Cake Endeavours

 My cousin Ben turned 30, this year and his amazing girlfriend organized a number of surprises for him during this quarantine.  I offered to make a cake; she recommended a carrot cake cake, which is a family favourite. I found this cool silhouette that totally reminded me of Ben and cut it out on my Cricut machine to use as the cake topper.  We dropped it off to their apartment as a surprise. Ben got a kick out of the topper. 

 I'm so glad we were able to see Joy and celebrate her birthday with her during the small window between lock downs! So glad the cousins got to see each other.  Joy requested a rainbow cake and for it to be chocolate. This was a 3 layer chocolate 6" cake enjoyed by all.  Even leftovers to take home. 

 Mr T's dad turned 75 and we were so heartbroken that we couldn't celebrate together, but we did surprise him with a birthday cake.  A smaller one than usual, but he didn't have to share, well, only with Mr T's mom, if he chose to.  Ha!  Of course, it was chocolate cake with chocolate filling. I found this quirky sign to print off, laminate and add to the front of the cake.   At least we were able to have a short visit from our car to wish him a Happy Birthday!  

 We surprised Ilene with this sweet 6" cake for her birthday as I knew being in lockdown that she needed a special pick me up.   For the balloons I dug out my paper punches to punch them out and added them to some floral wire.

 These types of cakes are so much fun to do.  Over the top goodness!  Especially, when the original plan  was to use airplane size bottles of Jack Daniel's instead of one 300mL bottle.  When Mr T went to the LCBO he was told that they longer sell them, at least as this location, due to high theft.  The next smallest size available was the 300mL bottle; though I doubt the birthday boy was disappointed! This was a 3 layer chocolate 8" cake with Bailey's buttercream topped off with Hershey pieces, mini chocolate chip cookies, Ferrero Rocher and Whoppers sitting on top of the chocolate ganache.

 For this cake I was able to stretch my skills and use several different techniques.  It usually feels daunting to me at first, trying to figure out what I need to do, if I can pull it off and what tools I need to use.  Once I get going and things start to come together I get excited and really enjoy the process.  This is when my kitchen is usually at its messiest.  Ha! Cait sent me several pictures for what she was looking for and what she liked and didn't from both of them.  From there, I came up with a plan.  Though, it tends to change as I go.  First I made the horns.  I realized after the fact that I should have used wire to go the entire length of the horn and not just a bamboo stick that only went half way up.  It would have stabilized the fondant and I wouldn't have had to worry about it cracking and breaking apart.  Fortunately, they lasted at least to delivery.  I used light blue fondant and then painted them with sil...

This Thanksgiving is our 3rd annual Octoberfest celebration.  Though it was certainly celebrated much differently from last year.  It's our first Thanksgiving without my paternal grandmother which under normal circumstances would have been bittersweet.  However, combined with social distancing in our 2nd wave we had a very small gathering in my parents' backyard.  I am very grateful that we were fortunate to be able to celebrate with my parents and my brother.  It was a little chilly but we had good company and yummy food. My contribution was this 3 layer 6" pumpkin cake covered in cream cheese icing.  I know my family will take any cake that is a vessel to cream cheese icing.   Hopefully, next Thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate properly with extended family.

 Mr.  T kindly dropped this cake off to a coworker of his this afternoon.  Making cheesecake in the Instant Pot is life changing.  I've said it before, I know, but I can't stress enough how easy and foolproof it is.  There are a ton of recipes online to choose from.  You don't have to worry about making a bain Marie, using tinfoil or having the cake overflow and fall to the bottom of your oven causing your smoke detector to go off...It happened to me! It comes off the sides of the springform pan or cheesecake pan very easily.  I have the 8qrt version and can do up to an 8" round cake in the Instant Pot.  

This 6" blackforest cake was for a coworker of Mr. T's for him and his wife's anniversary.  This time Mr T was able to find cherries with their stems.  I much prefer them with their stems for decorating.  It looks so much more decadent.  I'm not sure if his co-worker was able to have any of the cake as I believe his wife took it to work to share! 

 Buffalo plaid is so popular this year and it's spilled over into cakes, which I adore!  For this special first birthday the cakes were decorated to coordinate with the decorations for the party. For the main cake, it was an 8" two layer vanilla flavour with fresh raspberry filling.  I did not add the filling in the smash cake for the birthday boy to avoid a gruesome looking mess. Ha! For the bears, I used the same one as the decorations and laminated them before adding to the cake.  For the topper I interested "Wild One"  first before printing and laminating.  The trees, I painted them by hand directly on to the fondant with edible dye. For the 4" smash cake, I added the banting upside down to match the main cake.

