Father's Day Cake

Adam decided that I should make a cake for Frank for Father's Day! Originally we wanted to make an Incredible Hulk cake because that is Franks favorite Marvel Comic character and because the movie is out this weekend for Father's Day. Well, No Dice on the Incredible Hulk cake. I couldn't find any good cake pans or templates, and knew I could not free-hand the big green guy! So, we decided to make a San Francisco Giants cake since that is Franks favorite baseball team. If you have noticed, there as been somewhat of a baseball theme in my cake making.
I learned from my mistakes with Adam's Cubs cake, so I made a template this time for the Giants cake. The cake is almost entirely made from scratch. The actually cake itself is from scratch as well as all the icing, except the black icing. It is soooo hard to make black icing so I bought some, but it is harder to decorate with store-bought icing because the consistency is wrong for certain designs and it is hard to properly hold the tube like you would a decorating bag. So my black stars are a little mushy and not as close together as I would've liked, but I tried my best!

Go Giants.....and Cubs!

First Cake for Class

I have to admit that this cake was almost a disaster in more ways than one. The Cubs cake that I made last week was a little dry, so I added pudding to the mixture to keep it moist. The only problem was that the directions didn't specify if you should cook it longer or not, although I assumed you would. So this time I got a little dent rather than a hump, but the cake is moist! I have been VERY busy the past few days so I had to rush to get my cake made and iced in time for class today- down to the last second. Also, I am still trying to get the consistency of the icing down - apparently it was a little on the thin side today in class. Anywho, somehow I managed to pull off a cake!


We haven't learned how to make leaves yet, but I attempted them and came up short - literally!

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Cola Cupcake!

If you read my previous blog then you know I wanted to enter a cupcake contest to make a cola flavored, chocolate based cupcake to represent Atlanta for a new cupcake boutique that opened today in Knoxville called Cities Cupcakes. I decided to play off the Coke float idea! I did some research on the science of cake making and devised a pretty good recipe for the cola cupcake. I did not realize that Cola Cake has been around for awhile until later today. The first batch of my cola cupcakes were a little thick, with an near-brownie consistency, and not a lot of cola flavor. So I tweaked the recipe and the next batch turned out to be pretty tasty! I decided to flavor some whipping cream (from scratch, not the tub or can) with some vanilla to resemble the vanilla ice cream that is used in a Coke float. Also, since I am a candy fanatic, I found a cola flavored gummy candy to garnish the top.
I plan to submit my recipe. I think it could still use a little tweaking, but I think it tastes good enough to submit into the contest. We shall see what happens!

Cubs Cake

I have been practicing for my cake decorating class. Baking a level cake was a little more difficult than I expected. I did not accomplish a perfectly level cake, but there wasn't too much of a hump - just need to tweak the temperature some! So since I baked an almost-level cake, I figured that I should make icing to go along with it. The icing turned out very well. I experimented with vanilla and butter flavors - yum!
We have not learned any decorating techniques yet, but I read ahead in the book and decided to practice (practice makes perfect) the star technique that we will be learning on Monday. I am such an eager beaver that I decided to practice on my almost-level, iced cake. I made a Cubs cake, since Adam is such a fan! It is by no means perfect, but not bad for practice. I should have made a template to use, because my C wasn't rounded out enough or centered very well, but for freestyle, it's probably not that bad. I also had a bit of trouble coloring my icing, so I made more of a baby Cub cake!

Also, there is a new bakery opening today in Knoxville called Cities Cupcakes. They make cupcakes to correspond with different cities in the US. They have contest to make a Atlanta cupcake with a cola flavor and chocolate base, so I am going to attempt an Atlanta cupcake to enter into the contest. I have somewhat devised a recipe. It sounds good in theory, so we shall see how it plays out! Wish me luck!

Before

After

"Go Cubs"

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Yesterday I started Course 1 of the Wilton Method of Cake Decorating. My interest in cake decorating was sparked by my cousin, Kelli, who has made hundreds of cakes and posted them on myspace. I immediately fell in love with the idea! Course 1 is every Monday for 4 weeks, and I have to complete 3 cakes to pass the course. I will be posting my masterpieces each week before I find good homes for them to go to, since Adam and I don't eat a lot of cake! So if you'd like to foster some of my cakes, let me know!
Yesterday we learned some of the basics. We make our own Buttercream icing - none of that canned icing! We learned how to bake a level cake (no hump in the middle), tort, fill and ice a cake. We are supposed to experiment this week with icing flavorings, consistency and coloring, and have a cake baked and iced for class on Monday when I decorate my very first cake!
I never thought that I would be so excited about cake decorating, but I am. I am going to attempt a Father's Day cake for Frank and Dad, with only 2 classes under my belt. Luckily they will probably eat it no matter what it looks like!

A New Addition

Adam and I would like to send out a warm welcome to a new addition to the family, baby Kathleen Theresa Noone, who was born May 28th! Also we would like to congratulate the new parents, Adam's cousin, Pat and his wife Bernadette! We have seen some of baby Kathleen's first pictures and she is just beautiful! Hopefully she will inspire Adam and I to start our own additions!

We would also like to express how blessed we are for those who have come before us and those who are no longer with us!