Happy 8th Birthday Wyatt

Wyatt was undecided what kind of cake he'd like for his 8th birthday so I did some searching around for ideas. When I found a blog complete with instructions on how to make these funny little guys I knew I'd found it! Wyatt loves watching "Despicable Me", he watches it as many times as he can. He's got some of the lingo down pat & quite a few quotes from the movie down too. We recently went to the show together and saw a 3D trailer for Despicable Me 2 which he just can't wait for! He loved the whole thing and proceeded to sing the "Barbra Ann" song from the trailer over & over.

I got some krispie treats from the store and followed the directions on the blog to create my minions. I've seen many different ways of making them, from covering them in fondant (as I did) to using half of a Twinkie. I just used 2 krispie treats pressed firmly together, dirty iced them and covered them in fondant. I'll let the wonderful lady at A Spoonful of Sugah take you the rest of the way  should you want to make some yourselves http://aspoonfulofsugah.blogspot.ca/2010/08/how-to-make-minion.html

After I made up the 2 minions I placed them on the cake and wrote the words to their version of Barbra Ann around the sides of the cake. Wyatt loved it, and insisted I take pictures of it so you can see it too.

Happy Birthday 8th Wyatt xo

My Parents Birthday

My sister & I decided to have some family over to celebrate our Parents 70th birthday this year, our Mom's is in the summer & Dad's is in the fall. We had it in the summer because our parents are lucky enough not to have to spend the winter here in the cold temperatures of Canada-they head for the sunny southwest of Arizona!

Before I began working with Fondant I had heard rumors that one could make it themselves, and after buying my first few tubs of the stuff I knew why-holy smokes it can be expensive! It seems even more expensive when you realize you can make enough to cover a 2 layer cake for less than $10, less than $5 if you get the stuff on sale and since it is basically sugar & marshmallows I am buying them in bulk these days!! So I did some research on You Tube and online and found a great recipe for fondant and I was off~Wow is it easy...sticky but easy!

My sister and I decided on the flavour of the cake & filling and I thought that since we come from a large family I'd better make a big one. I decided on a layered square cake with just 2 squares; I thought that was the best option since I was still not overly comfortable working with Fondant, why make it more complicated than it needed to be? I only used 3 colours and make some simple designs & coloured balls for decoration. My sister added the candles & it is done! Our parents & family loved it, and their 6 grandchildren gathered around to help them blow out their candles.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dad, you are the best!

Happy 11th Birthday Keegan

Keegan's Hockey hero is Sidney Crosby and for the months leading up to his birthday I have been trying to figure out what kind of cake to make him & how to incorporate Crosby into it. I stumbled upon some pictures of a cake that looks like the back of a jersey~and "ta da" I had found it!

I tried my best to make it a surprise for him, he knew what I was planning to do and (of course) approved of it. He saw the cake covered in black fondant and saw me working on the sleeves but thats all, I waited until he went to school to finish it off. Next time I make it I am going to attach the sleeves before I leave it for any length of time since it was too firm to drape just right. Still looked great though but I'm curious to see how it will change when I do the sleeves different next time. I know it probably won't be long--I'm sure Wyatt will have me doing up Jarome Iginla's or Roberto Luongo's jersey for his birthday :)

When he came home from school he came over to see the finished product and he was so happy with it, just fills my heart when I can do something that makes them that happy! When the family came over for dinner that night they were all impressed with the cake, and the more I looked at it the more I liked it; I almost hated to cut into it!!

Happy Birthday my son, you make me so proud everyday xoxoxo

Goodbye to Hockey for the summer

Our boys are Sports nuts! They both play Hockey in the winter for our local House League and Soccer in the summer for the local teams. Out of the 12 months in the calendar year, we have about 1 month "free" with no sports activity. Although this year the Stanley Cup Finals are still being played so they are getting their Hockey "fix" that way.

Our boys have only been playing hockey for 2 years now and both years they each have been blessed with absolutely incredible Coaches! I could never find the words to ever tell each of them how great they have been to both of our boys. It takes such a dedicated man to do the kind of extra work that is needed to coach a bunch of enthusiastic youngsters on skates!

The boys asked me to bake a cake for the kids on their team, but when I found out that both of their final games were at 7 & 8 am...I didn't think that cake for breakfast was such a great idea so we went with cupcakes instead. Wyatt's team was the Green Eagles and Keegan's was the Killer Bees so I found some coloured sugar and made up some vanilla cupcakes and let the sugar be the decoration. I left the arena that last morning with an empty tray so I think they were a success!

