It's Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas....

In case you haven't figured it out it is very rare for me to say no to cake. Not just because I have issues in trying to please everyone but also because I love to bake cakes. So when one of my co-workers, let's call her Aggie, asked me to bake a cake for a church function how could I resist? Last year, you may remember, I made a cake to celebrate Jesus's birthday. This year we did something a little more in the holiday spirit but still with a religious story (or should I say fable) surrounding it, and made a candy cane cake.

The fable of the candy cane talks about an Indiana candy maker who wanted to make something special to honor Christ's Birthday and made this candy white for his purity, red drops (or strips) stand for the blood he shed, and it is in the shape of a J to represent his name. Although historians have proven the story to be inaccurate, it is Christmas so why not believe?

So in the spirit of the holiday and having faith and believing, I set out to make this cake. It is a yellow butter cake, actually two to make sure we had enough to feed everyone at the church. The candy cane cake is on top of a sheet cake. They candy cane is traditional with red and white strips and if you smell hard enough you would even swear you can smell the peppermint flavoring traditional with all candy canes. When I delivered the cake everyone seemed please and ready for the annual church celebration. I must say the decor was festive with Santa's from Aggie's personal collection scattered everywhere. I know they had a great time and those children left full of faith and belief in the real meaning of the holiday.

It's a Fancy Nancy Christmas

Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year. So when my the children's librarian asked if I could make a cake for the Fancy Nancy Christmas Party I was honored and confused. I must admit I am not up on my children's literature (actually if it is Winnie the Pooh I can fill you in on the details). Fancy Nancy, I found out thanks to a quick Internet search, is one of the hottest characters around. She is the main character for a series of books and everything she comes into contact with suddenly much fancier. When I got to the library (later than planed...thanks to a lake detour in my kitchen-fixed thanks to my talented adopted McLean family) there were still about 30 very fancy children with crowns, necklaces, and other fancy accessories. So I brought in the Christmas Tree Cake. Instead of a star on top I made a crown-just to make it fancy. I also replaced red ornaments with pink, because it seemed to be a fundamental necessity for a Fancy Nancy cake. It took mere moments to cut the cake and divide up among the fanciest of guests. As a special reward I was given the opportunity to pull the ticket for a Fancy Nancy basket. It seems as if it was a sweet day for all involved.

How Many Times Can You Celebrate One Birthday?

The answer to that question is based on your age. When you turn one hundred you can celebrate for at least three years and have as many cakes as you want. That's right we celebrated the North Carolina 4-H Centennial again. This time it was as part of the annual 4-H Youth Achievement Night in Robeson County.

The cake was actually three sheet cakes. I carved them into a one and two zeros. Each cake was also a different flavor. The one was a butter cake, one of the zero's was devil's food cake while the other was a marble cake. All were iced in white icing with green border, and confetti sprinkles across the top of each.

As part of the event the 4-H staff, State Senator Michael Walters, County Commissioner Hubert Sealey and County Extension Director Everett Davis took part in the cake cutting. The audience of 120 sang happy birthday, twice. To see photos from the special evening and learn more about the night check out the 4-H blog.

The cake seemed to go over well. When we cleaned up from the evening...there was less than one cake left, and people taking cake home with them. Congratulations 4-H!

Arghhhh! It's Birthday Time Me Maties!

Let me start by saying I often get interesting cake requests. Some of which I can do, some of which I can do some version of, some of which I can't do a darn thing with. This cake was sort of a compromise cake. Mom had called me, let's call her Jane, and asked if I could do a pirate ship cake. I thought no problem! I have a new cake pan with pirates, and it is very cute. Then Jane added the part that it was for her son's birthday. His 18th birthday. Cute and 18 don't go together. Especially when your son makes his own video games and can give you the background and history to almost every Manga character every created. Jane said his new thing was all about pirates. I said I would think of something. Now I do have a flag cake pan and could have done a pirate flag. That just seemed a little predictable. So I decided all pirates must have a sword. However there is not set cake pan for that so I was relegated to carve the cake.

Carving cake is always an interesting process. Like stone, marble or some type of hard object if you chip away too much you can't go back and replace it. However unlike those hard substances, cake tends to get crummy when you carve it. I don't mean as in crummy tasting, but cake crumbs everywhere. That can lead to a very messy decorating job. In this case with a chocolate fudge cake, it could be very very messy. I baked a 12x8 cake and carved from there. First the blade then the handle. Decorating was a little tricky but with two shades of grey a steel blade was born and I made it as ornate a sword as any pirate might have stolen. Added the birthday boy's name down the center and voila-a pirate sword cake.

I was informed that mom needed her own sword to fight off the masses until the cake was served a couple of days latter. However once it was cut...it was apparently gone. True to the pirate way of life.

