conference? My BFF Amy and long-time squeeze Mike decided to get married in the Washington DC Temple... and guess what they wanted for their wedding cake?
This time I got brave and added the annex and annex bridge. Most of the cake is regular cake. 7 standard layers of 3 chocolate, 3 yellow, and 1 strawberry iced in cherry flavored buttercream. Most of the bridge is strawberry, and the annex (the little building in front) is a strawberry cordial for their anniversary.I took a page from Duff and made gum paste panels for the walls and spines of the temple. I also got smart and made the towers from foam. See? Less wasted cake! And I even got the doors on the eastern walls. Now that's detail.Here they are before the cake-in-the-face-smashing event. How sweet!And of course, the obligatory aftermath pictures...I should mention that the little round cake behind the temple is a gluten free chocolate cake for Amy's FIL and was made for him as a special request. Because of an allergy he can't usually partake, but this is one of very few receptions where he can actually enjoy the cake.

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do...

2009-09-23T22:40:00.004-04:00

This is what happens when you get behind...

This was a Tiki cake I made for my best friend's bridal shower. After a failed attempt at learning hula, I'm glad we dove into the cake. The tikis were baked in steel cans so I didn't waste cake, and they were filled with strawberry cordial innards. even the icing on the outside was white chocolate, but I tinted it for the tiki masks.

This little cutie was for my niece's 5th birthday. Her requests for the cake were:

1. purple polka dots

2. yellow cake with chocolate icing

3. pink flowers

4. princess castle

The only way I could work in polka dots were on a purple dragon. On my 'in-laws' blog, they have a picture of Abbey posing with her dragon. Too cute

Lessons learned: Never, EVER bet behind on a cake blog!!!

My favorite kind of favor

2009-07-25T21:04:00.002-04:00

My friend asked me some time ago to teach her to make the white chocolate raspberry cordial. He daughter practically demanded one for her birthday. OK, I can handle an enthusiastic fan.

We baked the cake as soon as they got there, then watched some Bill Engvall waiting for the cake to cool. Instead of making a no-cook jam version by hitting the puree button on my food processor, we decided to just mash the raspberries with the back side of a rubber spatula.Here is the birthday girl with her cake. I threatened to keep the cake if she didn't pose for a picture with it... apparently cake is very persuasive. I'm told she sniffed the cake the entire way home, and then rationed thin slices to the members of her family.

Family Birthday Cakes

2009-07-25T20:45:00.004-04:00

Hubby and I took a vacation to NY to visit his family, see some church history sites, and camp on Lake Ontario. While we were up there, we celebrated his parents' birthdays.

For her July birthday, her favorite chocolate indulgence. This time I actually got a picture of the inside of the cake.Oooo, pretty slice. Tim was concerned that the full-size cake would be too much for the two of them, then I reminded him that we were traveling with friends of ours from church and their 4 hungry boys. When we left Sunday afternoon, there was the equivalent of this much left.This was for his father's March birthday. I know, it is late, but you can't exactly mail a cake like this through the US Postal Service.His first comment was that we got the colors right. For once, being obsessed with details paid off. For this we made yellow cupcakes with coconut milk for just a hint of flavor, white chocolate icing, and a circle of fondant painted to resemble the billiard balls (he's a big fan and plays often).

It was a nice visit; we definitely got to relax. I'm glad to be home. I have more cakes to do. :-)

At the Luao

2009-07-25T20:37:00.002-04:00

This is what happens when you sign up to make a pineapple upside-down cake for a church function, and are asked to make extra because some of the others couldn't make cakes. These ferns and flowers all came from plants growing around the house, and the purple butterfly bushes smell heavenly! This was your standard recipe for pineapple upside-down cake, one 9x13 and one 1/2 sheet size. I used 4 5"-pillars and two 3/4" tubes for support of the upper layer, and green florist variety water picks for the flowers. I couldn't see spending a lot of money for the white ones when I could cut the spikes off of the green ones and work just fine for cheaper.

Luscious Lemon

2009-07-02T22:16:00.004-04:00

I made our receptionist (at my day job) a cake for her birthday. I brought in the day after on Friday so that she didn't have to share if she didn't want to. After seeing the wedding cake I did for my friends at church and talking about the flavors, she decided on the lemon cake with lemon icing. Mmmm, tasty!

Fireworks? What fireworks???

2009-07-02T21:49:00.002-04:00

I don't see any fireworks, just this cake that looks like fireworks. I know we're not supposed to set fireworks off at work!

My day job asked my side job for a cake... go figure. :-)

They wanted something 4th-of-July-ish for a little shindig they were throwing at lunch. Nothing big on the menu, just hot dogs, chips, and soda... and of course cake. They didn't have any special requests, no flavors, no designs. They just let me run free with it. Dangerous, I know, but they have to learn sometime!

I saw a cool idea from Cupcakes Take the Cake (see their post about it here) and thought it might do the trick, but I wanted something that resembled fireworks. This is what I brought to work this morning... I baked one box each of red velvet mini cupcakes, white mini cupcakes, and blue-tinted white mini cupcakes. I followed the directions for the marshmallows and frosting the minis, but I omitted the fruit so that I wouldn't have to refrigerate it. I made the inside out of my favorite green Styrofoam, covered it to make it food safe, and stabbed away. There were 85 kebabs in all in this explosion!

Lessons learned here: 1. Definitely don't do this more in advance than the night before. This was served at lunch (11:30 or so) and by the time I brought the remaining 10 kebabs home, the mini cupcakes were getting a little hard. 2. Weight the base. The first couple yards down my driveway and out of our development were a little harrowing as I saw it teetering. I ended up moving it up behind the driver's seat so that I could hold it while I drove. 3. Don't stick the skewers in so far, Erin! We had a difficult time getting some of them out. On the bright side, the holes are "pre-drilled" so it won't be so hard next time.

A short breather...

2009-06-29T09:24:00.003-04:00

You know, I thought I was out of work for a while, that I could relax, possibly stress because I didn't have any cakes to keep me busy. Apparently the Lord was listening and laughing...

