The Reason for the Season

I am not surprised when people come to me right before Christmas to order a birthday cake. It seems a lot of people have birthdays right before Christmas and parents especially want to make sure the child's birthday is celebrated separately from the big holiday so their child does not get gipped. So when I got the request from one of my co-workers for a birthday cake I wasn't shocked, I just couldn't remember any of her grandchildren having a birthday in December. When I asked how she wanted the cake decorated she said sort of Christmasy with lots of green and red. Now I was stunned and just looking at her questioningly asking what she wanted on the cake. She nonchalantly replied, "Happy Birthday Jesus." Well that cleared it up for me.
She went on to explain that they youth at her church decided they wanted to have a birthday party for Jesus this year in place of a Christmas party and what would a birthday party be without a cake? As we talked she gave me permission to jazz it up from a regular sheet cake to something with a little more pizazz, that could still feed 50. HMMMMMM....now this deserved some special thought and a little something extra.
Now you have to know Aggie to know that creativity was necessary, especially when she decides the cake needs to be devils food. We agreed on a baby cake and whatever else might work. I must say I have never done a birthday cake for Jesus, so this is a first! I started with a sheet cake so we could feed a whole host of people and then a cake that I use primarily for baby showers, but with a little nip and tuck, thought it would work here. Adding a manger, tree, and star...I think we had it all.
I delivered it to her church and was greeted by young ones and adults all dressed in red tops and black slacks or skirts. They were decorating for a big birthday bash. The kids had made birthday cards for Jesus and they were being hung around the room. It was a very festive atmosphere, and different from the traditional Christmas party. These kids knew what they were doing and they were so excited to do it. One little boy ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug. He asked me if I had a son because I hug like a mom, I told him no, but I sure do like to hug. Everyone seemed tickled with the cake (even though I had to do a little patch work thanks to the pot holes between my house and the church). I have no doubt they had a great celebration of the season...for the right reasons.

All Star Bratz

It is almost Christmas and I got to do a cake that had nothing to do with Christmas. You might remember Noah's Darth Vader Cake a few weeks ago. His older sister Taylor's birthday is today and she is into the Bratz. Last year it was Barbie, but alas as we get older our taste changes, thus Bratz this year (and probably something else next year).

There is no such thing as a Bratz cake pan, and carving was really not an option. So after a long search I located four Bratz cake toppers. Figuring that they are stars I thought a star shaped cake would be appropriate. A butter fudge cake makes up the base for these young ladies, and I picked (with mom's approval) purple, blue, and pink to color the cake. Dad picked up the cake and thought it would pass the birthday girls approval test.

Tee Time

There is no tea involved with these tees. I have to admit this cake was purely for fun, as is my golf game because there is no chance I have another career on the tour. I picked up a new cake pan, and like most kids who get a new toy, I couldn't resist. I baked a butter fudge cake and then waited a week until I had time, to decorate it, then voila. There are lots of variations you can do on this cake. It can match bag and club colors and it is fun for any golfer. It is a unique birthday cake, or hole in one celebration cake.

This cake made it all the way to one of our local golf courses, and the patrons and golf club house staff (and owners) dissected it. There was not much said, but it appears as if I hit a long straight drive off the tee and was lined up perfectly for a birdie on this one.

Holidays Mean Time to Carve the...Cake???

I admit Darth Vader is probably not who you would think of having as a guest at the holiday table or even as the guest of honor in place of the turkey...and alas the only correlation between this cake and the holidays is that I carved it (not to eat it but to decorate it).

Time to rewind and hit play. Darth Vader was a request by a young man, Noah, who happened to be into spiderman last year. This year he thinks Star Wars is out of this world (and I personally happen to agree). So he requested his favorite character, Darth Vader. Before we could leave the space station we had to hit the hyper drive, and challenges surrounded this project. Although there is a Darth Vader cake pan out there, it would have to be an eBay purchase and I had two days from order to delivery, so eBay was out. Internet searches are an amazing thing. I had a variety of homemade Darth Vader cakes to study and picked one or two that looked reasonably likely of being accomplished, then I devised my plan.

I baked a butter fudge chocolate sheet cake and froze it. Icing was not a problem, I knew I would only need one color, black. I started drawing and carving, taking pieces cut from here and there to make the mouth plate of the helmet and tried to add details. Have you ever used cake as a medium for sculpting? It is easier to do when frozen, however cake thaws fairly quickly and can get messy. After building the chocolate cake it was time to ice it. Now I have to admit it is hard to take a picture of a black cake. Details don't always come out and it may have some proportional issues, but I think Noah got the idea, and hopefully knew who it was supposed to be. Mom and Dad seemed pleased that Noah would have the force with him on his birthday.

