Bake Me a Cake...For Friends

I thought I would share a couple more cakes that I have done for co-workers over the past couple of weeks.

For Nancy's cake below, I tried to use gum paste / fondant decorations but did not allow them to dry long enough. When I covered the cake overnight in my cake carrier, the moisture from the cake made the decorations all droopy. The leaves and flowers all went flat on top of the cake. Bummer. But chalk it up as another lesson learned. It still looked fine and tasted delicious.

Nancy's Birthday Cake

Two co-workers, one who used to work in our western Washington office who now lives in France and another from our French office, recently got married over here. They hosted a BBQ at work and we just had to have a cake for the event. I was asked if I wanted to do a cake and since it is good practice for me, I jumped at the chance.

Nico & Katie's Cake

This was another torted sheet cake - vanilla cake with my secret vanilla filling, and buttercream icing. I used the Cornelli lace technique along with the Wilton rose. A reverse shell border on the top and a basic shell border on the bottom with color coordinated dots completes the cake. Nico and Katie took the left over cake home to share with their family - they like it that much! Come to find out, this was their "wedding cake" since they didn't have the traditional cake at their reception.

Using recipes found on CakeCentral.com, I have steadily been tweaking my buttercream recipe. No more Wilton basic buttercream for me. At least outside of class.

Using a tip from my cake class teacher, I have become a fan of the Cake Mix Doctor, too. Anne Byrn takes your basic box cake mix and "doctors" it up to taste more like cakes made from scratch. I primarily use Duncan Hines cake mixes (no added pudding) and then add in sour cream, vanilla yogurt or flavored instant puddings just to name a few things. It must be good because my co-workers and friends sure do enjoy eating my cakes. I recently acquired a few books by the Cake Mix Doctor with recipes and other tips so who knows what I will bake next. I'm hankering for an Orange Creamsicle Cake or a Lemon Cake, filling and icing concoction. Ooh la la!

At some point, I will probably start baking from scratch, but for now, starting with a box cake mix has been working for me.

I'm still taking another Wilton course, so stay tuned for an update from that class in the very near future.

Remember Whensday No. 11 - Happy Birthday, Gregg!

Today is my son's birthday. He is 29 years old.

I should have known from the start he was going to do things his way. He wanted to come into this world face up, ready to go!

Gregg @ Birth

Gregg was always a strong-willed boy who grew into a strong-willed young man. Luckily, the threat of "wearing water" kept him out of the thinking chair and in Mom's good graces.

Yeah, we hit a few rough patches during his teen years, but we managed to maintain a good relationship. Today he is a step-father to two teenage girls and is doing a fine job of it. I couldn't be a prouder mother.

Gregg with step-daughter Amanda - June 2009

Happy Birthday, Gregg!

To see more trips down memory lane, click on the Remember Whensday badge below. It's a new weekly meme I started a few weeks back to share some of our favorite pictures and stories. Come and join us!