Cake-mania!! Princess Castle cake

It's a known fact that I procrastinate. Alot. I work better under pressure as a result (or because of) that fact. So when I knew I had a major cake coming up, I prepared in advance. Purchased all supplies at least a week before the cake was due. It was due today, Saturday, so I baked and wrapped the cakes Thursday morning.

Friday, well, I didn't want to be done "too" early...so I wasted alot of time, even went to wash my car (and sat in line for 25 minutes before we could even get INTO the carwash!)
Thursday evening I torted and filled the cakes

Yikes that top torted layer is crooked!

Slapped on a quick crumb coat

I needed to make more icing, but ended up babysitting for a couple hours Friday night...no biggie, I can do it Saturday morning right?
First thing Saturday morning I mixed another batch of icing, and got a good coat on, let it crust and then ran a roller sponge over it to smooth. I also cut the notches for the turrets at this point.

Did some shell borders

Added vines, door and windows

Flowers

Added turrets and painted door & window frames. Also added flowers to window boxes. Turret tops are covered in fondant and painted with vodka to add sheen, then sprinkled with colored sugar.

Side view

I wasn't worried so much about "making" the cake, I knew it would work out..what I was most worried about was transporting it across town in my car. In the end, I placed a large scrap of fabric inside a milk crate, slipped the cake on top of that, and then wrapped another fabric scrap around the bottom of the base of the cake to prevent it from moving around. Thankfully I got it there all in one piece, with nothing breaking off! I did have an emergency cake repair kit in my bag though! The party started at 1pm...and was 15 minutes across the city....I finished this cake at 12:45 and made it just in time!

The party was in a local McDonalds, and even as I crossed the parking lot with the cake, I was getting compliments. As soon as I walked in (McDonalds on a Saturday afternoon, sooooooo busy!!) I was practically mobbed by people wanting to see! Everyone wanted to know who made it, etc. Of course, I was in such a rush, I forgot my business cards (for my other business) at home! I did get a name & number for one woman who wants a castle cake at the end of the month! In the end, the cake was awesome, everyone loved it, and the Birthday Girl couldn't have been happier!!
The End.

More food.....

I made some last minute cupcakes today .....I was at a loss for what to do, but this is what I came up with:

They are Devil's chocolate with cherry red buttercream frosting, topped with hand cut chocolate heart toppers.


And for dinner, I tried something I saw over on Mennonite girls can cook (my grandparents were mennonite and I can make pretty much anything they blog over there from scratch & memory and I do love seeing how others make it!) Check out what we had for dinner; Cinnamon raisin french toast waffles!

Valentine's cookies!

While I've done quite a few cakes in the past couple of years, I suddenly decided to try cookies as well. More specifically, cookies on a stick. So I went to Cake Central and did some research, was overwhelmed by the beautiful work (I've been reading there for a while, since I started cakes)
In the end, this is what I ended up with: 25 heart shaped cookies on a stick, with Royal Icing, each the the name of a student in Noah's kindergarden class, plus his 2 teachers & principal. I'll be dropping it off tomorrow after they go skating, so hopefully it goes over well!

"The talk"

It started innocently enough. Steven walked by just out of the shower tonight smacking gum. I made him spit it out, scolded him for chewing gum in the shower, and asked him to bring me his gum. He reached into the pocket of the jeans he was carrying and produced a nearly full pack of gum that just yesterday I told him he didn't need to buy.....when I asked him where he got it, he told me he "stopped at the store after school".....um WHAT? He takes the city bus home from school and is to come straight home always unless prior arrangements have been made!

So I asked him why the felt the need to stop there (especially since it's the store I work at and someone would have told me they saw him!) to buy a pack of gum I had previously told him he couldn't have. He confessed that he stopped in to buy a teddy bear for "Jessica". Apparently she told him she will be away the rest of the week and wanted her Valentines day present tomorrow....

Just to clarify: this girl is NOT his girlfriend. In fact, earlier this year she turned him down when he asked her out, stating he was "too short" This girl is so spoiled...her parents hired a limo for her and 15 friends for her birthday for a 2 hr drive, then a movie for everyone, then another hour drive around in the limo...for her THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY!!??

I've explained to him that any girl that won't date him but demands gifts is a user and will continue to use him as long as he lets her. About how next time he should just laugh at her and tell her to get him something first. How bad he would feel if she took it tomorrow and laughed at him. This led to an hour long talk between him and I about how to tell who your true friends are. As in, if Jessica was going to jump off a bridge, and you wanted to too, think first: Would Jessica jump because you were? If not, she's not your friend! He of course think's we're full of S$*T like all teenage boys think of their parents, but I was sure I got through to him about it....and when he came to give me a hug before he went to bed he said "So....should I still give it to her?" Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg!!!!!!!!

Parents, what do YOU do in a situation like this?

Let them eat cake!

As promised, some pictures of cakes I have made in the last couple of years :) Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

For Noah's 4th birthday (my first real attempt at a cake):

Halloween cake '08

Friends baby shower:

My nephew's first birthday:

For my step-dad's surprise 60th birthday:

For Noah's 5th birthday:

I love you like a fat kid loves cake!

Ahhhhhh cake, who doesn't love a good cake? I've been (almost) overwhelmed by cake & cookie talk lately...Last week I made this cake for a friends son's 10th birthday



Oh look.....dishes in the sink, what a shocker. I did add his name with the #10 underneath since it was his 10th birthday and also added a black star border around the bottom, but since I work so well under pressure (ha!) I finished just minutes before his mom came to pick the cake up and I didn't get a final pic :( She also tipped me an extra $5 so that's always nice...she said it was worth more than any sheet cake she could have ever ordered for the same price or more!
This week I've promised Noah's kindergarden class a "Valentines day surprise" which will be a cookie bouquet, plus I have a princess cake for the 21st, and am still in planning stages with my July 4th bride.

Did some research again today about opening a commercial bakery, as there is nowhere in this city (that I know of) that you can buy a 3-d cake or cookie bouquet...and while we do have a second kitchen in our un-rented basement suite, the amount of renovation it would take to get it up to code for a commercial kitchen is in the neighborhood of $20000, and that just isn't feasible. So for now, I'm just doing cakes and cookie bouquets for friends and family and by referral .More cake pics to come soon! Maybe even tonight if I can find them all!