Academy Award



Best Hostess Oscar goes to Julia!

Doug scored!

And the Oscar goes to.... Julia!!!! for hosting the best Oscar's party every year!  After making my Golem cake, I was putting away leftover modeling chocolate and before I knew it, a little Oscar statue had formed in my hand.  I painted him gold and stuck him on top of a chocolate dome cake with red chocolate and gold stars.  The movie strip is also chocolate with luster dust highlights.  Doug won the Oscar for guessing the most awards correctly.  I was caught cheating therefore unable to claim the glory but I was still awarded my share of the chocolate cake!

Golem in the Cake

"Golem in the Gears" Birthday Cake

This cake was commissioned by Richie and Carol for their dad and husband Rick Larson.  We happen to have some of the best neighbors in the world and this family has been my biggest fanclub outside of my kids.  With each new cake attempt, the first thing the kids say is, "You have to show Richie!"  So it wasn't long before they asked me to make a cake for their Dad's birthday, which I was thrilled to do.  Those of you who know my own Dad will understand when I say that I feel great comfort living next door to a man of the same high caliber; they would get along great.  I thought, after all the fun I had making this modeling chocolate woodland scene, that I would have a hard time letting it go, but actually I was very happy to give it to them with my whole heart.  They truly deserve it after putting up with my neclected yard for so long!

The cake theme was taken from Rick's favorite Piers Anthony novel from the Xanth series.  They requested the same Crazy Good Banana Pound cake that I made for the Tangled Tower.  This one had 3 layers because I love any excuse for extra banana cream filling!  The multicolored marshmallow fondant for the book cover was my first attempt at homemade.  I found myself really glad to have so many leaves and figures to cover all my mistakes!  It tasted better than the storebought stuff so I will definitely try it again.  I actually scared myself a little when I finished those piercing eyes on my toad.  I could feel a little empathy for poor Golem Grundy.  I only had a chance to read an excerpt of  "Golem in the Gears" in between making leaves and my baby slug (under the mushrooms on the right), but I think I am going to have to ask to borrow it.

I really meant to keep these blog posts short and sweet, but I can't leave off without giving due credit to my amazing children for keeping up with my mess.  My daughter Janae's skill surprised me when she took over cutting out the letters, made my favorite little curly red leaves, and the icky awesome earthworm.  Also, thanks to Richie and Carol for encouraging me, challenging me, and making me take some of your money!  I really do need more cake $tuff!

Super Mario Cake

Andrew's Super Mario birthday cake
(question box is suspended by the magic of Kimi) 

This cake was not quite finished when Andrew came over for his birthday party so all the kids had a chance to add their own mushrooms, turtles, and goomba characters.  The first thing Andrew said was "Where's Bowser?"  So my talented friend Robin saved the party by completing the question block for me (made of cake covered in fondant) and a mushroom or two while Kimi and I scrambled to comply with the birthday boy's request.


Andrew kept coming over to the counter to look at HIS cake!
 There's no question...I think he liked it! 



Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi are toy figures, this goomba is modeling chocolate, and the rest were fondant.  My toddler 'helped' by helping himself to the painstakingly cut out blue border (you can see the remaining border in the picture above, bottom right) and a couple other characters to make himself a squished up fondant 'shamburger'.  The bottom tier is a Betty Crocker funfetti mix with sour cream added and a yummy white chocolate pudding filling.  The upper tier was made sugar free for Andrew's Grandparents.  I owe them many thanks for jumping in to help finish supper so I could focus on the cake chaos with the kids!  Happy Birthday Andrew!

  

How to Train Your Chocolate Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon cakes for Logan and Hunter's birthdays

I had a wonderful time at Grandma and Papa's house as I was able to thoroughly enjoy a relaxed morning assembling these cakes with Hunter and Logan's help.  They did a great job mixing fondant to make rocks and pebbles and I thought Trinity's insistence on the lake, and her use of piping gel to make waves was the perfect touch.

It is in fact, more difficult to train a chocolate dragon than I expected but I am glad I made the effort.  Toothless was very melty to work with but in the end, I thought he looked sweet.  The trouble I had, will not deter me from attempting modeling chocolate again.

Colleen said it had to be chocolate all the way so both cakes were made from Duncan Hines Devil's Food with raspberry chocolate milk to replace the water.  My first homemade chocolate frosting was used for the filling as well as underneath the cliffside fondant, and under the cookie crumbles on the volcano dragon egg nest. 

I lucked out (grossed out) to find the oreo cookies with bright red centers on sale.  I scraped them off to create the lava in the center of the dragon egg nest while the remaining bit of frosting added a nice 'glow' to the lava rocks.  Multicolored fruit leather flowed over the edges.

The shrieks of joy when we finished were enough to melt any Aunt's heart into a puddle of chocolate lava.

Happy Birthday Logan and Hunter!

 

Despicable Cake

Happy Late Birthday Danilyn!  Too bad you are too late to eat any...mmmmm...sorry!

For my second Wilton cake decorating class, we were allowed to choose our own pattern for the top so I chose the 'Despicable Me' minion in honor of my niece Danilyn who asked me to make her one for a late birthday cake. This cake was the most despicable assignment I have ever had in a class!  If you have seen my favorite blog, Cake Wrecks, you will see many examples of this particular dimensional technique gone wrong.  There really is no way to use the number 12 tip and not have it look disgusting.  

The inside was devil's food chocolate cake with Kozy Shack creamy chocolate pudding for the filling.  I was told to make my frosting using a decorating buttercream recipe especially for this class.  However, I couldn't bring myself to use trans fatty shortening so I used my healthier coconut oil instead.  It smelled and tasted lovely but the coconut oil is pickier about temperature so by the time we were decorating, the little room we were crammed in had warmed up so my frosting was a little gooey-er than it was supposed to be.

The cake doctor is in....

Dr. Pepper and Movie Theatre Popcorn cakes

Happy Birthday Juls!

Julia's extreme passion for Dr. Pepper and movie theatre popcorn should have made for an easy birthday cake design decision but I was really torn at the thought of giving her an ipad of her very own to eat.  In the end, the whole family voted that it had to 'be a Pepper!'.
  

After doing my research, I chose America's favorite Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix that I 'doctored' with an extra egg yolk, real butter, and Dr. Pepper instead of water.  The popcorn cake was also a doctored Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix.  In keeping with the theme, I couldn't stop at the cake; I added real Philadelphia cream cheese to the store bought frosting.  Still lickin' my fingers!

Both cakes were exceptionally moist and tender, melt in your mouth yum; but I should have used a more stable frosting underneath the Dr. Pepper fondant.  She got a little saggy when it warmed up.  The logo was a challenge, but the hardest part was waiting for the marshmallowy popcorn to cool so I could add the final touch to the movie theatre bucket.  Mmmmaarrshmallllows...





Dr. and Mrs. Pepper...no, she's not pregnant...just a little too much cake lately!

I know, I totally copied you Robin!  Thanks!