Nananananananana BATMAN!

It's official I want a new camera!
There is something magical about the quality of the photos taken on my friend's camera. My friend, who is a real Canon freak, came by to my chateau to stay for the weekend. He also brought his camera and a desire to break me of my stubborn belief that my camera is fine. Let me just tell you... a good camera makes ALL the difference in the world!

Take for instance this picture of my latest cake... the  BATMOBILE! Yeah, that's right, the batmobile! Pretty rocking cake eh? Or at least, I thought so! But the crisp image and sweet fade made me cringe at my old camera... Let's just say a lot of colour balance and fading goes into photoshop. SIGH!

The ability to have the image iso and resolution pick up the sharpness of detail, but fade to the back in blur was super simple! How did I ever live without it?

This particular cake, if you were wondering, was made for my friend's son's birthday. The special request was painstakingly carved, covered in Satin Ice fondant, and lovingly decorated to look as close to the old BMB as possible! My friend even got some action shots!

And of course, he let me play... which is how I came to fall in love.

This cake was super fun, and very rewarding to do! I was super happy with the final product, as was the birthday boy. Now, all I have to do is give up my fight and just go buy a new camera! It is a hard thing to part with a close friend!

Thanks for the inspiration Neil!

Minecraft - Math is a skill......

 I am going to admit it here... I am bad at math. Which would have been not a problem, except that I am doing a cake that requires me to calculate the exact width and height needed to precisely make squares to cover a cake that is a square.
That is why I painstakingly made squares of the exact height and width I thought I would need to have a perfectly square, perfectly exact cube cake for a Minecraft cake... except, when I cut out the extra square to make the third layer.... I goofed and did not cut it on the right size.

 Even though my math skills were not exact, I still think the cake turned out well! (The little boy who got the cake simply kept saying "That's awesome! That's awesome!" So I guess it can't be all bad.

As I was working on this cake, I kept telling myself... next time I paint the squares, next time I do only one block... next time I will try not to be as creative. I don't know if I could. This cake was a HUGE challenge!

 I guess that is all I have to say. I am not exactly super happy with the cake, but it was a learning curve! NEXT TIME MATH! I WILL WIN!

Fifty Shades of Chocolate Cake

Okay... have you read the books?
The hype of the Fifty Shades series had a lot of women (and secretly, men) whispering in dark corners. The story of how a normal female reporter gets swept into a dark secret world of passion captured audiences around the world.

Now, I read the series, and was not at all embarrassed to admit it... and I thought, while not well written, to be fun and entertaining (she says about a 'dirty book).

I know of at least one person who refused to read the books on anything but a Kobo for fear of being caught reading 'dirty books.' How dirty can a series be if seemingly the whole world is speaking about it? How can people, knowing that many of their friends have read it, be ashamed of reading the series? This paradox had me chuckling. Of course a book with this hype would certainly garner more readers. Additionally, the movie, set to come out some time in the future, released the name of Christian as Ryan Gosling (really?).

Fun Fact: Did you know that the Fifty Shades series started out as a Twilight fan fiction story (using Bella and Edward as the characters Anna and Christian)? Hmmm.... try to imagine the story now? It seems strange to me!

Okay, so this post has been less about the cake above, and more about the thoughts on the book/movie. Sorry... it is just that when I think about the book, I find it hard to picture a movie being made of it. The subject matter would make the movie too risque to put into theaters, meaning they will have to dull it down, which I think defeats all the fun of the books. I mean, we are talking about a book made to entertain adult audiences with its different content (not at all like a Harlequin Romance book).

But who would not like to see the embodiment of Christian Grey swooning over Anastasia? Really? Super fun (and completely superficial) story-lines are super fun to read/watch... or will it be? Can they actually take the content of the book (beyond the crazy romance which is quite messed up) and make it into a good story? (Wow, I am using a lot of brackets today!)

 

 Anyway... here it was, a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate fudge icing, topped with MMF, decorated to look like Christian Grey's lovely chest! Made as a Bachelorette cake. Hope you enjoyed the rant :)

St. Patrick's Day Cookies!

Okay, so I have to day, blog hopping always has me in awe of the amazing cookie photography that some of the other bloggers do. Things are always so nicely arranged, placed and the colours and textures simply shine. I have a harder time making nice photos. Having just moved to a new home (and out of a closed apartment with bad lighting), I assumed my photography would improve with better lighting and more space to stage my photos. Alas, I still find that is not the case. So.... I am officially blaming my camera. Sure, I need to do more staging, but my camera (as my friend pointed out) is more of an outdoor natural light camera, and does poorly indoors. Also it is about 7 years old... hmmm...