 A coworker of Mr. T's asked me to make this 10" blueberry cheese cake with blueberry topping.  I couldn't make this one in the Instant Pot as a 10" pan does not fit.  The old fashioned way for this beauty, in the oven, in a bain-marie.  However, I did try a different method by putting a pan with water on the rack underneath the cheesecake instead of actually setting the cheesecake in the water.  It worked really well.  It did crack but I knew I was putting a topping over it so it wouldn't show. Fresh homemade blueberry topping to finish off the cheesecake!

 I love getting to do a sweet cake like this for a first birthday!  For this 6" three layer vanilla cake it had salted caramel butter cream filling.  Mr. T was on a roll delivering cakes this week. All the decorations were made using cutters, which makes it go much faster.  I love the clouds.  They are such fun. 

 I love being able to help make pandemic birthdays a little brighter with a custom cake.  Especially for Keaton, who I can believe is already 12 years old!  Not sure how that happened.  Thankfully, Miss E schooled me on Fortnite as I had never heard of it before. This cake was a 6" three layer vanilla cake with butter cream filling.  Tried some wonky stripes for the first time.  Also got to use my drip cutter that works so much better than trying to drip icing over the edge.  I don't seem to have luck with that! For the cake topper I printed out the Fortnite sign and laminated it and then fussy cut it out.  This way Keaton could have a keepsake if he wanted.  Same with the Marshmello character, who I have no idea what he is or does.  Ha! To top it off, in case there wasn't enough sugar already, I added lots of sprinkles.

 Sonya's mom sent over the Super Mario figurines to add to the Princess Peach cake.  Miss E was all over them.  Super Mario is always popular in our house. This 6" three layer vanilla cake was filled with fresh strawberry filling. Almost like a strawberry shortcake.  It's a classic combination. I haven't done a Super Mario cake in so long.  It always fun to do OG Super Mario.

I was so happy to be able to celebrate Vickie's birthday with her in person and to make her cake for the outdoor celebration.  Thank goodness for good weather!   Triple layer chocolate cake with salted caramel butter cream filling.Yum!  To finish off the cake I added some homemade caramel sauce then sprinkled with edible gold dust for some extra glam.

 This cake was to celebrate my cousin's birthday and her new job in New York.  Vanilla cake with salted caramel filling.  The beautiful flowers were added post delivery so my cousin was kind enough to send me a picture of the finished product before they cut into it.  Naked cakes are perfect if you're not a big fan of icing.  I like doing them because you don't have to worry about some crumbs getting mixed into the icing! :)

 I brought this cake up to my parents' trailer for dessert.  Made in the Instant Pot as there is no other way to do it!  It is so fool proof.  I know I say this every time, but I really can't stress it enough.  If you've ever been intimidated about making a cheesecake, you can't go wrong with doing it in an Instant Pot.  There are lots of step by step instructions and recipes on Pinterest and YouTube.   I beefed this one up with some chopped mini Reese Peanut Butter Cups.  Chocolate and peanut butter are such a beautiful pairing.   We are so fortunate to be able to visit with my parents at their trailer outside.  It's so nice to be able to get away from the city where you can almost forget that there is a pandemic going on.

 I'm always so excited to do a cake for Jaxson.  This time for his 10th birthday the request was for Pina Colada cupcakes.  These were super fun to make.  I ordered the cocktail umbrellas from Amazon.  These never go out of style.  For the maraschino cherries, I would have preferred that they had stems, but sadly Mr. T was unable to procure any.  :(  Thankfully we had some extra cupcakes that we were all able to test out and even to take to my parents up at their trailer.  A perfect summer treat.

 I saw this cake design on Pinterest several years ago and knew I had to make it for my Dad when he turned 70!  Well, this being the year (or year one) of the pandemic we couldn't celebrate on his birthday in July.  Fortunately, we wait until it was safer to get together and were able to celebrate with more family members.  We hadn't seen each other in nearly 6 months so it was so special to be able to do so. Of course I made chocolate cake for Dad with fresh whipped cream filling. I dyed the chocolate icing black.  It's always a crowd pleaser, turning everyone's teeth black.  Ha! You can tell it was a humid day by how shiny the fondant bow and rose are.  I cut the 070 from vinyl and adhered it to the base.  I love doing this instead of using cut out fondant letters, as you can use any font, colour, size and the edges are so crisp and clean! Happy Birthday Dad!  xo

My in-laws are celebrating their 50th anniversary during this fun time of Covid.  Fortunately, the restaurants are open again and we were able to have a small family celebration in a private dining room. This was a three layer 8" chocolate cake with mocha filling.    Happy 50th Anniversary!

