Wyatt's Birthday

Wyatt is a big fan of two things: Soccer and Germany.

First thought: make a soccer ball cake.

Sound cliche? Well, Wyatt is the type where a soccer ball cake is the most fitting cake. He is one of the ultimate soccer fans. So what would make this soccer ball different? It would be the Jabulani ball, which is used in the World Cup. Here's the 2010 version:

So what about the German part... skip it? No, make a German Chocolate Cake! Unfortunately, I couldn't use the traditional ingredients AND make the cake look like the Jabulani ball. So I skipped the fancy coconut, caramel and pecan nonsense and opted for the plain ol' box from the grocery store.

For the icing, I chose cream cheese icing. I'm not sure why. It seemed right at the time. I also needed to make sure it was white for the ball's appearance.

Anyway, to assemble the ball, I used the same assembly as Sig's cake. Just bake the two layers, stack them (with an icing filling between), and start to carve. It works well to use a large knife and cut the sharp cylinder-like edges on the top layer off. Ice away!

With a white hemisphere cake finished, it's time to start decorating! For the dark stripes, I used chocolate sprinkles/jimmies. I would normally use food coloring, but it was $3 a bottle per color, so I opted for a cheaper fix. For the yellow stripe, again trying to be cheap, yet creative, I sorted through the bulk candy at Wegmans. I found a bin of Mike and Ikes and picked out all yellow ones.

It works best to construct stencils if you use sprinkles. The yellow Mike and Ikes were easy to place on after the sprinkles. The last touch was the Adidas logo. I cut this out of paper to make a stencil and filled the holes with sprinkles. That's about it! These steps take a bit of patience and slow work. But they are definitely worth the results.

And Wyatt showed up wearing a Germany jacket. Perfect.

Justin's Birthday

How about a Highlighter Party? For Justin's "surprise" birthday, I wanted to make a cake that would stand out in a room full of highlighters. I knew Tonic water contained quinine (which would glow). But that wasn't a sure way to make the entire cake glow. I decided to use a white icing to make sure it would have at least one glowing aspect even if the tonic water did not stand out in the batter.

Justin knew he was having a birthday party. What he didn't know is that all his guest would be wearing white in a room full of blacklights with highlighters to draw with. Normally, I try to make cakes extra personal. This was a tricky cake because I wanted it to go with the theme, yet still be personal. I figured the surprise party theme was a personal touch, so I decided to stick with that.

My mom once made an orange cake once that I still think about when picking a cake flavor. It was made with Jell-o. The cake was so moist and flavorful. It made other cakes seem plain. Since Justin's cake wouldn't have a specific shape, I decided to make the flavor special.

I set off to Wegmans in search of a cake mix and box of Jell-o. I would use tonic water in the Jell-o in hopes of a little bit of glow. With the cake having a strong flavor, I decided to use a light icing, seven minute frosting.

At first, I grabbed the orange cake mix and set off to find orange Jell-o, remembering my mother's success. But the Jell-o isle had a little surprise for me. There, in a special stand, was a new set of flavors: Strawberry Daquiri, Pina Colada, and Margarita. After some pondering, I decided to go with Margarita, in hopes the green color would light up in the blacklight. I switched the orange cake for a box of white cake. Anyway, here's how to make it...

First, bake your cake, but replace the required water with tonic water. Once it is cooked, leave it in the pan (I made two 9-inch layers. If you make two, apply the Jell-o step to both layers). While it cools, mix up the Jell-o but only with hot water. It will be more concentrated this way, and will prevent the cake from getting too "moist". After you have prepared your Jell-o mix, take a butter knife or fork and poke holes into the cake for the Jell-o to seep through. Pour the Jell-o over the cake, making sure to coat it evenly. Promptly refrigerate the cake (still in the cake pan).

I was low on time, so I decided to speed up the process by putting the cake in the freezer. You can do this if you're in a pinch. Although, I would recommend sticking with the refrigerator. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, with four of us sharing a freezer, but I moved some stuff around and made it work.

Next, make your icing. That way, the cake will be cool by the time you go to ice it.

In the seven minute frosting, I also replaced the water with tonic water. It didn't change the taste enough to bother me. But a little extra vanilla may do the trick if you find it tastes bitter.

[As you may notice, I don't have a double boiler. This works just as well, though!]

