A year of cakes

Hi all!

As promised, here is a run through of the sweet treats we created in the second half of 2011 and the first months of 2012.  They range from cupcake wedding favors to a pirate's treasure chest to an adorable Cookie Monster child's birthday cake.

Enjoy!

Our annual cake for our Peer Leaders!

Argh!  A treasure for Christina's cousin, Louis!

Cupcake wedding favors for a colleague...there were some with pink flowers too!

A 4th of July trifle!

Vroom!  A Cars-inspired cake for a boy turning 3...action figure Cars were added at the party!

A giant pez dispenser for our principal's birthday.  He is both a collector of pez as well as a Packers fan!

A mini cake for Christina's buddy, Mary!

A sweet 16 cake for a charming girl!

A groom's cake for a Giants fan!

Dried cranberries and coconut make a sweet holiday treat!

A beach-themed engagement cake!

Happy sweet 16 to Rebecca!

Mmmm....cookie!  A fun cake for a special 3-year old!

Elmo and Cookie Monster cookies to accompany the Cookie cake!

Southern chocolate pie!

We'll be back up and running soon!

2011 became a super-busy year, both professionally and personally, so we stopped blogging regularly (okay, we stopped blogging at all), but we are determined to get back on track with at least a few posts per month this year.  That is our resolution.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for lots of pics of cakes from the second half of 2011 as well as the ones we have done so far in 2012!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Wii Mario Kart cake, Decorate-Your-Own cake, baby shower cookies and more!

May and June are always busy cake months for us, which is why we have been too swamped to post lately.  Nonetheless, we wanted to share some of what we have been up to as well as some up-coming projects too. 

For Memorial Day weekend, we delivered this cake for twins turning one to North Jersey.  The party theme was Safari, and the cakes were vanilla with pistachio whipped cream filling and chocolate with chocolate buttercream.

Safari-themed first birthday cake for twins, Noura & Samir.

The following week, Christina's youngest and oldest children celebrated their 5th and 9th birthdays, respectively.  Aidan, the 5-year old, requested a Wii Mario Kart cake, while Mandara, the 9-year old, requested individual mini cakes for her three best friends, her sister, and her to decorate on their own.  Here is Aidan's cake as well as all five mini cakes, both in progress and done. 

Wii Mario Kart cake for Christina's son, Aidan.

The girls working on their individual mini cakes.

This past weekend, we had 40 baby shower cookie favors to make.  Each sugar cookie was a unique baby onesie in yellow, blue, green, and orange individually bagged with "It's a Boy!" ribbon in blue.

This week we have two small graduation cakes as well as an annual cake for the Peer Leaders in our middle school.  And next week, we are swamped!  180 cupcake wedding favors, a football-themed groom's cake, and a pirate's treasure box cake too!  Phew! 

Stay tuned for those pictures soon!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Change of format and cakes too!

We've been MIA for a couple of weeks, just super busy with end-of-the-year school things as well as cake and just life in general.  Our schedule always gets hectic at this time of the year, so we mulled it over, and decided that posting every day just doesn't work for us as teachers and parents.  We are going back to our regular format of posting whenever we have something to share, be it cakes we've done, cake news, or whatever inspires us. 

We hope that you will still check in with us regularly to see what we are up to and what we've posted recently.  Honestly, blogging is a full time job, and we both already have one of those!!

Here are two cakes Christina made for her cousins, a brother and sister.  The first is Andy's Derek Jeter Yankee jersey cake, which was vanilla cake with vanilla pudding and strawberries.   Next is his sister Melanie's Sweet 16 cake.  It was a glamorous girly cake for a glamorous girl!  The inside was vanilla cake with vanilla pudding and strawberries for the bottom layer, and vanilla cake with chocolate pudding for the top layer. 

Andy and Mel loved their cakes, and we hope you do too!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

P.S.  Stay tuned this weekend for a Safari theme first birthday cake for twins!

Temporarily down!

Due to a super busy week as well as technical issues, we are temporarily down but will be back up next week (hopefully).  Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Basic supply list for cake decorating

Sitting here, half asleep, sipping my coffee at 6:52 am this cloudy Saturday morning, it suddenly struck me that once again, I forgot to get a box to transport my latest cake! 

Grrr...

This has happened more often than I care to admit as of late.  I blame my darned allergies for clouding my ability to think clearly, but nonetheless, the forgetfulness must stop!  I have visited Sweet N Fancy (our local cake decorating supply store) so often this week, the wonderful ladies there don't even miss a beat when I come in. 

"Back again?" they greet me with a smile. 

Not good.

So as I sit here, I have decided to make a list of basic supplies that each cake we make requires so that maybe, just maybe, I won't forget so many things in the future.  Think of it as a master checklist, with room to customize it for specific projects.  (If my husband reads this, he will definitely tease me, as I am the queen of checklists and my talent/obsession has rubbed off on him!)

Basic Cake Decorating Project Checklist:

• design/inspirations ideas and pictures
• cake drum (AKA base board)
• cardboard cake boards (for multiple layers)
• cake box (for final transport)
• ingredients for baking cake
• cake pans
• filling ingredients
• butter cream (for filling, piping dams, and skim coating)
• pastry bags (disposable and non-disposable)
• scissors
• ruler
• decorating tips
• spatulas
• scraper/smoother
• rolling pin(s)
• sugar shaker (filled with confectioner's sugar)
• fondant
• gel paste(s)
• fondant smoother
• pastry wheel
• support dowels (if stacking)
• fondant tools & cutters
• paint brushes
• dusting powders
• vodka
• air brush machine

Since it is only 6:52 am, I may have forgotten something, but I am fairly certain that these are all of the basic things I haul out each and every time I work on any cake, so if you think of anything, be sure to drop us a line!

Happy baking!
Christina

Wacky Cakes Wednesday!

Realistic cakes such as this one always get us.  Would YOU want to eat Fido (or Mitch)?  But in fairness, this cake is absolutely awesome and the creator is a cake goddess!  Woof, woof!

Happy baking!
Christina & Meghan

Terrific Tool Tuesday: Cake decorating dusts!

This Terrific Tool feature was a tough one to write because when we decided to do cake decorating dusts, it seemed as thought we couldn't just talk about that and be done with it!

Let's start with the basics.  Cake decorating dusts are special edible dusts just for cake decorating.  They contain only non-toxic ingredients and are perfect for use on gum paste, rolled fondant flowers, and so much more.  They can be used in dry form, as the name suggests, but can also be mixed with oil-based flavorings or alcohol (like vodka) for painting and highlighting.  

There are many types:  luster dust (give subtle colors with a high sheen metallic-like finish), petal dust (used to achieve deep hues with a matte finish on gum paste flowers), sparkle dust (similar to luster dust in effect), pearl dust (produces a shimmery luster), highlighting dust (come in either silver or gold and enhance your creations with a very high sheen, although some are not edible, so be careful), and disco dust (add a touch of color with lots of sparkle).  

Petal dust

Luster dust

Sparkle dust

Pearl dust

Disco dust

Cake decorating dusts are wonderful for all of the above purposes, and we certainly use them dry, but our favorite use is mixed with vodka and sprayed on with an air brush. 

Check out the vast supply of dusts on LusterDust.com and CandyLandCrafts.com, among other great on-line vendors or even in local craft stores that carry cake decorating supplies.  Once you use decorating dusts, cake decorating will never be the same for you!

A sample of a cake with luster dust (cake courtesy of Grosecar of Cake Central)

Happy baking!

Christina & Meghan