The Little Details Are Worth the Extra Time

I can remember watching an Ace of Cakes episode where Anna made a full Scrabble board for a cake and I thought it was a crazy idea given all of the tiny details.  This week’s cake adventure was all about the tiny details, because my friend Lynn from work asked me to make a cake for surprise 60th birthday party she was helping to plan for her friend.  Guess what game was the inspiration behind the cake … yup, that’s the one!  Scrabble.  Thankfully, I only had space for about a quarter of the board on this cake.

I pulled out some of the fondant tools that I really haven’t needed to use since I took the Wilton class, checked those same class materials to make sure I remembered how to make fondant roses and bought some edible food markers.  The cake underneath is a white chocolate cake that I modified a bit from a cupcake recipe, with a strawberry-lime filling. 

I made my own marshmallow fondant for the main cake covering since I really like how it drapes and I wanted it to be like a tablecloth.  For the other fondant work, I purchased Duff fondant because I wanted something that dried a little firmer.  I loved working with it to make the fondant roses.  It didn’t stick to the sponge mat when I was working with the petals, it held its shape well and it dried with a nice sheen for the  rose petals.  Did I mention it also tastes good … unlike some purchased fondant.  The chocolate fondant really does smell and taste like chocolate, though it was harder to knead when I first started working with it.

To make the cake even more fun, and to make sure the tile usage was following Scrabble rules, the game is already under way and it appears both players can expand some existing words to complete the cake’s message.  The rose colours were requested, yellow for their sorority and red for love.  There was a lot of time that went into this cake, but it made the adventure more fun for me … even if I’m feeling a little short on sleep.  A good adventure is worth a little sleep deprivation. =)

This cake was really all about the details, from making sure the tiles had the right point value on them, to making the tile holders. to painting the bonus point squares, to making the fondant covering look like a tablecloth by cutting the fondant with a ripple edge with an embossed detail, and adding luster dust to the red roses. Those are the things that really made this work. 

Happy Birthday Pat!

Baking with a purpose

I like baking for family and friends, but in the last few weeks I’ve also been enjoying baking for a larger purpose.  Around the office where I work, it’s fundraising time for the Provincial Employees Community Services Fund.  PECSF supports a large variety of charities and during the annual campaign there are fundraising events every time you turn around, from 50/50 draws, basket raffles, book sales, and the sale of lots of baked goods.
I don’t have pictures of the Breakfast Cookies I made for the Cookies for a Cause event.  They weren’t particularly pretty but they did make for yummy breakfast eating. 

The week before Halloween, our office was decorated with more ghosts and skeletons and bats and spiders and cobwebs and … well, you get the idea … oh, and a talking headless woman, and flying ghosts and … I could go on and probably not cover all the decorations.  We opened up the office for tours and had goodie bags and Halloween cookies for sale.

Did I mention, it was also a great excuse to buy some new cookie cutter.  My seasonal options were remarkably limited. My grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, royal icing and some seasonally coloured sprinkles made for some fun decorating late one night. Best part:  we raised over $170.00 dollars! 

Oh, I almost forgot, there were also lots of costumes on the Thursday.  I’m not much for dressing up but a friend did make sure I knew where I could find the perfect hat which was definitely more in character than the black cat ears I’d picked up on the cookie cutter shopping trip to Michaels.

When the call went out for cupcakes for the annual book and cupcake sale, I couldn’t resist.  I haven’t heard the fundraising total yet, but my Christmas Dreamin’ Cupcakes were among the first to sell out.

My other contribution didn’t last a lot longer on the table.  Who can resist Clearly Coconut?
One of the reasons I haven’t pursued cake decorating as a job is that mainly I enjoy investing the time making something special for people I know, but baking to help raise funds for a great cause, that’s a different thing all together.  That’s using the skills I’ve learned and the things I enjoy doing to make difference. 
In my world, that’s a hard combination to resist.

Daycare Birthday Fun

  

That was a lot of red food colouring
 to make Elmo the right colour!



A few years ago, I had a lot of fun making birthday cakes and treats for a friend's son.  That little boy is now 6 ... soon to be 7, his birthday is in November ... and he just had some minor surgery today.  It seemed a good reason to add another story to the cake adventures.

 For his second birthday, his mom asked me to make a cake that they could take to his daycare.  I don't use character cake pans very often anymore (making too many stars can make a person a little crazy), but sometimes it's the right choice.  Elmo for a bunch of daycare kids seemed practically perfect.  The cake underneath was my favourite apple spice cake. Since my friend's son is lactose intolerant, I made the icing using vanilla flavoured soy milk.

The next year, the daycare had decided that only Rice Krispie squares were allowed as cakes were apparently too much mess.  Plain Rice Krispie squares seemed like not nearly enough fun to celebrate such a cute little guy's third birthday, so I decided to get a little inventive.  Take some Rice Krispie squares, and some royal icing to act as glue.  Add some brightly coloured fondant to make tires and headlights and a little imagination. I'll let the picture speak for itself... 

I only took pictures so I'd remember how I made them,
hence the fondant mat and icing bag

Since his dad was away serving in the military that year and their only other family lives on another continent, we decided it would be fun to have a big cake to celebrate his birthday with his church family.
  

Did I mention that this was the fall after I took
the 3rd Wilton course and was having a lot of fun
with fondant?

By the time birthday number four came around, the daycare had decided that cupcakes were allowed for birthday treats.  That's the first time I made the cupcake pizza.  I delivered the pizza to their house the night before they were taking it to daycare.  His response when I opened the lid of the pizza box, three simple words:

 

I was so amazed when the local pizza shop
let me have a box for free and didn't think I was
totally crazy when I asked if I could buy one!

"I like that."

The wide eyes of wonder and a few softly spoken words from a normally taciturn child made that pizza one of my favourite decorated cakes ever.

Oh, in case you're wondering what happened to five and six, his dad was transferred to a different base and now they live in another province.  It's a little expensive for daycare treats to figure out how to send them across the country =