Sweet Somethings

Congrats Medical Students! (6/09)

2009-09-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

Our school has a medical program... not med school! but for HS kids interested in a career in the medical field... Susan teaches a senior class and asked for a cake to send them off

Caduseus with our mascot- the Ram & detail of the stethoscope

SPLAT

2009-09-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Another Volleyball cake... this one was for the boys team banquet...

I like the "splat" on this one better than the fondant peeling back...

Pirate Map (5/09)

2009-09-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

(Pirate) Steve's pirate name is "Maps". He is an incredible artist who makes a lot of props, etc.

not much went as I planned with this one, but it was edible! :O)

coming up roses

2009-09-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea in the essential baking cookbook...

this bunch of roses

turns into this cake

just layer the petals around & around & around...

the instructions said to coat the petals in an egg wash & sugar, but it wasnt working too well for me, so I skipped that step & just stuck the petals in the cake. oh well.. i think it turned out ok... But, it did wilt by the next day when I served it.

SpongeBob SquareCake (5/09)

2009-09-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Diane doesnt usually eat lunch with us, but I don't want to exclude people from eating cake! And even though there was a "SpongeBob Incident" in my classroom a few years ago (I am so glad those kids are seniors this year! unfortunately, I am afraid the legend will not die for awhile... grrrrr) and I am "infamous" for hating him... but that is what Diane wanted... (and she didnt know the story)

I did get tired while making him though, so he didnt get any arms or legs... I was also a bit short on fondant... o well... he was definitely recognizable!

Happy Spring (4/09)

2009-09-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Abby loves white cake. This creates a kind of "scandal" in the group, since most of them are chocolate freaks... but it is a nice change to have something else once in a while!

I think i need some practice with "normal" cake stuff, like piping & flowers...

I did like this frosting though... I wanted something light, so I tried a Swiss buttercream. Personally, I'm not a fan of the super sweet American buttercream, so I really liked this. Now, where did I find that recipe...?

Meerkat Manor (3/09)

2009-09-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Terri loves Meerkat Manor, so this is what I came up with for her birthday...

German Chocolate cake with white chocolate "candy clay" figures painted with food color...

Lucky Leprechan (3/09)

2009-09-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

When I found a recipe for Chocolate Whiskey & Beer cake, I knew just when to try it...

I did modify it a bit... alcoholic frosting is not a great idea in a public school! (I used irish creme coffee creamer haha)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fat Tuesday! (2/09)

2009-09-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

So much for not having cake in February! I made this for Mardi Gras...

Then I told everyone that I was giving up cake making for lent... the reaction was not good! hahaha (good thing I was joking)

Love Bugs (2/09)

2009-09-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

While Valentine's Day is one of my least favorite hoildays, i do think it is a good excuse for chocolate! :O)
And, having the sick sense of humor I have, I had this idea for a cake...

The cake is Chocloate Raspberry (from the Cake Mix Doctor) covered with chocolate ganache. The "bugs" are chocolate truffles covered with fondant to look like the Giant Microbes of Herpes (top yellow one), Mono (little purple lower corner), Gonnorhea (purple in the middle), Chlamydia (green top corner), and Syphylis (pink spiral).

Told ya I was sick! :O)

Honorary Birthday

2009-09-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

When looking at the calendar last February, I noticed that we didnt have any birthdays that month. I mentioned it to the lunch group, and they were "horrified" (ok, strong word, but they do get a little cranky without cake! haha) We remembered that Jennfer's is in Feb., but as she works at another school now, we shouldnt have cake without her, should we?!

of course we should! We celebrated her in her absence (see... the frog is missing... kinda peeking in... ) but then everyone emailed her and kind of rubbed it in... oops!

Skiing towards a Birthday (Jan 09)

2009-09-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

1st cake for Steve was a chocolate mountain with him climbing up. According to him "You can NEVER have too much chocolate!" This time the mountain got covered with snow...

Finals Week (Jan 09)

2009-09-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

During Semester finals, the kids take tests in the morning and we grade them in the afternoon... so we usually have a little pot-luck get together...

I used this excuse to play with the airbrush :O) and I wanted to try making my own fondant...

Best present ever! :O)

2009-09-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

After making cakes for my school friends, and playing with fondant for awhile, I must have mentioned that i found it hard to mix in the right colors... which led to a discussion about how the decorators on the shows (Ace of Cakes! hehe) use an airbrush... but what do I need an airbrush for?!

Then they brought me this!!

what a surprise! My friends are the best :O) so they got this cake...

