It doesn't take much!!

So I was having an informal cake consultation today at school with my VP for whom I am making 2 upcoming birthday cakes. His son is quite an interesting young man approaching 13 or 14 (guess I should confirm that before making the cake) who LOVES to bake!! Seriously - Saturday morning he gets up with great excitement and exclaims that he is going to make eclairs that day! And then procedes to make homemade eclairs! I think I should hire this kid as my first official assistant!! So the reason for my "it doesn't take much" title is because the cake was supposed to be for June 11th and it's my 2nd that day and 4th of that week...so the great news is that it is being bumped 2 weeks! YAY! I'm thinking that I need to make (somehow) a Kitchen Aid stand mixer out of cake! What do you think?

The 2nd bday cake is for his Tim Burton obsessed teenage daughter and this too is bumped by a few days so that both cakes are needed for June 24th! Perfect! I can't wait to create a wonderful Tim Burton tribute cake for her with 3 necessary characters: Jack from Nightmare before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and the Mad Hatter!!

That's all for now. Just thought I'd share some little news that made me happy today! This week's cakes - Buzz Lightyear for a 2 yr old and a very last-minute custom yet damaged police cruiser cake (order from my caramel/cabbage-roll loving police officer from last week! Too FUNNY!!) Pics of this past weekend's Garden Party cake coming soon! The wedding cake I did for Friday that kept me up til 2:30am on Thursday pissed me off so much that I didn't even take a picture! Grrr....now kicking myself because I spent so much time on it, and maybe just maybe it might have actually looked better once I had some sleep!

Finally I can sit down & relax!! Well sort of!

I hope everyone had a super May long weekend! It was busy around here with 2 cakes going out - one Saturday afternoon and the other on Sunday. Both clients were happy which makes for a happy caker!

The "Ben 10" cake was my 2nd Omnitrix watch and also my 2nd birthday cake for Paul! Thank you Andrea!! I wanted to put a small LED light on the top in the centre of the watch, but was warned against going overboard by my ever-so-$-consciencious husband! Next time for sure and I'll be sure to include it in my quote price so I won't get into trouble with him!

The ipod touch cake might be my new fave! It was definately a labour of love - much like my Harry Potter potion's book. Since I didn't know the exact apps that the birthday boy had on his ipod, I researched a bit and was able to create a custom screen for a 14yr old. Then I thought I might hand-paint them but when I looked a bit closer, I realized that lots of the apps have dark backgrounds so painting would be difficult. So off to cutting the tiniest little bits of fondant to make every app as accurate as possible! You keen eyes will notice that I did forget one thing - when I was piping the final details on the apps (like Sunday on the calendar and Call of Duty), I forgot to paint the symbols on the calculator! Crap!!  Kyle's mom LOVED the cake - he seemed as excited as a 14yr old boy is going to get over a cake! Thanks to both Kyle & Corie for letting me be a part of the day!

This week in cake: a small & low-key wedding cake for Friday and then a big celebration cake for our church's Garden party on Sunday! Trying to spend my day out of the kitchen (been cleaning since I woke up) but I might just have to bang off a few carrot cakes while the sun is NOT shining!

Thanks for looking everyone!
Cheers!

Hello Cake Fans!

I think I've found my perfect go-to and delicious cake recipe! It's cream cheese pound cake. I've made it before and I know it's super yummy but I forgot about how EASY it is to make! I love baking but HATE/LOATHE/DETEST finicky recipes that you have to do 4 things all at once and then spend 10 min putting them together and washing bowls, etc. This one is simple! So here ya go if you want to give it a try:

1 1/2 c butter, room temp
8oz pkg cream cheese, room temp
Mix these 2 until smooth & creamy.
3 c white sugar (it is pound cake afterall) - add to butt/cc mix and whip until light & fluffy (5min)
3 eggs, add seperately and beat until yellow gone before adding next
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla - mix well
3 c flour + 1/8 tsp salt - add to wet mixture while blending on low speed until all incorporated & smooth.

Put in prepared  pan (I use PAM & parchment paper for bottom) and bake at 300 for 90min (I'll check mine in an hour and let you know if I've changed the time) - oh and IN the oven with the cake, put a oven-safe bowl of water (I used my 4c pyrex cup and half-filled it).

Pictures of the weekend's cakes are coming! Ben 10 is on its way to the party! Hope it's a hit! ipod touch is being completed tonight once I get some Vitamin D & Malibu into me!

Cheers!

Making cool cakes makes people happy!

Well despite my anxiety about creating a caramel & cabbage roll-eating cop for the top of a birthday cake, IT WENT OVER VERY WELL! The client (thanks Kat) was thrilled and told me the bday boy was practically speechless!! In a good way! Yay! 3 other police officers at the party too so everyone really enjoyed my efforts! I love making cakes - but I love it even MORE when I hear that my cakes make people happy! She was so happy with the cake that she insisted on over-paying me! Another bonus! WINNING!!

So 1 cake down for this week and 2 more to go - a gluten-free "Ben 10" Birthday cake for 5 year old Paul! And a trendy iPod touch cake for Kyle's 14th! Thank you Andrea & Corie for your orders! Hope I can make your bday boys just as happy as my caramel/cabbage roll-eating cop!

Cheers!

First Communion Weekend!

Another crazy week of cakes in this house! After last week's 4 cakes, this weekend's 2 seems a little dull actually! LOL! But the 2 are very special First Communion cakes for some pretty special boys! Yesterday's was my BFF's son David's big day so his cake was 3-tiered silver, green & black. I'll post a pic here in a sec. Cakes were chocolate with french vanilla bean buttercream, carrot with orange cream cheese buttercream and french vanilla pound with orange ccbc. Tasty! We had more than enough cake (and food) to say the least!