Saying Thanks for the Oreos and Cheesecake.

I must admit I like to bake. I bake lots of things not just cakes (or at least decorated cakes). This year for Thanksgiving my mother and I had the privilege to share a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with another family who are friends of my mothers. To make sure we kept up our end, mom wanted to invite everyone to her house for dessert. First request from my mom, an Oreo cheesecake.

For those who like cheesecake it is great. For those who like Oreos, it is a great way to get non-cheesecake eaters to try cheesecake. For those who like both...this is heaven. However, it takes an hour to bake and overnight in the refrigerator before serving so I made this two days before Thanksgiving (knowing after driving I would not want to stay up and try to mix and bake this). I must also admit that the recipe calls for regular Oreos but I use double stuffs and I add a few more than the recipe calls for to make sure it is chalk full of the good stuff.

The cheesecake transported really well. I must admit it seemed to make our special guest pretty happy too. We had enough left over for a family gathering a night or two later and seemed to put a lot of smiles on faces. So I am thinking it kept fairly well.

Oreo is not the only cheesecake I make. There is also strawberry (second highest seller) and a chocolate chocolate Oreo cheesecake. Not to mention the regular cheesecake, Bailey's cheesecake, chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip cakes. If you can come up with a flavor...I will see what I can do about making it for you.

Racing to the Birthday

I know I keep saying this but I can't help it. I LOVE the people I work with. About a week ago I got a call from a very polite nice young lady whose name I should have known but could not place until she said, "I'm Christy's daughter." Oh boy did I know who she was. If you read this blog much you have read about Christy and have probably seen Amanda's graduation cake that Christy designed and I tried to incorporate into cake.

Anyhow I digress. Amanda asked if I could make a race car cake for a friends son and make the number of the car 7 since the little boy was crazy about racing. Race cars are fairly easy for me (and I have done several) so I figured yup let's go for it. Amanda even had a sample car for me to follow the color scheme. I was so excited!

I made a butter cake and got to decorating. The car had a blue roof, hood and trunk while the rest was white. I put it on a checkerboard flag background and voila. Our birthday boy's name is Hunter and where else would you put a name on a race car but on the hood.

When I got the cake to the office, photos were flying to and from cell phones and shortly before noon I got to meet our orderer in person. I must say it was a little like meeting a celebrity because I have heard so much about her (and even seen her in a commercial for Lumbee Guarantee Banks). She seemed very pleased with the cake and I hope Hunter is as well and has an unforgettable seventh birthday.

Polka-Dotted Poka-Dot

Do I enjoy what I do for a living!!! One of the main reasons is because I work with this incredible group of people. For example, one of my co-workers, let's call her Janice, was debating about getting her daughter a cake for her birthday. That doesn't sound good...let me back up a second and better explain this situation. This daughter (she has two) usually has really big birthday parties. As a matter of fact I think one of her previous cakes, for a blow out bash is on our blog. Anyhow this year she decided not to have a big party. Instead she had a few items she wanted for her birthday and she and her mother went shopping and purchased all of her gifts in advance. Being the wonderful mother Janice is, she couldn't let the big day go by without any recognition. She fretted back and forth, because she had told her daughter that by making the decision for gifts not a party there would not be a party. Of course you want to stick to your guns...but how can you not recognize the day itself?

A couple of days before Janice asked if I could do a cake for the birthday, nothing big just something for the family to celebrate. She couldn't bear the thought of her child not having some type of recognition the day of. So we talked about what would be a fun cake and we came up with the idea of the polka-dotted polka dot. Bright colors were my instructions and I went to it. I made a marble cake and did my best to round it out into a polka dotted shape. Janice seemed thrilled. So thrilled that she took it to gymnastics practice along with some mini cupcakes that she decorated around the bottom with. It wasn't long after that I got a text message that the cake was a big hit.

After I was told that although the girls enjoyed the cake there was still some left over...but there wasn't anymore. I am thinking it went home and was promptly devoured there. Hmmmmm...got to love a polka-dotted polka dot.

Happy Birthday 100 Times Over!

