Bring It On

Jill is having a game night pajama party tonight for New Year's Eve. None of us were really interested in getting dressed up and going out. So of course, we needed a game themed New Year's cake. Ta Da! 2009, here we come!

Christmas Cakes

I made two cakes for our various family Christmas celebrations. I made a coconut cake for Christmas day. Sorry no picture. It wasn't very exciting. I made a chocolate/chocolate cake for our second Christmas on Saturday. This cake will forever more be known as the crack cake. YUM! It was pretty much devoured. It was pretty boring looking after I put the icing on, so I grated a Special Dark Hershey's Kiss over the top. =) That's how I roll...

911, What is your emergency?

These two were for one of my most favorite people to make cakes for. She sort of forgot that she needed two cakes until about 1:00 yesterday. I had them ready for her by 5:30. Obviously they're not my most beautiful cakes (it's difficult to make anything pretty on chocolate icing), but I think I should get an A for speed!

Pugs

Happy Birthday, Chalica!!

I can't say a lot about this cake, or I'll cry. Seriously. Chalica is moving to Korea in 2 days. I'll miss her. Bunches.

Cakes. Why did it have to be cakes?

Ok, if you're an Indiana Jones fan, you'll get that title. If not, what the heck is wrong with you?? Get to the video store and get the movies! Loser. =)

This one was for my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy birthday, Corey! Basically, I went with the Lego Indiana Jones theme because I thought my nephew Colin would think it was cool. He did.

Teapots and Fairies

I don't really know what to say about this, other than it is a teapot with Tinkerbell on it. That's all I've got, folks. Nothing funny, nothing interesting to say. Just look at the cake and go "oooh! cute!"

Everyone Deserves The Chance to Fly

It's Katie's Birthday! This is her Wicked cake! What could be better than a cake with Elphaba and Galinda??? Happy Birthday, Katie! I love you!

GO GAMECOCKS!!! BEAT THOSE TIGERS!

Big game tomorrow!!!!!!! Cake for tailgating!

I pulled the Rice Krispie trick again to make a likeness of the best mascot in the world of college sports! Hooray for Cocky!!

Now, come on, Gamecocks! Let's go get those Tigers!!!

(And even if we don't win, we still have a better mascot than them!)

Boba Fett?! Where?! On the cake!!!

My brother's birthday is next week and I thought while he was here for Thanksgiving, it would be nice to make him a birthday cake. Awwww... I know...The cake maker is sweet like that. Heehee.

Travelin' Man

I can't remember exactly how long I've been making Alec's birthday cake, but I know that it has been a while. The design on this cake may require a bit of explanation...

Alec always comes home from California for his birthday/Thanksgiving. That's what this cake is about...his flight from Los Angeles to Charlotte. See? Isn't it cute?

The cake was chocolate on chocolate, so I made a little window of white buttercream to decorate on.

I know it's ugly, but...

This one was for my work mama--Lynda in the cafeteria. She takes VERY good care of me! Unfortunately, she's one of "them". But I love her anyway. Her birthday is Friday when we're out of school, so she got her cake a little early.

Sorry to ugly up all the beautiful Gamecockiness I had going on. More Gamecock posts later in the week, I promise. And Lord willing, no more Clem$#% ones!

BIG GAME!!

These two are for Mom's school. They're tailgating on Tuesday to celebrate the big Carolina/ Clem%#* game. Apparently the evil ones are not being represented on the dessert table. It seems the ones who request the cakes get to choose the team! Check back later in the week for my Cocky cake! I'm going to play with my food again!! =)

Good Vs. Evil

This one was for my friend Sandee to take to work. She is a Gamecock fan. Her boss belongs to the dark side. I feel sorry for the poor people that have to eat the right side of the cake. Yuck! I'm pretty sure if the last piece cake of earth came off of a Clem#*& cake, I'd just starve. Seriously.

Happy Birthday, Carrigan!!!

I LOVE Carrigan! Love her, love her, love her. Carrigan is our pastor's daughter and I have adopted her as an extra niece. It is this great love that I have for her that led me to spend oh so many hours standing in my kitchen this weekend. Carrigan's mom, Amanda, is super cool and fun. She simply asked for a Minnie Mouse cake.

The cake maker was not interested in making a simple Minnie Mouse cake. =)

For those of you who are interested, Minnie Mouse is made out of Rice Krispie treats, covered in fondant, and deorated with royal icing. The rest is just regular cake with regular buttercream icing.

BOO GEORGIA!

Although this cake is against everything I stand for, here it is. Despite the subject matter, I thought it turned out pretty well. We all know, however, that the field at Willams-Brice would have been a MUCH better choice.

Cake 911

The cake maker is freaking out slightly. She was all ready for a calm weekend with just one cake. A carefully crafted Georgia (EW) football field. But then she went to her sister's house and noticed a birthday invitation on the refrigerator. For a party for which she is to provide the cake. With a date exactly one week earlier than the one she was originally told! It seems the date was changed. Oops!!!