 Buffalo plaid is so popular right now that it is spilling over to baking.  The lighting wasn't great when I took this picture to see that the bottom tier is supposed to be buffalo plaid!  This cake was for a baby shower.  I used my baby booties cutters for the first time to make the boots.  It was a bit finicky for my liking but I was able to make it work for the most part! The bottom tier is an 8" vanilla cake with buttercream filling and the top tier is a 6" chocolate cake with buttercream filling.   Above was the first picture I took of the finished cake and fortunately at that time I noticed my mistake with the lettering.  Good grief!  Thankfully, I was able to fix the spelling/grammar error in time and without destroying the white fondant underneath!  For the letter I cut out a set in black and red and offset the layering to make it stand out.  

After the success of the first cake another of Mr T's coworker asked me to make him the same cake. Here it is again; tweaked the decorating a little to make it a little different.  Still a 3 layer 8" cake with another batch of homemade raspberry filling.

 A coworker of Mr T's asked me to make her a cake for her birthday.  Her request was for a vanilla coffee cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate icing.  I love getting to try out new flavour combinations.   This was an 8" two layer cake with homemade raspberry filling.  I finished off the decorating with some edible gold paint on top of the raspberries.  The cake was a hit with the birthday girl.

As I made my mom her own special cake for her birthday, I knew for Father's day I could make my dad one of his favourite flavours that my mom doesn't like, Black Forest.  I do not like it either.  But I know Mr. T does as well and it's Father's day for him too. I did cheat and use cherry pie filling between the layers but I did brush lots of Kirsh (cherry liqueur) on each cake layer.  The cake is covered in freshly made whipped cream.  The cherries on top had been soaking in vodka for a long time.  They added a fun kick to the cake.

This year my mom had a milestone birthday, which we're not allowed to discuss.  Ha!  So, instead I made sure she had her own special cake.  She's not a major cake fan but she does enjoy red velvet.  Mostly because it's a vessel to cream cheese icing. Originally, I had planned to cover the 6" 3 layer cake in rosettes, but I didn't have enough icing.  Grr! I changed my plans to have the rosettes on the top only.  I ended up adding the crumbs over the icing on the sides because I couldn't get a thick enough covering and the crumbs were coming through.  The more I played with it the more the crumbs showed through.  Sometimes, it's just best to go with the flow!

Our mothers share the same birthday which also falls very close to Father's Day and sometimes on Father's Day.  We celebrate them together. So, for Mr. T's mom to go with the cheesecake theme I made her a vanilla cheesecake.  Again, in the instant pot using this recipe:  New York Cheesecake .  For this cake I did use the recommended 7" pan. The cake was topped off with blueberry filling and some splattered edible gold dust. Both of Mr. T's parents were very happy with their own celebration cakes!

This past weekend we were able to celebrate Father's Day with both families while social distancing.  It was awesome.  On Saturday we went to Mr. T's parents' house.  It was so nice to sit down to a meal together after so long.  Even Mr. T's brother was able to join us for a while too. For my father in law I made him a triple chocolate cheese cake in the Instant Pot.  Seriously, it is the only way to make a cheesecake.  It is foolproof!  This is the recipe I used:  Instant Pot Triple Chocolate Cheesecake .  The recipe calls for a 7" pan but I used a 6" pan and it was fine. To finish off the cake I splattered edible gold dust over the cake.

For this cake Adam and his brother-in-law were each celebrating their first Father's Day and so a special cake was requested with a BBQ theme. The recipe I used for this cake:  Bailey's & Guinness Cake I followed the recipe for the cake, ganache and buttercream making it a 6 layer 8" cake.  For the grill and food I used fondant and shaped them appropriately.  They came together rather quick and easy.  To make them more realistic I used some food colouring with vodka (makes the food colour dry very fast and the alcohol evaporates).  Finally, added grill and char marks. Both fathers enjoyed the cake.  My father was super jealous.  Good thing his birthday is coming up so I know what flavour it will be.

I was asked to make a grad cake for 3 friends graduating grade 12.  The request was for an 8" cookies & cream cake. I hadn't made one in a long time.  It's Mr. T's favourite recipe to make as you throw all ingredients in at once which speeds up the process. To make the cap I used the Wilton baseball cake pan to bake some of the batter in.  For the board, I used a thin cake board and covered it in vinyl.  All the writing was done using vinyl cut from my Cricut machine. Congratulations Rachel, Hailey and Lauryn!

