What happened in August?

August's calendar is crowded with Birthdays 7 in total.

Fortunately most only require a Text sending greetings and best wishes and the promise to 'Catch up Later'

But when Someone is turning SIX

Grandma is back making Cake Decorations.

This Time it was a request for a Magic Faraway Tree Cake.

A favourite bedtime story for DD and introduced to GD#1 via the new Movie.

I was sent a photo - Sorry I can't attribute this awesome cake, but it gave me the help I needed to make the decorations.

I made dozens of Rose Leaves, 

in several Fondant colours and dusting them in various shades.

As well as an assortment of Butterflies and Bugs.

Making hundreds of decorated Lollypops at the Whittlesea Show over the years was a good foundation to make the Cast of Characters.

Silky the Fairy and Moon-face were challenging as was Saucepan Man.

But I was delighted with Dame Wash-a-lot and her Soap Bubble Hair doo. Which happened by accident when a Butterfly Wing broke, leading me to adapting  other moulds to save time and frustration.

After making a Plaque in the shape of the Cloud at the Top of the Tree,

 

I packed everything up and handed over to DD & DGD#1 to make and decorate the Cupcakes for the small (new friends only) after school Party.

* * *

The Cake Decorator in me wanted this to be perfect. 

It was close enough to the Inspiration Photo but,

after all it is not about perfection it is about making a little girl happy.

And she was VERY Happy!

 

Catching up with June and July

Now that I have caught up with our Anniversary trip in May,

Lets do a Photo dump to skip through the the months that I have missed.

June:

At Cake Decorating we moved into the new Community room at Watsonia Library and had a fun time learning to make ..

Fondant Cake Toppers for a Newborn or Christening Cake

There were plenty of expressions to master but the crying ones proved to be the hardest to manage!

DH received another Certificate (with accompanying Handshake and Brunetti Cheesecake for afternoon Tea) for his 550th Blood donation.

We watched as a disaster of a local backstreet roundabout got the makeover it so badly needed.

And in July ...

I made a Mermaid!

100% Fondant and she took me weeks to get right!

And at the 11th hour did a run to *Lulu and Stone for other Sea Themed decoration moulds for DGD#4's 3rd Birthday Cake.

Then it was a school celebration I wasn't familiar with.  

Marking GD#1's first 100 Days of Primary school where everyone had to dress as Old People...... 

Little Miss A wasn't sure about that so went as a Red Hat Lady!

Note:  Unfortunately in Todays Online climate I have had to make the decision to no longer show my Beautiful Grand daughters adorable Smiles on my Blog.

*Thank you Lulu and Stone so much for filling my order at the last minute!

Lulu and Stone Cookie Stamps and Cutters

Bubbles and Birthday Cake

 

Happy Mini Mouse Birthday Sweetheart

Daddy did an awesome job on your cake 

(Traditionally 'Burning the Midnight Oil' with a 12:15 am text to Grandma)

August: More Birthdays

 DD:- "Mum, I may need some help with the Birthday Cake...

'Someone' dropped the cast Iron Cookie tray on the Glass door,

So I don't have an Oven."

And that is how I found myself baking multiple cakes at short notice ....

I had Cakes in the Oven and Cakes in the Mixer and only one timer...

Until I realised that I had a Stopwatch - Lap timer on my wrist!

(Worked really well, especially when I remembered to set "GO")

Cakes baked, 

Filled with Strawberry Jam, 

and Iced with Fondant

 

then hand over to DD for her and DGD to decorate.

The finished Cake was a success.

Birthday Girl was Happy

And Lots of Compliments for Beautiful and Tasty Cake.

Cake Decorating

 At approx. AUD 110.00 per 1kg* Cocoa Butter is not my first choice for Cake Decorating but today's Workshop gave us the opportunity to try it out.

(With a HUGE Thank you to our demonstrator for supplying the Cocoa butter)

After having traced the provided Image onto our Plaques we then melted the Cocoa butter over hot water and coloured it with dusting powder.

(A small amount of Cocoa Butter went a long way!)

Then the fun began.

Painting our Christmas Bird. 

