Posts tagged birthday

My posts have seriously dwindled since I became pregnant. My priorities have shifted (so excited for this baby!!) and cake sort of fell off the radar when the fatigue and morning sickness kicked in…and stayed and stayed. On very rare occasions I crawl into the kitchen to bake—and this was one of them…

 The extra tall top tier is blue velvet cake with vanilla frosting, and the bottom is milk chocolate. I made the purple and green marshmallow fondant at home and handed over a small fortune to buy a little tub of Duff black fondant (because making black fondant at home is just insane). I think it turned out pretty good!

My dear Grandma was born on July 4th. This gives me the chance to make lots of patriotic cakes.

On a hot summer day, lemon cake with vanilla mousse filling and cool fresh berries on top is just the thing! My sister found the cute decorations at Michael’s.

Here’s a the naked cake (before the decorations):

  Aunt Jill asked me to make a birthday cake for a sweet relative who will be 99 this weekend. I think it needs to be over the top… After all, 99 is major achievement!

So the birthday girl’s favorite flower is the African Violet. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any decent-looking real ones, and no fake ones. I did find this lovely dark purple hydrangea, and since her eyesight isn’t so good anymore…. she’ll at least appreciate the pretty color. Then I thought a baby picture of her would be a nice finishing touch, and give the creation some personality. Can’t wait until it’s done!

Here she is- the 3-tiered lavender cake! The largest cake is lemon with Pastry Pride/vanilla filling, and the middle is raspberry and vanilla swirl cake with the same vanilla pastry filling. I used buttercream for the frosting underneath the fondant. The photo is edible with a buttercream “frame”. The birthday girl cried when she saw it. It thrilled me to see how a beautiful cake could make her feel so loved and appreciated. 

 …You get to finish the story. 

Bottom cake: Rainbow Sprinkle cake with (Pastry Pride) vanilla mousse filling. Top: Milk Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling.

This was my first attempt at fondant animals— not bad. It’s a bit like making clay animals. I really loved making the giraffe’s knobby little knees. As you can see in this next photo, the monkey is totally losing his bananas!

Little kids love Thomas. He’s cute, colorful, and has all sorts of adventures… He doesn’t annoy me like some of the other characters out there- which is definite plus. It’s also a hoot to hear my son use British phrases he hears on the show like “I’m so cross today!” or, “He’s a cheeky one.” In making this cake for one of his little friends, I tried to capture the color, simplicity, and fun that is Thomas:

Princess cakes—especially the Disney kind are popular these days. Instead of a standard sheet-cake, I thought I’d try a tiered cake with a chocolate transfer sheet wrapped around one of the tiers. I found the perfect pattern at the Fancy Flours website. 

I should have photographed the process of getting the sheet ready to apply to the cake. It was a bit scary, and difficult to work with—definitely in the more advanced arena of decorating. I love the look of it though- and will probably try it again some time.