Bryce's Last Two Birthday Cakes

I see a pattern forming.  The top pic is the cake Bryce asked for last year.  The lower pic is what he asked for this year.  I don't recall the type of cake I used in the first one, but I do remember having fun melting and forming the chocolate shards I put on as primary decoration.  Both cakes are topped with generous dollops of decorative whipped cream and strawberries.  The cake I made for him this year was three layer, as requested, a Neapolitan cake with one layer of strawberry, one of chocolate, and one of vanilla.  The filling was strawberry jam and the exterior was frosted with a simple chocolate buttercream.  It's strange to think this is the same kid who used to demand superheroes on every cake.

Wolfner Library 80th Anniversary Cake

Fun stuff.  This cake was made in honor of 80 years of Wolfner Library history.  Since the first audiobook medium we circulated was in record form, I made a version of the portable record player that was at one time issued to Wolfner Library patrons.  This three layer cake ( carved from three half sheet cakes) features a simple American style vanilla buttercream filling and crumb coat.  The sides and top are covered in marshmallow fondant.  For the wood grain look, two batches of fondant were flavored and colored with varying amounts of sifted cocoa powder, then marbled together.  Metal details are fondant brushed with gold dust.  The knobs are Rolo candies.  The record is one bag of 12 oz dark chocolate candy melts molded in a 10 in round cake pan.  The pin in the center of the record is a small slice of soft black licorice.  The tone arm is a pretzel rod with chocolate marshmallow fondant details and propped up on a black soft licorice piece.  The lid is made of chocolate plastic--dark chocolate candy melts and light corn syrup.  My husband Michael designed the vintage record label and had it printed and laminated at Kinkos.

Louis' Birthday

Fun times over the labor day weekend.  My mother baked the cake ("funfetti," as requested by the birthday boy), I decorated it.  I manufactured a fair amount of fondant, then set to work making sushi "cakes" with a wad of fondant hand-shaped into an oversized rice cake.  I rolled the cakes in chopped up marshmallows (to simulate the rice), then topped them with colored bits of fondant made to simulate salmon, tuna, egg, and fish eggs.  The seaweed wraps were of fondant as well.  I set actual chopsticks on the cake and added a little plastic cup with chocolate syrup to simulate soy sauce.  And yes, the wasabi and pickled ginger were made of fondant as well.  Louis was pleased.  That's what I always aim for.

Wolfner Library's 10th Anniversary of the Recording Booth

Well, this was fun.  I made everything out of either chocolate plastic (melted candies and/or chocolate plus corn syrup) or fondant.  I had just purchased one of those cake markers in black, so I used it for all the lettering and lines.  Folks were impressed.  Maybe you can't tell from the photo, but this was basically a full sheet cake, rendered in two layers.  The top layer was angled to simulate the mixing board.  Oh, and the wires were made out of black licorice whips.  You wouldn't believe how many places I had to go to find that stuff.  I finally ended up at the candy shop here at our local mall.

Cakes for the recently retired...

Seems like I keep running off my bosses.  I'm sure they are taking on these life-changing events without any prompting from me, but it feels odd to see my former boss and current boss retire in the space of three months in a single year.  I can't but help feeling a touch abandoned.  I will miss them both.  They were very different people, but they were both very important to me.

The first retiree, Susan, is a garden enthusiast.  I took advantage of the fact that it was early spring and did pansies and violets on her cake.  The photos are blurry, sorry.

The little terracotta pots are actually fondant covered cupcakes.  The cake itself was a dark chocolate fudge.  I used a Duncan Hines chocolate fudge cake mix and added some extra dark chocolate cocoa powder.  In between the layers, I slathered on some seedless raspberry jam.  These flavors were well-received.

The second cake was Richard's.  Up until yesterday, he was my "current" boss.  I made his to look like one of the talking book machines that we distribute to our patrons.  The cake was a traditional yellow, but I wanted to simulate a strawberry shortcake, so I spooned strawberry jam between the layers.  I may be exaggerating, but I think Richard was thrilled.

Additionally, I made two dozen Braille cupcakes which spelled NLS.  One of the attendees happened to be blind, and experienced in reading Braille.  She got a cupcake and ran her fingers over it, she was actually able to read it, which was very cool.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

At the state library, we are experiencing lots of bittersweet endings and new beginnings.  Recent layoffs have separated a lot of old friends.  Still, we find things to celebrate.  And one of the nicest pieces of news is that our colleague is having a baby.  I made this cake in honor of her new beginning and in honor of all she means to us.  Since this is their first child, it seems the librarians felt that a book theme was most appropriate (she received lots of books).  The Very Hungry Caterpillar holds a special place in many of our hearts and what could be more sweet and comforting at this time than a cake that emulates the beautiful artwork of Eric Carle?

