May the 5th be With You.

My son is majorly involved in his own little Star Wars world. Sets up entire fleets on his bedroom floor and dumps out all his toys to use each toy bucket as a separate planet. Very cute, very messy, but definitely a new obsession!

Of course for months now he has been going on about his birthday cake and what-who he wants on it. This was a challenge, but I think if I had started earlier the modeling might have been better. It is all still a learning process. I made Vader and he was a midget! I had to throw out the head and make the krispy treat body taller. No one wants a shrunken bad guy on their cake. I am beginning to think the key to good modeling is weeks of working and plenty of patience. ME I tend to do this 3 days before the birthday event...hehe. That doesn't make for much room to make mistakes. ALSO pieces that are soft are more likely to sink in or squish. Soooo we will try not to procrastinate when my daughter's birthday comes around. the light sabers had to dry but then to stick them into the hands they needed a toothpick which would then crack them. Spaghetti would have been smarter...just saying.

Okay as much as I'm going on about what went wrong I really am happy with it. He LOVES it and the death star wasn't the disaster I thought it might be, it actually does look somewhat like the death star. So I'm just nit-picking because that's how I learn and improve. The size of the cake would have worked better bigger, but the egg free/dairy-free/gluten-free cakes don't cook up well in larger sizes. I find the top burns and the middle is uncooked, so this 10 inch is actually quite large for me in terms of allergen-free cake making. I also remembered just how much better the VIVA towel works for smoothing buttercream. I cannot let myself think that anything else is comparable, because for me, it really is not better. Go VIVA! :)

May the Cake Forces be with you today!!!!!!!!

Advent Blessings!

Mr. Shark!

 

This is a long overdue post!

 I made this cake for my hubby's birthday over the summer. It was kind of a disaster scenario that turned out okay in the end. I did something I NEVER do which is tried to use a canned icing to speed it up and get the "Cotton Candy" flavor. I was very unhappy. I really don't like canned icing at all and the flavor was not ideal. So I just ended up with a much smaller cake after a HUGE FAIL on the first attempt.

I made this at my kids request that daddy's cake have the Shark puppet they love on it. Daddy is often voicing Mr. Shark and has Mr. Shark talk to them and play around. The kids ADORE this puppet. I used fondant to make him and just left him hollow so he'd sink like the puppet does. It really wasn't as complicated as I expected it to be, but the teeth were difficult. Shaping each one by hand and then adhering it with teeny bits of water was a delicate process! I hand painted the dot detail with icing color using a toothpick.

It was simple and had fish on it (Mr. Shark likes to eat fish). There really was not much to go on as a theme so I made this small cake for him. I know he liked it (although after my fiasco it was a day late) and I'm grateful to have him in my life. He is an amazing man.

I guess I should make time to catch up some of the other cakes I made. Life has been a whirlwind since my hubby started his new position in his office and I often feel like everything is moving faster, nothing is done and I'm in a state of chaos juggling everything without any breaks to breathe...but---that said, I wouldn't change it and I know it is all to the Glory of God and His perfect plan. So please forgive my lapse in blogging. I do miss sharing in the cake blogosphere...time to find a little space to explore it here and there again. 

Blessings!

Cinco de Mayo Cake and Bake Sale

These are the cakes I made for the bake sale at our church. I always feel like Wonder Woman and in my mind I think I will make 4 or 5 little cakes. And then I end up frazzled and trying to just be happy with the two I managed to make in my available time. It is a good reminder that I am NOT Wonder Woman and a much needed humbling for my heart and soul.

So I made this cute little chili pepper cake...

 

which I struggled to not cut into myself...I really liked it and wanted to keep it, but I knew it was for a good cause so I had to love it and leave it.

Then I made this more traditional buttercream cake with some fun ribbon roses on top. I actually thought it had a bit of Cinco de Mayo flavor in a subtle way...the bottom ruffle almost looks like a traditional skirt and the rosettes have a sort of Mexican feel (like those lovely flowers used in decorations).
 


I always enjoy having a reason to decorate a cake! :)

Blessings!

My Fave Egg-Free Cupcakes

I really love this recipe.

It's so nice to not have to measure out egg replacer and I love egg replacer, but it is SO pricey. This recipe doesn't use it and still gets a great texture, flavor and rise. Which makes me smile :) I adapted this recipe from a vegan version I found online.

I made this for the kids today and they are excited to have a Tea Party to celebrate...well the 4th Week of Easter and "almost done" with homeschooling week. Well, maybe mommy's just glad to be ALMOST done.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Allergen-Free Cupcakes:

1 cup of soymilk (or other dairy-free milk)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil (I use Canola but you can sub any other oil you prefer---flax oil works for healthier option)
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup rice flour (I prefer white, but brown works too)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp Xanthum gum or guar gum
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Works best for 24 mini cupcakes or you can do 12 regular cupcakes. I haven't tried a cake yet. I'm a fan of the mini cupcakes for these.

Whisk wet ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients with a fork until combined. Pour into prepared pans (Greased or filled with cupcake wrappers).  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean around 15-20 minutes depending on your oven and the size of the cupcakes.

Let cool and frost with icing of your choice. I like Wilton's Dairy-Free version of their buttercream, but pick the icing that you like best! :)

Blessings!

Happy Easter Cake

Happy Easter...Season.

:)

We celebrate Easter Sunday for 8 days (the octave) and then the Easter Season for 50 days. Sooo it's still Easter time for us. I know this a bit late for most of you, but you will have to indulge me as I've been out of town and only just got back to post pics.



This is an allergen-free chocolate cake with  dairy-free butter cream and fondant decorations. It's a tiny thing only a single layer and 6 inches. The lamb is molded in fondant and then I piped the furry part on and painted the eyes. The kids made the eggs and flowers (such great little assistants) and I did the rest. I had it blessed at the Blessing of the Food Liturgy at our church. I really enjoyed making baskets and taking them to be blessed...next year I need to remember to take a pic of the baskets...I forgot to do that this year!

Blessings!

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair.We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." Pope John Paul II

Let Down Your Hair...

My sweet 6-year-old requested a "Tangled" Cake for her birthday and I was a bit overwhelmed. Honestly this cake was supposed to have Flynn on it and be much more "accurate" in appearance to the actual Disney movie...but I was not really up for that much work. THEREFORE...this is my interpretation of Rapunzel/Tangled.

The cake is an 8 inch, 3-layer cake. Allergen-Free AKA DF/GF/Nut Free amongst other things and has a dairy-free butter cream and a dairy-free chocolate butter cream filling. The decorations are all fondant, butter cream and DF krispy treat. The only inedible items are supports for the tower and Rapunzel.


The kids cut out most of the flowers and my birthday girl helped pipe flower centers. My own assistant cake decorators! :) I shaped the hair into a "6"...see above for the closeup shot...and used some of the Lustre Dust to make the hair and the Lily sparkly...sort of...I'm not sure how obvious it is!

To make the tower I used hidden pillars taped together and stuck a 12 inch support inside of them. I covered it in foil and butter creamed the sides before applying fondant and adding detail.  The house part of the tower is all krispy treat hand shaped and then covered in fondant. I cut out a piece for Rapunzel.

PHEW. Lots of work...but her smile made it worth it! :)