Wyatt's Canadian Pride

Our youngest turned 7 this past September and with all the cakes he was watching me make everyone else, who can blame him for wanting in on the action too. We spent some time figuring out what his vision for his birthday cake was going to be and it was surprisingly a Canadian Flag! He loved it so much, who am I to try and understand why he wanted it-he just did! It sure would make an awesome cake for Team Canada game or for Canada Day too!

We took off to a local Glow in the Dark mini putt place and with a bunch of 7 & 8 year olds we decended on them. The boys had a great time and the kids said the cake tasted great and the Mom's thought it looked so good and was a great idea. What else can I ask for??

August Birthdays

August in my family is a very busy one, and I have found a few other families that have months in their calendar year that are just as crazy! In the month of August, there is 1 Anniversary and 4 Birthdays. So ever since I was a teenager my Mom, my sister & I have always just had one big family celebration. We have a big family dinner together, my Dad cooks ~the poor guy, and we make up the menu! Each year we all switch around what part of the meal we pick, to keep it fair. Two years ago my sister & her husband blessed our family with a new daughter and added another birthday to the group so in a few years we'll add her to our celebration as well. We want to be sure that she has her own spotlight for a while before she shares it with us.

So since I have been making cakes and getting more adventerous with decorating them I volunteered to make our cake for our big party this year. I spent a few days trying to figure out some things that tied us all together besides being Mother & child. The three of us love to sew, cook, bake, travel and we love the West Coast.

When I was younger my Dad was transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia. We lived there for just under 3 years before we were transferred away to Montreal, Quebec. Over the years we have gone back for a visit and maintained contact with close friends we made while living there. My sister & her husband were lucky enough to go back to Alberta to live for a few years also.

I got a plan together for our cake, I bounced some ideas off of Ryan and set to work. I found some images that reminded me of our time in BC and had them printed off onto Fondant sheets and used them to create a quilt. I thought it would be easier to make the cake look like a bed with the finished quilt over it than to try and make a quilter's frame, since it will look more like a finished product to me that way.

I also wanted to add some letters to the cake as well. I have 2 reasons for wanting the Airport Codes on the cake, one because we love to travel, and two because my husband Ryan is an Aircraft Engineer, and my sister's husband Ian, is an Air Canada Pilot. So I thought it would be fun to add in the Airport Codes for some of the airports in the West as well. I cut out the letters in Fondant and attached them to the cake board.

Our boys love to help me in the kitchen so they helped me fill it, dirty ice it, make the "pillows", and cut out some of the letters. They are so proud of their hard work and tell everyone they see that they helped and what they did!

I love the finished product & so did everyone else!

Dora Birthday Cake

Well, there was no avoiding it anymore! My sister, Cori, asked me to make a Birthday cake for her girls who were turning 4 & 2 and absolutely adore Dora the Explorer. Cori found a picture of a cake she wanted and asked me to make some changes which I was happy to do. After looking at the cake I realized there is no way that I could do this cake properly with only buttercream, I had to try Fondant again.

I've tried Fondant 2 times before and had no success. I was sincerely hoping that the third time would work. I figured if it all went pear shaped that I could always get an ice-cream cake. I did lots of research both at the library & online and I think I finally figured it out. I must have been rolling out the Fondant too thin. Everytime I used it in the past it either cracked like crazy or simply broke apart into these little pieces. I kept visualizing the guys from "Cake Boss" and Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes and I couldn't understand what I was missing. Then I read in a book that the Fondant had to be at least 1/8-1/4" thick and I knew that had to be where I was going wrong!

So I figured out how much Fondant I would need and all the colours and off I went to the Bulk Barn and then to Michaels. I had some stuff already but I found the coolest Fondant roller with a spacer to let me know when I was at the right thickness. So off I went & it worked! I couldnt' believe it, I showed Ryan & I seriously coudn't stop smiling! I know it seems so silly but it was something that I had been struggling with for so long and I finally mastered it, it was all simply too thin~who knew??

Once I got the red all over both layers, there was a tiny bit of small cracks appearing which I started to get concerned about. Ryan ran downstairs and "googled" it and then told me that all I had to do was rub a tiny bit of shortning in the crack & surrounding area & voila!! When it came time to decorate it was so fun, I added stripes, stars, and then I added some balls of Fondant and it was done. I was so excited that it was done & so proud of myself at the same time, I persevered and I succeeded.

My sister & her girls loved the cake & that is the best kind of payment anyone could ever ask for.