Rainbows and Mermaids and Birthday Cakes
9 years ago
It's hard to believe, but Maci is four, she'll start pre-school this year. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she told me she wanted a cake with rainbows and mermaids. Ok, then. After some thought, I made rainbow chip cake, an almond sour cream cake with spinkles baked in the batter. I hollowed out the center and filled it with multi-colored M&Ms for more "rainbow". Then I frosted it blue and made some fondant seaweed and added some sea creatures and bubbles. A mermaid on top, sitting under a rainbow with a shooting star. Ashley added a sparkly "4". We needed some cupcakes too, so those were the same batter, also filled with M&Ms and topped with fondant mermaid tails, brushed with luster dust by my sous chef, Makayla.
Look, it's a birthday mermaid with her cake!
A closer shot of the cake:
The filling:
And some cupcakes:
Those mermaid tails were a pain in the patoot. Ashley sent me a picture of cupcakes and asked if I could do them. I asked her to send me instructions, maybe a pattern, that would be nice. Instead I got a Pinterest link. I hate Pinterest. (sigh) No instructions, of course, and no pattern, and no help. Just a dozen blogs with people remarking how cute those cupcakes are. Grrrr. So I made my own pattern with a piece of cardboard, cut fondant tails, used the small end of a melon baller to make scales and a cocktail fork to make the lines on the tails. Pffft. Who needs instructions..
I'm happy with the way it turned out, plus it tasted good. My ex-husband's current girlfriend told Ashley to tell me that the cake was delicious. (grin) That just seems kind of messed up, LOL, but at least the cake was good.
Annie
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9 years ago
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'B' birthday party for boy's 5th b-day
Comments (8)Well, the party was a success so I thought I'd share the results after your thoughtful replies. Invitation: Cut out a large letter B from paper printed with balloons. I randomly wrote on the front B=Ball, B=Balloon, B=Book, B=Bubbles, B=Bugs. Then I wrote the party details for the Big Boy Birthday Bash on the other side, including that this was a "B" themed party. Food: (I was cooking for about 43 adults and kids.) Beefy Ribs and (Buns with Hotdogs for the kids) Brown Rice and Chickpea Rainbow Salad (GREAT pesto vngrte) Beans with Lemon and Walnut Vngrte Bacon and Blue Cheese Mashed Potato Casserole Biscuits with fresh herbs and Basil Butter Drinks: Basil lemonade Blueberry lemonade Cake: Banana cake in the shape of a bumblebee. I found a baseball cake pan the shape of half of a ball and thought "why not make that the body of the bee?" So I did. I used a 6" round cake for the head, but I cut it out a bit to fit snuggly into the round body cake piece. I frosted it with golden yellow buttercream. I was in a hurry so instead of mixing black icing for the bee's stripes, I sprinkled on brown jimmies in stripes. I used black licorice for the antenna and legs. I made wax paper wings with popsicle sticks as veins. I found those black licorce wheels as big eyes. It was so cute!! And tasty! Since I needed cake for 43 people, I made some extra banana cupcakes frosted with the bee frosting and some jimmies. Games: Balls (football, baseball, tennis balls, curvy ball and catchers, bouncy balls, soccer ball, beach ball, etc.) Bubbles (FIL makes his own bubble juice and has tons of fun wands) Butterfly pinata (couldn't find a bumblebee) filled with small bouncy balls, bee rings, etc. Treat bags: Black Bags filled with small "B" items like bubbles, ball erasers, blowers, etc. Decorated the house and deck with tons of balloons from the Dollar Store. Some of the gifts given to DS began with B, and some even decorated their gift bags and cards with B. It was cute to see people get into the theme. All in all, it was a great party. Kids had a fabulous time--too much of a good time at moments. ;) Thanks for your help!...See MoreWhat is your dream birthday cake?
