The Most Interesting Man in the World

No, he doesn't really prefer Dos Equis.  He prefers Johnnie Walker Blue Label.  He's THE snook fishing champ.  He even has his own customized cigars with the 2012 NBA Championship labels that tastes like sugar.  Heck, he's even got his face on the inside flap of a Johnnie Walker Blue label box.  The most interesting man in the world's name is Papi.  Papi, seriously.  I just baked a 60th birthday cake for him and his daughter told me it was for Papi.  Yes, folks, the most interesting man in the world is also a family man, apparently he took his kids to swim meets and basketball games and lots of trips.  A pretty cool papi if you ask me.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label cake.  Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting enraptured in dark chocolate ganache.  Yes, I used the word 'enraptured.'  We're talking about dark chocolate ganache here...enraptured is an understatement.

Papi's infamous sugar flavored cigar are pretzel sticks covered in fondant.  Ash tray is fondant covered chocolate.

Happy 60th Birthday Papi!

Help Wanted: Advisor

Like all great companies, we have an advisor.  It's a pretty important position because without proper advising in this particular department we could potentially lose thousands of dollars a year.  What department is it you ask?  Our pro bono department and my mom, the self appointed advisor, runs it.  Now there's one thing you should know about my mom.  She has a weakness for all things God--Priests, bibles, holy water (not in the it's burning kind of way), rosaries, crosses, white bread (especially when it's shaped like a circle), the list goes on.  Thank God for our system of checks and balances.  She would cake me into the poor house for any occasion at church.  Yea...we're in good hands.  Love you mom!  Ignore the title.
  
Without furter ado...Father John Bosco's Feast Day cake.

Chocolate layer on bottom, white on top with raspberry filling.  

All decorations including rosary and tassel bookmark are made of sugar.

Long finger nails are good, even on guys...

Today marks a new day.  A new beginning.  We are turning a new...server.  Out with the old and in with the new.  New what you ask?  New website, of course!  Actually, it's A website.  Before it was just me and this blog but today I finally got to hold my website for the first time.  Figuratively speaking.  But if I could hold it, I would.  It's so pink and pretty, it brought tears to my eyes.  Figurative tears.

And who is this genius, this master of all things html, this wizard behind the dot com of Baked Ever After?  Joe K.  He is actually a really famous guy...you just don't know it yet.  He happens to be the grandfather of blogging.  He was "blogging" before someone came up with a word to call this ranting that us people do to color the world wide web.  On his site he called his posts a "blah"...so really he is the grandfather of "blah-ging."  Check it out.  You'll be glad you did.  One can find great nuggets in there...like the fact that long finger nails are good, even on guys.  Why you ask?  Because they give you an extra quarter inch before slicing off your finger while cutting vegetables. 

Yes, you've been to a butterfly garden but have you tasted a butterfly garden?

Birthday cupcakes for a very special two-year-old girl.  Her favorites were butterflies and flowers hence the butterfly garden cupcakes.

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream swirl.  Fondant accents.

Now or Christmas in July?

Now or Christmas in July?  I chose now to post the pictures of the holiday cookies we pass out to our neighbors each year.  It's everyone's favorite winter drink...no, it's not egg nog--what is wrong with you?  (Mental note:  Egg nog cookies for 2012 Christmas)  It's Pumpkin Spice Latte inspired sugar cookies!  Complete with whipped cream and caramel swirl.

Merry Cup of Cheer Sugar Cookies with a hint of Pumpkin Spice

Hope your Christmas was just as cheerful!

Want to know if you should buy that stock? Give Felix a call.

Today marked the beginning of the end.  The dreaded end of a healthy wrist.  The blossoming promise of a deterioration known as carpal tunnel.  After the 1000th leaf that I piped for a birthday cake I knew it was eminent.  I kissed my wrists goodbye and continued piping 389 more leaves.  I know because I counted.  Why would I do such a thing?  Because I get paid by the leaf.  Ha!  I wish.  Because I'm a sadomasochist.  Partly.  After all, I am a mother.  Who else loves to pick up messes they didn't make?  And partly because the task of piping leaves was beginning to take on a most mundane monotony.   

