Perfected Flavors!

I feel like it's been forever since I last posted. I guess that's what happens when you go back to working full time and baking in your free time. Little time is left for updating a blog!

It's been a few years now since I got this blog up and running so I decided that it would be a perfect time to update my flavor selections that have been perfected.

As always...let me know if you're interested in a cake!

Happy First Birthday Carson!

It's a somewhat strange feeling to be making birthday cakes for the children of the people I went to school with, there are times I feel like it was just yesterday we were all still at RHS together.

A friend, Kim, and her husband Mike asked me to make the cake for there son Carson's first birthday earlier this month. It's quite an honor to be able to help make such a special day even more special. Kim told me she was thinking of doing a Mickey Mouse party and we both agreed to search around for ideas. On the same day we came across the same design so it was destined that it was what Carson's cake was made to look like.

The cake we found was a fondant cake. While I have done a few fondant cakes I was not comfortable going larger than an 8 inch for this design, so we also decided to add some cupcakes to the order.

This is by far my favorite cake I have ever made. I was pretty nervous about making sure it was perfect for such a big day and I was delighted by the way it turned out!

Happy First Birthday Carson! I look forward to making all your upcoming birthday's just a little more special!

Herrmann Wedding

Earlier this year one of my mom's co-workers approached me and asked if I would be interested in making cakes for her June wedding. I of course am always up for a challenge so I said yes. She had seen a picture of the cakes I did for one of my best friend, Kaylee's, wedding last summer and said she wanted the same thing.

Because she was having nearly 250 guests I suggested adding 120 cupcakes to her order to insure there would be enough cake for everyone. I was pleased to see there was not a cupcake or morsel of cake left at the wedding which meant it was as delicious as I had hoped!

The cakes were chocolate, carrot, and lemon Poppy seed all frosted with buttercream frosting.

A Hodag Graduation!

When I first got interested in making cakes one of the first ones I did was a "Hodag" Cake...For those of you not familiar with Rhinelander the Hodag is the mascot of the city of Rhinelander. It is a ferocious beast that lives in the woods, smells horrible, and eats white bulldogs. Anyway, it has been years since I have done a Hodag cake but was asked to do one this year for a graduating high school senior.

Since it had been years since I had done this I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't remember how I had made it...but being a "Hodag" myself I found it to be no problem!

Happy Graduation Adam! Best of luck to you!

 The Hodag pictured above is a lemon poppy seed cake with buttercream frosting. Since it was a large party the family also asked for a traditional chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream...a breeze to make after constructing a Hodag!

Happy 2nd Birthday Will!

The Tucci family is one of my favorite families to make cakes for. The kids are adorable! So when asked to make Will's second Birthday cake there was no way I could pass it up. I was told he was starting to learn his letters and given free reign on design. The finished product was an ABC cake with primary colors.

My favorite part of delivering this cake was when Will's brother and sister put in their requests for their birthday cakes...with Birthday's in August I'm excited to find out if they change their minds by then.

 

Happy Birthday Will!!!

Happy Birthday, Gunner!

I will take any excuse to mess around and make a cake. So when Gunner (yes, Gunner my dog) turned one on the 2nd he needed a cake. Well, he didn't get the cake but it was a good reason to make one. So I took another idea I saw on Pinterest but used buttercream instead of the fondant that was used by the other baker. And here is Gunners first cake!

It was a triple layer white cake with cream cheese and strawberries between the layers. It tasted just like summer time!

And of course, since it was his birthday, he got a cupcake too!

I am the Lorax...I Speak for the Trees

Last month I went to see the Lorax with Geoff and his sisters. The one mistake we made was going to see it on opening night, we were the oldest people there that were not accompanied by someone under the age of 7. But we had a great time. It was my first 3D movie and I was impressed. The colors were fantastic and the story was of course an important one.

Anyway, what does that have to do with cakes? Well it was clear that Geoff and his sisters were big fans of the Lorax, and since I had left over batter from the rainbow cupcakes and Tierney was home from school on Spring Break I made her a Lorax Cake.

