Growing Up....

A year ago, I made Max his first birthday cake.  Max is the son of a resident here at the Vet school, and his mom wanted a monkey-themed birthday cake.  Now at age 1, he's probably never going to remember that cake...how it tasted, how it looked, or how it felt when he shoved his hands through the frosting to grab cake inside.  I will always remember that cute-as-a-button monkey cake, though, and how much fun it was to make it!

(cutest monkey ever)

Now, as time moves, little boys grow up into big boys!  And last week, I made his 2nd birthday cake...the big 2 years old!  Its so neat to be a part of someone's growing up....and as big boys go, this big boy didn't want a monkey cake.  He wanted a construction cake!  Very manly, you know. 

This cake was a super dense chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.  I drew and painted the dump truck on the cake, and then added the road border.  You'd be amazed at how many different kinds of dump trucks there are, and of course I might have wanted to make it John Deere Green....but Max wanted a yellow truck, so Max got a yellow truck!

I'm on a crusade against black food coloring...so whenever I need to use black icing, I use black fondant instead!  I mean, do you know how much black food coloring it takes to make black icing??  You end up making gray icing, and to quote Steel Magnolias, "It's got gray icing, I can't even begin to think how you make gray icing!".  Using black fondant is MUCH easier, and better for everyone involved.  No black teeth or mouths, thank you very much. 

(I need to learn how to be a better photographer, so I won't leave shadows!)

I think it turned out so cute!  Excuse me, extremely mature and 'big-boy'. Regardless, Max loved it....and maybe he'll remember this one, who knows.  I hope that I can keep making cakes for him in the future! 

Love and Cake,
Beth

Weddings Squared, Chief Osceola, and Star Wars

This weekend was a wedding extravaganza!  Katie Westfall, a Harvard graduate student and friend from home, married her sweetheart (and soul mate!) Jeremy Green, a palaeontologist PhD.  Katie and I share many things....childhood, girl scout camping trips, a love for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and a unashamedly nerdy crave for science! 

I've known Katie for most of my life, and I was so excited and honored when she asked me to make her wedding cake!  Now Katie's mom, Mrs Nancy, also makes delicious cakes....so I knew that this one had to be beautiful and delicious, especially so! 

Now this weekend was ALSO the wedding of one of my dear best friends, Olivia Bolen (now Olivia Beroth!).  I was so happy to stand with her and the other bridesmaids as a witness to their marriage on a gorgeous afternoon on the blue ridge parkway in Virginia.  Now, you might think, its a lot to do a rehersal dinner cake, a wedding cake, and be in a wedding in Virginia in the same weekend, right?  Impossible, you say?  Never!

I started cooking Katie's cake on Thursday afternoon and...after a minor incident with 2 nonresponsive convection ovens, one meeting with the board of trustees, and one meeting with sandhill gas company...I was cooking up a storm!  Eggs were flying, cakes were going everywhere!  Katie wanted several flavors:  chocolate, vanilla, carrot, red velvet, and lemon!  Lesson learned:  actually make sure the oven is heating before putting in the first 2 layers of cake....

While the cakes cooled, I iced the groom's cake.  I had no idea that Chief Osceola's face was so intricate....and I had no idea that it was going to turn out as good as it did!  I think that all of the Florida State Seminole fans were pleased!

Can you tell where the groom went to school?  :) 

(he's a very angry chief...he wants to win some football games!)

The rest of the night/morning was spent icing and teiring cakes like it was going out of style.  This cake soaked up 6 batches of buttercream....and you do NOT want to know how much crisco that is, trust me!  Magic buttercream, of course, with no calories...haha right :) 

Second lesson learned:  Label cake plates!  After I iced all of the teirs, I realized one vital fact....I had forgotten to label which cake was which flavor!  My mom and I stood in the kitchen for a solid 30 minutes, saying "This one is DEFINITELY chocolate.  Definitely, absolutely.  Or carrot..."  Funny, all the cakes were white, and nearly impossible to tell apart!

Before I knew it, it was time to blaze up to Virginia for Olivia and TJ's wedding, leaving my brave parents to deliver the cake.  And wouldn't you know, Mom, my sister Betsy, and my Dad did an awesome job!  It looks wonderful!

There was too much cake to get in one picture close up...so here we go! What do you think of the fountian? 

And lets be honest...this is a TON of cake.  Specifically, more like 100 lbs! 76 eggs, 30 lbs powdered sugar, etc etc....

 

Katie and Jeremy's wedding was full of personal touches.  As they marched down the aisle to the throne room suite from Star Wars, they also had 2 tributes to Chief Osceola, Mrs Wolf, and a fountain involved in their cake!  The flowers looked beautiful on it as well!

Dosen't Mrs Wolf look pretty with her veil? 

All in all--everyone loved the cake!  Having all of the different flavors to choose from is a great way to spice up the traditional wedding cake a little bit.  Its still up in the air which cake was the favorite...I'll have to poll the audience and see!

So pretty!  Congratulations, Katie and Jeremy!

To sum up:  2 broken and fixed ovens, 11 tiers of cake, 2 Cheif Osceolas, 1 Mrs Wolf, 2 beautiful weddings, 4 great friends, 2 great delivery ladies, and 1 tired cake decorator = 1 amazing weekend!

Love,

Beth