My best friend, Amy (my maid of honor), is getting married!!! Guess who is doing the cake? You guessed right. For her wedding cake, she's asked me to do another rendition of the Washington D.C. Temple cake, this time with the Annex and bridge. I learned my lesson on the last cake, so this time should go a lot better, less stressful, etc.

In the mean time, I'll be busy with other cakes. Stay tuned! (and be careful what you wish for. :-)

Something borrowed, something blue!

2009-06-14T18:10:00.004-04:00

My friend from church asked me to make a cake for her oldest son's wedding. Doug and Amy met at WVU and were married in the Washington D.C. Temple on Tuesday. They had a reception in WV on Wednesday for his family, and one on Saturday for her family. This was their cake... The quilt in the background was a wedding gift made for them by my friend's sister-in-law in their chosen wedding colors.I started the week prior making flowers out of gum paste. The irises and violets started out as the same shade of light blue, then I painted the irises for the variance in color as I've seen the real thing. I didn't have, and couldn't find anywhere, the flower nails needed to make the irises, so I improvised and made a strip of wood with 12 nails of alternating heights topped with cotton balls. Once the petal sections were formed, rolled, and veined, I draped the sections over the cotton balls to dry.I tinted the gum paste a darker shade of blue for the blue bells and did those after the other flowers were done. There were 80 violets, 12 irises, and 80 bluebells on the cake.

The cake itself was tasty. Unsure of what flavors Doug and Amy wanted, JaNae opted for a variety. The top two tiers were yellow cake with strawberry flavored butter cream, the third tier was lemon with lemon flavored butter cream, and the bottom tier was chocolate with raspberry flavored butter cream.

I got to do some new things on this cake... 1. ribbon on the tiers, 2. gum paste flowers, 3. flavored icing besides chocolate and white chocolate, 4. a little flower arranging.

Lessons I learned on this cake: 1. Even if you think you have enough ribbon for the cake, get an extra roll just to be safe. 2. If you live on a bumpy road, don't stack the tiers but take them separately and stack them on location (my cakes shifted a little on the trip there). 3. Leave a little earlier on rainy days so you have time to be careful driving. 4. Allow for extra time to make gum paste flowers (they never go as quickly as you'd think they would). 5. Raspberry flavoring oil will tint your icing pink no matter how much sugar you add to avoid it. 6. Lemon butter cream is surprisingly good.

Teacher of the Year

2009-06-14T18:02:00.002-04:00

Do you remember the Heritage High School thank you cake? Same wonderful friends, this time to congratulate Coach K (what she goes by). Coach K coaches tennis, volley ball, and basketball at Heritage High School, and was voted this year's teacher of the year. This was a 1/4 sheet yellow cake with regular butter cream icing on it. I rolled out a thin sheet of fondant and painted the wood grain and court lines. The balls (if you can say that without blushing) were made from tinted fondant and the lines added with a food-safe marker.

I'm told she thoroughly enjoyed her cake, which never fails to put a smile on my face!

I love to see the temple...

2009-05-25T20:31:00.006-04:00

I'm going there someday... Those must be the only two lines of this children's song from church. So the theme this year for Stake Women's Conference was Joy and Happiness. What a better way to represent eternal happiness than the Temple?The ride to Hancock was a little harrowing. The unfortunate breaking incident described in the Graduation cake delivered the same morning did a number on the construction of the temple cake. It leaned a little, and the driveway to the church wasn't much of a help either.From the ends it looks a little better. I had to have help to carry it into the building. It had 10 pounds of fondant on it and 7 layers of cake - 2 strawberry, 2 chocolate, 2 yellow, and 1 white. Once on the table, I added the spires and fixed and nudged as best as I could.The cake stood 28 inches high (compared to 288 feet high on the actual temple), 24 inches long (240 feet), and 13 inches wide (136 feet). Essentially 1 inch of cake equalled 10 feet of temple. Here is a picture of Sister JaNae Barnes on the left and that's me on the right so you can see for scale. This cake was massive.The spires were carved from green floral Styrofoam from the top level of the cake to 2 inches below the tip of the gold spires. From there a tooth pick (4 smaller spires) or a bamboo skewer (end spires) supported the rest. The spires were then covered in gum paste and shaped for the tower and spire details. Then the upper-most portions were painted with a yellow wash and coated with gold pearl dust like I did when I originally formed the Angel Moroni.And I would be remiss if I didn't provide the obligatory cake carnage pictures of the aftermath.There were sisters who hovered and waited as layers were cut and served so they could get their favorite flavor further down in the cake.

My friend Amy had the camera for most of the carnage and decided to take a picture of me standing over it with a knife in one hand and icing-covered fingers on the other.

Some one asked me how I felt cutting into one of my creations. I replied that I was relieved that I didn't have to obsess over the lean any more. I'm glad I learned one lesson from the castle wedding cake. Moroni's trumpet broke during the trip up, but I had my trusty hot glue gun there to save the day. Lessons learned from this cake? 1. Always have someone on the trip with you. 2. Less cake, more foam, or at least better plan the construction so that there is less of a risk of leaning. 3. Once it is set up, put on blinders and quit fiddling with it. Anal retentiveness is sometimes a bad thing...

Congrats Grad (and a welcome home) !!!

2009-05-25T19:51:00.009-04:00

You might remember the skateboarder cake one of the members of my church ordered from me a few months ago. She referred me to Rita who was planning a surprise graduation party for her son, Daniel. Daniel was graduating from Hedgesville High School, loves computers, guitar, and weight lifting, and is joining the Air Force this summer.We decided to incorporate all of his likes into the cake for his graduation. Oh, he and his brother are both are both BIG fans of German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan icing. The cake did have a pair of dumbbells in front of the guitar, but an unfortunate breaking incident caused the computer tower to crush them. There was nothing I could do to save them.

Everything on the cake was cake except for the guitar which had a wood backing and neck. This was the only piece of the cake that didn't have coconut-pecan icing filling it. This piece was specifically for Rita because she's not a fan of the icing.

Here is a close-up of the computer screen, keyboard, and mouse. Daniel and his friends took turns having their picture taken "typing" on the keyboard. At first they didn't believe it was cake.