It is not everyday that you get to design a centennial birthday cake. As a matter of fact usually it only happens every 100 years or so. This year I got the privilege to do such a thing. Being a 4-H Agent (which is my real job) gives me some special opportunities to make cakes that I normally would not get to do. This is one of those cakes.
2009 marks the centennial for North Carolina 4-H. The national 4-H centennial was in 2002 and I actually got to design that cake as well, however that was before I was a 4-H Agent. Funny how that works isn't it? Any how I digress.
November traditionally marks the annual Robeson County 4-H Volunteer Appreciation Banquet and this year was something extra special, not just because of the centennial but there were some history making surprises.
For the banquet we needed a special birthday cake for our volunteers so I set forth to design something, not too flashy, but something you normally would not get to have (okay I was trying to stay away from the standard sheet cake...I dislike them intently and try to stay away from them whenever possible). The original design included three tiers with photo separators between the cakes and photos of our volunteers working with youth between them. After careful consideration of the amount of people (130 RSVP their attendance). I decided that might not be the best idea because if someone accidentally bumped the table they would knock the cake over and that might cause a kink in the program. Instead I used a floating cake stand and designed a 14 inch butter golden base with a 10 inch one layer butter one layer fudge cake, and topped it off with a six inch fudge cake. I figured that was everyone could have what they wanted.
The decorating was fairly easy, white icing with green writing. It matches the 4-H colors and worked for a birthday celebration. I did my best to do the writing on the sides so everyone could see it and finished off with having our 4-H super stars .
cut the cakeIn the photo are Clinton McRae, the South Central District Director for North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Sharon Rowland who is in charge of the Development Fund, Everett Davis, the Robeson County Director and Dr. Marshall Stewart, Department Head, State Program Leaders, Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Sciences. As our illustrious County Director declared as he cut into the cake, "Oh wow! It's real cake!" Thanks to our volunteers it was a real cake that they took a big chunk out of and enjoyed with their dinner that night. It was a spectacular way to kick off a spectacular night.

Giving Birth to Baby Cupcakes

Apparently I have a problem saying no. Imagine that. Which is why I often do several cakes or take several orders at one time as a matter of fact I find it very relaxing to decorate so this past weekend I must have been relaxed. A friend of mine, former co-worker, current 4-H volunteer, and all around good egg, let's call her Missy, called me to see if we could come up with something fun for her cousin's baby shower. We started off with cake squares which I quickly shied away from due to issues with other cake square orders I have had. So after talking up and down and sideways we settled on cupcakes. We started talking about pink cupcakes (according to all reports the baby will be a girl) but not pink cake. As a matter of fact we have butter cupcakes with white icing and pink feet. As we got closer to the date the order grew and the instructions melded into a new form. We wanted pink icing but not baby pink, so I suggested hot pink (which is soooooo easy to create) but we settled on pink with a hint of orange. We also dropped the feet and I added my cupcake trees to hold the 40 plus cupcakes that were needed. To add to the texture I decorated in two ways one was flat the other was cone shaped coming up in the center to add to the drama of the tree.

As I was in route to deliver the cupcakes I realized as Missy and I were discussing the color that they were really grandma pink not baby pink or orange pink. So I was not sure how that would work out. Missy showed me the roses she got to decorate with and one batch was orange with pink edges the other were a deep pink. I did not put them on the stand for photos however I do have a photo of them strecthed out on racks after being iced.

As the report goes the cupcakes matched the color scheme perfectly and the mother to be downed three cupcakes in a row. Although one report says she ate one whole, and then had two more that were eaten more carefully I am going with the thought that she really enjoyed them and I know she had a great baby shower. Now we just have to wait for the big day...maybe we will need a welcome cake for the big event? Just a thought!

Plowing Up a First Birthday.

For those of you who know me you know I am not a person who was raised in the soil. As a matter of fact you know that it would probably make me sneeze. So know what a tractor is and what it looks like might be a stretch. So when Penny came to me (and for those of you unfamiliar with Penny she is one of my co-workers at the office and has been mentioned many times in this blog) and said her brother and sister in law were hoping for a tractor cake but she thought that might be out of the realm of my talents, boy was she surprised when I said no problem.

Let me explain it is Penny's nephew's first birthday and of course we needed a cake, and a smash cake. For those of you not familiar with a smash cake it is generally a smaller cake that is baby size and appropriate for a one year old to stick their hands into and smear all of their face. Since most adults who attend the birthday party would prefer not to have a smashed cake from a one year old there is the official cake and the smash cake for the child. Back to the story...the theme of the party was John Deere which is very simple, just a green and yellow tractor. To jazz it up a little I painted my decorating bag with the green and yellow icing colorings and piped the border from that which gave it a tie-dyed effect and was kind of cool. The smash cake was actually made from cupcakes and was in the shape of a one. I put the tie-dyed rosettes across the top and iced the rest smooth.

Penny said her nephew sat and looked at the smash cake for awhile and then stuck his finger in it. Apparently after licking his finger and realizing that he liked it and getting a quick sugar rush he delved right in and smashed the cake and literally shoved it into his face. Which means he got the range from his chin to the tip of his nose and up his nose but did not seem to mind. He did not mind that is until mom put a stop to his fun and had to get the cake out of his nose. Other than that I would say his birthday was a big success.

