Cake Endeavours

Pat's daughter asked me to make this cake for a milestone birthday.  Pat does not look anywhere near 70!  Of course, a family favourite is lemon cake, with cream cheese icing.  Three layer 6" cake; one day I will centre a cake properly on the base!   I have a box of silk flowers that I keep for cake decorating and I love how this spring like bouquet of flowers and greenery came together on the top.

 Originally I was going to do Jamie Oliver's  Scrumptious Yule Log  recipe for our Christmas dinner dessert but as Mr. T and were driving back home from my parents' on Christmas Eve I was reading the instructions for the cake and realised that there was no way I was going to make this before going back to my parents' in the morning.  Instead I went with this very scrumptious  Chocolate Espresso Yule Log  recipe instead.  It did not disappoint. My mother-in-law gave me some vintage Christmas decorations when they were moving and I knew that they would be perfect on top of this cake.  In the rush to get out to my parents' on time I forgot to bring the board for the cake.  Thankfully my brother had this very appropriate buffalo plaid tray that I could use. This is the cake several hours later ready to be served up.  What I didn't realise and should have, is that you dust the cake with icing sugar just before you're ready to serve it otherwi...

Several years ago I swore I would not do any mini cakes, rather multiple mini cakes in one request, especially at Christmas time.  Clearly, I forgot that resolve!  I'm hoping I won't forget again.   The 8" vanilla cheesecake was not a problem.  I made it in the Instant Pot and it came out beautifully.  Even the red with gold mirror glaze went on with ease.  If only it stopped there!   The decorations were simple enough, fresh cranberries, some sugared and some left as is, along with fresh rosemary and silver and black dragees.     Then there were the two dozen mini cheese cakes.  Yikes! I made up a cheese cake in a 9 x 13 pan, then cut into 2" square pieces and set them in the freezer.  When it came time to covering them in the glaze, it did not go so well.  It was a mess!  It would have definitely gone smoother the cheese cakes were a no bake recipe done in individual molds but I knew my friend wanted baked and ...

A friend of mine asked me to make this cake for her sister.  A 6" two layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  The cake was topped off with sprinkles and gold covered malt balls.  Update:  Her sister is still enjoying the cake a month later by keeping it in the freezer and enjoying a slice every so often.  It's surprising how well cake can freeze and this recipe definitely freezes well.

 Cupcakes turned Christmassy with the addition of some sprinkles! Chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream icing. Lemon cupcakes with whipped cream icing as well.  

Making this cake meant we were able to have an outdoor visit in a parking lot with family we haven't seen in forever to drop off the cake. Eason asked for a superhero cake.  I already had most of the cake topper ready to go so this cake came together really fast. Of course this is a chocolate cake, 6" three layer.  Always happy when I am able to get red buttercream icing to come out so vibrant. Hope you have an awesome day Eason!

I really like to combine fondant and paper when decorating a cake.  Generally it's a great time saver and keeps costs down for everyone.  Also, the paper decorations can be kept as keepsakes or for the kids to play with and repurpose  For this cake, I did all the generic decorations in fondant and the Octonaut characters I printed off, laminated and trimmed to go on the top of the cake  The "Nicola" topper was provided my Nicola's mom to add to the cake.  Nicola's favourite characters are Peso, the penguin and Tunip, the vegimal (according to Wikipedia!)   This was an 8" three layer lemon cake with raspberry filling.  The combination is so good!

Olivia's mom is an amazing paper crafter and one of the cutest lines of paper and supplies is Doodlebug.  I have a lot of Doodlebug in my collection.  It's Olivia's favourite and so I did the decorating in Doodlebug style.  She also has two adorable cats that she loves so I added them in with their own winter hats and scarfs.  Olivia also likes lollipops and hearts which I added as toppers. This was an 8" three layer vanilla cake with buttercream icing covered in fondant.  We delivered the cake to my favourite scrapbooking store,  Younique Scrapbook  in Guelph, which of course I had to do some shopping afterward.    

