Play To The Boy!

So...In an effort to try and save time, I thought.."How about I make a double batch of Swiss meringue buttercream, split it in half, flavor each and then I don't have to make 2 separate batches thereby cleaning twice, sorting ingredients twice, reaching the proper temperature twice, etc."? Well...I think after all these cakes I've been making...I'm crapping out my poor little mixer...The thing that makes me nervous is that it's not little...it's the top of the line Kitchen Aid....I'm talkin big bucks...and only just a few months old too....damn. Good thing I sent in the warranty papers! Anyhow...the mass amount of buttercream was too much and I could hear the little motor slowing down, getting tired...and kinda gettin warm...not a good combination....and then the issue that happens with smaller mixers occurred: not enough power to whip the buttercream into shape....so I ended up with soup. I thought  (in my simple mind) that perhaps if I just kept adding more butter it would fix the problem..."Oh...you have too many ingredients? Here, let's add MORE!!" Not the most brilliant moment in my life....I've  had a few of these....it wasn't until I added an additional 6 cups of butter to the, already, full amount that I came to the conclusion, "this just might NOT work in ,my favor"....so I shut down shop on that...It was nerve racking because I was terrified that I couldn't make my UBER yummy butter cream...but I can....I just have to do in the most tedious manner possible...like everything in my life....it has to be done the hard way. hahaha!!!

Anyhow...the first cake I made for the weekend was a request from a lovely girl who is turning the fabulous age of 18. She write me and says, "Can you make this?"

I reply with, "YES PLEASE!!" And so there it is..I am a hypocrite. Not ALL my creations are unique and different, since the cake I made is a complete copy. The photo above is the cake she asked me to make and the only way for us cake designers to get props for our own unique designs is by GIVING props to those who come up with their own....and we borrow them. So to the owner of this creation, I give you thanks and praise...you rock the Casbar,  I have fallen in love with you (don't tell my husband....lol) And with that, I leave you all with my version of the playboy perfection that is above:

ASHLEY'S BIRTHDAY CAKE

T Minus 5

FIVE orders this week!!! EEEK!!! It's going to be insane! AND SO MUCH FUN!!! I have another baby shower cake..and I'm STOKED for it...another Dora cake, PLAYBOY, another princess cake, and TOY STORY!!!! So, the funny thing is, yes, I've done a few of them in the past...but I'm not duplicating ANY of my past cakes...they are ALL new, and they are ALL going to be wicked! I'm so excited to make ALL of them but I'd be lying to you if I said the playboy cake wasn't my favorite....SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!!!!

Now, for the Dora cake...it's nothing like the other one I had made...it's made on a bed of cupcakes...and it's going to have lots of fun little accessories to go with it...including 3 toys for the birthday girl!

With so many cakes due in such a short amount of time, I decided not to waste any time and to make the things that can be done well in advance...the following is a bunch of little bugs that will accompany Dora and her friends on a bed of flowers scattered throughout the scene...they're so teeny! I had to take pictures of them with a dime next to them so you can see just how tiny my little bugs are....

These are my ladybugs and beetles

Itty bitty bumble bees

My teeny weeny butterflies....
And all of these, I've created by hand from modelling chocolate...
AND IT'S ALL COMPLETELY EDIBLE!!!! 

BABIES part deux

ok so the reason why there is a second half to this posting is because this weekend was an EPIC cake making episode. I made 4, count em FOUR cakes! All were original creations inspired by ideas from the owners...conversations and photos mostly and this is what came of it:

The first 2, you've seen...these 2 were ideas inspired by a few photos and my mother in law....

This first one was created with the intention of the bedroom being a surprise Princess bedroom. She had no idea that when she came home for her birthday, her room was going to be transformed into a fairytale dream come true...My job was to make her cake match that room...

Princess bed

Princess bed

Princess bed

 The tiara is placed ever so delicately on top of the cake. This is the tiara I had made earlier this week.

Top of the cake. Flowers covering the drape...kinda making it look like a veil....

Back of the cake...I LOVE the veil look...so pretty!

Front of the cake.

Another front view.

Babies!!!

So....had I of known that this would have been so much fun, I would have started with a baby shower cake from the very beginning.....I think it's the little bean sleeping at the top that makes my heart melt....Anyhow....I still have 2 cakes to do before the weekend is up, but here are a few photos of what I've done so far.....

