Spook-Tacular Day

In case you are keeping count this is the fourth cake (not to mention cupcakes) that I did for one day in delivery. I haven't slept much, but I really don't care because it is so much fun!

There is a group at my office who is not much on chocolate cake or even my butter cake however they are all about this Funfetti cake mix that Pillsbury puts out. I can't quite figure it but everyone has their likes and dislikes and it is my job to fill those likes and dislikes. So this cake was done in a version of the funfetti cake. Which to the best of my descriptive powers is a white cake with sprinkles, that you might put on ice cream, dispersed through the cake.

In keeping with the holiday spirit I had the chance to use a new cake pan that I had not used before. This cute little ghost is anything but scary. He floated in made with a favorite cake flavor of funfetti and was decorated in white stars with a few black highlights to give him character. I am glad to say by the end of the day there was none left. So you could say this little ghost disappeared.

Lighting Up the Holiday

Halloween means many things to many people. For me Halloween always meant Jack-O-Lanterns, Trick-or-Treating, and just plain old fashioned fun. That's probably why this cake was so much fun for me. As you can see with so many cakes due right before Halloween this year I did not get a chance to get messy and carve a pumpkin for myself, and there are not any Trick-or Treaters in my neighborhood so I had to celebrate through cakes this year.

Our 4-H specialized committee had asked to have lunch with some of our youth to meet them and learn more about what we do in 4-H and better be able to see the difference we are making in our community. As part of the lunch I decided we needed cake. So I decided to make two. This one was a Jack-O-Lantern cake made from my butter cake recipe. I made him a cheery sort of fellow, not menacing and hoped that he would light up the holidays. He seemed to do the trick as he did not last long at our office. Happy Halloween to all.

I Think I Can...Celebrate!

I think today is the busiest cake day I have had in the history of baking cakes. When Michelle called and asked if I could make a train cake for her son I could not resist. She also asked for something a little different, two dozen cupcakes for the day care. Now as many of you know I do make cupcakes but they are not my most wonderful thing that I do. However when we started talking about a Thomas the Train cake it sort of all fell together.
I knew to do the cupcakes just right I needed to find some Thomas decorations. I went to one of my favorite little shops in Fayetteville, Crafts Frames and Things. There I found everything I needed. Although I could not locate a Thomas train pan I did locate a train cake pan and Thomas cupcake picks that I could use for the cupcakes. When I left there I was excited about the prospects ahead.

I started by baking the the butter train cake then turned to the cupcakes. I also used my same butter cake recipe to make the cupcakes. I iced the cupcakes in big white swirls of icing then sprinkled them with blue crystallized sugar to match the lightest part of Thomas's Engine. Then the pick of Thomas went into the top of each cupcake. I had thought about doing both red and blue cupcakes however with little ones I have learned that it is best to keep things simple and make sure everyone gets the same thing. When I got done I was tickled and the uniformity of all the cupcakes and wish I had extras to try one myself.

After finishing up the cupcakes it was time to turn to the cake. Since I was using a train cake pan and not a Thomas the Engine pan I had to do a little adjusting during decorating. The cake was a train cake adapted the best I could to make it look like Thomas the Engine. I puffed up his cheeks with grey icing and made sure his cars were in complimentary blue and red coloring. When Michelle came to pick it up she seemed very pleased with the cakes and cupcakes and was ready to celebrate her son's birthday.

Just a side note to this story....I recently took inventory of my cake pans (yes, there are many cake pans) and found my very own Thomas the Train pan that I thought I had. I have done a new catalog system so I can more easily find the pans and am happy to say there can be a variety of train cakes now.

Witchy Birthday

This cake request made me ask lots of questions. One of the people who attended the leadership academy enjoyed the cake so much she asked if I could make a birthday cake for her sister. I responded of course and gave her my contact information. She called and asked if I could make a wicked witch cake. I said yes, but thought she had originally suggested a birthday cake, but I did not question it because the customer is always right. On a subsequent call the customer told me that it was a birthday cake for her sister. This time I had to ask, "You wanted me to make a wicked witch cake right?"

"Oh, yes her birthday is on Halloween and she will love it. The uglier the better." So who am I to argue? The cake needed to feed about 30 people which took away my normal forms of wicked witch cakes because they feed 10-20 people, so it was time to get creative. I poured over my Wilton Cake books and came up with a possible solution. Using a paisley cake pan they had made a witch cake. Now this cake, in the book, was also decorated with fondant. For those of you who know me, you know that it is my personal preference not to decorate with fondant. That means I had to get creative and adapt this to icing. Ha Ha Ha! Actually she didn't turn out too bad, with lots of green icing for the face, icing nose and warts, and some really stringy purple hair. I did add a "Happy Birthday" to the band that went across the orange belt that ran around her witch's hat.

The nerves hit when pick up time came. I was still not sure if I had gone over board or if I had not done enough. With something like this and a new customer you never know. When she and her son came to pick it up he said "Woah! That is ugly!" She smiled and I knew that we were good to go! Later she reported that the cake was a big hit and there was more than enough to feed everyone. Most importantly she said her sister loved it!

On a Musical Note

We have all sung Happy Birthday to someone in our lives or had it sung to us on the important occasion of celebrating our day of birth. Although we usually don't have musical accompaniment this cake recipient really should have. One of my co-workers, let's call her Aggie, approached me about making a birthday cake for her husband, let's call him Bobby. She was not sure what to make but knew it needed to feed 15-20 people who would be present for his surprise party. That's right a surprise party. No pressure here.

The few details I received about the party was that it would be held at church after bible study. Therefore the cake needed to fit within the context of his church life, which really would not be hard. Not only does he lead several activities at church he is also a self taught musician. Although he plays several instruments the guitar, I believe, is his favorite. So making a guitar cake seemed appropriate. When I asked about making it like his, Aggie told me just to go ahead an make one not to worry about it looking like his. I think that had more to do with the fact that we were on a time crunch and trying to get an image of the guitar he uses would blow the surprise. So I made a generic guitar and delivered it to his wife so she could surprise him. When the time came he walked in and nearly fell backwards as everyone jumped up to say happy birthday. I understand there was only a fret left when they got done. For a baker and musician alike that is the highest form of praise.