My Daughter's 6th Birthday Cake

Harmony LOVES dinosaurs, and she has really been wanting the Ned the Brachiosaurus car for her Dinosaur Train toy she got for Christmas. Dinosaur Train is a show on PBS, for those of you unaware. I keep getting people without young children commenting on my photos on facebook going, "Cute cake, but why dinosaurs and trains? I don't get it." This video explains the premise of the show in a rockin' intro song. haha



So I used her toy train and tracks to surround the cake and added a gift of Ned the Brachiosaurus to the train as a surprise. The cake itself was the scenery from the show, places they visit, with the train station at the base of the cake. There is a volcano in the show, along with the "Big Pond" and a waterfall.

The interior of the cake was two flavors. The bottom layer was alternating layers of devil's food cake with graham cracker swirls, milk chocolate cake, and a layer of melted marshmallows mixed with graham cracker crumbs with mini marshmallows sandwiched between. The top tier was, upon Harmony's request, a mint chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream. It was SO. GOOD. A new favorite of mine, for sure. Here is a picture of the interior of the cake.

I also made her a birthday shirt with a brachiosaurus and a number 6 on it. She picked out the shirt that she wanted it made from. I decided to add a bow to the dinosaur and I LOVE how it came out!!! This was a HUGE week for Harmony, too. Grandma Carleen and Uncle Chris coming in, she lost her first tooth Thursday night, too, AND she finally saved up enough money by doing chores around the house and with her birthday money, to buy this GIANT T-rex she saw at Big Air when we went a few weeks ago. It was $39.99. That's alot of money for a little kid to save up!!! We were so stinkin' proud of her, and she was extremely proud of herself, too. Here she is, in her birthday shirt, lost tooth, with her T-rex.

This girl...this girl is my world. She is why I am doing what I am doing and why I am the person I am today. I love giving her a day where everything is for HER. She is such a wonderful kid and she follows the rules and is polite and SO sweet, I love being able to give her a day where she can eat as much sugar as she wants and can be spoiled by all the people that love her.

Easter Cake

Here is a cutie patootie Easter cake that was ordered from me. I love baking in exchange for free babysitting! It's such a win-win situation!!

Gothic Wedding Cake

Our final for Advanced Pastry was a three or four tier wedding cake. The first week we worked on learning to make flowers for the cake. Then we had one more week of prep and this week was the week to put it all together. I, of course, didn't want to do the same thing everyone else was doing. I just always want to be different. I don't like "competing" by definition. I don't want to be "better" than anyone else, I just want to be different. It's funny. As children and teenagers, the worst thing in the world is to be different. As adults, at least in my case, I have learned to embrace uniqueness. It's what sets me apart. It is what makes people go, "Wow!" I like doing things people don't expect. I like thinking "outside of the box."

With that in mind, I didn't want to do a classic white wedding cake. I had seen a photo of a gothic cake that was my base inspiration. Of course, mine ended up not being very similar at all as it evolved, but this cake was the one that I looked at originally and got the wheels turning.



When I was at work at Doing Dishes Pottery Studio, a photo cube caught my eye.

People paint the cube, then we glue the metal photo holder into the top once it is fired. My brain started churning. "What if I just used the metal part as the cake topper." I began to sketch a plan for my cake. This was the original sketch.



I went on to think as I got more and more into it, "What if I mold something around the topper to look like a tree??" The cake continued to evolve. I love how this happens. My mind just churns and churns and eventually something wonderful comes out of it. I make lists upon lists. I edit, cross out, and crumple up sketches and notes. I plan like crazy. It usually works and this was no exception.

Thomas Hill from Marion Crane and Digital Kill Productions, and incidentally my husband's best friend, came through for us and willingly went with us to take our photos in a Gothic Wedding Photo Shoot for the photos on the top of the cake. Jaime Yeoman also helped out with the makeup and the actual shoot and the cake wouldn't have been the same without them!!!

