My shinning masterpiece...

...for this week anyways. Here is the cake I made for a wonderful lady who is leaving the park to live nearer to her daughter in NC. She loved the cake.

This cake was a lot of fun to make...three torted and filled layers. Bottom layer was chocolate cake with twinkee filling (I love that stuff so I make it alot!) The middle layer is white almond sour cream buttermilk with chocolate chip whipped ganache(Oh, it is heaven...like the middle part of a truffle...!) and the top layer I carved into the beehive shape. The cake was also the white almond sour cream buttermilk but with strawberry filling. All of the cakes had buttercream base icing and then were covered in fondant. This is my first stacked or tiered cake and only the second time I've worked with fondant. I made my own fondant which was also a lot of fun to do. It is very sweet, kinda like eating candy corn. Many folks don't like it because it is so sweet, but it is a decorator's dream to play with on a cake. All the bees and flowers were also made of fondant. All handmade and modeled by moi. I had pictures to reference. The bees are so cute. In the next picture, I did change the color of the bow on the "big bee" and replaced one of my ribbon roses that in the pictures anyway, looked like a specific part of the male anatomy...and I don't DO those kinda cakes!

Here Lola posing with her cake.

As you can imagine, the cake was a huge hit with the partygoers. I was very happy and Paul said it was a "work of art...nobody will eat it...". Well, they did smarty pants. They all liked it too!

I will have to make a tiered "wedding cake" for my class final. I think I am going to invite everybody over for cake and coffee the day after so I can get rid of the cake. To say we are all "caked out" is truly an understatement.

Next week is the park's luau party and Dennise got suckered into decorating the table...guess what folks....CAKE! I am going to do a tiki guy head and a bunch of palm tree cookies. Thank goodness I bought that palm tree cookie cutter when I saw it a couple of weeks ago! I will do a hot color table cloth, buy a boogie board and make some fake palm trees out of rice crispie treats and use fondant to decorate them. An all edible centerpiece! That should get me a few points in the judging! I'll post the pictures after the 22nd...

Not much else going on. Zack is getting depressed not finding a job. Poor kid. Worst economy in freaking history and he is now out on his own. He has put in many many applications and sent out lots of resumes. He is still looking at going to the UK to teach in the spring. We'll see.

later...

dee

Well, it's been a hectic couple of days. After the New Year and taking down and packing all the holiday stuff, I tore into the laundry room. There is a small closet that is jammed with stuff from the previous owners. Let's see...two, yes two(!) waffle irons, a smoothie maker thing that has never been used, a tortilla holder made from stryofoam, a box of wipes for only God knows what kinda dispenser and a miriad of other useless crap. Plus the tops of the washer and dryer were lost among the stuff the two other residents of this house can't put away...well, now its CLEAN. Next stop...kitchen cabinets. We need another storage cabinet in here for the liquer...it's all over the darn place...when you open a cabinet here, there's bottles and more bottles. People will think we are achololics for goodness sakes.

We had some more parties to attend this weekend...is it just me or is finger food the bane of a human's existance? I can eat meatballs, cowboy salsa and other crap and feel fully satisfied and then turn up my nose at a good salad. No wonder there is weight gain during the holidays...I eat crap! On Monday, I was going to my first meeting of Brushwackers a local decorative painting group...the meet once a week on Mondays and work on projects, have seminars and graze..you know...EAT. Great...a grazing club. I bought a bunch of stuff to add to my clutter stash as the club's annual auction and only fundraiser is held at the first meeting of the year...yeah! Food and stuff to buy. What can be more fun than sitting around eating all day, buying craft stuff? I made two cakes for the meeting and they went over very well. Here is a picture of my first fondant cake. It was supposed to be a winter white cake. No color. But is really looked blah so I painted it with gel colors mixed with vodka. No, didn't drink the vodka! Used it to thin the colors. I was not happy, but everyone oohed and aahed anyways.

The second cake was a piping practice cake...I did some stringwork, called cornelli lace on the top then sprinkled it with glitter. The red roses are made from red candy melts...called candy clay roses...ugly but effective I guess. Here is a picture.

I was happy with this one...except for the leaves...didn't like the color but it was too late to change. This was a strawberry filled yellow cake with buttercream. The fondant cake was a double chocolate with twinkee filling...hey I LIKE twinkee filling! Under the fondant was buttercream. Both cakes weighed a ton! I had originally intended to do a tiered cake but they were too heavy...I torted both so they were four layers and all that filling made them so heavy. I don't know how the pro's can do that!

A couple more pictures....