 I was so excited to do this cake for a good friend's wedding.  Wedding cakes are so much fun to do.  I love being able to deliver it to the venue and setting it up.  This set up was super easy, especially when there was no casualties in the travel. Thank goodness as it's been over two years since since I'd done a two tiered cake. The bottom tier was an 8" three layer pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing.  The top tier was a 6" three layer lemon cake with cream cheese icing.  Both were covered in fondant.  The purple flowers were made a few days in advance to allow them to dry out.   Congratulations Tara and Jamie!  We are so happy for you both!

 We had over half the cake left from Miss E's birthday cake and we planning on serving the rest to my in-laws for dessert when they came for dinner tonight to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday.  I decided to switch it up a bit and change the decorations to make it less obvious that it was left over cake.  As long as it's chocolate cake my father-in-law is good!   It also helps that this cake gets better after a few days in the fridge. I don't know why, but we all enjoy it!

Finally getting to celebrate Miss E's birthday properly along with her friend who turned 16 today with a chocolate cake covered in chocolate fudge icing.  Added each a car with their initials to celebrate learning to drive.  I can't believe they are 16.  I really don't know where the time went.  Though I do not miss all the work that went into planning and hosting birthday parties!  

 Debbie's sister asked me to make a cake to celebrate her 50th birthday.  This was an 8" three layer marble cake with buttercream icing. I haven't made a fondant flower in quite some time.  I made it a few days before so that it had time to harden and then dusted on the edible gold dust. Cake topper was made on my Cricut machine with vinyl and card stock.  More gold was added with dust covered malt balls.  They are such an easy decoration to do and I love the look.

 When I was asked to the this cake, I had not heard of Raya and the Last Dragon movie.  Thankfully, Miss E educated me followed by a few Google searches.  This was a 3 layer 8" cake.  I am finally writing this post almost 3 months later and for the life of me can't remember what flavour this cake was.  I'm pretty sure it was either chocolate or vanilla.   I love how the butter cream icing turned out with the ombre effect from purple to light blue.  The cake topper lettering was done on my Cricut machine using a Raya like font.

To celebrate this milestone birthday I was requested to make a carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  This was a 6" cake with 3 layers.    For the New York Rangers logo I printed it off and laminated it, then trimmed it out and adhered it to the cake with icing.  I used blue and red M&Ms for decoration.

Back in August we took a trip to Niagara Falls with my in-laws and had lunch at  the Queen Charlotte Tea Room .  The home made sticky toffee pudding was amazing.  I decided that I was going to turn it into a cake for Thanksgiving.  While it's not quite as delicious as the one from the tea room, it's a pretty close second. I made a 3 layer 6" cake with toffee sauce and a light whipped cream cheese.   I kept it in the fridge until we were ready to serve it.  This way the toffee sauce didn't drip everywhere while cutting the cake. With the extra sauce, I heated it up to poor over each slice; just in case it wasn't sweet enough!

 Thanksgiving isn't the same without some form of pumpkin dessert.  Cheesecake is always appreciated in my family.   Baking a cheesecake in the Instant Pot is so much easier than in the oven.  It's pretty fool proof.  I wasn't worried about how the top was going to look as I was covering it with a whipped cream icing.  Can't have pumpkin without whipped cream.  Though Miss E would have preferred it from a can, I'm sure.