I can't believe Brooklyn is 10 years old.  I am so glad that we were able to have a social distance dinner to celebrate this milestone with her and the family. I made the Perfect Chocolate Cake, 3 layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream in between and covered in chocolate fudge icing.  I had left over icing from the other two cakes that I was able to use for decoration on this cake.  The "ten" was cut out from gold card stock using my Cricut machine. Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

One of my first cakes I made for Miss E was using a heavy duty cupcake shaped pan.  That was over 10 years ago.  I used the pan once and several years later I donated it to Value Village.  Fast forward 10 years, I have a request for a cupcake cake. I contemplated ordering a silicon pan but decided I would make one from the pans I already had and use on a regular basis. For this vanilla cake I used three 6" pans for the base and half of the baseball Wilton pan to form the top.  The cake was assembled with salted caramel icing,  The bottom had no dye and top I dyed it teal. To top off the cake I added some edible decorations topped with a "cherry".  For the lettering on the board, it was cut out of vinyl using the Cricut Explore Air.

For Lindsay's 40th birthday I knew I wanted to do a Jem themed cake as she is truly outrageous! The cake was four 6" layers alternating between vanilla and chocolate with salted caramel icing as filling.  I covered the cake in vanilla buttercream then added dabs of purple, pink and orange to copy the colour gradient in the Jem logo.  The logo I printed and laminated.  Finished it off with 40 stars. Happy Birthday Linds!  Enjoy your new decade.

During this crazy time it's so refreshing to be able to do something fun and to focus on something different, even if it is only for an afternooon. The request for this cake was a 8" vanilla tier and a 6" chocolate tier covered in vanilla buttercream.  For the topper I used gold cardstock and cut it out using my Cricut Explore Air.  I don't have much fondant right now to make flowers so I used silk ones that I had on hand to decorate.

Logan is one of the lucky ones to celebrate a birthday during this pandemic and of course I jumped at the chance to help out by making a cake for him.  He's come a long way from Pablo and the Backyardigans.  Ha! This cake was a 6" three layer chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing.  I don't have much fondant right now and I'm not sure when I will be able to buy some more, especially black!  Instead for the decorations, I printed off the logo and funny sticky note quotes from the series. This way Logan can keep them if he'd like. Happy 14th Logan!

After making Olivia's cake I had extra batter and icing so I decided to make cupcakes for my best friend, Hannah, to drop off to her to help celebrate her birthday in isolation.  I sprinkled some gold dust over top of the cupcakes for some glitter. It was so great to be able see Hannah while maintaining proper social distance.  Thank goodness for decent weather!  We were both so happy to talk in person and see other people if only for a short time.

Olivia's mom had posted on Facebook that she was trying to get everything together to celebrate her birthday during quarantine.  As soon as I saw that I sent her a message practically begging to make a cake for her. Being in isolation combined with not working is not fun.  It's been several weeks and I need something to do.  An excuse to bake a cake was perfect! Olivia asked for vanilla cake with purple and teal decorations.  A girl after my own heart.  We did a porch drop off safely while on our way out to Bowmanville.   Happy 13th Olivia!

For Mr. T's birthday as long as it's chocolate he's not picky about the decoration and extra flavour.  I had red icing left over from yesterday's cake so I added peanut butter to it as I know he loves peanut butter and chocolate combined.  I sent Miss down to the store to buy buttercups and whatever else she could find to add to the cake; she found Crispy Crunch which was a perfect pairing. This was a two layer 6" chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and filling.  I also added broken buttercups and Crispy Crunch between the layers.  For extra chocolate I added some ganache.  Cutest helpers to lick the beaters.  Even found candles to put on the cake, and matches! Miss E captured this picture perfectly for me. The cake was also enjoyed for breakfast the next morning by everyone. 

I haven't done two cakes in one day in a long time!  After finishing this cake I was TIRED!  I left the kitchen a mess and went and had a nice nap! :) The instructions for this cake was red velvet, Happy Birthday Gaelen, and film themed as she's studying film at Ryerson. This was an 8" 2 layer red velvet with buttercream filling.  I had fun with the decorations, making the film reel for the top.  Don't look too closely at the circle cut outs.  They are a little wonky!  There was a gap between the reel and the film strip so I dyed the left over icing red and piped on a border to cover the gap.

This was a last minute request that I was happy to oblige!  Always love doing a cake for Tessia. This cake was an 8" 2 layer chocolate cake with light pink buttercream filling and icing.  The light doesn't capture the colour quite right as it looks more peach than pink, but it was a really nice shade of pale pink, I swear! Happy 29th Tee! :)

Doing Sherry-Lee's 60th birthday cake marks 10 years since I decorated my first cake with fondant.  Sherry-Lee's 50th birthday cake was that cake!  I can't believe it's been 10 years already.  This cake was a 3 layer 8" chocolate cake with salted caramel filling and chocolate fudge icing.  It was almost 5" tall.  Anyone getting a corner piece would definitely get a good sugar high! :) Happy 15th Birthday Sherry-Lee!