Manhole Covers and Public Sugar Art

I decided it’s time to share some amusing and inspiring cake adventure related things that I’ve come across … even if I wasn’t involved in the creation … only in the photographing. 

Let’s start with my most recent find. I’m not sure if it’s still the politically correct name, but my hometown has some unusual manhole covers.  What does that have to do with cake? you ask.  Let me show you …

I’ve been doing some online research and while it was unveiled in 2002, the design is based on an advertisement from the 1955 Yellow Pages.  It causes me some glee that when the artists were deciding what would make an interesting design, they picked a cake shop.  I love how they have tried to capture the fine detail of piping on a wedding cake in cast iron creation.  

Apparently there are two other unique covers in the area … not cake related … but I may have to go find them and take a look.  I love finding public art in unexpected places.

Photos of the next find have been sitting on my smartphone since the end of March, but I wasn’t sure what to do with them.  The thing is they need to be shared with people who will appreciate the effort that went into creating a very ephemeral piece of public sugar art.

If  you think you’re looking at something made from ceramic tiles, you’d be incorrect.  Created during a residency at Open Space Gallery in Victoria, BC, the artist, Shelley Miller, made the work entirely from sugar.  There’s a great photo and lots of additional information about the artistic process on the gallery’s website. 

I was so intrigued by the idea that I did go back several times to see how the piece had changed. March and April tend to include a significant quantity of rain when you live on the west coast.  The first day I saw it, the icing that had been piped directly on the wall looked like it was still wet.  I did resist the urge to poke at it with my finger just to see how solid it was, but apparently others didn’t exercise the same restraint.

Despite the rain that had already caused the colours to bleed and run, the texture and depth to the ornamental work is a great example of what can be created with patience and sugar. 

Then there is the humour in having the bottom motif depict the harvesting of sugar cane. I almost forgot to mention how much I love the variation in colour used to create the sea.

My last visit to see how it was changing made me think that the creation had received some help to achieve the level of deterioration that had been achieved.  It did make me sad, but at the same time, I was amazed by how well the rest of the sugar art was surviving.  I know the panic I’ve felt when transporting cakes in the rain.  That terror that the smallest amount of water is going to ruin everything.  And yet, there is still something beautiful even as the art begins to disintegrate.

I’ve often been asked how I can watch people cut into and eat one of the cakes I’ve made.  It’s true, there’s a moment, just before the knife makes the first cut, when I agree with them.  There is a bittersweet feeling.  You’ve just seen the joy inspired by hours of creation, and now it’s about to disappear in matter of minutes.  I consider it a sign that I’ve been "successful” in my cake adventure when no one want to make the first cut.  At the same time, I know that the cake inside tastes just as delicious as it looks on  the outside and I don’t want anyone to miss out on that part either.  So I encourage them to cut and eat.  It’s why I made the cake.  The eating is an equal part of its enjoyment. 

For me there is a freedom in creating a piece of art so impermanent.  It makes it easier for me to let go of perfectionism and just enjoy the adventure of what I can create.  It allows me to focus on what’s most important to me … celebrating the people I love.

Fizz Candies and a Chocolate Shoe

Some cakes are clearly meant to be made. When all of the little details come together so easily. When you find just the perfect source for the item you need to personalize the cake. When you literally stumble across exactly the right supply that you didn't even realize you were looking for. When the cake turns out better than the one in your imagination. When the look on the face of the recipient is even better than you could have hoped. That's when it's obvious the universe decided to lay a gift right in your hands.

Those are truly special cake adventures. They are so full of joy that you never want to stop decorating. They are precious because they don't come along everyday. Hmm… it’s probably good that they don’t, otherwise I’d never leave my kitchen!

When it was time to celebrate our new manager’s 50th birthday, my co-worker Stacy and I knew there was cake making to be done but the only thing we knew was that it wasn’t time to make another transport truck!  That’s clearly not something you want to repeat a few months later.

Thinking caps on, we decided to go with a Fabulous Fifty idea that included shoes and jewellery. We briefly thought about trying to make our own shoe out of chocolate … we’d made chocolate tires before, why not a shoe?  Then we thought better of that idea when I remembered a fabulous chocolate shoe that I’d seen at Chocolatas on Granville Island.  We made some phone calls, but couldn’t find anything comparable locally, so I placed an order and coordinated a trip over to Vancouver to see Tosca Cafe (which, by the way, was awesome!) with picking up an amazing blue shoe made from white chocolate.