This week, I decided to play with the lighting outside and see if it made a difference, And it did! The colours were more vibrant and the cookies had much better shades. The only problem was that I had shadows.... which I will have to work on. here are some of the shots:

It was only when I focused on the north side of the cookies that the shadows got bad to the point that they drew attention away from the cookies...

Additionally, square-on photos suffered from shadow..

And side-photos took away from the cookie...

Again, playing with outdoor light did help. I guess I have a lot more to do. These cookies in particular were more of an experiment in photography.... again because of Lilaloa's challenge, but also because I really want to step up my photography; what use is it to not have good pictures?

On Grateful Dead and Golf

 I have to admit, I know very little about music. As someone who listens exclusively to the CBC radio on her iPod (yeah, I'm that lame), I find myself stumped at music lyrics which most people can belt out or recognize instantly. This is not to say that I am not musically inclined, it is just that when it comes to 'the classics,' I am not as well versed in knowing the band or song title.
With that preamble complete, I will say that I was excited to be asked to make a birthday cake for a Grateful Dead fan. The concept of the band and their "Jerry Bears," with an album cover made my client super excited. It was decided that a painting of an album cover (below) and the Bears surrounding the cake would make a super exciting treat for the Band Fan Birthday Boy.

 The cake was created, rainbow (tie-dye) vanilla cake with white fondant covering. The design included one hand-painted topper (removable so you don't need to eat all that colour), and the dancing bears around the sides. The top of the cake was painted in Americolor gel colouring diluted with water. Some people have asked in the past how I paint... I don't use vodka as some do, but instead find that water, with a little white colour gel, works great!

Of course, everything I do is free-handed. This cake was a 9-inch round with MMF, which some know as being a pain to paint on... some bleeding and sugar melting was inevitable.

I think the best part of this cake, other than the amazing art which I was super happy to pull off, because let's face it.... often cake decorators try to take on projects that challenge them and that may or may not work in their execution, was the fact that I worked with a buddy (that was a run-on sentence! Fun to write, horrid to read, and I refuse to fix it! My inner English Major is screaming in silent protest).  No, My friend came to help me to build a cake of her own, and to keep me company. Her husband's 37th birthday was today (yay!), and as a treat, I showed her how to create her own personalized cake. Since the birthday boy in this case is a golf aficionado, we decided to make a cute little golf cake...

Now, that's not too bad for someone who has never worked with fondant in her life. I had the cake prepped in advanced (dirty iced and good to go), and she iced, covered and decorated the cake all by herself.... well, with a little help, but it was mostly superficial! Super happy birthday to my friend! I hope you have a fabulous trip in Florida! What a great place to celebrate!

Okay, time's up! See you soon!

Zander's Story - Skylanders Cake

I have to admit, lately, the internet has bored me. Sure, I do Pintrest, and play games online, but mostly, when I go online, I check one or two pages, see that they have not been updated (because I checked them earlier that day), and decide to spend my time elsewhere. My interest in the internet, including Blogging, has dropped off. Why is that? Is this an Internet-Depression? Have I become apathetic to the internet? Have I just decided to spend my time doing other pursuits (including baking, and not posting?! A faux-pas!) Whatever the reason, my creative juices don't seem to flow as naturally as they once did. And my attention span appears to be suffering this trouble as well.

This epiphany came on the heels of posting up a new cake I created for a friend's son. His passion, and love, at this wonderful age, is Skylanders. You might recall, two years ago, I created a Pablo Backyardigans Cake for the same little guy! Well, little this guy is not, and he's growing quick!

The birthday boy insisted I use his favorite characters, and he proudly whipped out Bouncer, Spyro, Tree-Rex and Jet-Vac, each one coming with a story about why he likes the characters. I must say, his favorite, Bouncer, the one in the center who looks like Iron-Man, was the coolest for me too! His dopy smile was amazing, and the warm praise he received from Zander was endearing!

 In addition to the cake, I made a special name plate which I painted using edible food colours. I also made a cookie with each of the elements on them.

 I think the best part of this cake was the simplicity of it. It has been a long time since I got to make a simple 9-inch round cake! Lately, calls have been in for elaborate designs and sugar flowers, which I love to do! But it was so nice to make something as easy as a round platform which I placed toys upon! I think this was the first cake that I was not asked to make the figurines! In fact, Zander insisted upon his own characters! How sweet! He was super happy to see it all together, and I was super happy to deliver such smiles.

New Year's Resolution - A Pin-up

I think New Year's resolutions are silly. The ideas is solid! Choose something that you want to change in yourself or in your life, and make a strong effort to achieve that goal using the start of a new year as an excuse for a fresh start. You can... live better, eat clean, work harder, gain some kind of fame... etc.

