Genetics

Also, going along with the post I just did about Aimee's 2nd birthday cake....lets talk about Toby's 2nd birthday cake, 2 1/2 years ago (wow).
It seems that genetics are more all encompassing than I knew.

The conversation, just prior to Tobys birthday...

"Toby, what do you want for your birthday?"
"Cake!"
"What kind of cake? (I was thinking...chocolate? vanilla?)"
"Blue?"
"Ok, what kind of blue cake?"
Without any hesitation "Alligator"
What!? He had absolutely no previous interest in alligators. And I had very little previous interest in making cakes. But, he was my baby, I had to give him an alligator"






This is little baby Toby the morning of his birthday when he came down and spotted the immediately recognizable blue alligator cake (that mommy had been up all night working on). He was happy.


And now, 2 1/2 years later, it seems that my children are genetically predisposed to have that exact same birthday conversation, with slight variance, most likely due to gender.

Aimee- 2 years old going on 13!

Queen Squishy is two!

Here is how the original birthday conversation went, a month ago...

"Aimee, what do you want for your birthday?"

"cake!"

"What kind of cake?"

"ummm Blue!"

"Ok, what do you want on your blue cake?"

"ummmmm....Hoby(Toby)!"

much laughter...

Because I am a wimp, and felt a little uncertain about the concept, and my ability to put Toby on a cake, I let it drop, and tried again a few weeks later....

"Aimee, what do you want for your birthday?"

"cake!"

"What kind of cake?"

"ummm Blue!"

"Ok, what do you want on your blue cake?"

"ummmmm....(mommy praying she doesn't say Toby, thus necessitating that I make it happen)...ducks."

Ducks it is!

Toby and I worked together on our gumpaste ducks. Both of us found our first attempts to be sub par. So we tried again, and we were pretty happy with our duckies.

my duck

Toby's duck

Toby made his duck all by himself, all I did was give him the right amounts of gumpaste, and help him prop up his beak while it dried!

Little did we know that fights would break out at the party over who got to eat the ducks. Note to self, next time make more ducks.
10" chocolate cake with pudding filling

Happy Birthday Baby Betsy!

With a sweet name like Betsy, she just had to have a cute cake. And if she is even half a cute as her sister (who I got to meet) then their mom is very blessed, and also in trouble (the cute ones can be sneaky). =)

The flowers are royal icing, and the ladybugs are fondant (you can't tell from these pictures, but the big ladybugs are smiling). Everything else is buttercream.

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I tried lots of new techniques for this, so I spent a lot of time on it.

I wanted the traditional "smash cake" to be cute, and similar to the big cake, but still something that she would actually want to eat, or at least smash, (aimee didn't really want anything to do with her smash cake at her 1st birthday party), so I didn't use the hard royal icing. I HAD to put a baby ladybug on there, but I made sure to tell Betsy's mom to remove it, before Betsy could.

Baby Elephant

I love nursery themes. They are always soft and cute and babyish, and still so full of the parents personality's.
You get to take real life, maybe not so very cute things, and create a babyfied , that is so cute it's stupid, version. Elephants for example. At the zoo you rarely hear "oooooh" and "awwww", but for a new baby boy...

The Phantom of the Opera

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Phil told me he caught you eyeing a red velvet cake the other day. And he wanted to surprise you for your birthday. Hopefully this tastes better then him attempting to bake.

I was also informed that you LOVE the Phantom of the Opera

And I just have to say, I am my biggest critic. I am rarely really proud of something I have done without a negative disclaimer (I know, I know. I am working on that) but I am quite proud of this rose. It is the second gumpaste rose I have ever made, and I was surprisingly pleased with how well it turned out.

The Middle Child = )

"I have no idea what this is. Can you make it? :D"

That is what my sister sent me several months ago. That tiny little picture with no description and no recipe.

I made an attempt for our bible study dessert the other night.

It definitely tasted good.

__________________________________________

So then I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her family birthday party. Her reply.

"Yellow cake. Rainbow chip icing. But I want it to be elegant."