The Cocoa Butter flowed beautifully leaving a waxy finish which could be worked on indefinitely with a warm finger if needed.

By the end of the day, everyone had learned a lot and we had a table full of Christmas Robins.

I can imagine beautiful artwork on a cake using this medium.  

My only advice - Don't leave it near a heat source!

*Price & Image from Savour Melbourne

 (Home of The Chocolate Queen Kirstin Tibballs) 

Happy Thanksgiving

 "Do you have any Thanksgiving Themed Cookie Cutters? 

They are doing a Thing at work next Week"

Lets just jump back a week when I got frustrated with not being able to find my Cake Decorating things when I needed them - So after Much Sorting, Many trips to Bunnings and a Huge Spreadsheet later and I can categorically say - No !

We don't 'Do' Thanksgiving in Australia so I was left searching the Cookie Stores for Halloween Pumpkin Cutters or anything I could use instead.

I found this Beautiful Cutter and Imprint at Sweetly Impressed (Echuca Victoria).

I also ordered a set of "Fancy Pants" Script letters from Cookie Stamp Co. (Perth W.Aust)

These were exactly what I needed and arrived in 2 Days!

So I was "Good to Go"

Cookies Baked - 

Time to turn them into something more Interesting.

I have had a little experience with Imprinting Fondant, but not with 3D Printed Cutters and Perspex Stamps!

I have however, had a LOT of experience in hand colouring Fondant & Sugarpaste (mainly flowers).

Dusting the plain coloured fondant with a darker petal dust started to bring these to life.

I was not able to source the beautiful Floral leaves and flourish that the online Sample had but, 

I was able to improvise with what I did have for the Pumpkin flowers & leaves.

DDIL#2 was delighted and happily took them to Work for their 'Thanksgiving Party'

There was just ONE problem:

They all said 

"They were Too Pretty to Eat"

and so they didn't!

Oh Good Grief.......

Cakes, Cookies & Parties

Whittlesea show:

A Bit of a difference this year with just One Demonstration each day.

 

Our President Iced and decorated a Christmas Cake while 'Yours Truly' ran the commentary!

GD#2 - Picnic Birthday

What could possibly go wrong?

An Uncle holding a Piñata at arms length while a 2 yr old swings at it with a Broomstick!

More Birthdays:

Late night Text from DS#1:  

"I hate Fondant - And my Hands Hurt!": 

For Little Miss H's 4th Birthday He Made 

A (hand coloured) striped, Fondant Covered, Stacked Black Forest Cat in the Hat Birthday Cake.  

Very ambitious for just his 4th Cake! 

Biscuit baking:

I don't know just HOW this started but I find myself delving into the realm of Sugar Cookies. 

(I am blaming it on Instagram!) 

"Freeze the Cookies before Baking" (They had better be worth it for all the fuss.)

JULY

DGD#1 is a huge fan of  YouTube personality Tigger Mac who was to be demonstrating at the Cake Bake & Sweets Show. 

Miss A. didn't see much of the Show, totally overwhelmed and bewildered as to WHY there were so many OTHER people there.

Her Sister however didn't care as long as there was CAKE!

November

Once again I am playing 'Catch Up' So - What happened in November?

The First Weekend in November is Demonstrating Simple Cake Decorations to the Children at the Whittlesea Show.  

Each year we hope we will get some new Members for our efforts.

At home, we Introduced DGD#2 

(Little Miss H) to Our Fairy Garden.

Looks Like Grandpa is a bit Big to play in here! 

She also Celebrated her 3rd Birthday with a Cat Themed Party.

Her Cake was made by Mum (DDIL#1) from the Iconic Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book.

The rest of the Month was taken up with Renovating the Bathroom. 

It's a Long process if you are to do it right.

Flooring had to be removed to prepare for the Shower Base to be Installed.

When we removed the Tiles from the Shower recess wall we found a Power point or in fact the back of one.

At some point in time a Plumber didn't think that THIS could be a Safety Issue.

Fortunately the Month ended with the arrival of the Electrician and moving the Power Point was added to the list!

Little Miss A is turning 2.

And as this was the first opportunity for her to have a Party 

- Her Cake had to be awesome.

