Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate !!

My friend Christy sent me an email last week with a link to a cake that she wanted me to make her for her birthday.  It was titled "Chocolate Wasted Cake."  This cake is over the top chocolate......probably more than one can really eat.  This is my classic chocolate cake (with the chocolate chips baked inside); frosted in chocolate icing; sides coated in chocolate chips; topped with chocolate chips, twix bars, kit kats, a reeses cup, and a hershey air delight chocolate bar; and glazed with a satiny chocolate glaze.  WOW!  Probably one bite is all you really need......along with a tall glass of cold milk :) 

She and her girls are watching my girls tonight so that Charles and I can have a date night.  So, this is my way of saying "Thank You" as well as an early "Happy Birthday!"

A Laptop and A Dose of Humility

I was asked by my neighbor to do a cake for her son who was turning 16.  I asked what sort of things he was interested in and she said computers and x box.  I immediately knew I wanted to do a laptop cake.  I began searching on the internet for some ideas.  Everything I found was pretty mediocre.  So, I looked at the examples and thought, "I can do better than that."  Well, guess what....I can't.  I allowed myself to get a bit prideful and I sure had to swallow a difficult pill.  I was so disappointed in this cake.  Then I was reminded that I cannot allow pride to creep in because there is no place for it in my life.  Don't get me wrong...I know I'm not an expert cake decorator, but I had this idea in my head and was sure it would turn out like I envisioned it.  I was served a dose of humility.  It's good for me though. 

I started with a 9x13 chocolate cake and iced it smooth with a gray buttercream.  I had a piece of paper printed with the Happy Birthday message and laminated.  I taped it to another cake board and outlined it in the same foil wrap I use to cover the cake boards.  This was now the monitor screen.  I hot glued it to the back of the other cake board that held the cake.  I used a fondant/gumpaste mix to make the keys on the computer.  I cut them out in squares and rectangles.  Then, I used an edible ink marker to write the letters on the keys.  For some reason, though, it didn't want to write on it.  Crazy.  It would write on paper but not on the fondant (what it is designed to write on).  So, I couldn't finish with the caps lock or shift keys.   I then placed them on the cake in keyboard order.  Once I stepped back and looked at it, again, I just shook my head.  I could not believe how mediocre it looked!  Certainly not what the picture in my head looked like.  Fortunately, I have great neighbors who did not appear nearly as disappointed as I was. 

The Cat in the Hat

These are some cupcakes (a cupcake pull apart cake) that I made for my my next door neighbor.  She is a school teacher and they are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday in her classroom this week.  I really wanted to do the Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes where you use the blue cotton candy for the hair/topping but everything I read about doing that said to put the cotton candy on right before serving.  Well, since I won't be there tomorrow, that wasn't an option.  I couldn't really find any other ideas that I liked and she specifically wanted Cat in the Hat.  After much searching, I found this cupcake pull apart cake so I did that.  I'm not especially happy about the way the facial features turned out, but I don't much imagine that the kids will care too much :)

The finished product

The cupcakes before the frosting

I've been wanting to try one of these for a while so I'm glad I finally got a reason too!