A Visionary Cake

Baking and decorating cakes is great relaxation for me. It is something I enjoy doing especially in the wee hours of the morning when most people are asleep. I will be standing over a mixing bowl or peering into an oven with a little smile on my face enjoying the smells baking is generating in my kitchen, So as you can imagine being nervous about a cake would be contra-indicated in this situation. Alas, here I was baking and decorating, actually nervous about this cake. Ally was turning 14. As Ally's mom told me, she is very particular about what she wants. She had a vision and it was my job to translate her vision to cake. Of course there is a little twist...I have not met Ally. Her vision has been translated to me by her mother, who I am so happy to work with. I can't say I was nervous the entire time. When we talked originally the cake was to be a big sheet cake (fudge marble cake) with hot pink edges, black zebra stripes, and have a white box in the center with hot pink writing. As Ally's mom continued to explain her daughter, party, etc. I realized a simple sheet cake was not enough, she needed something a little bigger and bolder without changing the concept. I suggested two tiers the bottom being hot pink with black zebra stripes and the top being white with hot pink accents and writing. Mom thought that sounded like a good idea. A week before the cake I got an e-mail asking me to consult before I start baking. Usually, this is not a good sign. However, when mom and I talked it was more about questions and changes in flavors of cake (we ended up with a butter fudge bottom layer and butter cake for the top tier). She kept repeating that her daughter had a vision for her cake and is very particular about this vision and the zebra stripes needed to look like real zebra stripes. Okay, I have to admit there was some pressure here because I knew in my head that zebra stripes look like zebra stripes on a zebra, not on a square cake...but hey, I am game for anything. So I baked and started constructing the cake. Starting with the bottom tier laying out zebra stripes and putting a black dot in them so I knew where I needed to come back in and fill in with black icing. I must admit I went big also...my thinking being after hearing about the parties and possible as many as 75 of Ally's closest friends attending we needed a cake that would feed them all and be big and bold enough to fit her party and vision of the cake. After getting everything filled in all that was left was the top layer and I was not as nervous about that. Once I got everything in place I placed it on a board because it was rather heavy. Thanks to technology I also snapped a photo and sent it via MMS to mom in case she saw any last minute changes and could call me back. Ally's dad came and picked it up. Once we got it loaded in his vehicle to transport to the party there wasn't anything I could do. I must admit I waited with anticipation Monday morning to see if it passed. First thing Ally's mom came in and and let me know it passed, it was huge and she will be eating cake forever, but it passed. I think there was a sigh of relief as I then concentrated on our staff meeting that morning. Happy 14th Birthday Ally!

Almost Grown Up Cake

My friend Dillon turned 11 recently. What you need to know about Dillon is that he would have made a great guest on Art Linkletter's show "Kids Say the Darnedest Things". Sometimes the truest and boldest things can come out of his mouth so when he mother came to me to ask me about a cake and was laughing I knew this would be good. She said when discussing his birthday there was the usual choice of Chuckie Cheese (as with many boys he is a video game guru) on the table, or a movie but this year Dillon wanted something different, he wanted to go with a friend to play laser tag! He also informed his mom that he wanted a cake but he was too big for those cartoon superheros and little kids games. He wanted something more grown up. He wanted a motorcycle cake! A little while later he said he wanted a motorcycle cake that was red. Then a little while later he came back and said it would be more grown up and cool if it was red with flames. After that he said the motorcycle needed to have his favorite color green on it too. As she was giving me the color schemes all I could think of was that the motorcycles are mostly black and grey (tires and chrome). The seat, tank, and fenders are often colorful but if I used all of his colors this was going to look like a Christmas Tree on wheels (adults are often limited in their thinking) but I agreed to all the colors and would do my best with the flames. So when designing his cake I made a green background, red seat with flames on the tank (unfortunately it is hard to see the flames with the tank being so small) and his nickname (D.J.) on the license plate. When Dillon saw the cake his eyes lit up and he said, "look a motorcycle!" His mom said he didn't want to wait when he got home he asked if he could go ahead and cut it. He also said he couldn't wait until he got big enough to get his own, real, motorcycle. I just wonder, if he gets one, if it will be as colorful?

Creating a Life Memory

It is a special treat to be part of someones special day. The cake will stay in their freezer for a year and in their hearts and photos forever. I work with brides and families (rarely ever the groom...but I think that is an entirely different topic) to create the cake that will represent them on this special day, and stay within their budget.

Heather and Caleb had dated and been engaged for as long as I can remember. I work with Heather's mother and it was a treat when she asked if I would create their wedding cake. There were very few strings to this one, they wanted a white stacked cake, but with color. Knowing the couple, a pure white cake would have been too boring for them. Heather's colors were rose and purple and needed to be incorporated into the cake. After searching books, photos, and online images they created a cake that appealed to them, by combining the details from three different cakes. The other thing to keep in mind is that the happy couple decided to have a small wedding with immediate family and friends (about 50 people) so when creating the cake they didn't want anything to huge because they didn't want to be eating cake for the first year of their marriage.

When all was said and done, and the cake, in different flavors, was cut and served, I think everyone was happy with the outcome. Heather and Caleb kept the cake off of each others faces and seemed to have a wonderful day. We wish them the best of luck in their future together.

What we are all about

I love baking. Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, anything that can be mixed up and baked I love making. You could say it is my stress reliever. For years I baked delicious items, but as so often is the case, they were ugly, unappetizing to the eye. So I took a class on cake decorating at the local community college and voila, my cakes were transformed. At first I was making cakes and giving them away for the practice but the more cakes I gave away the faster I realized I was going to have to charge or go bankrupt in my hobby that was supposed to relieve stress.

Now I make cakes for anyone who would like one of my cakes. The thing I like most is that each cake has it's own story. The people I make cakes for are a close knit group. Not a stranger in the batch. I make cakes for people I work with, their families, the people invited to their parties. It is a personal reference that puts me in touch with the people I am creating for which allows me to get to know them and hopefully what they would like.

As this blog goes on I hope to share not only the cakes I make but the stories that go with them. Because you see I may make 20 cakes that look alike, but the story is never the same. So with the permission of my clients I hope to share their cakes and stories with you as this creative process and hobby business continue.

To see some of the past creations just click here. You may notice that all of my cakes are made with icing. That is because I have one guiding principal when making a cake. It may not be perfect but when it goes in your mouth it will taste like a moist, sweet, homemade cake. What good is a pretty cake if it tastes like chalk? I do not use fondant, even on wedding cakes. I do not want to sacrifice taste for looks. So if you are looking for the perfect cake I am probably not the baker you want., If you are looking for a cake that people will ask for more of and where you got it...then I am the baker you need.

To contact me about a cake please feel free to e-mail me at CustomCake4You@aol.com