The first is for the U12 Fury Select team (soccer, but I'm sure you figured that out! lol)

and the other is for my very first baby shower.....

I fell in love with this project the instant it was requested........

Royal Indeed......

So in an effort to tap into my creative genius I thought I could use a clay gun to make string from fondant and gum paste...the tool comes with 20 different patterns to choose from and looks AMAZING and I fell in LOVE with it the instant I saw it....then I went to use it and could smell (what I thought smelled like) WD40...D'OH! so...plan B...I have MANY plan B's...and this was the first one...Royal icing. I figured I could try it 2 different ways...one would be the drop string style and the other could be the dotted effect. On the off chance that one breaks...I figured if there WOULD be a break it would be from the drop string tiara as the lines were quite thin....and I was right....and I was wrong...they both broke...but I honestly think it's because the princess in me just REALLY wanted to see what it would look like all on its' own before it was ready to be taken apart from its' wax paper home.....

So...another plan B...FIX IT!!! I don't think you can see where it was broken because it's in the very back (On BOTH tiaras! WTF dude??) But they're both SOOOO cute!!!

pictures....for my cake to come this weekend....

This is the finished product of the dotted effect tiara.

This is the drop string Tara...It's still holding on to dear life after surgery to fix a broken arm in the back...I'll leave that one till tomorrow to take apart....

Aaaaand..I am also making my VERY FIRST BABY SHOWER cake!! You don't even KNOW how excited I am about this...I've been stching to make one for MONTHS now...and I think I may go overboard just cuz...well I'm dumb...well at least I'm going to go overboard with my PRE-decorations....I can't say that they'll all make it to the cake....but here is a little photo of ONE detail that might make it on....

This is just a quick snap of multiple teeny tiny feet that might make it somewhere on the cake.....not all of them as there are a few that look as though they have a growth of some sort on them....but a few....below this shot is about the same amount of left feet...they are all about 3/4" long...SO TINY!! tee hee hee!!!

SCORE!!!!

So yesterday was a bittersweet day....
We decided to go to Edmonton to get some gear...all sorts of gear...Soccer gear, kitchen gear, but most importantly...CAKE gear!!

We started off in true Evans fashion by sleeping in. Damn. We woke up 2 1/2 hours later than originally anticipated and were late getting out. Then Joey decided to stay home...making us fight the constant urge to rush out the door...because that's what makes people forget stuff...pffft...Not like WE ever do that...never....(Enter sarcasm here...)

Anyway, we got going with everything we needed and as it turns out we only forgot the stroller....Not like it was important anyhow...we just bought a new one...cuz that's how we roll dontcha know?....

ok...so BAD news....Near Athabasca...we dove past the scene of a car accident. If you read this and you are related to those involved, my deepest sympathies if you have lost a loved one. For those of you who haven't heard about it...it was not pretty...and I only pray there were no casualties....unfortunately...from what we could see...I can't say for sure that this was the case.

Carrying forward.
Edmonton was ok...it is what it is...you go, you shop, you stay over night (if you're smart....note we didn't...eh hem...) BUT...our timing was impeccable...We were to meet a woman for purchase of a table at 2:30 and pulled into the parking lot at 2:28. Perhaps we are not the most organized when it comes to travel...but don't mess with us when it come to punctuality! In a matter of four...count 'em FOUR hours...we went to Eurosport, Walmart, Toys-R-Us, Michaels, Future Shop, and a few different Timmy's...Oh, and a few other places that shall not be named (Cuz they be for Christmas and little eyes may find their way to this blog! tee hee hee!!). We are ROCKSTARS.

The drive was great with an amazingly well behaved little baby...Tony and I poking fun at each other and trying to see who can embarrass who in Walmart. The problem we face with that is, we're both kind of immature and therefore we don't really get embarrassed. The end result is usually 2 grown adults making asses of themselves...but nobody knows us and we seem to think that this is enough justification to carry on with the stupidity...Whatever...we're dumb.

Anyhow...everything was rather plain about the trip until I went to Michaels and Toys-R-Us. Scored some SWEET toys for cake toppers, found some awesome cookie cutters for Halloween, more shimmery stuff, more decorating stuff...and now I need to find more storage....again...damn.

