Happy May!

Isn't it great that the weather has finally broken? I know it's nearly Mother's Day and the temps are supposed to dip to ten degrees this weekend, but hey, a lot of us have started our gardening and our summer tans (mine always start out with a burn like the one I currently have, but at least I do mine in stages, and the kids are white as ghosts, so we are good parents, if not good examples). I've started doing the stairs again, after a two year hiatus... with the husband working nights for six years, it's tough to get around without a license (that's right, I don't drive, but I am an excellent driver... avoided a full-on collision when I had my beginners'). Once I get some colour to my skin and some workouts on the stairs under my belt, I'm gonna feel pretty damn sexy! :)

As long as I avoid the buttercream, of course. LOL! I have a sweet tooth.. I take after my dad, for sure. But, as much as I love cupcakes and cake, I try not to consume too much! (wine, on the other hand, is more of a weakness to me than chocolate!)

Moving onto cakes! I have been pretty busy the past few weeks, I am proud to say I've had steady business the past month and a half.. and Mother's Day is my first weekend off... in awhile.

This was a purse cake for my husband's boss' daughter, whom, on Twitter, posted that it was the "best cake evaaaa"... That's right... I'm not ashamed to brag. I am extremely proud to say that my husband helped me tremendously with this cake, and it's construction. If not for him, I'm truly not sure if it would have been as successful. For starters, he made the bow. All. By. Himself. Yes. And now I have to ask him how he did it, the next time I need to make a bow! How embarrassing is THAT? He helped with measuring, the trim, the handle, and most importantly, the transportation of the cake, since he brought it to work with him and he did NOT destroy it in the process! I married a gem! :D

Vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream made from a combination of shortening and butter, dowelled and covered in fondant... this was a true victory and I am so proud of my husband and myself!

 

 

 

This was an ice cream cake to celebrate my son's 13th birthday on April 30th. We went out to Mother's Pizza for dinner, and had a blast. He got a special dessert there, and in true teenager style, also helped demolish the treat I made for him. If you frequent Pinterest at all, search for ice cream cake, and it's the one using ice cream bars. Not complicated at all, but, my 6 year old loved every aspect of helping out, including rolling fondant balls (you can see a yellow one on the right and a bit of an orange one on the left, but there were more), and unwrapping the ice cream sandwich bars. Seeing him enjoy helping me was almost as much of a treat as seeing Tyler's expression when he was his cake. :)

 

And there you have it.. I'm officially an old bag, I have a teenager! LOL

 

About a year ago now, my youngest was in a JK/SK split class (first I had ever heard of a split kindergarten class), and made friends with a boy named Jacob. His class had a special picnic one day, and I left work early to attend. It was a windy but fairly warm day, and God bless 5 year olds and how excited they are to have their parents at their school. In ten years he won't be nearly as excited. Anyway, I had brought a blanket with me to work, and my husband had also packed one with Caleb, without my knowledge. When I got to the school, I was a little dismayed at having to bring extra stuff home, as I've said before, I don't drive, so I have to carry it all on the walk home. But he was excited to have me there and what else matters in life, really?

 

So, we are heading outside, and we were walking close to his friend, Jacob, and his mom and sister, when he very loudly announced we would all be sitting together. LOL Jacob's mom didn't have a blanket to sit on and we had two, so you can guess what happened. We shared blankets and stories and laughter and it was a friendship in the making.

 

I never thought I would be very close to my boys' friends' parents but there it was... and it's been awesome! We've gotten together several times and we have shared stories and life experiences and so much laughter. I adore this woman, and not only because she became a client, but because she is someone I call a friend. She is truly beautiful on the outside AND the inside.

 

She ordered a cake for her mom's birthday and this was her idea, through and through...

 

 

 

 

Her mom loved it, thank goodness! Vanilla cake with strawberry jam and whipped cream filling, the two dice were stacked brownies covered in fondant. Yum!

