The Top Reason for Cake is.....

Have you ever watched the game show Family Feud? The gist of the game show is that two families compete against each other and answer questions such as, We surveyed 100 people and asked them what is the top reason you buy a cake. The families then try to guess the top reason and get points in descending order based on their answers for example where and answer of desert might get you 10 points Birthday might get you 75 points. That's right if this were to be a real question Birthday would be the number one answer.

I say all of this to lead into the next cake. A wonderful co-worker came to me needing a cake to feed about 75 people. The occasion was her Aunt's 77th birthday (and sort of a family reunion). She really wanted to do the cake but did not have the time that week. So she asked if I might be willing to do it. Of course I said yes and looked for information about the Aunt. We decided on something traditional with spring colors. By the time we got done we decided on a 13 inch cake that is three inches thick. The butter cake was covered in traditional decorators icing with a basket weave design and various flowers coming out of the basket and poking through the basket weave. I understand the cake went over well and the 77th party was a success. I love my coworkers.

A Ducky Birthday

Often when people ask how I am I say ducky! They usually laugh and shake their head but every once in awhile I have someone who asks what I mean when I say that. What I actually mean is that I am calm on the surface and paddling like mad underneath. I tell you this to say I have a special connection to the duck. So when it came time to make a birthday cake for our new interim director what could I do but a duck? I say this sarcastically as I try not to push my ideas on others.

However after only knowing him for a few months coming up with a great cake was tough so I called the one person who I knew who would know, his secretary. She was wonderful at pitching ideas and said he enjoys duck hunting. I knew that I had a 3-D rubber duck cake pan that I had once used to make a chicken cake, so how hard could it be to convert it to a normal duck? I baked a butter cake and ended up with a great 3-D duck cake. A little carving of the head and neck (and a photo of a mallard up on my lap top) a mallard duck was created. To help decorate several candy ducks were made to decorate around the cake. He might not be perfect but he did let us sing Happy Birthday before he lost his head, literally. It did not take long to devour this cake. The birthday man (boy seems a little inappropriate especially for your supervisor) seemed pleased with his cake too.

Grass Skirts...a New Hot Trend?

Although I try to offer each cake as a separate story these two were so closely related and so similar I just have to tell the stories together (sort of like how I decorated them). Way back in December a little girl approached me about making a birthday cake for her. Her step mother very quickly reminded her that it was impolite for her to approach me to make her birthday cake and she needed to learn about patience. When I asked the first question about when was her birthday I suddenly understood about the patience part, her birthday was not until August. No worries, but she told me right there and then her cake had to be a dog cake, a cute dog cake, but not too cute because she likes eating cake. No pressure right? So as time went on the cake evolved. She was having a pool party, tiki beach theme, sort of Hawaiian. So as we went forward this chocolate fudge cake became a 3-D dog wearing a grass skirt. I actually used a lamb cake pan and did a little adjusting for my spotted dog wearing a grass skirt, and a flower behind the ear. It just seemed appropriate. Of course there was a cutout in the grass skirt for the tail (you can't keep a wagging tail down-just ask my dog). Apparently, this eight year old was thrilled not only with her incredible birthday party but with her cake as well. Apparently she tried not to let anyone eat it but eventually she had to have a little chocolate. According to reports the cake was just the right side and just disappeared.

About the same time we finalized this cake I received another Hawaiian themed birthday party cake request. This cake was for the same day (yes the same day) but for a 14 year old young lady. Her cake was a butter cake made in the shape of a young lady getting ready to enjoy a real beach party with grass skirt and flower lei. It is my understanding that this cake was also well received and this teenager had a great coming of age party.

It is just funny that on one day, two young ladies, years apart shared a theme displayed in very different ways on their cakes. Happy Birthday to you both.

Patriotic Salute

The Fourth of July makes one think of picnics, apple pie, hot dogs and the red white and blue. So of course when a friend said they would be hosting a traditional hot dog and hamburger cook out for their staff to celebrate the fourth I offered to supply the red, white, and blue. I could do this is a variety of ways, I could supply a flag, a jello mold with strawberries, blueberries and whipped topping or with a cake. Guess what I did?