We pulled this entire trip off in 1 day...left at 9am...and pulled back into our driveway at 1:30am the next morning...night...whatever...all we knew was, we were tired as hell and could practically taste the bed sheets.

This morning I awoke to little ideas popping up like crazy in my head about this weekends' twists to go with my requests..I'm SO excited!! I get to use my gumpaste extruder, and design stuff for princesses soccer gurus & brand new little babies!! This could very well be the highlight of the year....at least until the next round of cakes!

Alright alright..the oven....

No no...It was no joke...I REALLY almost burned down my house....But I kind of blame the oven company...the broil function should honestly come with a caution sign....Here's the scenario...ready? Go!

Me, "I think I'll make an apple cobbler with the rest of your favorite apple crisp, apples Tony, How does that sound?..Oh...I know you can't get them anymore this year, but I PROMISE it'll be really tasty! Just let me finish this mountain of dishes first and I'll get right on it!

Tony, "You're an idiot."

Me, "Hmmm....why isn't it getting CRISP on top like it's SUPPOSED TO!? GRRRR!!!"

Tony,"Why don't you try broiling it for a couple of minutes? That should do it..."

Me,"Brilliant! How does it work? Oh HERE! push the button!"

Tony,"I don't think we should leave it for too long...you never know what could happen, right?"

Phone rings...or Joey called us, or someone came to the door....oh, no..wait, I remember...we went to the computer to look at stuff on Kijiji...which was absolutely NOT important....

Me,"HOLY S$#%!!!!, THE CRISP IS ON FIRE!!"

We open the oven door to assess the situation....

Tony,"What should we do????!!!"

And here's the winner of ALL comments...."close the door. and wait till it goes out!"

So Tony closes the door but grabs the fire extinguisher...sprays the damn thing in the WRONG DIRECTION and hits the side of the oven (NOT the fire) and white powder goes EVERYWHERE including my freshly washed mountain of dishes.....
We looked at each other with "holy crap!" eyes and he sprays again FINALLY getting the fire.

Eh hem.....sooooo...who wants a cake?

Photo:

The MOUNTAIN of dishes....This was in between having a dishwasher...I was less than pleased.

The oven...post pyrotechnics

Tony and Joey basically laughing at the situation...They didn't have to clean any of the mess....Technically it was TONY'S fault ya know...

Tony being grossed out by the residue left by the extinguisher. He then walked away. We have a NEW one now...

mmmmm....Apple crisp anyone? GROSS!!!!! hahahahaha!!!

I have since decided that apple crisps are NOT my forté...thus leaving me to bake at a reasonable temperature for an amount of time that doesn't require eagle eye attention. Fondant doesn't hurt people...I'm friends with fondant.

Oh ya...and one more thing...That oven you see? It was brand new at the time....

WELCOME TO CHEZ EVANS'!!

Hi there...I'd like to introduce myself...my name is Scratch....

Ok...So not EXACTLY scratch..I have made a few cakes...and cupcakes....ya...I'm another one of THOSE girls..you know...the girl that went and got all pregnant...which led to maternity leave and decided that she loved her house SO much that she would do something from her home...and VOILA! Domestic goddess in the making! Since she's the mother of multiple children (her husband being one of them at times) she has tapped into her inner Martha, Nigella or Anna....ok maybe YOU have, but I'm more like Nadia G...completely loopy..and damn proud of it! But the bonus is that I make some pretty awesome cakes to go with the eccentric being that is me!

The purpose of this blog is to show you who I am...making that the difference between the other fabulously talented ladies in this area and myself. I'm clumsy, and happy and a little crazy, chalk FULL of wicked ideas for cakes and ALWAYS willing to try something new...oh my poor husbands bank account! My life is full of positives and I try to learn from every mistake I make...but I guess that's life's main purpose so I'll just shut up about that now.

I'll try to get on here as often as possible to post pictures, tell stories, take advice from anyone willing to supply it, and make you at least giggle....with the chaos that is my life...no no..don't worry...I have designated areas for my crazy cake adventures so you can be assured that she's a CLEAN, crazy... clumsy...uhhhh...hmmmm....I should re-write this.....nahhhhh....

photo op!