Pop Up Birthday

One of my favorite clients called me on Monday or Tuesday and asked if I could make her a cake for Saturday for her boss' Fathers' 70th Birthday.  I didn't have much going on that week so I told her, "of course!"  She emailed me a picture of what she wanted and I got started on Friday evening, baking the yellow cake.  I tried a new recipe that looked pretty good.  I really liked the texture of this cake.  It had structure but still had a great crumb.  The original recipe called for shortening as the fat but I substituted butter for half the fat.  I also read something that said the fat and sugar should be SUPER creamed, so I stuck it in the KitchenAid for about 7 minutes (much longer than I normally cream the sugar).  I think that will be my thing to do from now on, as I was really pleased with this cake.

It's one 10" round (one layer only) topped with the numbers cut out of yellow cake and covered in vanilla buttercream frosting.  I did not level the top of the round because the inspiration photo kept it.  I think I much prefer the flat top, as it makes decorating evenly much easier (you can see where you're thick or thin in the icing department much more easily).  I froze an 8" round for carving, then scaled and carved the numbers.  After I crumbcoated the cakes, I smoothed the top only of the 10" cake and the zero.  I used tip number...well gosh it's the large leaf tip, I don't remember the number!  74?  Something like that.  Anyway, I used that tip to put on the vertical lines around the sides of the 10" round.  I then decorated the numbers (except the edging and flowers) with tip #16 (medium star tip), placed them on the cake (CAREFULLY!) and piped the swirl edge border around them and at the top and bottom of the round.  After spaceing the letters and marking the placement on the cake with a toothpick, I piped the letters in black.  I also used that color for the lines on the numbers.
The flowers I made out of rolled "buttercream".  It's pretty much just shortening and powdered sugar, and I happened to already have some on hand.  I used my floral cutters to cut out the shapes and rolled them gently larger, then placed and painted on the centers with food gel coloring, thinned slightly with vodka.
I did all the decorating on Saturday morning while my wonderful hubby was out with E.  I wanted this cake to be as fresh as possible!  They came to get it at around 1pm and they loved it!  I always enjoy people getting a kick out of what I do.
Coming up next I am going to make a wedding cake.  I'm going to post on Craigslist in the free section and see if there's anyone out there who wants a big ol' beautiful cake before the end of the month, only having to pay for the ingredients.  I hope someone bites, as I need to get a wedding cake under my belt and I am hoping to advertise with A. Chris' wedding photography business and I need a wedding cake picture for that!  Wish me luck!

Funny Little Burger Cake

So yesterday was April Fools' day, and since I had already made the Spaghetti and Meatballs cake I needed a new idea.  We invited a couple over for dinner and I thought another little cake (read: 4 servings and NO leftovers for me to pig out on).  I really wanted another shaped food cake, so I went with a hamburger.  I made up a boxed cake (is this becoming a trend for me?  OH NO!) into a 6" and a 10" cake.  I put them in the oven at 350 and let them bake for 10 minutes, then my Mother-In-Law called to say she was outside.  Miscommunication!  I thought she was going to be around 30 minutes out!  So I turned off the oven and let them sit in there while we went out.  They came out a little overcooked but otherwise fine.

When I came home I used the 6" cake for the base and covered it with white frosting.  The bottom and top buns I cut out 3.5" diameter.  The "burger" part was about 3" diameter and thinner.  The top bun I shaved into a dome and covered, and the bottom I just covered in the tan frosting.  I put the bottom bun on the base, then frosted the burger all sloppy-like so it looked sort of real and placed that.  I made the cheese and veggies out of fondant I had leftover.

Cheese first!  The pickles were light green with dark green outside.  I did this by rolling the lt. green into a thick log and rolling out a rectangle of the dark green, then using a serrated knife to cut thick chunks of that off and rolled them to the correct pickle size.  The tomatoes are just red fondant circles and the lettuce is dark green (I love me some romaine!) cut into ovals and the edges I rolled with a special frilling tool to make them lettuce-y.  I placed all these things (in this order) and cemented them with a drop or two of water, then used the #3 tip to pipe on the mayo and ketchup (just colored buttercream).  Then I placed the top bun on and piped on sesame seeds with the #2 tip in white.
It was a fun little cake!  When our guests

arrived, however, they had brought these HUGE WONDERFUL cupcakes from a little bakery out in the West End, so I decided to give it away on Craigslist.  We did have the most wonderful time visiting!  We don't invite people over enough to entertain.  I just have a kick hanging out with adults, now that I'm in full mama mode all day most days!  Right now I'm waiting for someone to come pick it up.  I really love doing that.  I think I need to start donating cakes to causes or something, it really makes me happy!
Edited:  The guy came to pick it up right after I posted!  Hurray for free cakes!