 

And last but not least... in a rush for this last picture because the husband is heading to bed and I hate being the last one up... A spaghetti cake! Chocolate cake baked in  an ovenproof glass mixing bowl with cherry buttercream filling, vanilla buttercream "pasta", Lindor chocolate truffle "meatballs", strawberry sauce and coloured icing sugar "parmesan". Yum! Brought this into work and it didn't survive the end of the day! Husband is still peeved he didn't get a piece LOL!

 



 

 

And these are my spring adventures so far. Stay sweet! ;)

Busy bee I am!

April has flown by, hasn't it? I mean, Wednesday is the beginning of MAY! And the stupid weather here still hasn't made a decision between winter and spring... so aggravating! I walk home from work, and I kid you not, I have a touque, gloves and an umbrella, and alternate between three different coats/jackets on a weekly basis because you just never know what the weather will bring! And that doesn't even include my kids' coats... It will be so nice to clear out the coat tree!

 

 

The beginning of April started my busiest month to date, and this is the cake it started with! A Smart car cake. The piping and fondant details together made this a really fun cake to make. Details on each cake in this blog can be found on my cake Facebook page, Denise's Custom Cakes.

 

 



 

 

 

Then the baby shower cake. I'm sorry but I really must brag about this one, because it's so stinkin' AWESOME! I mean, LOOK at the detail. And the inside had leopard print too :)

 



 

 

And then there was Elmo! This one was pretty easy to do. There are Elmo cake pans and whatnot, but I decided against that and used a picture of Elmo as a guide and recreated him with icing and fondant. I cheated and went with store-bought red icing, and I can justify this. I was told once that you will never get a red icing by using red to colour your buttercream. The same goes with black but I actually don't have any problems with black. So the choice was a pink Elmo or cheat and get a red Elmo :) I cheated and I have no regrets.

 

 

 

These are just some chocolate cupcakes I made for my family. Nothing special really, but with some of the yummies my family sees walking out the door, I have to make them treats too :)

The red velvet camping cake. I made this cake for my oldest son last year for his 12th birthday, because that was his request. Here's the strange thing.. while I love to be challenged and asked to do new things with cake that I've never done before, I also enjoy being asked to do repeats. It's a learning experience the first go around. A good example on this cake was the logs. On my son's cake, it was just rolled fondant, but on this one, I went as far as to use a knife all over the outside to give it a wood texture. I also used strictly fondant/gum paste to make the tent, whereas last year, I iced two graham cookies and put them together.

The crowning glory of the month of April was this one. A vanilla cake shaped like a purse. One of the best things about this cake, aside from it's stunning presentation lol... is that my husband helped me BIG time. First of all, he made the bow. All by himself. I had no idea how to even attempt the bow to be quite honest. So I need to ask my husband for advice the next time I need one! The other awesome thing is that he was around to bounce ideas off of. Even though this idea came from a book which described how to do it, we had to alter a couple of small things to make sure it was sturdy enough. I am so proud of this cake!

I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Cupcakes for one family birthday, an ice cream cake for my son, who will become a teenager on Tuesday (eek!), research for an upcoming Las Vegas cake, a bridal shower to attend on Sunday and I am hoping to reconnect with my family at some point, since I haven't had much opportunity to spend quality time with them this week :(  I think a movie night is in store this weekend!

To my clients, thank you so much! Your ideas have led me to challenge myself and it's been awesome! I can't believe I can do some of this stuff LOL!

Stay sweet!

 



Olivia has arrived!

Happy Easter to you all! I hope that everyone is able to spend some quality time with their loved ones and remember what Easter is truly all about (even I know it's not all about chocolate! lol)

So I received a request nearly two months ago to do an Olivia the Pig cake for a first birthday. This is a repeat customer, I've done her baby shower cake and I'm willing to bet there will be more cakes in the future.. especialy after this one!

Now, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am so incredibly proud of this one and how it turned out. It's a small cake that weighed a ton lol! Not gonna lie, though... I was stressing, but only because I wanted it to be great!

