Saturday, July 30, 2011

July

July has come and gone. Wow! Most of the month was just a slow summer month. Unfortunately, the last week and a half was spent at the hospital with my daddy. He has not been feeling very well for quite a while. Finally, he just got really weak and feeling very bad. So, we took him to the Emergency room. He was diagnosed with low sodium, which can be very harmful to an elderly person. He spent 8 days in the hospital, during which time he was given IV fluids to raise his sodium levels. I am happy to say that he is at home now and feeling better than ever! We had a scary week, but things are fine now.
I have not had any time to do any writing of any sort, meaning my dissertation. I am on a final extension, so I must remedy that situation. Maybe now that my dad is feeling better, I can concentrate on my writing. It is rather difficult to close yourself up in a house to write when you know your almost 90 year old daddy is sick. Now that I know he is well, I hope the writing will materialize!
My nephew had a birthday Thursday, his 26th. My sister requested a pound cake, so I obliged. That one turned out pretty well and did not need any decorating. It was really a pretty light brown. I didn't think it was going to ever come out of the pan, though! I pounded and pounded that pound cake trying to get it to release from the pan!! hahahaha Finally, it came out all in one piece!
We have some other birthdays coming up, too, and I have to do some specialty cakes. Rebecca will be 13 in August, and she wants a beach cake. I have some ideas, so I hope they will come to fruition. My brother has a birthday right after this one. Also, my daughter has a birthday later in August, and my niece will be 5 right before that(castle cake already requested!). I think we are having theirs on the same day, since they are so close together. Too many birthdays so close together are crazy!
Things are looking up, and summer is rapidly coming to an end (for teachers, that is). Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Let the baking begin!


June came in softly and went out with a birthday bash! That was the beginning of cake season, Ellen and John William. July came in with a Bang and brought with it a Bieber fever request. HA! Lauren put in an early order for a Justin Bieber birthday cake. She asked me if I had a cake pan shaped like a person. I asked why. She said, with a little curled up smile on her face, "Justin Bieber". HA! So, I thought and thought about what to do. I could make some icing with color flow, which is the kind that you can use to trace over a picture and transfer it to a cake, or I could find pictures of the Bieb and use them on the cake. I finally decided to search the magazine racks for ole' Justin and try to use pictures. I could not believe it, but there are not very many Teen magazines out there to find! I only found one type at Walgreen's and then a different one at CVS. I chose the latter, because it had a big face shot that I could use on the cake. It also had some posters that I could give to Lauren. Finally, I made a big round cake with purple icing. I cut out the big face shot and some little pictures, too. I put some saran wrap on top of the cake and put the picture on that. Then I wondered how I was going to hide the edge of the picture and the wrap. So, I decided to make a big "frame" like a picture frame and 'bejewel' it with candies. I had some big round candies that I bought on sale after Easter, and I had some little star candies that I had found at Walmart a while back. I placed those individully, alternating colors. The little stars were hard to place, coz they are so small and my fingers are not so nimble these days! After dusting the cake with pink sugar and purple edible glitter, it looked pretty good. Then, I colored some fondant pink and purple and put four small faces around the edge of the cake. When Lauren saw the cake she said, "It turned out MUCH better than I expected." HA!! I couldn't believe she said that. I asked her what she was expecting, and she said she thought I was going to make a whole person. I guess she wasn't really expecting me to make a real BIEBER!! HAHA!!




My four year old niece 'called' me that afternoon to find out what kind of cake I was making. I suppose that my status in the family is now 'the birthday cake person', if that is the first thing a four year old thinks of when she finds out she is going to a birthday party! Yes, that is what she thought about right after her mom told her she was going to Lauren's birthday party! Anyway, I told her that I was making a Justin Bieber cake. Before I could explain what that was, she said, "A Beaver?" Then, she yelled to her mom, "She is making a BEAVER cake!!" That was soooo funny!

Next up is Rebecca's 13th birthday, in August. I haven't gotten her 'order' yet, but I wonder what it will be. Last year, her dad created a neat Mall Scavenger hunt for her and Rachel and I made a mall cake. Who knows what this year will bring!
I do, however, have an order for Julia's cake...Another Castle! This year, her favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty. So, I found a small Sleeping Beauty to put on the cake. Before I finally found the little doll, I found a crown and some wands at Party City. I will figure out a way to incorporate all of those things on the cake. I now know to make a cake that is not quite as 'soft' as last year's cake, so that the turrets will stay IN the cake and not fall OUT of the cake! I will also make the little flowers ahead of time to put on there, I hope.

And....we're off!!!!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Catching up and Cakes!



I have not posted any of my cakes in a while, so I will do that now. There have not been that many occasions for making cakes, since all the birthdays were in the Fall! Today, I used fondant to decorate a cake for Rachel's completion of her Master's Degree. I haven't used fondant in a while, and I really enjoy making creations with it. Of course, there is a ton of buttercream icing underneath it all!
At Easter, I made a bunny cake and some cupcakes. I had forgotten about those, until I was looking through my folder for the pirate cake I made last week! For Mother's Day, I attempted to make a teakettle and cups. It didn't turn out too great, because I traveled to my brother's house to make it, and I did not have all the necessary equipment, space, etc. THe amazing thing is that you use the princess carriage pan to make this cake. You can use that pan for other things, too.
We did have a birthday June 1st, though, for Ellen and another one on the 27th for J.William. I made a violin for Ellen, with my guitar pan. Then, I made a pirate, with his treasure chest full of gold, and a pirate ship for JW. His school is called the Raiders, so I made the pirate with skull and crossbones. These two pans have been begging for me to use them, so I put them to good use.
Today, I made a cake for Rachel, since she just finished her Master's Degree. I have a diploma from this school, so I made the emblem that is on the diploma. It took me several hours to do this, as I was working with fondant. The letters are painted with silver dust, but I am not sure if the silver shows up. The camera that is used is the one from my IPhone, so I never can tell what the pics will look like. All of my other cameras bit the dust, so the IPhone is my only source of "picturing".
Here are some of my recent cakes.