2 Chix in the Mix

Ketchup or Catch Up!

2ChixInTheMix — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:41:39 +0000

Either way I’m far, far behind on posting. For those of you who know me, well, you know why. For those of you who don’t, I’ve had a life changing event but I’ll leave it at that and spare you the details.

Enraged Aviarian Cuppies - Chocolate cupcakes, vanilla buttercream, fondant toppers.

Fox in Socks - Double layer 9 x 13, almond cake, vanilla buttercream, fondant accents.

Rob’s Carrot Cake - carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream.

John’s Wake Forest Golf Bag - Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, covered in vanilla fondant, gum paste clubs. Crafted from 5 – 9×13 cakes.

The cat is out of the bag - Pumpkin cake, cream cheese icing, gum paste cat.

Breast Cancer Awareness - Almond cuppies, vanilla buttercream, fondant ribbons. NINE DOZEN cupcakes!

Georgia Bulldogs Groom’s Cake - One Red Velvet tier, one chocolate tier, vanilla buttercream, fondant accents. The bulldog is rice crispy treats covered in fondant with hand painted features.

Malia’s Birthday - Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, fondant accents.

Adrienne’s Shower - One vanilla tier, one lemon tier, vanilla buttercream covered in fondant, fabric ribbon accents with gum paste poppy.

Sweet Baby Shower - Pink lemonade cake, vanilla-lemon buttercream, fondant accents, gum paste bow.

Keepin’ it sweet!

Deah

Go 1981 WMHS Warriors!

2ChixInTheMix — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:39:44 +0000

While talking at a church luncheon, a friend asked me if I could make her class reunion cake. I asked how many servings she needed. She figured around 100. I said okay. Thinking I was smart, I went to her Facebook site and looked up her high school name and found their website. Ah, a simple arrowhead was their school logo, so I emailed her and offered to build a cake in the image of her school logo. She said (surprised), “You can do that?” In my ignorance, I told her I could get it pretty close. She then solicited her friends for a picture of the logo from 1981, which, as I soon found out, was NOT an arrowhead, but the head of an American Indian. 1981 was pre-political correctness era…silly me. The logo had been changed in recent years. When she sent the logo, I panicked for a few minutes, then tried to find a way to make it work. I figured I probably couldn’t make a cake for 100 in the shape of their logo, so I went for plan B. Of course, at this time, I didn’t really have a plan B, but it only took away one nights sleep thinking one up. I have written on, but I had never really drawn on a cake before. I designed the cake and decided that a native American “topper” would probably work the best. The result was a 15″ x 22″ x 2″ sheet cake with a 10″ x 2″ round cake “topper” with their logo, piped with a #3 tip. Drawing on the topper was a little time consuming, but it was so worth it when my friend told me that the venue chef came out and admired the cake – and the servers all wanted to try a piece. Of course, as long as my friend was happy with it, that’s all that really mattered.

Green With NV (New Vows)

2ChixInTheMix — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:20:30 +0000

My daughter had a very small wedding at the courthouse a year ago with just a few witnesses. It was nice, but because she didn’t have all those near and dear to her present, she wanted to renew her vows on her one year anniversary and invite all those that she would have liked to have shared that special day with. So, we set out looking for that perfect location. We found a lovely spot at a local park, with a nice pond and a fountain as a backdrop, and a fenced wooden “patio” out over the water. There was a nice walkway to use as her “aisle” to walk down with her daddy. Then we started talking about all the other details, including her cake. Her colors were avocado green and chocolate-brown – and that’s the colors she wanted on her cake. She gave me free rein with it only she had one provision…she wanted the layers square and offset. I figured that should be easy since I’m not a perfect person, anyway
The top two layers were WASC and the bottom layer was chocolate with Oreo cookies and cream filling.
She was a beautiful “bride” who loved her green and brown, scrolled, offset, square cake and I am the mommy who loves her

Madeline’s Wraslin’, Rock Climbing, Flower Garden Pot!

2ChixInTheMix — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:04:47 +0000

I’ve been a little busy the last couple of weeks. Take a look at what’s been happening.

Groom’s Cake for Harrison

Harrison’s thoughtful MIL asked for this one as a surprise for him. Harrison loves rock climbing and funfetti cake.

Betty turned 80 this week. Her granddaughter told me she loves hats and flowers. She even wears a had EVERY day. This cake is decadent chocolate with Oreo buttercream filling. The hat and flowers are fondant.

Madeline is turning 3 and she loves the Madeline books. She wanted her favorite line from the book on her cake. She also requested ladybugs.

This one was for Sandy, my neighbor. The pot was formed by stacking 5 – 6″ cake layers. The flowers are fondant so everything is edible.

Wayna is totally into wrestling so his cake just had to be WWE themed. We used WWE licensed action figures (dolls) the authentic wrastlin’ look.

Congratulations Anna & Dathan!

2ChixInTheMix — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:48:56 +0000

This weekend I had the honor of making my niece’s wedding cake. Since my life is a little less than predictable right now it was a big risk for her. She agreed to have a back up plan incase I was unable to make the cake at the last minute. I’m so glad things worked out this week.

