BAD day...good night!

Yesterday was 


interesting.

I had a cake order due, and ended up running hellishly late getting it to the womans house because streets were absolutely not marked much of the way there. Making mapquest directions useless...mostly.

Pictures sometimes say a thousand words...so here goes.

Cake before delivery:


a lovely DISASTER!!!




But...the evening went okay...

If computer screens had a tasting option...

Another weekend of cakery, and bakery...in the bag, and down the chute. Only one more cake until vacation! lol...
Until then, hopefully some of this will make you drool...

Chocolate Almond Marble Cheesecake!!!!

     

Is that fresh amaretto whipped cream, you ask? Why yes...yes it is.

    Combat boots...3D...nuff said.

last...a sheet cake...but I did some fancy airbrushin' on it...hooray

Next week, a 3D truck tire...then some relaxing and fun in (ack hot) and sunny Arizona. :-D

at least today is great :-D

So, a real quick update, since there's some good stuff. Guess who lost 2 more pounds?!? Yup...that's me. Totally down to 144. 


Oh, and this:

   that's right...totally awesome beachy wedding cake...done by me. Hooray!

Back to cakery....*trudge trudge trudge*

Weddings and Babyshowers...oh my...

It's been a while since I posted some cake photos. This past weekend was a doozy, with back to back weddings (spaced by an hour), and back to back baby shower cakes on sunday (also spaced by an hour). Earlier last week I was sure that I would crash and burn this weekend, resulting in heartache and possibly legal action from crazy brides. Okay, so I assumed the worst...but, after it was over, and I had a day to unwind, I look back at this past weekend as being one of my best (result wise) ever! So, I thought I would post the cakes...so you could share in my happiness for a moment. :-D

First up, a wedding cake that was ordered back in March, and my first official tasting. I was really trying to make sure that this was as close to profesional as it could be.

The Daisy Cake



Next up was my neighbor's wedding cake. She is a pretty great lady, and has had a rough past five year...with her husband being killed in Iraq, and 8 months later her eldest daughter being shot and killed by an ex boyfriend. Then having to fly to Texas year after year, up until recently, to witness these continuation trials to put the guy away. I really wanted to make sure she had a pretty cake.

The Lilly Cake


She also ordered 48 cupcakes to go with this wedding cake...

                        


Next are the baby shower cakes. These were similar in that they were both for people expecting boys, but other than that, pretty different orders. I have decided that I like the baby figures with hair much better than the bald ones. The bald ones remind me of the scary weird bald guy from  "Beyond Thunderdome". Right....so anyway, the cakes!

I'm a Viking?



I have a bias for red headed babies!



and there you have it...weekend complete. HOORAY!

This next weekend will be similar, in that I do have another wedding cake on Friday, but Saturday is split between birthday cakes, and babyshower cakes. Could be another creative and wonderful weekend....could be a disaster! Stay tuned...lol.

Madness, then illumination...or just more of the crazies?

Have you ever felt like your head was going to explode? Or maybe just spin in a complete 360 one good time? That has been how I've felt for the last two weeks. Ending in a  crash and burn episode on Saturday that almost caused me to throw in every towel in my kitchen.

So, let it be said that I have been having scheduling "issues". DIsorganization and the dire need to please everyone that crosses my path, has made for some pretty hairy situations this month. I thought two weeks ago was hell week..ha. It was just the beginning of the two week bender that I didn't realize I was already suited up to ride. After the mound of orders that I posted pictures of, the week didn't slow down...just got more weird and complicated.

 Most of my set orders canceled or postponed, leaving gaps that were soon filled by other last minute orders. I was also supposed to do a craft show appearance this past Saturday, with goodies for sale and business cards and brochures to hand out. I had a nice little menu of things to prepare for the show, and had originally scheduled off two days before the show to do all these things. This didn't end up being the case. By Friday night, I had done 4 cake orders, needed to do one more, had not started any of the craft show goodies, turned down 5 last minute orders, fielded a slew of cake related phone calls, tried to get the house ready for a carpet stretching/cleaning situation this coming Tuesday, fought with my house dwellers (family?) about cleanliness issues, fought with my husband about laziness issues, had food poisoning/stomach virus, passed said virus to child and was puked on for a day and a half, and babysat a 6 month old three days out of this last week.  I kind of had a little...teenie weenie...minor....collapse. After making chicken pot pie from scratch for a unappreciative clan of hooligans (family), turning to realize that my sister and friend had been snacking on the cookies I had yet to decorate for the craft show, and looking at the clock to see it was already a quarter to midnight...I gave it all the bird, and went to bed. Everyone promised they'd help out with this and that, and everyone scattered when it came down to getting it all done. I guess I should be used to this, but with the week I'd had...it was just a little too much. seriously. my husband's name may be Matt, but I'm the one getting walked on around here. I just feel under-appreciated.