An Enlightening Cake

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy the people I work with. They are incredible people and very supportive of my cakes. As a matter of fact when walking by Christy's office the other day I heard a, "...well she is walking by my office right now..." and I must admit that I looked around to see who she was talking about and didn't see anyone else, but yet my brilliant self still did not take the clue that she might be talking about me until she called my name. At that point I was thinking to myself, oh oh did I volunteer Christy for something I forgot to warn her about??? Alas I could not think of a thing. Christy must have read my mind from looking at my face and just laughed. Then she explained that she had gotten off the phone with a friend that had enjoyed the cake I had made for her daughter's college graduation and was wondering if I could make them and scary cake for Halloween. Although we were both wondering what the definition of scary was in this case (ugly witch, nasty headstone or something really bloody and gory) I agreed and she said she would get more details.

Not long after she said a simple Halloween sheet cake would be fine that said Happy Halloween Colton & Collin. Everyone who knows me knows that a simple sheet cake is not in my vocabulary. I asked if I could do something a little more fun and she said sure go for it and further explained that the person ordering it really wanted cake and was getting it for herself and her sons.

So I did my very favorite thing and used a cake pan I had not used before (I really wanted to do this cake pan because unlike the others the pan is iridescent orange-and really neat looking) that looked like a Jack-O-Lantern. I made a yellow butter cake which seems to be the most popular of all. I decorated it in orange, and yellow with a green stem and black eyes and writing. I must admit writing on this cake was a little difficult. I had actually thought about writing on the sides but every child deserves to have his or her name on the top not the sides so I ventured on. I thought it made a very happy Halloween cake and one that I might get to make again in the future.

Birthday Pikachu

Well I have to admit it's been awhile since I posted to the blog. Work like has been a little wide open as we say here and cakes have not been in my scheduling. However last week one of my coworkers sons had a birthday. He said all he wanted for his birthday was to go to Fayetteville and play laser tag. So with laser tag and pizza in the plans I couldn't help but volunteer to make a birthday cake. I told my coworker that what ever her son wanted I would create so they hit the blog and checked out the slide show in the introduction section and the next day I was told it was narrowed down to Sponge Bob and Pickachu but Pickachu won out. So I baked a yellow cake and Pickachu was created with icing and love. She picked it up after the pizza so they could have a little family party at home.

One other little thing I did...I must admit to it. I could not resist throwing in some candles for this cake. Of course they were not your traditional candles. They were tall sparklers that relight when you blow them out. I figured since Dillon is a big 12 years old right now it was a good time to have a little fun. I told mom she could blame me for it and she promised she would. Do you think I should worry?

Single Best Reaction to a Cake EVER!

It is not often that I am asked to do a 50th wedding anniversary cake. When it happens I want to make sure the cake is extra special. This cake however offered some special challenges and opportunities. You see this couple was going to have a surprise anniversary party so they knew nothing about the cake or anything which made it impossible for me or anyone else to interview them on their likes and dislikes. As I interviewed one of their sons I got that they wanted it to look like a wedding cake, stacked construction not separated, they wanted a big cake even though they were only planning a party for about 50-60 guests, they wanted a classic wedding cake but not too formal because the couple is not a traditional/formal couple. Okay so my first thought is I am supposed to make a formal wedding cake not look formal. As their son poured over the books and photos I had he kept picking intricate and more formal cakes with sprays of flowers and roping and wanted it all in white. So then I came up with an idea for a photo cake. No not a sheet cake with edible photos but separators between the layers of the cake that could have photos and words on the cakes. However after consulting with the family there were no photos to get their hands on for the cake and the words were a little too modern for them. So we went back and forth and up and down and after realizing that 50 was the golden anniversary the son agreed to a cake that was slightly off white (which would give it a less formal look) and gold ribbon separators instead of photos. As a matter of fact after seeing the 50 for the top of the cake he was inspired to go get the gold ribbon for me, which was a plain gold and he felt suited his parents style to add to the cake.

So I baked three butter cakes. Although we had discussed doing different flavors for different cakes when they realized there would be more cake than people they decided to go with one flavor. So I bakes a 14 inch, 10 inch and 6 inch cakes each two layered about 4 inch cakes when I got done. I set up the separators with the ribbon and had my dowel rods ready and in place. Getting the cake to where it needed to go was another issue.

The party was held in the Woodmen of the World building about 15 miles from my house. So I loaded up and headed down. Now remember this is a surprise party so everything must be set up well in advance and the cake is going to have to last several hours in one spot. Usually this is not a problem however this building was quaint, useful, and very old. Every time someone took a step in the building the entire floor would shake which made tables and chair shake so I figured out rather quickly we had a vibrating cake table which is not always good for stability. My other issue was the temperature. Although there was air in the building, it was a hot day outside and we were in and out a lot. Cake stability is best in a climate that is not changing and that is fairly cool. However you work with what you have and often pray for the best and that is what I did.