What? How do you make a lumpy colorful kid party icing into something elegant? I am still not sure...

A word to those of you that might try this at home...rainbow chip is unpipeable with a standard size tip

Happy Birthday Meme. You are making my cake next year.

Happy Valentines Day

I bought myself new cake pans for Valentines day. Can you tell?

This cake was for 5chw4r7z.
Chocolate chocolate chocolate, and I made truffles for the first time.
I love getting to make a cake for a specific person and event.
They get something just for them, and I get to keep trying new things (though I am not gonna lie, I get frustrated when it doesn't go as imagined right away).

Originally these cute little cakes were going to be "conversation heart cakes"

But I decided to add some little decorations just for fun and practice.

*****Update: Aimee liked her cake.

George's Anniversary

George came over to contribute to the sub-kitchen, and in the process learned of my cake endeavors. Then I got to be a part of his fantastic plan. George, and Mrs. George, were about to drive to Gatlinberg to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. George asked me to make his wife's favorite "wedding" cake, so that he could surprise her. A very romantic gesture. I can certainly make a white cake with two layers of raspberry filling, and white buttercream, decorated in simple, romantic, wedding style. I can make the cake, but can he really get it to Gatlinberg, safely, without her noticing? The answer, YES!

He texted me after the big surprise..."The cake was a huge surprise. It is delicious. You really made this special for us. Thank You, George"

Toby's School Birthday

What can I say, I am a mom. I have to post about my kids. So, technically, I guess they aren't MY cakes, but I AM teaching Toby everything that I know...slowly.

So due to holidays and snow, Toby's school birthday was celebrated a little late, but when I informed him that he would be the birthday boy at preschool on Friday, he was pretty excited. By now he knows what that means.... he gets to be line leader, he gets a crown, and he gets cupcakes. Now, I am not certain, but I would venture a guess that while the other kids did bring in cupcakes, and maybe even homemade cupcakes, they did not decorate them all by themselves. Well, I have no pride (well, I try not to), and I want to empower the Tobe, so, he had full artistic license.

This is Toby...I thinking he was searching deep within for artistic inspiration. Or maybe he was pretending to be a wild bear. Unsure.

He wanted red, but settled on more of a salmon color. I had to provide a little strength, but Toby designed the icing on each cupcake for each kid in his class.

Then, the best part, the sprinkles.

Awesome! He even got to proudly present one to "Dan the Dinosaur Man"

Note: I am sorry to say that you can't currently hire Toby to make the cake for your special event. He might however be persuaded to contribute his artistic expertise.

Cimcool

Today is Scott's very last day of work at Cimcool. He has worked there full time since we got married 6+ years ago, and he interned there during college. He is excited about the new job that he will start tomorrow, but today, he has to goodbye to the people, and the familiarity, so its a little sad. So, what better way to cheer up, and say good bye, thank you, and good luck, then with cake.

I should also mention that Cimcool's company color is pink. Strange I know, but they manufacture industrial fluids, and their primary fluid is a distinctive hot pink. Personally I love it....I have netted some fantastic pink drums and buckets for my garden.

(aimee last spring)

Also, Scott doesn't so much like fruit, but he loves fruit flavored cake....so, he wanted half strawberry, half chocolate with plain (pink) buttercream icing. Its the least I can do.

I guess they liked it (Scott said they raved). And I know they are gonna miss Scott.

Princess Brenyn turned 21

Like everyone else in the late eighties and nineties, my family played its fair share of Super Mario Brothers.

You want proof ? This is my mom and dad, going to a costume party as Mario and Princess Peach.

Brenyn is my youngest sister. She just turned 21. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted... "Mario" is what she decided. (I am afraid it has become some sort of competition for Most Interesting Cake Request ever since Toby started it 3 years ago).

Fun. I had to bust out the Nintendo.

Princess Brenyn on the top of the cake was a last minute "I think I am hilarious" addition.

And of course, when you add 21 candles it looks like the Princess is in trouble. (She actually did start to melt by the end of "Happy Birthday".)

Every detail is edible....except for Princess Brenyn's face.