Anniversary - the Couples edition

Finally, some inspiration. Things have been busy in the Fort. Over the last little while I have been working hard on several creations (some unposted as of yet, sorry!).

So, it is with great pleasure that I post this update! The Kellar Cake - a 50th wedding anniversary!
Red-Velvet and Carrot Cake with Cream-Cheese buttercream, covered in MMF.

 

And of course, my personal update. I don't like adding too much in the way of personal information. True, I have been known to post personal images and updates sporadically, but this one is totally worth doing. This year, my husband and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary (not our 50th, I guess we are 1/10th there!). I say this year, but in truth, we were married on a leap-year (Feb 29th 2008) and only have celebrated one anniversary.... so if you count non-leap years it is five, if not, I guess we are 1.25/5 years.  I suppose my husband's face says it all as I try on my dress for the last time.

What do people do with their dresses? Wreck them, store them for their children who will never want to wear them.... Me. I decided to donate mine. There is a great group in Thunder Bay that sends dresses to people who cannot afford to buy them. I am very happy knowing my dress will have a new life with someone! So... I tried it on. One thing I always thought with my dress.... I AM BATMAN! 

Other silly things being done... a Quincy-hut outside of my house.... we've had a lot of snow! Two people can sit up or crouch in this beast! My husband says I can live in that, and he gets the house.

And of course, after-school snowshoeing on the lake. What a wonderful way to enjoy where you live. 

Winter Wedding

This cake was near and dear to my heart, and in truth, had to be baked twice before I was happy with the results! But, with all my heart, I wanted it to be perfect.

So, with much fussing and playing, I managed to create a winter-themed cake with a rather large Poinsettia on top.

With a little bit of a twist, this is an egg-nog cake with vanilla-bean buttercream. The cake is covered in MMF, and decorated with sugar flowers/snowflakes (a combo if you will). I had no time to order a snowflake plunger set this year. Rats! Maybe next...

 Because the Poinsettia is so large, it actually dented to the top of the cake! I have never done a single flower on top, and was rather pleased with the off-set aesthetic of it.

 And of course, this was a drop-in wedding, so Cupcakes make things a little more munchable! I was rather pleased all around.

So, now I have some extra cake in the house... I wonder what I will use it to make next :)
Happy New Year!

A Sugar FLower Spread

HUZZAH! Baking in my new home has been wonderful!

In my last post, I showed you some pretty sugar cherry blossoms I had been working on...

Well, those flowers went to a cake I was making... One for my grandmother's 90th birthday party. The party was held in my home town, four hours away, so I had a lot of transportation woes... but ultimately, the cake turned out okay, for not having all my tools and tricks available.

Since I had to do a four hour commute for the celebration (YAY, grandma is totally worth it), I decided to pre-bake all cakes and cupcakes (a total of 90 of them), at home, then transport them and assemble everything at the church. Luckily for me the church had a lot of items at my disposal, and the ladies were super nice in helping me find all my gear. I had so many people watching me put it all together, which was funny, but I enjoyed it :) I don't usually get people interested in my caking.. my husband certainly finds it boring.  

I did all the sugar flowers at home too... I made two large stargazer lilies, one orchid, several cherry blossoms and about 30 blue flowers (bluebells?)... which are so tiny they just act as filler. The cake was gorgeous! As I have said before, my camera is no-go until my computer is up, but luckily my aunt had hers!

So, with only a few cupcakes at a time, we decorated the table.... The whole room was filled with cupcake-style decorations... including cupcake confetti!!! I ABSOLUTELY had so much fun running around with confetti screaming SPARKLE SPARKLE!!! My husband, who is used to such outbursts, just laughed, while my family looked a little confused... SPARKLES ARE AWESOME!!

 My next thing to do on my list is to put up my Christmas tree and to make my house all sparkly! I am guessing that will wait until next week, as my tummy is a little unhappy at the moment. Still, it was a great weekend!
Cheers all!

Somber Cookies

What you say? Another blog post?
It seems that the world is trying to conspire to keep me baking. My week was pretty busy trying to get the Sauna situation in order, and then I baked to distract myself.... In a one week period I made a Pikachu Cake, Cheeky Tulip cookies, Thank you Flowers/Butterflies, and now, these Somber cookies.

Why are they called Somber Cookies? Well, they are for a friend who recently lost her father. The flowers are an attempt at chrysanthemums, a flower commonly associated with death, also known as the God Flower. The butterflies symbolize rebirth and freedom.

 
 I feel that they also symbolize light in darkness, which is why I chose the colors grey (for the loss, white for light or the divine, and yellow for hope). Hilariously, and quite honestly, I love the color scheme, even through I used them with a specific meaning above, I could easily see this as my kitchen/living room colours.

