Celebration Cakes: Sesame Street Party!

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of making some goodies for a Sesame Street-themed birthday party for a cute little 2-year old girl. A personalized cake, monster cupcakes, and colorful cake pops were on the menu for this special day. The cake was funfetti with a chocolate ganache layer and a vanilla custard layer, frosted with chocolate American buttercream and decorated with fondant.

 

I had such a fun time designing and creating the cake as well as piping the Elmo, Oscar, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster cupcakes. The cupcakes were chocolate and vanilla with colored vanilla American buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

This last picture, above, was taken by the birthday girl's mother - cake, cupcakes, and pops as part of her fun, adorable Sesame Street-themed display.
This project was one of my favorite, yet!

Mario Kart Cake!

I was so excited when I recently was given the opportunity to made a Mario Kart-themed cake for some family friends of ours. Super Mario Bros. have been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid, and I've wanted to do a cake inspired by Mario and his pals for quite some time.

This cake was 2 tiers, each with a 3-layer vanilla funfetti cake inside. The fillings were custard and ganache, and the entire cake was frosted in a vanilla-flavored American buttercream.

This cake was covered in blue fondant and topped with a 3-D Mario figure in his kart just crossing the finish line.

This cake was loads of fun to do and I was thrilled to see the many little happy faces when they saw this cake at the party!

Accompanying the cake were vanilla funfetti and chocolate cupcakes frosted with vanilla-flavored American buttercream and topped with an "M" or "L" fondant medallion for Mario and Luigi.

Confirmation Cake & Cupcakes

It's been quite a busy month for me in my kitchen. Lots of birthdays and celebrations call for lots of cake! This cake and cupcakes were made for a confirmation.

The cake was vanilla with a strawberries-and-cream filling, frosted with a vanilla-flavored American buttercream and topped in a layer of fondant. The quilted design was simple and elegant for this special event.

Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla-flavored American buttercream were made for this party as well, coordinating in design with the quilted cake.

Superhero Birthday Party!

About a month ago, one of my friends asked me to make her son's 4th birthday cake decorations - that's right, decorations. Not the cake, not the cupcakes, just the decorations. I thought this was such a great idea, especially for those who like to bake and want the look of a custom cake but may not have the time or experience of making such detailed and labor-intensive decorations.

Her son, quite the little superhero himself, wanted his party to have a superhero theme. And not just any superhero, but quite nearly all the superheros! It was such fun for me to create these little medallions that would go atop the cupcakes my friend would make for his birthday party. I have to be honest, I didn't know many of the logos belonging to these superheros, but a quick Google search took care of that.

Top row (left to right): Green Lantern, Spiderman, The Hulk, Flash Gordon. Bottom row (left to right): Captain America, Batman, The Incredibles, Superman.

 These superhero medallions were created during the week Sandy hit. We had no power that week and making these medallions was a great way to spend the sunlit days. And since they required no baking or refrigeration, it was quite perfect.

Onomatopoetic words

I've made and blogged about these fondant medallions before, both here and here. They are proving to be such a versatile adornment to cupcakes and can really fit in with any theme. 

It was such a pleasure to be responsible for such a fun, memorable part of this special little boy's very special day. Thanks for the opportunity, guys.

My friend's home-made cupcakes topped with my fondant medallions.

A Frankenstorm Halloween

Hello, everyone. It's been a while since my last post and as much as I've missed posting about the sweet offerings of my kitchen, my break has been warranted. You see, my family and I live in New Jersey and Sandy ferociously plundered through our home state en route to historical disasterous grandiosity a couple of weeks ago. This hurricane whipped through many East Coast states, leaving devastation in New York and New Jersey. My husband's and my childhood homes of Gerritsen Beach and Staten Island took some very major hits. Our college town of Hoboken withstood serious damage. As you can see, this storm affected us on a personal level. It's been the closest we've ever come to disaster.
Still, lucky for us, our home in New Jersey braved Sandy with very minimal damage. Some of my friends and their families were not so lucky.
While many of my friends and families suffered damages to their properties and belongings, no one was hurt, thankfully. Seeing the positive in rough times, I find that events like these bring people together in ways that no other can. Disasters, as tragic and unfair as they are, reveal such a beautiful side in the human race - bringing forth a true love and generosity, humility and thoughtful spirit. Setting aside all differences, these times seem to equalize us for a moment.
The power in our house was out for 8 days. We realized that even though this made life slightly more difficult than usual, it was still just power - heat and light. Heat is a few extra sweaters and socks, maybe a hat and some gloves, sitting in front of a blazing fireplace. Light is a flashlight and some candles, daylight.
Please consider giving freely whether by physically offering your help or donating to organizations with the goal of assistance and repair for Hurricane Sandy victims and areas. American Red Cross allows you to donate $10 to relief efforts by texting REDCROSS to 90999. You can also visit their website to learn more about their work and donate in other ways.

