It's a Pack Kind of Thing

  I love getting a call asking if I can make a particular cake and knowing I have the perfect pan to do it in.  That's how this cake all began, with a phone call from this birthday's girl's mom (who I once had the privilege of working with).  She said her daughter needed an N.C. State cake, and knowing that I am quite the Virginia (as in Wa hoo Wah!) fan and wanted to make sure I was willing to do this.  For those of you who know me you also know that my main paycheck comes from NCSU so years ago I made a deal not to pull against NCSU, unless they were playing Virginia.  My main focus in my missionary work (as my father used to say to folks), is to convert Tarheels to Cavilers.  So I have nothing against NC State and have made one or two items associated with the school.  So needless to say, I knew I had the perfect pan to make a cake for her daughter and it would be appropriate for a wolf packer of any age.
  This is a traditional butter cake baked into the shape of the block S logo that NC State is recognized by.  The thing about these logo cakes is that most are done in a silicone baking pan which does not always leave the cleanest edges behind when they are pulled out.  That was the case this this cake.  So what I did was a smooth N and C while doing a star tipped pattern to fill in the S and hopefully elevate some of the rough areas on the surface of the cake.
  When it was all said an done a young lady had her name added and it turned into quite the party.

Paw Patrol is on a Roll

  It is such a good thing I have friends with young children or I would know nothing about pop culture.  For example, when this friend came to me and said her sone wasn't sure what cake he wanted this year but they were leaning towards Paw Patrol.  I must admit this is my first brush with the patrol but I am might impressed.  I have learned about all our puppy superheroes and which ones are each person's favorites and why.  I unlocked an entire sub culture working on this cake, and I must admit it was fun.
  Since I could not do one specific Paw Patrol member, and sort of had to create this one from scratch I was thrilled for my edible printer, which keeps me off the cake wrecks blog and Facebook pages.  I found a picture with all the members of this elite team and printed and edible image that should make everyone familiar with this team happy.  Having found one of their famous sayings it took nothing to finish this cake off for Jackson on his birthday.  Just hoping he had a great birthday and the opportunity to, be on the roll.

Three Cheers on your Birthday!

You might recognize this cake.  I have made it before but I am very select on making it because it is so moist it literally is like placing cotton candy on your tongue.  This is what is known as my infamous butter cake soak with a rum syrup.  Then it is topped with a chocolate rum sauce.  It is a cake that has an octane level that gives it a little kick.
This one was made for a wonderful lady with a heart of gold.  I thought I was going to get to see her on her birthday, but when life popped up and changed my plans I decided the least I could do is change her birthday cake from a more traditionally decorated cake to this special cake that will spread some warm birthday wishes.  I hope her birthday was wonderful, and that the cake was like chocolate icing on top.

It's a Rosey Birthday

  A few posts ago I spoke of a co-worker, Janice.  I had made a cake for her daughter Catie's birthday.  Guess what?  Janice's birthday was right around the corner from Catie's.  So when I got pulled aside by two of the people who report to her saying they wanted to do something extra special for her birthday, and would I please bake her a cake, there was no way in this world I could say no.  However on her actual birthday she was working out of the office so I convinced them to wait until Monday when she would be back in the office.
  In the meantime I wanted to come up with something extra special for Janice.  Something elegant, but casual.  Something I have never done before.  After spending a little time on Pinterest, I found it.  A cake decorated with hombre roses.  Now I was not sure I could do this, because I had never done it before and decorating on the sides of a cake can be, well, tricky to say the least.  So I baked a ten inch two layer butter cake.  After the normal prep, I dirty iced the center, sides, and top and went to work on the roses.  It was actually amazingly easy and the overall effect is gorgeous.
  Knowing that Janice had a day camp that day and would be early I made sure I was actually extra early so I could deliver the cake to my coworkers without Janice seeing it.  However part way through she saw it.  So one employee, let's call her Tamika played it off like the cake was for her daughter.  Janice apparently gazed at it saying what a pretty cake it was and how good it would taste.  After an entire day of this, around three the entire staff came together to sing happy birthday to Janice.  She was stunned and it took awhile for her to realize that the cake was actually for her.  As it turned out one of the children in the day camp also had a birthday and a teen volunteer had turned 17 the day before.  So in the spirit of birthdays and fun, Janice shared her cake with everyone.  I have to admit I cut it in such a manner so that she would have plenty to take home and share with her family.
  After we got done with all the days events, Janice said she was touched by the cake.  She said she could not remember the last time anyone had made her a birthday cake.  The fact that people had wanted to go the extra mile for her, just made her feel so special that day.  That is what this cake was all about.