These particular cookies were a combined gift from myself and my coworkers. When they were delivered, I got a smile, which makes me hopeful that the healing process is well underway.

All our love!

A sweet "Thank You"

Things are heating up here in the Fort. Building season is in full swing, and so is work on the property. This week marked a very special milestone (other than official groundbreaking), we got a SAUNA! 
One of our friends called me up last week, saying that her old sauna was in the way of her building project, and asked if we wanted it (on condition that it be moved ASAP!).

Today, the sauna was delivered after much fuss, and I could not be happier! To thank my friend, I did what I know best: I made cookies.

It is not as though money was an issue, but rather, generosity. I worked really hard to create cookies which showed exactly how grateful I was; the butterfly cookies are my favorite cookie, and the iris cookies were hand-cut (since I don't own the cutter).

After inspecting the work and asking a few questions (the sauna is going to be a temporary shed for the builders while they get things in order), Hubbie and I went out for a celebratory supper. It was very stressful working to get the sauna to our property, and it has been a long time coming to get an official start to our new home, but I hope this marks the beginning of a very wonderful adventure.... with a warm ending.

By the way, I want to paint the sauna Pink... just in case you were wondering :)

Cheeky-Tulips

I am pretty sure that aside from my family and close friends, many don't know that my home town of Thunder Bay had massive flooding. The big storm overflowed rivers and streams, overloaded the water treatment plants that then backed up into people's homes. People fought tooth-and-nail to keep water out of their homes, while others could do nothing but watch as 2 meters of water flooded their basements (that is way over my head). Some even said they had live fish down in the depths of the murky water.

While our region has been dry, this water does not help at all. I suppose we're all just wanting May showers to lead to June flowers, which is why I've made these cookies. I kept thinking of flowers, and people, rain and being stuck in the house. So, in conjunction with a cake project I'm working on, I threw together some cookies. What better to lift the spirits? (Just so we are clear, my family was fine... I'm sure my father was canoeing down the swollen rivers, and maybe even in the back lane).

 I think these cookies helped me to kick myself out of my funk! It was almost 3 weeks between my last post and the Thomas cake I made. I hate when you're creative juices dry up! Unlike the weather

Badum-CHING!

And I love to paint on cookies. I remember someone saying that using food-doodle food writers (edible markers) was cheating, but I consider painting on a cookie to be quite beautiful. I can get more detail into the cookie this way. And I make them pretty.

So, here's to spring, and summer, and nice weather, and fewer rainy days.
And good luck to all those in the Flood Zones!

I am off to finish my cake project... and maybe go to work!

Flower Bouquet Cake

Hurray! SPRING!
I've been watching the weather change. WE OFFICIALLY HAVE GREEN BUDS ON OUR TREES! That is super exciting. Today I was even fantasizing about swimming in Rainy Lake. I remember last year in May taking a plunge in freezing water when there was still ice moving out. This year, the ice is long gone after that wonderful March weather, but it is still far too cold to go for a dip just yet. If you've seen my polar plunge photos, you know that the cold does not bother me. Luckily, the flowers are blooming again, so here's my latest cake creation:

A friend of mine celebrated her birthday in April, along with a bunch of her co-workers. She asked me if I would not mind doing a communal cake to celebrate the four birthdays they shared this month. Since I was only given short notice, I make something quick with buttercream. I've been dieing to try out the flower tip I have, and since most of my work is done in Fondant, this was a welcome change.

I particularly like the little flower centers. I used some non-perils I ordered from Bake it Pretty. Super sweet. I think they finish it all off.

This week the photos were taken by myself, and my friend Caren, who, along wither her super awesome camera, came to play with light and colour. We sat on the floor with our little lighting set-up and played with flowers, scarves, blankets and everything else we could for the setting. Honestly, I was in love with her camera. I guess after 5 years, it is time to get a new one... I love my little Fuji Finepix, but Caren's camera was soooo awesome ლ(இ益இლ

Butterfly Flower Birthday Cake

So, I had a request from a friend for another Flower Birthday Cake. The sad thing was that this request was made on a Wednesday, so I had to do a little creative changes to make the time work for me. Rather than an elaborate Flower-Box cake, I made a flower-garden cake. The cake design was simple, Strawberry cake with Strawberry Buttercream, topped with Sugar flowers and a Sugar Butterfly.

 

Since this is for a young girl's Flower Birthday, I wanted to make the flowers POP! The butterfly on top really accents the colors chosen (Purple and Pink). The only direction I got was that the little girl loved strawberries. Well, Sugar Strawberries make a cute accent. I love strawberries on cakes!

