Itty Bitty Little Cake

The wedding cake that I agreed to make for a guest.  White cake with Lemon Curd, strawberries and vanilla buttercream.
There were only 6 people invited to the wedding. The lunch reservation was for 8 people so this is a $52 cake.  I gave in and agreed to make it after originally telling the lady no.  The top of this cake was a pain in the patooty.  2" cakes are REALLY hard to decorate, still I built and iced this in less than an hour and a half.

Cake, Cake!

Last night I made a 9" round cake, 4 layers with raspberry mousse and vanilla buttercream completely from scratch in 1 hr 50 minutes.  I started the cake at 4:15 and put it in the display case at 6:05.  It's gotta be a record of some sort.  The fact that I was very, very angry over raw cake rounds could be behind the speed at which I accomplished it.

This morning's cake was done in a much more leisurely fashion.  I made this for a co-worker.

It's tons of fun to stick fingers in cakes on purpose.  :-)  The 'water' on the board I made by spraying food coloring on foil wrap then putting plastic wrap over it while it was still wet. 

Just a FYI wilton foodwriters don't work on gumpaste until it's completely dry. 

KD drawing the stripes on Spongebob's tube socks with a sharpie marker.

Dino Cake Day 2

I checked my fondant spikes first thing this morning and to my amazement they had melted!?!  I've had it not dry completely but the melting was a first.  So after an emergency run for gumpaste and a second set of spikes I got down to business.

The thing was sweating "like a hooker in church" so I gave him a little time in front of the fan.

Still sweaty but all ready to roll.

Side view

Lots of fun with very few swear words today.  I ended up needing to support the spikes with toothpicks because the pieces weren't completely dry.  On to Friday and Spongebob!

Dino Cake Day 1

I started making a 3D dino cake today.  It doesn't look like much yet but I have progress none the less.

What the cake should look like when it's done.

Getting the basic shape down.  The tail and legs are separate pieces right now.  Note the piece of carsboard in the middle to support the head.

Prepping for the fondant.  I think it looked better before I iced it.  One of the guys at work thinks its a bison :)

The spikes for the spine.  They are really purple the lighting in the bakeshop is really bad.

Just for fun.  well... maybe to show off a little too.

I also started working on a dessert submission today for the Shamrock Farms Dairy Fresh Chef contest.  I wasn't going to enter but I am caving in to the peer pressure and going for it. 

I do these things to myself, you know?

I had a phone message when I got to work today.  "Mrs Whatsit called to order a wedding cake to be served at lunch on Aug 6th for 8 people."  My first thought was "Wow they actually didn't just tell her yes?"

I left for the kitchen to call her back thinking no way. Apparently my will power is non-existent for more than just donuts lately...I agreed to do it.  The clincher; they really do want it to serve only 8 people but she would "just love me" if I still made it tiered.  GRRRR!   It doesn't make sense that little cakes are harder to ice than gargantuan cakes.


The donuts just keep making it to my face and I have nobody to blame for it but me.  In 7 days I made beignets, vanilla spice cake doughnuts, raised cinnamon sugar donuts and SPUDNUTS!!! I love beignets but I crazy mad LOVE, LOVE, LOVE potato donuts.  The biggest downfall to being the person making the donuts isn't time spent over the deep fryer it's proximity to the finished product.  Somehow I kept ending up close enough that the darn things were just jumping into my hand and, well, what sane person puts down a warm donut?

Horse Mad

We celebrated my  niece's 4th birthday last weekend while everyone was around for the family reunion.  She is horse crazy, has a pretty large collection of horses and  an imagination that won't quit.  Her favorite color as of the 3rd was purple so when I found a "Precious Pony" pan in my mom's living room I knew I had to make it. 

New Desserts

 I think my dream job is dreaming up desserts and testing new recipes.  It is the aspect of the current job that I enjoy the most.  This is where the creativity flows and I get to put my brain to work.  I enjoy my job on a day to day basis but most of the work I do is routine nearly to the point of mindless.  Babysitting is the part I enjoy the least :-P. 

Lychee Raspberry Mousse Cake with Anglaise, Raspberry Sauce 

and a white chocolate straw.  
Lychee is a tropical fruit native to the Orient.  I think it tastes like roses smell, one of the guys I work with says cherries and bananas, another banana and watermelon.  The red velvet texture on the outside is tinted cocoa butter that is sprayed on.

 Sampling of Fruit Bruschettas - left is Polenta Pound Cake with Basil Strawberries, middle is Lemon Ginger Pound Cake with Brown Sugar Glazed Peaches, right is Almond Cake with Mango, Pineapple, Kiwi and Mint it's served with lemon-lime sorbet.

This dessert was a lot of fun to put together.  Hopefully people "get it".  It will become the dessert for the prix fixe "feature menu" where people can order a predetermined 3 or 4 courses for a set price.