Step right up!

First, a bit of seriousness:   Whatever made me sick in Florida reared its ugly head and attacked me again early this week. I knew it wasn't killing me, but it sure got in some hefty kicks even after I was down. Feeling much better today, I pause to consider all who live with pain on a daily basis, or with chronic illness that prevents them from living the life they'd like to live. I was never without compassion but definitely caught up in my own world that usually only has minor bumps in the road. To those who battle discomfort daily, I both salute your courage and strength, and pray for relief and cures.

Now, onto the fun! Are you ready to attend a Big Top Birthday Party? 

Mommy found this invitation in an Etsy shop. She purchased the download and was able to enter pertinent info about the date, time, phone number to RSVP, etc, all in the same font before printing the invitations, two to a page.

Mommy made this cake, based on directions she found online. It was four 9" layers, alternating chocolate and yellow cake. The popcorn on top and on the tray is actually mini marshmallows. Most had a snip or two made to make them look like popped kernels.The yellow was provided by spray on food coloring, lightly sprayed into a bag of the marshmallows and slightly shaken to unevenly distribute the color. It really did look like butter.

Red and white streamers draped from the basement rafters suggested the big top. Grandpa was pretending to adjust chairs down at that end, but the snacks are to his left. We can't see his left hand, can we? Hmmmmm.

Freshly popped popcorn! Mmmmmmm! Besides other party appetizers, bowls of jelly belly candies and bowls of circus peanuts were throughout the basement. 

The party was for family and close family friends. The young guests each got a take home box with a fake mustache, wax lips, and clown nose among other prizes. 

 Grandpa got some one on one time with the guest of honor before the other circus patrons arrived.

Colton didn't want to let go of his new best friend, Buzz Lightyear.

Sort of looks likes Christmas, doesn't it?

Uh-oh Buzz, this plane is pretty cool. You might not be the favorite toy anymore...just ask Woody how that feels!

 Happy Birthday to the light of many lives, our very own Colton! 

With love from the Carny's Strong Man and the Girl on the Flying Trapeze!

Let them eat cake! Please! Eat some cake!

Today is my grandson's first birthday party. Yesterday was a busy day in my kitchen. I wish I had started some of the decorating earlier but this past week just didn't allow for that. I crammed a lot in four hours, and warm hands and squeezing decorator bags don't mix. Of course chilling those bags and making harder work for tired hands isn't such a good idea either.

The theme to this party is Jungle Safari. First we have a monkey cake. The batter is chocolate, the icing is regular buttercream tinted brown (not chocolate buttercream).

Next is a yellow batter cake with buttercream icing and Wilton jungle/zoo animals and leaves in the border. The larger animals in the middle are made from candy clay. I will explain that later.

The last cake is a single layer 6" yellow cake, just for Colton. The monkey faces were made at a local cake and candy supply store.

I've been lazy the last few years and used canned frosting much of the time. I had forgotten how quickly homemade buttercream can set up or dry. The cakes aren't as smooth as they should be, but I can vouch for the icing tasting good.

Now about the candy clay...

It isn't hard to make. You melt a bag of Wilton Candy Melts, stirring often. Once they are all melted, you add 1/3 cup light corn syrup and stir that in. It will form a clay-like ball. When the corn syrup is fully blended, pat the candy clay out on a sheet of wax paper. I spread it into a somewhat rectangular shape to cool. Blot this a few times with paper towel to absorb some of the liquid that will be present. I wrapped the wax paper around this, folding the "clay" and put it in a zip lock bag overnight.

My test samples earlier in the week were made with yellow candy melts. They aren't quite as bright as they appear here. What I learned from the samples was to  1) work with a small amount at a time 2) that if you let body parts get too dry, they won't adhere and 3) edible markers, even fine tipped ones, are too large to fill in small holes if you use a toothpick to make an indentation for an eye. Not the best picture collage here, but you can see what I mean about the eyes and marker. The balls in front of the puppy were supposed to be balls of yarn...I was getting ready to leave for knitting when playing with this.

The day after the clay was made, I thought it was a huge mistake. The blob in the zip lock bag seemed really hard, but breaking a piece off (or cutting it off), it was ok to knead by hand.

I knew I didn't want to buy a bunch of Candy Melts in various colors and I had a pound of Guittard chocolate melts from the candy supply stores. Guittard is a very good chocolate for molding tasty candy, but it wasn't as good to work with for this project, at least not in my opinion. I used the pound bag of  white Guittard  to make the clay and used paste coloring to tint small amounts as needed yesterday. The tiger orange was orange coloring added to some of the yellow clay. I was worried that the colors would stain my hands but they did not. I washed between each dye job, not only to prevent color blending but to cool my hands off. That isn't something you'll hear from me often. I am usually cold and running them under warm water!

If I had made the animals a little larger, the smaller details would have been easier to manage but do I think a one year old or his young cousins are going to mind? Hardly. I will definitely do this again. It was fun, and would be fun to do with a child. 

The leftover clay is in zip lock baggies. I need to look up how long I can expect it to keep. Of the samples I made last Sunday, some I kept in a plastic storage container and one I kept out in the air. Both remained pliable enough to bite without effort. The clay critters would be a bit sweet to eat an entire one, but I like that they have a decent taste and texture. Sometimes decorations are cute, but nothing you really want to taste.

