Ker CHOW!

It's funny how moms talk. Every day I pick up Josie from school and the wonderful moms (and dads) stand around and catch up until our kids are released from the classroom. Last week, the topic of conversation was Cake Mama and I got my official first order for one of Josie's classmates, Max. His mom, Sally, wasn't very picky at all. She told me that Max loved cars, ALL cars, and if I could do something with that, she'd be happy. I noticed that Max had a Cars (the Pixar movie) backpack on and asked if he was a fan. Sally nodded vigorously and I said I'd do a Lightening McQueen cake for Max. "Oh! He'd LOVE that!" she said.

I'm not a person that likes to buy a lot of specialty cake pans, but my Elmo and Buzz Lightyear have certainly gotten their use. So, I invested in this one too. It's not the easiest cake, but I sure like the way it turned out. Chocolate cake with buttercream filling and frosting.

I hope that Max has a WONDERFUL birthday (and Happy Thanksgiving!).

A Disco Night to Remember

My wonderful friend, Erin, was planning a 70's themed birthday party for her mom, Sheila, and requested a Cake Mama Cake for the event. This cake has been on my to-do list for well-over half a year and ideas have been flowing ever since. Erin sent over a picture of a cake for "inspiration" and I used many of the elements in the design, but the true inspiration for the cake were the plates and napkins. I loved the colors and absolutely loved the dancers.

Erin informed me that she picked up a 4" battery-powered disco ball for the top, so I didn't have to worry about that. But here's the cake:

With the exception of the cake board and dowels inside the cake, everything is edible, either made out of fondant or gum paste or a combination of both. The dancers were cut out by hand and [with the help of my wonderful husband] I was able to download a very 70's themed font for Sheila's name. The gum paste was cut out and then covered in silvery sugar for a disco-y effect.

The top tier was a chocolate cake with buttercream filling and the bottom tier was carrot cake with cream cheese filling (Sheila's favorite!).

The two records on the top of the cake say, "Best of the 60's" (Sheila was turning 60) and "Happy Birthday!".

Here's how the cake looked at its final destination:

The disco ball really makes it dazzle!

I hope that Sheila had a WONDERFUL party! I wish her the happiest birthday!!

Three's Company!

My good friend, Jessica, contacted me awhile ago to do the cakes for a BIG birthday party she was planning. It was a combined birthday party for three kids. She really wanted to something special for each one of them and was wondering if I would be willing to make separate cakes for them. Of COURSE! After our brainstorm, she decided that 6-inch cakes and cupcakes should do the trick and more than accomodate the guests at the party. Jessica gave me complete control over design and flavors of the cake and cupcakes. I hope I chose well. :)

The first cake is for a little boy whom I was told absolutely LOVES cars. He loves the movie Cars, but just loves cars in general. His favorite color is yellow.

For his cake, I decided a chocolate cake would be awesome. I filled it with buttercream frosting and some crushed Oreos and also topped the cake with an Oreo road for his Matchbox car, yellow of course! I decorated the cupcakes with street signs and hope that he enjoyed his theme!

The next cake is for a boy who loves Super Heroes! Jessica specifically told me that Captain America and Green Lantern were among his favorites. This one I was really excited to do because my husband's "super power" came in to play. Being such a big fan, he helped me design this one.

The cake is decorated like Captain America's shield and the cupcakes were decorated with the Green Lantern, X-Men, Batman and the Flash's symbols. The cake itself is a red velvet cake with buttercream filling. I thought the red and the white would look cool to cut into for this one.

The last cake is for a girl who loves the color purple and wanted a cake with flowers on it. She totally has my number! I made a marble cake for her and decorated the cake with a basketweave done in buttercream. The purple and blue flowers are made from royal icing.

The bulk of the cupcakes were a cookies and cream recipe. Vanilla batter with TONS of Oreos mixed in. I thought it would be a real kid pleaser!

I hope that the birthday celebration was a fantastic one! It sounded like it was going to be one heck of a party!

