DOUBLE CELEBRATION

My friend, Stephanie, wanted to give the gift of cake for her friend who was planning a double celebration: a meet and greet for her one-month old, and a birthday party for her two-year old.

The cake was a Red Velvet Cake (yes, once again) with cream cheese filling. The cupcakes were Double Chocolate in unbleached parchment papers, which is earth-friendly -- something Stephanie is all about.  And so her gift reflects something she is passionate about.

DISCO BALL

The birthday girl, Stephanie, has so many stories that it was hard to pick one for a cake. I finally settled on doing a disco ball for two reasons: she is definitely the life of a party, and she once went clubbing while VERY pregnant!

This cake is a knock-off of Paula Deen's disco ball cake. I rolled out gray fondant using guides to ensure even thickness, and cut out squares, which I dusted with silver cake sparkles. I didn't have metallic dust or airbrush (which was used for Paula's); although it didn't compare in the sleekness department, it was safer to eat than metal.  Then I rolled out pink fondant and hand-cut Stepanie's name. I let it harden a little bit before peeling off the mat so that the fondant wouldn't stretch and distort as much. 

To keep the ball from rolling, I leveled the bottom of the cake so it will sit flat, hammered a dowel through the cake and board, and finally glued it on with a combination of fondant and royal icing.

This cake took me longer to make than the last 2 cakes. The simpler the cake, the harder to make. Plus it didn't help that I made it late the night before the party.

The disco ball was made of Gingerbread Cake with cream cheese filling. The bottom half of the sphere was made with rice krispies to make sure the cake will hold up. The ginger and spice was a strong taste, and so I made brownie cupcakes on the side.

Stephanie and 2 of her 3 little boys. Dylan helped mommy blow out the candles in case she ran out of breath in her old age. :-)

Here's how the ball looked when we cut into it. 

POPPY ANEMONE

Jen (tambokpress.blogspot.com) is one of the most thoughtful friends anyone can have. In fact, she has come with me on every delivery, helping me with all aspects of cakery as needed.  When she turned 30, I wanted to make her a cake.  The only problem was - what kind of a cake would suit this special occassion?

So on the date of her actual birthday, my husband asked her over for lunch and had this conversation with her:

-Lee: "You're a woman now!"

-Jen: "What was I before?"

I laughed.

And decided to make her a cake that reflects how as she turned 30, she has blossomed into a beautiful woman, hence the poppy anemone flower. She has always liked the color pink, and so I paired it with black lacey dropstrings, going for a Victoria's Secret look.

Her brother, Sam, took the photos that night. He did a great job, very artistic and detailed.  We're talking about doing a couple of cake projects together, so look out for them in 2010.

Here's an inside look at the Red Velvet Cake.

Jen, thank you for being a good friend. We're finally in the same decade...at least for 2 years!

Happy, happy Birthday!

MASQUERADE

My daughter's teacher asked me to make a surprise cake

for her husband's masquerade birthday party.

I was definitely inspired when I saw the mask,

which I replicated in a much smaller version so it can sit atop this cake. 

The mask was hand molded out of gumpaste and painted with food coloring.

The cake was a Red Velvet Cake (8", 6" and 5" tiers) with cream cheese filling.

It was decorated with fondant appliques and further details were done using royal icing. 

Since the celebrant loves music, I personalized the cake base with sheet music from

Phantom of the Opera's Masquerade, and the well known hymn Amazing Grace.

Here's a photo of my daughter who delivered the cake with me,

donning her own mask which she made at school with her teacher.

FLAMBOYAN

When my friend, Rebecca, approached me about making a cake for her father's 80th and mother's 75th birthdays, I was excited to hear she wanted tropical flowers remiscent of Puerto Rico.  I looked into a couple of different flowers, and I fell in love with the fiery flowers and fern-like leaves that graces the flamboyan tree.

I made the flowers and buds out of gumpaste, which proved to be tricky because of its delicately thin petals, while the leaves were piped directly onto the cake using royal icing. 

The three cake tiers symbolized the couple's 3 lovely daughters. And to make it even more special, there were nine cupcakes to represent their 9 grandchildren, each of whom blew a candle in their honor.

12", 10", 8" tiered cakes iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream,

Layers of Orange-zested Sour Cream Cake & Mocha Blackout Cake,

with Hazelnut Cream Filling.

A close-up of the flamboyan flower.

Chess Match

My brother-in-law (my husband's twin) had been bugging me about a cake. So to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, I made a cake for the twins on their birthday.  And since it's been over 10 years since they last played chess, I thought it would be a great idea to set the stage with a chess match...where you can play with your food and eat it, too! 

It was a 16"x16" White Velvet and German Chocolate Cake, filled with pastry cream, covered with fondant colored to mimic marble for the ever-stylish twins.

"I'm always White," calls out Shing and so the chess match between brothers began. Dinner proceeded with many Shanghainese specialties like Jellyfish appetizers, Peking Duck and Xiaolongbao dumplings. And in a moment of distraction (my husband was feeding one of the girls...or maybe the succulent ribs that was just served), Shing checked Lee's king. Lee called for a re-match, but Shing was content to end the night as such.

The cake was cut and served, garnering some attention from other diners as well as the workers.

And the girls finally got to eat the chocolate chess pieces!

Happy Birthday!

生日快乐 (Shēng rì kuài lè)!

FDNY

Through the Luau party, I was connected to Karen who ordered a special cake for her husband's retirement party. She wanted an FDNY themed cake and cupcakes enough to feed 100.  Thank goodness for the internet and my next door neighbor, an FDNY retiree who explained the difference between engines and ladders, etc. This inspired me to recreate the actual engine and firehouse of Brooklyn's Engine 282.

The cake was a White Almond Sour Cream Cake covered with fondant, and stood 7" tall. The firehouse facade was a royal icing runout veneer. The brickwork was fashioned with fondant cutouts laid down piece by piece on top of royal icing mortar. I made it so that the firehouse would functionally house the engine. The back of the cake was inspired by the yellow lines on the side of the engine. I wanted to keep it simple -- I included a photo in case you were wondering how it looked in the back.

The engine was made with gumpaste and fondant.  My friends Margaret and Alicia helped me with some of the details. It took Margaret one hour to make the lamp outside the firehouse and bump guards. Alicia made the engine lights, yellow stripes, caution sign outside the firehouse, and helped me cover the engine with fondant.

The cupcakes were Vanilla and Brooklyn Blackout cupcakes, since Engine 282 is based in Brooklyn. The royal icing toppers were FDNY and Irish themed.  I especially loved the Guinness and Harp bottle caps.  Karen took note of the Claddaghs. The 3 firehouses for which the Captain has served were represented in the red badges (Enignes 224, 318 and 282). I also recreated various fire engines and trucks from different periods - my favorite was the jeep-style fire truck.

Margaret came back to help me ice the cupcakes on Friday.  Once again, Jen came through to help me get ready, take photos, and setup.  And thanks, Lee, for making tea and staying out of the way :-)

I was going to make a special cupcake shaped like a dalmatian, but the royal icing ears never hardened in time, and it broke as I tried to move it onto the cupcake.  Poor doggie.

I had so much with this project.

Congratulations, Captain Kielty, on 20 years of brave service..."It Aint Easy."