To get the painterly collage look, I rolled out homemade marshmallow fondant, treated it like a canvas and loaded up my paintbrush with a rainbow of Wilton gel colors, thinned slightly with vanilla vodka.  The green canvas was huge and featured a gradient of green, blue-green, and yellow-green.  I then cut out strips and arranged them on my caterpillar.  The body of the caterpillar is made of lemon pound cake which I'd baked in a bundt pan.  I cut the ring of cake into segments and rearranged them to get this shape.  The segments were glued together and smoothed out with a generous amount of American butter cream frosting.  Since Carle uses collage in his work, so did I.  I think it did emulate the effect fairly well.  I did the same for all the little treats that the caterpillar snacked on through the week.

 

The cupcakes were a lemon yellow cake, frosted in the same butter cream and topped with the little fondant treats.  The little holes were created by pushing the end of a drinking straw through each shape.  I hand sculpted little feet out of brown-tinted fondant.

My former colleagues were surprised to learn that this was a homemade cake, so I suppose it speaks well of the job I did.  One gal brought her little boy and he was absolutely fascinated with the cake and the little cupcakes.  I was particularly pleased by his sense of wonder.  I think that is always what I hope for when I create a cake.  It's really the best feeling ever.

Bryce, household god of thunder

I was just looking through pictures from today's birthday party for Bryce and thinking what a handsome young man he's becoming before my very eyes.  I marvel every year at his entertaining selections of theme for his birthday cake.  This year's selection was no different and it seems particularly appropriate because it was the hammer of Thor.  As you know, only one who is worthy can pull the hammer from the stone.  Bryce, who has been thundering around our house all his little life, is our own Thor.  The moment we'd finished the birthday song and the candles all extinguished, he excitedly pulled the hammer from the cake and immediately took a big bite.  For certain, Bryce is a worthy young man.

Being a step-mom has some drawbacks.  You are always behind the scenes.  You are not wanted when there are boo-boos to be kissed.  You can't cook things quite the way they want them.  Your advice is rarely solicited.  You are never sure whether you should offer a hug or tuck them in at night, for fear of rejection.  You keep some distance.  You are not a substitute mommy.  You are something else.  But what?  I sometimes see the cake as the only thing I can do right.  Today, as I was snapping pictures of him opening his presents, Bryce looked up at me and smiled the most unguarded and warmest smile he's ever smiled.  He was looking straight at me.  It was like catching a shooting star.  Happy birthday, Bryce.

September: Painted Cakes

Well, I thought I was Miss Artiste, so I got all painterly on a couple of cakes this month.  Marshmallow fondant makes a really nice canvas, so that's what I used.  The first occasion was a 60th birthday party and the second was to celebrate the marriage of a good friend at work.

Honestly, I think my roses need work, but the colors on the 60th birthday cake were very nice. 

My pearls of fondant were a little gigantic, but I was running out of time and needed something big enough to cover a lot of ground fast.  I also wished I'd had time to pipe some greenery on top.  *sigh*  When the party guests cut into the cake, they were treated to three layers of a deep chocolate devil's food cake.

I was frankly shocked at how well my calligraphy turned out.  I thought I was going to faint I was so nervous before the first stroke.  So, I just did it.

I sort of liked this color combination, too.  And halfway through the painting, my technique actually improved.  I also felt bolder with my brush strokes.  It's amazing how just a little bit of confidence can improve your work.  The two types of piped flowers were new to me--sunflowers and mums.  Since I used an all butter frosting, the piping was tricky.  And I'll tell you right now, chrysanthemums are INSANELY hard to make out of frosting.  Don't do it unless you're just a nut job like me!  :-)

Bryce's Creeper Cake

Another year, another crazy cake for the boy.  He always has the most interesting ideas.  This year, we did a "Creeper" cake.  Creepers, if you aren't a big Minecraft fan, are these creatures that hang out in the game and come around to destroy the stuff you build.  At least, that's my understanding.  I really have no clue.  I just know what Bryce tells me.

This rendering is admittedly a bit more organic than the pixelated dudes that you see in the game.  He looks like a shiny Creeper plushy or something.  I somehow managed to give my Creeper a club foot, which Louis very much wanted to eat (and did).Still, I think it does capture the essence of Creeper-ness.  And the color palette isn't too far off either.

Happy Birthday, Bryce!

Creeper on Fire!

Club Foot Creeper

Bookish Banana

This cake was a quickie, but filled with love and gratitude for my colleagues at work who did so much to get a big book shifting project complete way ahead of our scheduled deadline.  I'm so lucky to have a great bunch of people working with me!

