Cake Endeavours

Back in the summer I donated a 2 layer 8" cake to a silent auction for The Weekend to End Women's Cancers at work.  Jaime's mom had the highest bid and chose to cash in the win for Jaime's 9th birthday cake. The cake was to be vanilla with a music theme and funky flowers with bold colours. Yesterday, after sleeping in and lazing about til noon I walked into the kitchen and suddenly remembered that I was supposed to do this cake.  It was going to be picked up at 2pm!  I quickly did up the batter and put the cake in the oven.  Thank goodness I had cleaned up the kitchen and put things away before we left 2 days before for Christmas celebrations.  It made it so much easier to get things ready.  While the cake was baking I phoned Michelle to see if she wouldn't mind picking it up later or rather I could deliver it.  Fortunately, she lives very close to us (10 minutes away by car in Toronto is close) and had no problem with me delivering it later. I...

For Joy's 34th birthday celebration I couldn't think of a better theme to her cake than Hello Kitty.  I added princess to it as I'm sure Joy plans to rule the world with everything Hello Kitty and with Miss E as her assistant.  Living with 3 boys and 2 male cats is it any wonder why? I made a 3 layer 9" chocolate cake with whipped cream filling.Decorated with some dragees to add some bling.

This cake was for my co-worker's son 19th birthday.  He's in school to become a firefighter.  Underneath the black fondant is the Perfect Chocolate Cake.  For the ladder and fire hydrant I piped out royal icing.  Originally the cake was going to be picked up from my place but I procrastinated getting started and instead delivered it up to Aurora so I wasn't on a time crunch.  I took Mr. T and Miss E out to the  Lone Star restaurant for dinner for making the trek up with me.

For Christmas this year I didn't attempt any new recipe for my baking.  I went with my favourites. I started off with Chocolate Pretzel Treats .  I used chocolate, candy cane, and hugs Kisses along with Smarties for the topper.  I prefer Smarties to M&Ms.  I do recommend turning off the oven and watch the Kisses very carefully so that they don't over melt or in my case seize.  I did this to 8 dozen of these treats!  Not fun unwrapping all those Kisses!  Mr. T's work were treated to the rejects.  At least they went to a good home. Then I made the Easy Orea Truffles .  They really are easy.  The most cumbersome part is dipping them into the chocolate and ensuring that you have got all the excess off.  I recommend freezing the Oreo/cream cheese balls before dipping so they hold their shape. Next I made some mini cupcakes.  2 dozen chocolate with chocolate icing, 2 dozen chocolate with buttercream icing topped with can...

Alexander's request for his cake this year was Wolverine and he's not fond of fondant.  I seriously think, no I know, Joy gets great pleasure in announcing that the cake is icing covered and not fondant.  One day I will get the icing super smooth and it won't phase me.  Thankfully, I get to do the decorations in fondant. This was a 10" two layer vanilla cake.  When I went to dye the icing yellow I realised I only had buttercup yellow instead of lemon yellow.  Ugh!  So the yellow wasn't the cartoon yellow that I would have liked but at least those who know X-Men knew immediately who it was, so I guess it wasn't that far off.  Mr. T was of no help since he didn't know who Wolverine was (Hugh Jackman, DUH!).  Even I knew that!  Plus, he thought I had dyed it green.  Him being colour blind can be so entertaining. I love the Marvel Pop figurines and I was going to do this similar to my Holy Birthday Cake Batman cake but with the funky...

A coworker asked me to make her birthday cake for her to celebrate her 50th birthday.  She does NOT look her age.  She sent me a picture of what she wanted and this is my interpretation.   Fortunately, I had a chocolate mold for Eiffel Tower pops for the top decoration that worked perfectly.  This was a 8" and 6" layers, both chocolate with buttercream filling.  The bow turned out different from the original plan but it still worked.  I added some flowers on top and to the centre of the bow, since I didn't foresee needing a centre loop!  

Terry's birthday celebration was a gaming party.  The pictures that Vicky sent me had a Playstation controller on it so that's what I went with.  I traced out the controller and then scored most of the design in.  For the SONY label and action buttons I used royal icing then with the edible markers coloured in the colours.  Originally I had planned to have the cord coming out of the top and then wrapping it around the base for the trim.  Mr. T informed me that the controllers are wireless now.  So I scratched that and just piped out the black rope. This was a 10" two layer Perfect Chocolate cake with buttercream icing then covered in fondant.

My 4th installment of my work birthdays celebration cake.  This time I stuck with the Perfect Chocolate Cake with salted caramel filling and decorated with buttercream icing.  I do forget that butter combined with pure vanilla extract that the colour will be distorted.  I was going for an ice blue but came out Tiffany Blue.  Oh well!  I scored the cutting lines to make sure that there would be 50 pieces. The final touch was a snowflake on each piece. The floor was most appreciated of the cake, which is always good news that everyone liked it.