On a lighter note, Governor Christie declared Monday, November 5th a postponed Trick-or-Treating day for kids in New Jersey. In lieu of this, I am posting pictures from a Halloween cake I made earlier in October. I know this is a bit late and that we're all in heavy preparation for Thanksgiving now, but the storm partnered with a week-long vacation left me with no choice. I hope all of you trick-or-treaters didn't let the conditions put a damper on your spirits and that you had a candy-filled, fun Halloween!

Cupcake Medallions

I recently made a batch of cupcakes for a friend who's sister-in-law was having her first child, a girl. It was a sweet idea to present them to friends and family as they visited the baby for the very first time.

There were three flavors in all - vanilla, chocolate, and carrot cupcakes - all frosted in a basic swirl pattern to accommodate the design they selected - personalized medallions.

They wanted cupcakes that were sophisticated and elegant and not the usual pink- or blue-pastel hued designs.

I pulled together this very simple and more formal look with small round fondant-gumpaste medallions that were personalized with the first letter of the baby's name, R.

These cupcakes are proof that simplicity is often the most beautiful way to go. Congrats to the family on your very new addition!

Celebration Cakes: A Special Graduation Cake

When I married my husband, I inherited three sisters-in-law. They are all beautiful, each with their own loveable personality. The middle one, Allison, graduated from college this year with flying colors. When I first met her a mere 18 years ago (!!), she was a cute, spunky little toddler with loads of energy. I have watched her grow up over the past nearly two decades and she has become a strong woman with a tough-as-nails shell and a heart of gold. That energy still runs rampant in her now, but is more purposefully channeled into running, which she does quite amazingly well, coming first in dozens of races. She is one-of-a-kind, very special and someone I am extremely proud to know and call my sister.

So, when I heard plans being made for a graduation party, I immediately wanted to make a cake celebrating her. If Allison were a cake, what would she be? This cake had to be her - feminine but not overly so, with an edge and a little spunk - strong and bold with a soft side.

I found inspiration in one of Collette Peter's books, Cakes to Dream On: A Master Class in Decorating. The Torte of Babylon was exactly what I was looking for.

Making such a large cake takes weeks if you want to maintain your sanity. Doing things in steps, with lots of time in between for things to set and dry as necessary, is crucial. This was the largest cake I've made to date. It served 75-80 people very well and it consisted of 4 tiers - each was 3 layers of cake. The three layers were chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla (a neapolitan cake) sandwiching strawberry jam. Each tier was covered in buttercream and then a layer of fondant. Using strawberry jam instead of buttercream between the layers was a huge success because the cake was not overly sweet. The layers of cake were the stars rather than an overpowering buttercream. In making cakes, it's so very important to regulate the sweetness of the cake through its parts. If a cake is too sweet, it is often hard to eat and takes away from any flavor the cake may have.

The homemade jam that I had tucked away in my pantry ended up being a bit thin for the cake so I used a storebought jam as I didn't have strawberries or the time to make up another batch. Other than that, everything was homemade from the fondant to the cake layers. Whenever I bake and decorate, even grand pieces such as this one, I always use fresh ingredients and make everything myself. Like I always say - homemade is much better than storebought, both for taste and healthfulness.

I had to empty out a good portion of my refrigerator to fit the assembled cake the night before the party. As you can see, it took up a great deal of space!

This cake had to be taken on a 2-hour trip to Long Island on a very muggy and hot summer day. The top tier was removed for stability during transport. I reassembled the cake successfully once we arrived at the party locale.

With my husband's help, I had created a pedestal which coordinated with the cake, but was unable to use it as the cake ended up being too heavy to be supported by it. It did serve a purpose though, as a resting spot for each tier as I took each off to slice and serve to the guests.

It was such a fun party and the cake was so worth the effort it took to make it! Everyone loved it, and I was thrilled to be able to add a little something memorable to Allison's already special day.

We wish you all the best in every endeavor you take from here on in. Reach for the stars! We love you!

A Baby Shower Cake

This week I had the pleasure of making a baby shower cake to coordinate with a beautiful invitation which had fuchsia and green accents.

The cake was 3 layers of vanilla with a strawberries and cream filling. The whole cake was enrobed in vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant.
Real strawberries were requested for the filling and this one turned out to be delicious. I whipped some cream, sweetened it a little bit and folded in a few cups of fresh, diced, mascerated strawberries.

Strawberries are in season now, so picking up one of those club packs from the grocery store is a great idea. If you ever find yourself with too many strawberries, just hull them, rinse them, let them dry completely and freeze in an airtight ziploc bag. They will be good for up to a year in smoothies, as purees for cakes and cupcakes or frostings and fillings.

This filling is very adaptable - you can substitute any mascerated berry for the strawberries and have a wonderful berries & cream filling. You could even do a combination. I am loving the strawberries and cream theme - it's very "Wimbledon," which happens to be going on right now and is my very favorite tennis tournament. Go Roger!
The baby shower cake was decorated very simply with polka dots and a big celebratory bow on top.

Next week, a submarine cake! Stay tuned...