Wednesday I put the whole cake together. First I put the cake topper on the cake and added the "roots" of the tree. To make the topper I used a mixture of modeling paste and modeling chocolate kneaded together with black food coloring powder. It took several tries to come up with the right ratio, but once I did, I was able to keep making small amounts as I needed it to make the flowers, leaves, and trees. Then I piped the wrought iron fence on the bottom tier with black royal icing and the web on the top tier, and piped a simple border on all tiers. I added the second tree and the leaves, spiders, and flowers. I finished up adding accents of luster dust here and there, and finally added the photos to the tree.

I was so extremely happy with how the cake turned out that I was thrilled when I learned that one of the guys from the photography department at the Art Institute volunteered to take professional photos of all the cakes.

*If you click on the photos, they will come up larger so you can see more detail.







These are the other photos that were on the top of the cake. Some of them were edited to be black and white with only the purple remaining.




I love that these say Husband and Wife:

Pastillage

Our latest project in Advanced Pastry was a Pastillage Showpiece. We were given certain criteria we had to meet but other than that, it was up to us what we wanted to do. We had to include a swoop, 2 10" circles for a base with something in between them to give them height, and a certain number of butterflies, flowers, and leaves, and "curls". I decided I wanted to make a piece that included an Amy Brown-like fairy.

We made the pastillage last week and made some initial pieces. Once we made the pastillage and I started working with it, I got a better feel for what I could and could not do with it. This made me change my original sketch. I wanted to make a sphere originally, but after working with the pastillage, I decided to change that plan. I went through several design sketches and had several plans "just in case." I made WAY more pieces than I needed, just to be safe.

I wasn't satisfied with all the pieces I made in class last week, so I went in Monday morning and made the box and more flowers. Wednesday we painted and put our pieces together. I was beyond stressed about this piece but I am SO thrilled with how it turned out. I love how I was able to give the fairy a second set of wings and I am loving painting on my pieces. Now that I've worked with it successfully, I feel that pastillage is something I can add to my repertoire.

Advanced Pastry- Hamburger Cake

This week we assembled our hamburger cakes. My plan was to take a kids lunch tray and make a “school lunch” with the hamburger being the main item. I wanted to do more than just a cake and I knew that this would be different than everyone else’s.

Last week I made many of the base items for assembly. I colored all my fondant, made my tots out of rice crispy treats, made the base of my milk container and hamburger patty out of rice crispy treats, made and orange gelee and poured it into a half sphere shape to set up with two plastic play food orange slices on top to give it the real orange look, and shaped my hamburger buns.

Before I came to class this week, I made a list of everything I needed to get done and the order I wanted to do it in. I began by placing the completed items on the tray. I had made small chocolate chip cookies to use as the “dessert” portion of the tray and my tots were also complete. From there I cut and covered my “milk carton” with a single layer of white fondant to give it a smoother look. I put it in the fridge to set up a bit and moved on to covering my hamburger buns. I covered them both with a tan fondant and then brushed a little brown dust on them to give them some shading. I love how it turned out. I think it looked just like a whole wheat bun! I even gave it some little grooves in the top like buns usually have. Then I created my “toppings” for the hamburger- American cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. I shaped and painted these and smeared some “mayo” on the top bun and it was ready!



I quickly made some “ketchup” from corn syrup, powdered sugar, and red food coloring. I would like to experiment with that a little more because it needed to be a little thicker and as it sat, it started to get some little bubbles on the top.

I then moved back to working on my milk carton. Next time I would shape the carton to have a peak in it instead of just square because the top sunk a little and wasn’t as rigid as I would have liked. This class is all about learning, though, right? Once I had it satisfactorily covered, I painted on it with a mixture of shimmer dust and food coloring. I was able to do this fairly quickly and neatly due to my many years of pottery painting experience.



