‘Tis the season for ghosts and goblins!

It’s also the season for busy chicks with colds and assorted nastiness dwelling withing our sinuses!  Plus I seem to spend most of my ‘free’ time keeping my son, Crazy, away from all of the Halloween anamatronics we have out.  So forgive the usual tutorial, as I, the Frosting chick, have decided to share with you some cakes of the season that folks have shared with me.  A lot of these look like they were made by home bakers, so don’t expect clean lines and fancy piping, it’s Halloween for ghoulish sakes!  I’ve also thrown in one of my own, see if you can guess which one! And if you happen to know who made any of these scary creations, drop us a line so we can give them props!

First up, grab a plate and a spoon and dig in!

*channeling my best Eddie Murphy* “Dead bird, gonna put it on YOU!!!!!!”

Did grandpa lose something?

Rocky Horror or just horror?

I think I might have dated this guy in high school

Jason seemed a lot scarier in the first flick…

Innards anyone?  There’s plenty….

What’s up, smokers?

They only come out at night!  Now if they can just make it out of the box.

 

 

 

Nothing wrong with a little holiday head

Honey, time to change the litter box

I’m not sure what the hair is made of, but I AM sure I’d never, ever take a bite

Let’s give ’em all a hand, shall we?

Cake Chicks Undercover

Have you ever wondered what a cake decorating contest is like? If you could “hang” with that crowd? If you have a snowball’s chance of competing? So did we. What’s a cake chick with a longing to do? Spy, of course! We’re so good at it, we didn’t even have to lurk around corners to get the story. We walked right in, spoke to people, gawked, took beau coup pictures, and boldly snagged pieces of each cake even though we were supposed to limit ourselves to one. Hey, it’s not my fault they didn’t say that before they started passing the plates!

Here’s the set-up: contestants arrived one hour prior to the competition to set up. They have one hour to finish decorating their partly finished cakes in front of a live audience. And they were definitely live. A little too live at times. Kids, young adults, and way grown people alike were both nervous and excited- too much so at times. While the contestants are decorating, judges interview about their creations. Eek! Go away! They only have an hour!

 After the time allotted has passed, the judges get to work and eat cake while we watch and are served our own pieces. Badda bing, badda boom, winners are announced, and we all go home entertained, full of cake, and a little more educated.

 There you have it. That’s how it works. Satisfied? *Sigh* I thought not. Okay, here’s the whole scoop on this particular contest:

 We arrive at the much disclosed location and pull up to the little booth where they keep the parking attendant hostage. When we fork over our hard-earned-we’ve-got-bills-to-pay five bucks for parking, he sees our swank attire and posh vehicle, takes pity on us, and gives us two free tickets to the event. Score!

 Park the hoopty, walk into the building, and wander around acting like we belong. The contest is being held during a home improvement show so we totally blend in. We look like we drop a hundred grand on a patio, right? Suuurrrre.

 Okay, in our zest and excitement, we’re a lil early for the contest. We get the lay of the land and now the contest starts in….an hour and a half. LOL Hey, at least right outside there’s a horse show of some sort. Let’s go check that out…. Well, city cake chick is not fond of the aroma and country cake chick still can’t stand to see a whip used so let’s not hang here too long. Blah, blah, blah, kill time and check on progress. Nope, zoo dude is still hogging the stage. Lunch? One taco, two drinks, and too much money later, it’s time to check again. Whoo hoo! Snag a couple of seats and wait for the big event to start!

 Waaiit a minute. Where’s the nekked cake? Why are these covered? They look almost done. What’s going on here? Hmmm, guess I should have read the rules a bit closer. I was ready for them to start from baked nekked cake and end with a completed masterpiece. I mean, that’s why I said, “No way am I ready for that” when asked if I was interested in competing. Shoot, had I known all I had to do on site was the actual last hour of decorating any cake I might have tossed my spatula into the ring. Or not. I’m pretty chicken, that’s why I’m a cake chick and not a cake lion or something else equally fierce.

 Cake chicks and cake roosters, there is fondant everywhere! As far as the rolling pin can reach, there is fondant. Out of 5 contestants, there is 1, yes 1, fondant free cake. Here. In middle America. In a town nicknamed Cowlumbus. Fondant. Huh. Whoda thunk it? And not just accents, either. Entire cakes covered. In fondant. I thought for awhile there I’d have to pull my fellow chickie out from under the folding chair where she was rocking herself while in the fetal position. Fondant has officially taken over the world if it’s here.

