Friday 3 October 2014

Cake Cakery

In addition to being chief cook and bottle washer, laundress, and general manager of the Anderson household I sometimes like to decorate cakes.

As I finished Caedmon's birthday cake tonight I was reminded of all the cakes I've made...and how much I hate washing frosting bags and tips.

It really started as an "I can SO do that." and then progressed into a thing called Jordan owns a Wilton cake decorating box jammed full of supplies. And then that's where it has stopped and happily has plateaued in that status unless it's October or April.

October and April happen to be the two months when our babies were born--2 and 2, it makes for lots of planning, budgeting, and saving for these birthday-heavy months. I don't claim to be great at the decorating, I just claim cake and frosting as some of my favourite foods.

I am what I am.
It is what it is.

So without further ado; a brief chronology and description of my cake-decorating journey the past 8 years.


Well this is out of order, but the cake I made tonight:
Caedmon's 8th birthday cake,
a Hobbit hole.



Because Caedmon is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, 
even though he's not yet allowed to watch the movies. 
He bases his love off descriptions of the books and movies that his dad and I tell him about.


The thing that started it all: Caedmon's first birthday cake.
I was ambitious, my mother helped.
So did my sister,
and my other sister.
And my husband.

Caedmon's 2nd birthday I took things down a notch, 
or twelve.


Caedmon's 3rd birthday I must've felt bad for his previous cake.
Also, I use fondant just for edible decorations.
And I'm using the term 'edible' here very loosely.

And I just paint the sculpted fondant with food colouring. 
Ain't nobody got time for kneading colour into fondant.

Also, can we take a moment and blow kisses to that gorgeous '78 
Silver Anniversary Edition Corvette in the background?
That car goes fast...
like really.

And I love it.

Caithness turns 1!
She had a "fancy" birthday party.

Caedmon's 4th birthday and he has a Jonah and the big fish cake.
Best picture I got folk, sorry.

Nessie's 2nd birthday.
This was ALL done by my sister and mother as the day before I was in the hospital giving birth.

Caedmon's 5th birthday was a space cake.
My engineering-genius of a husband made the rocket that lit up with the 5th candle.

Aberdeen's 1st birthday was a bit derailed because the most hideous day of our lives also occurred that same 24 hours.

So we celebrated Nessie's 3rd birthday in the children's hospital with a store bought cake that we shared with the nurses there on the oncology floor.

Aberdeen's birthday we celebrated the following Sunday finally after getting out of the hospital. 
This is after I'd been on Pinterest.
Who doesn't want to try out those fabulous rainbow cakes?!


This is Caedmon's 6th birthday cake, from Wal-Mart, because we were moving from Missouri just a few days after Caedmon's birthday.

This is also what a cake looks like when you have it too close to the baby's eager hands.

Aberdeeny-bean is 2!
My excuse for this second Wal-Mart cake is that I was 3 months pregnant with Airdrie 
and so, so, OH so toilet-lovin' sick.

Deep within the throes of morning sickness is not the best time to consider making a birthday cake.

For Ness I did pipe a design in frosting on a store-bought cookie.

That was enough for mother of the year for that point in time with me.

Which brings us to Caedmon's 7th birthday cake.
Fondant Lego is MUCH harder than you'd think.

My Little Pony cake for a 3 and 5 year old.
But it was ok because we had cupcakes a few surprises for Nessie on her birthday the day before.

Also, I've done various and sundry wedding cakes.
Well, 3.
But that's enough to last me a lifetime. 

Very first cake done for my cousins wedding.


My sister, Catlin's wedding cake.
I did this with my sister Jillian.

My conclusion: 
I like doing the flower arrangements between layers WAY more than the cake.



OH wait, I can't have a conclusion...

One last wedding cake for friends of ours.
This was a LOT of cake.
Also, those topper bouquets?
 Made by the bride. 
From duct tape flowers.
Wow.

Once I made a baby shower cake...

And another one.
I wish I had a time machine to go back and straighten the baby's mouth 
and slap myself before I thought it would be a good idea to use Jiffy Cake Mix for the cake.

Vanilla cornbread is what that junk tasted like...




Now you may be saying,
"That's great Jordan, 
but what we really want to know is 'has anyone ever thrown up on a cake you've made?'"

And so to all those inquisitive minds:


November 2007. 
My very first fondant cake.
For my sister's 24th birthday.


A delicate little thing...
supposed to be a cake, 
but looked like a hat, 
so it was a hat-cake.

Let's just go with it.

SURPRISE!
Mom and dad were at my house and took Jilly out on a Sonic run for me to set up the surprise.


Aw, she loves Caedmon.
She even lets him sip her drink.
Admire cake...

 Swallow pop and point to cake...


 Sip pop and admire cake...


 Step closer to cake...

UNSWALLOW 
ALL
OVER 
THE
CAKE.
From the large amounts of pop ingested.


And for the love of Pete
do NOT zoom in to that picture, 
it's left little on purpose.
Y'all just enjoy the expressions on everyone's faces.

But the mess was cleaned up and the cake survived...



Mostly.

5 comments:

  1. love the pictures!!! I've helped my son - a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) decorate cakes. Your cakes are impressive. How did you make the lego's???
    Julie - friend of Marylou's in NJ

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! The Lego were made from fondant, cut into strips and the round bits cut out with a straw.

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  2. Love this post!! You amaze me. You're like mom of the year x10. You have 4 kids, which gives you every reason not even to buy a store bought cake. Cause mom was BUSY, ok?? :) But you go above and beyond to make these gorgeous cakes!! I wanna be like you when I grow up. :)

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  3. Skyping with Caedmon, as he wasgetting ready for bed, I told him I saw his cool cake. His reply was that his mom just keeps getting better and better at making cakes for his birthday!
    Great job!

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