Cake Season 2023

This year’s cake round up:

Elliana

*****

Katherine

*****

Gabriella 

*****

Nathaniel

*****

Bonus:

Mine

Birthday Season

Around here birthdays start in late September and end in mid-November (excepting Justin).

Ellie picked chocolate but with a crown shape.  She asked for raspberries to help decorate.

Katie chose a donut shaped cake this year with chocolate cake & icing with white chocolate ‘glaze’

Gabby chose a chocolate cake with a ketchup bottle decoration

Nate chose chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, stuffed with Reece’s Pieces

🎂 Cake Season 🎂

Around here, as the sweltering days of summer come to an end drag on, we begin birthday season.

Save Katie's eighth birthday (the day after Ellie was born), I have made all the kids birthday cakes.

Store bought!

Roses all over

Dairy free carrot cake

Ninjas & snakes 

Simple cakes

Cakes with candy

Pumpkin Pie instead of cake 

Cakes iced in peanut butter frosting and drizzled chocolate

Cakes in the shape of a ball

Crown cakes

Monkey cakes

Ladybug cakes

Regular cakes, with the standard roses

Number 1 cakes

Cat in the hat cakes

Gymnastics cakes

Castle cakes

 Cakes with strawberries dipped in chocolate on top cakes

Cakes with candied lemon peels

Rainbow cakes

And even a Fruit 'cake,' though that was for my mom

And in May, we have Justin's cookie cake most years.

It is fun to ask what they want from year to year.  Flavors and styles change.  And I get to do some baking and decorating.  And they have picked up on the fun, and the older too like to bake and decorate too.

Russian Piping

My older girls have enjoyed learning cake decorating over the past few years.  They've done cakes for birthdays and ceremonies.  It is fun to see them learning a skill that they may get to use in their own homes some day.

For Christmas, my mom got us a Russian Piping set.  These allow you to use three different blended colors in one large piped shape.  Instead of the traditional piping of a rose, with a straight tip on a flower nail followed by piping each individual petal with a different tip, there is one larger and more complex tip that makes the entire flower.  It requires a thicker icing to hold its shape, but it is amazing to see the entire flower come in one good squeeze.  We did find that it looks best if you give it a little twist as you go, or the shapes seem a little less realistic.

 It was so thick at one point Katie and I were squeezing together to get the icing through...maybe one more tablespoon of milk next time!

 Gabby added in the leaves around our flowers.

Ha!

Completed.  Personally, I would have gone for more matching colors...two shades of pink and then white or the like, but you can really see the different colors here.

After we cleaned up, the best part...

Summer Skills - Kate Decorates

This summer each of the girls has chosen a skill to work on.

Kate picked cake decorating.  I didn't happen to take a picture of the first cake we worked on together, but I did get the next two!

We went to visit my parents for Father's Day.  Since we hadn't seen my mom on Mother's Day we made a combined cake.  On half I drew the outline of a vase and placed roses (one of the skills one would learn later in cake decorating).  On the other side I outlined a tie.

Katie filled in the outlines with different tips, drew the stems, leaves, made her first attempt at writing on a cake, and did the edges with a little assistance.

I think it turned out quite well!

The next week I mentioned a gal from our small group at church was having a birthday.  After confirming we would see her that evening, Kate set to work on a cake for her.

  

I helped mix up the icing for her and gave advice.  I helped squeeze the bag as she lettered "Happy", but by the time we got to "Birthday" her hand was tired of the constant steady squeezing required, so I helped more on that word.  I did very little else, aside from the bottom on the sides with the handles--a tight place to work.

Kate and Ellie with our friend

She really enjoyed doing something special for someone.  Our friend felt special because she was thought of too.  Well that, and because Ellie lets her hold her!

I can't wait to see how Kate's skills blossom as she grows in strength and dexterity and with practice.  I sure wasn't decorating cakes at her age!