The bottom was an 8 inch chocolate raspberry truffle with raspberry mouse filling, and the top was a 6 inch red velvet with cream cheese filling. Covered in white fondant with stripes of pink and red, polka dots in red and black... a nice big red bow with a banner (first time doing a banner, and it wasn't as diffcult as I expected it to be). Crowning the top of this adorable cake was Olivia, in all her fondant finest, wearing a celebratory silver dragee necklace for the occasion.

In addition to the cake, there were 30 vanilla cupcakes, iced with light and dark pink buttercream, with fondant flowers as an added touch.

Hope you all enjoy looking at this cake as much as I do! :)

Another creation is underway, but it's for my family (since the kids tell me I never make anything for just us... lies! Lies, I tell you!), and I will post pics later :)

Stay Sweet!

Surprise!

I can admit when I am wrong.

It was actually a great surprise.. a happy one, and I don't see a lot of those, so when I do, it's worthy of a mention!

It was announced at work yesterday morning that we have indeed received a profit-sharing bonus. It's not much. A third of what we received last year, but nevertheless, any free money is better than none, which is what the majority of us have expected. The downfall is that it will be taxed to the hilt so we will be lucky to see half of the proposed amount, but hey! Still! It's better than zero and still a terrific accomplishment. And it's FREE MONEY!

Two stores opened up in the near vacinity of my store, which threw budgets off almost the entire year. We were below budget ALL year, it was depressing!) So, someone went to bat for us, and argued this fact with the powers that be, and they agreed that the proposed budgets we had all year long were screwed up. So, they refigured it and we ended up getting this small but more than expected bonus... YAY!

What does that mean for my cakes? Nothing. I'm still plugging away, still socking it away. When I heard the news, I texted my husband, and told him. He was happy and thrown off a bit, because neither of us expected it, as we were told for the ast six months, it was a no-go, but I told him it was still going into savings for summer. I said I want this to be the best summer EVER... so, why break the streak, right? Into savings it goes!

I have had a terrificly (it's a word NOW!) busy day.. baking and testing and playing. As you know, I love fondant... just hate cleaning up! So this is what I made!

 

 

 

I've been wanting to try the zebra cake effect for a bit now, so while I was baking that, I played with fondant and made some cute cupcake\cake toppers. I plan on making some more tomorrow :) Lovin' the pig!

Anyway... it's been a long day so it's time to end the post :) Enjoy your weekend, and stay sweet!

Summertime Dreams

It is a well-known fact for anyone who knows my husband and I... we cannot save a dime. Seriously. I am somewhat ashamed but I know we are not alone. There are many families and couples who are in the same boat.

I am fortunate to work at a place that offers an annual bonus called profit-sharing. I was also fortunate enough to realize early on that my workplace was not going to be receiving one this year. This bonus is important to me for one major reason: it funds my family's annual camping trip.

Up until Christmas, I had been wondering what we were going to do. Knowing full well we are bad at saving, I wrestled with the thought of telling our boys we wouldn't be able to go this year. No matter how I looked at it, it wasn't a good outcome... and I knew my husband and I wouldn't have as good a summer as we have been lucky enough to have over the past several years by going on our annual trip.

So when my mother-in-law generously gave us cash for Christmas, a light bulb went on, and I suggested to my husband saving it for summer camping. He was on board. Great, one third of the way there, now what?

Then over December and January, and partway into this month, the odd request for a cake would trickle through and as soon as the client happily picked up their cake and payment was made, I was running to hide the earnings and count up the new total.

I was thrilled last weekend to tell my husband we were just a little bit away from our goal. I am still marvelling at how we have been steadfast at saving this cash. And make no mistake, he's been dropping the odd $20 into the jar too. However, I have my cakes to thank for it... without them, we would be having a campout no further than our backyard, which is fine and well but just not the same! Now that I am done tooting our horns over here, (YAY US! lol), let's talk cake!

Chances are, if you are reading this, it's because you are a Facebook friend of mine and have likely already seen the cakes, but I have to show the highlights!