Ice the cake and enjoy! For some reason, I don't have a final picture of this cake. It must not have been noteworthy. I think it looked like Courtney's cake minus the decorations, and with the two layers stacked.

It did glow a little in the blacklight, but mostly due to the white icing. Maybe someone else can figure out a way to make the cake glow? Let me know if you find anything!

Sig's Birthday

If there are any other Pixar fans out there, you'll appreciate this one. Sig's birthday was "Jersey Shore" themed, so this cake did not fit in whatsoever. But a great cake doesn't need to fit in to be great. I was very excited to show Sig this cake, thinking he too was a Pixar fanatic. However, to my disappointment, he didn't understand what it was.

This ball has appeared in almost every Pixar production since it was first introduced in the short film "Luxo Jr."

Here is my rendition of it. This was made with two round cakes stacked. I cut the edge of the top layer to make a hemisphere. Then I dyed frosting red, yellow, and blue and iced away!

Ben's Birthday 2010

This came out so much better than I ever imagined. Michelle and I were hopeful, though, and kept on pressing through! This is a very simple cake as far as ingredients go, but needs a lot of patience and creativity to create the structure.

Ben had recently gone to British Columbia, to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Ok, that wasn't actually him, but he sure does look like Evgeni Plushenko (minus the blonde hair). Anyway, he did actually go to BC and uploaded some stunning mountain pictures from the trip. They were the inspiration for this cake.

This cake was actually made completely out of cupcakes. After they had baked and cooled, we started stacking. It's very helpful if you have a sharp knife to cut edges of the cupcakes off. This makes for a more realistic mountain.

The snow was (of course) seven minute frosting. If you are making a cake with snow, definitely use this recipe! The icing will flow down the cake and when it cools, it gets these great grooves and has a smoothness very similar to snow. Also, make sure you frost while the icing is still warm! This will help it "fall" down the mountain for a natural look.

Meet you at the bottom!

Robert's Birthday

They look like Krabby Patties, but they're meant to be Bubba Burgers! These are cupcakes cut in half to create a top and bottom bun. The meat is chocolate cupcakes sliced up, the cheese and lettuce are just icing. There was meant to be red for ketchup, but there was a lack of red food coloring...
I cannot for the life of me remember what was on top for sesame seeds. I remember they didn't look as realistic in person, though.

I always browse the internet first before I start a cake. I also try to be as original as possible. I found many hamburger cakes. This inspired the hamburger cupcakes. The other reason I like to  make cupcakes so much is that people are way more inclined to have a cupcake than they are to have a slice of cake. Maybe it's a social thing. It could also be a "I'm watching my weight" thing. Mini cupcakes are even better. Those never last long. If you are making dessert for an event, consider mini cupcakes. Brownies work well too. I get the feeling that people who normally wouldn't allow themselves to have a piece of cake are willing to try a mini cupcake. It's just a taste!

Jillian's Birthday

This cake was really fun to make. It was also very difficult to pull off. I'm still not quite sure if I did. Some people didn't know what it was.

My friend Jillian LOVES rice crispy treats and LOVES sushi. I try to give people what they like, thus the sushi rice crispy treat cake! I made the rice crispy in a measuring glass (the kind that goes up to about 4 cups). It was very difficult to find something that would give a cylindrical shape.  Also, it was very difficult to get it out! So if you come up with something better, let me know!

The toppings are:
Mini air heads (green for celery, red for raw fish)
Fruit slices with the sugar cut off (orange and dark green)
Swedish fish for the small sushi (orange, yellow, red)
Green airhead for the garnish (cut up)
Mint oreo filling for wasabi. (I happened to have a whole bag)
Chocolate icing for seaweed

I recommend refrigerating the airheads you wish to slice. Otherwise, you may want to work them with your hands so they are soft enough to shape.

I thought this was a very clever cake since it had "rice" and Swedish fish. It was fun to eat the little ones, but almost impossible to eat the big one. I'd recommend sticking to the little guys rather than try to make things giant.

Ben's Birthday

Rock climber Ben get's a rock climbing cake!
I can't even remember what kind of cake this was. Probably chocolate. The cupcakes and mini cupcakes may have been vanilla. The icing is chocolate on the cake and vanilla on the cupcakes. The line and letters are made from licorice shoe string. The rocks are candy rocks. And the rock climber is a bendy man! I'm not sure what it is exactly...

Other than that, It think this cake is pretty self-explanatory!