 It was so nice to be able to celebrate this milestone for my cousin and her husband in person!  I was asked to make cupcakes and a special cake for the two of them as they are both celebrating their 60th birthdays this month.   This was a 4" four layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  The theme was black and gold.  I splattered edible gold paint all over the cake then topped it with black fondant flowers and gold dust covered malt balls.  We lost two of them on the ride over to the floor in the car, but it wasn't that noticeable.  This is why I usually take a picture before a cake leaves the house.  Ha! The cupcakes were carrot and red velvet.  I didn't check to see if I had red dye before I made the cupcakes, so they were more of a maroon/burgundy velvet colour.  No one complained, so that's good.  :)

 Do you know how hard it is to find small sized soccer balls in the city!?  It's virtually impossible.  Well, I tried 3 stores.  Finally, found these really little bead soccer balls.  That was it!  But they worked for what I needed.  I do wish they were a little bigger.  Of course, I'm sure I'll find exactly what I would have wanted everywhere now.   This was a 3 layer 8" vanilla cake with buttercream filling and icing with a chocolate ganache drip; I did say I was getting lots of practice.  Added some "grass" along with malt balls and Toblerone pieces.  For the topper, I designed it and cut it out on my Cricut machine.

 This cake was technically supposed to be an Avengers cake but after I added all the emblems for all the characters, Miss E kindly pointed out that I had combined DC and Marvel characters.  As I'm typing this I still can't recall who falls under the Avengers title.  I was going to change them out, once I figured out which ones didn't belong, but I checked with Keaton's mom first and she said it was a good timeline of all the characters that Keaton has liked over the years.  Ha!  Love happy mistakes. For decorations, I covered this 6" 3 layer vanilla cake in a golden buttercream and chocolate ganache drip, with some malt balls and peanut M&Ms.  The rest I printed off and fussy cut out, then laminated.  Thankfully, I have circle punches for all them emblems which made the task much easier and more professional looking. I can't believe Keaton is now 13.  I feel like it was just yesterday I delivered coffee to his mom in the hospital when it was b...

 Lately I've been getting together with some neighbours in my building outside every weekend for cocktail hour but we call ourselves "Ladies who Lunch".  I either bring a cheese dip or cupcakes, depending on what cakes I'm doing that weekend or not.  This weekend I had some leftover filling from the strawberry shortcake cake and extra batter, so I made these cupcakes. I didn't add the strawberries on top until I was ready to go as I didn't want the cupcakes to get soggy.  They were a big hit.  Of course, now the pressure is on for next week!

Chocolate explosion cakes never get boring.  Thankfully, there is lots of chocolate out there to choose from that each cake will be unique.  Costco had some Belgium cookies on sale and so I used some of those along with Oreos, Hershey bars, Lindor chocolate, etc.  This was a 3 layer 8" chocolate cake with chocolate filling covered in vanilla buttercream icing with a chocolate ganache drip.  I'm getting lots of practice doing the drip technique.  I love it.  This cake was for one of Mr T's coworkers.  After we delivered the cake, you could still smell all the chocolate in the car!

 For Damian's cake, Sonya's brother I did a 3 layer 8" chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing.  The lettering clouds, and pilons were done in fondant.  Fondant is much easier to work with on a smaller scale. For the cake topper and the construction trucks I cut them out on my Cricut machine.  I laminated the trucks, which made it easy to set them into the cake to stand up.  I added the white line down the two to make it look like a road with my gel pen.  So much fun.

 After the fiasco of working with fondant and the humidity this weekend I decided to shy away from using it as much as possible on the rest of my cakes!  Thank goodness for my Cricut machine!  It has become a great tool to add decorations to my cakes.  They can also be kept as keepsakes, which is fun. For this cake it was a 3 layer strawberry shortcake 8" cake.  I did use fondant for Sonya's name and the flowers to decorate.  The cake topper and the unicorn were made using my Cricut.  I laminated the black silhouette so that it could stick on the cake and not ruin the sweet unicorn.

