Go Badgers!

Recently I showed you a picture of a cake I made for Green Bay Packers football game.  There was a party at my in-laws' house, for which I made the cake.  My mother-in-law took the leftover cake to the hospital where she works the next day to share with her friends and co-workers.  

Just as I'd hoped, word has spread and now some of her friends have asked me to make cakes for them!  JS has a daughter who goes to school at the University Of Wisconsin in Madison (the Badgers), who is turning 21 this weekend.  JS said she would like a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but left the decorations entirely up to me.  She apologized for the  short notice, so I don't think she is expecting much in the appearance category.  She told my mother-in-law that she just wanted a good cake. 

Anyway, the cake is devil's food, with chocolate frosting.   Sorry I can't give you a picture of a slice, but there are 4 layers each of cake then frosting, for a total of 8 layers.  The cake is covered in white fondant, and all other decorations are also made of fondant.  The rectangular board was covered in fondant to give it a more polished appearance.  Since I also went to school at Wisconsin, this gave me the opportunity I was looking for to make a Badgers cake.  Next time if I have more time, I plan to also make a Bucky Badger...  :-)

Hopefully she'll agree that the cake looks and tastes equally fantastic...  

Black Belt!

My nephew Nathan just earned his Black Belt in Tae Kwan Do.  He's just 9 years old, and he's been doing TKD since he was 5, so this is a major accomplishment.  Indeed, earning your black belt at any age is a major achievement.  His goal was to have his black belt by the time he was 10, so he has a lot to be proud of.  

Since this is such a big deal for him, I wanted to do something special for the occasion.  What you see here is the result of several hours of work, but it pales in comparrison to how hard he worked.  

The cake is devil's food, with layers of chocolate frosting and the entire cake is covered in white fondant.  The logo on top matches the logo on his uniform and is made of fondant with the details piped in colored royal icing.  The belt is made of fondant that was rolled between a piece of cloth to give it the proper texture.  The cake sits on cardboard covered in fondant.  

Congrats, Nathan!

Pregnant again!!!

No, not my wife. My wife's cousin L is due in just over a month, so I made another shower cake for her. This design was very similar to the last baby shower cake, except that the "baby bibs" on the sides are a little different, with larger openings and bows. Since there was only about a sozen people at this event, the cake was a single 8" tier, and was more than enough cake.

Inside is a yellow cake with a chocolate frosting. I've been having some problems with my chocolate buttercream being a little "grainy", which is why I changed to "frosting" for this cake. Personally, I think the American pallate likes frosting better than buttercream anyway, because it is typically much sweeter.