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.

Shea Cake Strikes Again

If I ever go into baking full time two things will have to happen. First, I am going to have to charge more. Second, I am going to have to change the name of my company from Custom Cakes 4 You to Shea Cakes. It seems that the tag my coworkers have tagged my cakes with has stuck. I am honestly grateful that they often talk about their Shea Cake and how much they enjoy its to other people. they have done it so much that people are now asking for a Shea Cake. Something I find absolutely amusing, because it honestly seems to have taken off.
Point in case...one of my incredible coworkers daughters came home from college a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would make a small birthday cake for her boyfriend. Mind you she is San N.C. state student. In other words she lives in Raleigh,the Mecca of food and bakeries in this state. You know the big city. However she came home and asked me to bake the cake, because her boyfriend had asked her if he might be able to try a Shea Cake that he had heard so much about from her. Besides the fact that I am enameled with almost all of my coworkers children and would help them out with any baking project I can, this story I couldn't resist. Apparently the cake recipient is a Minnesota Vikings fan. This made it even easier.
Essentially I made an 8x8 butter cake with an edible image on top. Searching for the right image wasn't a problem. Finding one that would fit on a square cake....well that was a little more difficult, but obviously not impossible. A little purple icing border and the cake was ready for delivery to Raleigh. We will see what the recipient thinks.

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.        

Not Exactly the Same Cake

The day after my previous post I attended the Holly Days Fair in Fayetteville, NC. This is an annual tradition for me. The Holly Days fair is an event put together by the Junior Service league and is their major fundraiser to support nonprofit organizations in Cumberland County. It is a collection of crafts, speciality items, food, and so much more. When I walked in the door the first vendor caught my eye with the N.C. State cake pan hanging on the outside of their space. The same cake pan I had been looking for for my last cake. I immediately purchased it knowing that there would be another opportunity to use it.

Before the month ended the opportunity presented itself. Our Interim County Director was leaving us as our new one got ready to step into place at the beginning of the month. We had a team work retreat planned for the his last day and we decided to take an hour or so to turn this into a farewell and thank you. Thus there is a need for a cake.

Now not only does he work for NCSU but he also is an alum. He is quite the fan of the university so it seemed fitting to create a NCSU cake with my new pan. I baked a butter cake with traditional decorators icing. The colors are NCSU colors and it was just the right size for everyone to have a slice. He seemed thrilled with his goodbye cake, but not as thrilled as we were with his imprint that he left on us during his seven months as our Interim.

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.

The Superbowl of Birthdays

I admit unless there is a team I really like I mainly watch the Superbowl for the commercials. Thanks to a now 11 year old young man, this year I watched the game with just as much interest as the commercials. Last week someone I have the privilege of working with from United Way, asked if I would make a cake for a friend of hers. Of course I said yes (how could I say no to something I love doing so much). She said it was a simple cake, it needed to be a Pittsburgh Steelers Jersey and drew the design on a sticky note. Being a Buffalo Bills fan I am very familiar with our neighbors the Pittsburgh Steelers and their trademark Black and Gold uniforms. However I must admit I have not paid much attention to the team since, oh (I am about to date myself) say the 70's. So with interest I tuned into the Superbowl this year to see how the Steelers were dressed on the field. Needless to say it did not take me long to observe the white jerseys with gold stripes near the shoulder and gold name and numbers outlined in black. So after observing the details I needed for young Mr. Gaddy's cake I watched the Superbowl and I must say thank you. Without this assignment I might have missed a really great game.

I understand that the cake was for a surprise party at church tonight. I hope his 11th birthday was as great as this year's Superbowl.

Tee Time

There is no tea involved with these tees. I have to admit this cake was purely for fun, as is my golf game because there is no chance I have another career on the tour. I picked up a new cake pan, and like most kids who get a new toy, I couldn't resist. I baked a butter fudge cake and then waited a week until I had time, to decorate it, then voila. There are lots of variations you can do on this cake. It can match bag and club colors and it is fun for any golfer. It is a unique birthday cake, or hole in one celebration cake.

This cake made it all the way to one of our local golf courses, and the patrons and golf club house staff (and owners) dissected it. There was not much said, but it appears as if I hit a long straight drive off the tee and was lined up perfectly for a birdie on this one.