Cake Endeavours

For Christmas dinner I chose to make dessert.  Again, a cheesecake.  They go over really well in my family.  I followed this recipe from Pinterest  with only making one change and that was to use almond extract instead of vanilla. This cake was super yummy.  I love the tartness of the cranberry combined with the sweetness of the cake. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For Christmas I only made 3 different treats this year, which worked out well.  It didn't take up too much of my time and also reminds of why I like to do cakes!  All three recipes did not like how dry it was in the condo. 1.  Millionaire's Shortbread  - This is my absolute favourite.  I only make it at Christmas otherwise it would be all I eat.  It's like a homemade Twix bar.  I double the recipe for the shortbread and bake in a 9 x 13 pan.  The caramel and chocolate topping I only use one recipe for and it works well.  This first batch turned out really well.  The 2nd batch the shortbread was way to flakey; not a bad thing but it doesn't cut as nicely when it's a bit wetter.  Of course, I had to add some gold to the top to see how it turned out. 2.  Melting Moments  - This is a family recipe, but you can find different variations on Pinterest.  They don't normally look like balls as I would normally press the...

Today we had a family get together at one of my cousin's house.  I was tasked with bringing a dessert.  She was worried that I was tired of making desserts but I love to get a chance to do whatever I want and try something new; something that doesn't necessarily have to be a cake or elaborately decorated.  Okay, so I still made a cake, but a cheesecake is a totally different category.  I found the recipe on  Pinterest .  I did make a few changes from the recipe: I used a 10" pan instead of a 9", used almond extract instead of vanilla and I didn't bother to strain the apricot jam.  Continuing the gold kick I added some to the tops of the raspberries.  This is a really good recipe!  It went over well with the family.

There's nothing more fun to do then a 1st birthday cake; especially when it's pink and gold. I've always had trouble with covering fondant in gold that didn't look like it had streaks.  Finally, I purchased some amazing  gold metallic lustre dust  from Flour Confections.  It was worth every dime!  It went on like butter! Before the buttercream icing had chance to set I added the fondant letters to the cake and then refrigerated until it was ready for pick up. The cake was two tiered; 10" two layer chocolate and 8" two layer vanilla.  I love how the gold shimmers!

Miss E has been going to  Canadian Adventure Camp  for the past 3 summers and has loved every minute of it.  So, when I was asked to make a birthday cake for the camp's owner, Skip, I was very happy to do so.  I knew Miss E would be thrilled too. This cake was a 3 layer 8" carrot cake with cream cheese filling.  Cream cheese icing is not as sturdy as buttercream so I decided to cover it in fondant so I could have a much easier canvas to work with.  I decided to have some fun with painting the sides of the cake instead of decorating with fondant. I love how the trees turned out.  I will definitely be doing this again.  It also goes a lot faster than cutting and piecing fondant together, that's for sure.

This weekend St. Paul's celebrated their organist's 40th anniversary.  He is an amazing musician! I am always awed to watch him play the organ and the piano.  Needless to say I was more than thrilled to be able to make this cake for him. This is a 6" four layer chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling.  I covered in white fondant.  To mark the white keys I used a straight edge and pressed in about very 3/4 of an inch.  Then I added the black keys on top. Mr. Dewell loves a big statement flower so I made the biggest one that I could and then brushed it with gold shimmer dust.   I also made 10 dozen cupcakes for the congregation to enjoy 5 dozen vanilla and 5 dozen chocolate.  Mr. Dewell got to take the cake home. 

I was excited to ask to make this cake for Michelle's retirement.  I remember when she first came to the school where my parents taught.  That was a a few years ago! This cake is a 9 x 13 two layer chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling.  Michelle is an avid volley ball player which is why it is on the front of the cake.  Otherwise I decorated the cake it in a classic teacher theme with chalk board and apples. Congratulations Michelle!

I was very excited to be asked to Heidi and Axel's wedding cake for their Canadian celebration.  They were married several months ago in Germany and are now having a reception here in Canada. For the wedding cake the bottom tier is a 10" two layer chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling; the middle (8") amd top tier (6") are both pumpkin spice with cream cheese filling.  Each tier is covered in fondant and then wrapped the turquoise ribbon around each tier.  On her way home from the airport late Wednesday evening she dropped off the ribbon.  With all the construction going on in our parking lot we had to meet at the back where it was poorly lit; it looked like some deal was going down.  Ha! For the decorations I made these butterflies in purple and turquoise.  To finish off the cake the florist left some orchids for me to decorate the cake at the reception hall.  I brought with me a small set of LED lights to go under the cake. ...

