Carrot Cake Overload!!!

When I'm asked about which cake is my favorite, I'd have to say that my carrot cake is tied for first with my chocolate cake and chocolate-flecked cake.  I really can't decide which one I love more.  Carrot cake offers more "healthy" options.  I mean, there's a full pound of carrots in each recipe.  There's also crushed pineapple, raisins and walnuts.  And I can't forget to mention the cream cheese in the frosting.  Oh, the frosting.  The creamy, almost frothy frosting that is the wonderful topping to this cake.  Maybe carrot cake IS my favorite.  

It just so happens that I had two people order a carrot cake from me this weekend.  I'm not complaining.  (I bet they didn't either...)

I love you, carrot cake!  (And Happy Birthday wishes to the wonderful men who celebrated this weekend!!  I love you too!!! ;))

Sheila's Leopard Print Bow Cake

Erin asked me to do a cake for her mom's birthday.  Sheila always likes carrot cake, and I have to admit that mine is absolutely delicious!  Cream cheese frosting is delightfully creamy on top and you have a little slice of heaven at your fingertips.  

Anyway, you may recall that I previously did a cake for her where I covered the cake in a leopard print fondant.  I wanted to carry on that theme and instead did a leopard print bow.  Never seen one of these before.  

To make the bow, I created the fondant/gum paste base color; kind of like a tan/beige.  I cut all of my pieces and formed them and let them dry overnight.  Then I hand-painted the leopard print on each one of the bow loops and on the ribbon on the cake.  I used an orange and black, diluted with vanilla extract.  

I love the way it turned out!  And Sheila, I hope you had a VERY happy birthday!!!

Christmas is for Kids...An October Cake

My mom's office always does a huge fundraiser for the organization Christmas is for Kids.  They fundraise by holding an auction and all of the proceeds go to helping those less fortunate.  I donated a cake for the cause and the recipient requested a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and "Fall colors" to decorate the cake.  Here's the finished product.

Happy Birthday, Joan!

Meow!

This cake was a fun adventure. My friend Erin requested a cake for her mom. It was on the calendar for well over a month and as the date approached I really didn't have much direction. So, I called Erin earlier this week and asked her what kind of flowers her mom liked. Also, did she have any color preferences. In the background, I could hear Erin's husband, Steve, say, "Tell her she likes leopard print." Erin says, "Whatever Steve! I don't even know how she'd do that." Then she talks to me and says, "Steve's just being Steve. Anyway, yeah...whatever you'd like to do. Fall colors would be fine. Pretty flowers...whatever." I clarified and asked, "So your mom REALLY likes leopard print." Erin laughed and said, "Yeah...you know my mom, right?" Okay, so leopard print it was.

I do know that after having this conversation, Erin was TOTALLY under the impression that her mom was getting a carrot cake with fall-colored flowers on top. I was okay with that, hoping beyond hope that I would MORE THAN satisfy my customer. Erin was going to be the superstar and bring this awesome cake to her mom. She'd be the hero. It'd be totally awesome. Super-charged theme music would play as she opened the cake box and people would rush up to her - total strangers - and ask, "WHO MADE THAT CAKE?!!!"

That is...if her mom REALLY liked leopard print and Steve wasn't just teasing.

Oh gosh. Was he just teasing? Will Erin totally hate the cake? Should I scrap this one and make a new one altogether? No, I told myself, it'll be fine.

Well, I continued on with my leopard design and did a great deal of research. I used food coloring and a splish splash of vodka to paint on the design. Then I called my mom, who always seems to have an answer for everything. I called her at work (because this was a REALLY important call) and asked her which color would be a good accent color to leopard print (and I didn't tell her I was making a cake). She said black or gold and I disagreed. So, I added the pink cream cheese lettering and border and made a matching pink bow out of fondant.

Then I breathed deeply into a paper bag while I waited for Erin to pick up the cake.

She totally LOVED it! In fact, she kept opening the box to look at it. Phew!

I slept really well that night.

Today is Erin's mom's birthday and I wish her the very best! I hope SHE loved her cake as much as Erin did.

And by the looks of this picture (thank you Erin and Kristi), I think she did!