Having repeat orders is the goal of any business person, it's a sign your business is steadily growing. You watch as the requests change over the years to suit the child who is growing up and who needs a different type of birthday cake to show how big they're getting. In this case, however, not only am I watching as the requests change, I'm also watching as more kiddos are added to the mix, and as the decorating techniques and skills of their Mum improves with every birthday because I get to watch the cakes being decorated.
These cakes are the cakes I make with my friend. It started out when she wanted to make her daughter's first birthday a special party, so really set her standards high. She designed a menu, and planned activities to go with their Mini Mouse theme. I came in to help Nathalie make the cake because although she had the vision, the knowhow wasn't within her reach. And why should it be, she's never had to decorate a cake like this before. So many people find they're willing to make the cake but want it to look good and professionally made so that's where I come in, to help make the vision into a sweet reality.
Nathalie and I come up with a plan for the evening; I usually design a simple cake that I know Nathalie can do well, and we divide the tasks between the two of us, then Tara joins us for the very important quality control. I bring my tool kit, the icing, plus any miscellany we need, and Nathalie provides the cake and the wine. Every year the theme is different, and to a certain extent a little more challenging. Even if the design of the cake changes we have a blast making it, we have a great time hanging out together, and we always produce a great looking cake by the end of the evening.
By popular demand I have a made a compilation of the cake sessions we've had thus far:
These cakes are the cakes I make with my friend. It started out when she wanted to make her daughter's first birthday a special party, so really set her standards high. She designed a menu, and planned activities to go with their Mini Mouse theme. I came in to help Nathalie make the cake because although she had the vision, the knowhow wasn't within her reach. And why should it be, she's never had to decorate a cake like this before. So many people find they're willing to make the cake but want it to look good and professionally made so that's where I come in, to help make the vision into a sweet reality.
Nathalie and I come up with a plan for the evening; I usually design a simple cake that I know Nathalie can do well, and we divide the tasks between the two of us, then Tara joins us for the very important quality control. I bring my tool kit, the icing, plus any miscellany we need, and Nathalie provides the cake and the wine. Every year the theme is different, and to a certain extent a little more challenging. Even if the design of the cake changes we have a blast making it, we have a great time hanging out together, and we always produce a great looking cake by the end of the evening.
By popular demand I have a made a compilation of the cake sessions we've had thus far:
Lexie's First Birthday: Minnie Mouse
Left to right (clockwise): Tara and Nathalie, testing the fondant; me with Nathalie kneading out the pink fondant to cover the cake; and Nathalie holding her beautiful finished product!
Lexie's Second Birthday: Old MacDonald
Left to right (clockwise): Tara, testing the wine as well as the icing; Nathalie planting icing grass in the field; Wendy came along to help decorate the room while we decorated; our final product, I was so proud of Nathalie with this one!
Lexie's Third Birthday: Rainbow (the celestial bodies, not the 80's cartoon)
Despite my best efforts, I can't be everywhere I want to be all time so for this cake we weren't together. I made this cake for Nathalie on my own and brought it to her. Nathalie had just had her second baby, a little boy so I promised to make myself available for next year!!
Logan's First Birthday: Fire Trucks
Nathalie decided that she was going to make cupcakes for Lexie's Fourth birthday, which she felt she could manage, but asked if I could help with her son's first birthday cake. No Minnie Mouse or rainbows for Logan, he's a boy; he wanted a fire truck birthday party. Nathalie added an extra challenge for the cake. It not being to everyone's taste (and I understand that completely), Nathalie asked if we could not use fondant and just do buttercream instead. While I'm fine not using fondant, I was worried that if we went with buttercream we would end up with a pink truck (not the desired effect), so I looked into a product I'd been meaning to try: edible paper, which comes in red.
Nathalie really outdid herself, she's more confident with her icing and piping techniques and was even able to build the cake to make the truck. So proud of her! She was even teaching Lexie a thing or two... (next generation baker??) Tara, as ever did a stellar job of quality assurance. Only the best goes into my cakes!
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