Yeah, so I not only still had the fuck-its on Saturday when I woke up, but had a worse case of it. I had a Spider-Man cake due at 10 a.m., and didn't deliver it until 1. It looked half-assed, which was a feat, considering it wasn't even 1/8th assed. I had quoted her a price of $40, and ended up getting $7 for the cake....since I asked her to give me what she felt it was worth. :(  I didn't go to the craft show, because I had nothing to take to it. Matt ignored everything I said to him about dodging responsibility and house cleaning, blaming my anger on my own fuck ups that I was apparently "taking out on people, unfairly." If you would have called me Saturday to place a cake order, or even to talk to me...I would have told you No MORE CAKE. I sat on the computer staring at my website, waffling about pressing a few buttons and dismantling it. My husband has been complaining that this "job" of mine is getting in the way. He's only recently stopped calling it a hobby, because I threw things at his head. I have customers and deadlines. People relying on me, ordering to be done, supplies to collect. What part of that equation sounds like a run of the mill hobby to you? Guh...

I need a vacation, from this. I really love my job, and all the neat cakes I get to do. But I don't love no one taking it seriously that I have a job to do other  than pick up after their sorry asses and make them dinners and fulfill wifely duties. I feel like I have a hump on my back that contains people.  There...whine complete.

That being said: Sunday I felt better, and did a cute Speed Racer cake. I have a few days off from cake town, and a few days to collect and breath. Hopefully that will help me get a better grasp on things, because May  is already booked. and June is more than half booked. I have orders booked through September. If anyone wants to come help me make icing, you're welcome to.

R

Cakie update...hell weekend...

This weekend probably tested my sanity more than any other so far, mostly because I'm becoming some kind of local celebrity around here...and I don't want to take backward lunges in quality and craftsmanship. It has been kicked up a notch here folks...I was referred to, lovingly yesterday as Jacksonville's Ace of Cakes. wow....I know the lady was trying to compliment me...but it scared me to death. :-(

Anyways, it was a rough weekend, 2 orders each day..non were simple. Then Friday night, I get a call from a crying bride. She says she has no cake for her wedding, because the bakery that did it..did it in blue, instead of green, like her wedding colors. Then refused to fix the problem even after they realized it was their error. I was sad for her, really I was. I asked when the wedding was. She said, "tomorrow at 1."


8-O

oh...well, you know how much of a push over I am for a crying bride and cash...it threw of the schedule for the entire rest of the weekend, but I did the damn thing for her. In a night. An entire wedding cake...plus two other complicated cakes...on Saturday. I'm exhausted, but proud of myself. I celebrated with a margarita this evening, and some new hostas for my flower bed out front. I know, I live dangerously. xD

Here's the end result of hell weekend:








 wedding cake

   (inspired by Brandon smash)

  I spent at least 8 hours on this one...It is currently my second favorite, behind the white tiger.

Too Good to Sit On

So I got an order from a lady the other day for a cake shaped like a white tiger. She said it was for her daughter, and I assumed she  was small, so I started pitching the idea of a lovable cartoony version of the animal. She seemed a little uneasy when I suggested it, so I backtracked and asked how old the birthday girl would be. She said 28. OH, well...I guess we have to go realistic then. Yes, she says. Her daughter is obsessed with white tigers and has an entire room in her house devoted to them. OH...shit.

I accept the challenge, hang up the phone, and proceed to freak the hell out because I have NO IDEA how I'm going to pull off a realistic white tiger for a person who stares at the animals likeness on an extremely regular basis. hmm... oh, and also she wants it done with red velvet cake so that when you hack into the animal, it looks bloody. So, hurray for that. :-D

I was going to make it out of the 3D bear mold pan that I have, make it standing. But the more I got to looking at my 3D animal pans, it seemed like the little lamb pan might be a better fit, after all...most four legged creatures bodies look similar while in the laying down position...I guess. So, I mixed up my batter, set the pan in the oven, and an hour later I pull it out and find out the damn thing didn't rise. WTF? I've made literally 60+ cakes at this point, and not a one, didn't rise. Batch two proved to be a better go, and filled out the pan to the needed shape. I talked with my mom, and decided it may be best to make the head separately from the body, so I could work on added detail with more range of mobility. I fashioned the head mold out of rice crisp treat, and began covering it with fondant. I had printed SEVERAL pictures of white tigers at different angles and just heads and so forth, and used those as a guide for the molding and shaping of the head. I trimmed some excess and height from the lamb body, beheaded the poor little thing, and draped the carcass in fondant as well. Slap on some fondant feet and a tale, attach the head via a pike, er, kabob skewer, and there you have it....

I also sat and painted on all the stripes. As well as indenting here and there on the body itself for contouring and effect.  Here's an alternate view, where you can see the face better.

It's probably the best thing I've done in my meager career so far...don't ask how it came out of my hands, because I don't know. I don't even know if I could do it again...I told Matt that I'm scared now, that I may have just peaked...and it's downhill from here...let's hope not!