Ladies and Gentlemen... Meet George!

Ladies and Gentlemen... meet George!

[With apologies to JFK, Jr. and the now defunct "George" magazine] 

The Tulsa Cake Club meets every second Tuesday of the month at All Things Cake, the best cake supply shop in Tulsa.  It is a gathering of people (all women and girls right now) who like to bake and decorate cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. Some are professionals, some, like me, aren't. We have demonstrations, club news updates, suggestions for charitable giving of cakes or cupcakes, door prizes, snacks, etc.  

This month's demonstration was on modeling fondant.  Club member Diane Bewley was our demonstrator.  She makes the most amazing fondant pieces to decorate her cakes and she is completely self-taught!  Each person received a small lump of fondant, a piece of dried spaghetti, a toothpick, and a cotton swab.  Diane showed us how to make a baby out of the fondant.  I defied convention and made a bunny, complete with buck teeth and a bow tie.  I thought George turned out pretty well for my first time modeling a figure, considering I only spent about 15 minutes on him.  (By the way, those are not polka dots on his head.  It's a reflection of the overhead lights.)  

  

George is named in honor of the Looney Tunes cartoon, in which the abominable snowman (à la Lon Chaney's characterization of Lennie from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck) refers to Bugs Bunny, and says, "I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him."  Thanks to Jennifer Schooley Bengel for reminding me about that cartoon classic!  

Steven King's "IT" Birthday Cake

A friend of mine asked me to make his son's birthday cake. He didn't have anything particular in mind, only that it reflect something having to do with one or more of Steven King's books. The first (and really, only) thing I could think of was Tim Curry's version of Pennywise, the clown from the television mini-series, "IT" (1990). That was one scary clown!

Now before anyone complains that this is more "cakewreck" than anything else, let me just say that: 1) this was the first time I have ever sculpted candy clay; and 2) I was injured in a traffic accident a few days before, and was working basically one-handed.  Also, I'm just an amateur, and I don't claim to be a world-class decorator, although I wish I was.  (I wasn't in a sling at the time I made the cake, but my left arm was pretty useless.)       ...and yes, I realize my shirt and camera match my shower curtain... sheer coincidence...

Anyway, here is the cake.  The angle isn't the best to show the clown, as it gives the appearance of having an elongated chin and you can't really see the creases in the face, etc.  The cake is not exactly as I had envisioned, but I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered.    This is a Red Velvet cake with Pure Buttercream Frosting "grass", a fondant "sidewalk", a candy clay "Pennywise" clown, fondant clown fingers, and giant jawbreaker "balloons".  I used a Sugar Craft gun to make Pennywise's hair, and used clay tools to sculpt the face and teeth, which were implanted in the mouth.  A Wilton Icing Writer pen was used to give the appearance of sidewalk chalk.  I had intended to dust the writing with different colored luster dust, but my friend came to pick up the cake before I could do that.  He liked it "as is", so I left it alone.  

The feedback was positive and I understand my friend's son was very happy with the cake.  They said he wanted to freeze the clown and keep it forever, and he talked about the cake for several days.  That's the ultimate compliment!

Happy Feet

I think this cake looks much worse from this angle.  It really wasn't lopsided or out-of-square, but it certainly looks very "wrecky" here.  (Thank goodness I am not a professional who turned out a cake like this one.)  This was for a baby shower at work.  The bottom layer was half-white and half-chocolate and the top layer was yellow.  Both layers were torted and filled with a chocolate fudge filling. The frosting was a chocolate butter cream and the baby feet were made of white fondant.  Due to a time crunch, the fondant was sprayed with a food-safe dye to get the proper color.  The lettering and edging were "frosting in a can", not my first choice - ever - but again, due to a time crunch I worked with what I could get.  The cake tasted much better than it looked.

The Only Difference between Men and Boys...

This was the cake for my husband's first ever birthday party.  I was running short on time, so I bought the sheet cake and had them add edible images from his childhood and recent years to the cake.  They also wrote the phrase and did the border.  The cake was half chocolate and half white.  I wasn't completely thrilled with the bakery's job, as the writing was slanted, but after I added the embellishments, I thought it looked pretty good.  I made the poker chips, golf tees, golf ball, and dollar bills out of fondant.  I added foil-wrapped chocolate coins and full-sized chocolate cigars.  The cigars had "It's a Boy!" labels, so I removed those and added real cigar labels that I had saved from my husband's smoking room.  (The chocolate cigars had cellophane under the wrappers, so changing the labels didn't require that I touch the chocolate.  They were still pristine.)

The party was at one of the cigar shops my husband frequents.  We had sandwiches, chips, pretzels, dips, and this cake.  It was a surprise party, but he was a bit suspicious.  All went well, though, and he and his friends had a good time.  :)