Veggie Garden Cake

HURRAY FOR SUMMER!

I am officially on summer break. Tests, reports, and all that other jazz are done for the season. Now, it is time to kick back and relax, and celebrate a great year. For some of us teachers, the end is nigh... one of our dear friends has retired (he did not die). Now, his big plans are to garden, and what better to do than to celebrate with a cake.

This is just a regular slab cake, decorated with chocolate buttercream (regular for the grass) and decorated with chocolate veggies and cookie crumble dirt. I think that smooshing cookies to make dirt was one of the many tricks my mom taught me that I use over and again! Totally great for cakes!
The posts are made of MMF cut to look like picket-fence posts. The lines in between are white piped buttercream.

I made modeling chocolate veggies, then added some flare with regular buttercream. For lettuce, I used the regular Rose technique, adding 'pettles' or 'leaves' on through overlapping layers. For the tomatoes, I stuck them into a toothpic tripod then piped some green leaves and vines for effect.

Add carrots (a favorite) and watermelons and we are good to go!

All in all, the effect was great. Said unnamed teacher requested no photos (he's shy), but that's all right! It was a great party, and a great cake, and he's a great teacher. We had a blast.

Well, I'm off for a few days vacation. I hope everyone stays safe. Play safe!

Baby Duck Shower Cake

Well, I'm still alive. One more day of work for me and I'm out for the summer. Hurrah!

This time of year is the most busy. Not only am I calculating tests, writing reports and cleaning house, but I am also baking for all my students and co-workers. What a lot of cake I've made! My most ambitious project, a cake in the shape of the school I work at (which had to travel one hour down a dirt road in order to arrive) was non-photographed by me as I forgot my camera going out the door. Sill waiting on those photos... :( The other project I did was this cake here:

One of my coworkers recently had a baby boy. To celebrate the end of the year, and her darling bundle of joy, this small cake is making an appearance at the baby shower.... it too must travel an hour, so I am taking photos before I leave! Hopefully it will arrive in this condition later!


It had to be something simple. Honestly, there is nothing more awful to me than a 'baby cake'. I mean, just take a look at the best example from Cake Wrecks (LOVE!). Great cake, creepy idea. I can't imagine what would go through a mother's head when they asked for that cake. "Oh, Mrs. Sugar, could you please design me a cake in the likeness of my baby. It would be ever so wonderful to cut it up with a sharp knife... like practice... for.... " You can just guess that my jaw would be on the ground. Luckily, this particular parent does not know I'm bringing the cake, so no baby-cakes for me!


It is far better to see a nice cuddly fluffy baby duckling snuggling mommie than to have a knife cutting into a baby's behind, body, or even the mommie's big belly. All those cakes look great, but for some reason, give me the willies! What an awful idea. Well... now that it is late, and I am sufficiently ranted-emptied, I am off to bed. I have more cakes to show in the coming days... Hopefully somewhere in here I will be able to sleep... or nap... or just close my eyes for a minute or two.

Sleep well!

Oh, I forgot... this is an edit. I'm trying out a Facebook page. I've never owned an account, but I'm giving it a shot: Tell me what you think, or even, how this FootBook stuff works.

Grad Party Hats and Cuppies

I'M ALIVE! YAY!

Okay, so most people would call party hats something a little different. But when I look at a Grad Cap, I think of huge parties for a successful completion of a major part of your life where you grow into an adult or if you are already an adult you celebrate the job possibilities which open before your eyes... breath!

These caps and cuppies go to celebrate the achievement of someone whom I am very proud of. It has been a difficult time in their life, and this marks the beginning of a new chapter and a new future!

For these cuppies, I tried a new design idea. I went with swirly icing highlighted blue (to mark the colours of the school). The wrappers are supposed to be those designer ones you see made by expensive companies, but they bled... so they look a little less expensive.

The party hats (yes, I'm going to call them that) are boring, but are symbolically necessary.

The only problem is the humidity. You cannot complain at this time of year about the heat, but it does play troubles with the cookies. Too bad too!

I'm sure my pointing out the problem is unnecessary. Many of us cookiers have discussed the problem... it's just a pain!

Okay, movie time!

New Tangled Cake! now with 50% more Diego

Hello all. I am still alive! Even after creating this beast of a cake. Three tiers of crazy characters. When I was first presented with the idea for this cake, my friend just wanted a Tangled cake, but the more she discussed the party with her daughters the more they disagreed on the design. She then asked me to do two cakes, but that would be too many (at least that's what I though)! What did I suggest, well, how about we amalgamate the two ideas into one monster cake. Like this:

I should have stuck with two small cakes. This beast was a blast to make and decorate, but a beast to create! The tower is modeling chocolate with an ice-cream cone topper (decorated to look tower-e). The top two cakes are chocolate and the bottom is vanilla.

For the Tangled themed top, I went with a simple design of flowers and tower with a modeling chocolate Rapunzel. I liked the gum-paste version, but with report cards looming, I did not have the time to make it. Modelling chocolate still looks and tastes great though!

Rapunzel looks too demure. I need to master her rebellious look.
(above you can see the waterfall shimmer.. ohhh... ahh!)

The best part of the cake was the pillars. I've wanted to do a pillar cake for a while. These pillars simple Wilton square pillars decorated with modeling chocolate and made to look like beautiful trees. I love them a lot!

This is just a preview, tomorrow, hopefully, I will have wonderful set-up pictures on site at the party!

Ciao!

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