Unicorns and Rainbows

(Sometimes I think I should change my names to Jen's Last Minute Cakes.  I prefer to have at least 2 weeks notice, a month is even better.  But recently, most of my orders have come in within a week of needing to be eaten.)

Sadly, I made this cake back in October, right before all the craziness happened that ended up with me living a few provinces westward.  With the customer only wanting the birthday girl's age on the cake, I can't for the life of me remember who this was for.  I've gone through my Facebook posts, my calendars, scoured all the photos... nothing.  No name.  No mention.  It bothers me, because I remember making it, and I don't want to forget my customers.  It's not me.

Please, if you were at the party, or this was for your daughter let me know so I can update this to be more personal.  As soon as I know a name it will all come back to me.

Until then, here are some vague details.

I know I printed out a template of the unicorn to get the right.  I used the dough extruder from the Holy Orange! cake to get the rainbow colours just the right size.  The clouds are just a bunch of balls squished flat.  They were oddly satisfying to make.

  Until the mystery is solved, that's all I have, unfortunately.

Today's Lesson:  Details!  Keep a log of dates and names.

Dirty Thirty Subaru

My move out west left me scared and nervous for many reasons.  I hated the thought of leaving all my family and friends, and missing so many important events in their lives.  After a few months, we heard some great news ... friends of ours from a few hours away back in Ontario were also relocating to Alberta.  And 5 minutes away no less.  Yay!

Due to distance and working around 2 pilots schedules, we didn't get together very often back home.  In the 4 years I knew them they came down for a birthday party, I got up there twice, and fella a few times on his own.  Fella and Gary worked in the same company so they passed each other a few times more.

For me and the slight depression I was going through, this was fantastic news.  Friends from back home, also moving away from friends and family, one with no job lined up yet, just like me.  We found a local restaurant with an awesome special every Wednesday, and on their first week in town, we decided that we would meet there every week.  Well anyone not working would be there (we've only missed 2 nights in 3 months... not a bad record)

Then Sarah let us know that she was throwing a birthday party for Gary's 30th.  As usual my ears perked up and I asked about the need for a cake.  Sarah mentioned that it was a cigar party, and I thought about making a large cigar, but they have a tendency to look like a few other things if not done just right.  Then I thought about a humidor, but my last box didn't turn out the best.  At a pizza night that Gary didn't make it too, Sarah was talking about the party, calling it his Dirty Thirty, and I had a brainwave!  Gary is into racing and has a rally car!  His Subaru, driving through a mud puddle, covered in dirt!

Perfect.

I have started every cake with a sketch of how I want it to look.  I hadn't really placed much emphasis on having a prototype of sorts, but after my big wedding cakes last fall, I found this was a big help.  I love being creative and just letting the cake become what I envision, but having a plan makes the whole process just fall into place.

This was my plan for the Dirty Thirty-mobile

Thanks to the magic of Facebook stalking, I was able to find a picture that Gary made of how we wants to paint the car eventually, but this gave me a perfect profile, and shots the the front and tail end of his car.  It was the perfect tool for shaping the cake.  After baking and layering the cake, I printed and cut out the car and used it to sculpt the cake.

I didn't get it exact, and it ended up too round to get all the final details spot on, but I didn't know that yet.  It looked spot on from the cut out, but I didn't take into account the icing, and how that would change things.

I remembered to take lots of pictures along the way, so here is how I made my first car:

The sculpt was finished, so I popped it in the fridge to firm it up, then put on a crumb coat of butter cream

Cut out some holes for wheels...

 Then cover with fondant.  This was too thick, which hurt the accuracy of my details later on.  But the Blue Beast was coming to life!

 A quick trim and it's starting to look like a car.  It was right here that I noticed it was too round to be a Subaru.

 I had earlier made a short rectangular layer to be the bit of ground with the mud puddle.  My measurements were off, and I noticed here that the car was going to be just as long as the puddle.  Seeing as there were only 10 or so people coming to the party, less cake was better, but my initial drawing was off.  I really should have made the car smaller to begin with, but oh well.

