Cat in the Hat cake

This cake was done on September 17th and was a lot of fun to make! It is a red velvet cake with buttercream frosting. The hat is red velvet cake too! Everything else on the cake is fondant with black food coloring for detailing.

Brobee Cake Revisited, Cat in the Hat to Come

One thing that I have learned in life is the importance of being teachable, especially in the field of nursing and now in my new endeavors of caking. It takes a sense of humility and checking your pride in order to do so, but it is well worth it in the future.

I can't claim to be great at this cake/cupcake hobby because it is so new for me. It is rare for me to actually taste what I've made in order to see for myself whether what I've made is delicious or not. But as future orders come in, I want to remember to ask my dear sweet clients for feedback (positive and negative) after they have celebrated their special occasions with my baked creations. By doing so, I can become a better baker and ensure that future cakes/cupcakes will be as tasty as possible.

Here's what Niki had to say about her son's Brobee cake:

Dawn

Thank you so much again for making the cake on such short notice. The cake tasted great and the cream cheese frosting was delicious! The cake itself was maybe a little over baked by a minute or two. It wasn't as moist but again the flavor was very good so it wasn't a concern really...There wasn't anything really wrong with the cake, I think it turned out amazing!! You got the look of Brobee spot on! Everyone at the party was impressed and I will definitely recommend you to everyone. I know it was your first cake so if it is something you are going to continue please let me know so I can let family and friends know! Thanks again, Dawn. We were very pleased with the cake!

Niki

What I plan on doing before I make my next cake (Sept. 18):
1) Bake the cake recipe for myself and my husband to do taste tests
2) Pull cake out of the oven a couple of minutes earlier
3) Search on the Internet for ways to make my cake more moist

A coworker, Stacie, has asked me to create a Cat in the Hat cake for her son's 1st birthday coming up on September 18! Her inspiration is this cake made by Marj of The Icing on the Cake.
I absolutely adore the detailing on Marj's cake! Stacie wanted her son's cake to be a little simpler, however, with just the hat and the kites atop a teal 8-inch cake with light blue polka dots. I couldn't tell if Marj used fondant or gum paste for the kites and I wanted to know what food coloring pen she used for all the black detailing. I have food coloring pens that I have used in the past but they don't work as well as I would like. If you don't push hard enough, then no color comes out. If you push too hard, it dents the fondant.

I was able to get in touch with Marj via email and she was so super helpful! She recommended specific brands of fondant, gum paste, and food coloring pens which I will be looking into ordering online. For the kites, I'm debating on whether I want to attempt using floral or stainless wire and have them look as though they are coming out of the cake.

My plan is to bake cake in a soup can and cover with fondant for the hat. Yes, really...a soup can! But before the day Stacie needs the cake, I want to attempt to do this at home and see how it turns out.

Check back to see how the Cat in the Hat turns out!

Check back after September 18 for the Cat in the Hat cake!

Brobee Cake

Finally, my first cake! I was really nervous to do this because I have never done a cake before. You would think that going from making cupcakes to a cake would be simple but it was a little more involved than I had anticipated! My sincere thanks go to my sister and best friend for keeping an eye on my 4-month-old so that I could get this thing done.

This is a "Green Velvet" cake with cream cheese frosting (leftovers of which I am currently licking up out of the bowl, yum!). My client had asked for red velvet but I thought it would be a cute idea to make it green since Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba is big and green. I hope her son, Evan, has fun celebrating his 2nd birthday with this cake!

Since I am my toughest critic, I have to say that I definitely think I could have done better. But I won't tell you what I think I need to improve on, I'll just let you enjoy these pics (which were taken with our new Pentax!)