This is the welcome home cake for Daniel's brother, Chris. He is in the 82nd Airborne, and he was home for leave before his deployment overseas. He didn't even know he was getting a cake. Hehehe!!! This cake, too, was German chocolate with coconut-pecan icing as filling and covered in fondant. I carved the cake into the unit patch, covered it in fondant, then painted the colors onto it.

This is a shot of the two cakes together.

I was privileged to be there to present and cut the cake for the party. This cake and the Temple cake (in Hancock, MD) were due on the same day, so I delivered and presented the Temple cake then came back to Inwood to present this one. It was a wonderful party with my friend Christie from The Answer is Porcini catering a delicious taco bar, and GSProductions Entertainment providing the entertainment and MC (pretty cool guy, I might add). It seems that everyone enjoyed themselves, and these guys are lucky to have Rita as their mom. Congrats, guys!

Renaissance attire optional...

2009-05-16T21:17:00.009-04:00

This has been an interesting week. I finished my little ferocious guy earlier while baking the layers for this cake. I constructed the center of the castle and covered the towers Friday night and finished the walls and remaining details Saturday morning. This is what the cake looked like on my kitchen counter...

(from the back) (from the front)

I ended up having to line the walls (cake) with a piece of cardboard toward the inside of the cake for stability. I must have used at least a dozen bamboo skewers! I was worried that the walls would fall over during transit, so I used some shortened skewers inside the "court yard" to support the walls.

We only had two of the towers fall during the trip, and when we got to the reception, we found that the tip of the dragon's tail and the sword arm of the groom had broken off. Grrr! While I was setting up everything else, my faithful assistant (my husband) went looking for super glue to reattach the arm. Unluckily for us, the weather took a turn for the worst, and humidity coupled with rain and a strong gust of wind blew the front wall of the castle over. I'm glad now that I kept some extra skewers with me. I ended up propping up the front wall with some shortened lengths, and used to full sized skewers on either side of the draw bridge. Hubby and I stood behind the cake to block the gusts that threatened to tear down the wall again.

Here it is at the reception...

The humidity also wreaked havoc on the fondant covering the turrets, and some of the flags leaned a little more than I liked. I ended up sticking them in strategic locations elsewhere. The sword arm of the groom kept sliding off... apparently Loctite doesn't set up well with gum paste. My fingers are now a permanent shade of blue and purple from all of the adjustments.

You remember this guy, right? Here he is with his new dye job (and attached tail). He looks a little more vicious in green than he did in white!So, lessons learned: 1. Bring the hot glue gun. 2. Make the walls out of foam. 3. Bring an extra set of gloves to prevent finger dying. Got it. Ready for round two?

Snarrrrll... (cont.)

2009-05-12T12:10:00.009-04:00

You remember this guy, right?

I was at it again last night and will be until Saturday, but this is the last sneak peak I'll give of this particular cake. I'm coloring him tonight, making the people, and putting everything together over the next couple days. I finished his other wing, covered the rest of his body, gave him some plates on his belly and spikes on his back. So here he is in all his ferocious gum paste glory...

Grrr, grrrrr! Still trying for that "I'll eat you" look. Still debating on fire. To scorch or not to scorch, that is the question!

Snarrrrll...

2009-05-11T13:53:00.004-04:00

I'm still working on details for the wedding cake this weekend. Friday night I was up late carving Styrofoam for the towers and spires for the Temple cake due next weekend, and decided to work on the dragon as well. I didn't want to make him entirely out of gum paste because he would be too heavy, and probably wouldn't dry in time for the wedding. I decided to do most of the body out of foam, carving the basic shape and adding limbs and such as I went. Please remember that this is the work in progress. I promise he will have the other wing tonight, and maybe some plates on his belly and spikes on his back. I'm considering coloring him first with green to accent the scales and then with a black wash for the evil two-toned look.I was going for an angry look, but then a friend of mine from work said he was cute! Grrrr.

Another sneak peek...

2009-05-07T23:14:00.002-04:00

I said in a previous post that I've been busy working on gum paste details for a series of cakes due around the same time. This sneak peek is for the Fairytale Wedding Cake. Without giving away too many details (I'd like you to be surprised when you see the final product!), the turrets of the castle will each have a red and black flag at its peak, and there will be a final banner atop the castle itself. Tomorrow evening I'll be working on the figures and more...

Thank you... and I'm not Lion!

2009-05-07T23:02:00.002-04:00

My friend, Patty, asked me to do another cake. Her husband works as a janitor at Heritage High School, and wanted to show his appreciation for the office staff that have helped him out throughout the year. The school colors are red and black, their mascot is a big lion, and their motto is "Welcome to the Pride".

The cake itself is an 8" yellow round, iced in vanilla butter cream icing. The lion was first a 7" black circle, then the red face overlaid on that, then white accents for the mane. The thank you banner is also fondant with my best paintbrush-calligraphy.

I've been busy...

2009-05-07T08:49:00.004-04:00

I've been working on the little details for three cakes due in the next couple of weeks. I actually had to stop baking last night because I ran out of eggs. So while the cake is in the oven, I'm working gum paste things for on the cakes I'm making. Last night I finished possibly the most difficult piece for the temple cake - the Angel Moroni (for more information click here). It took 30 minutes to form him, over night to dry, and 20 minutes last night to paint him with a light yellow wash and dust him with gold pearl dust for that shiny metallic look. This little guy is only 2 inches tall and will sit atop a 28" tall cake representation of the Washington D.C. Temple.

Viking Ship

2009-05-04T11:50:00.002-04:00

Alex likes anything Viking, or so I'm told. Considering his stature, I could see him as a Viking from long ago with the horned helmet, pillaging the country side or on a ship similar to this one... The original thought was to make the ship out of cake, but after researching long boats, I found that they are very long, very narrow, and very shallow. Let's face it, these dimensions are not very cake friendly. Instead we decided to make the "ocean" out of cake, carrot that is, and the ship out of gum paste. The cake was a home-made, from-scratch recipe I decided to try for the occasion, and the cream cheese icing as well. No store-bought here!

I made a negative mold for the boat out of cardboard, fashioning the head, tail, and hull with carving tools. I took a knife down the length of the ship for the boards and painted away. I decided to cheat a little and made the sail out of some white fabric and a bamboo skewer. The ropes are out of #10 cotton yarn in the natural color.

