A Spa Skunk Cake

This is Madyson and she has turned 10.  Madyson has a spa day and .... (wait for it).... she thinks skunks are cool... and perhaps a bit misunderstood.  So of course this cake had to be a Spa-Skunk Birthday Cake!

You know?  I am loving this table cover.  It really works with the cake colours.

When you are a gum paste skunk at a spa, naturally you've got to carry a mirror

And of there is his friend wearing a plush blue robe.

Have a "Spa-Cial" Day Madyson!  Get it... Spa-----Cial???  Ohh! I crack myself up!

Sesame Street Cake for Connor

Wow! It was a busy summer.  So busy, I forgot to include Connor's cake on my blog.  I know! What's up with that?  I had so much fun with this character cake.

Connor loves Sesame Street.  Of course for his 1st birthday it would only be fitting to decorate his cake based on his favourite theme.

This is a chocolate two tiered cake decorated with fondant.  I created Elmo, Big Bird, Oscar and Cookie Monster with gum paste.  I then covered the gum paste figures with royal icing.

You know... I think the most difficult part of this cake, was making those teeny, tiny cookies.

Mango Flower Cake

Well we  have just finished with the last unofficial weekend of summer, yet I still felt the need to decorate a cake with fruit.  The fruit du jour? Mango!

 I made some black gumpaste flowers.

The Ingredients:

(serves 12)

1 3/4c All purpose flour

1 to 1 1/4c Powdered sugar
1 1/2tsp Baking powder
3 Eggs room temp
1/3 c Butter room temp
1/2c oil
1c Fresh mango puree
1 tsp Vanilla essence

I cut up a mango and placed it into my grinder.

Then I pureed the mango

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and keep aside. In a separate bowl beat oil,butter and sugar till creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Add the vanilla essence. Now mix the flour mixture slowly in to batches. Fold in the flour mixture by adding the mango puree in between.

Mix well till all the flour is incorporated well.

 Batter is poured into pans for baking.

Preheat the oven at 325 degree C for 15 mins. Grease a cake tin pour the batter to the tin. Bake the cake at 325 degree C approximately 45 min or insert a toothpick andmake sure it comes out clean. When the cake is done allow it to cool on wire rack.

After the cake is baked I made a butter cream icing.  I smoothed the icing on one layer, chopped another mango into small chunks and added it the layer.

Added another layer and icing the rest of the cake.

I did this also for the smaller tier that was to be placed on top.

Added fondant

And Voila!

Delish!

It Was A Very Pink Weekend

Three cakes in one weekend!  The Theme.... Shades of P-I-N-K.

 A Bridal Shower cake for Alicia

This is a white cake with a strawberry filling

 A Shoe Box Cake

(uhm... the "T" in Birthday was corrected after the photo shoot)

A Sweet 16 Cake Purse

This and the Shoe Box are lemon flavour

Carrot Cake For Mom

It was my mother-in-law's birthday, so of course I wanted to contribute a cake for this wonderful occasion.  I have married into a family that appreciates a more traditional dessert.  I decided on a carrot cake.  While this cake was for Mom, I knew my husband loved this flavour.

I was a bit short for time, so I decided on a cake that was (ahem) partially from scratch.

I found a cake recipe on allrecipes.com that incorporated a carrot cake mix with added ingredients.

Ingredients
1 (18.5 ounce) package carrot cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 finely grated carrot (optional.... I added it in)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

Directions


1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans.

2.In large bowl, blend cake mix, oil, water, undrain pineapple, eggs, and nuts. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed. Spread batter into prepared pans.

* I used 3 boxes and baked three 10" pans.

You can view my cream cheese frosting recipe here.

And then it was time for assembly...

 One layer with come frosting on top

 Lets add on the other layers

Cream cheese frosting is on

 I decorated with orange coloured butter cream icing

And voila!

This cake was a hit, and it was nice and moist.

DELISH!

The "Clumsy" Fashionista

Thank you to Liz who requested a cake for her daughter Samantha's first birthday.  She wanted a to tiered cake, flavour chocolate to serve 40.  The theme....Elmo.

I decided to add a bit of pizazz by making the top tier Devils Food Cake, and the bottom tier Chocolate Fudge.

The bottom 10" tier with buttercream icing

And the top 8" tier.

Some fondant stars and a number 1.

Cover both layers with yellow fondant.

Stack the cakes add the stars, fondant rope, of course Elmo and voila!

Delish!

By the way.... This is titled "The Clumsy Fashionista" because as I was making my way up Liz's steps, I tumbled upwards.  I lost my shoe, hit my wrist on her step, but do not fear..... I saved the cake!

Wait a minute....

Maybe I am not too clumsy afterall....(?)

Pass me a Cigar

A special thank you to Barbie, who requested that I decorate a couple of birthday cakes for two very special people.  Her husband Sheldon and their son Reed.