I also, here for the mud, accidentally created the perfect consistency for butter cream.  I've been making it according to a wonderful recipe for a few years now, and it's delicious, and by putting in a little more dairy than called for it has given me a usable putty for a few years now.  In order for my mud to be fluid enough I added an additional third in small increments and oh my, this was so much easier to work with.  I will be doing this from now on.  Not only will it go on smoother, but it will also go further!

 Car meets mud!  And also a ton of details.  I had Sarah send me a few picture of Gary's car, so I knew exactly where I needed colours and logos.  Any references you have when making a realistic cake the better.

 The back end complete with plate cut out and trim indents

 The front end featuring Gary's black hood and scoop

And finally, all covered in mud!

I had a lot of fun making this but definitely need to remember to stick to my initial measurements.  For some reason, I didn't think 10" long was going to be impressive enough, so I changed it to 11, and then didn't take into account how much frosting and fondant add to the cake.

Happy Birthday Gary... Your Blue Beast was fun to recreate!

Changes!

Big news from Jen Bakes Cakes... Now baking from Alberta!

In a very short but complicated time, I went from working my regular job and baking from the Greater Toronto Area, to quitting; packing up a brand new to us apartment and moving westward.  It was a large adjustment to my new life, but I'm finally ready to get back into cake mode!

My new house has a nice big kitchen (which was a must in the house hunting process) but awkwardly laid out.  I have a nice big section of counter that will work perfectly for decorating.  I've made a few small things already... A cake for my fella's birthday, and for my dad this past weekend, but now I have a real order.  Yes, it's for a friend, but it's nice and complicated, and gets me back into 3d sculpted cakes.

Stay tuned for a full post for my first Albertan cake!

Portal of Power!

Sarah has become a fan of my work.  I didn't take much... She had a cake I made for my niece and she was sold.  Her husband was the lucky recipient of the Milenium Falcon this past winter, and she warned me a few weeks later that the little man's birthday was at the end of the summer.  Sure enough a reminder email came in:

"Jen... Skylander cake... go!"

That pretty much summed up the conversation.  I swear she was describing it in Greek or Mandarin.... Barely any words made sense.  I got cake, figure and online out of it.

So Skylander (which is not Highlander in space, much to my disappointment) is uber popular for the little guys these days.  Apparently.  Do you know Skylander?  I didn't have a clue.  So you get an action figure to play with in real life, then a stand for it that acts as an online portal... place the figure on the base and you get to play with that character in an online world.  Or so I'm told.  If you place 2 on it... apparently they will go into battle mode.  Fancy!

"Sure Sarah.  I can make that work"

Research away, and yep... A streamlined cake for a family dinner was easily doable.  I could have gone into crazy detail for this, but as usual, timing wasn't easy (I have to stop taking orders on weekends I'm working).  I knew cutting a few corners wouldn't take anything away from the cake, and little W would know it right away.

I decided to get a little fancy and  make it in action... it glows to tell you the character is online.  So I had some fun with bright orange for the portal and the fun symbols around the side.  

I got carried away doing the stone effect, but I think it looks great.

Sarah was blown away, and I can't wait to hear how the little guy liked it.  And hopefully I'll get a picture with his new figure on the cake, making it look all official like.

The cakes that almost weren't

If you are a cake fan, there would be nothing worse than losing your baker two weeks before your wedding.

Sadly for Kendra and Nate this is exactly what happened.  

Luckily for Kendra and Nate, their photographer was my friend Samantha.  They mentioned their plight, and were sent my way.  Normally, bakers like a good 4-6 months before a wedding to plan everything and get their schedule arranged. Looking for a baker 14 days before your wedding generally means you aren't getting a cake.

It was tight, but I knew I could make it work.  

His and Hers Cakes

The neat thing about this cake is that there was actually 2 of them... a his and hers - something to reflect both of their interests.

From our first conversation, it was clear that their previous baker didn't really include them in the decision making process, and they had no idea what their cake was going to look like.  After asking a few questions, I came up with a quick sketch that they fell in love with.  Not bad for 20 minutes while at work:

I mean on break... I was definitely on break and not neglecting my duties at all. 