I got a call to say that Alex loved his cake, and the beautiful part about it all is that he can keep the ship for his collection!

H is for Hotrod

2009-04-28T21:34:00.006-04:00

A sweet for my sweet, or so they say...

So the back story - Tim asked for a 1979 Camaro for his birthday cake as it was his first car many moons ago. His was white, but he asked for a black one with a blue flame job. Considering he hadn't had a birthday party in some time, I decided to be sneaky (he, he, he) and throw him a surprise party. I came within 15 minutes of getting away with it, too if it weren't for those meddling kids... no, really one of our guests got lost on the way to the house and didn't have my number so, yep, you guessed it... he called Tim's phone.

Anyhoo, with Tim on night shift, I was able to stay up late and work on the party details and cake without him knowing. He says he'll have to watch out for me from now on! *evil grin here*

This is his cake!Interesting what can be done with a couple of paint brushes, some icing dye, a little water, a paper towel, and a lot of imagination (sprinkle a little patience in there too. It took 2 hours to paint this car!!).
I made the inside of the cake out of chocolate cake with Mounds filling (think "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"), a coconut and cream filling that is rather tasty. I carved, iced smooth, then covered the cake with fondant before I started this particular paint job. I actually started with the yellow pin striping, then the black for the body so that I could cover my mistakes and thin the yellow down to a thin line. Then I started with the blue and moved back.

I liken this cake to the difference between a real Porche and Sally the Porche from the Pixar movie Cars. It's a little cartoony, but Tim loved it anyway.
Here we are with his cake at the party. I should mention that we're now even since he blew hot wax from the candles on me!

Siena's Grand Opening

2009-04-20T22:04:00.004-04:00

My friend Christie from Royal Vendors asked me to do a cake, but not just any cake. A cake for the grand opening of the Siena Coffee and Bakery in Hagerstown, MD!!! (check them out here)I spent most of the week working on this and two other cakes (a lot of late nights), but here is the cake as set up at the grand opening...This is Christie (the lovely lady on the left) with the mayor of Hagerstown, Robert E. Bruchey II, cutting the cake. After the first piece, they turned it over to me to cut and serve the rest.Here are a couple of pictures of the details. The items on the top of the cake are all gum paste, molded and painted by hand. The Siena logo was replicated in 3D from fondant.A look at the items around the logo... I painted mosaic floor by the coffee cups (which are cake by the way) and added a bagel basket (basket and bagels in it also cake!). Because they also have an assortment of spreads for their bagels that they spread right there for you, I incorporated that as well.This was the aftermath of the cake cutting ceremony and serving of all those in attendance.

We got a good response from the grand opening (and the cake). And now for some good news!!! Ready?

That Little Cake Place is being featured at Siena Coffee!!! So, if you're in the Hagerstown area, check out Siena Coffee at 96 W. Washington Street and order a cake while you're enjoying your bagel (or panini, or hot chocolate... so many tasty options)!

A Present for Hannah

2009-04-20T21:54:00.002-04:00

Hannah is my sister-in-law. She doesn't have an exact birthday (records still over in country), and hasn't had one for as long as she can remember. Once, a long time ago, someone decided her birthday would be on 4/15. She went from having a birth-day to a birth-weekend to a birth-week, to a birth-month celebration. I can't argue with that kind of mentality! She asked for a present for her cake, and found several ideas online that she liked... colors from this one, style of this one, look of that one. This is the final rendition for her birthday cake. Complete with a tag...

I had to paint the fondant on the bottom layer with brown food coloring to get that dark, shiny look. The only gum paste on the whole thing is the bow on the top. The top layer is yellow for her husband, and the bottom layer is chocolate for her. I even got to try a home-made fondant recipe!

Inside the Jewelry Box

2009-04-20T21:44:00.003-04:00

Miss Patty, our receptionist at Royal Vendors, was hosting a Silpada jewelry party at her home this weekend. Her daughter was doing her first showing as a solo representative! To mark the occasion, Patty asked me to do a cake for the party. We sat down and talked size and ideas, then she showed me this page out of the catalogue showing a set of earrings, necklace and ring that she personally owns. We decided to used this set for the jewelry on the cake, opting for the classic brown Silpada box.

I took some artistic liberty with the logo on the cake because I wanted it to stand out a little more. The original box she gave me as a model had the logo and name in small print on the bottom right corner of the lid.

I hope the party went well. I can't wait to talk to her Tuesday to see how her daughter liked the cake! :-)

Multiple "Purse"onalities

2009-03-31T22:07:00.005-04:00

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to do this project. I've been planning it for weeks now, and I finally started baking Thursday night. I cut and iced the individual pieces on clear rectangular plates from one of the local party supply stores, so I had cake pieces covering my counter top for a couple days!I finally had to pull my starter plants off of the island so that I had plenty of clear counter space to work. We had 4 flavors - yellow cake, strawberry cake, chocolate cake, and white cake.I'd decided long ago that each flavor of cake would be its own style of purse. I ended up doing 10 of each flavor for a total of 40 in all. Here they are all completed.This was the white cake. I covered it in white fondant and gave it a black ribbon and handle. This was one of my two favorites. This was the chocolate cake. I covered this one in light blue fondant, gave it a brown ribbon, handle, and a little latch/tie.

This was the strawberry cake. I marbled pink, white, brown, and black for the purse and gave it a brown and white twisted strap.

This was my other favorite of the bunch, the yellow cake. This was my first time making daisies for any cake related project. I finally got to use the gum paste flower set my mother found for me, though I decided to make the daisies out of fondant instead. I covered the cake in yellow fondant with a matching strap and flap.

I had fun getting this many individual cakes to the church. I was sweating every bump and turn in the road, but we only had two casualties that were easily fixed once we had everything inside. Overall I received many compliments for how cute they were, all of which were greatly appreciated! Many sisters suggested this idea for a bridal shower or birthday party for a little girl.