I quickly went to the task of getting the cake together and putting the finishing touches on it. The off white icing made the cake less formal than a wedding cake and the decorations on the side added a little whimsy to the cake giving it a great design and allowing it to be more of an anniversary cake. The finishing touches are the gold ribbon separators and the 50 in the top of the cake. Once it was together I hoped for the best and prayed we would not have much slippage.

The cake was up and I cleaned up, hiding all of my cake stuff until it was time to cut the cake. I waited as guests arrived and did my best to help out with other things. Now mind you, the family was in on the surprise, the guests were asked not to say anything (and didn't) but the husband had to be let in on it all to make it work. So instead of playing golf that morning he went to the building to help clean up and set up for his own anniversary party. As cooking was going on he left and went back home. His wife was under the impression that she was headed to an event in Lumberton and needed to be there by noon and if he was not ready in time she was prepared to leave him behind because this was very important to her to be at this event on time. To add to the story her son even had her make bannana pudding for the event (which he planned as one of the dishes for the party). So, as the story was related to all of us at the party, she is getting ready to leave her husband behind because it is taking him too long to get ready and she does not want to be late. She has already loaded the pudding in the car and he makes it out of the house in the nick of time and is complaining that he does not want to go to this event. As they get ready to turn the corner to head to Lumberton he looks the other way and pretends to notice all the cars at the Woodmen of the World building. He claims to be upset because no one is supposed to be there and turns the corner to further investigate. His wife on the other hand is very upset because she will be late for this very important event and is doing her best to convince him to leave this investigation alone and turn the car around. She is so busy she does not notice the people in the crowd at the building or the cars as they rush the car and yell surprise the look of shock and amazement on her face is priceless.

It takes several minutes for it all to sink in and realize that the event was a rouse to get her here and this party is for the happy couple. After hugging everyone and getting some family photos with sons, daughter in law and grandson she heads inside to a room full of friends and family. She makes the rounds in the room two other three times each time noticing someone else.

Still getting over the shock and letting it all sink in she turns to make another round and speak to everyone again and notices the cake. She stands frozen looking at it and tears well up in her eyes. I asked her if it was okay, did I do something wrong and she asked if I made the cake. I admitted I had and she just hugged me. She held her husbands hand and pointed to the cake and he admitted he knew about it, and she just quietly said,"I never had a wedding cake." That did it. Tears welled up in my eyes and I knew this cake was something more special than any other cake I had made.

As the party went on you could feel the love of this family and friends as they came together to celebrate over a fantastic meal. When it came time to cut the cake the happy couple got up together to cut it as if it were their wedding day. They opened gifts and shared in more laughter and love before sending everyone home. What a fantastic day and fantastic party!

Scooby Snack!

Scooby Scooby Doo, where are you? Not too long ago he was making a special appearance for a young man's birthday party. How he got there is a neat story.

Often I take photos of the cakes I make to my office, or sometimes the cakes themselves go there so people can come by and pick them up. On such an occasion I was showing photos and one of the people who work in the building was talking about his grandson who loves Scooby Doo and was wondering if I could make a Scooby cake. Well I sent him to the blog and he found and printed the Scooby cake (which if you know him that was a great feat managing the Internet that way because it is not he favorite thing to do). Next thing I knew he came in and needed a Scooby cake. Now I do not want to be gender discriminatory but most times when I start asking men questions they have no idea what is involved in ordering a cake. Question number one is what flavor and he just looked at me like most men who do not realize cakes come in different flavors. He said he would have to ask. I asked how many the cake would need to feed, he looked at me again. So I wrote down my questions and he laughed and wen to make his phone call to the woman who could answer the questions. A couple days later he was back and we worked it all out.

On the official day of the cake I brought the finished product in to him and he asked if I had someplace safe to keep it. I put it on a back table and every 15 minutes or so he would come in and check on it to make sure it was okay. I have never had such security for a cake. When the little boys mother arrived to pick up the cake I understand she was pleased as well. Later reports say the cake was a hit, and did not last long so I would say everyone enjoyed this Scooby Snack.

Cap, Gown and Don't Forget the Cake...

Have I ever mentioned I love team work? Did not know this about myself but recently the benefits of team work have allowed me to graduate to a whole new level. This cake is an example of that.

One of my co-workers asked me to do a cake for her daughter's graduation from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP). The basic instructions were black and gold icing (school colors) and it needed to serve 50 people. Then she handed me a picture. She liked the shape and the stack but not the design we needed to improvise on that. A day or so later I showed her a few ideas and she picked out the ones I liked too.

So the cake was designed with a two layer square cake, and a two layer round cake off center on the top. Then a sugar cookie stacked on top to look like a cap. The tassel was done with icing. We did stripes on the bottom and circles on the top in the various colors and sizes.

