Happy Thanksgiving!

Pecan pie is ready! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Basketball Cake

A small basketball cake for my Uncle Chap's birthday.

Caden's Blessing Cake

Blue and yellow themed caked with a large letter "C" block and button accents.

Chris and Lisa's Anemone Wedding Cake

My first wedding cake!  Lisa and I have been friends since our freshman year of high school and I was flattered that Lisa believed in me enough to think that I could pull off such a major task for their big day.  On top of this huge responsibility, she also asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding so I definitely felt a lot of pressure to help make her and Chris's day absolutely perfect.  I was happy to take on the task(s) for someone whom I love so dearly and for a couple who I truly believe is perfect for one another. 

Lisa based the theme of their wedding around the anemone flower.  Her centerpieces, bouquets, party favors, and invitations all included this beautiful flower. 

The bridesmaids' bouquets.

The bride's bouquet.

The wedding favors.  Homemade sugar cookies with an anemone design in royal icing. These were made by Lisa's sister-in-law. 

When we talked about the design of her cake, Lisa wanted something simple.  Together, we decided on a three tiered cake with just one or two anemone flowers, and gray ribbon to match the color of the bridesmaid dresses.

A sketch of the cake that I drew for Lisa.

Lisa and Chris made their cake toppers together.  They are painted Japanese kokeshi dolls.  I really love the little anemone boutonniere that Chris has on his doll.  They look like perfect little cartoon versions of themselves!  So adorable. 

The bottom tier of the cake was red velvet and the two top tiers were white cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  I also made two 1/4 sheet cakes that were cut in the kitchen of the venue. 

The mini cupcakes were provided by Cat's Cupcakery.  Cat has really great and unique flavors such as ube (purple yam) and calamansi (a Filipino citrus fruit) along with popular choices like red velvet and vanilla.  Each one was delicious!  I should know.  I tried them all!

Photo courtesy of Jason Chan Photography

Congratulations, Chris and Lisa!  Thank you for hosting such a beautiful and fun wedding.  It will be a day that we will never forget! <3

Phil's SF Giants Birthday Cake

We celebrated a big birthday last Saturday.  My boyfriend, Phil, turned 30!!  He is a super low-key guy and didn't want to do much for his birthday so I made him this San Francisco Giants baseball cap cake and a few friends and I surprised him with it. 

 

I've been meaning to make an SF Giants themed cake for Phil for quite some time but I love surprising people (if I could surprise people for a living, I'd be awesome at it and extremely rich) and since we live together that's not the easiest task.  To me, turning 30 is a big deal so I felt that I no longer had an excuse to not make him a cake.  Luckily, I work from home on Fridays and this cake was surprisingly easy to make.  I finished the entire thing in one day and it usually takes me 2 to 3 days to prep and complete a cake.  Basically, all this cake is made up of is: one 7 inch round cake, and a bill made of fondant and gum paste. 

Me and the birthday boy!

 The big 3-0.

Carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.

Here are my tips if you would like to make your own baseball cap cake:

1) To make the bill, I took one of Phil's real baseball caps and traced the bill onto a piece of manila folder to make a template.  Use whatever you have on hand: cardboard, card stock, etc.  Something stiff enough to hold its shape and won't be cut into easily when you are cutting your shape out of the fondant.  

2) I used a 50/50 fondant and gum paste mixture.  Next time I would up the ratio of gum paste to fondant to allow the bill to dry faster and harder.  

3) To get a little shape in the bill, slide a piece of card stock underneath and push in the sides to create a round bump.  Tape the card stock in place with painter's tape (I always have a roll on hand) and allow the bill to dry.  You can even stuff some paper towels underneath the card stock for more stability.  Remove the card stock and paper towel when you are ready to present the cake.  

4) For the cake, bake two 7 inch layers of your favorite kind.  I used a carrot cake without nuts or raisins.  I omitted these ingredients because I knew I would have to do a little bit of carving and the nuts and raisins would make large chunks fall out of the cake.  All I really carved off was the edge of the top tier and two notches on both sides to give the cap a little life.  

5) I've learned to use cream cheese frosting only as a filling and not as my crumb coat.  The cream cheese frosting is much too soft and doesn't hold up to the warmth of my hands when I am smoothing out the fondant on the cake.  So instead I make a dam with Swiss meringue buttercream, fill with cream cheese frosting, and then use more buttercream for the crumb coat. 

Wow!  I can't believe I finished this whole cake, and cleaned up all the evidence in one day!  After making this list of tips it seems like there is a lot more work than I remembered.  Time management in these cases is your best friend!!

2011 Holiday Goodie Box

 Pretty freaking adorable, huh?

It's been awhile since I've made Christmas cookies.  Last month, I brought treat boxes with me to a Christmas gift exchange and one of my girlfriends said "You didn't make us cookies last year!... Or the year before!"  I know... I know... but, shit... it's hard work!  So, I figured I'd make it up to them and make them LOTS of goodies this year (so maybe I can take a break again for the next 2 years, or even 5).  In the boxes were: pistachio macarons, cinnamon sugar butter cookies, mini heart shaped apple pies, chocolate hazelnut cookies, a red velvet cupcake and soft ginger cookies.

I've made almost all of those cookies/treats before, except for the mini pies.  It was my first time making pie dough from scratch and I used Martha's pate brisee (pie dough) recipe.  It was super flaky and buttery.  Working with the dough was very easy and I had no problems making it by hand, without a food processor, but I did get a food processor for Christmas (after I made all these freaking mini pies) and made pie dough with it for Christmas day.  I would still consider both ways equally as easy but the food processor is just faster.

For the pie filling, I made a stove top apple filling first.  I based my recipe on this one.  I added twice the amount of cinnamon and my little pies took approximately 15 to 18 minutes to bake until golden brown.  I think that someone could easily make a bunch of these guys and throw them in the freezer.  When you get the craving for some pie a la mode, warm one (or four) in the oven and serve with vanilla ice cream!

To create the packages, I went to Smart and Final and got a bunch of take out boxes (the sort of flat and rectangular kind).  To keep everything cozy inside so that things could stay separate and not crack or break, I used jumbo cupcake liners, which I found at Safeway and Michael's.

Goodie box tied with a red ribbon and adorned with a homemade tag, ready to go.

I'm a little late, but I hope everyone had happy holidays and an even happier new year!