Roses

I made some gumpaste roses this Friday night.

Weekend Quick Kakes

On Friday, we had dinner with my husband's immediate family (parents, 3 siblings/spouses/nieces/nephews, paternal grandma) and I brought along those Mexican-themed gum paste pieces I made.

Since a cheesecake was requested by the birthday boy, my M-I-L made her recipe and we just stuck the pieces on the cake.

There was also a request for a strawberry cake by the birthday gal. Since I was traveling and had the Maine Cookies to make, I declined making one beforehand. They had purchased the strawberry Pillsbury boxed cake and frosting. You will remember I tried it once and was not a fan. TOO SWEET, too runny.

I went ahead and baked them, stacked them after putting fresh strawberries and icing in the middle, and iced them. The bottom ribbon decor was done with a plastic baggy and an old tip my M-I-L found in one of her drawers. It was rough using the super-runny icing, but for a boxed cake, it came out OK.

Cookies for Maine's Nautical Past event

I volunteered a cookie bouquet as a raffle item for a letterboxing event: Maine's Nautical Past, coming up this weekend.

I better hurry up and get these mailed! Not all are going. Some of the "mistakes" are staying right here at home. :)

(clicky-clicky makes the pictures bigger-er)

That crazy nation one with white blobs went right into David's stomach, while the anchor with the brown poo (supposed to be a rope, but it melted) was promptly eaten by yours truly.

Here's the bucket I decorated for it.

I won't mail it like this, obviously. I'm mailing it all separate and PRAYING it all arrives in one piece!

Olé!!

Hello, I'm still around, just haven't made anything exciting. Well, I did make a coconut cake for a visit to one my sister's house. It was tasty but the icing was too buttery. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Last night, I made some gum paste toppers for a cheesecake my M.I.L. will be making. We're having a Mexican-Themed party and these are for the birthday person's cheesecake. Olé!

Tonight, I have to start on a cookie bouquet for a raffle. I donated my skillzzzzzz! :) I'll post that within the next 2-3 days when I am done.

Happy Independence Day!

Will You Do My Wedding Cake?

I've been asked that question twice already. It scares me to death. The first time I answered yes, to a friend of a co-worker of my husband. Then the co-worker got fired two days later and I never heard from "friend of the co-worker" again. Phew! Cool.


The second time, I told my friend "No."


How can I possibly make a cake for THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF YOUR LIFE?!?


The thought gives me hives.


Between driving and work, I am away from home 10 hours a day. By the time I get home, I have to worry about dinner, dishes, making sure the laundry gets done, the kids take their baths, etc. etc.


When I bake a cake for someone, I'm not sure they understand the sacrifice of my time and sleep. I do it for the fun and practice, but it takes a toll. I only have one oven and one fridge. Most cakes you see out & about that are really tall are two or three cakes stacked together per level. For instance, the graduation cake was 3-levels; 12", 8" and a ball pan. The 12" level consisted of two 12" cakes. I own one 12" pan. A 12 inch x 3" cake takes over an hour and ten to an hour and thirty minutes, for the one large cake. I had to do that twice. In the meantime, the middle layer is 8" x 3". I have two 8" x 3" pans, BUT the baking temp and times are different from the 12" pan, so I can't bake them together. Same with the ball pan.



Having one oven limits the amount of cakes I can bake at a time. Having a full-time job limits the amount of time I have in a day to bake. Then, there's the fridge. For the graduation cake, I was throwing away leftovers in order to fit 5 cakes in there.

I wish I had room to bake and freeze cakes for later use. I don't, and the thought of making a cake and having it FAIL or FALL and my not having any back-up cakes freaks me out to no end.

So, until the day comes that I can have a stockpile of cakes, butter cream and fondant at the ready, plus lots and lots and lots of practice...I'm not making that wedding cake.

Finishing the Graduation Cake

I love (not really) how I panic RIGHT before finishing a cake. "It's going to look bad." "It'll taste horrible." It happens each and every time. I'm a nut.

Here's the mortar board I made. Fondant-covered cardboard.

There are the 12" x 3" cakes I baked. I'm torting and filling at this stage.

Here are the 12" cakes, stacked and crumb-coated.

This is the small ball pan cake, covered in buttercream

The same ball pan, covered in black fondant, with the mortar board on top and gum paste numbers.

The bottom cake is actually two 8" carrot cakes iced and stacked on top of each other. The 12" cakes were in the fridge waiting to have fondant added to them

Here are the 12" cakes, covered in marbled purple mmf.

TA DAAAAA! The cake was a hit. Rachel kept saying "It's perfect," even when I wasn't within her view.

Congratulations Rachel!!