The cake is banana and the frosting was made with two sticks of butter, 2 lbs of confectioners sugar, and half a can of full fat coconut milk.  Scrumtrulescent!

Monkey Cake

Monkey cake was a 1st birthday cake for a cute little baby girl.  I worked on it all day Saturday and delivered it this morning to her family.  Hope they enjoyed it!

The design was based on an image I found of Hello Kitty dressed up in a monkey costume.  I just left out the whiskers and the bow.  It kind of looks like a monkey, right?  A really cute anime monkey?

It was a two-layer fudge marble cake with a butter cream coating and outer coating of chocolate fondant.  The belly face, hands, and feet were vanilla marshmallow fondant.  The pink ears were strawberry fondant.

I ended up giving Monkey a teeny chocolate belly button, which is unfortunately not pictured here.  I think the belly button made the cake over-the-top cute.

Happy Birthday, little cutie!

Two October Cakes

For Michael and I, October is a month full of memories and birthdays.  We were married in a simple ceremony in late October.  My parents were married in October as well.  Our mothers were both born in October.  I love to make these wonderful ladies a special cake--a tradition I started last year and which I hope to continue for many many years to come.

First, my mother's birthday on the 10th.

(Sorry about the bad lighting.)  She requested a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and I gladly obliged with a 3 layer carrot cake.  I used Paula Deen's grandmother's cake recipe--which turned out moist and just as carrot cake should taste. I however omitted the walnuts and raisins because that's what mom wanted.  I piped giant rosettes of cream cheese frosting onto the top for a little visual interest.  Cream cheese frosted cakes with those little carrots on top bore me, and I saw these rosettes somewhere (though I can't find the site anymore).

Next came Michael's mother's cake on the 16th.  She loves dense fruity cakes and requested a blackberry walnut Bundt cake.  And of course, I obliged.

This cake was absolutely loaded--blackberry jam, walnuts, raisins, butter, buttermilk, brown sugar, and way more cinnamon and nutmeg than I would have thought prudent.  I can't say that this type of cake is my cup of tea, but it was exactly what she wanted and I like to please my birthday girls.

Kicked-Up Healthy Banana Muffins

I've tinkered around with banana muffins for years.  This is my current favorite.

Banana muffins
dry team:
1 cup whole wheat white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp cardamom

wet team:
3-4 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (vegans can use soy yogurt)
1 egg, beaten (can be replaced by 1/4 cup applesauce)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup raisins, soaked in hot water, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Once you've assembled the dry and the wet teams in two separate mixing bowls, combine them and pour into 12 greased (can use either ghee, butter, or veg shortening) muffin cups.  These will bake for about 15-18 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Spicy!

Dr. Cake

Let me just begin by saying, cake is not the most structurally sound material in the world.  Given that, I'm sure most will cut me some slack on my wobbly TARDIS.  For though it is wobbly, it is also edible.

TARDIS?  What's a TARDIS, you ask?  Why, a time machine, of course!  Don't feel bad if you're not a British Sci-fi nerd.  We understand.  Louis, however, is our family's huge Dr. Who fan, and the Doctor is the guy who tools around in the TARDIS, while trampling all over any preconceived notions about time and space.  Lately, Dr. Who has seen a resurgence in interest with several new seasons on BBC.  I have to admit, the show is pretty fun and the production budget is a bit better than the shows I watched with my mom in the 70's.  (The aliens frequently looked like they'd just raided the local hardware store for their outfits and the special effects were always so very not-special)

Louis' birthday called for a Dr. Who themed cake, and I figured the TARDIS would be the most recognizable structural object from the series.  Oddly enough, the TARDIS looks like an old Police Box--the early British version of 911.

Here are some photos of cake construction.

 Rainbow cake is really the most appropriate choice, and it can be appropriate for so many other fun applications as well!  Aleta Meadowlark of Omnomicon explains thoroughly at her blog.  We did a little rainbow cake dance when this came out of the oven.  You just can't help but smile when you see cake that looks like a rainbow!

Construction.

Aflame.

Deconstruction.

The rainbow is a bit in the shadow, but take my word for it, the color was so lovely and so fun to cut into!  I'm not sure why, but Louis wanted a street scene.  I suppose because so many Dr. Who episodes take place in London.  Though the cake is only part of what goes into one of our kids birthdays, I always go all out.  I want them to feel special.  I hope Louis felt special.  Turning 14 is not for the faint of heart.  I know I never want to go through any year that has a -teen appended to it ever again.  I have my own worries with 40 just around the corner!

What does a superhero do on vacation?