Pink Pumpkin Cake!

Anne requested a cake for her daughter, Eve's, 1st birthday. She wanted a cake in the shape of a pink pumpkin. I suggested we do a pumpkin cake in the shape of a pumpkin and she thought the idea was a good one. I had a FANTASTIC recipe that I've made once before and still daydream about it. It's a delicious pumpkin cake with a whipped cream and brown sugar frosting. Super moist and super light!

Now, getting the cake into the shape of a pumpkin...that's where I was stumped...but my good cake-decorating friend, Heidi, had done one before and blew my mind when she said you just use two bundt pans, one inverted on top of the other. Duh. (As an aside, almost everything Heidi tells me leads to this response. She's so wise. And thank you again, Heidi!)

Baking the cakes was a cinch and my house smelled absolutely divine. Once the cakes were cooled, I FILLED them with the whipped cream. If I didn't do this, the frosting to cake ratio would have been too dismal.

Added the top tier.

I filled the inside with rice krispie treat to maintain its' shape.

And then I crumb-coated with more whipped cream. I could have stopped right here and the cake was delicious!

But Anne requested a pink pumpkin and a pink pumpkin is what she got!

I made the pumpkin leaves out of gum paste. I used some pink luster dust to add some dimension and shading and added the pink sparkles, per her request.

I hope that Eve had a most excellent 1st birthday party!

Cute as a Baby!

What fun to do this cake again! My client contacted me requesting a baby shower cake for his wife. He requested a moist marble cake with chocolate mousse filling. Yup! I can DO that!

The only issue that I had was (and remember, I'm a from-scratch baker) finding a mousse recipe that DIDN'T have raw eggs in it. I came across Alton Brown's recipe which uses unflavored gelatin as a substitute. I wanted the mom-to-be to be able to enjoy her cake, right?! Anyway, I think the mousse turned out great (I also skipped the alcohol), and paired with the marble cake, it was a delicious combination.

Congrats to the new parents-to-be!!!

FORE!!!!!

Lorraine requested golf-themed cupcakes for her daughter's golf outing this weekend. They were for the girl's golf team in Oconomowoc and simply had to be gold and purple. I agonized about what to put on top of the cupcakes and thought about fondant golf balls or paper golf balls on toothpicks. I scoured Michael's to try to come up with some ideas and just before I finally headed home, defeated, I stopped by a candy shop downtown Oconomowoc, I saw that they carried basketball, baseball and soccer ball chocolate candies but I wondered if they carried golf balls.

They did!

But they'd be in next week.

Shoot.

The employee asked me what I needed them for and I told her I wanted to put something on top of my cupcakes. She excused herself and ran to the backroom and a few moments later came back with a golf ball candy mold.

AWESOME!!! She made the little white chocolate golf balls especially for this project! I absolutely love the way they turned out!

The cupcakes are chocolate with buttercream filling and frosting with sprinkles and white chocolate golf balls on top. Phew!

I hope Carly has a great event! Thanks for thinking of me!

A Gerbera-Worthy Affair

Lori requested a Cake Mama cake for her son and daughter-in-law's wedding reception. They were married in early September and had a beautiful Colorado ceremony and then had a Wisconsin reception this weekend. Paul and Ryan's wedding cake was a lemon poppyseed cake with cream cheese filling, but I'm told that neither got a piece at their reception last month. So, they requested another.

This was a fun project to take on. I found MANY poppyseed cake recipes and plenty of lemon poppyseed loaves or muffin recipes, but had difficulty finding a lemon poppyseed cake recipe. So, I had to make my own and I hope it turned out well!

I made two, 2-layer sheet cakes for the special occasion. One was decorated with hot pink Gerbera daisies to match the flowers on the table, the other was simply frosted and cut into immediately. Here's how the decorated one turned out. Gotta love those gum paste Gerbera daisies!!

Congrats to Paul and Ryan on their marriage!