Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea?

If you yelled out Sponge Bob Square Pants you are so right. Each year there seems to be at least one Sponge Bob that turns up. He is becoming a character like Scooby Doo and Bug Bunny, taking his own place in cartoon fame. So when my most incredible and wonderful secretary came to me and asked if I could make Sponge Bob for a relative I of course said yes.

This is a butter cake and feeds up to 20 people. Apparently he was so cute it was tough carving up this cartoon character. All children however know that cake can be eaten and the character will live on as does Sponge Bob Square Pants.

ACC Party the Sequel

Usually the sequel to anything is not as good as the original. However I dare say this would be the one time that this is not the case. You may remember the, I even shudder to type this, this Tar Heel cake I made about a week ago. Well the same friend and loving Aunt came to me and asked me to create a North Carolina State University (NCSU) cake. This time I did not hesitate to say yes. Of course I am still a die hard UVA fan so why did I not hesitate? My day job is actually working for N.C.State University as part of the Cooperative Extension Service, specifically as a 4-H Extension Agent. Although I do not root for the team I do not have a negative connotation for the school so making the cake was not a problem.

Once again I set out to order a pan and could not get one. Believe it or not they were back ordered. I had to be on campus for training one day and stopped by the bookstore to see if they had one, but no such luck. So my next plan was to carve the cake. It was not perfect but Stevie was thrilled and his big brother who likes UNC is still trying to determine which cake was bigger.

ACC Party

Imagine having a child with a favorite college. Now imagine that child's sibling likes the rival school and their birthdays are about a week apart. Can make the birthday bash interesting. So when a friend of mine came to me and asked me to design a University of North Carolina Cake for her nephew I did actually hesitate. As many know I am a University of Virginia fan and my father and I often told people that I am in North Carolina doing missionary work converting Tar heels into Cavaliers. So the decision to do this cake was difficult. But this friend is wonderful and her nephews are pretty neat in their own right so I agreed to do this.

I ordered a UNC cake pan. My issue with this (beside the school) is that it is a silicone pan and I am not big on silicone pans. Also, one could argue that it is healthier because you coat this pan with cooking spray rather than shortening and flour but I am concerned that cakes tend to dry out more. None the less, the cake was baked and decorated in traditional UNC colors. A little Happy Birthday message was added. The birthday boy seemed very happy to have possibly his future college, represented at his party.

Monkeying Around

I love monkeys. They are fun, funny, cute, and even the ugly ones have adorable features, and they tend to be rather smart. How could you not love a monkey. I have had a monkey cake pan for quite awhile and never had a reason to decorate a monkey cake until recently.
I eat lunch frequently with a group of professionals who have a tendency to turn lunch into a laugh-aerobics hour. We have a great deal of fun and great sense of humors are flying. Kind of like swinging from the vines sometimes. So when one of the group had a birthday it seemed appropriate to make a monkey cake. The cake was also the opportunity for one of my coworkers to try her hand at decorating again after a several year hiatus She did a great job of decorating and we had a good time getting the cake together. The chocolate fudge cake was a hit with the monkey as we jumped into it with both feet.
It is just a fun loving cake for any occasion, especially a birthday in this case.

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.