I knew we’d made the right choice as soon as a I saw the shoe.  I took a picture less than 5 minutes later because I had to share my delight.  I really wanted to take the shoe with me to work on the Monday so that Stacy could see it in person, but I knew we’d be caught for sure … we wouldn’t have been able to keep the squeals of glee quiet!

So we had the shoe planned, but we still hadn’t figured out what to do for the jewellery.  Neither of us have any experience with sugar work and it seemed a little late to start learning when the cake was only a week or so away.  We didn’t want to have to use something non-edible. 

While we were still pondering our options, we got to work assembling some goodie bags for a Halloween fundraiser.  Some of the candies were a childhood favourite of mine, Lotsa Fizz. They used to come in a long strip, with individual pouches for the fizzy candy.  For me, they immediately bring back memories of the tuck shop at summer camp. 

Imagine our delight when we discovered two important facts.  One, our manger loves Fizz candies. There was a lot of rejoicing over the fact that they still make them even though they’re now in individual packages and are round instead of their old flat rectangular shape.  And two, the current batch of Fizz Candies?  They also added blue and green coloured candies, that just happen to be prominent colours in our manager’s wardrobe.  We quickly realized we had the perfect “beads” for a chunky bracelet. A little royal icing between to hold the candies together worked as spacers and made for super easy assembly.

We knew we wanted a simple design for covering the cake. We thought about making the fondant look quilted, but decided that would look too busy.  But we needed something to cover a few fondant issues … ever have one of those days when your fondant wrinkles no matter what you try?  Yup, me too! We decided to make our own fondant ribbon skirts for each cake. They helped balance the cake and matched well with the cake plate edge detail too.

Problem was, there was one visible flaw that ended up front and center.  Did I mention how much I love decorating with Stacy?  I came up with the idea of a bow and she came up with the perfect matching hat pin to use for securing the bow the next morning.

Oh, I almost forgot. The cakes were a delicious vanilla with lemon filling for the top cake and a divine chocolate with caramel filling for the bottom.  I need to get Stacy’s recipe for the lemon filling.  Talk about luscious lemon! 

We couldn’t have asked for a better response to the cake.  It was the talk of the office.  The shoe had such rave reviews that I sent a thank you email to Chocolatas.  They asked if they could post the picture and my email to their facebook page.  Of course I said yes!

Sometimes it’s all about finding just the right thing to make the cake perfect. 

Sometimes it’s all about knowing how to turn potential flaws into just the thing to complete the cake.

Sometimes, I’m pretty sure,  it’s also all just about dumb luck =)

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 =)

Cupcake Cakes & a Happy Birthday Panda!

I've decided I'm a big fan of icing a bunch of individual cupcakes like it’s really one large cake. Quick to cool and no crumb coat required – that makes them a perfect option for a cake decorating adventure that fits into a single evening.

 

 

You can go for something straightforward like a circle of cupcakes that becomes a pizza or a truck tire. A few strategically placed Oreo cookies between the Cookies 'n' Cream cupcakes added structure in places where the gap between cupcakes was too wide to ice over. Who’s going to complain about icing on a cookie?  Nobody at my workplace apparently.

While my recent adventure that led to the truck tire reminded me of how much fun cupcake cakes can be, my favourite cupcake adventure is thanks to Grace, the younger of my two nieces, who turns 16 today. Most Julys, she comes to spend the month with us which means I still get to make her a birthday cake.  A couple of years back, she decided that we would make her birthday cake together using a new “toy” from Wilton – Animal Puzzle Cakes Silicone Build-A-Cake Set – that I hadn't been able to resist purchasing.

There was much discussion and planning about what we could create using the three-quarter moon, diamonds, triangles and round silicone cupcake forms. Yoshi was high on the list, but the winner was Rice, an adorable panda created by my friend Christine at Crumpled Paper. Grace's birthday present had included a hand-drawn card and an fabulous blue monster puff that Christine had graciously made.

The basic bear shape was carefully adapted to make a panda and the extras forms became a present.

Only problem, none of us really wanted to eat Rice.

It seemed a little mean ... definitely a potential hazard when a cake takes the shape of a favourite character!  Hmm, …I seem to recall a similar concern when I made a Winnie the Pooh character cake for Grace’s second birthday. =)

Happy Birthday Grace! I can't believe you're already 16 ... and I can't wait till you get here this summer so we can share another cake adventure creating this year's birthday cake.

HUGS =)