This sweet little cake was a treat to make.  I love Toopy & Binoo!  Alia's mom sent me a picture of a few samples and this is the result. The bottom tier is 6 inches and the top is 4.  Both are marble with buttercream icing. 

Again I have fallen way behind in posting my latest creations.  I'm going all the way back to Halloween.  Yikes! These cupcakes were for a celebration at work.  Half were pumpkin and half were chocolate. When I went to make them, the night before of course, I thought I had everything I needed including Halloween cupcake liners.  After a 20 minute search I had liners for every other occasion but Halloween.  I was left with using the white liners, which I officially do not like using.  They look so dull! I'm not overly thrilled with the look.  Thankfully they tasted just fine!  

My good friend Joy takes great pleasure in assigning me the theme to her boy's birthday cakes.  She swears she doesn't bribe them, but I'm not sure if I believe her.  Nevertheless, Nelson's asked for a snake cake, and a snake cake he got. Nelson is quite versed in his knowledge of reptilia, so I thought it would be better to make up my own snake rather than try to replicate one.  I did give him fangs and nostrils with a snake tongue.  I used my doughnut cake pans to make the snake.  For once I was grateful not to have to cover the guy in fondant.  It was a pain in the ass to get into the curves with a knife to put the icing on.  Joy will be happy to read that. :)  It's okay, I'm kicking her butt in Scramble. This was my first time have to piece a cake together.  I avoid 3D cakes as much as possible but I am pleased with the result.  I think the birthday boy was pleased too. Hope you had a fantastic day Nelson!

I was so excited to be asked to make this cake.  I did Ruba's wedding cake back in June and now she's expecting a baby.  Last Saturday Ruba dropped off the results of her ultrasound revealing if the baby was a girl a boy.  The envelope was sealed.  I was going to be the only one who knew the results.  So cool.  I am so glad I only had to keep this in for a week as I am horrible at keeping secrets. Well, ones that are good news secrets! Every time I wanted to say something to someone I was worried if I said anything to anyone that everyone would know and it would get back to the family just like in the story The King of Togo Togo .  The story was on one of the Shell (gas station) cassettes that we got in the 80's.  I remember listening to it a lot in the car on our trip out to Vancouver in 1986.  The king has two horns and keeps it a secret.  I forgot who he tells, but that person just couldn't keep it in.  So he went far outside ...

Yesterday I made 5 dozen cupcakes for a birthday celebration.  One dozen was covered with Ninjagos.  I'm not even sure if that's the right terminology.  I know nothing about the Ninjago craze.  My Little Pony and Barbie, no problem!  Another dozen had the number 6 on each one.  The rest just had my standard iced decorating.

Earlier this year I made the Brink Back the Spotted Turtle cake for a little girl who turned seven.  I loved the idea of Bring Back the Wild Birthday Celebration through Earth Rangers.  I thought it would be a great idea for Miss E to celebrate her birthday.  So I set out on convincing her that this would be a great way to celebrate her special day by helping the Monarch Butterfly to save their habitat.  Just before her birthday they actually changed the animals that you can support but decided to stick with the Monarch Butterfly.  I had everything already picked out.  Getting black and orange decorations from the dollar store at this time of year was super easy! For the birthday cake I found my inspiration from Google.  I can't find the original picture though.  Miss E asked for a chocolate layer, a vanilla and a strawberry layer.  I never thought that I would be making a 3 tiered cake for my 7 year old's birthday!  The b...

I made two dozen of these cupcakes for a co-worker to take to a baby shower.  I love my co-workers because I get to experiment with different ideas and go outside my box sometimes.  She gave me a copy of the invitation for inspiration. I did my best to do my interpretation.  I'm not a fan of topping the cupcakes off with fondant.  It can be sketchy for me.  Not always a sure thing. I did half with the bird and half with the polka dots then dusted with some gold shimmer dust.

For Thanksgiving weekend I made 7 dozen of these pumpkin cupcakes.  Four dozen went to 2 co-workers that ordered them, two went to a family dinner and the last dozen was sent to Miss E's day care for her birthday celebration.  I love getting mileage like this out of one design.

Sometimes on a Thursday my co-worker (and you know who you are:) ) will ask if I can make her a cake for Friday.  This time as it was Thanksgiving weekend I got ahead of the game and asked her on Tuesday if she wanted to order something.  She asked for a 6" Perfect Chocolate Cake.  The great thing about making this cake so often I tend to play with how I do the finish on the icing.  I really like this look and was super easy and fast to do. Of course it was my fault that apparently a 6" cake was not going to be big enough to take to a family dinner so my co-worker kept it for herself and her family.  Next time I do a cake for her I have to remind her that she needs the regular size Perfect Chocolate Cake.

One of the teams on my floor had me make a cake for one of their co-workers going on off on mat leave earlier this month.  She doesn't know the sex of the baby so I made it as neutral as possible.  This was an 8" two layer chocolate cake.  I just used some circle cutters to make the polka dots and the lettering. The unofficial shot of the cake I caught Willow trying to get at the cake. She got pretty close before I shooed her away.

