Sunday, February 28, 2010

Lightning Thief cake


My friend's son  is really into the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" stories, and his 10th birthday was around the time that the movie came out.  Our families were celebrating his birthday together, so I decided to attempt a Percy Jackson cake for him.  (Can I deduct my movie ticket as "research"?)

So, Sam just wanted white cake, and I went with a round shape, because I'm lazy like that.  I attempted to make the sides look like big waves (using a star tip 21), and use Wilton blue Sparkle Gel for the water on top of the cake.  The Percy Jackson figure is made out of fondant, with red icing for piping Sam's name on the back, and his age on the front.  If you haven't seen the movie, that's a lightning bolt he's holding up.


He looked pretty cool when we lit the ring of fire - um, I mean candles - around him.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

on the WINGS of Love...


Here's a REALLY PINK heart-shaped cake I made for our homeschool group's Valentine's Day party this week.  Obviously, it's a heart-shaped, two-layer chocolate cake.  I was feeling fancy, so I used cherry pie filling in between the layers for a "black forest" effect.


I really didn't mean for the icing to turn out that bright, but oh well.  I used Wilton's storebought red icing to do the piping and the flower centers.  Then I added sugar pearls to each flower around the top border for a special touch.


It tasted wonderful, but the top layer was pretty heavy, and the pie filling was under a LOT of pressure!  It kept wanting to bleed through the icing around the sides of the cake.  I had to patch several leaks, and I finally gave up! Also, the top layer kept trying to slide off of the bottom layer while I was cutting and serving it.  Very messy!

Oh, and the corny inscription wording is because our homeschool group is called W.I.N.G.S. (which stands for: "Wise Instructors Need Group Support!")  Even though it was technically a "cake-tastrophe," it got rave reviews and several requests for "seconds" (who shall remain nameless)!