The milk carton was definitely the hardest part. Once it was done, all I had left to do was cover my “orange” with a peel. I put a little icing on the orange and covered it in orange fondant. I then used a tool to make little divets in the orange skin to make it look more realistic, and painted a white line into the middle of the gelee for the core of the orange. By that evening, the fondant had begun to fall off the orange, so I would probably need to let the gelee come to room temperature and THEN cover it so the condensation wouldn’t turn the fondant to goo.



My friend thought I looked like I was at school eating my lunch while I was sitting and painting so we just had to take a picture when it was finished of me pretending to do just that.



Overall, I was EXTREMELY happy with how it turned out. This class is so much fun!! I love not only creating cakes, but seeing all the other creative ideas my classmates have. It’s amazing to have so much creativity in one room. I think it’s the quietest lab I have ever worked in because we all get pretty involved in our own work.

Bag Cake- Finished!!

This week we completed our bag cakes. Tuesday I went in during my break between classes and piped royal icing onto my wand and tiara so it would have a chance to harden overnight.



I also formed the upper part of the shoes and created the isomalt jewels and broken “glass” to use for decorations on the tray. I also couldn’t help myself and made a ring for an additional item.



I think my cake turned out very well. There are always things that I would change for the “next time”, but overall I am very satisfied with my product, especially given the time constraints. I absolutely LOVE how the flower came out, though! I had fun with the colors on this cake. I used straight luster dust, as well as luster dust mixed with food coloring and, in some instances, coconut extract (which made it smell amazing, by the way) to layer the colors to get the affect I wanted. I ordered several sizes of "pearls" for the center of the flower from Sugarcraft. Then I shook them with the luster dust to give them the various colors I wanted. As a reminder, here is the bag from DavieandChiyo on Etsy that I was using for inspiration.





When shaping the heels of the shoes from rice crispies, I forgot to take into account that the fondant was going to make them even fatter. Next time I would make them a little smaller from the get go and carve them into a more feminine heel. I would also paint the underside of the overlay or use colored fondant instead of white.



I would also make more of the tiny pink sugar jewels and use them for additional garnish all the way around the base of the tiara and on the handle of the wand.
I hadn’t worked with sugar like that before and I found it really fun. I found myself wanting to keep playing with it, but I didn’t have that kind of time. I tried to fashion the upper part of the shoes from sugar, but it was difficult to keep it at the exact right temperature when it came to cutting and molding them. I also needed something to shape it OVER because it was too warm to use with the playdoh (I covered it in plastic wrap, of course.) Again, I think clay may have worked best for that.

I love the creative process when it comes to figuring out what to do for a cake. My mind goes around and around and around and all of a sudden I get inspired and the whole plan just flows out onto paper. I think that my presentation came out how I wanted it. I really wanted to make a larger, round, clear sugar “platform” to set the crown on, but I didn’t end up with that kind of time.

I think we had plenty of time to work with, but when it comes to this kind of thing, one can ALWAYS use more time to continue to improve the cake and add more details. The details are what gives these kinds of cakes their “wow” factor. The only thing that is mildly frustrating is having to wait a WHOLE WEEK to finish a cake. I would rather just work straight through and get it done than have to think about it for a whole other week!

Next week we begin our Pastillage Sculptures!

Bag Cake- Week 1

This week we began making our Bag Cakes. I wasn’t thrilled with the bag cake assignment at first. Any of you who know me, know that I am not a big “girly girl” and handbags are not really my thing. I had picked a bag, though, that I found on Etsy and thought was pretty.



Along with the cake, we have to make 5 items that go along with the cake. I chose some princess items from the girls dress up box. Wednesday morning before class, I got inspired. Pinkalicious!! Pinkalicious is a book, for those of you without children, that is about a girl who loves pink so much that she eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink herself.



My amazingly artistic niece, Delaney, did a school project on Pinkalicious awhile ago, and this cake is dedicated to her.





