A New Look

It never hurts to update things and make them a little more attractive.  Today is the day for this blog.  I had the opportunity to change the look a little and hopefully make it a little more attractive and easier to read and find things that you might be looking for.  The other thing I have done is added a new photo page.  Often I have calls from people asking to see photos and I refer them to the blog.  However I realize an electronic photo catalog is also a good thing so voila; direct from Shutterfly is a cake link.  Please feel free to give me feedback if you think I should separate the cakes out by subject area to make it easier to view. 
I hope you like the new look and the slide show of photos.  Stay tuned because more great cakes are expected by the end of the week.

Inspiration

  Having a little direction is a good thing for me because sometimes I can just leave the confines of the box (that I am supposed to be thinking inside of) of kind of go a little nutty.  So when an incredible co-worker came to me and asked me to do a cake for her niece's first birthday I was tickled.  She brought me a plate for the party and said they needed enough to feed thirty and a smash cake for the princess who would be turning 1.  Needless to say the first thing that came to mind was doing two cakes, a butterfly and flower then a colorful smash cake.
  Both cakes were made with my traditional butter cake.  The first was a butterfly cake which I decorated using purple, pink, orange and yellow.  All the colors found in the plate that would be used for the party.  The second cake was a peace flower which I used green, pink and yellow to decorate.  I wanted to make sure the cakes were similar but not exactly alike and not to matchy match with the plate. 
The smash cake I made with angel food cake so it would not be quite as messy as the butter cake.  Using a combination of colors found in the plate and on the other two cakes I was able to make something purely for smashing birthday fun.

Nothing Wrong with a Little Rum

  I have talked about this group of ladies that I eat lunch with.  We have a habit of celebrating just about every one's birthday (everyone who likes to celebrate that is).  We have done it in a variety of ways.  Of course I always volunteer to make a cake and try to design the cake specifically for that person's likes or dislikes.  This is one of those cakes.  I had thought about making a shaped cake, perhaps a monkey unlike one that I had ever made before but for some reason that idea did not work for me.  I wanted to do something really special and different and that's when I remembered this cake.
  I have not made this cake for years and it seemed especially fitting for this group of ladies.  I decided to make a butter rum cake with chocolate rum frosting.  The cake is actually made in a bunt pan and when it comes out I pierce the top and pour a simple rum syrup (yes actual rum not extract) over the top and let it soak in for about a half hour.  The cake is very moist so when flipping it out I recommend going directly to the serving dish not trying to move it again because there is just not a good way to move this cake without it coming apart.  The chocolate frosting is made with semisweet chocolate, rum, Karo syrup, and heavy cream.  After heating it in a double boiler and letting it cool until it is slightly thickened I pour it over the cake.  In case you are wondering I did not run out or have so much to drink while baking that I missed a spot.  One member of our lunch group does not like chocolate so I wanted to make sure she could eat the cake as well.
  The biggest complement had to be when one person's eyes got big and big, "ohhh" came out of her mouth.  I was concerned something was wrong but she said I put it in my mouth, my teeth did not touch it and the cake melted in my mouth."  The birthday girl seemed pleased with her cake and we had a good time consuming as much as we could before we all had to leave.  I think I will make one of these in the near future.

Leading the Way a New Way"

I often mention how much I enjoy where I work especially the people. As part of a leadership program that was being offered by our Extension Director a graduation ceremony takes place. Of course no graduation would be complete without a cake and that is where this cake's story begins. This is the second year of this particular program and by working at the Robeson County Cooperative Extension office I have had the privilege of providing the cakes for both classes. Now the requirements for the cake was enough cake to feed 100 people and it had to have the program logo. Since the cake has to feed a large group of people I knew we needed to go with the basic butter cake. The last cake I did was two sheet cakes with an edible image and red border. Thinking that each class is unique, I figure their cakes should be unique.
This time I decided on a 14 inch diameter 3 inch tall cake with a 10 inch diameter, 3 inch tall cake on top. I hand cut the image to fit the circular shape of the cake and then decorated with the blue icing border. As part of the event I cut the cake and feel like I cut cake forever. When I got done there was a very small part of the bottom cake left and that's it. Sounds like they enjoyed the cake to me. Congratulations to all the graduates.