I understand that the graduate was happy with her cake (and happier with her diploma as it should be), and the party was a great celebration of this young lady's accomplishment.

Happy Birthday Like Never Before

My Daddy always used to say, "Never say Never." He also said, "never throw a 7 until a 7 has been thrown," when we played Gin, but I digress.

On this occasion it is easy for me to say this was a birthday that was celebrated like never before. No it was not mine, but my father's favorite aunt, Edith Harrison, who turned 90 in April. I was fortunate to receive an invitation, not only to the party, but to make the birthday cake for this incredible celebration. There were no instructions, just do whatever my heart desired, and feed 200 people (actually to be fair they were going to buy extra cakes to make sure there was enough but I said if I am going to bake for 100 it is just as easy to bake for 200). It wasn't the designing, baking, or decorating that challenged me on this assignment but the logistics. You see the party was being held in Cartersville, VA and I am in North Carolina, 20 miles from the South Carolina line. So there was a little transportation issue. How do you safely transport a cake almost 400 miles? Of course I had a plan.

I baked the cake in North Carolina and froze all the layers. I placed them in a cooler with ice bricks and drove to Charlottesville (about an hour from the party.) This is not nearly as challenging as it sounds as my mother recently moved to Charlottesville and she was at a conference in Florida so I was able to take over her kitchen and decorate. I put the base layer and basket weave (or trellis work depending on the cake) on each cake, eight in all, and got ready to transport the next morning.

I carefully loaded the cakes in the vehicle along with hardware to construct the cake icing and decorating tool box (and clothes to change into) and headed towards Cartersville. It was only an hour long drive and I was feeling pretty good about the process until I went across a large set of railroad tracks a little too fast and got a little nervous. When I got to the community building there was very little damage, none that couldn't be fixed with icing (icing is the super glue/duct tape of the baking world). I commenced to construction and decorating.

Decorating was based on the decorating at the party. It was really quite amazing.
A small building had been transformed into a comfortable living room setting with the most beautiful flower arrangements everywhere. There was soft tulle draped across the ceiling softening the stark building, and making it just right for an afternoon celebration. The color scheme with blues, violets and pinks was transformed into the design of the cake. I had three hours to construct a three plus foot cake and get all the flowers on it.

In my favor was that everyone left to change so I could work on the cake and

have it (hopefully) magically transform in front of their eyes (or at least look a little better when they got back.) I got to work and constructed the cake and then decorated cake after cake, layer after layer, until I was finally satisfied that there was not much more I could do, and I really needed to clean up.

The thing about a cake this size is that it does not stay up long. After everyone got a chance to see it (especially the birthday celebrity) we cut into it. Everyone seemed pleased with it, especially my cousin's little boys who stood in front of the cake eating other food as fast as possible hoping beyond hope I would not cut into it. Finally she explained to me that they were not allowed to have cake until they ate other food first. However they were concerned that the cake would be all gone before they could eat enough to please their parents so I made them a deal to save them each their favorite flavor of cake to make sure nothing would happen to it. I couldn't cut it fast enough, as soon as I figured out which cake was which there they were ready for their cake.

I must say what a pleasant day. About 200 people came by to share their birthday wishes and enjoy this special celebration. Elizabeth (Aunt Edith's granddaughter) was doing her best to catch everything via camera card (while Robert is still using a camera with film...but we're trying) Aunt Edith seemed tickled with the variety of people who came, many that she had not seen in years. As it should be it seemed that she had a fantastic time. Thanks to Judith and her planning the party went off without a hitch and everything from the food to the decorations were just perfect.

This week Aunt Edith sent me the most wonderful thank you note for the cake. Inside was a clipping from the local paper, showing her in the background cutting the cake. The article gave highlights of the party including that I had decorated the cake. Imagine my first press coverage of a cake, and I can't imagine a more fitting occasion cake to publish. I must admit I don't think Ace of Cakes has anything to worry about. In the meantime however I will continue to enjoy this special cake made for a special lady on a special occasion, one like never before.

Say "I Do" to the Cake

We've all seen or at least heard of the show saying I Do to the Dress, but what about the cake? Each wedding is different and what a bride or groom concentrates on as being the most important part of the wedding. For this wedding they kept telling me how the cake was going to be the show piece of the reception and all I could think about was how everyone would be looking at them not the cake...at least not until they cut it.

Well when I got to the church (the reception was in the social hall for the church), I was greeted by covered but empty tables, and the bride, with hair done and veil on getting ready to slip into her dress for photos, and several people who just looked at me in my jeans, polo shirt and ball cap concerned that I was dressed for the wedding. As I looked around for the cake table it was hard to miss.
On the wall hung a large wooden cross with white sheer fabric draped to each side and a ball of the fabric in the center. I found out later that the ball of fabric was actually filled with small white lights that looked really incredible when lit. In front of the cross and under this fabric ball was a round table, the cake table. To either side against the wall were two tables, with photos draped with cloth so the groom could not see the bride in her dress before the wedding (by the way I did get to see her in her dress and she looked like she stepped out of a fairy tale...every girls dream of how she hopes to look on her wedding day.) Through the middle of the room was a Z shape of tables for all the food that smelled so good simmering in the kitchen.