The Hadlers' Wedding Cake

2009-03-27T10:25:00.005-04:00

So when I first talked to Mr. Hadler, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted. He would have preferred a small wedding, but family insisted on a church, etc. So we started out with quite a larger cake; three tiers of yellow cake with white buttercream icing. He asked for roses in pink and yellow and the sides of the cake to be "combed". Later on the guest list shortened some as a compromise between families, so this is what we ended up with...When I asked him about colors for the roses, he said something springy, but not bold colors, but also not washed out. I was worried that these might have been a little "Easter eggy", but they loved the colors. Right before the wedding when I confirmed details, he also asked that I put their names and the year on the cake. I thought it was a cute gesture, and from what I understand, these two have a long history together. Here it is, the finished cake!

Walker's Skate Park

2009-03-09T09:27:00.004-04:00

OK, so this was a lot of fun! Not only did I get to make a rockin' cake for a cool little boy, but I also got to play with fondant and gum paste!

The little skateboarding dudes are out of molded gum paste. Mom gave me a set with a male and female adult, a 10 year old boy and a 6 year old girl mold (archaic Wilton you should see the book that came with it hehehe). I chose the boy and started molding. Once the little guys were molded, I posed them and let them dry before I put details like hats, helmets, skateboards and hoodies on them. Then I painted them with food coloring and let them dry. I baked two white cakes in a 1/2 sheet size, filled and stacked them, then carved the center of the park out of the top layer. I used the extra cake to build up the back side of the park, then covered it with grey fondant. I had fun with the graffiti! I graffitied his age on the far side and "Happy Birthday" on the flat part out front. Walker's mother gave me a picture of him (the one they used for the invitations to his party) so that I could make one of the little guys look like him.

I did get to talk to the birthday boy the next day at church. He said he really liked it! I tell you what, that made my day and all of the work put into this cake worth it!

February's Enrichment

2009-02-26T13:59:00.006-05:00

So what started out as 2 or 3 interested sisters turned into 12-15 signing the sheet, and ended up as 25 Sisters in all!!! I had enough cake, barely enough caramel and hot fudge, and almost enough icing. Wow. It was definitely an interesting experience for me, and hopefully a fun experience for them!

This is our hostess, Sister Gilbert, who graciously allowed the event at her house. We had to set up 2 extra tables for all who attended.

This is Christie (works with me at my day job). She does professional catering and cakes also so we have a lot to talk about. She provided the munchies. Let me tell you, that little cucumber sandwich was to die for!

Here are pictures of the Sisters with their cakes. No two are alike, cakes or Sisters, and they were all a lot of fun. Everyone got a 2-layer 6" cake to practice on and take home, while I did the full size 4-layer 8" cake.

For those who didn't get to make it, here is the recipe:

Triple-C
(Chocolate Caramel Cake)

For this cake you will need:
1 chocolate cake mix (or home-made recipe)
2-8” pans
1 batch of chocolate icing (or 1 tub of store-bought icing)
1 icing bag
1 coupler
1 #21 star tip
A spatula or other utensil to spread icing
Caramel cubes (or caramel topping)
Hot fudge topping
2 spoons
Toothpicks

Instructions:
1. Bake two 8-inch chocolate cakes using a boxed mix or home-made recipe of your choice according to the box/recipe directions.
2. Cool cakes completely.
3. Level and tort to ½” to ¾” in height (total 4 layers)
4. Melt approximately 20 caramel cubes and ¼ cup milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
5. Place a layer of cake on a cardboard circle or plate.
6. Arrange cakes in a row with one “top” layer at one end and the plate on the other.
7. Working from the “top” layer, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of melted caramel onto each of the top three layers leaving the plate cake layer bare.
8. Spread caramel to within ¼” of cake edge with out going over. **note: the caramel will soak into the cake slightly.
9. Warm hot fudge until thin consistency.
10. Starting with the plate cake layer, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of hot fudge on to the bare cake layer and spread to within ¼” of the cake edge without going over. **note: the hot fudge will soak into the cake slightly.
11. Flip the next cake layer, caramel side down, onto the fudge layer and straighten the edges before the caramel sets.
12. On the bare cake layer, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of hot fudge onto the cake and spread within ¼” of the cake edge without going over.
13. Flip the next cake layer caramel side down, onto the fudge layer and straighten the edges before the caramel sets.
14. Repeat steps 12 and 13 on the remaining layers.
15. Ice the assembled cake using the chocolate icing of your choice and pipe a tip#21 shell boarder around the bottom of the cake.
16. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of caramel onto the top of the cake allowing the caramel to go over the edge in places.
17. Drizzle hot fudge over the top of the cake and pull with a tooth pick to create a “web” look, if desired.
18. Enjoy.

Mardi Gras King Cakes

2009-02-26T13:47:00.006-05:00

It's that time of year in Louisiana... Mardi Gras!!!

My boss (yes, I have a day job) is from New Orleans and is a huge Mardi Gras fan... something about being in the parade this year. Any way, because our quarterly meeting fell so close to Mardi Gras, he decided that it should be Mardi Gras themed.

We had coins, we had beads, we had King Cakes! Of course being the resident cake expert, I was called to make the actual King Cakes - 6 in all. They measured over 20" across. I actually had to bake them on pizza pans with an empty gallon can in the middle for support.

Each cake had its own baby hidden inside (for more info on Mardi Gras and the King Cake click here), and they were glazed with a powdered sugar/milk mix and covered with colored sugar. I'll never forget the sound of a metal fork scraping a metal bowl while I mixed the sugar up. Over all, not a bad cake (though it is more like a cinnamon roll in tube form). He even said they looked like they were from New Orleans! Good enough for me.

Detox Rubik's II

2009-02-13T11:17:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again... Ted's anniversary! He's been two years now drug and alcohol free. Yay!!!

At his request, we revisited the Rubik's Cube.I'll admit that it turned out a lot better this year. I didn't have any red, so we opted for a solved cube, and this time instead of icing, I used fondant. the finished cube measured 7" x 7" x 7". What's even more fun is that I got to dye the fondant myself. Yes, I used gloves... you should have seen what freakish Easter-egg-like coloring they were by the time I was done. And to think, that could have been my hands. :-)Anyway, here is Ted with his cube. I'm glad he was so happy with it! Now all we have to do is figure out what to do next year.

Preach My Gospel

2009-02-11T10:47:00.005-05:00

For those familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you'll probably recognize this next image...

