Major Decision

I have made a decision:

Being sick blows.

And for those of you out there trying to be cute, no, I don't just mean that often when you're sick, you have to blow your nose.  :P

Seriously, I have been sick since Sunday and, like everyone else, I don't have time for it.  But thankfully, I was able to finish a cake order and I'm starting on another today.  It's not due until Saturday so I've got plenty of time right???...  I mean, it's only a graduation cake for 3 people and their entire families.... that is also, by the way, supposed to have Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia on it... Pssh!  No big deal!... ::Nervously twitching::

So anywho, here's the Retirement cake I finished today.  It's for a man retiring from the State Department of Transportation after working there for 44 years.

Get it???  See things usually start out a bit rocky in new careers, but then, as you go along, they get smoother and smoother and then finally you're on ultra smooth during retirement... aka Easy Street???

Whatever.

I understood it.

 

***The cake is completely handmade (no fancy pants templates or stick-ons for me) and consists of a measly 4 lbs of buttercream, some candy clay and some royal icing.***

 After surviving a minor freak out last night- 

SIDE NOTE:

I began bawling at midnight because I could not figure out how to move the cake onto the cake board... Ya, ya I know.  So my WONDERFUL husband woke up and easily slid it underneath and then made me go to bed despite my pathetic whimpering protests that I needed to make more rocks...

END OF SIDE NOTE,

I still have to transport the cake to a location that's about an hour away... ugh... so I'm praying I won't hit any of the bagillion potholes along the way.  

And just so you know, that's not an exaggeration... there really are a bagillion. 

I counted.

Have a Sweet & Pothole-Free Thursday Everybody!

Castle Cake Final Update!

Alrighty, so rather than drag this out with my oh-so-witty banter, my pounding head has decided that I should show you the pictures and we'll just ooh and ahh at them together. :)

Okay, if you'll remember, these are what we started out with:

Three 9x13 cakes and a two layer 8 inch

Towers... sorta...

And this is what we ended up with...

Wait for it...

...wait for it...

BAM!!!  Six pounds of buttercream, not an inch of fondant and it's 100% edible! :)

Have a Super Sweet Monday Everyone!

Cake Update

Hi everyone!

Just wanted stop in and give you a quick update on the progress I've made thus far on my niece's birthday cake,... via some bad photos. :)

Naked towers for castle cake.

Much better. :)

Almost ready for my close up.  Almost...

Please note:

***THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO FONDANT USED IN THE MAKING OF THESE TOWERS - if you're wondering what's covering the towers, it's candy clay.***

And now, I must make seven pounds of buttercream...

Have a Savory Day Everybody! 

I know that doesn't go with my blog's theme, but can we change the rules for today?  There's a very real possibility I'll be carried away by the buttercream ninjas.

AHHHHH! moments

Occasionally I have, what I like to call, "AHHHHHHH!" moments.

To those of you who don't know me personally, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and these "AHHHHHHH!" moments may be more aptly defined as my "Psycho Type-A Personality Kicking In" moments.

Think I'm being too hard on myself?

 Consider the following:

I called my mom yesterday when I was halfway done with the order pictured below, literally screeching, 

"I'M GOING TO HAVE TO SCRAP THE WHOLE THING AND START OVER BUT IT'S ALREADY 8PM SO I DON'T HAVE TIME TO START OVER AGAIN!  WHY IS MY BUTTERCREAM SWEATING?!  IT'S FRIGGIN' 55 DEGREES IN THE HOUSE AND I HAVE FANS GOING!  MY LIPS ARE BLUE!  I CAN'T  PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE!  I TRIED TO SMOOTH THE TOP WITH PARCHMENT PAPER, BUT I JUST KEEP GETTING MORE WRINKLES!  I DON'T KNOW WHY THE BORDER ISN'T STICKING!  WHY DID I EVER SAY I WOULD DO THIS CAKE?!  I CAN'T EVEN KEEP MY ICING ON!..."

My rant continued, but I'll spare you from the rest.

My mom actually had to yell for me to stop freaking out.

So no, I'm not being too hard on myself - it's bad.

You want to see the cake that caused all my ridiculous (I can say that now that it's done with) stress?