 Friends is without a doubt my favourite TV show of all time.  I've seen every episode multiple times over and quote it daily.  When I was asked to do a Friends birthday cake I was so excited.  Finally, getting to do one on a show that I know everything about. This cake was a 3 layer vanilla with vanilla butter cream icing.  I also did 3 dozen cupcakes (chocolate and vanilla) to go along with the cake for the birthday celebration.  For the decorations I printed off the images that I wanted and laminated them to go on the cake.  For the lettering I cut them out in vinyl on my Cricut using the "Friends" font.  I haven't covered a cake in fondant in a very long time.  Of course, for this cake I decide to do it and it's so humid out as you can see.  The fondant is sweating.  It's so hard to work with when it's like that.  Plus, the brand of fondant that I am used to working I can't find anywhere.  So frustrating!  In the ...

 Last night we dropped off these cupcakes for Cachet's anniversary celebration today.  The owner is celebrating 40 years in business today.  I love getting to be a part of celebrations in my home town, Bowmanville.  It's always an honour. I made 4 dozen vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  I added some flowers and leaves for a little bit of colour.  For the toppers I used the Cachet logo with 40 behind it and backed them with some black cardstock.

 One of Mr T's coworkers asked me to make this cake.  I was so excited to do a Black Forest cake when cherries are in season.  I haven't been able to do this before now.  Usually, I have to use frozen and maraschino cherries, which are fine but in season fruit is the best! I love adding the bark look with the chocolate on the sides.  I never know how it's going to turn out.  Working with fresh whipped cream, I'm never sure how sturdy the cake will be.  It came together just right. Look at all those lovely cherries.  Yum!  After manually trying to pit the cherries I went in search of my cherry pitter.  I was almost certain I had one.  Thankfully, it was right were I thought it would be.  It made the task so much easier. Mr T was thrilled to learn that there was leftovers when I was done, so I made him a deconstructed dessert.  Miss E was able to have the remaining whipped cream with a few cherries for her dessert.

 I love making lemon cake.  It smells incredible baking.  It's so fresh and the warm cut offs are so good!  I learned something new with this cake though; actually two things.  One, you can easily use the icing to make the drip effect.  I added some yellow dye, heated up the icing to make it super runny and poured it into a squeeze bottle to add the drip.  So much easier than making a ganache.  Second, for the lemon slices, pat them dry first, otherwise the lemon juice will run down the sides of the cake as seen in the picture.  Thankfully, they dripped evenly and I left it to make it look like I did it on purpose.  Ha!  As a bonus, the extra decoration on the bottom left was added thanks to me to cover up a nick when I put it in the fridge.  I did not have the heart to go back and smooth out all the icing, again! This was a 3 layer 6" super lemony cake with cream cheese icing.

Originally the little penguin character from RuneScape was going to be much bigger and made from fondant.  Unfortunately, I discovered too late that the fondant I had on hand was not good.  So, instead I improvised a little after checking with my sister-in-law as this cake was for her mom that it was okay.  Her favourite colour is hunter green.  I can't believe I was able to get my icing that dark for the leaves.  Woohoo!  I was able to use the only picture available on the internet that I could find of the penguin hiding in the cactus as part of the cake topper at least.    This was a 2 layer 8" marble cake with vanilla buttercream icing.

These cakes are so much fun to do.  There is so much to choose from in chocolate to add to a cake.  My family is never disappointed when I make a cake like this.  They are vultures waiting to see what extras are left over.  Ha!  This was a 3 layer 8" chocolate cake with salted caramel filling.  Covered with Oreo cookies, Hershey's chocolate, cookies'n'cream and uggets, and Ferrero Rocher.

 It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since my brother and I had a celebration for my parents' 40th anniversary in their backyard.  It was an amazing party and I am so glad we had a big celebration with all of their friends and family.  Fast forward 10 years and the big celebration we were hoping to repeat just couldn't be done.  Instead we thought it would be fun to surprise them with a celebration up at their trailer inviting the park residences to stop by to pick up a cupcake, or two and to wish them happy anniversary.  Bur first I had to bake the cupcakes.  In order to do that you need an oven.   Earlier this week, the oven out of the blue started beeping.  We were no where near the kitchen,  A quick Google search told us that it meant a wire had come lose.  I was able to find someone who could look at our stove; didn't realize that not everyone deals with induction stoves.  Of course the stove needed parts which meant I...