On Tuesday, after an appointment with the VA in Mcallen, we headed to San Antonio for the Prince's pre-op stuff at the VA hospital. What a long boring drive that is! We got in around 7, bot checked in and went to bed. Paulie went to the hospital at 8 and got three of his four appointments like xrays done. Doc is only at the clinic in the afternoon so we had to wait until 2 to get in. This turned into a nightmare of more xrays and stuff and we didn't leave until after 5. Then the long boring trip made worse in the dark...we finally got home at 10. Paulie's surgery is scheduled for January 29th. We have a reservation at the Travelers World for the RV. This way I can bring Mack and relax in my house on wheels instead of a hotel room for four to five days. Thank goodness I talked him in to letting me take the rig. He doesn't think I can pull the electric cord and dump the tanks...geez, I am a college graduate...how tough can it be for goodness sakes?

Well, I guess I should ring off now. Hugs to all.

dennise

Good grief...

another couple of days have slipped past me. I been buzy, yanno. Making cakes. Making cookies. Making chocolate covered cherries. Sleeping. Being dizzy. Same old stuff I guess.

Paulie went to his group meeting at the VA Wednesday and I made a cake for him to take. I just don't know what happens some times. Things start off so well, and whhooosh! Things are outta control. In the middle of doing the cake, Grandpa lost Patty(she had surgery that morning, to get "fixed" at the shelter where he got her.) Paul is off playing Mexican train or some other old person time killer...anyways, grandpa comes into the kitchen and asks me where his dog is. 'Scuse me? I'm making a freakin' cake here, not babysitting a recovering puppy. He goes around looking for her. So, I put aside what I am doing and help him go find the missing Patty. I go into his room and the dog is in her bed. And on top of grandpa's bed is a nice foamy pond of doggie barf. Ugh. Grandpa says, "Your dog threw up on my bed!" Ummmm, no Mack cannot JUMP up on anybody's bed, he is too small...to which he responds..."Then it was YOUR cat!" Noooo, Snickers kitty barf is chunky, what goes in comes out looking the same way...not my cat. Well, he says getting louder by the minute, "It wasn't MY dog, she is in her bed." Just a minute ago, she was not, or why was he looking for her. I suddenly realize this is deteriorating into the absurd and say, ok fine, lets take off the bedding. I strip the bed(it was soaked) and take it into the laundry. Gross. I start dry heaving myself even tho I am at this point steaming. I stuff the blankets and stuff into the machine and then go and scour my hands. I go back to the cake and in comes grandpa into the kitchen, still mumbling about the barf my cat did. I don't say anything although I am bleeding from the tongue biting so hard! I drop the pastry bad with green icing in it. Splat...the darn thing which is plastic, splits and green goop is now oozing all over the kitchen floor. Clean up goop. Wipe sweating brow. Ignore old man. Grab red pastry bag, and begin piping on cake. Red goop runs out the top of the bag. Gee, ya think I am squeezing a bit too hard. Red goop all over my hands. Grrrr. Clean up red goop. Swear in my head. Cuss under my breath. Paulie walks in door. I pounce....attack. So I start to tell him what's going on and in comes grandpa wanting his sheets...which are still in the wash cycle! I give Paul the evil eye and he takes grandpa into the family room. My hands are shaking so badly for whatever reason and now the cake looks like some 5 year old did it. Here is a picture...

and another...

Yanno, I am supposed to get better...what this cake is I am at a loss to say...green poinsettias...what was I thinking? Oh, I know...get the cake done, lol!

Well, that's all my complaining for today. Zack arrived yesterday. He and the Prince are off to shuffle board. What a nice kid...plays games with the old guys.

til later...

dee

Duh-licious....

Here is a picture of my very first cake that somebody actually PAID me for...well, I only charged her for cost, not for my time. Time would have been outrageously expensive as I am a slowpokey cake decorator. I made up the flowers, so if you can't identify them other than the roses, its not just you...call them Ziaja blooms, available for a limited time only...until the decorator gets a heck of a lot better at this!

This is an 8" double layer Ultimate Chocolate cake(I use the Barefoot contessa's chocolate cake recipe here.

I just love the chocolatey flavor of the cocoa in this cake...and it takes LOTS of cocoa to make this puppy. I now buy my cocoa at Sam's....a small canister at the dollar store was $2.65....I got a jumbo at Sam's for $6 something and it four times the size....also been buying my confectionary sugar there...7 lbs for $4 something...#2 at Wally world is over $2.50. Gotta save the Polish Prince some money somewhere LOL!

Well, that's about all I have been doing...having a fibro kinda day after baking and decorating yesterday. Will never, ever do that big a cake with basket weave sides...my hands are ready to fall off!