I love getting to do a cake for this family's milestones!  This time is for a 40th birthday and the theme is rugby.  This cake is the first of three for this weekend.  Thankfully I have two amazing helpers with Mr. T and Miss. E. so I'm not up to the wee hours of the night!  This is a 9 x 13 two layer lemon cake with cream cheese filling.  The family's favourite flavour. :)  For the lines on the field I used my clay extruder and it went quite fast.  I have no idea what the lines mean though.  For the 0 in 40 I turned it into a rugby ball, which I had to look up.  For the goal posts I used popsicle sticks.

Every once in a while I will do a cake with full multi colour butter cream decoration.  For my family's Thanksgiving dinner I volunteered to make a dessert.  I made an 8" three layer pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese filling.  After baking the cake the most tedious task is preparing all the icing to do the decorating. Russian tips are not as easy as they look.  For some tips the icing has to be the right consistency and temperature or they come out like blobs.  I learned this the hard way.  Once you do get the right consistency you have a small window get out as many flowers as you can before they come out as blobs again! Definitely take the time to practice as each tip works differently.  In the end I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. Regardless the cake was yummy and was shared with family.

For the little sister Sofie another Shopkins cake.  This was is a 6" three layer pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese filling. My favourite part of this cake is the little worm.  To keep him upright I used a piece of dry spaghetti.  I did the same with the stem of the apple.

I always look forward to seeing what cakes I get to make for these two sisters each year.  This year's theme is Shopkins.  Miss E was into Shopkins a few years ago but I had no idea they had names. Chloe's cake is a 6" three layer cookies and cream cake with butter cream filling.  To make the confetti and eyelashes I used the letter "I" from an alphabet set. I think my favourite part is Queenie's nose. :)

This was my 2nd cake for the weekend and my first all nighter in a very long time.  By the time both cakes were picked up I was down for the count taking a nap!  Though I did get through the first season of The Good Life, the first season of Mom and the movie Joy while I was doing these cakes.  I think I confused the cats.  They didn't know if they should be sleeping or chasing each other. Anyway, for this cake both the 8" and 6" tier were blue suede velvet.  Essentially red velvet with cream cheese filling but instead of red dye I used blue.  Then I covered both tiers in white fondant. For the multicoloured flowers I cut out one of each colour daisy then used two of each coloured petals around circles I had cut out for the larger ones; for the smaller ones it was one of each colour.  Originally I started out doing the petals free hand but that was very time consuming.  Thankfully I was only one flower in before I switched direction. ...

For this cake I was requested to make a yellow mountain bike and the flavour was to be chocolate.  This was an 8" two layer chocolate cake with chocolate filling. To this day I still cannot draw a bike from memory.  The frame always looks slightly off.  Thankfully I didn't have to rely on my memory and was able to print off a clip art drawing to use as my guide. Thank goodness for my clay extruder to do the bike wheels and frame.  You have to use fresh fondant.  If it's even slightly dried out it becomes virtually impossible to twist it out of the extruder.  After two tries with the yellow I broke down and made some fresh yellow fondant and it came out like butter!  I made the trees out of three different shades of green using my small oval cutters.  For the little rocks I had three different shades of grey and rolled up tiny little stones or rocks.

For this cake I was asked to make it gluten free.  Normally I only do a chocolate gluten free cake but I took the plunge and tried out a vanilla recipe.  I thought the cutoffs tasted pretty good.  Fingers crossed everyone else did too. The bottom tier was an 8" two layer gluten free chocolate cake with butter cream filling.  The top tier was a 6" two layer gluten free vanilla cake with butter cream filling.  I had originally made the 50 out of gum paste and fondant.  It was more of a yellowish gold so I added the little yellow flowers to match.  However, when I went to add the 5 on the cake I broke it. :(  Thankfully, I pulled out my Cricut machine and made a topper out of cardstock. 

It's been almost a month since I've had a cake to do.  It was a nice summer break.  I'm not going to lie.  However, I have been dying to do this superman cake forever!  I was so excited when I asked to do it for the topper of the cupcake stand.  Yay!  What a fun way to get back into the swing of things. The topper was a 6" two layer cookies and cream cake with butter cream filling. For the cake stand I made two dozen vanilla, chocolate and cookies & cream.  At first I was going to do all the initials in the middle lettering but it was taking FOREVER to tap out and they were super brittle.  Instead I didn't different lettering for each flavour. My go to for cupcake liners in matte black.  Of course when I went to do the cupcakes I had enough for 2 dozen but not the remaining 4 dozen.  I sent Mr T out on a wild goose chase looking for even plain white ones forgetting that the bride had already made the covers to ...