Maybe they would be hanging at the beach?  Lounging in the sun?  Trading stories about world calamity and comparing notes on their respective arch villains?  Do you need sunscreen when wearing one of those super-suits?  Questions one can only ponder when executing the latest in a series of superhero cake dioramas as ordered by a clever little stepson like Bryce.  The kid has very specific ideas about his birthday cake and I'm only too happy to oblige.

This dude is, according to Bryce, "Invisible Man."  He's lounging on a marshmallow fondant beach towel and wearing a flotation gummy ring.  I imagine he does not need any sunscreen.

I think it particularly ironic that The Flash is the only guy laying down in this scene.  He's clearly in need of some serious r&r.

Superman looks really mad about something.  Maybe Captain Yellow Tights splashed him.  You can tell Batman just really wants him to chill.

Notice there are no ladies.  I warned Bryce about this.  He wouldn't let me put Hawkgirl or Supergirl on, so now he has a beach scene that calls his superheroes appreciation of women into question.  He seemed completely unconcerned when I pointed this out and downright jubilant when I relented on the issue of female attendance.  Go figure.

This cake is two 9x13 sheetcake layers, deconstructed to form a rectangular pool off to one side.  (I actually used a ruler to get the proportions right.)  I lined the pool with white marshmallow fondant and then covered the rest of the cake with a huge sheet of fondant.  I used a combination of chocolate liqueur, powdered sugar, yellow food coloring, and water to make a "watercolor" paint which I painted over the whole sheet.  I sprinkled granulated sugar over the still wet paint for a sand effect.  The pool is filled with blueberry jello and the beach ball is actually a gumball that Michael and Louis got from a gumball machine.  The cake is one layer of chocolate and one layer of vanilla.  It was delish.  When the cake is all about appearance and fun, I always use a mix.  Duncan Hines is the best.  And yes, I did wash the action figures thoroughly before applying to the cake!

All in all, Mr. Bryce seemed happy with the results and I had a fun time making it. (Right after my nervous breakdown when both cakes fell apart upon being removed from the pans.)

Hunny

I was asked to do another baby shower cake for someone at work.  Well, the first time, I volunteered.  This time was a paid gig.  Below are the results of my labor.

The hunny pot is basically a four layer cake with chocolate on the bottom and vanilla on top.  Everything is coated in a butter cream frosting which I flavored with vanilla and butterscotch schnapps.  The hunny pot itself has the additional layer of brown marshmallow fondant, flavored with cocoa powder (reminds me of a hot chocolate!).  The bees are also marshmallow fondant and the simulated honey is a caramel sauce which I bulked up with frosting and colored with yellow food coloring.

Seems like the folks liked the cakes.  I'm glad, too, because I stressed over them for days.

October's Over

And I think we all truly enjoyed this month.  It was a very busy one.  We had two family birthdays, a lot of Hallowe'en preparation, and finally Hallowe'en itself.  In our neighborhood, there are only really any trick-or-treaters up on Main St., so the kids ran off with dad and left me alone with an entire plate of pumpkin rice krispie treats staring me in the face.  My mission was to pass out candy to any possible trick-or-treaters, but we didn't have a single one while they were gone.

 If you don't know me very well, you may be wondering how one makes pumpkin rice krispie treats.  Well, I'm not entirely sure either, but somehow or another, I played with my marshmallow recipe in such a way that I ended up making marshmallows from actual pumpkin pulp.  I used all the traditional pumpkin pie spices, so it really was like a pumpkin pie with the texture of a fresh marshmallow.  After a weenie roast and a few pumpkin marshmallow chai lattes, I had just enough marshmallows remaining for a batch of rice krispies.  Seemed appropriate for the occasion.

Like I said before, October is a busy month.  Below, my mother's birthday cake this year...

I did this one much like a cake from a year ago.  It's a basic yellow cake with a crumb coating of buttercream and a poured coating of dark chocolate ganache.  I studded the top with gold, orange, and red roses.  This was my first effort at roses in such a long time.  I get out of practice, unfortunately.  Mom seemed very pleased with her cake, though.  I had long wanted to do this for her.  After all my life, every year a wonderful birthday cake made by mom, now this.  Me returning the favor.

Continuing along that same line, I made a lovely, though much simpler birthday cake the following week for my mother-in-law.  The main artistry in this cake lies in the extraordinarily lemony pound cake, made from scratch and filled with a layer of lemon curd.  I then sprinkled the top with powdered sugar and a handful of raspberries.  I think all the motherly figures in my life were pleased by their birthday cakes this year.  October is full of challenges, but I rose to them this year.  Including the insanity of carving four pumpkins.  What was I thinking?  Well, Michael and Bryce did help on some of this...