All About Me Cake

This year I made my own cake. I was excited to do it. Actually, I begged Jason to let me do it. I wanted an ice cream cake, so I decided to decorate it with butter cream. I thought it would be fun to make a cake that represented me - things I like: Coach, cooking, Disney, flip flops and of course, Starbucks. I really like how it turned out... although, at one point I almost gave up and bought a store made cake. I *shudder* at that thought. The making of this cake was one disaster after another. I'll share because it's funny.

Jason went to the store to get something for dinner. He told me to text him my list. I did. After he was home for about an hour I asked him if he had put the CoolWhip in the freezer. What CoolWhip? Oh... the stuff for your cake. He forgot to check his text. Well, that sucks.

We eat dinner, I finish up my butter cream transfers and then head to the store. It's already after nine. Ugh. My list: Cake mix (yes, I cheated, but I always make my own frosting), CoolWhip and ice cream. The first place I head in the store? The bakery... Maybe there is some plainly decorated cake that I can just scrape off the crappy store done design and then put my transfers onto it. Maybe. Because I'm tired. Really tired. And at this point I just want to go to bed. But no luck. They are all hideously decorated with way too many flowers and balloons to remove. And expensive. So I go get my supplies, pay and then drive home.

I preheat the oven. I gather up my eggs and my oil. Crap. I'm almost out of oil. I pour it into the measuring cup and it's just short of the quarter cup that I need. It's almost ten. I'm tired and there is NO way i'm heading back to the store. Instead I head to the computer and hop onto Google. One suggestion, just use extra water. Ok. This I can do. I add the little bit of water and dump it into the mixer bowl along with the mix and the eggs. I beat it for the required two and a half minutes. I check the batter. It's thick. Really thick. Why is it so thick? I added the three eggs, the oil mixture and the water... wait! I. didn't. add. the. water. Crap. I add in the water and turn the mixer on low and the water sprays me. Crap. I grab a spoon and try to mix it in. It works so I turn the mixer back on and mix it up some more. Not bad. It's usable. I put it into my four little pans and pop them in the oven and wait the twenty minutes, take them out and let them cool in the pan for the required ten minutes. I go to unmold the pan and the stupid things break apart and pieces of each are stuck. in. the. pan. Crap. I realize that I forgot to grease the pan. It's a nonstick pan. Nonstick my butt. I save what I can and toss the rest. I grease the pans and go for round two. I fill my pans and run out of batter. And I have no more oil. Great. Just great. I put what I have in the oven and hop back on the internet. Some suggest apple sauce and some suggest mayo. I decide on mayo. I grab the jar out of the fridge and attempt to open it. The lid won't budge. I'll have to go with the apple sauce. Ugh, it's cinnamon apple sauce and it's eleven thirty and at this point I don't care. The timer beeps and I take out the baking cakes, they cool and I remove them from the pans. Some come out without a fight and some, well they break again. It's midnight and I'm defeated. Who needs and ice cream cake. I'll just serve plain cake with ice cream. I grab a normal square pan, grease the crap out of it, pour in the freshly mixed batter made sans oil and with the cinnamon apple sauce. I bake it. I cool it. I pop it out of the pan. Success. It's nearly one thirty. I have to get up at six. I go to bed. Cake undecorated. I don't care.

The alarm goes off way too soon and I hop in the shower. While I'm standing under the hot water trying to wake up the light bulb goes off. I quickly finish my shower and head to the kitchen. I grab my pan and cover the bottom with plastic wrap and dump the ice cream in it. I spread it around the pan and then toss the chocolate-cinnamon-apple cake on top. I throw it into the freezer and I now have my ice cream cake. It may be undecorated but it's a cake. I head to my "party" and come home several hours later. I takes me maybe ten more minutes to finish the cake. Perfect.

Next year... I. will. let. someone. buy. me. a. cake!

Guitar Cake

So a few days before his birthday Jason and I had the following conversation:

Me: So... what kind of cake do you want for your birthday?