I volunteered to make this cake for the Missionary Zone Luncheon on 2/5/09 where all of the missionaries from the tri-state area get together for lunch. The image is from the cover of the missionary handbook Preach My Gospel and depicts the Savior just before his baptism with John the Baptist.

Up until the night I decorated the cake I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I had an impression that it should be "Preach My Gospel" related, but I didn't know exactly what. I ended up painting the image onto rolled fondant with brown food coloring and a paint brush. The cake itself was a butter yellow recipe and it was iced with plain white butter cream. I placed the fondant in the center and covered the edges with a line of green icing with a star tip, then piped a shell border with the same tip and icing.

I had to drop the cake off at a friend's house for transport to the luncheon. Believe me, I was disappointed that I couldn't be there (I have a day job), but Carolyn tells me that the missionaries loved their cake... they wouldn't let anyone cut it until they took pictures.

Sassy Pixie

2009-02-11T10:29:00.003-05:00

OK, so I'm a little behind in my posting, but I hope you'll agree that this is well worth it.

That's right, folks, our favorite sassy pixie is back to wish someone a happy birthday!This was a yellow 1/4 sheet cake with Tinkerbell on the top. Sofia liked orange, so I made her flowers to match. To make Tink, I used the same "icing drawing" that I used for many of my other character cakes, but to give her that sparkle, I dusted her wings and the cake around her with cake sparkles. Instead of a shell or other piped boarder, I opted to give her a garden of flowers around the edge of the cake. If you caught that, her name is Sofia (with an F). While I was talking to her mother about the cake, I was in Weis Market and I thought she said "S"... lesson learned here? Always verify details through email.

Any way, here is a picture of the pretty pixie who's birthday it was. I was very happy to find out that in spite of the misspelling, he loved her cake. I promise I'll spell it right next time!

The Results Are In!!!

2009-02-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

OK Ladies (and any gentlemen that happen to be reading this), the results are in! It looks like the Triple-C (Chocolate Caramel Cake) will be the featured cake for this month's enrichment. I'll be working the next couple weeks to prep for the class, baking cakes, and getting things together for those in attendance. Initial numbers indicate that we'll have approximately 10-12 Sisters (including one Brother maybe), but that may go up to over 20. We've decided have enrichment at Sister Gilbert's house because it is more centrally located, so please come by... we'd love to have you. I promise pictures of the event will be posted here for all to see!

February's Enrichment

2009-01-15T11:49:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-15T10:35:00.001-05:00

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?

2009-01-15T10:16:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-15T09:52:00.000-05:00

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...

2009-01-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-01-12T15:48:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-12T15:35:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-12T15:16:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-12T15:07:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-12T14:58:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

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'

2009-01-09T11:55:00.000-05:00

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?

2009-01-09T11:50:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-08T16:44:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-08T16:38:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

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.

Hearts Alive

2009-01-08T12:35:00.001-05:00

Danielle and LeRoy are good friends and loyal patrons of mine. For their anniversary, I made them this cake.

The term "5/12" refers to 5 years of marriage, 12 years together. The cake also says "Happy Aniversary" on the lower tiers.Two toned roses... solid chocolate cake.

Message in a Cake

2009-01-08T12:17:00.000-05:00

Some people just want to convey a heart felt message, and what better way to do it than cake?

"To a wonderful Sister who is always there for me... Love Curtis"

This was actually a Hex-a-lot II, but he had a lot to say. I finally put the roses in the middle and wrote his message around the outside edge of the cake. From what I understand, his sister's co workers still think he is a hero to this day.

"Haylee, Just because I love you, Mom"

This was a square Raspberry Cordial with a mother's love note on top.

"For the one I love"

He wanted a cake for his wife. His only stipulation besides the message? Lots of icing.

"Happy Memorial Day"

This half and half chocolate and yellow cake for memorial day says it all.

Did you miss?

2009-01-08T11:37:00.001-05:00

This cake was for a dear friend that works on the factory floor. Her fellow QC cohorts and I plotted deviously for this cake. I knew she liked shooting, and how funny would it be to give her her own "age target"? Note 4 shots in the 10, 2 in the 5, 1 in the 1, but what's this on the line...?

Is that last one a 5 or a 1? What are you trying to say here?

Truth be told she was actually turning 52, but the reaction was priceless. In all fairness, she had a rather good sense of humor about the whole thing, and the "head" of the target was angel food so she could take some cake home to her diabetic son.

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like women and beer...

2009-01-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

... or more importantly half naked women and your favorite beer.
I personally am not a fan of half-naked women or beer, and I can't condone the practice of either, but then again this was before I had a more discerning eye.

The cakes got the desired results, however, and both men were so pleased with their cakes that they wouldn't let anyone eat the half with the picture and insisted that they take it home to show their families.

Birthday ala Zieger

2009-01-07T12:38:00.001-05:00

I love the Zieger family. Mom and the two boys are awesome, and I love doing cakes for them.

Exhibit #1: Birthday at Zieger Field
Ben loves baseball, and after talking it over with his mom, we came up with this. The diamond is regulation size (to scale), and I tried to replicate the criss-cross mowing pattern in the "grass".
I attempted to duplicate the Wrigley Field score board, substituting his name on the board. I also scored the home team with his age (13).
Ben's mom also loaned me a picture of Ben in full baseball garb which I transferred to the cake in black icing as an overlay on the field.

When we met to transfer the cake over for his birthday she brought Ben with her, and I wasn't even sure if he liked it. He just nodded and left. She told me later that after we were out of sight, he grinned from ear to ear raving about how much he loved it, but asking his mom if he acted "cool". I guess it's a teenager thing.

An unusual occurrence happened during the construction of this cake... I goofed on the icing. I pulled chocolate and (what I thought was) regular butter cream out of my freezer, but as it turned out, I had thawed the pre-made batch of cordial cream filling (where all I had to do was add confectioner's sugar to make it thick). I couldn't figure out why the icing was so thin and sticky. It dawned on me after I found the faded label on the side that this was the marshmallow and butter starter for the cream. I learned 2 very important lessons that day: 1. always mark your containers with permanent marker and 2. the marshmallow cream and butter starter mixed with chocolate butter cream made a very tasty icing. I'll have to try to replicate my mistake later for future use.

