Cake Endeavours

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 and bought jarred sour cherries and

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 tradition was extra special t