Birthday Cake with Cookies!

In April I posted about great-nephew Alex's birthday cake here and back in February, it was his cousin Josh's birthday here. This past weekend, Josh's sister turned seven. She had been thinking about her birthday cake since Christmas. She wanted her name, Allison, in BIG letters on her cake, and the letters should be standing up.

I bought this set of alphabet letters and numbers at a craft store and used a 40% discount coupon, feeling very good about the purchase. I am sure they will be used again and again.

I went to the cake supply store for a box, cake board and advice on icing for the cookies that wouldn't be rock hard, but would set. I came home with the items I went for, along with cookie skewers (wooden dowels without a pointed end), frozen sugar cookie dough and a bag of royal icing mix.

Two days before the party, I rolled out the dough, cut out the letters and gently inserted a skewer into each one.

After cooling completely, I mixed half the royal icing mix with a few tablespoons of water and food coloring to a consistency I wanted for piping an outline around each letter.

I mixed the icing that remained from outlining with the rest of the dry mix and more water to get a paler pink that would flow between the outlined piping. I used a large decorator tip and it went quickly and easily.

The cake was a tiered layer cake. The larger bottom layer was Devils Food cake, the top 9x 13 layer was yellow cake. Because I wasn't sure how the cookies on sticks would hold up, I waited until just before serving to put the skewers into the cake.

Shortly after I got to the party, Allison looked in the box and seemed a little disappointed at how plain the cake looked, but she didn't say anything. After dinner, while everyone but her cousin was outside, I added the cookie letters and alphabet birthday candles. Alex supervised.

Not only were the letters a bit wide for the cake, the "N" wanted to spin to the back so I had to stagger the letters to get them to fit and face forward.
The Christmas Tree Store sells birthday name candles for $1.99 per set, but had been out of Allison for quite some time. I bought Alexandria and Nelson in order to get the letters I needed. I used the leftover letters to spell out a possible name for Alex's sibling due in September. Somehow his mom didn't think Deanna Rex was a plausible name for her baby.
Allison was surprised and happy with her cake. She pronounced it was exactly what she wanted.

As soon as one of her friends realized those were cookies on sticks, a near feeding frenzy began. Hungry sharks had nothing on these kids! Each one wanted a letter that was in their name. My niece (Allison's mom) did a good job accommodating everyone, and thankfully the number of cookies and kids came out even!

Two flavors of ice cream to choose from was a BIG decision!

Such an intense expression on this little face!

It isn't easy balancing a plate with cake, ice cream, a fork and a cookie on a stick!

I think I am done for a while. Unless I decide to make a special cake for my birthday. What do you think...yarn and knitting needles on top or just simple diamonds and sapphires?

Dude! I have cakes!

Do I smell cake?

Wow! It really IS a skateboard cake!

Need to make a skateboard cake for someone in your life? Bake a 13 x 9 cake and a 9" round layer. Cut the round layer in half and add one section to each end of the 13 x 9 cake. Decorate as desired. It would be just as cute without using the star tip, but I think more than one color is a good idea. Skateboards tend to be colorful. The wheel assemblies are each made of two chocolate covered Donettes (small donuts) and a Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookie. I added a frosting star as each hubcap (can you tell I don't know what a skateboarder would call them?)


The reason for two cakes is to accommodate all the guests and offer two different flavors. Besides, it makes a good excuse to bake.

My reputation is in tact among the 7 years and younger set. The opinions of friends and relatives of advanced years should not be heeded unless they are the approved opinion list. It is a very short list.

Birthday cakes

Old hobbies get recycled when another generation enters the family. When my kids, nieces and nephews were little, I baked and decorated many character cakes. As they grew older, those cakes were made less frequently and then not at all. Now that our family has a new generation, the cake making supplies have come out of retirement. Thanks to two of my nieces, I have two three year old great-nephews (they are cousins) and one six year old great niece.


The first birthday this calendar year was one of the boys who wanted a football cake. Rather than cut the cake in the shape of a football, I made a half sheet cake (half yellow, half chocolate) and made and end zone on the cake surrounded by molded chocolate footballs and the birthday boy's name. It even had football shaped candles. They are standing up opposite his name.


Two months later was the second young man's birthday. His request was for a Tigger cake. Wilton makes many cake pans, but Wilton is no longer offered. One of the things that has changed since my previous days of baking character cakes is that one of the cake supply stores near me now rents pans!

<---- Here is Tigger A second cake had chocolate batter (Tigger was yellow) and was decorated with white, orange and black frosting, spelling out birthday wishes for Alex.



Recently, the princess of the new generation turned six. Her request was for a Barbie cake. Uh oh....Wilton doesn't make that pan any longer either, and the rental pan needed a plastic cake topper in the image of Barbie but that was missing.

I bought Disney's princess pan (Cinderella, in my opinion) and at a second shop found the plastic Barbie decoration on the second cake. I altered Cinderella's hair and clothing to resemble the Barbie on the second cake.

Barbie could use a cosmetic make over, but made a six year old smile and was pretty tasty with a side of ice cream. What more could you ask for?