I look at this colorful cheerful cake and can’t help hearing the Sesame Street song in my head. “Sunny day sweepin’ the clouds away. On my way to where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Maison Street?” I wonder if that’s how they sang it at the party.
And can you imagine the cute little 2-years-old that received the cake? I love making festive cakes for little kids, remembering what made my childhood special, too.
Happy Birthday Maison! (It’s okay if you’re still singing that song.)
Last week we were happy to present this Uncle Sam cake to “Miss Tracie”, an amazing teacher that just retired from Amazing Creations Preschool. You know she still loves this school since she was the top bidder at their Annual Fundraiser and Spaghetti Dinner, winning a custom cake from us! We had made a platter of Spaghetti and Meatballs Cake for the fundraiser before, but instead of tricking everyone with some spaghetti on the dessert table, this time we were happy that a donated auction cake helped Tracie give money back to the future of the school.
You may be more familiar with the rougher Uncle Sam from war photos with a pointed finger saying “I want you”. This cake was designed after a more nostalgic Uncle Sam sculpture by Jim Shore.
You know summer is here with the celebration of America’s Independence Day. Have a great summer!
I’ve only heard great things about “Miss Tracie” who retired from Amazing Creations Preschool earlier this year. We also learned that she loves Franco Sarto shoes and heels which worked perfectly with the cake message: “Thanks for touching so many children’s lives. Your shoes will be hard to fill.” All different little children surrounded the cake, along with colorful stars like what little kids get for good work, and a Franco Sarto heel sits on top. After all of her hard work, we were happy to help her friends send Tracie off to a great retirement.
Tracie was sweet to upload our first fan photo on our Facebook page right after the party along with this note: “Thank you for this tremendous cake! So very me, just beautiful and delicious.” How sweet is that?
Congratulations Tracie! You’ve worked hard for this cake!
We interrupt your regularly scheduled sugar and fondant work with… a pie! I know, we tell everyone that we only make custom cakes. Well, TLC asked us to shoot our favorite summer dessert.
Shoot? Break out the gun!
Haha… Well, we took the cool TLC Flip video camera (thanks TLC, you rock!) and shot this video for the first TLC Cake Crew challenge. They wanted creative and summery, so we chose Amy’s family’s black raspberry pie that I tried many summers ago when I first met her grandparents. And for Amy it was a welcome home in pie form. It’s soooo good.
Everyone thinks we must always have a sugar high since we’re usually always surrounded by cake, and this video will surely not change that idea. I couldn’t help laughing all thru it with our little marzipan gecko and turtle telling the story. And when it was over, I found a few spots that needed some explanation. Oh, well, it’s our first video. We’ll figure out later how to actually get into the camera shot. The real recipe is below. So take a look and enjoy. It’s OK to laugh!
American Pie Dough (from The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook)
Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons shortening, chilled
12 tablespoons butter, chilled, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6-8 tablespoons water
Mix dry ingredients in food processor. Add shortening and process until it’s the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Add butter and pulse about ten 1-second pulses until the butter is in bits about the size of a pea. Pour out to a medium bowl and add 6 tablespoons of water. Fold to mix until the dough comes together. If it will not come together, add another tablespoon of water or two of water. Separate the dough into two balls, flatten the balls into discs, cover in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour or up to 2 days.
While the dough is chilling, mix the filling ingredients in a medium bowl.
Black Raspberry Filling
4 cups black raspberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
After the dough has chilled, dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll it out to fit your standard pie dish and transfer to the pie dish. Add your filling to the unbaked crust. Roll out the second piece of dough, cover the pie and crimp the edges to seal the pie. Using a knife (large or small, haha), cut the top crust to allow steam to vent from the pie during baking.
Additional ingredients:
Milk
Sanding sugar
Using a pastry brush, brush milk on the top of the pie. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for about one hour in a preheated 350 degree oven or until golden brown and delicious. Allow to completely chill. This is the hardest part, but it’s better when it’s cooled and set (not runny).
If you’ve never tried black raspberries, this is a great way to try them. They grow wild in Indiana, but we’ve seen them in some specialty stores here in California. I’m hoping they’ll become the next hot food because they’re just the best raspberry out there, and we adore the standard red.
Please let us know what you think of the video and the pie. TLC is looking for comments and we want to know if this made you laugh as much as we did!
Can you figure out who this cake describes? Single man from Stanford University likes dogs, cares for his personal hygiene, knows his figures, and uses the latest in communication technology. Sorry ladies, though that may describe your ideal man, that calendar app is for Saturday, June 26th when he said “I do” to Patty at the beautiful Pasadera Country Club in Monterey. He’s not single anymore! And his bride surprised him with this personalized groom’s cake.
The day after their wedding we received this sweet note:
Thanks for the cake! I love it and Eugene thought was such a fun and unique design! You did a great job, and the cake taste delicious!
I look forward to working with you more in the future!
Warm Regards,
Patty
We’re happy to have had a part of their loving celebration. Congratulations Patty and Eugene!
I know quite a few women who would be sooo happy to get stilettos and crystals for their birthday. (Or really any day of the week!) Roxanne requested this quilted crystal tiered birthday cake with stilettos on the sides, crystals on the bands, and a sculpted stiletto topper for her hot momma. It sparkled like our birthday gal’s eyes when she saw her cake.
What do you get for your favorite stylist that loves Hello Kitty? Here’s our Stylin’ Hello Kitty Birthday Cake. Guillermo dropped off a couple big gift boxes to the bakery before his girlfriend’s birthday and asked us to deliver them along with the cake to W’s Salon in Santana Row where Erica works.
Delivering a surprise cake to a stylist, of course Erica was in the middle of cutting a client’s hair. Luckily her client seemed happy to be part of the excitement, and the rest of the ladies gathered around in wonder at her special personalized cake and the thoughtfulness of Erica’s boyfriend.
I can’t believe all the rain we’ve been getting at the end of May here in sunny California. Of course I was wary of the dark clouds threatening to storm on this Tiffany box cake that was delivered to Ann’s Coffee Shop in Menlo Park. I was hoping the rainbow over the hills behind Menlo Park was a good sign because I like rainbows. But knowing they’re only created by light AND water, why was I so hopeful?
Well, I delivered to this coffee shop that looked to be from 50 years ago with the large counter in the middle of the shop taking over most of the space. A few locals appeared to be enjoying their quiet morning of big plates and newspapers. Little did they know I was bringing the cake for a small crowd to celebrate a birthday breakfast.
The Tiffany box came with a special message, “Thank you for joining me for breakfast. Happy Birthday, Linda. Love, Holly Golightly.” I have a feeling the ladies coming to celebrate Linda’s birthday were going to liven up the place and disturb the men’s peace talking about Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I mean, who doesn’t get excited when they see a Tiffany box?! Happy Birthday Linda!
If you could get a letter from a movie character, who would you choose?
Even if I hadn’t been invited to a preschool graduation last week, I could tell by the orders we have that graduation season is here. For Patrick’s celebration, we made the cinnamon bun cake with brown sugar cinnamon cream cheese icing into a festive tiered offset square cake with a graduation cap and accents of blue.
