Threadcakes 2011 … the rest of the story

 

"You're the cake decorator who said it was possible. I'm the kid with the high hopes. If we don't succeed, it's all on you."

That was my niece's comment when I was practically positive that I'd finally over-reached what I knew how to do with cake. I could easily picture all of our hours of work coming crashing down around us. Who really thought it was a good idea to say yes to making a cake with minimal support structure, that had the largest cake on the top, and that needed to look like the cakes were pointed at the bottom? Seriously, what had I been thinking?

Oh right. I remember. It's for a contest and I didn't what my niece to be disappointed. There's a long history of Aunt Karen making crazy cakes for my nieces' birthdays. I don't get to do it as often any more, but the tradition is still there. How could I not say yes when she took my suggestion seriously that we make her birthday cake together this year and make it an entry for Threadcakes 2011?

If you've never heard of Threadcakes, you should definitely check out the gallery on their website. There are some ridiculously amazing and complicated cakes that have been inspired by on printed Threadless t-shirts. My niece is a huge fan of their t-shirts. There were five new shirts already waiting at our house when she arrived this summer. She'd hunted through their designs, and picked Well Seasoned as her favourite. I knew it would be a challenge, but I had no idea how many hours of work or batches of cake, buttercream, rice krispies and fondant it was going to take.

We'd originally talked about making it on a small scale, but that was before we had figured out what we were going to use for our structure. A trip to the local Michaels store resulted in the purchase of a Wilton stand that used 10, 12 and 14 inch cakes. Suddenly the cake was getting much larger and that meant more rice krispie treats to attach to the bottom. There's no question that decision caused us some issues. I did learn a lot about working with rice krispie treats in cake decorating ... even if most of it was from learning what not to do first. Isn't that how all the best lessons are learned?

It might still be an understatement when I say that both of us were utterly exhausted by the time we were taking the final pictures. I wrote up our entry, sorted through all the pictures we'd taken to find the best ones to show the whole creation and eating process, then it was time to upload our photos and submit our entry. After looking at all the amazing 3D entries for 2011, we didn't think we had a chance of being in the top 5.  We had laughed a bunch along the way that Kerry Vincent (from Food Network Challenge) would not have approved of our technique, but we were proud of what we had accomplished.  If you’re curious, there are about 30 photos and lots more detail about the process in our Threadcakes entry.

After the winners were announced ... including several of our favourites ... they decided that a finalist banner would be added to all entries that had received at least one vote from the judging panel. The eleven judges all submitted a list of their top ten cakes. Imagine our surprise and our joy when we discovered that out of 190 3D entries, our creation was one of 35 3D finalists!

Crazy though it may be, we've already talked about making a Threadcake next year too. What can I say? The adventure was worth the exhaustion and the memories will last a lifetime.

Birthday Celebrations

I first taught myself to decorate cakes from pouring over a 1974 Wilton yearbook that my mom kept on her recipe shelf.  I’m not really sure why she had it.  They got married in 1963 so it wasn’t from deciding on her wedding cake and cake decorating has never really been her “thing”.  Don’t get me wrong, she a fabulous baker and I would have her Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake with Raspberry Jam filling and Apple Icing any day of the week.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  It’s still my only choice for my birthday cake!  Whatever reason caused it to be there, I’m so grateful.  I found that book intriguing.  Back before there were Wilton classes available at the local craft store or before you could purchase any combination of cake decorating supplies and icing in several places in town. I taught myself how to make royal icing and make color-flow pieces to use on cakes.  I even learned how to make fondant from scratch from that yearbook.  Cake decorating was a lot of fun and I even wondered about making it a business.

Then my brother got married and I gained a fabulous niece who was almost two.  Her second birthday party was all about 101 Dalmatians and her Mom decided that she would rent a puppy dog pan and decorate it to look like Lucky, Holly’s favourite puppy.  I volunteered to do the decorating and I remember my brother sneaking quietly into her room late at night to snitch her Lucky stuffie so that we could make sure the spots matched up perfectly.  I haven’t found a picture of that cake.  I’m sure one exists somewhere, but that cake deserves a mention here because Karen’s Cake Adventures wouldn’t exist without it.  The joy that cake brought made me fall in love with cake decorating and started a tradition of Aunt Karen decorating crazy birthday cakes for her two amazing nieces.

It’s hard to believe, but today, Holly turns 21.  I don’t get to see her that often and it’s been a lot of years since I’ve been able to make her birthday cake, but I am super proud of her.  She’s an amazing young woman and she’s worked hard to make her dream of becoming a chef come true. 

It seemed only fitting to dedicate this post to her.  I’ve sprinkled it with old photos of the birthday cakes that followed Lucky: a Carousel ice cream cake for a circus theme birthday party, a puppet theatre cake to match the puppet theatre her Dad and her Poppa made just for her, and a magic pink castle cake for a princess theme. 

By the way, I don’t recommend asking a 6 year old what a castle cake should look like.  I made that “mistake” and was told “It should be pink and sparkly.  There should be a dragon and the queen should be in her garden picking flowers.”  YIKES!  Guess when I learned how to make fondant? 
Looking back at the pictures now, I’ll admit I cringed a bit.  I had so much fun making them, but I was completely self-taught.  I’ve taken 4 Wilton classes since then and decorated a lot more cakes.  My skill level has changed and when I first looked at the pictures I didn’t want to share them.  I could see all the flaws and knew all the things I would now do differently or with more skill. 

But then I looked at my niece’s face she saw the cakes and I remembered the joy of those moments.  That’s the part that matters.  When her eyes would go wide with surprise and I’d get a great big hug because she loved her cake … that’s what makes the time you invest in decorating a cake worth it … that’s why it’s okay to watch it get devoured and to see all the hard work eaten in a matter of moments. 

Those are memories that last a lifetime … and just maybe, they helped her find her path to being a chef.  I’m proud to say that for her seventh birthday I bought Holly her very first decorating set and we used it to make a bear cake together!
Happy Birthday Bear!  I love you forever =)