Belle from Beauty and the Beast Cake : Holly's Birthday (2011)

Hey guys. :)
It's been just about forever since I've posted on here, and I've still got a lot of cakes I've never posted about.  So am I going to be more consistent with this?  I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :P

So, about this time LAST year, my buddy Holly had just turned 22.  So in honor of the event, I made her this surprise Belle cake.

 I used the Wilton doll pan to get the shape of her dress.  The doll is a pick, but the entirety of her dress is made from fondant.

Looking back, I find it amusing that I did all the buttercream details with a medicine syringe.  I made this before I learned anything about piping with pastry bags, so although its kinda shoddy, at least I was innovative. :P

And here she is all lit up. :) 

As for now, I just finished making a peace sign cake, which I'm about to go drop off now... at 4am. :P

More posts soon?  I hope so. :)

Snare Drum Groom's Cake

My cousin Katy  and her now-husband, Chris, got married last month and asked me to make his groom cake.

It was a great opportunity, but it was also terrifying, since the cake design seemed a bit complicated and out of my comfort zone.  Overall though, I liked how it turned out.  And I actually took process photos this time!

The layers for this came out of the oven almost completely level for once, so it was super easy to put together.  Not to mention I got to use my turntable Christmas Present again. :)

 All frosted in buttercream and into the fridge to set.

Meanwhile, I made some of the smaller details out of white chocolate.  And hours and hours and hours later, it was all finished. :)

Just in time to get a nap in before my hair appointment the next morning. :P

It was a long day, but definitely a great wedding and super fun reception.  Thanks again guys for letting me do this. :) :) :)

Andy the Ankylosaurus Cake

This is Andy.  He is an Ankylosaurus. And he is my favorite. <3

He was made at the request of my buddy, Ben, who's love of  ankylosauruses is shown here via awesome dinosaur pajamas.

 

Andy's final hours were here, at Ben's super dorky cool ;) game night.

This cake was my first real attempt at a shaped cake. (Weelll, I suppose you can count Edgar the Turkey, but Andy was a bit more complicated.)  

And I really like how he turned out. (Even though I think something went wrong with the buttercream recipe on this one...)

So thus ends this lovely story of Andy the Ankylosaurus. :D

The End. :)

"Gingerbreads" and Sugar Cookies

My mom's never been much of a cook.  I mean, dinner's always good when she does make it, but cooking just isn't something she's ever enjoyed very much.  Because of this, I've probably had more than my fair share of Mac and Cheese and PB&Js over the years.  But for as much as my mother dislikes cooking, she makes up for it in baking.  I didn't even realize (until I started writing this entry) all the countless times I've come home to a full cookie jar or Oreo brownies in the fridge.

Now that it's Christmas time, Mom's gone a bit cookie crazy.  The freezer's jam packed with Thumbprint Cookies, Oreo Balls,  and Chocolate Chips.  And after tonight, some decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread men are occupying the fridge as well.

Somewhere within the last week or so of extremely stressful Christmas preparations, I missed out on the actual baking of the two types of cookies.   I'm serious, this year has just about turned me into a Grinch.  Being absolutely broke and trying to Christmas shop had me super worn out a few days ago, and even though I had a good time at  Secret Santa party the other night, the world's just got me down.

But today's been nice. Thank goodness.

Steve and I woke up at 4pm today after arriving home late from the Secret Santa party last night.  Sometimes I really hate sleeping in forever, but today it was just relaxing.  In contrast, the last-minute-shoppers traffic was soo crazy by the mall when I dropped Steve off at his car.   I'm surprised it didn't make me berserk. (Okay, so it didn't a little.)  Maybe I was just happy I wasn't actually shopping in all that craziness, who knows, but I was in a pretty darn good mood.

And not long after getting home again, it was time to decorate cookies! :)

These cookies were more for fun than showmanship, but some of them turned out kind of neat.  I divided up our frosting into four colors, which were "the best looking colors we've ever had" as Mom stated several times. :P  Besides that, it was mostly just splashing on sprinkles (and the occasional raisin.)

The cookies got rather time consuming and the initial thrill of them wore off quickly.  So we beckoned my brother John and two of his buddies to come in for Operation Cookie Overlord, and we finished them up a few minutes later.  (On a side note, Operation Cookie Overlord was nowhere near as epic as it sounds.)

The rest of my night so far has been good as well. I  drew a Christmas present for my dad and watched a rather Christmasy episode of Conan.  And since my sleep schedule is all out of whack (just regular kind ;P)  who knows how late I'll be up.

Anywho, I hope everybody has a super awesome fantabulous Christmas!

TTFN!

<3 Rachel

Turkey Time

As far as cakes go, Thanksgiving week felt a little bit crazy.  Okay, so I only baked three cakes, but I put so much time into these things that I felt super busy all week. 

*ahem*  But without further ado, meet Edgar the Turkey!

Edgar may appear stoic, but he is sad for two reasons: 1. He's upset that I have nothing but a camera phone to "capture his glory". (He's a very arrogant turkey, you see.) and 2. His decapitated head is now chillin' in my freezer. (Pun intended.)

Anywhoooo....

The concept of Edgar began the week before Thanksgiving, as I was announcing to my bestie, Janey, that I was going to make a "pumpkin flavored pumpkin cake" for my mom's Thanksgiving.  To this, Janey replied, "Or how about a turkey flavored turkey cake!"  She was kidding...hooopefully ;)... but when my dad requested a Thanksgiving cake as well, I picked up the idea, minus the turkey flavoring of course. :P

This cake is made mostly out of chocolate cake (the box mix kind, because I'm fancy like that), Scotcheroos, buttercream, and fondant.    I formed the middle part of his body by baking in a 10" round pan, cutting the cake in half, stacking the two halves, and then placing them flat side down.  I used a Bake and Fill pan that I picked up at Goodwill to bake the front part of his body, but I think the same shape could be achieved from smaller round pans cut in half and stacked. 

 His tail-feathers were made out of Scotcheroos, that I pushed into half a saucepan to get the curved shape.  (I think chocolate covered rice krispies would have worked just as well.)  Lastly, his head is made out of an ice cream sugar cone for support and Scotcheroos (minus the chocolate) to give it shape.

It is all covered in fondant and I used the buttercream to coat and paste pieces together.

If you'd like any more directions on how to make yourself an Edgar, feel free to email me.  Also, I'll be happy to share the recipes I used, if you don't feel like waiting for me to post them in a later entry.

Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving :)

<3 Rachel