Anna and I discussed ideas through email for a month or so. She settled on a design which many have not done and was a bit risky. A reverse stacked cake with separation between the tiers for flowers. After talking with some of my cake buddies, none of whom had attempted this, we had a plan for the structure. I knew it would work but my family thought otherwise. I was confident until the last week. I guess I had heard enough of “are you sure” to crack my confidence. I was reassured when Friday my physics extraordinaire nephew saw my structure unassembled and said he could see how it would work. Then I was good to go!

Rob and I traveled with this cake up the windy roads of North Carolina into Tennessee and the cake fared pretty well. Some damage occurred but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Assembly and final decorations took about 2 hours. Normally I don’t like working with an audience but my parents and my husband wanted to watch. My dad helped with squaring up the assembly so it worked out good.

The tiers were 6″, 8″ and 10″. I had a 12″ tier to add also but the cake was tall enough and I had reservations about adding another 10+ pounds to the stack. Flavors were chocolate filled with Oreo buttercream, red velvet filled with cream cheese buttercream and almond filled with vanilla buttercream. The outside buttercream was all vanilla.

Keepin’ it sweet!

Deah

Fantasy Flowers

2ChixInTheMix — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:06:05 +0000

I just love creating fantasy flowers. I suppose it’s because I don’t have to match them to anything. I can be totally free to make whatever looks good to me. Here’s my latest creation. I guess its similar to a dahlia but not really. This flower is fondant but it could have been made from gumpaste also.

This cake is for my neighbor’s daughter’s birthday. Since Rob has been sick they have done so much for us. You know you always think you have good neighbors but when you need them you realize you have GREAT neighbors. They have really stepped up to keep our yard looking good while we’ve been unable to take care of it. Rob and I appreciate everything they have done and are continuing to do for us.

Keepin’ it sweet!

Deah

Club Sandwich and Catching Up

2ChixInTheMix — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:18:49 +0000

Mickey Mouse Club – Twisted and Warped! That’s what my husband labeled this one.

This cake was created for my friend Hayden for his 14th birthday. His idea, not mine. The four “slices of bread” are fondant covered cake. The cheese, lettuce, tomato and even our rodent friend are fondant. If you don’t care for fondant this isn’t your cake!

When I made this cake I wasn’t sure if it would serve the number of people invited to Hayden’s party so I also made cupcakes. Mom just couldn’t bring herself to cut the cake so everyone at the party ate cupcakes. Luckily, there were enough cupcakes to go around. They finally cut the cake the next day at their family celebration.

Remember the light bulb cake last year? Well, this wimpy cake is for Eric. He’s got such an original personality. Eric loves the Wimpy Kid.

As requested, this cake is super decadent chocolate cakes with Ghiradelli chocolate chips. The cake is covered with vanilla buttercream and the decorations are chocolate buttercream.

Emalee requested cuppies for her birthday and she loves bright colors and flowers. I was able to locate cupcake liners with a bright floral design I knew Emalee would like. The cupcakes are vanilla (her favorite) with vanilla buttercream flowers.

I’m told that the family had cupcakes as appetizers before dinner and as dessert after. Now, that’s my kind of birthday celebration!

Keepin’ it Sweet!

Deah

Monkey Business!

2ChixInTheMix — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:55:16 +0000

My friend, Carissa, is having a baby! I was honored to be a small part of her baby shower. Baby B’s nursery has a jungle theme and I just love monkeys. Here’s the cake I created in honor of the new one.

Carissa is a chocolate fiend so I knew I must have chocolate cake for her. The base tier is chocolate decadence with a super chocolate cake which includes Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Chocolate overload to the max!

The top tier is lemon with lemon curd filling. The lemon curd takes the lemon cake to a whole new level. You’ve got to try it!

The monkey is made from chocolate fondant. The bananas are vanilla fondant, hand cut and painted.

Keepin’ it sweet!

Deah

Happy 1st Birthday, Mr. Ayden!

2ChixInTheMix — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 01:56:59 +0000

Deah and I have had a lot going on lately and haven’t had a lot of time for “caking”. And even though I’ve been in another state for two and a half months, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to make the cake for my grand baby, Ayden’s, first birthday. My daughter decided on a Mickey Mouse theme, so this is what I came up with for my precious grand baby’s first birthday….the top layer was white almond sour cream and the bottom layer was decadent chocolate. I also made a matching baby smash cake that he enjoyed immensely.

Just Married!

2ChixInTheMix — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:28:43 +0000

Stacy asked us to make her wedding cake for today. She brought us some pictures of what she would like. We could tell by the photos that she has her own style and it’s non-traditional. She requested banana-walnut and strawberry tiers. Again, non-traditional but yummy just the same. She also was thoughtful enough to consider some friends who maintain a gluten-free diet so we made a small chocolate gluten-free cake.

The letters were fun to make out of gum paste. They were made earlier in the week and allowed to dry hard. I like that the lines aren’t uniform. It gives the cake a fun element.

Keepin’ it sweet!

Deah