Whirlwind couple of weeks!

I know I resolved to post regularly, but it has been a crazy few weeks! Let's start off with my grandmother's birthday.

A little back story - my dad's sister has been decorating cakes for as long as I can remember. She is old school - even though she's a sweetheart, she only decorates using the Wilton method - buttercream stars, no fondant, whatsoever. She has made every cake for every big family occassion, and I have never said anything to outshine her. Well, New Year's day, we're all at her house to celebrate Christmas with my other aunt who was in from out of town. We were discussing Nanny's birthday party which was coming up, and my Nanny leans over and says to me in front of people, "I want you to make my birthday cake". To which I replied I'd love to, but didn't want to step on any toes. My grandmother then added, "It is my birthday, I want one of your beautiful cakes, and that's all there is to it". I spoke with my aunt who agreed that my grandmother should get what she wants. I did compromise and offered to let my aunt help me, because I know she likes watching me work with fondant. Unfortunately, my uncle landed in the hospital (he's fine now) and she couldn't make it to help.

The original design was supposed to be a two tiered topsy turvy. I got a little too pre-occupied with another guitar cake, didn't pay attention to how I was carving Nanny's cake, and totally botched the top tier causing it to tip over. I switched the design up a little to make it appealing as just one tier, but we still had plenty of cake, even with huge servings. Here is the final product:

The cake was lemon with white chocolate buttercream. The lettering was done using the cricut (my new favourite toy), and the daisies were all made using gumpaste.

Last week was a rough one. We were getting ready to celebrate my wife's 30th birthday. Early in the week my mom called to tell me her uncle (who along with my great-aunt were a third set of grandparents) was in the hospital. The last time I saw him, he wasn't looking well, but refused to ever see a doctor. I didn't expect him to make it to Christmas, but he did. We learned that he had advanced lung cancer, and on the day they were to set him up for home care, he passed away. He lived a good life, and touched many people with his infectious sense of humor and wisdom.

On the bright side, last week also marked an advancement in my cake career - I booked 2 more corporate jobs. This week, I also struck a deal to possibly start teaching at the shop where I buy many of my supplies. Keep your fingers crossed. This weekend is crazy busy - not only am I working on Valentine items to sell, one of my corporate orders, and baking for a Haiti relief bake sale (Lobster tails and eclairs), I had a very good friend and customer order 3 cakes on Thursday for a Saturday pickup. The easiest was the Princess and the frog photocake. I also did these:

This cake was two tiered red velevet with vanilla buttercream, and the fondant was airbrushed in antique gold. Lettering was done using the cricut again. The letters were then dusted with black disco dust. The billiard balls were also made with fondant.

This cake was definitely a first! My customer said here cousin was requestuing this type of cake because she was turning "Dirty-One". By no means am I a shy person, but this request did make me blush a little. I am just wondering how she liked it!

That is all for now - I'm off to the store to get some Rice Krispies to make an edible 3D Elmo for a cake next week. I'll post all about it next week.

It's been forever!

Wow 4 months since my last post! I've been so busy with my day job and cakes and the holidays - it's insane! My resolution wasn't to get in shape (already working on it), but instead to blog more often! So here is what has been going on in my world of cake:

Website Change

My webmaster has informed me that his service provider has gone belly up due to the bad economy. I was in the midst of re-doing it anyway, so decided to go with a free site host instead. The crappy thing is that I just had 200 dollars worth of t-shirts made up. Oh well, c'est la vie! My new site (which took surprisingly less time than I thought) can be found at http://morselsbymark.weebly.com/

First cake of the New Year

A co-worker of my wife's had asked about having me replicate her husband's Les Paul guitar. I am quite happy with the outcome! The cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream and covered in fondant. All accents were done in gumpaste and hand painted accordingly. The cake was a pickup order, so I had to wait til Monday to find out that they were blown away by the cake and never in her wildest dreams did she imagine her husband's cake to be so detailed. I always love the reaction more than anything. Check out the pics of the cake:

Potential Class:

I am trying to decide if I should make the 7 hour drive in May to take a 3 day sugar flower class with James Roselle. It's $825, but I could stay with my aunt who lives nearby. I'm really thinking it would be beneficial, but it is just alot of money! What do you guys think?

My First Competition:

Wish me luck everyone! I have entered 3 winter themed cakes into a contest at CakesCanada.com. It is my first contest and I'm nervous, even though I don't think I'll place. There are 9 other cakes competing and they are really nice! I'm sitting on pins and needles until voting ends on Sunday!

My next post is going to talk about a couple of cakes on the pipeline. I am eagerly looking forward to this weekend, since I am going to Plattsburgh (to read, "Global Sugar Art"). It's like everytime I go, I'm like a kid in a candy store! Alan and his staff are always great, and they are making an exception to open for me on a Saturday to pickup my order - and they are at a new location - can't wait to see it!