 I was asked to make these cupcakes for an outdoor backyard wedding.  I love being able to go to the venue to set up the cake or cupcakes.  It's so much fun to see all the decorations and set up for the reception.   The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla buttercream icing.  I added some silk baby's breath for decoration.  So simple, but love the touch that it added.   Congratulations Don and Joan!

To celebrate my dad and brother's birthdays this year we went up to my parents' trailer to have a campfire dinner; hotdogs over the fire with a side of corn on the cob.  So good! To finish off the celebration I made one of the family favourites, carrot cake with cream cheese icing.    This was a 3 layer six inch cake with lots of cream cheese icing.  Hopefully, it was enough for Geoff this time.  

 For Dan's cake this was a 3 layer vanilla cake with buttercream icing.  Dan has a couple of classic cars; a black Trans Am and a blue Camaro.  For the cake toper I cut out a silhouette of a Trans Am and covered the cake in blue buttercream icing to represent the Camaro. For the lettering I cut them out in white cardstock and did a fire ombre effect with my Copic markers. After I was finished I thought the cake could use something more so at the last minute I decide to do the flames around the base of the cake.  I cut out the border on my Cricut Explore in two layers then coloured in the flames.  I love how it turned out!

 For Ken's 65th birthday celebration I made a 3 layer lemon cake with cream cheese icing. I decide to dye some of the icing yellow to add to the decorating and to provide extra icing on top.  There can never be too much cream cheese icing, according to my brother. For the cake topper I designed it on Cricut Design Space and cut out the letters in white then colour them with an ombre effect using my Copic markers.  

 This dinosaur cake was a 10" two layer vanilla cake with salted caramel filling.  I decorated it in blue buttercream icing with some black fondant dinosaur footprints along with some "grass" and "stones" around the base.  Cut out letters in orange fondant for Happy Birthday. Lately, I've really liked doing keepsake cake toppers.  Especially for kids, it's nice to have something that you can have to go in an album or even hang on your wall.  I made this one using my Cricut Explore with different colours of cardstock and vinyl for the letters.  To add some depth to the cardstock I added some distress ink.  To set the topper on the cake I added bubble tea straws into the cake then added double sided foam tape to the top of each one and then centred the topper over the cake.

 Here's a third grad cake for someone in my St. Paul's family.  I'm so honoured to be asked to do these cakes!  I love being able to help celebrate these special moments.  Alex is graduating from grade 8.  He requested vanilla flavour with buttercream icing.  Though I did add salted caramel icing as filling for some extra flavour.   I love how the two tones of icing worked out.  Though the icing was not cooperating very nicely in wanting to smooth out the way I wanted.  Grrr!  I used edible gold leaf for the first time for the decoration around the cake.  It was fun to work with; using a dry paint brush helped a lot. Mr. T and I took this cake out to Bowmanville tonight and then swung by to say hello to my parents.  For a Thursday night the traffic was pretty nuts!  The drive back was smooth at least.  Got back before lane closures for construction work. Congratulations Alex! "}

 This cake was for another St. Paul's graduate.  Eliza graduated with the Gold Medal in her graduating class for top marks in Disability Studies.  Inclusion is her passion for all people.   This cake was a three layer chocolate cake with salter caramel icing.  A popular choice these days!   For the cake topper I coloured a piece of 80lb paper with Copic makers in a rainbow pattern then cut everything out on my Cricut Air machine.   Eliza also enjoys her candy I was told so I added some Oreo cookies, wafer straws, fuzzy peaches (which I remember being a lot bigger!), mini M&Ms and tropical flavoured Swedish berries.  I fancied them up with some edible gold paint. The little grey car is for Eliza's actual car I made from fondant along with the gold heart to symbolize her big heart and her gold medal from school. Congratulations Eliza!