What kind of cake requires 1389 leaves?  A Jake and the Never Land Pirates cake of course!  What is Jake and the Never Land Pirates?  Clearly you don't have small children.  It's only the #2 show on the Best TV Shows of 2011 list.  Who's the birthday boy?  Felix, a forward thinking four-year-old innovator who loves that show.  He's smarter than all the brains that work at Disney.  While Disney was nervous and cautious about the show's initial lukewarm reviews, allowing those reviews to dictate their Jake paraphernalia production or lack thereof, Felix watched one episode and knew the theme of his next birthday cake.  If Disney had consulted with Felix there would be a Jake toy under every Christmas tree this year.  But there won't be because Disney hasn't produced them.  Disney missed out.  But not me.  I'm going to give Felix a call tomorrow about some stocks.

By the suggestion of Cristina, Felix's godmother, the cake is an inside-out Oreo cake.  It is a yellow cake sprinkled with Oreo crumbles sandwiching two fillings:  Oreo and Chocolate.  The leaves are royal icing.  The palm trees are fondant and chewy chocolate.  Part of the cake is rice krispies treat.  The ocean is buttercream.  The sand is cookie crumbs.  There are hidden treasures like pretzel sticks and candy in the decoration.  And last but not least, half a doughnut.  It is definitely a treasure chest of textures. 

Happy 4th Birthday Felix!

Disclaimer:  The pirate ship, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and the crocodile are not my handiwork.  They are toys supplied to me by Cristina.

The House is Burning Down...Now What?

There is one item that my father-in-law would grab if his house were burning down.  Now if you knew my father-in-law, from herein to be referred to as 'Dad', this would make complete sense.  He is the most level headed, straight-as-an-arrow, black and white kind of guy you will ever meet.  And when I say 'ever' I mean E-V-E-R.  If his house were burning down the one item he would grab is his 1911 Colt pistol.  He's had it since the 80's during the time of the Cocaine Cowboys.  It's his baby and they've been fighting crime together ever since.  So OF COURSE for his birthday he was getting his gun cake complete with serial numbers engraved on the side.  

Here's the cake posing with the actual gun underneath.  Ha!  Posing...as if cakes pose.  Oh, but they do.  They do indeed.

Chocolate cake with raspberry filling.

A True Trifecta!

Wanna know a secret?  I'm terrible at being a good friend.  Great people have come and gone in my life but I can rarely make lasting connections because of my bad friend manners.  I'm notorious for never calling, never writing, never hanging out, never doing any friend things.  BUT  it doesn't mean I don't keep them in my heart and think about them, each and every one of them, every now and then.  

Despite my bad manners, Judy has been a constant in my life.  Even though we don't speak often, we pick up right where we left off.  And Judy is content with this.  And for Judy, I am gracious.  And, I have the most exciting news!!!  Judy and Joe are expecting their first child--a girl!  I would post the name but that name is supposedly top secret until that child is born.  I'm going to take this time to suggest a name.  Only because it seems in keeping with baby shower posts.  Jody!  It's a mix of Joe and Judy.  It's not as distinguished as Nigel but it's warm and sunny like Judy and Joe. Mostly like Judy...sorry Joe.  No offense.  I think you're warm and sunny too just not as much as Judy.  

So Joe got Judy a Burberry diaper bag as a push present.  Have you even heard of this?  Apparently I don't watch enough trash tv because this is where the term was first coined.  And they wanted their cake to match their bag.  

Judy opening Joe's gift.  See Judy?  Pure warmth and sunshine.