I can't believe this guy turned 7 today!  Of course I was thrilled to do a cake for him.  His request was for a vanilla cake with the Deadpool theme.  Of course I had no idea what Deadpool was or that it was a character in the title movie.  I'm not really into any of the Marvel or DC movies.  Good thing my friends like me in spite of my flaws!  Ha. :) I knew not to cover it in fondant because that would be way too easy on me.  Wouldn't you know that Deadpool's colours are red and black.  Two of the most fun colours to dye butter cream icing.  I went with red icing then black and white fondant decorations. To add depth to the lettering I cut out a set in white and a set in black.  Then I offset the white on top of the black slightly.  I love how this turned out. This was an 8" two layer vanilla cake as per the birthday boy's request and his mother's dismay.

Before I agreed to make this 3D cake I scoured Pinterest and YouTube for a tutorial.  Thankfully, I found this fantastic video for a  Mercedes Benz Birthday Cake .  Mr T found the specs and printed them off for me.  I didn't do the cake exactly to scale to make sure there was more cake for the guests to enjoy. First I made the tires so that they could dry out and harden.  Then I made the cake board in the shape of the base similar to the video and covered it in tin foil. For the cake I made a 9 x 13 vanilla cake.  With that slab I roughly formed the shape of a car with chocolate ganache as the filling.  The ganache worked like a glue to help keep the pieces together. Once the shaped was formed I covered the entire cake in chocolate ganache and let that set . The cake was covered in black fondant.  Then I outlined all the windows and doors as per the specs.  Added the mirrors, door handles and antenna.  Using the cla...

I've known the bride and her daughter since I was 5 years old.  So, I was extremely honoured to be asked to make this cake for Myra and Doug.  We decided on a three tiered cake with buttercream icing to cover the cake. I was off last week on vacation so I was able to spend all day yesterday taking my time to make the roses out of fondant.  Miss E was home with me and watched some episodes of Friends and Uncle Buck.  It was lots of fun and so nice not to rush. For the roses the first few layers were slightly darker than the outer layers to give some depth to make them more realistic. The bottom tier was fake.  It was a 10" round 4" high styrofoam dummy.  To make the ruffled affect I used a piping bag and rose tip and piped it on haphazardly around the dummy.  I did this tier last once the cake was put together to cover up the edge of the 2nd tier. On the top tier I placed the roses with some extra icing to prevent them from moving ...

Today we had another Coles family gathering.  This time at my uncle's place in Blackstock.  It's always fun to get to see family. It was very strange to be without Miss E.  We could stay as late as we wanted to without worrying about her bed time. Though we did pay for it the next day. Ha! The family requested that I bring a carrot cake.  I didn't realise for so many family members that it was a favourite of theirs.  I love carrot cake too so I wasn't complaining. This was a 3 layer 8 inch cake with lots of cream cheese.  The cake was serve and mostly eaten by the time I realized that I hadn't taken a picture. Thankfully my aunt had taken one that I could use. I try not to decorate a cake the same way twice so I need to keep a record!

My lovely go worker, Clover asked me to make 4 cupcakes for her sister's birthday!? If she had told me this last week when I made the gigantic Canada Day cake I could have easily taken out enough batter for her "tiny" request. But instead, I couldn't say no, I made 6 giant cupcakes as a compromise? She had bought a gift bag for her sister's present already that had a butterfly on it. My task was to make butterflies that matched. Instead of doing fondant ones I made them using distress inks and vinyl on my Cricut air cutting machine. I really like how they turned out. I will be making more of these for sure. Mr T and I delivered them up to her as an excuse to go out for dinner at the Lone Star. It was crazy weather. No rain one minute then a huge down poor, nothing again and then another down poor. We managed to stay dry at least.

My parents had a family celebration today to celebrate Canada Day and the summer birthdays.  I was tasked with bring the cake. I made a 4 layer 10" vanilla cake covered in buttercream icing. Decorated with 150 maple leafs, of course. The summer birthday peeps.  Auntie Julie, Grandma J., Dad, Uncle Tom and Geoff. My first attempt at making a checkerboard cake.