For the Flowers I used Cherry Blossoms, Anemones and a few 'accent' made-up flowers (Click for Tutorials). The colors do not lend themselves to 'reality' flowers, but the effect is just as cute!

 
Okay, First Blog post since the new upgrade to Blogger. I've got to say, I don't quite like it. The images are difficult to past, and I have to go into the HTML editor to delete useless code and get between the images. What a strange and sad change.I would love to complain, but who would listen. Any other bloggers feel the same? I hope so! Maybe I'm missing something......

Hope everyone has a great week. Easter is coming!

 

Flowers are Blooming

The wonderful weather continues! Actually, it rained a little here on Monday, but the sun came out and the rest of the week looks clear and warm! You can even see the buds on the trees starting to come out. We've had a very mild winter. Especially for Northern Canada!

This cake is my finest! I truly believe that this cake represents my best work. My friend's daughter was celebrating her 10th birthday, which was also her "Flower Birthday". How excited was I when I was asked to make the girl's cake.

Of course, this cake in my opinion in whimsical. The only request my friend had was "Lots of Colour," and beyond that, she said go to town. This design is a very classic design. It is known as a "Flower Box" Cake. It is a "Hat Box" cake with flowers spilling over the sides and the lid slightly a-kilter. I made sugar flowers for three days! Orchids, roses, hydrangeas, cherry blossoms, calla-lilies, and ivy leaves.

The sugar orchid below is my absolute favorite flower. I have never made a combined flower (that is flower petals wrapped together to make a flower). Most of my tries result in very broken flower pieces. This time, I was able to make two, one for each side, and they looked fabulous!


I think the best part was the party. I taught the kids how to decorate cupcakes. I used piping bags and we did Cuppy bears. I was super excited. They got creative and made Cuppy-Ducks and bunnies and kitties too! The kids did a fabulous job, and hopefully I'll get the pictures of the decorating fun from my friend. My course at the college, which runs April 4th, is full. I am so excited! This was a great run-through!

Well, I have one last cake for this March Break. I have yet to make it.... So many birthday parties, so many cakes! I am having a super fantastic March Break. I hope you are too!

Anniversary in more ways than one

February 29th is a big day for me. Not only is this my 200th post YAY, but it is also my first, fourth anniversary. It was four years ago today, February 29th 2008 that I got married.
Now, I get to celebrate!

Hubbie and I met some 10 years ago this month (Feb). I saw him in my first year English class and thought he was super beautiful! Being too shy to say anything, I just kept my nose in my books and soldiered on. A cute guy like him needs someone equally as good looking.
Later on that day, I walked into the social area of the university, the Agora, and saw some people playing a game. I walked up and said: OH WOW... MAGIC CARDS (nerdy game)... only to notice that the one playing the game was ... my future hubbie.


I was super embarrassed! But he was nice. We talked, played a few games of Magic, and then he asked me out to a movie. Our first 'date' was watching a movie about cannibalism (a movie called Ravenous).
One thing led to another, and we started to go steady. Six years later...
Hubbie hands me a box... my birthday present he says. I open it up, only to find a lovely kitten he had rescued from the humane society. As I lift the kitten and begin to freak out, he tells me to look at the bottom of the box. There was no ring, just two simple words... ENGAGEMENT KITTEN. I said yes of course. To this day, I still only have my wedding ring... one which matches his.

We were married in 2008. I was completing a Masters degree in English, and he was in Fort teaching... we decided to go ahead with our planned wedding date, even though we would only get a weekend together. We had chosen the leap year. Much like our courtship and engagement, the day was unique and fun... a perfect day for a wedding.
With Hubbie-to-be driving in town late on a Friday Night (after the school across the street blew up ... no really... from a gas leak just as he was leaving), and with me getting the final touches in place... we wed on a cold, freshly snowy Saturday. Our small ceremony was perfect. And he was mine forever! The school was repaired 1 and 1/2 years later...

I think the world of him. Unfortunately, he is actually sick today, so no big celebrations for us. He was super sad that he was not well enough for our dinner reservations, but I would much rather go when he feels well. Instead, I get to nurse him to health... I love him a lot!

Of course, what anniversary would be complete without cake! I decided to finally try the "ROSE" cake that I am Baker Legend, Amanda designed some time ago. You may have seen other people's versions... not it's my turn.

It's pretty. Roses for an anniversary. Hubbie loved it!

And of course, I can continue on being the dorky house wife I've always wanted to be. I seriously dreamed of it when I was young, but not knowing how to cook put a real hamper on that. I had a lot of work to do, and I think I fixed the problems... Maybe . At least I don't burn water anymore.

So, now I'm off to 'cubble' my Hubbie. Later on, we eat cake. Maybe, just maybe he'll be better this week, and we can celebrate for realsies.

CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!
And HUGS!