So the cake maker has gone from a calm weekend to a busy one, for this cake is rather large! Oh well! It looks like I'm free next weekend. Anyone need cake??? =)

Another busy weekend

It's been another busy weekend in the kitchen. The cake maker had 3 cakes this weekend. The first one was another bachelorette party cake like the one I've already posted. I will not be redundant. The second one was a fall themed cake. And the third one was an Atlanta Braves cake for my cousin Bobby. He's only been asking me if I could make him a Braves cake since May. Geez, Bob, I think I can handle it. I mean, it's just a big red A.

Got Banjo?

It's Glenn's birthday! Happy birthday, Glenn!!! Here's a banjo cake for you. And yes, I know the neck isn't really in the right place, but I haven't figured out how to levitate cake. YET...mwahhahaha.

And because I'm crazy like that...

I carved a piece of cake into a pumpkin. Seriously. I thought the cake maker should have a cake o'lantern. So I made one.

Number Eight-Frank

Frank is my favorite. He's just cool. Seriously...he has bolts in his neck. And his head is square. What's up with that? Ridiculously fun.

And so the cake maker has survived her traumatic cake week. She even survived it with only a few minor mishaps. Like running out of black food coloring when she only had an hour to finish 3 huge cakes. And sitting down to take a phone call and waking up in the chair 3 hours later to the sudden realization that she had not finished the cakes that needed to be finished and she was going to have to do some major speed decorating to get them finished after work the next day.

Ah, the perils of cake...

Number Seven-Bride Of Frankenstein

I had a hard time deciding which monsters to use. But I dig the Frank's Bride. She has fun hair. And I can never see a Bride of Frankenstein without thinking of Madeline Kahn in Young Frankenstein. Love that movie. If you haven't seen it, go get it right now! Wait a minute. Finish looking at my fun cakes first, then go get it!

Anyway, here she is.

Number Six-Dracula

The final three cakes were for the Arts Ball at Winthrop University. My friend Jill was in charge of the Arts Ball, so Speppy Cake was a requirement. They needed three half-sheet cakes and didn't care what they looked like, as long as they were Halloween-y. I wanted them to kinda match so that they looked like a set. It's hard to do pumpkins or ghosts or cats on cake without it looking like it was made for little kids, so I had to put on my thinking cap. I decided classic monsters would be fun. So here they come...

Classic Monster Number One: DRACULA! (Apparently, he wants to suck your blood.)

Number Five-The Deer Slayer

So I was making this cake last night for my friend Jennifer when I realized that I didn't know what she wanted written on it. She had asked for a chocolate cake, somehow deer related, for her dad's birthday. Not knowing whether she wanted a "Happy Birthday Dad" or a "Happy Birthday Daddy" or a "Happy Birthday whatever", I sent her a text message to ask. She sent back "Don't think I'm weird, but Jake (her husband) said put 'deer slayer'." So "Happy Birthday Deer Slayer" was born.

I just make 'em, folks.

Number Four-Jacob's Candy Corn

My friend Jacob's birthday was in July. He didn't get a cake. Slack cake maker. =(

I should probably be fired as a friend.

At any rate, this is his replacement birthday cake. I don't remember how he decided on candy corn. I think it came as the result of one of our very random conversations. Perhaps he'll leave a comment on the blog to shed some light on the subject.

This one was fun. It's a good thing he wanted candy corn and not a thousand angels dancing on the head of a pin (as we used to say at Pat-A-Cakes). The cake maker is tired.

Cakes 5-8 tomorrow. Oy.

Number Three-Veteran's Birthday

This one is for a friend at the Elks Lodge. He is a Veteran and he spends a lot of his time and energy working with Veterans.

Number Two-Halloween Party

This one is for a friend's daughter to take to school for their Halloween party. The kids are very young, so I thought a cake based on "Five Little Pumpkins" would be fun. You know...

Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gate.

The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air."

The third one said, "But we don't care."

The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."

The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."

Woooo went the wind and OUT went the light,

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

See what happens when elementary music teachers are allowed to play with cake...

And please don't ask me how pumpkins run. I have absolutely no idea.

Number One-Another Gamecock

I love football season. And my Gamecocks. This cake is for a friend of a friend who has seen my Gamecock cakes before. The Cocks are playing Tennessee on Saturday. We need a win, boys! USC...Gooooo Cocks!

One cake down, seven to go!

Two days, eight cakes. Seriously.

For this Thursday and Friday, the cake maker must produce eight cakes. By herself.

Each cake has its own story, so I'll save all the info for each blog post. I can't believe I'm actually taking the time to blog right now, but I'm actually giving up the baking for tonight.

Polka Dots!