So I started out by laying out all the items I was going to make on the table in front of me. As I created each item, I moved it back into my bag so I made sure I didn’t miss anything. I colored my fondant light pink. I used gum paste to create the crown and wand and I made impressions into the gum paste with the actual pieces as a guide. I will pipe royal icing onto the impressions and paint it.



I made the heels for the shoes from rice crispy treats and then used gum paste to form the sole of the shoe. I made a box from rice crispy treats to cover in fondant and paint into a Princess by Vera Wang perfume box. I made the flower to go on the cake. I layered and shaped my cake and crumb coated it.



Next week I will cover everything in fondant and make jewels and “glass” from isomalt. I actually have a HUGE comprehensive list of what I need to do but I will not bore you with all of that. Next week you will get to see the finished product!!!

Help Get Brayden to Boston

For those of you who know me or are friends with me on Facebook, you know all about my niece, Danica, who has Chiari Malformation. A little while ago, I began Cookies for a Cause. I stopped producing cookies on a regular basis after a few months when my school workload got too heavy.

Since then, my sister, Monica, told me about a family here in Jacksonville who also has a child, Brayden, with Chiari. I donated some cupcakes to a bake sale that was held for him close to Christmas. Since then, they have discovered that a second child of their four also has Chiari, and Brayden spent Christmas in the hospital with worsening symptoms. They really need to go to Boston to get better medical treatment for him. Today they held a "Help Get Brayden to Boston" Fundraiser in Orange Park. I made more of my signature sugar cookies to help with this, as well as a S'more Cake for their silent auction.

If you would like to help, you can get more information about Brayden and how to help his family at his mother's blog. Thank you!!!!

Plated Desserts

We worked on Plated Desserts in my Advanced Pastry Class- here is what I created:
chocolate mousse, champagne sabayon, chocolate mousse, almond and rum infused ganache, topped with champagne sabayon mousseline and chocolate shavings. The profiterole is also filled with the mousseline and everything is accompanied by a glass of champagne.

This is a different plating with the addition of macarons filled with Strawberry Buttercream:

Devil's Food Cake with chocolate mousse on top and filled with a strawberry buttercream. It is all encased in chocolate and chocolate curls and adorned with chocolate covered strawberries. On the right is a vanilla bavarian cream sitting on top of chocolate ganache.

From the back working clockwise, we have a martini glass filled with tiny Macarons. I created a Chocolate Disk to fit perfectly on top of the glass which is then garnished with a Chocolate Covered Strawberry. Next is a pyramid of Almond Chocolate Ganache, followed by a Chocolate Pot de Creme in the middle with a Chocolate Covered Strawberry on top, and a molded Vanilla Bavarian Creme with Strawberry Coulis to the right. In the very front I have a Profiterole filled with Champagne Mousseline, and behind that are 3 half spheres of Almond Chocolate Ganache with a Chocolate Almond Biscotti on top. Lastly we have the Parfait topped with a paper thin wedge of chocolate garnish.

Late-On-Purpose-Christmas Cake

This is a cake that was ordered by Marc's boss. It is a Late-On-Purpose-Christmas and Let's-Begin-The-New-Year-Right Party cake. Phew. That's alot to type! It was alot to write on the cake, too, but I made it work.

Santa is playing on the beach now that Christmas is over and he is happily making sand angels. This photo is blurry because I had to take it without the flash to see the sand angels.



Here is a side view.

S'more Cupcakes

My version of S'mores Cupcakes are a milk chocolate base with graham cracker crust chunks towards bottom and sprinkled on top of batter before baking. This is cored and filled with a marshmallow fluff frosting. This center is topped with a tablespoon packed mound of graham cracker crust that is surrounding a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Drop. Italian Meringue is then piped on top and toasted with my propane torch to give it that toasted marshmallow texture and look. Nom, nom, nom!!!







The chocolate drop in the center of the graham cracker mound on the top pushed down into the filling when I cut into it.