Sage Creek Elementary School Cake

The principal at Sage Creek Elementary School is retiring at the end of this year.  I was asked to make a cake in her honor and have it feed 800 people.  Here's the cake:

 This cake was really big.  The base of the cake measured 33" by 50".

Here is my dutiful assistant Cindy who made some of my favorite parts of this cake.  There is no way I could have pulled this off without her and Karen.

 The mascot is a dragon.

 This is the janitor getting balls off the roof.

The playground.

Every Easter the kindergarten class does an egg drop.  They package raw eggs so they don't break, then the principal drops them off the roof.



The vice principal as the crossing guard.

The school logo: Fired up to Learn.
A few things I learned with this cake: Bigger cakes do in fact take a lot longer to bake and decorate.  I didn't get to spend the attention to detail that I usually like to. There is powdered sugar still on some of the walls and lines are not as straight as I would like.  There was so much to get done, there was no time to stop and retouch.
The second thing I learned was the large walk in refrigerator at the school is very humid inside and made all of my fondant bead up with water made the color run on the sides.  I almost had a heart attack when I opened the fridge that morning and saw all of my fondant weeping.
Still, for as large as this was, overall I was pleased with it.

April Fools Day

So my son is a big fan of April Fools day and thinks that we have to celebrate by making dinner look like dessert and dessert look like dinner. Here are a few of the meals we've done:

For dinner, cake: Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Or chocolate chip cookies: Cornbread and black beans:
For Dessert, Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes & peas: (sponge cake dipped in crushed peanuts, ice cream w/ caramel sauce and runts. The dipping sauces are vanilla pudding and pureed strawberries.
Or pepperoni Pizza: Sugar cookie with jello grated white chocolate M&M olives, fruit snack peppers and fruit roll up pepperoni.
I need some ideas for next year....

Homemade Vanilla

So, I've been reading about how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract and after I went through a 2 ounce bottle in the last 2 weeks I decided I was going through it fast enough to justify the initial cost.

I bought 2 different beans. Mexican and Tahitian (planiforia) The Mexican cost $1/bean and the Tahitian cost about 12 cents/ bean but the Mexican was quite a bit bigger. Here you can see the two different beans in the bottles.
Making vanilla is pretty simple. Take a couple of beans. Split them down the middle lengthwise and soak in hooch for 6 months or so. I used 3-4 Mexican Vanilla beans or 7 Tahitian vanilla beans in each 8 ounce bottle of vodka. It lasts forever and I have started using quite a bit, so I made a bunch.
You can already see the vanilla seeping out in the bottom of the bottles. Now, store in a cool dark place. In this case, I put the bottles back in the box they came in and stuck it all down in my storage room in the basement.
And then dispose of the empties.
Check back in 3 and 6 months to see how it turns out. The Tahitian vanilla ended up costing me $4.80 for each 8 oz bottle and the Mexican vanilla cost $7/8 oz bottle to make.

Pink flower Buttercream Lattice Wedding Cake

Black Bow Purple Flower Bling Cake

I'm trying out something new called Luster Dust. It gives a shimmer to the cake. Hard to see in this picture, but if you click on it, you can see the sparkle on the fondant. I thought it was a little difficult to get even. I used the silver luster dust and thought it almost looked like it was smudged in some places. I'm sure it will get better with a little practice.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

It is time once again for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. My son had the assignment to bring 12 cupcakes.

Mock Wedding Cake

My SIL who is a college freshman had a potluck with her freshman girls dorm. She decided to bring dessert and wanted to bring a wedding cake. She came over for help and here is what it looked like before the flowers.
She made sunflowers to go around it. I don't have that picture yet. When I get it I'll add it.

And Here it is
Good Job Cindy. This is a cake to be proud of.

Bear & Bow Baby shower cake

My daughter dropped my camera and now it won't focus right. Time for a new camera. Unfortunately this cake has been consumed and this is the best picture I could get of it.

Angry Birds Birthday Cake

I've discovered modeling chocolate. It is not fondant, but it certainly has it's place.

Red Rose Buttercream Wedding Cake

This cake was done for the daughter of a lady I worked with years ago. She wanted nothing to do with fondant so it is all done in buttercream. As I was decorating it I was wishing for the satiny smoothness fondant gives, but got it as smooth as possible. I have heard about a paper towel method to use on buttercream. I shall try that on my next one.

Blue VW Beetle Cake

My son celebrated his half birthday at preschool because his real birthday is in the summer. This is a tiny cake only 8" long 3.5" wide celebrating his 3.5 birthday.

Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

For Thanksgiving this year my kids brought cookies to their teachers to show their appreciation. Somehow, my 3 kids have 5 teachers, but they are all amazing. The turkey feathers are maple leaf shaped sugar cookies I dipped in colored sugar before baking
Wait, those turkeys don't have a wattle. Good thing I noticed before they went out the door.
There, that's better. Happy Thanksgiving.

OREO cake

I made this cake with my SIL for her roommate's birthday. It is covered in a chocolate ganache. This is the first time I had success with ganache without whipping it. For this, I chilled the cake and made the ganache with 1 part cream to 2 parts milk chocolate chips heated on a double boiler. The second picture is a better indication of the color. To make all of the details, I softened tootsie rolls in the microwave for 8 seconds, kneaded it together, then rolled it out like fondant. So yummy. The cookie is a 10 inch round and the filling a 8 inch round. Next time, I'll make a 10 inch round cookie with a 9 inch round filling.

Red and Teal Soccer Flower Brithday Cake

Moon Cake with astronauts

This was for my son's 10th birthday. He wanted a space party. At the party, Mission Control sent a message that the moon had spun out of orbit and the earth was flooding and it was dark at night and people were scared. So we traveled to all the different planets, solving puzzles, playing games and getting clues where to look. When we finally found the moon it was made out of cake so we ate it. This is a chocolate fudge cake with white chocolate chips covered in buttercream.

Pirate Ship Wedding Cake

My sister-in-law solicited my help in making a pirate ship wedding cake. I traveled 850 miles to help create this masterpiece.

Star Wars R2D2 Cake

Once in a while a cake comes along that merits more than one picture. As I was researching R2D2 cakes I wish I had pictures and dimensions and blueprints. I used a 6" cake circle for the body of this and rice krispy treats for the arms. The top is marble cake, the middle is lemon on the lower half and chocolate on the upper half. The light is a little ring I got in a package of 3 from Reams for a dollar.




And, just so you know this really is cake:

Brooke's Wedding Cake

Flag Cupcakes

These were made for a Boy Scout Court of Honor.

Scripture Baptism cake

CTR Baptism Cake

Valentine Heart cakes

So it's February, time for Valentines Day. I have 2 sisters-in-law who are auctioning off cakes to raise money for their choir tour. These are the ones we made.

White Shirt and Tie Cake

My neighbor is turning 12 and will be ordained a Deacon. This is the cake I made for the occasion. The cake is 11"x15" and made out of chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling. On the tie are temples, sacrament trays, the letter "J" for his name and a treble clef because he is very musical.