I went to work constructing this cake. There are days when I feel like I am either an architect or construction worker as I build these rather large cakes. I started with an 18 inch plate and placed the fountain and greenery around it and then added 13 inch columns. On top of the 6 13 inch columns sat a 16 inch heart shaped butter cake with off white icing, rose colored roses and sage colored leaves, stems and seashell border. Three inches above that cake sat a 12 inch cake and a nine inch cake on top of that. The topper was the most beautiful Lucite heart with two intertwined hearts, their names, and wedding date etched in the center. By the time the cake was up and constructed it was an inch shy of being a three foot wedding cake.

The bride saw it dashing from one part of the church to the other (trying to avoid being seen by the groom), and commented that it was beautiful. The groom had the opportunity to see it on his way to change for the big event, and seemed pleased with how it turned out. I gave cutting instructions to a very nice lady who was in charge of cutting the cake after they cut it, and she seemed ready to divide it up quickly and efficiently for all.

Today, the day after the wedding I have received several reports on how much people enjoyed the wedding and how happy the couple looked. I also heard from one of the guests that the cake was really good, which makes me happy that it was up and tasted good (because that is the most important part to me..who wants to celebrate the happiest day of their lives with a bad cake?). I am looking forward to hearing from the happy couple when they return from their honeymoon...in the meantime I will work on their wedding cake photo album, and enjoy being able to take a part in this happiest of occasions in their lives.

You Decide

Sometimes when trying to give some one an idea of what you can do you can give too many choices. I was trying to do that with this cake.

The questions were easy to answer but it is a case of seeing it with your own eyes versus, looking at a picture. Instead of giving you the answers (because the photos do that) I will give you the questions instead and you can decide for yourself.
Is off white icing better than white? What about lots of flower clusters? What about a little color versus all one color? Can you match the colors of the event? What would it look like with lots of color versus a little color?
What do flowers look like going up the side of the cake? What about different sizes of flowers? Can the top design be a little off center?

This is an 8 inch two layer cake made of butter fudge because sometimes chocolate can make the most difficult decisions much easier to handle. Or at least things seem a little sweeter at the time, but you can decide.

Slumber Power

If you are a child of the sixties this cake might be familiar. It is the super bright, transcendental, fun flower, a.k.a the flower power cake. A sign of of peace and love in the sixties, and a sign a fun for young ladies who like girlie, bright and fantastic cakes in 2009.

This cake was made especially for a young lady who was celebrating a birthday in a really fun way, a slumber party. Of course you know when you have so many girls in a confined space and you hope they sleep, what you really want to do is feed them lots of cake. Yes, I am joking. What made this cake spectacular is that it was this young ladies first chocolate cake...ever. I grew up on chocolate cake. As a matter of fact there was no decision to be made when it came to birthday cakes in our house, they were chocolate with white icing and yellow roses. So when this young lady's mother informed me that this would be her first chocolate cake I was very excited, and might have gone a little overboard. Instead of a plain old devils food cake, I kicked it up a notch and went with butter fudge. There might not have been any sleep at the slumber party, but I bet they will have a time they will never forget.

The Ugliest Best Cake Ever

It is not uncommon when working on a wedding cake to do sample cakes. When the brides mother has a birthday, well sometimes cake can do double duty. So in reference to the title I would say this is the ugliest sample wedding cake ever made, but not an unattractive birthday cake.

The cake is a two layered butter cake. I used two 12 inch heart cake pans and imprinted vines and various flowers. Not exactly my favorite design but I did get an e-mail saying it tasted pretty darn good. Stay tuned to see the next creations.

A Birthday and a Smile

I got a phone call last week and a very nice man was talking to me about the fact that his wife was out of the office so it was safe to call me. Now my mind first jumped to this man has a seriously wrong number, but then I realized he had called the office and had to ask for me. He identified himself but it did not help, as my mind was now trying to figure out who his wife was thinking who was not in the office that day so I could figure out this mystery. Then he said, "well you may not know this but her birthday is Thursday." The little light bulb shot off over my head, a wave of relief came over me and life was suddenly so much better. Yes, this was the husband of one of my co-workers, and as I listened I realized he was calling to see if we could arrange a cake, on the sly.

I asked the normal questions if there was a theme to the birthday, and colors etc. He said no, that she was working that night so it was just going to be her parents, and family at home, nothing special just create something she would like. Here is the kicker, the one that got me and made me get extra creative...he said, "when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said one of your cakes." That was it. This was going to be a great cake, it had to represent my coworker, let's call her Christy, and her sparkling personality.

