Octonauts cake - worth every minute!!!

I have been decorating cakes for a very long time and over the last few years, I have tried to finish every cake with the question - would I be content if this were my very last cake ever.  Most of the time, the answer is no.  Not because I'm unhappy with the cake, just because it didn't "challenge" me.  I learn something from every cake I do.  Some, I despise unitl the minute they leave my kitchen.  Some are just another order.  In the middle are those that turn out exactly as I need them to...and then there are those that just kinda happen.  They are so much fun and are such a blast that I lose myself for hours putting it together.  Those are the cakes that I answer yes to.  Yes - I would be completely content if this was my last cake ever.  The Octonauts cake is one of those. :)

I started the cake a few nights ago - the bottom tier is white cake with a teal swirl.  That didn't seem like enough, though, so I made 2 more tiers with teal, purple, green and blue batter.  The colors were amazing!  I wasn't sure if I would use all 3 tiers though because I had too many ideas in my head.  Last night it was time to decorate.  I made a double batch of fondant and a double batch of buttercream.  From that point on, everything just sortof came together!  I worked on it until midnight last night and knew that I had to stop until morning.  I'm still creative when I'm sleepy...but I make dumb mistakes - soooo...off to bed I went.  (right after we ate the top tier that I had decided not to use - Yum!!!) 

My alarm went off at 8am and I was back in the kitchen working away. :)  I colored more fonant today than I have in the last year I'm sure! lol  I made anemone's, starfish, coral, sponge, little clams with pearls (my fave) and then I got started on the charachters.  I was cruising along and having a ball!  Afterall, I had until 2:00 to finish.  Life was good...except that I was having so much fun I completly lost track of time and at 2:00. I still had 3 more characters to finish!!!  Thankfully, the Birthday Mom was a dream to work with and was kind enough to give me more time (the party is tomorrow). 

At 5:30pm I had over 10 decorating hours into the cake and was finally finished.  What I didn't know was that the best part was yet to come. :)  I met the Birthday Mom at our meeting place and she thoughtfully brought along the Birthday Boy - What a cutie!!! :)  I pop'd the trunk and he was crouched down to peek inside before I even opened it! lol  When I finally opened the trunk, he was so excited that my heart melted on the spot. :) The Birthday Boy and I checked out his cake together - I pointed out the vegimals and all the other little doo-dads that were piled around. I have to say, I couldn't have asked for a better customer...Little guys like him - seeing him so excited over something I made is the exact reason why I love this so much. :)  Even after 10 hours and aching hands from all the fondant - I'd do it all over again in a heart beat if I knew I could have another reaction like his. :) 

Happy Birthday Samuel :)  I'm really glad you like your cake. :)

Time flies

You know the moment when you realize that your "Plan" doesn't match up with the actual time??  Like when you realize that there are only 2 more pays till Christmas and you have 2 months worth of bills.  Or like the morning that you wake up from the best sleep ever, blissfully happy that you still have 2 hours to get to work...then remember that time went ahead an hour!!  I recently had one of those moments when I realized that the girls go back to shool in 14 sleeps!!  Where in the world did the summer go??!!! 

I guess I must have been keeping myself pretty busy cuz I never noticed the time.  We had hoped to get in some fun day trips with the kids this year, but only managed a week of camping and being lazy bums.  We took the girls to Sussex to the Town & Country campground and drive in.  We had a great time there last year.  The girls love the campground and it's close enough to the other things we wanted to do that the location is ideal.  Mother Nature was in a bit of a snit, though, so we had to modify our agenda.  We planned to go to Alma for lobster on one day and Magic Mountain the next.  Thanks to the rain, though, we only made it to Magic Mountain. The girls had a blast though so it was a great week all the same. :)

Time flies, though, and now here we are...less than 2 weeks from back to school and we're the polar opposite of ready! lol  Solution?  I'm taking next week off! lol  Cross your fingers cuz I'm going to need every single ounce of good luck I can get! lol

Orange you glad there are cake balls??

If anyone that I work with happens to read this post, I’ll totally be busted for blogging from my desk but I just can’t help it…I just finished eating a little piece of heaven in the form of an orange cake ball! To make it worse…there were more – and I want them!!  I've been behaving, though, and not letting myself indulge too much latley...trouble is, I’m supposed to be working right now but my right-brain tendencies are kicking in and all I can think about is the orange cake balls that I’m not currently enjoying!! I really should have known better…


Sweet Life Dessert co is a new dessert shop that just opened around the corner from the office.  It’s to-die-for adorable!! The last time I stopped in, I was forced to kill a death-by-chocolate cupcake…just to watch it die! Lol (ok…”forced” may not be exactly how it happened. ;) Anyway – I’ve heard all kinds of great things about her cake balls – but every time I have stopped in, they were out. Dang!! Today, though, was my lucky day cuz I got TWO!!! And I ate them all by myself!!! Anyhow – I’m not normally one to “plug” local peeps on here…but if you have the chance to check this place out…Please don’t eat all the cake balls – save some for me!!! :)

I met the Octonauts today!!!

Ok - not the "real" Octonauts, but I did get a request for an Octonauts birthday cake! :)
 

Before today (because my girls are older) I had no idea who the Octonauts were.  I made the unfortunate mistake of Googling their cuteness, though, and now my cake brain is spinning out of control with a zillion ideas for this cake! J  To make matters worse, the inspiration for this cake is coming from this DEE-LICIOUS work of art over at Finesse Cakes!!  Not sure how I’ll compete with this one but dang they be cute as heck!! J I’m pretty sure I’ll be starting tonight cuz the suspense is killing me!

I'll keep you posted!!

Cake update and other stuff

It seems that most of my posts lately have started with apologies for neglecting my blog.  I really do miss having a computer of my very own.  Blogging from my tablet is soooo not an option. :( 

Anyway, along with my apologies, I will add some pics that I recently discovered and was reminded that I never did post them on here.  (Or at least...I hope I didn't...no - I mean - Yay if I did...I hope this isn't a duplicate. :S  Oy!)  Ok - enough already...

Brads Birthday cake!

I made this one for my Bestest gal-pal's hubby.  It was kindof a whim...or rather, a last minute fun thing.  she gave me creative freedom to do whatever I chose and this is what I came up with.  Originally I was going to have an upright bike...but the black fondant did not cooperate and I was left with limpy black circles - soooo...the fondant Brad wiped out instead and bike parts were flung randomly accross the cake. :)

My fave part...his thumb fell off. ;)  See the little bloody thumb waaaaay in the background??  lol  Nevemind!  It's a thumb I tell ya!!

February Cupcakes

Back in February...err - I think it was February, I made a ton of Sunflower cupcakes for a work meeting in Halifax.  I knew it was one of those meetings where conversations could become challenging and a) had zero funds for anything food related b) I know that nobody can be cranky with a giant cupcake in their hand soooo...I brought these bad boys along.  Worked like a charm!!  I can't take credit for the design though - I got the idea from this  youtube tutorial.  I heart allllll her cupcakes! :)

Crosby cake

This one was for the same Mom that requested the lego cake:)  and I just realized I didn't post the lego cake either - eek! sorry!

Sponge Bob cake

I can't believe I forgot to post this one!!  What a hoot to make! :)  It was for Megan - what a doll!! :)  The coral bits are made out of salt water taffy! :)  Spongebob is a candle though. 

Ok...enough of that.  I have 2 more cakes to post but these 2 need a post of their very own!! :)  Thanks for looking! :)