Here is the mini cake and cuppies I got with the extra batter...

And here is the other cake...for our dinner tonight! This is a two layer 6" cake...

Started guitar lessons last Thursday and haven't practiced a lick! Think anyone will be able to tell...LOL! I am also going to go the Brushwackers meeting on the 15th to attend a daisy coaster class. Will post when I get them finished. Not sure if I will continue with the painting...going from doing nothing to a whole lot may be more than the old body can take!

hugs

dennise

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that this day finds you all in good health. I had a bit of an off day yesterday, as did grandpa. He has a cold. You would think he was preparing to meet his maker the way he is acting. I swear, if it wasn't a holiday, I would let him have it with both barrels. Its a freakin' cold, snap out of it! Sure you feel crappy, but hey, this is a bit overmuch yes? Grrrrr.

I finished by Wilton course 2 the other day, and I did a fairly ok job on my cake...here are some pictures.

For all of you critics out there , the little creature is supposed to be a bear holding a pumpkin...the technique is called color flow using some of this chemical stuff tasting goop to creat a picture out of icing...not something I think I will do in the future. Stupid.

The cake is the recipe I mentioned the other day, my fav choc cake in the world. I tried to do fall colors rather than what the Wilton course book showed...a white cake with spring flowers...it it was spring, well then I would have copied it. I also think the chocolate buttercream looks good in the basket weave, which is on the sides of the cake. I hated making the royal icing flowers, would have preferred buttercream, but hey, that's the course. I also make up a cupcake collar for the cuppies from the other day, and packaged one to see if it would work in the treat bags I have. I was planning on doing the craft show, but I have declined. I think I will wait until the spring when I can do spring flowers and cookies. I just don't have the confidence to make that much stuff in so short of a time. The cuppies are already stale and they were baked Tuesday morning...they don't last long without refrigeration and I don't have any fridge space.

Here are some pictures of my "designs".

The cupcake bouquet...5 cuppies in a little tin flower pot...

Here is a cuppie with a doily collar...cute no?

Here is a wrapped cuppie...artistic background is the kitchen table with a candle draped in a Thanksgiving napkin...

Here are the two together...

Well, it's 11 am and we have to be at the hall to eat at noon....waaaayyyy to early for me...why not like 2 or three? That's dinner time...what are we gonna do at 6? McDonalds is closed...soup and grilled cheese I guess. That is the bad thing about potlucks...all you get for leftovers, if there ARE any is what you brought...I am bringing risotto with butternut squash and the above cakes and cuppies, (stale or not, LOL!).

Later

dennise

Cuppies!

I had some extra batter from the cake I was making for my last Wilton class. So I made some cuppies...
aka cupcakes. I don't like the way Wilton makes their flowers...they look ok, but I can't tell an apple blossom from a violet, and I don't think anyone who hasn't taken the course does either, LOL! So I did some freehand flowers...I love the style of the cuppies sold at Cupcake Cafe in NY...the owner was on Martha a few years ago and I was amazed at how simple these looked...now that I have been learning cake decorating, I have found out what Martha knew all along...this looks easy but it's really stinkin' hard! My decorated sugar cookies looked like a 5 year old made them, and that is insulting to the kid! Practice is necessary...piping along the outline of the cookie is a PIA and is not easy. Oh well, I guess Zack will be getting more samples in the future while I hone my skills.


This recipe is my fav chocolate cake recipe...Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten from Food Network makes this recipe...it is wonderful! Some photos that make even my mouth water, and I am sick of cake and buttercreme!

How artistic is this?














this little cake is my class cake...I made FRESH, yes fresh blackberry filling, but forgot to put it in the cake! Brainless at times.










Well, gotta go get stuff ready for class tonight. I will post my final cake pictures tomorrow I guess.

hugs
dennise

Just a quick note to let everyone see our new family member...Grandpa picked out a new puppy from the Oasis Shelter...he named her "Pat"...don't ask me why...he defies logic at times...

The shelter thinks she is about three or four...it appears that she has been preggers, but no evidence of any puppies delivered (I wonder how they know this?). She is about 15 lbs, and is all black with a white triangle on her chest. She looks to be a real Heintz 57...I see maybe miniature pinscher and doxie...she is very sweet. Paul and I just started to call her Sweetie before grandpa named her and it really fit well. She likes to play with both Snickers and Mack, well, let's just say he is in 7th heaven. She is scheduled to be spayed next week so we won't have to worry about Mack becoming a child daddy!

Finishing up my second Wilton class...learning to do all kinds of flowers...having a great time.

hugs

dennise