I had always planned on using the Top Tier of DD's Wedding Cake (which had been vacuum packed) but 8 years was too much and although it looked fine - it just didn't taste good.

Plan B - Outsource the base cake from a company that makes Cakes to decorate.  

I still needed height for the cake and made a Gluten Free layer to sculpt.  Keeping it away from the Caramel Mud was a challenge but achievable.

Thursday Night:  I had the 2 layers together, sculpted and Crumb coated with (GF) Buttercream, and covered in Fondant.

Friday Morning was scheduled to help clean and prepare DD's house for the Party. 

I could spare the morning but not getting home until 4:00 pm meant I would be burning the Midnight Oil to get this cake made. 

By dinner time I had the bones of the Cake's main feature taking shape.

11:30 pm  It was not just Dragon who needed propping up for a sleep but he was done all but the Dusting and that could wait until the morning.

It is amazing how a touch of Colour (applied not unlike Makeup) can bring a model to life.

I was extra pleased that He actually looked somewhat like the photo in The Book!

(Enchanting Magical Cakes by Debbie Brown)

Happy Birthday was Sung 

(in a Surprisingly Tuneful way) and the Cake was cut and devoured in less time than it took to make.

Little Miss A's comment of 

"Dragon asleep on Mountain" 

made it all worth it.

And a Cake Review from one of the Guests (Ryan 7)

"That Cake was amazing.  It looked so good and tasted good but I think it looked better than it tasted that's how good it looked". 

Um? ... I'll take that as a Compliment. Thank you.

* * * * *

Footnote:  

This post is dedicated to 'Auntie' Em.  

Who lost her Mum the day before and still came to the Party.  Love and Hugs.

Back to Cake Decorating

 The lifting of COVID restrictions allowed us to return to Cake Decorating.

First Meeting of the CDAV for the year saw us watching a demonstration of  'How to make a Sugar Collar Decoration' by the Association's Vice President Jan Longley.

We also had our (belated) AGM where "Yours Truly" ended up on the Committee!

The Following Week I enjoyed a Workshop at NCDC on How to Make Flooded Cookie Decorations.

With an Easter Theme!

For a First Try - I think I did OK.

Our Demonstrator (Branch Member Michelle) had plenty of Icing left over and encouraged us to "PLEASE - Take Some Home"

So with some broken Biscuits to practice on I was able to try a couple of different patterns.

It was a good day despite the Rain and the fact we all got soaked walking back to our cars!

* * *

I am a member of  both the Cake Decorators Association of Victoria (CDAV) as well as the Northern Cake Decorators Group (Previously the Cake Decorators Society - Northern Branch).

Wedding Cake - Aussie Style

 … with a Texas Touch!

Making a Wedding Cake during a Pandemic with Strict lock-down rules was always going to have it's own special set of challenges.  
Not having the tools or ingredients easily to hand was one thing - but the concept that I was making a Cake for a Wedding that might not be allowed to proceed was frustrating.

The Groom was Our Son, and he'd asked for Australian Native Flowers, Kangaroo Paw and Blue Gum Leaves.  To this, I added the Victorian Floral Emblem - Pink Heath as well.

The Bride - far from her home of Texas USA didn't ask for anything specific.  However, I knew that she wanted Texas Bluebonnets to feature somewhere on her Wedding Day and of course Yellow Roses.

Finding some Botanical Sketches of the Bluebonnets which gave me the correct size and shape helped enormously. 

Together with 3 perfect Roses and Our Aussie Natives, as well as some White Sakura Flowers I was able to make 3 beautiful Sprays.

How to arrange them into something that looked good was another matter.

What type of Cake? 

How Tall - What Shape?

Let the Flowers decide!

The top tier spilling out of a small pouring jug and some negative space between. And for the observant - a small ceramic Gecko peeking out of the flowers.

It wasn't what we wanted for them.  

It wasn't what we had planned way back in January.

At the end of a very Big Day, 
In a small Local Cafe (that opened just for us).

The Cake was cut and the Marriage Celebrated, in a Covid-safe way with a handful of (Legally allowed) Friends and Family.