Sophie Moon's Baby Shower

My coworker Trecia was getting ready to have her first baby, and she asked me to make the baby shower cake.  Of course I jumped at the chance to help her out.  The baby's name was going to be Sophie Moon, so she wanted the cake to be girlie and in the shape of a moon, but she didn't have any requests other than that.

Since it's Spring, I suggested she go with a light, fruity flavor.  I went with Lemon Lust cake with raspberry whipped cream and lemon curd fillings.  Mmm...

After the cake was baked and frosted, I had to add a few girlie touches.  A bedtime teddy bear, a little baby blanket, and some blocks did the trick.

 

To make it extra special, some stars were added around the cake.

I am happy to report that Miss Sophie Moon was born a little while ago, and mommy and baby are healthy.  Congrats!

Sharklet Graduation Cake

Recently, a fellow grad student of Scott's graduated with her PhD. They have worked together on a number of projects -- mostly on our research dealing with product called Sharklet.  Sharklet is a product that uses the roughness of its surface to prevent attachment of organisms like bacteria, algae, and barnacles.  It gets its name because it mimics the surface of a shark's skin, which naturally prevents growth and attachment.  It was actually recently featured on PBS's NOVA science series. You can watch the program here (and you can see the back of Scott's head in a couple of the shots!).

So for her graduation, I was tasked with making a cake for the graduation party.  Naturally my first thought was to make one about Sharklet.  I asked Scott to help out, and he actually got out a ruler and drew out a pattern for me.  He was so detailed that he was measuring to the millimeter!

Because of the recent success with the Guinness cake from Christmas, I decided to stick with that.  This cake was a Guinness cake with vanilla buttercream.Add a few gummy sharks and gummy microbes around the border (because they can't stick to the surface of course), and there you go.

Cutting the cake at the graduation party.

The Twelve Cakes of Christmas - (#12) Candles

Merry Christmas everyone! For the last day of Christmas, we have a special, luminary treat. Jessica made candles like the kind that are lit in windows during this time of the year. The difference is, these candles are edible.

The cake recipe was a lemon poundcake.

A double batch of poundcake, three candles, and some Styrofoam were all that was needed for building the candles.

Using a circular cutting tool and some careful slicing, the cakes were shaped into the right form for candles. Styrofoam gave the cakes the right height. Cutting into the center of cakes made circular holes just big enough to fit taper candles down the middle.

The cakes were rolled in coconut and the tops were poured with a thick icing to give a "melted wax" look.

The best part of these cakes are that they can be lit!

And light up a dark room nicely.

The Twelve Cakes of Christmas 2010 are over, but my waistline will be remembering it for some time to come.

The Twelve Cakes of Christmas - (#11) Gingerbread House

Christmas Eve is here and what's better than snuggling up in a warm house with family? To capture that cozy feeling, Jessica decided to make a decadent gingerbread house. The recipe was for a ginger cake which contained raw ginger, candied ginger, and ginger powder. It made a thin, dense, hearty cake.

Six layers of the cake were assembled with a cream cheese frosting. Because the cake was so heavy, they tended to slide back and forth. A little chilling in the freezer helped keep it all together.

Once chilled, the layers were covered with fondant.

Jessica made a couple rectangular pieces of gingerbread for the roof and glued them on using royal icing. We slipped some LED lights underneath the roof as Christmas lights.

With some more royal icing, gumdrops, candy canes, M&Ms, and lifesavers, the house was complete.

And glowed in the dark like a true Christmas house.

Ready just in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you're keeping warm and cozy!

The Twelve Cakes of Christmas - (#10) Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

The last in the series of 3 cupcakes Jessica made for her coworkers. Jessica made faux-hot chocolate cupcakes. The cakes were from a flourless recipe simply called "chocolate intensity." The cake batter was cooked in the mugs they were to be served in. A water bath provided even heating of the mugs to prevent cracking.

To be true to form, marshmallows had to be added on top...

...and lightly toasted to make them nice and gooey.

A final candy cane was added for full effect.

These (along with 2 other cupcakes) made a great gift, which were very well received. Comments were that the cake was very rich -- appropriate as a "hot chocolate."

The Twelve Cakes of Christmas - (#9) Holly Cupcakes

This year, Jessica decided to give her coworkers a set of 3 cupcakes. Yesterday's post ("mini cakes") was one of them. With the next cake, she decided to go with a new recipe: red velvet cupcakes.

The cake is a fairly standard red velvet, but without the obscene amount of red dye that most recipes call for.

The red velvet cupcakes were classically combined with cream cheese frosting. Holly berries made out of fondant provided the topper.

The fondant was pressed into a silicone mold to give a true, leafy texture.

As I sit here writing this, I'm having one right now. And I can say they are delicious! (...love that cream cheese frosting...)