Exhibit #2: Martinsburg Madness

I am an alumnus of Martinsburg High School, and Zay plays football there. Who knew cake carving would come in handy? It took me some research before I found a helmet that resembled the team's the best. It took a LOT of dye to get that bright orange color, too!As much as he loves football, he's more into street hockey now, and wants that for his next birthday cake. We'll have to wait and see what Ben has in mind for his.

The Janus 'O Lantern

2009-01-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

My best friend (and eventual Maid of Honor) and her roommate had a Halloween party in 2008 and asked me to design the cake. Because I couldn't decide on what kind of face to put on the pumpkin, I decided to go with all 3!
Construction was made from 2 bunt pans, one chocolate and one yellow, separated by a board for easy deconstruction and cutting. I used a chocolate cupcake for the "stem".

Janus, if you're wondering: In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnants in modern culture are his namesakes: the month of January, which begins the new year, and the janitor, who is a caretaker of doors and halls. Janus was usually depicted with two heads looking in opposite directions. According to a legend, he had received from the God Saturn, in reward for the hospitality received, the gift to see both future and past. For more information on Janus, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_(mythology).

Rack 'em Up!

2009-01-06T15:14:00.001-05:00

Gladys asked me to do this cake for her son's birthday. I must admit, I've been wanting to do a cake like this for a while.
Everything on the cake is edible, even the pool ques and the balls

I made the balls out of fondant, skewered them with a tooth pick, and "painted" the balls (I can't say that without giggling) with a food safe marker. I tried my best to get the colors as accurate as possible, but the blue only goes so dark.

I even gave the cues a wood grain, and the table felt a slight texture to resemble the real thing.

I've been told that he almost didn't want to cut the cake, but hunger and a sweet tooth finally gave in. Gladys did show me a picture of Eddie with his cake... I've never seen a man so happy in my life.

Baby Showers

2009-01-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love a baby shower? Friends and family all gathered with the expectant mom. Advice, gifts, and love exchanged.

Exhibit #1: Flower Shop Baby

A sweet girl from church was having a baby boy, and they asked me to do the cake. A lover of chocolate and with dreams to own her own flower shop one day, I presented this cake at her baby shower.
In case you're wondering, Felicitaciones is Spanish for Congratulations (I had to look it up).

Exhibit #2: Along comes the Baby Carriage
Another co worker of mine and a dear friend asked me to do this cake (inspired from the 1993 Wilton Yearbook seen here: http://www.wilton.com/idea/Traveling-First-Class). She gave me one of the invitations so I could match the colors (pink, dark pink, and brown).

The new addition's name was Olivia, spelled out on both sides in flowers.

Baby Cakes

2009-01-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

Of all cakes for kids, these are my favorite to do!

Exhibit #1: Sitting Baby, Hidden Lollipop A dear friend from work asked me to do a baby cake for her daughter's birthday. I used a sitting teddy bear pan from Wilton and trimmed the ears off. I used extra cake to build the legs, and rolled fondant for the lollipop, bow, and safety pins.

Exhibit #2: Esmon, you're #1

Another friend from work loved Tigger, and his son was turning 1, so the result was obvious. I prefer to do 2 separate cakes for first birthdays, one for the birthday boy (or girl) to tear into and become a frosted, giggling mess, and one for the adults and other guests to enjoy.

Exhibit #3: Teddy in Chocolate

This was actually for my youngest's first birthday. we used cupcakes and mini cupcakes to construct the baby bear for him to tear into.

Red Velvet and Roses

2009-01-05T15:12:00.000-05:00

For my next wedding cake, I must say networking is a blessing. At my co worker's wedding, I met a sweet lady from my friend's church that was planning her wedding for 4 months later. I gave her my card...

We talked later about what she had in mind for her cake: red velvet and roses.

Now here I must say that I'd been burned in the past by red velvet. I'd made a red velvet cake for a co worker's boyfriend using my family's time honored recipe. She came back and told me that they'd gotten more flavor out of a Betty Crocker cake mix from the box... ouch! Feeling uneasy, I decided to put it to the test. I bought the cake mix and prepared two identical cakes in look and decoration, one with the mix, and one with the family recipe. I let the bride and her mother try them both so they could decide which they wanted, and the family recipe won. Take that doubters!

So a finalized design in mind, construction began. I spent one whole day baking this cake from scratch using every drop of red food coloring in the house and almost all of my sugar. Somewhere 3 hours after my bedtime I miscalculated how many batches I still needed and made one too many (well, my sister's significant other really enjoyed the extra cake).

Three tiers of square cake later, we filled it with the traditional white ermine and covered the cake with white butter cream to make storage and setup easier. The bride asked for red roses in between each tier, so I designed the cake to be easily assembled and disassembled. The layers could be lifted from the bed of roses and cut on the table, then the roses removed to allow access to the next tier. The topper as a hole could be easily removed for memories later.

A close-up of the top of the cake...El Fin.

Marble and Roses to Eternity

2009-01-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

One of the ladies I work with asked me to do her wedding cake. I know her and her husband very well, and it was a pleasure to do it for them. I sat down with them to see what they had in mind. They wanted yellow and chocolate marble, lattice with roses, and 3 circle tiers; the rest they left to me.

After some consideration, this is what I came up with. The bride and groom had chosen "Eternity" as their cake topper and pink and blue for their roses.

Oreo Cookie Cake

2008-12-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, named for and made with our favorite cream-filled chocolate cookie (double-stuffed, please). This cake is best eaten with milk. I used a dark chocolate recipe for the cake that included crumbled chunks of the cookie, and a special mix of the cream filling (I don't like to waste) and home-made "stuf". Instead of torting the cake layers like I do for the Cordials and Hex-a-lot, I left the cake in two solid layers and filled it with a thick layer of cream filling. I then iced the cake in chocolate icing and sprinkled the left over cookie crumbles on top of the cake.

I originally made this cake for a lady I worked for; she wanted it for her friend's birthday. Because he liked the mint-flavored fillings, I tinted it green and added mint flavoring. He said he loved the think layer in the middle best because so many other places you buy a cake and the filling is almost not there.