The cake was a two layer rainbow cake. The frosting was buttercream, and the Truffula Tree was made of a cake pop stick and Grandma Knoeck's method to make yarn pom-poms.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

As I've said before I love to experiment with cakes and the kids I teach are usually my taste testers. If I've learned one thing about teenage children in the past 6 years it's that they say whatever is on their mind. So I know they will be more than honest.

Before they headed out on spring break last week I treated them with some colorful treats. I saw this idea on Pinterest (Shocking, I know) and had to try it. I was short on time so I just used a few boxed cake mixes and then split the batter into six bowls, coloring each one a color of the rainbow.

I then spooned each batter separately into the cups, layering as I went.

After they were done I completed the rainbow theme with buttercream clouds and some store bought sour candy rainbows.

Chocolate Mint Deliciousness!

Along with two children birthday parties to make cakes for this weekend I also have a good friend's birthday dinner on Saturday night...so that was more than another reason to bake!

I love Pinterest (Geoff would be the first to tell you that I'm addicted) and I love finding recipes on there. This week I saw a post for a dark chocolate cupcake with mint frosting and I knew Jami's birthday would be a great reason to test out this recipe.

The real compliment came when my mom tested one out for me and said they were fantastic (she's not a big cupcake eater). I'm thinking with St. Patrick's Day only two weeks away I have another great excuse to make these tasty treats!

Happy Birthday Jami! I hope you had a great day!

Happy Birthday Hetland Girls!

Two birthdays. One house. And drastically different themes!

My mom's boss and his wife approached me and asked me to make cakes for their six and eight year olds birthday parties which happened to be on the same weekend. One thing I love about making cakes for kids is the excitement on their faces when they see their cakes, and these girls did not disappoint.

The six year olds party on Saturday was an ice fishing theme and with her favorite color being blue, a blue fish seemed like the perfect cake for her. I made the cake using directions from Wilton.com. It is two semi-circle cakes held together with frosting and it's decorated with candy melt fins and cake ball eyes.

On Sunday the eight year old was having a very girly party and requested a chocolate American Girl Cake, which is the cake you get if you have a birthday party at an American Girl store. Her face lit up when she saw the cake, and it of course made my day.

Happy Birthday Hetland Girls!!!

When Kids say They're Bad...They're Bad!

Through my obsession with cooking shows I've learned one thing, you always try your dish before you serve it to the judges. Or as a baker, you always test a recipe before you make it for someone. As a teacher I have a great group of guinea pigs who are more than willing to try anything I make.

When I found a Cookies and Cream Cupcake recipe I thought there was no way it would not be delicious. So for Valentine's Day I made my homeroom students some treats, and luckily there were a few left over, so I had to try one. As I ate it I thought, "This is bad!" (But of course I continued to eat the whole thing, just what I needed calories and carbs from something that didn't even taste good) It was dry, hard, and just plain yucky! The kids confirmed my thoughts yesterday, kids are honest and they had no problem telling me they didn't like them.

Oh well. You bake and learn. At least they were beautiful!!!!

Me Eat Cookie!

Hands down my favorite Sesame Street character was Cookie Monster, most likely because he reminds me so much of myself. So when Geoff's co-worker wanted a Cookie Monster cake I was more than happy to give it a try!

The cake making included a few disasters. First of all, the birthday boy has an egg allergy so it was my first attempt at an egg free cake. It went alright, but I had no way to judge if it tasted good...I'm not sure what egg free baked goods are supposed to taste like. Then my habit of multi-tasking got the best of me when I was on using FaceTime on my phone while cleaning up the kitchen after a night of baking and the cookie monster portion of the cake went right into a sink full of dish water.

It all worked out great. The Birthday Boy loved his cake. I re-did cookie monster using nothing other than a cookie. And most importantly, I had a blast going back to my childhood looking up sesame street pictures online...because after all, I bake because I love it!

Cakes for a Cause

Last fall I was approached by a family friend and asked if I would be interested in donating my services to the Nativity of Our Lord School auction. It was an easy decision...a reason to make more cakes and also a way to help out...I was more than happy to say yes.

Cakes for a Year was auctioned off in early November and since then I have had the opportunity to make three cakes for a wonderful local family. I look forward each month to stopping at their house to drop off the requested cake. This month's cake is a birthday cake for the man of the house. I hope he enjoys it and I hope the family enjoys their remaining 9 months of cake eating as much as I enjoy making them.

