two reasons to celebrate...

The baking duo were at it again!

Remember how Emily and I baked and decorated that engagement party cake? Well, one of my other colleagues saw the cake and asked me if we could make her a baby shower cake. Her son and his girlfriend are expecting twins... sex of the babies are unknown, but she was hosting a party on Sunday and needed a cake for 50 people.

Done.

We sat down and sorted out the details.

We decided on a square, two tiered, marble cake - extra chocolate in the batter (the parents to be are chocoholics).

I then sent her some ideas to view and she picked the peas in a pod... well two little peas in a pod (they are expecting twins after all). Em did an amazing job covering the cakes in the fondant, shaping the little peas and pods, making the teeny feet...

I said there were two reasons to celebrate right? Well... I didn't mean two because of the twins :0)

4 days before the shower cake was due, my colleague asked for a second cake. Her younger son and his girlfriend were both celebrating their graduation this past weekend also, and she wanted a cake for that occasion too!

Done.

This one, a simple 3 layered lemon cake (a round), covered in thick butter cream. Emily was given carte blanche for decorating, and I think she did an amazing job with the fondant graduation caps and the blue and yellow piping... simple and classic. And all on short notice!

flour, butter and lemon

I baked 11 dozen cupcakes. All in one go. With my mini little oven only allowing me to bake a dozen at a time; I became a cupcake making machine. And loved every second of it.

You might be wondering how I found myself in this situation... Well, a few months back I was sharing a drink (or two) with some friends when the subject of wedding cakes came up. Here's a snippet of our (slightly intoxicated) conversation:

Me: "Steph, who's making your cake"
Steph: "No one yet. But I want cupcakes"
Me: "I can make cupcakes"
Steph: "What's your price?`
after some negotiation...
Steph: "Done. Your hired!"

The next conversation...
Me: "So Emily... we have a cupcake order for May"
Emily: "Awesome!"
Me: "That means you'll have to decorate 125 cupcakes!"
Emily: "Yep. No problem!"

And that my friends is how Emily and I ended up with an order for 125 cupcakes PLUS a cutting cake. The bride isn't a lover of all things chocolate... but she sure does love all things lemon... and we know that I heart baking anything with lemons. 11 dozen lemon cupcakes later, my entire apartment smelled of lemons, sugar, and butter; tart and sweet - a perfect description of the bride ;0)

I'm most proud of the cutting cake... it's so pretty! I'd recently given in and bought some 5-inch, 6-inch and 7-inch spring form pans and haven't regretted it one iota! A mini tiered cake with a 6-inch round sitting atop a 7-inch round. Too cute. Seriously.

I brought Emily the cake rounds ahead of time, so that she could cover them in a lemony butter cream and white fondant. She then came over to my place to begin the task of frosting lemon butter cream atop each and every cupcake (I tried to help, but really, I'm not a decorator and she's just so good...why mess with a good thing?!). She is the queen of the swirl... her left hand perfectly poised with icing bag in hand, she is able to elevate the simple cupcake into wedding cake elegance.

Oh yeah... and since there were a few "overstock" cupcakes we decided to sample one... the cake was moist, slightly tart, which balanced by the sweet butter cream. I'd call that a success!

Next week we aim for 6-inch, 9-inch and 12-inch rounds... another week, another cake! I am so stoked!!!

cake anyone?

Emily and I have been friends for... 12 years now. I met Emily on my first day in Ottawa; 10th floor Thompson Residence. We got along right away and stayed friends long after we checked out of residence and became the people we are today.

A few years back Em and I decided to run a 30 km race together... I would see her every week, sometimes twice in the same day: we would encourage each other by talking about... food. Sweet potato fries to be exact. We successfully completed the race and Em vowed never to do it again; so we came up with another way to spend time together... baking. Baking cakes to be exact.

This is our first collaboration. My colleague at work, Sylvie, asked if we could bake her daughter's engagement cake. She gave us the details - beach theme, date of the proposal and was specific about wanting a starfish or two. We rolled up our sleeves and decided to get baking.

I baked the cake (5 batters to be exact) and made the syrup. Em did the hard stuff. I bow down to my friend for being able to decorate this massive 14x14 cake.

I am so excited to share the results with you. As you can see, a marbled cake with vanilla buttercream icing was taken to the "beach" to celebrate a happy couples engagement. I think that Emily was able to capture exactly what Sylvie was asking for...starfish and all ;0)

I love that not only do I get to bake cakes, but I get to spend time with Em. This is even better than those runs... since not only do we get to talk about food, but we get to sample it too!