So much fun to play with!! Soooo convenient!! I love it! :O)

Thorax (10/08)

2009-08-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

I saw the thorax cake on theyrecoming.com a long time ago & wanted to make something that amazing ever since... They are the ones who told me (through the site) about Collete's Cakes books with the ganache & modeling chocolate recipes... kinda started this whole cake decorating obsession for me, actually.... I see they have moved the cake stuff here & have a lot more very amazing stuff there... but I digress...
I decided to give it a try, finally...

not as amazing as the Barbaras', but not to bad... I painted the organs to get the colors and squirted frosting over everything for some gore... Happy Halloween!
strawberry cake "lungs"
red velvet "liver" & "heart"
chocolate "stomach, & "kidneys"
yellow cake "intestines"
white chocolate "bones"

Pirate Treasure (10/08)

2009-08-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

We celebrate 2 members birthdays during Vegas Faire in October... and I volunteered to make it this year...

I had a lot more decorative "stuff" planned for this, but ran out of time. So I went with the very old, broken down box look ;O) I experimented with painting the fondant here, and while it wasnt what I expected, it worked out in my favor, giving a "wood grain" look... horray for happy accidents!

Volleyball (11/08)

2009-08-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

Susan is one of our Volleyball coaches, so I decided to use the ball pan again... but I learned my lesson of covering the whole ball with fondant! I saw a pic of a ball smashing into a cake somewhere & used that idea... with minimal success haha (I tried again later... )

(I also happened to mention how hard it was to mix up a dark green fondant after this... but that will come up later)

As I mentioned, Susan is a coach, and the end of the season banquet was coming up... instead of her going to Costco for a cake this year, I was "commissioned"...

I got the green darker this time :O)

This is actually 2 square cakes covered as 1 long rectangle, plus the 1/2 ball.

Kitty (10/08)

2009-08-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

This time I experimented with flavors... Amy wanted peanut butter & chocolate. I dont remember where I got the recipe though... another reason for keeping this blog... :O)

HP Snitch

2009-08-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Ivanna wanted a Harry Potter cake...

I used the "ball" pan & covered it in fondant... I can not cover round stuff!! I figured a sphere would be hard, but I have trouble with cylinders too... guess i just need more practice! :O)

Danielle's Dragon (8/25/08)

2009-08-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

The body was carved out of 5 layers of cake (9” rounds). The head was a small cake & RKT; the tail was also RKT. Then many circles were cut from fondant & layered on to look like scales. Blue “Luster Dust” was added for highlights. I had to use a ring of stiff paper for the neck, to get the head to balance.

Green Dino for Abby (4/6/08)

2009-08-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

The body was made of 8” & 10” rounds, cut in half and stacked on their sides. The head was a 6” round. The neck & tail were filled in with fondant, and the legs were sculpted from fondant. Then everything was covered with green frosting. The spikes are chocolate chips; teeth & nails piped on with white frosting

Live Long & Prosper (2/26/08)

2009-08-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

Crystal really likes ganache… and she really likes Star Trek…

9” rounds covered in ganache. The logo was cut out of fondant with BC detailing.

Darwin Fish (2/3/08)

2009-08-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

This was for Jennifer...

I wish I could remember specifics... but that's why I'm doing this! haha

in the genes

2009-08-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

For Susan's birthday, I didnt know what to make... i didnt know her very well at the time, so I asked around... since she taught biology, and we were studying genetics at the time, Jennifer suggested a chromosome. Kinda random for a cake, but I am not all about the flowers! so...

A rectangle cake was cut into chromosome shape. The center centromere is chocolate chips & the banding is melted & colored white chocolate piped on in stripes.

in the beginning - there was a Pirate Ship...

2009-08-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

My cake adventures began about 2 years ago, when I decided to make a cake for my friend & colleague Danielle. Her birthday coinsides with the start of school, so I had time to "play" before I had to go back to work. I had been drooling over cake/cooking shows, sites, & books for a while. While visiting back home, I bought & tested fondant for the first time... I figured this was the time to just go for it.
I baked, stacked & carved. I made chocolate ganache & modeling chocolate from Collette's Wedding Cakes. The masts were pretzel rods & the sails were paper (*gasp* non-edible! haha) It looked... alright... I was fairly happly with it (I took it to work, so I wasnt too embarrassed by it! haha) I wish I had a picture of it... Danielle took one with her phone, but it is long gone now...
I say this is the start of my cake adventures because the idea of having cake for everyones birthday [the group of us who eat lunch together] was very popular (imagine that! haha) Crystal was in love with the ganache and promptly put in her order. I asked for flavors & themes from everyone and got to work... the rest is history (to be chronicaled here hehe)

a new start

2009-08-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

I saw Julie & Julia last night. And, as I am sure many people were, I am inspired by it. Food blogs will be popping up everywhere!! (and obviously, I am one of them...) Actually, I have been thinking about starting one for a while now.... I do love reading other ones... but with my internet "issues" have put it off...
Anyway - what I plan on sharing here is my little hobby of cake decorating. I have been making quite a few cakes, and want to organize and document them. (I was using a notebook, but it is getting messy!) I need to organize & post about some past stuff 1st, but with school starting, I know more cakes are to come!