OK, so sometimes the cake maker is really tired and has absolutely nothing creative to offer to the world of cake. But people still have birthdays and it is my duty as the cake maker to provide birthday calories.

Happy Birthday, Carey!

To celebrate Carey's 29th birthday and our appreciation for our pastor, we had a dinner after morning worship today. It was my pleasure to make his birthday cake. Looking at the cake, it is important to say that my preacher is not a snake, nor is he one of those snake handling preachers. Carey had a bit of a run-in with a snake at his house a few months ago. He was not particularly fond of said snake. I believe there was an injury involved as well. But he did what he had to do to protect Amanda and Carrigan. (Look for Carrigan's birthday cake in the coming weeks!) =)

I am very thankful for Carey and his family, and I love them very much!

Happy Anniversary!!

I have some more friends whose parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary tomorrow. They're having a big party and needed a big cake. Enter the cakemaker! Very simple decoration with some lovely yellow roses. They were very pleased. I hope they have a wonderful party!

Where's the cake?

I have a friend who has a husband who is a big fan of hunting. Poor little woodland creatures...Bless their hearts. Except the crazy deer that like to attack innocent vehicles. I say shoot them! At any rate, he hunts therefore he gets camouflage cake. They are going to have some seriously green teeth.

Another One of My Favorites

I made this Candy Land cake for my cousin Shelby's daughter, Becca. It was huge and it took a really long time, but I loved it!

Katie's Graduation Cake

Instead of doing the work I'm supposed to be doing, I'm opting to blog instead...

I made this cake last May for my cousin Katie's high school graduation. The whole place was decorated with pink and brown polka dots. I love Katie!!!! =)

I'm a Little Teapot...you know the rest.

Cake time! I enjoyed my little break last week, but I was ready to get back into the kitchen. This one was for Carleigh's birthday. I hope she enjoyed her tea party!

It is finished...

The final cake is complete. The science coach at school requested a thank you cake for the guys that built the butterfly boxes for our second graders. So here it is. Thanks for the butterfly boxes, dudes!

My kitchen looks like a cake bomb exploded in it. I guess I'll be cleaning that up tomorrow. I certainly don't have the energy to do that now! It's been a crazy couple of days in there!!!!

Three Down, One to Go...

It's Geri's birthday. Geri loves flamingos. Geri gets a flamingo cake. It's pretty simple logic, folks.

The cake baker is kinda tired, can you tell? One more to go!

The Beast

My brain has just imploded. No really, I think it did. I honestly cannot describe how I am feeling right now. Extremely exhausted, in a slight panic because there are still 2 naked cakes sitting in my kitchen, yet oddly satisfied, because I think I might have done a good job. I'm almost sure I did a good job.... I'll let you decide. Here's the cake story:

This cake is for a friend of a friend. Hopefully, after this cake, she will be my friend too! Actually it's for her teenage daughter who is a big fan of art. Anyway, I'm out with my friend last Thursday and she asks me if I think I could make a cake for her friend's daughter. Sure, no problem....She speaks to the mother who has this idea for the cake. It seems they are buying their daughter a piece of art for her room and would it be possible to recreate the painting on the cake? "Um...okie dokie," says the decorator with no further information. It just a piece of abstract art with a couple of clocks on it. Ok...clocks are easy. Circles, some numbers...big hand, little hand. First grade stuff, thinks the decorator. Silly decorator. Skip to Saturday...I see my friend again. "Are you familiar with Salvador Dali?" she asks. Yep, nice to see you too. What? Decorator immediately starts thinking there could be trouble....

So here I am, after 4.5 hours of serious cake labor, posting the proof of all my hard work before somebody eats it. I am also including in this post a picture of the picture that I used for reference. Make your own judgments. If they're harsh, please don't share them. =)

The cake baker is freaking out...

This is the first of a series of four posts to be made in the next 24 hours. Four, you say?? Yepper. Four. It's like a dysfunctional factory in this place today. Why dysfunctional? Because my moronic oven (which up 'til now has been a lovely piece of equipment) decided to burn 2 cakes last night. But only on the bottom. The tops were beautiful, perfect cake specimens. And then I flipped them out on boards to decorate them. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! What in the name of cat hair happened to my cakes?????????? Shoot a monkey, now I have to dash off to the store (in the pouring rain) to buy more eggs, etc. I only have what seems like 80 billion hours worth of cake work to do tonight. Sure...I'd love to redo things. Seriously.

At this point, replacement cakes have been baked. One of them has already been decorated and has left the house. Mom needed a cake for a teacher at her school who will be celebrating (?) her 30th birthday tomorrow. I'm sure you can guess from the picture that she is a math teacher. Not my favorite cake ever...I'm sure it would have been better had I not been in overdrive mode, flinging batter and icing around the kitchen. Who is going to clean this mess up, anyway?? Any volunteers??

Stay tuned for more of the madness...

Birthday Witch

I made this cake today too. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with a pink witch!!