We met a few days later and made a few small changes, and they could rest easy and focus on more important things. 

It wasn't easy - they took a lot of time to figure out how to make everything work.  I had never really done anything like this.  My monkey cake was just a couple of monkeys I made following a tutorial.  There was no tutorial for all of these - just pictures and stuff around the house.

It took a better part of a week to get all the bits made just right, but man was it fun!

Have a look:

Congratulations Kendra and Nate.

Flight suit, with a twist

This belly cake might be the oddest one I will ever make.  I thought my ringmaster was the furthest away I would get from the dressy belly I first made, but this one is quite specific.

See, fella's friends all met through the air cadets.  They are all pilots; some professionally, some privately, and some still through the military.  Lindsey, up until the giant belly, was in charge of a centre where new cadets would come out and learn to fly a glider. 

As soon as I found out that we were having a shower while the bun was still in the oven, I volunteered to make the cake.  I told fella about my idea, and his eyes lit up.  That normally only happens when 'I'm making a cake' is followed by 'for you'.  I immediately sent off an email to the host, who replied "Um, that would be AMAZING!!!!!!!!"

Done.

This one required quite a bit of researching.  In a room full of pilots, I had to get this one right.  Thankfully, fella had this lying around...

Yep.  A belly dressed up in that.  Then took an old cake and drew the plan.

Not too shabby!

Finally, I remembered to take pictures along the way, so here's a little tutorial!

After my favourite cake recipe is mixed and baked we have the makings of a cake.
 

I'm not giving away all my trade secrets, so you'll have to guess how to get these shapes.

A little bit of cutting, and molding, and here were have boobs, and a nice tall belly:

After a thin crumb coat and a chill, a thicker, final coat of icing, then into the fridge to firm up before starting with the fondanting!


Now it's just a matter of decorating.

This is how my kitchen looked... I love having a life size model to work from.  It makes this step so much easier.

Fondant on the cake, now just needs to be trimmed to shape.  On normal belly cakes, I don't let the fondant go all the way to the board under the belly - I want it to sit outwards and be ruffly like a dress would hang.

I couldn't make all the patches standard issue looking being so small, so I had to improvise.  This name patch should have first and last name, as well as the type of plane the person flies.  I had a hard enough time getting just the last name on here!

As soon as fella knew that I was making the cake, he said I had to make this old patch.  I don't know what the difference between this and the new one, but everyone seemed happy to see it on the cake, so I guess there's more to it than I know.

As soon as I finish a cake, I take as many pictures of every angle of the cake in case I every need to make it again.  So here is my final photo shoot with the cake. 

 

At ease, baby!

The Belly Cake

Belly cake, boob and belly, pregnant dress cake... Call it what you will, this is one of my favourite cakes to make.  It never ceases to be overwhelmingly adored by everyone who orders it.

My fist belly cake, for my best friend

I have been lucky enough to make 10 of these so far, and would love to give one to every Mommy-to-be out there.  It's just so much fun.  

The best thing about it, for me, is that even though the premise is the same, every cake is different.  It's a big ol' pregnant belly dressed up.  But each dress is as different as the expecting mama.  I ask a few questions about the mom - Is she girly, laid back, funky.  Expecting a girl or a boy or is it a surprise for everyone.  What theme are you following at the shower?  Do the parents have the nursery decorated a certain way?  

Every answer helps to design the dress.

Or lack of a dress.  This mama doesn't wear dresses, but that won't stop me!

I'll never stop loving the look on the customers face when they pick it up... they were expecting something amazing, but the finished product is always so much more - they can see the guest of honour in that cake.

Please enjoy!

Great for a boy, or unknown sex

I just love adding in that belly button :)

Girl or Boy? No one knows.

Designed for a Giraffe Theme Shower

A proper mama in pearls

Who says you can't go strapless when 9 months pregnant?

Big Top Theme shower... The cake was the Ring Master!

Adorable unisex cake