kawaii

We kinda coerced her into the party idea*, though she embraced it fully once she worked it into a pineapple/Hawaii birthday.

The cake popped up in my Instagram feed earlier in the year, and as soon as I showed it to M, she loved it. She requested marble cake, which was a great chance for me to practice swirling batter.

It's kawaii style, which is what attracted her to the cake in the first place, so I pulled out my candy melts and gum paste to make the 'extras' for the pineapple.

Then I baked layers: three for the main portion and one for the base. The top layer for the pineapple I trimmed with a knife to get it rounded, and put chocolate buttercream in between. Then it got a crumb coat. The base layer I frosted with white, then used my gold Color Spray to give it a little oomph.

Then it was time to start piping! The original baker used tip 2D to give a more 'closed' feel to the bumps on the pineapple. I forgot to write this down when I had a chance to shop for such things, so I used the tip 1M that I already had.

Then I added the accouterments and did the most nerve-wracking drive ever to their house for the party.

This cake was a hit--M dragged all her friends in to see it as they arrived (we started with a painting craft in the garage).

I also got to practice my cutting a large cake in small pieces (though this wasn't huge) skills. I cut in the middle halfway down, then cut slices all around. Then I cut the bottom section in slices. It worked pretty well!


*Sandra put a lot of work into the palm trees for the monkey party, so we 'needed' to use them again.

chief

We've added a new birthday party to the mix--C had his first 'big' one this summer, and boy was it fun to plan something during hot weather, as we could think about water games!

When planning P's monkey party, I surreptitiously had C look at some fireman ideas I had pinned to get the idea planted in his brain. Then when we started planning his party in earnest, Sandra and I could steer him towards a firefighter theme, especially because it meant I could finally use my Fire Truck Pan!

The downside of having C watch the planning of P's party is he also requested a mini cake... but this meant I could test out a new white cake recipe, making the small cake chocolate. 

This type of cake decorating is reminiscent of my childhood: my grandma often made cakes with shaped pans. Though a bit more straightforward than some of the other cakes I've made, this really tested my hand strength! Man, there are a lot of small stars on this cake...

One funny thing that I didn't count on was that though it's warm in the summer, the house is cool. I always make the cakes early in the week and freeze them. The cakes took longer to thaw than I had anticipated, so I was decorating late into the evening because of miscalculation! 

That ladder should be smooth, but I couldn't get it to behave, so I left it squiggly.

The mini cake employed a technique I learned in my one and only decorating class I've taken: a clear gel transfer! I then copied what I did for the big cake.

I think he was pleased with his cakes. He was a little bashful, and yet soaked up every minute, of all the focused attention.

It was interesting to have a one layer cake (and we still managed to have leftovers). And I admit, I'm undecided about shaped pan cakes. I was really sore two days later and felt much more pressure to have it look 'perfect'. Perhaps I just need to practice and do a few more.

anthropoid

The third cake!

P's birthday is the same as O's, but her party was scheduled for one week later. She decided she wanted to go the monkey route, so she and I sat down to discuss what her cake would look like by browsing Pinterest. This decision happened almost immediately, to my surprise, and so then I set about planning how I would execute the idea.

The birthday girl wanted two cakes--one was essentially a smash cake, though I made it bigger than that. And, of course, chocolate. I used leftover frosting from T's cake for the middle of the mini cake and chocolate for the big monkey.

Then I finished up the small cake first. This took longer than I wanted, partly due to trying to keep the monkey 'smooth' and getting the ears attached.

I tackled the bigger cake shortly after getting the eyes on the little one, and decided to go with a fuzzy monkey. This one went much faster!

The ears were tricky on this one, too, but having to be less picky about smoothness helped.Plus, I added the cake before adding the main frosting layer, which also helped.

Once finished, I gave a sneak peek on Instagram and then had to figure out how to store them until the next day.

P wanted to do candles in 'her' cake--the little one--so we let her add them and then it was time to sing and eat cake!

We had lots of kids, so we did small slices. If anyone wanted seconds, they could have them, as it turned out we had plenty of cake.

venery

Next cake!

T's favorite movie of the past year was Cars, so I browsed Pinterest for ideas, as I knew that's what I wanted to do for his theme. I didn't want to make a car cake (I have the Wilton pan, thanks to a friend cleaning out her cupboards), as that one makes a lot of cake, so I tried to see what else was out there.

Then, while just scrolling through my feed, a John Deere cake popped up and a light bulb went off. The Frank scene turned into one of T's favorites, so I decided to adapt a farm scene, especially once I found a small sized toy that would fit on a 9" cake!

Because O requested chocolate, and P requested chocolate, I didn't let T have a choice* and went with yellow.

Then time to lay everything out and start piping wheat!

This cake was a complete surprise, so I was glad my SiL could take T for a while--I wanted a big reveal at dinner. And it worked! He said 'that's Frank!' in a Mater voice (sort of) and immediately wanted to take the toys off and play with them. We made him wait for us to do candles, though**.

Then we dove in. T only ate the jelly bean rocks, but for the rest of the week, he enjoyed a slice at breakfast every day!

This is pretty true to the colors.

*It would be chocolate.
**The singing freaked him out. As in, he left the room...

ninjutsu

Get ready for a cake barrage! Several birthdays in a row means several cakes to show you!

It was spring break for MN family, so they came down for part of the week and that happened to coincide with O's birthday. His request was a Kai cake (from Ninjago), so I did a little searching for ideas on Pinterest.

He also asked for chocolate.

I found one that I really liked and then set about planning how I would actually do it. I had hoped to find yellow sugar sheets, but the stores I had time to visit only had packs of colors, which I did not want to have sitting around. So I got white and color mist to be able to make the face!

Then a pile of red food coloring (which dried to the perfect red) and I started layering.

Adding folds of 'material' to the mask.

I decided to make the edges his 'hair' and this simplified the process (I could make it wavy instead of smooth). A quick circle of dots completed the whole thing. O got to watch me make his cake, as I assembled it on his actual birthday. By the end, he approved.

I sent most of the leftover home with them, as I had another cake to make in two days for T's birthday!

larruping

Birthday time again*!

We went for a similar theme again this year and kept things autumnal for activities and decorations. The cake, however, was all about the inside this year.

M came up to me in church about a month before her birthday and said she wanted a cookie dough cake. I said ok, I'll do some research**.

After I found a few ideas, I got together with her again to discuss details. She requested chocolate, chocolate, chocolate (surprise!). Then, after thinking a bit, she decided she actually would enjoy a little color, so we talked how to spruce up the design.

Per usual, I split things up a bit and baked the cakes first, as well as made the cookie dough filling a couple days beforehand. Then I had Sandra take T for a morning to so I could make all the frostings. Then I assembled and frosted the day before the party.

I was quite glad to have lots of time to get everything sorted out--I feel like I rushed her cake last year. This one turned out just like she requested:

Then it was the nerve-wracking drive to her house for the party!

Then because not everyone likes cookie dough (ahem, that would be me), I actually made a second cake. Turns out three of the party goers were glad of a second option. Also, it was really fun to do what I wanted with the design!

*Funny how that happens every year, right?
**Man, I love Pinterest. Yeah, it has flaws, but it is my kind of bookmarking system!