 Hey, I’m a fondant fan. I’m also a buttercream pipe dreamer. I can eat buttercream literally by the bucket if not stopped but fondant? Yes, I’ll have one piece, please- but only if it’s a kind that tastes good. I’m a wannabe buttercream piper. I’m practicing my skills dreaming that one day a client will ask for an 8 tier wedding cake with royal string work and intricate scrolls and I’ll say with confidence, “I can do that, no problemo.” In the meantime, I fondant. Not that fondant is simple or easy. It’s just a different talent and skill. One I already have. Piping does not come naturally to this cake chick- which makes it all the more exciting to try to conquer.

 Anyway, fondant is definitely here, but there’s some buttercream work, too- along with *gasp* chocolate! Yum, white piped chocolate! *Swoon* Now it’s my partner’s turn to pick me up from the floor. Where I’m crawling towards the table trying to sneak a taste. “Whoa, there, Nelly! Don’t make me harness you and put you in the ring outside!” Alright, alright, I’ll sit back in my chair. For now.

 After we peruse the offerings, the contest starts with minimal fanfare. The crowd quiets for a bit as the work begins- but no for long. Every contestant has their cheering section and some lend quiet support, but others, not so much.

At this point, one of us is sliding in and out amongst the chairs and onlookers taking pictures whilst the other is “standing on ballerina toes trying to see over the heads of the RELATIVES WHO GET TO SEE THESE FOLKS WORK ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME!!!!!!!!” Ahem. As I said, some were calm and others were not.

 La, la, la, la- contestants are covering cakes with fondant, applying borders, covering cake boards, piping basket weave, etc….etc…etc…. It was difficult to see due to people standing and the set up of the whole shebang. Every 15 minutes or so one of the judges announces the time left. Roughly half-way through, a local reporter/judge talks to each one of the contestants asking about the inspiration for their cakes and each caker’s experience with cake. Near the end, the crowd’s patience is at an end and they start filing by the tables, completely blocking the view of anyone polite enough to stay back and let them work without interference. Argh! A child’s curiosity gets the best of her and I see her reach out and quickly slap a cake. Aaaahhhh! I swear, this next part was pure reflex on my part. I’ve been a parent too long. I should have been given more time off as a parent. You would have done the same, I swear.

 I slapped my fellow caker. Yes, slapped. Reflex, I swear. It was as if I was reaching out to slap that child’s hand away from the cake. At the same time, I gasped, “She’s touching it!” Fortunately, the slap was gentle enough that my bud just said, “what?” like a fellow exasperated mother who’s been interrupted one too many times. Security like people (if you can call people in golf shirts security) quickly set up a barrier and the cake was unharmed. Whew! Disaster averted.

 The whistle blows signaling the end of the allotted time and we are all given one more chance to take pictures and shuffle by the cakes. Contestants cut into their masterpieces and the judging begins. We were, umm, too busy eating cake to watch much of the judging. J Hey, you have to know if it tastes as good as it looks, right? I mean, in the end, cake is for eating.

  How did it taste? Disappointing. Then again, I had pretty high expectations so my disappointment was partly my fault. I was looking at the decorators as semi-gods. Obviously, they were confident enough to enter. If they entered, they must have thought they had a decent chance of winning. Judging by their supporters, other people thought so as well. I naturally assumed a person with such high decorating skills would have equally high baking skills. I mean, it’s cake, right? You eat it. Your family eats it. Your friends eat it. Your coworkers eat it. There must be something extraordinary about it, right? Nope. Box mix, box mix, box mix, box mix, probably altered box mix. Call it fudgy chunky pumpkin whatever. It’s a box mix. Huh. So what’s all fuss about scratch vs. box again? Hey, I like box mixes. I make them a lot. It’s just that I had different expectations. I definitely didn’t expect the chocolate to be burnt, but let’s not point fingers at what I’m sure is already an embarrassing enough situation. Can you imagine when that caker got home with the leftovers and discovered that little oopsie? Oh my!

 Other unexpected discoveries were:

 Wilton boxes. Yep, flimsy as they are, every box I saw was a Wilton.