A Birthday Fit for a Princess

  I love the random call on a day when the world is just full of questions asking for a cake.  It sort of brightens my day and gives me something to look forward to.  That is how this cake started.  A mother in search of a special cake for her daughter.  She was looking at the photos we have posted and after a little talking back and forth decided to go with the castle.  Her daughter likes flowers, butterflies, and peace symbols so I went with the flowers flowing up the sides of the castle wall with this design.  It was a basic butter cake for the inside and just enough to feed about 20 people.  I hope this helped make this little girl's birthday something special.

A Picture Perfect Birthday

As you may have noticed, it is not often that I have a photo of the cake recipient to post along with the cake.  Catie is the daughter of one of my wonderful co-workers, Janice.  Actually Janice has two daughters for which I have had the pleasure of creating cakes for.  Now mind you the two are as different as day and night.  I do not point this out to say it is a bad thing, I mention it because it makes this story all the more special.  Catie's sister, Ally, is the planer.  She starts months before her birthday and plans each detail of the cake.  All I have to do is interpret her design through icing and baking to make it come true.  Catie on the other hand is as quiet and unassuming as a person can be.  She does not mention birthdays and is just thrilled if others remember the day.  So when Janice came to me and asked for a birthday cake, I had to throw the typical questions out there, of what does she like, how big should it be, what flavor, because unlike Ally who usually has a big custom design with bright colors, Catie is very different.  As I started firing off the questions like a sub machine gun, Janice just looked at me with her eyes getting bigger and bigger.  I stopped and backed it up and said chocolate or butter?  "Butter" she replied.  "Lots of people?" I asked.  "Just the four of us, Catie likes small celebrations," she replied.  Now for the big one, "What does she love?" I asked.  "her family, her job, oh, oh...." her eyes suddenly got bigger, "N. C. State.  She loves N. C. State."  Well that I knew I could do.
The other thing about this cake was that it was one to be done by the next day.  Normally I would not do that, but for Janice and Catie you bet I would do whatever I could to make her day even more special.  I got home and went to work, baking like a wild women.  The baking was fairly uneventful but when it came to decorating, I have to admit this was the messiest cake I have ever decorated.  I realized as I went to decorate I was out of bags.  For those of you who say run to Wal-Mart or use a Ziploc with the corner cut off, well I thought of that.  At two in the morning I found found that travelling to Wal-Mart by myself is not my favorite thing to do.  By the way I did try the Ziploc but it could not handle the pressure needed to squeeze the icing out and split in several places.  So plan B.  I had some parchment triangles and thought I would use those.  Although they worked it was difficult at best to them folded into the right shape to get a coupler attached and I did end up with icing all over me.  In the end however it all worked out and the N. C. State cake looked just like the block S it was supposed to look like.
I delivered it to the office and imagine my surprise the next night when these photos were shared on facebook for me to see.  There is Catie blowing out the candles when the family went to dinner to celebrate.  Also a shot of Catie and Ally as she cut her birthday cake.  I have to say the photos made my day and made me feel included in the family celebration.  Catie really seemed to enjoy her cake and her special day.  Happy Birthday Catie!
Oh, and one other side note, that I think Catie might like me to mention.  Happy Birthday N. C. State which turned 125 years old this year.        

A Special Birthday Delivery

  According to my Daddy the perfect birthday cake was round, chocolate, two layers, with white icing and yellow roses.  To that end all traditional birthday cakes that I make tend to look like that, although I can't say I ever made one like that for my dad.  So when my cousin's bridal shower (see previous post) and my Daddy's Aunt Betta's birthday fell in the same week I could not help but bake an extra cake to celebrate.    This was her 97th birthday, so I made a butter cake (because not everyone loves chocolate, go figure).  When it came time to decorate all I knew was that I was to include flowers.  So in a moment of chanelling Daddy the cake had yellow roses.
  We presented the cake to Aunt Betta at the bridal shower (with the bride to be's blessing).  She seemed tickled with it and I promised something bigger and better for next year, thinking as we get close to 100 we need to get bigger and better.  Happy Birthday Aunt Betta.