Brewer Baby Shower

I must admit, 11 years ago when I was a senior in high school I didn't picture myself some day making baby shower cakes for my friends. A few months ago I made cupcakes for a friend, Donna's, baby shower and then later made her little girl's baptism cake. This month she asked me to make a cake for another friend we graduated with who is now her sister in law.

 

Colleen and Donna are both huge Brewer fans and since Colleen is having a little boy it was the perfect theme.

Congratulations Colleen!!!

Dreams

I have to start this post by saying it has nothing to do with showing off a cake I did (I actually think the product of this post is cheesy and messy). The cake is just significant of something more. It has been my dream for the better part of a year now to some day be able to hang up my teaching hat in exchange for an apron and open a bakery, and I really thought no one else would ever be on board with such a ridiculous idea, until I met Geoff that is.

 

In addition to being an incredible boyfriend he is also a motivator for this ambition in life ... (Who also likes to claim I never make him anything.)

So here you go Geoff...a red velvet cake, made start to finish in one and a half hours, decorated in the most cheesy way I could think of in the little amount of time I had. Thanks for believing in me more than I do at times. I don't know what I'd do without you.

Happy 50th Jerry and Judy!

A co-worker that I refer to only as "Mama May" (she is my work mom) asked me to make a birthday cake for her husband and his twin sister's 50th birthday party at the beginning of this month. After searching for ideas to incorporate 100 years (their ages combined), I decided to go with the practical "Over the Hill" theme but add some of my own touches to it. Happy 50th Jerry and Judy! May your next 50 be just as fabulous!

It's Been a While - Flashback

 

Unfortunately the start of the new school year along with finishing up my masters degree has taken up the majority of my time and time I'd like to be baking is spent writing lesson plans. While I have a few upcoming cakes to make for family and friends I decided to have a flashback to my summer.

This summer I was able to teach a cooking class at the middle school. Our final project of the summer was making and decorating cakes...here are my future baking assistant's pieces of art!

Angry Birds!

I'll admit, I've wasted hours of my life playing Angry Birds, so when a friend of mine asked if I could do an Angry Birds cake for her son's 8th birthday I had no problem coming up with this idea.

The cake was a marble pound cake, which worked great for carving out the birds, and I only had to scrape frosting once to fix a mess up while icing it free hand. I was very pleased with how it turned out, and the birthday boy was thrilled when I dropped it off. While I guess I can say the Angry Birds have consumed a few more hours of my life, I really enjoyed making this cake.

LeClair Baby Shower

I does not seem possible that it was over ten years ago when I spent a Saturday afternoon two house down from my parent's helping my friend Donna get ready for prom our senior year...and now last month I was honored to make cupcakes for one of her baby showers. Where does time go?

Donna showed me a picture of her invitation to the shower and asked for cupcakes that included the color purple and giraffes. I was stumped for a while and after spending some time walking around JoAnn Fabrics I found a giraffe cookie cutter, fondant pens, and I had my idea. I made giraffe cut outs from fondant and used the fondant pens to create their spots. I was pleased with how they turn out and am now able to add another technique to my toolbox!

Congratualtions Donna and Matt!

Happy Birthday Alex and MacKenzie!

If there is one thing I loved about having a birthday when I was a kid it was picking out what kind of birthday cake I wanted. It was a question my mom always asked my brother and I, "What kind of cake do you want this year?" Granted, Dairy Queen won out a lot, but you have to remember, I was a child of the 80's and the introduction of a cake made of ice cream was a pretty big deal. I think if my future children request a Dairy Queen cake some day I may fall over dead.

A friend from High School contacted me and asked if I could make a cake for her 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter's joint birthday party. I was honored and had a blast making the cake.

Alex requested a blue dragon peanut butter cake, he was very specific. While MacKenzie stole my heart asking for a pink princess cake made with chocolate cake, hint hint, Ariel was her favorite princess. I had a so much fun making the cakes, but the real fun came when I got to drop them off. I have made a lot of cakes for adults, but the excitement that poured out of these two kids was like nothing I'd seen before. It was my birthday when they were delivered and it was the best part of my day. Happy Birthday, Kids!