It Really is a Celebration

This is one of those bittersweet moments that I am finding myself and this cake wrapped up in. You see someone that I have worked with for the last 10 years is retiring. Lets call her Aggie. Now on one hand I hate it because I can't imagine Aggie not being at the office everyday, working side by side with her on something she is so passionate about. On the other hand I am so happy for her that I could turn cartwheels. After 17 years of giving, toiling, making the best better, she now has time to enjoy the things most important to her. She can spend time with family, friends, and do the things she wants to do without a second thought. Of course when someone gives so much of themselves it is imperative that you throw one humdinger of a celebration. For Aggie, humdinger doesn't quite cover it. As part of the celebration it was important to have just the right cake.
If you know Aggie you know that there is a special flair that was needed for this to make it representative of her. She always says she bleeds green, so we needed to include the 4-H clover. She is also big into polka dots lately. Not conservative little dots but big, bold dots that stand up and get your attention. Aggie is also allergic to chocolate which made it that much easier to get ermine that the inside would be a butter cake. Also, if you know Aggie, you know she is all about the sparkle. this is what let me come up with a cake that represents Aggie. The cake had to feed about 100 so i knew it had to be tiered. The design was a no brainer. Black with white polka dots on the bottom, green with 4-H clovers in the middle, and white with black polka dots on the top.
I had thought about putting fireworks on top for extreme sparkle but decided the fire marshall might get me for that so I settled for some sparkle cake candles. What I didn't know was that the candles were trick candles and when I put them in it was a little late to come up with a plan B. When it was time to cut the cake the candles added a little levity to what could have been a somber moment.
Aggie made sure the first piece of cake went to her pastor, and from there it was on. We cut and served cake like it was going out of style. All in all I would say it was a wonderful celebration of Aggie's 17 year career as well as a celebration of her life to come. Happy retirement Aggie!

Sunny Peeps

One of my favorite Easter memories is guarding my peeps that were in my Easter basket from my dad, who would try to distract me and make them disappear into his stomach. Back then (okay, I admit I am getting older everyday) you could only get peeps at Easter. This made these yellow sugar covered marshmallow chicks and pink sugar covered bunnies something truly special. In the present day I saw a design for a cake on Pinterest. As you may know from previous posts I am addicted to this fantastic web site so it should be no surprise that a cake idea would come from there.
  This is a two layer butter fudge cake, which was slathered in chocolate icing.  The edges of the top of the cake is lined with chick peeps.  The inside was lined with milk chocolate chips.  From a distance the cake looks like a sunflower.  I must admit I made the cake without a function in mind, when a work event presented itself.  The cake seemed well received and what was left was gobbled up by our staff the next day.

Celebrating 25 years

One of the great things about making cakes is being able to hear peoples stories and be a part of their future memories and stories.  This cake is a prime example of that. 
25 years ago one of my coworkers got married.  Although she says it takes a lot of work on both of their parts they very much enjoy their relationship which makes what happened on their 25th wedding anniversary very understandable. After a great deal of thought they decided to renew their vows, and celebrate their union with friends and family. 
What was really neat about this celebration is that the pomp and circumstance that often surrounds weddings, was missing.  The invitation appeared on the groom's facebook page saying."I'm reenlisting.  I'm 25 years in and my lovely wife and I are going to renew our marriage vows this coming Saturday at 3 pm at Purdie's United Methodist Church on HWy 87 between Tarhell and Dublin (the bride's father's home church.)  This will be a very short, simple, informal affair, but the meaning behind it couldn't be more important.  I love my wife.  Everyone is welcome.  No RSVP's, no gifts, no dress up.  Just show up.  There probably will be a little cake and punch afterward."
Needless to say when making this cake I wanted it to be something different and special.  In talking the the bride, we needed a cake to feed 80.  In case you could not guess from the invitation this was a laid back event that would require a custom design to fit this couple for this special event.  Taking a page from their daughter I designed the cake with swirls that she had wanted on a previous birthday cake.  Since this is a silver anniversary I did try for an off white icing with sudle silver embellishments, but that did not work as I had planned.  So out popped the silver degres for the top and corners of the cake.  All in all I would say it turned out well, even though there seemed to be plenty of cake left over afterward, I think the peices were quickly taken care of.