One thing we agree on, however... best eaten with a tall glass of cold milk, but don't try to dunk this "Oreo"!

The (Insert fruit here) Cordial

2008-12-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

So here is my favorite cake to date: the Cordial. More specifically, the White Chocolate Strawberry Cordial. My inspiration actually came from chocolate covered cherries, or cherry cordials. While not intending to replicate the gooey center of the cordial, the fruit and a white creamy filling intrigued me. Each one of the Cordials has one pound of fruit in it, represented as a solid layer in the center of the cake and as garnishment on the top and sides. The chocolate variations of the Cordials have chocolate cake of one kind or another, while the white chocolate Cordials have yellow cake in them (preferably of the butter persuasion).

My first attempt at this cake yielded a super sweet cherry and chocolate concoction; not quite what I had intended, but a good start, I would think. Deciding that I liked strawberries better anyway, I decided to try the Chocolate Strawberry Cordial.Ever wonder what goes into these cakes?Much prettier to look at and easier on the sweet tooth, this combination of tart strawberries and cordial cream went very well with my chocolate butter cream icing. Further tweaking resulted in the Chocolate Raspberry Cordial for my dearest (as partial to raspberries as I am to strawberries).

This time I played with the embellishment a little (I got some new toys from the cake decorating people), and the pattern pressed into the side worked elegantly well with the raspberries on top.

I guess this next rendition could best be described as a Berry Blast Cordial. Red raspberries, black raspberries, and strawberries all in one cake. I did my standard 4 layer tort, but instead of 2 layers of cordial cream and one layer of fruit, I opted for 3 thinner layers of cream with a thin layer of the fruit, one fruit per filling layer.Finally for Father's Day this year I made the Chocolate Blackberry Cordial for my father. I couldn't stay to see him try it, but I did get a voicemail later... 2 solid minutes of "Yum" and "Yummy!" I don't think I've ever heard a more satisfied voicemail in my life.

Usually the specialty cakes I do are 8" rounds or about that size in square or hexagon, but a dear friend loved the raspberry cake so much, that he asked for it for his birthday (a party of 20 people), so I ended up super-sizing the cake. A little more difficult, but doable, finally ending up with a 9"x13" edition."Thou Rocketh!" refers to a prayer said after inspiration came to my friend solving computer trouble he'd been having for almost a week; a story we still laugh about to this day.

The Strawberry Sweetheart

2008-12-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

Sweetness if ever I saw it. Leroy wanted a cake for his beloved for her birthday, and he wanted it to be a surprise. He came to me asking about a heart-shaped strawberry cake (her favorite flavor). This is what I came up with. Solid strawberry cake, white icing on the top, pink on the sides (took me a while to figure that one out), with contrasting beading for the edges.

The day of her birthday, I brought it down to him to store in the refrigerator until lunch (when he planned to give it to her). I meandered my way back to her area to wish her a happy birthday, mentioning nothing about the cake. I was there when he gave it to her... she gave me "that look" and couldn't believe I hadn't mentioned it while I was back there. He, he, he. Sneaky.

Over all, a wonderful cake, a cute story, and a sweet couple. Strawberry for my sweetheart.

The Cake that started it all

2008-12-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a stroke of Genius really strikes you. This is one of those times. I am a chocolate lover. I have a love affair with chocolate that dates back to before my conception. In my pre-mortal existence, I was the essence of chocolate. So why do I tell you this? Simple, my stroke of genius was the Hex-a-lot-a-chocolate. Once coined the Pentachoc (with 5 chocolates), I decided I needed a nice round number, hence 6

Let me decorate your imagination for a moment... Chocolate cake, with chocolate chips and ribbons of chocolate fudge baked into it. If you're keeping count, that's 3 so far. Filled with white chocolate icing (4), and covered with a generous layer of chocolate icing (5). For the pièce de résistance, shaved chocolate adorning the crown of this rich cake. There you go... 6.

Perhaps most notable, the smell alone is almost enough for an overload to the senses. I made the mistake of taking in this cake to my (at present post) mother-in-law to be for this past Mother's Day... at church... on a fast Sunday. Conversations stopped as the cake entered the chapel and everyone watched this cake. I seriously thought I was going to be mugged on my way to our seats. The next time I boxed it and hid it under my chair.

Now I will admit that there have been several renditions of this cake:
- the Hex-a-lot II where the white chocolate filling and the chocolate icing have been reversed
- the Mini-Hex where the cake is 6" instead of eight with little white chocolate flowers on the sides (quite nice for a little cheer-me-up)
- the Mother's Day Hex-a-lot with contrasting chocolate (or white chocolate) roses and writing.

In its final form, this cake has been known to disappear quickly at church functions, dinner parties, and anywhere else chocolate lovers tend to congregate.

Fresh from the Oven

If the shoe fits... EAT IT!

And Then There Was Cake!

The Cake Lady's Apprentice

****Breaking News****

A new look for the blog

We're on Facebook!

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You're how old?

The Temple... II

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do...

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Renaissance attire optional...

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Snarrrrll...

Another sneak peek...

Thank you... and I'm not Lion!

I've been busy...

Viking Ship

H is for Hotrod

Siena's Grand Opening

A Present for Hannah

Inside the Jewelry Box

Multiple "Purse"onalities

The Hadlers' Wedding Cake

Walker's Skate Park

February's Enrichment

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Detox Rubik's II

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Sassy Pixie

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February's Enrichment

Misc. Cakes

Even seen a bunny with ears?

Audie's Cakes

Chloie's Cakes Continued...

For Scooby Doo fans everywhere!

Snowflakes and Cordials

Chloie's Cakes

Retire me Pink

The 3 Chocolate-Tiers

Bowl Me Over

Gone Fishin'

Getting a little Racy?

Character Birthday Cakes

Detox Rubik's Cube

Father's Day

Hearts Alive

Message in a Cake

Did you miss?

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like women and beer...

Birthday ala Zieger

The Janus 'O Lantern

Rack 'em Up!

Baby Showers

Baby Cakes

Red Velvet and Roses

Marble and Roses to Eternity

Oreo Cookie Cake

The (Insert fruit here) Cordial

The Strawberry Sweetheart

The Cake that started it all

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