The trouble is every year, millions of people make the same resolution... lose weight.
Ah YES! The infamous weight loss goal. The thing that is the hardest to do, and yet, the one that makes us feel better, Silly as it is.

Yet... every year, I make it my goal! I want to look good!

That is not to say that every year I vow to loose 20 pounds (which is hard.....), but I do try to do something... work on my Yoga skills, or try to get a 4-pack (not a 6.... I don't like the look), lift a heavier weight set. But every year it is something 'fitness' related.  Let's face it.... we all want the same thing (maybe?).

So, inspired by this double-edged sword of a resolution, I resolved to make pin-up cookies!

Blonde: Fun-loving

Brunette: Practical and hard-working

 Red-Head: Sexy and flirty

 Raven-Haired: Adventurous

But is weight loss a silly resolution? Sometimes people just need an excuse to get off the couch! The best way to set the goal is to have a goal at the end. Try to avoid the pitfall of a scale.Weight fluctuates, and muscle does weigh more than fat!

I like goals of time commitments (waking earlier to do an exercise - which is only hard until your body gets used to the routine), or a flexibility component, which takes time and practice. I am stubborn, and so should anyone be who has a resolution they want badly to achieve! And so far, beyond an injury I have, I have obtained my Resolutions!

The truth is, whatever your resolution, just be sure to stay true to yourself. Change is never easy. Over the last  10 years, I have discovered that no matter what I resolve to change or to work at, I must always remain true to myself.

So, whatever your personality or goals, I wish you luck!

Oh! I almost forgot!

As always, our town's annual Polar Plunge was going on.... And as always, My adventurous spirit was the perfect excuse to take the walk....

 Then the plunge!

 This year, the water was not as cold as previous years (or maybe it does not phase me as much)! But certainly, jumping into a hole cut in the ice is never an easy task. What a refreshing way to start the year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Princess and the Popstar Cake

Well, as you may have noticed, posts are becoming fewer and far between. My apologies! I'm close to moving into my new home, and have packed most of my baking gear. I am officially 17 days from moving!

I did, however, manage to get some time to bake one last cake before the move. This cake was actually baked last weekend, but I've been too busy to post it up:

This cake is for Barbie: The Princess and the Popstar movie. The family requested something with sparkles, purple and pink. Well, what is Barbie about if not sparkles, purple and pink?! I tried to model the dress from the movie, but of course, it stops at the knees, so this is a longer version of it.

You may well remember my last Barbie Cake and the subsequent Tutorial... I did much the same thing, but this 'dress' is a little puffier and has ruffles! I painted a little dotted pattern on the dress, which is MMF.

Question Insert::: How do you get the dress off of the doll?

You want the short answer? You cut it off. This may seem like a horrible idea, but it is not. The doll itself has a dress that is not removable! That is the bottom line. The dress at the back has a small attachment (I believe this one was to a star). You need to take an exacto-knife and make a small slit up that hold, then will have to sew the dress later (when you give the doll for a gift) up with a snap-clip (a snapping button). While it seems crazy to buy a doll to cut up, little girls will want to play dress-up with the dolls, and removing and repairning the dress makes that possible. After the cake is done, and the doll is cleaned, you can re-attach the dress by buttoning it around that star. It will also make a cute gift to give the dress in a small gift-package on the side :)
Hope that is helpful.

Okay, I hope that I can at least have one last cake before Halloween (our move-in date). I want to at least do my classic Halloween Head cake before it's time to move. We'll see though. Until then, thank you so much for all of your support! I am honored to see Domestic Sugar grow!

NO HOCKEY! I'm so mad I could eat my shirt!

What a disappointment to have the 2012-2013 Hockey season cancelled!I love hockey!

Ever since I was 8, My brother and I would play Nintendo's Blades of Steel. I was always my favorite team: the Penguins! (GO PENS GO)

Of course, my favorite player was Mario Lemieux! He was dreamy with his curly black hair and pretty smile! I loved watching him play alongside the team! It was always a treat to watch hockey (in black and white) on my small 12" TV.

This cake was made for a Pens fan: a little boy who is celebrating his birthday this week.

Of course, the sleeve has the trademark number 66 - or Lemieux's number. ♥

While I think Crosby is a great player, he often plays up injuries (not the one that kept him out most of the season last year, but the in-game small hits). I apologize if that offends... it is simply my opinion.

I am sure most of you remember that the Pens changed their logo (which turned out looking like a flying pigeon). The classic logo (Below) is my favorite!

I made it out of MMF, hand-painted with Americolors. Labors of love I guess!

So, I wait with baited breath for the next season. I hope that the NHL gets their stuff together, so we fans can enjoy the wonders of sport. I may have to take on Football!