Reed's cake was to serve six, so I decorated a 6" round.  The flavour was chocolate, and I decorated it with green fondant.  I added some yellow coloured buttercream to accent it.

Barbara's hubby Sheldon was turning 65 and he has a fondness for a good cigar now and then.  With this information, I decorated a red velvet buttercream cake and added a fondant number 65 designed as cigars.

Delish!

In The Night Garden

Thank you to Maria who requested that I decorate a cake for her son Luka.  This was super special because it was for Luka's first birthday.  Apparently, Luka is a huge fan of In the Night Garden. 



I had not heard of this program before, so I decided to tune in one evening at 8pm.  You know... to get to know my subject.  Luka ... Believe me... I tried to watch this.  But after about 3 minutes, I had to tune out.  I think it may have been an age thing.  I would like to honestly say that I got "it".  I mean I think I did because I had such a fun time decorating this 2 tiered cake.

Let's go through some of the steps:



This is a two layered cake.  One layer chocolate, the other a white cake.  I smoothed buttercream icing coloured in green.  I then added fondant trees around it.



Of course where there are trees, there is grass.

I added a top tier which was baked as a vanilla white cake with a chocolate marble swirl.  I smoothed blue icing to symbolize the sky.  More trees were added as well as some fondant clouds.

More grass and toadstools are added... and of course the fondant characters.  Happy Birthday Luka!

A Cake for Mya

Thank you Camille who requested a 1st Birthday cake for her very special girl Mya.  I baked a two layered white cake, dressed it up with fondant, and adorned it with a gumpaste princess crown.  I added silver dragees to give Mya's crown a bit of a jeweled effect.

I wish I took photos throughout this process, but I have so much fun decorating cakes I was in total tunnel vision mode.  I wanted to share what I did with the cake.  Here are a couple of photos.

I added drops of yellow food colouring on the batter.

I then swirled the food colouring with a toothpick.  This is a wonderful way to show colour to the cake itself as one slices it.

Give Away - Hot Drinks

Yey! My first blog giveaway just in time for cool  (I mean cold) weather.  Hot Drinks by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss.

Nothing warms up frigid fingers and toes like a mug of spicy mulled cider or creamy hot chocolate. HOT DRINKS presents 50 original recipes for mixed coffees, teas, punches, cocoas, ciders, and cocktails perfectly suited for cozying up by the fire or heating up holiday family get-togethers.
 
RULES
This giveaway is available to residents of the Canada and U.S. ONLY. I will mail a copy of the book to the winner, so please make sure that I have a way to reach you by including your email address if it is not in your profile.

How to Enter
- Question: What is your favourite cake flavour that I baked? Search my blog and leave me the answer in the comments with a copy of the link to the post.

- Earn an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway on twitter - include a link to THIS post. I will need a link of your tweet. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

LIMIT 2 ENTRIES PER PERSON
The giveaway ends on Monday December 20th at Midnight PST. One winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Wednesday December 22th on my blog.

A BIG thank you to all! Good luck everyone!

Family and Friends

I always hold my family and friends in high regards. However this was a week when I cherished them too the max!

This week I discovered that my Tiffany my niece (an avid blogger herself) posted pictures on her blog Sasha Pulker....With Mum & Dad. Here this proud mom posts the adventures of her daughter Sasha as she grows up.

I was excited to learn that Tiffany blogged about Sasha's 3rd birthday. Sasha is turning out to be quite the little lady, and I was honoured that she entrusted me to make her a Little Mermaid Cake in Red Velvet. Thank you Tiffany for showing my cake creation in action.

Today I was invited to a Friendship Brunch involving the important women in my life. MY GIRLZ!

My friends Angella and Janice set it up outside on the patio. Catered West Indian Food and I was asked to provide the cupcakes. Angella requested Red Velvet.

Thank you Ann, for sharing my talents with the group.

A wonderful week indeed!

Want to make your own Red Velvet Cupcakes? Here is a quick and easy reipe for you to follow:

1 Box of golden cake mix
1 Tbsp Cocoa
1 Tbsp Milo
3 Large eggs
1 1/4 Cup water
1 oz red food colouring
1/3 Cup of vegetable oil

Follow mixing instructions on box

Chocolate Shopaholic

A birthday cake for Jena. She may be only 10 years old, but she still had some definite, yet simple requests. Make her a chocolate cake --- and surprise her.

If you knew Jena, you would know that her request would not be as easy as it sounded. So I sat down thought about it, and remembered what makes Jena... Jena. Shopping on the town is what this girl does best!

Visit my Facebook Fan Page to view the comments.

Mini Cakes - Shelter From the Storm

I decorated a set of two min cakes using the logo colours belonging to Shelter From the Storm. Shelter from the Storm is Canada’s largest national campaign dedicated to ending violence against women.

These were to be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the charity. They are each a 3.5 two layered white chocolate cake covered with fondant. They raised $45.