 Not a Viva paper towel in sight. I guess they all trusted their icing to remain perfect. The paper towels I saw had prints or patterns on them.

 Fondant- the homemade one was okay- tasteless, which can be a good thing. It didn’t compete with the cake or buttercream flavor at all. The stuff that wasn’t homemade and that was served was…weird. Very stretchy. The person who flavored their fondant with pumpkin pie type spices- don’t do that. Weird and ick, ick and weird.

 Square corners with ripped fondant. As we all know, that’s what décor is for, right?

 Crooked borders

 Not an airbrush in sight, but there was a can of Wilton spray color involved.

 One person out of 5 wore gloves. None had their hair covered. In fact, one long haired contestant didn’t even pull the hair back in a ponytail. Not all wore aprons.

 The buttercream layer under the fondant was maybe 1/8” thick. Mine is closer to ¼”

  Just interesting observations. Observations that make me think I’m too hard on myself and perhaps I’m ready to play with big guys. Or maybe the medium guys.

 In the end, the little details didn’t seem to matter that much. As someone said to me, “You could have Jesus spinning on top of a pumpkin, and the ‘shoe would still win.” Sorry if that offends anyone, but there’s a truth to it.

The horseshoe stadium wins every time. Something to remember, no? I’m not saying she didn’t deserve the win, not at all. She gave a terrific explanation of her inspiration for her cake and she does a mean, fast, straight basket weave, after all.

 Check out the detail on this apple:

“Gorgeous!” (must be said in a certain tone of voice with jazz hands) Again, to be fair, the judges were not cakers. Not that I’m aware of, anyway. Only cakers truly know the exquisiteness of a well turned out shoe:

or perfectly executed cutey pie pumpkins:

or the real difficulties of a chocolate collar (even if the decorator says it’s easy):

I guess I just wanted all the cakes to win or something. Each one had their own specialness to it. Each stood on its own as a work of edible art. But dang, did you have to go all ‘shoe on them??? LOL

So, judge for yourself. I know you can’t taste them so you’ll just have to go on decorating skill alone. Which one would you have chosen?

 

Adventures in buttercream

Hello bloggers, Frosting Chick here.  I’ve been trying to come up with a theme for this entry, and since most of my work is in frosting, I figured what the heck?  Let’s explore just what can be done with some frosting, some time and a little imagination, shall we?

It’s not that I’m not a fan of fondant, I just don’t enjoy working with it.  I appreciate the look it provides, but, unless you have worked with it, you can’t appreciate the amount of work it can take.  For me, there are just too many variables.  We chicks don’t have a big fancy sheeter, so all fondant is rolled by hand (see the Sax cake for example).  A multitude of things can go wrong during this process, and I just find it a lesson in frustration.  Roll out, attempt to lift, get a tear, flop it back down, curse, fix dry edges/rips, curse some more, re-roll, repeat.  You get the idea.  I find it much more enjoyable to create fabulous themed cakes with frosting, and the occasional touch of fondant.  If something goes wrong with frosting, scrape off the offending area and do it again! Keep in mind that this is also time consuming.  Once the cake starts to warm up, it doesn’t behave as well as a chilled cake, so there’s a lot of pulling out/putting in the ‘fridge.  But it’s worth it.

First up; the round (ball) cake.  If you watch cake shows on Food Network, I’m sure you’ve heard the old addage ‘you can’t make a ball shaped cake’.  Shenanigans I say!  Of course you can!  And if you’re fortunate enough of have the right shaped bake ware, bonus: no carving!  I likes me a no mess cake.

First, you’ll bake the 2 halves of the cake.  Unless you’re also lucky enough to have two pans/bowls the same size and can do both at once, it’s a one-atta-time operation.  Me? Nope, gotta do it one half at a time.  Time consuming, but whatcha gonna do when you’re using Moms’ casserole dish from 1960-what?.  This casserole is also bigger than the round pans I’ve seen on the market, so more cake! There’s one dish in the cupboard, and that’s what I’m using.  Because it’s deeper than a standard cake pan, you’ll have to start watching closely around the 30-40 minute mark to prevent over baking.       