Today's cake (to be finished here in a bit) is for twin boys who are also receiving their First Holy Communion! Cake is 2-tier squares, silver & slate blue (chocolate & vanilla flavours).

Stay tuned for perhaps the strangest cake order yet - coming on Wednesday this week for a caramel and cabbage roll loving policeman!

Thanks for looking & sharing! I'm full for May and June (for the most part) but summer is wide open!!
C

Happy Mother's Day!!

A BIG shout out to all you mothers out there who have crazy but awesome kids, a fulltime job, a loving but flawed husband (or not) and who wouldn't change a thing!! I had my 3 kids pretty close together - not by planning of course - but because I'm so darn sexy!! LMAO!! We tried for 10 months to have Roman...so we were pretty surprised when Naia was conceived without trying (I still say I was drunk that night and he took advantage!!). So those 2 are 20 months apart which was sort of crazy but do-able! What was even crazier was Mylana coming along 15 months after Naia was born! WOW! No one can prepare you for that! But I am so very blessed to have my 3 beautiful, intelligent, comedic and LOVING children and I wouldn't change a thing! I have no cake news today - just wanted to say how grateful I am to be a mom and also to be able to do the other things I love b/c of the support of my husband & kids! I teach high school, do cakes (obvi!), sit on my church's Parish Council and kids' School Council, and workout/run on a regular basis! I'm not SUPERMOM or SUPERHOUSEWIFE but I get er' done! Just don't come round and judge me by the cobwebs in my corners! There will be time for dusting someday. Just NOT today!!

Thanks for your support & interest!
HMD!

My unsuccessful modelling chocolate story!

So you watch the Cake Boss and maybe Ace of Cakes and you see them use modelling chocolate for almost everything. About a month ago, I decided it was time to experiment with it so I found a recipe online and guess what? It's super easy to make! 10oz of melted choc with 1/3 cup of corn syrup. Stir it well and it becomes thick like dough. Smooth it out on waxed or parchment paper to 1/2 inch thickness and let sit for 2 hours. No problem! I was able to tint it (since I chose to use white choc) and I made Ariel for Naia's cake!

Well, tinting icing or fondant is never much fun so I decided those choc wafers from Bulk Barn which come in assorted colours would be an even better choice! Easy right? Everything about making it was the same and was simple. But after a few hours, when I checked it, mine actually just felt like a 1/2 inch mass of solid chocolate. I had to "warm it" in the microwave in order to be able to have it be pliable enough to use. The first one I did, I nuked it too long and it was like trying to mold porridge. Not fun! But it hardens well so Manny's hammer friend in blue turned out ok. I won't bore you with details and I'm sure you're wondering, ok, what part of her story was unsuccessful? Here it is...

My white modelling chocolate doesn't mold. It truly is a big hunk of white chocolate. I warmed it - it turned into white sand. ?? And this was the largest amount of chocolate I used so that totally sucks! Live & learn! Next time I order a big bucket of MC from a cake decorating supplier and then I can truly be CAKE BOSS!! It's the KISS principle in effect!

Ciao!

What a crazy week!!

Hello Cake Lovers!! I'm back to vent/celebrate about my week of caking! 4 cakes - Birthday for a New Home Owner, 1st Bday for Drake who loves Handy Manny, 1st Communion for Morgan and Baby Shower for Shannon! Whew!! My progress is slow and hampered by that dreaded thing called work...oh, and motherhood! However, despite knowing that it will be a VERY late night, I'm having fun!

My cake flavours this week, if I may so say myself, are OUTSTANDING!! I made a carrot cake with YJ n cream cheese frosting and covered with orange flavoured fondant! Delicious!! Then the rest of the cakes are french vanilla pound and I'm using french vanilla buttercream with them and lemon flavoured fondant. Handy Manny cake is also filled with fresh strawberry slices while the Baby Shower cake has 2 tiers of vanilla - one with homemade raspberry puree and the other with crumbled Reese Peanut Butter Bars. Oh my!!! So very good!! If I keep "tasting" my stuff at the same rate I'm going, I'll definately be needing more time in the day to do longer & fiercer workouts!!

Stay tuned for pics of all these creations and thanks so much for your support!! I'm slowly filling June weekends so if there's anything coming up and you need a last-minute cake, I just might have to say NO as much as this kills me. There is NO WAY I'm doing 4 cakes/week again! Well, July & August I would!! Perks of being a teacher!

Cheers!

Oh blog, how I've missed thee!

Hello Cake enthusiasts!! I'm sorry I've been away from my blog for this long! Our home internet has been very fickle lately and I have also been swamped!! But happy to be back with news of my latest creations...

So I did make that cute little Easter bunny cake that I saw on Cakecentral. I'll post a pic of mine here in a bit. Then came my nephew Mason's 2nd birthday and his mommy decided Mater would be the custom cake!! It was a lot of fun to make and his reaction was priceless!! Once he was allowed to "eat" the cake, he immediately picked off Mater's tooth, and ATE it!! Then he ate the other one! Gall dang it!! So cute!! Pic coming!!

This week is a hairy one for me but everything is going ok so far. I have a Birthday/Housewarming cake for Alex, a baby shower cake for Shannon, a 1st Communion Cake for Morgan, and a special 1st Birthday Handy Manny cake!! Busy but cakes are baked and freezing. Lots of fondant & buttercream in my future!!

Thanks so very much for your continued support! I have orders coming left & right. Booked solid for the rest of May and almost can say the same for June once I firm up some graduation cakes!! Life is "Sweet" to say the very least!!

Chat soon,
Cynthia