It’s All In The Family

Do you remember some months back when I entered a cake competition at the Arlington Heights Frontier Days?  Well, once we got there we found that there was a young person’s category as well.  My 9 year old immediately decided that he wanted to enter the competition next year, and I let him know that it wouldn’t be fair if I helped him–he’d need to learn how to decorate a cake, practice…and make his own!

Being self taught myself, I didn’t want to teach him.  I wanted him to learn the proper technique right up front—so we signed up for piping classes at the local hobby store.   The first class we just watched the instructor put together a cake and frost it.  The second class we worked on the basic star tip and had to decorate our own cake.  This was Grayson’s first attempt at decorating…and honestly—even though the stars aren’t perfect (he’s 9 and it’s his first try) you can totally see that it is the Wilton golf bag cake.

At last nights class we practiced shells and hearts and dots and faces, and next week is our final exam and graduation!

Hockey Teddy Bear

I know this will come as quite a shock…but this cake was brought to you by the same boy that brought you the Hockey Puck cake. He is his father’s son!

This again uses my beloved 3D Teddy Bear pan. I told you it’s my favorite! I actually found this cake on the Wilton site and copied it. I find those are my best cakes because I can see what I’m attempting.  Just like the Easter Bunny Cake this one is double piped. It just makes them plushier!

Pinewood Derby Racer

Who said cake is only for birthdays? This is NOT a great cake! Come on…I’m not dumb!! But it was made in about 15 minutes (kinda looks like it, huh!!) But the parents were asked to bring a dessert to the race, and I thought it would be fun to match the theme. The best part of this cake…the Hostess Cupcake wheels. I felt bad that there were only 4 of them, each and every scout wanted one!

Grayson’s 7th Birthday

This would be Grayson’s masterpiece. Well, mine as far as the cake creation goes, but my son gets the credit with the vision. He wanted a hockey puck birthday cake…now let’s get real…that sounded kind of boring. Just a lame, flat, black cake right?? Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But no, he wanted the Chicago Blackhawk logo piped on the top and the insignia on the sides.

Now we’ve mentioned it before, I’m self taught. I’m not the most adept at piping…let alone piping freehand! But this was great! I took a piece of tracing paper and put it over my son’s jersey and copied the Indian Head and the Tomahawk insignia on the arms. Then I laid the Indian Head over the center of the cake, and used a toothpick to poke little holes through the paper and the fondant to create the lines. When it was finished, I just had to connect the dots with the piping bag. Pretty easy!

The tomahawks were made by putting a sheet of wax paper over the tracing. I copied the design with piped stars then put the finished pieces in the freezer to set. After 30 minutes I took them out, peeled off the wax paper and used a skiff of frosting to stick them to the sides of the puck.

I do have to say, to date, this is one of my favorites!

3rd Birthday

This is an example of a “quickie” cake–and honestly, it’s one of my most used secrets! You’ll see it again later, here! What this is (and how it’s quick), it’s the 3D Football Pan from Wilton, decorated and sitting atop a sheet cake ordered from Costco. I know, it’s cheating, but for $14 you can’t make this size of a sheet cake with a filling and super cute piping!! I ordered it as a blank cake with “Happy Birthday Barrett” centered at the bottom of the cake, giving me plenty of room to place the football (bursting forth) from the upper portion of the cake. So cute! So cheap! So easy!