Once baked, cooled, and possibly the teesniest bit frozen, it’s time to get down to bidness.  First thing to consider is what the cake is going to be sitting on.  A cake board?  Another cake?  Either way, the bottom half of the cake will be the first one semi-decorated.  I say ‘semi’ because the design dictates just how much frosting/decorating you’ll be doing to the bottom half.  I’ve done a couple of soccer ball cakes, and you have to get the lines matched up with the top portion, and if you’ve completely decorated the bottom half and something is off, well, let’s just say it can get ugly.  I find it easiest, at least with the soccer ball cakes, to crumb coat and chill first, then ‘draw’ the lines with a toothpick  I leave about 4-6 inches of the ‘top’ of the bottom undecorated for easy maneuverability.  For the soccer ball cakes, the ball portion sat on a ‘field’ of cake that has been grass tipped like mad (can you say ‘carpal tunnel’? Sure, I knew you could)!  You’ll have to flip it over onto the supports, hence the undecorated space.        

Once the bottom half is placed, it’s time to fill!  Go crazy!  This part doesn’t have to be pretty, but you do want a filling that won’t ooze out or into the cake itself, so pick something sturdy.  I usually ask for the recipients favorite color, and color the frosting for a surprise burst of color when cut.  Once that is done, place the crumb coated top half.  There will be a gap that you’ll be filling in with frosting to make it uniform.  Now it’s time to finish.

I have found, for a cake like this, you’ll at least want it to sit overnight in the ‘fridge to make delivery a breeze.  I have yet to have a ball cake roll around in the box.  I have also found that these cakes do not need internal supports in the ball itself, so there’s no warnings or disclaimers to the customers about cutting.  Except for the soccer balls. There must be supports in the ‘grassy field’ portion, or it’s all downhill from here.  So go at it bakers, see what you can do, I have faith in you!  Below are some examples of the round cakes I’ve done.

This Pokemon themed cake was my first ball cake, thank goodness it was a simple design!  Just a little fondant for the circle thingy (sorry I don’t know what it’s called, my son isn’t into Pokemon!)

For this golf ball, I used the end of my fondant roller to create the dimples.  Then I hand painted on the Callaway logo.

This Death Star was my second ball cake.  I’ll admit, I was a novice with fondant, and was working on it with short notice, but the recipient was pleased as punch, and everyone pulled of the fondant anyway.  It was for one of my favorite people on the planet, who, unfortunately, lost her battle with cancer this year, and I miss her terribly.  I’m so glad I got to make this for her before she got too sick to enjoy it.  Seems strange to not be planning her birthday cake for this year. She was a total sci-fi head (a gal after my own heart), and I wonder how I would have been challenged for her this year.

I made this pumpkin cake for a friends’ anniversary, they were married on October 31st!

There are times where fondant can be utilized in the decor, without covering the whole cake.  I had a customer order an ocean themed cake for her sons’ “1/2” birthday.  His birthday is in January, and since that’s no fun, they party in July, how creative is that?  Of course, she also celebrates 1/2 New Years as well, but I suspect for different reasons.  I’m just waiting for her to announce 1/2 Christmas, just so she can get some gifts, greedy little wench! 🙂  She gave me creative license, so I broke out some green fondant and made fishy shapes!  Check ’em out!

 

I airbrushed them with varying colors and layers so they would sparkle on the cake and used all kinds of utensils for scales, eyes, etc…  I also used various tips to create jelly fish and wave-like borders around the cake.  The result was pretty dang cute if I do say so myself.

For my hubbys family reunion this year, I made a HUGE cake, airbrushed a tree, and used some fondant for leaves…  I couldn’t get anyone to cut it!  “It’s too pretty” they said.  “It’s cake!!” I replied, it’s meant to be eaten!  Finally the sweet seekers in the crowd dug in.

And in case you’re wondering if I’ve ever done a completely covered cake, well, I have.  I made a motorcycle helmet for my brother in law, modeled after Peter Fonda’s helmet in “Easy Rider”.  4 layers of cake, carved, covered and hand painted.  I threw in the donor card as the big, bad bro-in-law is known for riding without his brain bucket.  Then we had to drive it an hour away to a state park, through some of the windiest/hilliest parts of Ohio.  For you out of staters, don’t let anyone tell you Ohio is flat, that is a misconception. I was on pins and needles the whole trip.  Thank goodness we don’t live in San Francisco!

So there you go bloggers, don’t be intimidated because you don’t think you can do it, you can!  Remember, necessity and customers are the mother of invention!