Him: No cake.

Me: What kind of cake do you want? You have to have something.

Him: One from the store.

.....................................................................

And do you think that I listened? Heck no! Me? Listen? Never! Ha Ha! So, I came up with the idea to make him a cake with a guitar on top. I made the guitar out of fondant and I love. love. LOVE how it turned out. And thankfully, so did Jason. The cake is yellow cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. I went chocolate because, one - it's super yummy and two - way easier to color it black.

Julian Cupcakes

For my scrapbook retreat we all contributed to bringing the food and I was in charge of - big surprise here - dessert. I made two different kinds of cupcakes. Two dozen Margarita flavor with Lemon buttercream and two dozen chocolate with peanut butter buttercream. I made simple swirls with lemon buttercream and topped them with colored sugar sprinkles. The town of Julian is known for their apples, so I colored the peanut buttercream red and made them look like apples. I topped the apples off with marzipan stems and fondant leaves. They were super yummy and at the end of the weekend there were only three left.

Fourth of July Yummies

I did a lot of baking for the Fourth of July. I baked a two layer fondant covered cake, four dozen cupcakes and mini brownies that were topped with red, white and blue vanilla candy stars. The cake and brownies were for our party and I made the cupcakes for my cousin to take to a party she was going to. I love how the cupcakes turned out.

The Last Class Cake... Ever

I just finished the Wilton Class Four and I am so, so sick of eating cake, so for my final cake I decided to make brownies. I had so much fun taking all the classes and learning all the techniques and I highly recommend the classes for anyone who likes making cakes and wants to learn more. So, without further adieu, my last cake...

Crazy Daisy Cake

I am on my fourth and final Wilton class. Already, I have learned so many different techniques for decorating cakes. This cake is actually three different cakes that she had us make into one cake so we could do all the styles.

Pay no attention to the gaping whole and missing gum paste daisy and ribbon on the one side of the cake. The fondant monster attacked my cake before I was able to take any pictures of it. At least he is an honest monster... "Mommy, I ate some of your fondant from your cake over there." Got to love a little boy who tattles on himself.

Of Mice And Men

Tiffany's English class had a literary bake-off the last few days of school. Each student had to make a cake inspired by something that they had read during the school year. Tiffany's favorite book this year was "Of Mice and Men." So, we put our heads together and came up with the idea to make a cake in the shape of a mouse.

Together, we baked and decorated the cake. Actually, I made her do most of the actual work and I supervised - it was her homework after all. I LOVE how the cake turned out - I think it is one of my favorites ever!

Another Graduation Cake

After I made the last graduation cake, another friend asked me to make a graduation cake for her granddaughter who was graduating from high school. I basically made the same cake this time, but I decided to make a round cake and charge more (not because it was round - but because I think I under charged the last time). When I cautiously told her the price, she didn't even bat an eyelash. I'm thinking that I could probably go even higher... hmmm... yeah, I don't want to get greedy.

White Wedding Cake

For the final cake in the Wilton Course 3 class you have to make a big cake. A big two-tiered fondant covered creation adorned with one million roses made out of fondant. Ok... so not a million, just forty something, but it felt like a million - my fingers were killing me after knocking out those babies. Most people made their cakes with pink or orange or lavender roses, but I opted to make mine white for two reasons: there was a small picture in the back of the textbook that showed the cake with white roses that I loved and two I was lazy and didn't feel like coloring a bunch of fondant. My laziness paid off - everyone in class was envious of my white roses!

Ka-Ching

All of my cake classes have paid off... A friend asked me to make a graduation cake for her daughter's college graduation. It was fun dreaming up the cake, but it was a little stressful actually making and decorating the cake because I wanted it to be perfect. It was a "real" cake, as opposed to a "practice" cake. I didn't charge much and I could have easily charged twice what I did charge, but I didn't feel comfortable giving a price... I really need to work on that.