For Keaton, his request for his birthday cake theme was Spiderman and chocolate. This was a 10" two layer chocolate cake.   The first  Spider Man cake I did almost 3 years was very different!  I piped all the black and lettering with a pretty shaky hand.  This was before I discovered edible markers.  Using the black marker made for much smoother lines. For the boarder I did a city scape around and with yellow icing piped on the lighted "windows".

I am very behind on posting my cakes.  This last month has been busier with cake orders than I realised.  The first in my marathon of posts is from my works bi-monthly birthday celebrations.  This was for August and September birthdays and since my birthday falls in September, I picked what I was going to make.  So, of course I made the Perfect Chocolate cake.

This is a Perfect Chocolate Cake with peanut butter filling.  I was asked to do the top in pink roses and the sides in a Tiffany Blue.  I sprinkled some pink dragees over top of the roses.

For Desmond's 2nd birthday his mom (my good friend and often competitor in any game) Joy requested Thomas the Tank Engine.  This is a 6" 2 layer chocolate cake. I love the little tunnel that I made.  I ended up with so many different shades for grey for the stones (harhar!) because I was trying to get the right shade for Thomas' face. I made 3 dozen cupcakes for the party goers but Desmond got to have a piece of the actual cake.  It's always a good feeling when you see the birthday both happily eating his cake including the fondant.

Last year for Jaxson's 1st birthday cake I made him the Elmo Cake .  This year his mom requested a cars cake.  The flavour for both tiers was vanilla.  Vanilla always scares me because I really haven't found a good vanilla cake recipe.  So, I attempted this Simple White Cake Recipe. The reviews looked good so I gave it a shot.  The recipe is actually for one 9 x 9 pan so I quadrupled the recipe.  It make enough batter for this cake (6" and 8" two layer cakes) and for 18 cupcakes which were for another order.  Actually I made 19 cupcakes.  I wanted one for a taste test.  I was very pleased with the results.  I think I found my new vanilla cake recipe.

Another Perfect Chocolate cake; this time with a racing bike on top.  I made this one for a friend of a co-worker.  It was her husband's birthday and his hobby is bike racing.  For the bike I Googled "bike silhouette".  Once I found the image I liked I printed it off and then used the Wilton Decorative Press Set to make the bike.  I am so glad I purchased this.  It works like a dream and is so easy to use.  I was done the bike in a few minutes.  For the sides I used a icing comb to add the design.

Last Saturday was a birthday celebration for Jim.  He belongs to my good (and somewhat competitive) friend Joy. :)  Joy had asked me to make a cheesecake as it is Jim's favourite.  I love cheesecake myself but I don't have that tried and true recipe yet.  I came across The Perfect Cheesecake recipe.  Given that the Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe is my tried and true for chocolate cake I figured this could my Perfect Cheesecake recipe. For this cake I did a recipe and a half.  That's 6 packages of cream cheese!  After covering the 11" spring-form pan in 4 layers of tin foil, the water bath still leaked into the crust.  Grr!  One day I will figure out how to prevent it.  I was asked at the party if I had any tips on how to make a cheesecake. What I've found for the last few I made is that you need to follow the instructions exactly!  If it says to mix for 4 minutes, you mix for 4 minutes.  For the topping I took Joy's tip an...

Every year for the August long weekend it has been my family's tradition to camp at the Schamerhorn's cottage, now home along with several other families from my church. The shore of Lake Ontario on their property would be lined with tents, tent trailers and RVs.  We would spend hours swimming in amongst the waves; making friendship bracelets; playing Monopoly, Stock Ticker, Titantic and most memorable, Big Bucks.  Every night there would be a campfire with marshmallows, hobo pies and lots of mosquitos!  Sunday morning all the campers would fill the very small Cressy United Church.  Following church was a big potluck lunch.  There was and still always extra visitors on this day. My summer would not be complete without a visit to Indian Point (about 20 minutes east of Picton).  While Mr. T and I usually come up for the Sunday Miss E has been spending this weekend with my parents camping.  I love that it is a 3rd generation tradition. This annual tra...

This is cake is for a co-worker's niece.  I was sent this picture to replicate a few months back.  I was very excited at the thought of making the cake.  We settled on cookies and cream for the bottom tier and the ladybug and chocolate with peanut butter feeling for the second tier. So, this morning I got up bright and early to bake the cakes.  The bottom was 10", middle 8" and for the ladybug I used the Pampered Chef Small Batter Bowl .  It worked really well.  However, when I had put the cookies and cream layers in the over to bake I realised I forgot to add the eggs.  Yikes!  I had a momentary lapse of judgement and thought I could leave them in there, but then I came to my senses and dumped everything back into the mixing bowl and added the eggs. I bought the Wilton Decorative Press Set several months ago and had yet to test it out.  Today I pulled it out and put it to good use.  Definitely $20.00 well spent.  I used it ...