Evan's John Deere Cake

Chelsie and I go WAY back.  Back to Evan's Baptism where I made his first cake.  It must have been a good one, because I received the honor of making Evan's 1st birthday cake and cupcakes.  (Seriously - THIS IS a huge honor!!!)  This last week, Evan turned TWO and I was asked to make his 2nd birthday cake.  Woo hoo!!  Chelsie is incredibly fun to bake for because she likes trying new things!  And this cake she actually gave me free reign on flavor.  I mean, I struggled a little because how many flavor combinations are out there, right?!!  But she did offer that she likes fruity flavors and as soon as she offered that, the deal was sealed.  I'd make a strawberry spiral cake for Evan.  

This.Was.Going.To.Be.Good.

So here's the outside of the cake.  Evan's party had a John Deere theme and I had fun with the green and gold.  

I found the tractor at Amazon.com and thought it was a perfect match for the cake.  Also, Evan would be able to play with it, and that's the most important part.  

Here's the cake at the final destination.  Chelsie has the food items adorably themed for the party.

And when they cut into the cake, here's what they found.  Layers going vertically!  Hee hee!!!  This was a vanilla sponge cake with strawberry preserves and a very light strawberry buttercream filling.

Can I tell you how I did it?  Yep.  Will I?  Not yet.  I didn't take pictures of the process unfortunately.  Next person who orders this one will have a tutorial.  I promise.  :)  In the meantime, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVAN!!!!!  

"Mooooobagawk!!"

Danny is my wonderful husband whose birthday we celebrated this weekend. I've been pretty busy with the whole "cake thing" these last few months but the WHOLE reason I took the classes in the first place, was to be able to make nice cakes for my family. So, when Danny told me to "keep it simple" for his birthday, I looked at him like he was crazy. Here, I thought he wanted a cake in the shape of a human arm, bone and all! I was seriously going to make him that cake, but after looking at a few Google images of just that sight, both Danny and I agreed that it was a little (a LOT) too gross to serve our family. I mean...REALLY. Then, he wanted an R2D2 cake. 3-D. Which nearly brought me to tears. When was I going to have the time to make that one? Maybe for his fiftieth birthday. Maybe.

So to give me more ideas about what to do for his cake, he said, "I like movies, the Academy Awards..." Yeah, yeah, yeah... Danny really didn't need a 4-tiered cake, so I could keep it simple in terms of design, but I wanted him to have a cake that was meaningful and truly him.

Danny IS a huge fan of movies and I really wanted to incorporate something about that passion in the cake. And I remembered that when he was a Hall Director at Ripon College many moons ago, he created a group for film enthusiasts just like him. They called themselves the "Cinemaniacs". Danny made a really wierd logo with a cow/chicken (yeah, you read that right), and started a film festival for the students and community members. The rest is history.

I searched high and low for a copy of the logo he made. I finally found it on the Ripon College website (Facebook also has a Cinemaniacs page). And here is the "Moooobagawk". Danny will have to fill us all in on the meaning behind the cow/chicken and what it has to do with film, but it's truly a Danny creation and one that I wanted to incorporate onto his cake.

The great thing about teaching the Wilton classes is that I, too, am learning. I've been showing my class participants how to do a piping gel transfer. That's when you trace an image onto wax/parchment paper using piping gel, then you place the wax/parchment paper onto the cake surface. Once that's done, you decorate away. That's how I was able to get the logo onto Danny's cake. If I was a better artist, I may be able to do this free-hand...but I am not.

When I finally showed the cake to Danny, he cried out, "Oh Moobagawk!" and was pleased with the design I chose for him. The surprise was the actual cake itself. I made a yellow sponge cake with absolutely amazing strawberry buttercream. This is called a "vertical" or "spiral" cake and it.is.divine.

Happy early birthday to you, Danny! I love you so!