2011 Oscar Night Cake

So this week brought the 83rd Academy Awards and along with that an Oscar Party! The theme was Mann's Chinese Theater so there was Chinese Food, Fortune Cookies and, of course, the Chinese Food Container Cake! This cake is actually 2 tiers, one Gingerbread, one Yellow and serves 20. Everything was edible except the handle and the "fortune".

The "secret" for this cake is to use a non edible item like the paper fortune, instead of and edible one. Most of the time I really try to make everything edible but there are times when going the extra mile is not only not worth the extra work but can also be a dangerous idea when it comes to transporting the cake to the client. In this case, to make the fortune look like a real paper fortune, I would have had to make the fondant very very thin and in transporting it over bumpy roads for 130 miles the chances are overwhelming good that the thin fortune would have snapped in half and destroyed part of the presentation of the cake. So the lesson here is to let yourself off the hook from time to time and learn what is better to use out of the real thing rather than make it's faux edible double.

The other tip has to do with the wire handle. Made from 20 gauge wire, this is not only not edible but it can't touch the cake or icing at all. In order to be able to use it I cut a food grade plastic coffee stir stick in half, put half in one side of the cake and half in the other side, making sure not to slide it all the way into the cake. Then, using royal icing as glue I was able to insert the wire into the stir stick and seal it with the royal icing. So all the wire touches is stir stick and royal icing, both which are removed with the wire when it's time to cut the cake!

Mini Birthday Cake

This tiny 4 inch mini cake was meant to feed just four people. Since it was for my daughter's birthday I wanted to make sure it was really special so I spent the extra time and effort to make this mini cake perfect for her. Lemon Chiffon Cake filled with lemon-lime curd buttercream, her favorite, was decorated all in fondant, also her favorite, and embellished with royal icing swags as well as hundreds of royal icing dots to give the feel of Wedgewood China. It was a big hit.

This next week brings a very special baby shower cake. For the same daughter that was mentioned above, this shower cake is to welcome her first child due mid April. And I can't wait to share it with you all next Monday!

Cat