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.

Thank Goodness for Friends

Ever watch the T. V. game show where you have the opportunity to call a friend if you are stumped on the answer for a question? I often wondered who I might call, and of course each time it depends on the question.
Often I will have a customer who will have a variety of occasions to ask me to make a cake. On this occasion it has become one of my favorite clients because she gives me a topic and lets me go to town creatively. Recently she asked me to make not one, but two cakes for her daughters birthday. Her daughter just turned three (and is absolutely adorable if you don't mind me saying so) and was in need of a cake for her pre-school celebration and her family celebration. Both cakes were to be the same character but different if possible. Both the cakes were to be ready for pick up on the same day. Of course when asked if I could make a cake with her favorite cartoon character Kai-Lani I said, "yes, of course." Confession time. Sometimes I say yes, before I realize what is needed.
Needless to say I do not spend a lot of time watching cartoons since my parents informed me in fourth grade that I was too old for them and there for not allowed to watch them anymore. I thought how hard can this be? I googled the character's name and voila, nothing. Slightly panicked (and of course I was doing this the night before the pick up so there was no way to call anyone to double check) I sent a text message to a dear friend of mine who is a cartoon guru and who happens to have a magnificent seven year old daughter who would know if mom did not. After explaining my situation the magic response came to look for ni hao kai-lan, the name of the show. Sure enough that did the trick and a boat load of images came up. Needless to say I saved the image and used my edible image paper and printer to create two very different cakes. On one of them I even found out how to write happy birthday in Chinese to add to the oriental flair of the cake.
When mom picked them up the next day she seemed please with the final product and her daughter could not wait to see the birthday cakes and dig in.

Choo Choo Birthday!

I have often talked about my day job and the wonderful people I work with in and out of the office. Many of them have asked me to make cakes for some of their most important milestones. This cake is no different. One of my co-workers, let's call her Michelle, asked me to make a cake for her son's second birthday. One of his favorite things? Choo Choo trains. So what could be more perfect than a Thomas the Tank Engine?
I started with my traditional butter cake and went from there. The cake was done in traditional colors. When decorating a popular character for a two year old I have found it best to stay with what the child will recognize. When I was done I made the number on the tank a two in honor of his second birthday, then added a Happy Birthday and his name to the board to make sure the world could know whose birthday we are celebrating.
Apparently the cake was such a hit that when mom went to cut the cake the birthday boy was crying that they were tearing up his cake. I later got a photo of what was left. This is one of my favorite photos because it says that they enjoyed this birthday treat.

A New Twist on the Fairy Tale

"Can you make a tangled cake?" Of course the first thing that runs through my head is a Johnson and Johnson shampoo commercial about less tangles and no more tears. Then a flash of inspiration hits me as the person placing the order, let's call her Penny, is talking about her niece's birthday party and how she loves the Disney movie Tangled. Of course being a fairly new movie I do not have a cake pan for that, but I do have an edible printer.

The cake needed to feed about 25 people so I made a simple rectangular sheet cake with the Tangled main character on it. Apparently the birthday girl is partial to purples and pinks which is good since that was fairly easy to incorporate with this design. I also added some flowers to add to the embellishments on the printed edible design.

Overall the birthday girl seemed as happy with her cake as she was with her tremendous birthday party with her siblings, cousins, and friends who came.

Happy Birthday the Disney Way!

It has been a long time since I have done a Mickey Mouse cake. So long as a matter of fact that when Penny asked me to make one for her 16 year old's birthday I had to stop and think about what Mickey pans I have. I have a few, by the way. After a brief discussion she settled on the standing Mickey Mouse, traditionally decorated with a sheet cake under it to make sure they had enough food to feed the crown coming to his party. I made a butter cake and decorated the backgrounds in white so that they would allow Mickey to literally standout. The border was done with white swirl drops with red and yellow drops added in every other drop. It all made it pop, and pop for the birthday boy who was thrilled with his Mickey themed party.

