Cake | UCLA Bruin's Groom Cake

I love when clients "aka friends" have an exact idea what they have in mind and then trust me to create it for them.  I will be honest, I was a little nervous about this one.  Last year, it may be a full year, a friend from college asked if I would do a groom's cake for a friend of hers.  The groom wanted a UCLA Bruins themed cake.  I had previously done a USC Trojan cake (I can hear either the boos and the cheers in the background) last year, so I thought why not, I can do this!  

I ran a few images I found off the web by the groom and groom decided he wanted to go with the Bruin drawing behind the UCLA logo.   We picked this out last year, so when it came time to actually do the cake I was a little intimated.  But I laid out a schedule and I accomplished the Bruin a little bit here and there.  I started to work on the Bruin logo two nights before the cake was due.  It would have been easy to purchase a printer, fondant sheets and edible ink and print out the logo (this works so well for corporate clients - sugar cookies and cupcakes).  But I also like the look of layered fondant.  So, with my handy dandy exacto knife I set to work cutting out different layers of the logo.  

Night 1

Here is the final cake!  I don't like to toot my own horn, but I think this is definitely a step up from the USC cake that I did last year.  

Day 3, pick-up Day!

And I wanted to share this last photo, my friend, Leika took this at the wedding.  I love the table display (I am all about table displays!)

I probably won't be able to post anything until after our wedding, so don't give up on me. 


Until next time, enjoy the summer!
~Danielle

Cake | Simplistic Graduation Cake

Just wanted to do a quick post on a cute little cake I did for my friend, W.  W graduated in late May with a Masters in Biology.  I wanted to do some kind of nerdy cake, like I did for Tyler's birthday last year (remember the Beer Yeast Microbe cake), but I decided to do something more simplistic.  

W really likes my mint chocolate recipe, so I create a 6" cake for her.  Mint chocolate cake with peppermint Swiss meringue buttercream.  For an added surprise, I smashed up Girl's Scout's Thin Mint cookies (I buy a box every year and put it in my freezer... frozen Thin Mints are the best!) and sprinkled the cookie crumbles in between the layers of cake.

 

I did a simple black circle pattern on the outside of the cake and topped it all off with a Thin Mint cookie on top of the cake. 

Here I am with the graduate.  Congratulations on your graduation W!

Next up, a groom's cake which I think is beary beary good...

~Danielle

Hooray!

Exciting news to share, I made it on Food and Fizz!


Many many thanks to Ty, who is an avid reader of food blogs and submits my pictures. So many reasons to love him! The Wizard of Oz cake that I did for my friend, Nick is featured and you can read about the cake by clicking here.I just wanted to share the exciting news! I have new ideas and plans in store for Cake and Co., so stay tuned!

Up next, Mint Chocolate Cupcakes!
~Danielle

Wizard of Oz Cake

Have you ever been to a tupperware party? Doesn't that sound kind of boring? I mean, it's a piece of plastic designed to hold your leftovers and get lost. That's it, it has two functions. I can think of so many other "parties" I would rather go to. A wine tasting party, kitchen gadget party, pajama party. They all sound interesting right? Bring a "consultant" into your house to show you and your friends the latest and greatest products? That is how our story begins as well as what brings us to today's cake. It's a little overdue on posting but it's worth it. Plus! Ty and I got a new camera! Nikon 5000D. We are still playing around trying to figure out all of the features.

Today's cake was commissioned by a friend who actually runs one of these parties. Yes, he is a "consultant."  We first met him over a year ago at our first party and we've kept in touch ever since, attending various parties over that time. He makes it so much fun. How can you go wrong with drinks, food, and friends right? His birthday was coming up and he told me that his favorite movie of all time is "The Wizard of Oz." I got excited right away, because that is one of my favorite movies too! So of course I had to do some research to get some ideas formulating. I sat down with the movie and sketched out some thoughts. Wicked Witch and Striped Socks? No, cliche. Tornado Cake! Not possible I don't do extreme cakes (But call me Food Network!). Flying Monkey? Haven't mastered the art of making things float mid-air yet...hmmm...iconic, enduring, classic, Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City, Cowardly Lion. Perfect. End Scene.

Here are a few pictures that we took with the new Nikon 5000D.

Laying out all the tools I will be using: gumpaste flower tool, mini cookie cutters, paint brushes, gumpaste rolling pin and I got to use one of Sizzix's new impression folders.  The impression folder used is brick texture, perfect!

Forming the Cowardly Lion.  If you are not that familiar with the movie, the scene I chose to recreate is the one where Dorothy, the Tinman, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion are walking through the field of poppies on the way to the Emerald City.  The Wicked Witch of the West poisoned the poppies so that the characters would fall into a deep sleep.  The Cowardly Lion happens to fall asleep on his back with his legs and arms up in the air. 

Poppies in their first stage

Here is the side view of the cake.  I originally wanted the Emerald Castle to be on top of the cake, but fondant can be a little heavy sometimes and it refused to stand up... that will be my next challenge 

Here is a view from the top

A close up of the lion. Check out the brick impression! 

Close up of the lion

And just for kicks, the cake was a 6" round cake, 4" tall.  There were 3 layers of cake, two red velvet and one vanilla buttermilk with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

MSCC Cupcake Recipe up next!

Until next time, happy baking!

~Danielle