Comments (73)I would like anything from a good bakery. My birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving and mostly just before or after. I have had my share of supermarket turkey shaped cakes and cakes with pilgrims. I used to ask for ice cream cakes as a kid because they at least had ice cream and usually weren't awful.....The worst was when I was 16. I wanted something grown up and beautiful. My sister talked my boyfriend and my parents into going to a amusement/arcade park for a surprise. The place was a castle themed park called Camelot. All the kids at my school called it "scam-a-lot" I was horrified. When the girl brought out the cake badly frosted and with day glow icing clowns and balloons I asked them to get it boxed and we went home to have ice cream instead. At least none of my friends saw it all. No I am not stealing this from the show Golden Girls. This actually happened to me! I had another cake disaster for my graduation. My sis and I got the freshest ingredients and made a cake from a cake bible cookbook from the library. I had spent a week prior making frosting roses for this masterpiece had saving them in the freezer. We made the cake and tasted the trimmed off parts it was fantastic! The next day we frosted it and that evening when the family tried it it was so dry no one wanted to eat it. After that I always ordered a cake from the European bakery I love in Pasadena. The other cake fail I was involved in was my cousin's wedding. She knew I could do frosting flowers well so she asked me to come over and decorate her wedding cake. She wanted me to use this lavender icing she made. I decorated the whole thing and we set it by the window. After an hour into the reception, the purple icing in the sunlight faded to blue and was melting a little. My part of the family was out drinking and laughing on the grass. My cousin's husband's family was inside being shocked at the drinking going on outside. The cake suddenly started to lean and lucky her husband's brother was sitting close by and grabbed for it. The top 2 tiers were saved but the lower ones crashed. She didn't put in any supports inside. But, great sport that she is, she just laughed and served her husband's family the upper layers and our family the toppled ones. We didn't mind a bit. She's a great gal and can laugh through anything. One of the weddings I can say I really enjoyed. Sliding color changing cake and all. Please no one get a bright colored cake for a birthday. At my granddad's 90th, my aunt ordered a NASA themed cake with dark blue icing. My Grandad worked in the space program after being in the air force during WWII. Everybody had a dark blue tongue and blue teeth. All these old people with blue lips and teeth! I love a simple cake with almond extract and some fresh ripe strawberries or peaches and whipped cream. I had a fantastic cake once made with 4 different pastel fruit flavored layers and also a very good Black Forest cake by a Belgian pastry chef who used to have a bakery in my city but has now retired. I'm too wary to try a special cake again but I love to make pies and decorate cupcakes with fresh flowers....See MoreSD birthday
Comments (79)"both families have to stop competing and focus on what's important." 100% agree. As far as JB not being a good role model, that wasn't exactly my issue. I think his songs are typical/fine/ for tweens and young teens. I just don't like (and this is a jab at society in general, not YOU, Mrs. P) encouraging such little girls to swoon over him or ANY other *teen idol.* It's not that I think there's anything terrible about him or his music. Every generation has a JB. In mine, it was New Kids on the Block. But I think the ages at which girls are often encouraged, either through the media or even their families/friends, to be interested and have crushes on these singers is getting younger and younger. I went to my first concert--NKOTB---when I was 10 and in 5th grade. Now you have girls in first grade acting all lovestruck. THAT is my issue, not Justin Bieber himself. There will always be the Justin Biebers out there and I think it's fine for tweens/teens to swoon over those guys. It's all part of hormone crazed adolescence, I get it. But why rush it? Our little girls have plenty of time for that. I prefer to keep my daughter as young and innocent as long as possible. It's the whole *attitude* that bothers me. It reminds me of my dad's girlfriend with her DD, who is now 11. I remember back when this little girl was maybe 5 or 6, GF would laugh and say, "Shake your booty, girlfriend! Sexy girl!" It was all said in a joking way and she and her family would laugh as this little girl danced doing a "booty shake" but to me, it was just so....unnecessary. Why does a 5 or 6 year old little girl need to be called sexy, or encouraged to shake her butt while she dances? It's THAT attitude I dislike and I think, unfortunately, it's becoming more prevalent....See MoreWedding cakes gone too far???
Comments (22)Ricky and Annie – beautiful cupcakes and cakes! As one who’s made quite a few fondant cakes for first my family (for fun and out of love), then friends, and years later acquaintance’s special occasions (a little something on the side) and making all ingredients from scratch, I can attest that fondant is entirely unpleasant – no matter how I tried using various flavors and methods! I dare anyone to argue that a chocolate sculpture made of quality chocolate is not divine in taste as compared to sugar and glucose formed into a sheet or elaborate sculpture, and even a gently flavored sugar-blown sculpture is preferable on the palate than fondant. I eventually stopped making fondant cakes altogether and to create desserts that were both pleasing to the eye and enjoyable to consume, reveling in the diversity of pastries that I felt were both attractive and a delectable to the consumer(s). Try as I might to convince otherwise, most still wanted the fondant cakes. Typically tailored to each person’s unique personality, I have wonderful memories of huge smiles, squeals of delight, tears of joy and appreciation, awestruck looks of surprise… I have to admit, my memories of the reactions to those cakes far outweigh any compliments of other desserts/pastries I made – no matter how elaborate or simple. Many people love them. I could wax on and on, but instead, I echo annie1992’s comments for my answer to the question: Have wedding cakes gone too far? No more so than the venue, hiring a wedding planner, the gown, the flowers, the menu, the music, the invitations, the gift registries, favors, the photographer/videographer… ad infinitum. The accoutrements typically last a day; the memories (hopefully) a lifetime. A Groom’s cake is not bridal, but a reflection of the groom. At the National average cost of $30,000+ for a wedding? And I’ve seen some unique weddings. The cakes have not gone any further than the rest of the visual pomp and circumstance. Would I do that? Nope. Just the 2 of us, simple garb which has been worn repeatedly since, a small speaker softly playing Pearl Jam’s Future Days, and a brief ceremony. It was perfect… for us. A couple months ago my friend’s DD told me she’d far prefer to have a simple ceremony and put the money saved toward their first home. Wise and sensible young lady! Fast forward, with the engagement now official it turns out she does want the gown, the venue, the flowers, all friends and family, and yes, The Cake. Were she my daughter I could not deny her desire to make her wedding day special. To answer one more question: Yes, mostly the sculptural fondant cakes are for show, as is the rest of the pomp and circumstance....See More
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annie1992Original Author