Cake Designer Meets Baker/Decorator for Dream Cake

I love people who know what they want. This cake is all about that. The Leadership Academy cake has made a splash with a lot of people. Especially one person who just turned 17. For her birthday she had asked for a party, down on the farm, with her friends and family. She planned a bon fire, chicken bog, and just fun and conversation. To make it right she needed a cake and she told me exactly what she wanted.
Let's call her Ally. She started off saying it was to be exactly like the leadership academy cake, which had her mom a little hesitant knowing that nothing is exactly the same each time, especially when you bake. However what Ally wanted was a little different. She started by designing her own edible image. She had her mom take the photos, then edited them together into her overall image design. She sent me a text to make sure it would work then sent the image, via her mom (who is such a good sport by the way) on a SD card so I could print it out. I was also instructed that two sheet cakes were to be used in tiers with the bottom one being my butter cake and top one being a chocolate butter fudge cake. So I had baked and had an image I just needed the rest of the vision. Once again, via her mom, she sent me a drawing showing the scroll work she wanted and the colors. Of course black and pink go with the image she designed. Now due to space I had to take a little liberty with the design. That always makes me a little nervous.
I delivered the cake at just the right time, right before the party was to begin. She was tickled with how it turned out and I must say that she did an excellent job of designing her dream cake. I gave her all the credit for how it looked because she was truly the designer for this endeavor.

Who Doesn't Want a Car at 16?

We have someone at our office who is fairly new and extremely important. Keith is our custodian who takes care of our building and us. You could not meet a kinder, genteeler, more humble man anywhere. He often tells us how much he appreciates us and we appreciate him. So when he came to ask me a favor it was a no brainer to say yes.

His daughter's 16th birthday was coming up and he was wondering if I could do some sort of cake for her. She likes sports cars and you can tell by the sparkle in his eye that she is the light of his life. So I came up with something out of the ordinary. I made a 3-D car, which is usually a beatle but this one was decorated in a sporty manner. I asked about her favorite colors and he said blue and black and not a blue like tar heel blue. So I went to work. Of course I had to add a little something special just for her and put her initials on the front license plate of the car. Apparently she was so excited at dinner she let her family eat all of the car except the very front end with her initials on the license plate. He was pleased as punch that she liked her special cake and I know she had a great time at a special family dinner with her dad.

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.

A Monster of a Birthday

As I started my previous post I explained that it the frilly birthday cake was for a little girl and this cake is for her brother. When asked about his birthday cake he didn't want a stylish cake, as a matter of fact his response was that he wanted an ice bream cake. Although I have done ice cream cakes, they are not a speciality and I feel others can do it better and more inexpensively than I can. However when it came to this cake order there was a small issue. The place where the cake came from would not put the one thing this child wanted on his cake more than anything else. That's right, he wanted the logo from the Monster energy drink on his cake. The only other thing he wanted was his name in black. That's right he wanted his name written in black on his cake. So when I got the call about this cake it was a compromise. I asked Chandler's step mother to purchase the cake from Dairy Queen and I would decorate it. She did and I used the edible printer to print an image that I carefully placed on the cake, decorated around the edges and then, in black wrote the birthday boy's name. It was exactly what he wanted for his birthday and that is really what it is all about.

A Frilly Birthday

I had an interesting cake order the other day. I was asked to create cakes for two children (a brother and a sister) who have birthdays a week apart but were celebrating together. This post is about the little girl's cake, let's call her Casey.

Casey's step-mother came to me wanting to create a small but spectacular cake for this special little girl. They had looked on line at different photos and found some cakes that they liked but did not like the colors. So when the came to me they were looking for a butter cake with zebra stripes, hot pink fringe and bright colored flowers. They also wanted a big C in the center for Casey. They wanted a two-tiered cake, however only enough to feed about 10 people which made this an interesting mathematically conundrum. So an 8 inch square cake with a six inch round cake is what the shape of the cake worked out to be. Each tier had black zebra stripes while the edges were laced with hot pink fringe. I added yellow and pink daisies to the top along with a yellow dot border to highlight the letter in the center of the cake. It came out to be a special and spectacular cake for a special and spectacular young lady. Happy Birthday Casey!