 

Good grief.  All that fuss over something so simple.

 

 And worst case scenario, the homemade buttercream icing, sweating or not, tastes A-mazing so hopefully folks will forget about how it looks.

Or I could Jedi Mind trick them.

Hey, whatever works right?

Have a calm and enjoyable Thursday everyone!

so... tired... must... sleep...

Since you've listened to me talk about this mysterious cookie order I've been working on for the last few days, I suppose I should tell you how it went...

After having only 7 hours of sleep since Wednesday (and that's mainly just from me stressing out), the cookie order is officially completed!  

Well, actually it was completed and delivered at 7:30 this morning, but hey, whatever right?  It's done. :)

I had never decorated cookies before, but when I got the order for five dozen baseball cookies I thought, "Sure I could teach myself how to do that.  Sign me up!"

The cookies are homemade sugar cookies with homemade icing, all piped by hand.  I did tie the bags with ribbon too, but I had already sealed the box they were being delivered in before I realized I should have taken a picture of that.  Sorry.

All in all, I think they came out pretty okay.

Now... I need to go to sleep. :)

Have a stress free Friday everyone!

"Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says 'Chicken of the Sea.' "

I'm having a bit of a shaky day today.  Not that that's anything out of the ordinary for me being as I look like I'm doing the twist with my hands majority of the time.  Today's added a special kind of shake to my normal routine though because I'm nervous.  

I'm having my first cake decorating class tonight.

I know.  How I can be Ms. Shaky McGee and decorate cakes and mini treats is a mystery to me too.

I keep having people tell me the obvious things you say to folks who are nervous, but I know what they're really thinking... "try your best, but if you choke, at least I won't be there to watch it miserably unfold."  

You know it's true.  It's like watching someone who can't sing trying to screech, I mean sing, karaoke.  You want to root for them, but

it

is

painful. 

I always feel this horrible need to run up, put a blanket over them and hop 'em over my shoulder as I continue running towards safer ground, aka the exit.

At least they have courage though right?  I mean, maybe sometimes, even blind courage is better than none at all.  And in the grand scheme of things, crappy karaoke (seems like an oxymoron) or skiddish cake decorating are pretty small potatoes.

So, I'm determined to "go all in" and really celebrate today's obscure holiday:  

Go For Broke Day

Hence my sweet mini treat...

So this guy is playing craps.  He's made of fondant, a nilla wafer and caramel.  His chips are made of hot tamales.  His die are made of fondant and actually both landed on 6's.  The puller thing (technical term of course) is caramel and the red sprinkles are supposed to represent the markings on the craps table.

Have a Courageous Tuesday Everyone!

Super Monday

I've been looking for something otterific... 

Nope, sorry.  

I thought I'd give that word another go after the weekend passed to see if maybe it was just a fluke, but it's still not working for me.

So anyways, lately I've been looking for something to add a bit of spice to the normal humdrum that is Monday.

Therefore, I decided today should be Super Monday!

Day of all things,... well,... super.

To get today off to a, shall we say, "super" start and because I know you are all crazy interested in my personal opinions and such, my favorite super hero is

Peyton Manning.

I'm serious.  

For Dress like a Super Hero Day at my hubby's school, I wore a Manning jersey, football pants and aluminum foil down my right arm.  

HA!

I'm awesome, I know. :)

Although I was informed his laser rocket arm unfortunately does not qualify him as a super hero. 

Hmmm...  

Okay, fine.  

I'll pick someone else.

Batman.

 

Late '80s, early '90s Batman, that is.

NOT George Clooney or Val Kilmer.

George was waaaaay too pretty and Val... well, I just didn't like it him as much.

No offense.

I'm just partial to the socially awkward Michael Keaton Batman.

Although I really like the new ones and may or may not be counting down the days until "The Dark Knight Rises" comes out... 

472.  

Just saying.

Alright, so I could have made a sweet treat Peyton or Batman, but it's been done.

So instead, on the first official Super Monday I made...

Captain Underpants.

Capt. Underpants is made of caramel, white fondant and a cherry heart sucker.

Does anyone else find it hard to say "underpants" without thinking of Cory from "Boy Meets World"?

Have a SUPER Monday everyone!