 

 

I LOVE playing with fondant. Love it! Loathe cleaning up after playing with it though! :)  It is like reverting into a little kid and playing with play-doh... awesome!

 

 

I wasn't as thrilled with Dora (yes, it is supposed to be Dora!) as I was with Kwazi (from Octonauts), but I learned a valuable lesson here. I pieced Dora together on the cake, and Kwazi on the table. Clearly, I need to do the latter from now on.

 

 

I have some ideas in mind for St. Patty's Day and Easter, so stay tuned and stay sweet!

This may or may not be the last cake made in 2012...

I am in love with a little girl named Dakota. She is just three years old and I absolutely love her to pieces. She is tiny and blond and stubborn and picky with what she eats. But whenever she sees me, she comes running into my arms and gives me a huge bear hug and won't let go for several minutes, like she is enjoying every second, like I am! Her mom is terrific and words cannot describe how proud of her I am, and how much I admire everything she has done and is doing in her life.

This is the second year I've been asked to do Dakota's birthday cake. I have made this cake several times, it's quite popular with the kiddos. This one is a chocolate slab, with crispy rice treats for the pillow and headboard and footboard. Vanilla buttercream, and some cute toys to go on top!

Such an easy cake to make, and every time I make it, there are different characters on top! I love it!

So happy birthday to my favourite 3 year old... I know your mom is going to spoil you this Christmas!

On another note, I am contemplating a classy cake for New Year's Eve. I am having a cousin and her family over for some festivities, and haven't decided yet. I will probably go ahead and do it, it just seems like a lot of work to me right now because I have so much to do in the next two days! :)

Whether I do or I don't, I wish you and your wonderful families a VERY Merry Christmas. Much love to you all and I hope you are all able to enjoy some quality time together. Hug your loved ones just a little bit longer this season!

Stay sweet!

Festive Cupcakes!

Last weekend, the cousins of my large maternal side of the family all got together for a dinner. Some of these cousins I haven't seen since we were little, and I've looked forward to seeing them since we first began talking about this get-together.

I made three desserts to bring, I knew many of my cousins would be bringing main dishes or sides. So I made magic cookie bars (recipe below), cheesecake dip (also below), and red velvet cupcakes.

I used my standby recipe for red velvet, and overfilled the muffin pan, so the first batch and a half turned out crappy, but I managed to save the best-looking ones and I indulged in a couple of unfilled and unfrosted, and they were sooooo goood. Light and fluffy!! I filled 12 with cream cheese icing, and topped them with vanilla buttercream, and sprinkled crushed candy canes on top. I even managed to send a few in with my husband when he went to work... he came back with none so that is always a good sign :)

Here they are:

 

 

 

So, here are the recipes for the other two things I made:

 

 



Magic Cookie Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup non-hydrogenized margarine, melted
2 tbsp corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
3/4 package of milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper (I have found that this is the easiest way to remove the bars and cut them without having them stick).

Combine crumbs, margarine and corn syrup in a small bowl until well mixed. Pour and press into lined pan. Top pressed crumb mixture with nuts, chocolate chips, coconut and drizzle entire can of condensed milk on top.

*The original recipe for this actually says to put the milk on top of the crumbs but in my experience, when you cut into the bars, everything fell off, which defeated the whole purpose. So, I tweaked it, as usual :) *

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Let cool for about 1/2 hour and cut into bars. Delicious when warm and melty :)



Cheesecake Dip

1 box Jell-o No Bake Cheesecake Mix
1 container of frozen whipped cream, thawed
1 can cherry pie filling
1 package of graham squares

Combine cheesecake package with whipped cream until light and fluffy. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour. On a platter, spoon cheesecake mixture into the center, and surround with graham squares. Top cheesecake mixture with cherry pie filling. Enjoy!

*You can save the graham crumbs from the cheesecake mix for your magic cookie bars!*

Found this recipe on Pinterest... and it was truly a hit! I think that the best-tasting recipes require the least amount of ingredients and fuss!

Enjoy, and stay sweet!