I combined several of the ideas to make the holiday cake happen. I baked a golden butter cake, one layer in a waving flag cake pan. With a 16 star tip I decorated the red and white strips all the way across, and blue background for the stars which were size 18 white stars. The cake was devoured and the flag did not wave after this event. That's okay, it is much better for this flag to be eaten rather than burned.

A Retirement Special

After more than 30 years with one organization a person deserves a party with a really special cake. I have to give you just a little background to this story and this cake. You see our esteemed County Extension Director, Everett Davis, decided to retire from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Now he didn't want a party, and well we (I believe there were three of us) did our best to twist his arm and he finally relented. What he didn't expect is that there would be almost 200 of his clients, friends, coworkers, and family who would show up to celebrate his incredible career.

Of course knowing Everett like I do (I have been his 4-H agent for the last eight years), I knew there were many things that could be on the cake. He has a crops background, sold tractors, was in the Navy. He loves to play golf, travel, and fish. He is a long time church member, member of the fair board, and loves N. C. State University and his family. Try getting all of that on a cake and come up with a saying that fit the fun yet bittersweet occasion was tough. Not to mention the cake had to be big enough for a growing guest list in the hundredsSo we started with a basic golden butter cake. To make the amount of servings we needed it had to be two tiers. However to allow for decorating the square cakes were stacked in a manner that allowed me to decorate the top tier and the corners of the bottom tier. We picked some of his favorite things to decorate the cake. One corner had a farm scene complete with tractor and a North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service sign (marketing even as he headed to retirement). One corner had a golfer, since I heard through the grape vine that one of his gifts would be a year's membership to a local golf course. One corner had a fishing scene since that is something he talked about frequently and was looking forward to doing with family members. The last corner had an airplane to represent the travel he enjoyed and the tours he was getting ready to put together as his retirement career as a tour coordinator. On top it was decided we should say Bon Voyage, since he was sailing on to the next adventure.

The cake was not the only feature, I made candies in the shape of the N. C. State University Block S logo. This decorated the side of the cake and we also had a plate of them for people to enjoy. All in all the cake was a hit. I promise after cutting it I did not bring any back home with me and Everett seemed pleased with the entire event, which was a proper send off for the man who lead us all these years.

'Tis the Season

Strawberry season that is. Who could resist fresh local strawberries? Especially when combined with cake. I must admit this is so simple I am almost ashamed to put it on here. However, not so ashamed to make not one, not two, but four of these delicacies in the last two weeks. All this is is a simple sour cream pound cake sliced in half. I slice the strawberries and let them sit making their own juice for a few hours and then lay the slices on the bottom slice of cake, and pour the juice in the bowl over them so it will soak into the cake. Then I layer some store bought whipped topping on top of that and of course some more strawberries. Next I place the top layer of cake and lightly smush (yes, that is a technical term) it down. On top of that cake I spoon more whipped topping and then some strawberries that I halved lengthwise. Any strawberries left over and juice are places around the bottom of the cake for garnish. Voila! It is finished and ready to be cut. Oh, on the last cake I swirled some chocolate sauce over the slices of cake and served it. I did not hear any complaints. Feel free to use this and adapt it...it is easy and so ugly that it appears elegant. Go Figure!

Blue Ribbon Cake for Blue Ribbon Families

As you may have noticed from some of my other posts, my career allows me the opportunity to enhance our programing with cake on occasion. One such occasion presented itself recently. Our final session of Strengthening Families allowed us a grand celebration with four families who completed the program.

Strengthening Families is a curriculum from Iowa State University that Christy Strickland, our Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent implements. During the seven week program the families have dinner together, then split into adult and youth groups (the youth in this program are 10-14), then come back together during a family session at the end of each night. During the program the parents learn about listening to the youth, setting limits, discipline, and having families meeting to allow the entire family to work as a group. The youth learn about the responsibilities that parents face, learn why it is important to follow rules and gain tools for dealing with peer pressure. As a family they work on their communication skills and find ways to talk about the tough subjects like alcohol, drugs, and sex. After completing the seven week course the families will be invited back in September for a refresher and to let us know what is working for them.

For the families that finished the program they received a certificate on the last night and celebrated with a blue ribbon cake. After all they are blue ribbon families and I could not think of a better cake to make for them. After the night everyone sat down and had one if not two pieces of cake and we were even able to salvage some, for someone important to our program to take home the next day. We just want to wish our families good luck in the future.