UNCW 2010 Graduation

Graduation season is upon us and here is the first cake I did in celebration of a recent UNCW Psych grad, who is on her way to graduate school after the celebrations (and hopefully a relaxing summer!). Her sister called me to do this cake after seeing Maycen's Phineas and  Ferb cakes from last week, so a huge thanks (again!) to Courtney! Emily knew what she wanted --- polka dots and stripes in UNCW teal, and the University logo complementary colors of yellow and dark blue incorporated into the accent work. Hope they all love it!

Didn't get any good macro pictures of the cap and diploma. Oh well... next week for my niece's cake, I will!

The top layer is a marble cake (my yellow cake recipe with a portion turned into cocoa and swirled together) and the bottom tier is my dark chocolate recipe. Buttercream frosting under all the marshmallow fondant, as usual. Brushed on pearl dust to get the glimmer and shimmer to the dark blue and yellow. Stars and numbers were gumpaste-fondant mix and the hat and diploma were all fondant.

Seasonal Fruits

One of my earliest experiences as a chef's assistant was for Carla Snyder at a Food Festival weekend in Morgantown, West Virginia. She is an incredible baker and my favorite all-time recipe comes from her. The original recipe was for a pear tart, but you can easily substitute any seasonal fruit or fruit of choice. This week, I made a seasonally fresh berry tart with locally grown strawberries and blueberries (that we picked ourselves at Lewis' Farms!) and added raspberries and blackberries. The tart is a free-form tart, which yields a beautiful and rustic pie/tart. Carla's dough recipe produces a scrumptious, home-made pastry that is perfectly crusty and melt in your mouth delicious. She also has you make an almond frangipane paste that is spread onto the rolled out dough before you pile on the fruit. When I make rhubarb tarts, I leave the frangipane out and make my mom's rhubarb pie filling instead --- now that version is my all time favorite dessert. Ever. Served cold, for breakfast. Mmmmmmm. =)  But I digress.....

The tart I made yesterday was for a friend who was hosting a women's group. She wanted something yummy and different, and although we first talked about doing something chocolaty... I got excited about the fresh fruit and doing this tart. Luckily, she loved it!

The blueberry muffins were for a Church bake sale. I tried the America's Test Kitchen blueberry muffin recipe, and I have to say..... it was not worth the trouble. They are very good muffins, do not get me wrong. But again I go back to my mom's recipes and she has in incredible blueberry cake that I have adapted for muffins. They are every bit as good as this new recipe, but far less time consuming and complicated. But they sure were pretty!

Maycen's 4th Birthday

The fun thing about this business is seeing people's reactions to my creations. The more I do, the more fun I have. It's addictive! The cake I did this weekend was for my friend Courtney from Cuttin' Up. Her son turned 4 and he wanted anything having to do with Phineas and Ferb. I was soooo glad he didn't say Michael Jackson, who he went as for Halloween this past year! I don't think I could have pulled that one off.... a big white glove with music notes? Who knows?! LOL.

I delivered the cake to the picnic site (and man did they luck out with a gorgeous afternoon! with thankfully no humidity) and was met by dropped jaws and utters of amazement. Grandma didn't want to cut the cake and I hear from Courtney that her husband "got possessive" of Perry and wouldn't let many people eat him. Funny! Courtney now has a large platypus in her fridge. =)

Here are some of Courtney's comments:
"Can't thank you enough for the cakes today!! Got several moms that were at the party that I am sending your way. I will need another one in July and then again in February!!! Thanks so much!!!!.... They [tasted] amazing, but the yellow was my fave!!! Most everyone had to try a little of each!"

Phineas (the triangular guy with red hair) was rich chocolate with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. The other two characters were the birthday boy's (and his mother's!) favorite, yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  The swirly blue board that the guys are on is covered in fondant. I LOVED the look! Unfortunately I had started with Perry on the plain white board and didn't dare move him to cover his in a similar manner. Always something to learn! That's what also makes it fun.... =]

Bryceon's 1st birthday

The first Mickey cake was so popular, a guest at Collin's party wanted the same (but bigger!) for her son's 1st birthday. We added Goofy to this cake and I have to say I was very happy with him. He may replace the giraffe as my favorite!

The cake was, again, my standard yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. All fondant was homemade marshmallow fondant, with the exception of the dark chocolate fondant that makes the hat and Mickey-polka-dots. This is the Satin Ice product that I swear by as the ONLY fondant worth buying. Very yummy and very forgiving to work with. Mickey and Goofy are also gumpaste-fondant mixtures and hand painted.

Krystal, the birthday boy's mom, had this to say after the party:
"The party was a huge success. The cake was such a great addition to a perfect day!  I enjoyed seeing the faces of our guests as they walked down the front hall into the kitchen to where the cake was presented.  Everyone thought it was such a special cake and beautifully made!  My parents were thrilled by the cake.  I have a flip video to send you of their reaction. 

Even more comments rolled in after the cake was cut and people began eating it.  I heard from six adults that this was the best cake they had ever eaten.  They were very serious in that statement too as they kept repeating it.  :)  That made me happy because that's exactly how I felt when I tried your cake for the first time back in April.  I heard the comment, "Cakes that look that good usually do not taste that good".  I also made that comment back in April. 

We would like you to be our family baker!  :)  Get ready for many more orders in the future!"

Thank you, Krystal!

Cupcakes

These cupcakes were made for a Kindergarten class, to celebrate a baby shower for their beloved teacher. I thought that was a cute idea to include her "other" kids in the baby crazy anticipation! She is expecting a boy, hence the blue. The footprints (feetprints???) were a fondant-gumpaste mixture, dyed blue and painted with silver pearl dust (didn't have any blue on hand). The mini cupcakes were yellow cake or chocolate, both with blue colored buttercream frosting.

Carrot Cake!

So, a dear friend had a birthday last week and I got to make her a carrot cake. This happens to be my son's and niece's favorite cake, yet unbelievably... I had never made one! Joy of Baking seldom lets me down, so I followed their recipe, with a few added secret's from my mom (yeah mom!) and the product... I have to say, was the best carrot cake I ever ate. =) The cream cheese icing was incredible (also form the Joy of Baking recipe for carrot cake)! The carrots and their tops are all marzipan. Also the first time I used this. Fondant and gumpaste are almost easier I have to say, but maybe because that is what I am used to working with.

Happy Birthday, Martha!