So thinking away I came up with something really bright with lots of colors and shapes. Something about that didn't feel right, kinda felt like a cop out, it wasn't personal enough. I went to her partner in crime in the office to ask her but she was on the phone. So as I was working my IM screen came up and I asked one of my volunteers who knows her fairly well and she said a McDonald's cup. I thought that is perfect, and started thinking about how to do that and I thought I could do it so it was half a cup coming off the cake board, then she suggested a diet coke can in the same manner. I was leaning towards the McDonald's cup because it would be brighter but I had my construction concerns.

Over lunch that day the cake idea became cemented in stone. One of my lunch buddies suggested using round cakes to make the diet coke can, she was offering some small springform pans to help me out. At that point I was set on a diet coke can. When Christy's partner in crime, let's call her Janice, and I talked that afternoon and I ran the idea by her she loved the idea of the diet coke can. She and I were discussing flavors and decided in keeping with the diet coke theme the cake should be a chocolate cake, so butter fudge was chosen. Mind you at this point I have included many people in this secret, and so keeping it a secret was as important as getting the cake done.

Well I ended up baking about 18 inches of 6 inch round cakes. We ended up using 12 inches of cake which seemed to look right plus much more the cake would have been really lopsided. My biggest concern was grey icing. Grey icing can be depressing and it is almost impossible to make metallic icing so once I got a light grey base I started in with the colors. By the way writing sideways is kinda tough, but it is the straightest writing I have ever done. I little ribbon edge around the top and all worked well.

Christy's husband and I arranged a pickup time at my house, and knowing were she was we were in good shape. He grabbed the cake and went on to take care of the rest of her surprise eventing. That night after our program we made sure everything was picked up so we could leave in a hurry and send her home. I sat on my laptop, trying to work on homework, curious if she liked it. I got a text message about a half hour later, letting me know she had a cake and a smile.

Lordy Lordy Look who's 40?!?!

I admit as a child my parents had a blast going through the newspaper looking at all the photos of those who had turned 40. As a child that seemed like a huge milestone that very few people lived to see. Now I am getting ready to venture to that milestone and I don't see anything remarkable about it. I am thinking 80 is closer to the top of the hill and that 40 is just starting the climb...but what do I know I am still a young'un.

I say all this to build up this incredible cake to celebrate, not a 40th birthday but the passing of a man's youth. Not any man, a youth pastor. No, I do not have a death wish doing such a cake, I just a have a really warped sense of humor and the inability to say no to the very kind person who asked me to do the cake.

I must say I have never used the tombstone cake at Halloween. Usually it is used for Birthdays or other such important celebrations. The cake comes complete with cracks, spiders, spiderwebs and of course black roses. Fortunately the recipient came complete with a sense of humor and appetite (I am told the butter fudge cake went over well).

The Superbowl of Birthdays

I admit unless there is a team I really like I mainly watch the Superbowl for the commercials. Thanks to a now 11 year old young man, this year I watched the game with just as much interest as the commercials. Last week someone I have the privilege of working with from United Way, asked if I would make a cake for a friend of hers. Of course I said yes (how could I say no to something I love doing so much). She said it was a simple cake, it needed to be a Pittsburgh Steelers Jersey and drew the design on a sticky note. Being a Buffalo Bills fan I am very familiar with our neighbors the Pittsburgh Steelers and their trademark Black and Gold uniforms. However I must admit I have not paid much attention to the team since, oh (I am about to date myself) say the 70's. So with interest I tuned into the Superbowl this year to see how the Steelers were dressed on the field. Needless to say it did not take me long to observe the white jerseys with gold stripes near the shoulder and gold name and numbers outlined in black. So after observing the details I needed for young Mr. Gaddy's cake I watched the Superbowl and I must say thank you. Without this assignment I might have missed a really great game.

I understand that the cake was for a surprise party at church tonight. I hope his 11th birthday was as great as this year's Superbowl.

Multi-Cultural Explorer Birthday

You know her from cartoons and marketing and today she made an appearance at the Lumberton bowling alley. That's right Dora made a brief but special appearance to help ring in Miss Jailyn's Birthday. Her aunt ordered the cake for this growing young lady, and said it had to be Dora. When it comes to cartoon cakes everyone has a favorite and children are especially opinionated about their favorites. So it is nice to know that you can bake their dream come true. Jailyn's aunt, and three cousins came to pick up the butter explorer cake. The youngest came in the door saying one word over and over...cake. She seemed a little confused that the cake and Dora were the same but I have a feeling that when it came time to cut into it the confusion would be cleared up and she had her cake in front of her, and even got to eat it too.