Judy and Joe's Burberry Diaper Bag Cake.  There is a BUNCH of stuff lying around the cake.  The bottle and iPhone are made of chocolate.  The rest of the items are gumpaste.  Oh, yes, must give credit where credit is due.  I did get help with this cake.  The invitation by the purse pocket, Joe designed that.  I just put it on edible paper.  If you're one for little details, you can see the bottle is dripping milk on top of the burp cloth. 

The massacred cake.  

Judy, you are a wonderful friend.  Joe, you're a lucky guy.  Jody, you're a lucky girl to have two wonderful parents.  Congratulations to the three of you.  Now THAT'S what I call a trifecta.

The Girl Next Door...

In this post I'm going to introduce to you a young lady named Hea Jean.  She's the poster child of sweet, innocent, wholesome and many other adjectives that describe the girl next door who wishes only the best for anyone and everyone.  You can only guess that she married her first boyfriend last year.  And the happy couple is now expecting their first child--a boy!  They chose Jong Min as his Korean name but are unsure about what name to choose as his English name.  Nathan or Jake.  I'm rooting for Nigel.  

A sugar teddy sitting on top of a cloud of piped buttercream.  The cake board is covered in a quilt with patches and buttons all made of sugar.

 A close up of the sugar cake topper I made for their cake.

Chocolate cake filled with raspberry and whipped ganache.  

Congratulations Hea Jean and Cheol Soo!

Ana, the World's Biggest Snoopy Fan

Meet Ana.  She is the curator of the world's largest private Snoopy memorabilia museum. That's not really her day job but she might as well start charging admission to her house because her collection is extensive.  So what kind of cake do you think she got?  Oh yeah!  (Say this like how Vector from Despicable Me says it.  Now who's laughing?  Oh yeah!)

What's that black stringy looking thingamajig on the board you ask?  It's the kite string for a limited edition Woodstock kite.  It's limited edition because I only made ONE and it's the ONE on the board.  You can see the kite in the next picture with the birthday girl.

 White cake with graham cracker crumbles, marshmallow swiss meringue and chocolate filling.  Because Ana loves s'mores. 

Happy Birthday Ana!

The Most Dangerous Delivery...and I live to tell about it

Today is Xavier Francisco's birthday and he is turning 3!  To celebrate his mommy ordered a Lightning McQueen, his favorite, cake in chocolate, also his favorite.  He loves Lightning so much that what would have been a normal delivery turned out to be one of the most dangerous deliveries ever made.  My husband almost lost his shirt helping me deliver this cake.  Literally.  Lost.  His.  Shirt.  Right. Off.  His.  Back.  

We were greeted by Xavier and his sister at the door.  Excited Xavier screaming "My cake!  My cake!"  He was so excited that he did what any logical 3-year-old would do.  He grabbed my husband and tried to bring him down to his level so he could be one with his cake.  Completely understandable.  In Xavier's eyes, the one obstacle standing between him and his Lightning was the poor, unassuming delivery guy.  The cake was assembled and we were able to make it out safely thanks to our savvy survival skills.  Okay, fine.  Xavier went to take a nap.  But I think our survival smarts helped too because there was a dog!  A dog the size of a horse.  A horse disguised as a dog.  But that's another story.  And this story is about Xavier and his Lightning.

The cake is chocolate cake with chocolate bavarian cream iced in milk chocolate ganache and finished in fondant.  All the decals on Lightning are edible.  I cheated and used Entenmann's chocolate covered doughnuts (or donuts for those of you on Team Edward) for the tires.  The cake board is inspired by Porto Corsa.  Ever been there?  No?  You have to go (or just watch Cars 2 like I did).

 Front

 Heiny

Happy 3rd Birthday Xavier Francisco!  

 

On a side note, I finally met Eduardo Roberto and he is cuter than that Precious Moments figurine atop his cakes.

It's November 2nd and that means...

Feliz Dia de los Muertos to all those that celebrate this day!

You remember our skull cake from the last post?  Here it is in all its glory.  It was the base for this sugar skull cake for the Day of the Dead celebration.