Well deserved

We had a great time at the State Fair yesterday. The weather was absolutely perfect. We ate fried pickles and saw blue ducks, and of course, the Creative Activities building. While I'm still proud of my cake, I totally understand why it didn't win when I saw the competition. On the bright side, of 25 entries only 11 got displayed (including the winners), so at least mine got put on display!

Top right corner had the same idea as me, but with much better execution.

Bottom left corner, the first place cake was made by a high school student.

I really liked the recreation of the Fairchild fountain, I thought it was very well done. Also, I'm almost the only one who didn't use fondant. 

I'm being eaten by a dinosaur!

State Fair 2014: Water Feature

My submission to the 2014 Minnesota State Fair has been finished and submitted! I'm very proud of my creation and I hope that I at least score better than last year. Because I had another cake project this week and I didn't want to get bogged down, I made my water lilies, lily pads, and chocolate rocks ahead of time, as well as baking the cake ahead of time as well. All I had to do this past Friday was make the frosting and put it all together. 

I had a little tiny problem - make cake was taller than my cake box! This was easily fixed, because I am the daughter of an engineer and I know how to solve problems. A slit cut into each corner of the box with a stiff card inserted into the slit created a place for the lid to rest. 

We arrived at the Creative Activities building right at 11 when the submissions opened. As you can see, lots of people got there early. We waited in line for just under an hour, sneaking glances at other entries. All of the baked goods get turned in on the same day, and many people enter several categories. One woman had a rolling cart with at least 7 different entries!

I was Skyping with my sister Katie while I decorated the cake. Much to my delight, she was taking snapshots of the action the whole time, which I have included below for the amusement of all. Fun fact: she couldn't hear me due to microphone issues so it was silent film style cake decorating. Take note of her facial expressions, they're pretty great.

Frosting the cake with my fancy new frosting tip.

Katie is impressed but confused by the magic she is witnessing.

I was showing off each tool as I used it for the full cooking show effect.

Building a pond with chocolate "stones".

Me: "You should take some snapshots while I'm working." Katie: "I already have been!"

Adding the blue frosting to get the watery effect.

Swirling the blue frosting.

Tasting the blue frosting.

Andrew was brought in for a conference on the addition of piping gel to make the water look more watery.

Katie thinks the water lilies are adorable.

She can't handle how cute my cake looks.

Et voila! Finished cake!

Giant spatula to get the cake from the turntable to the cake board and box. 

Note to Katie: Sadly, the frogs didn't turn out.

It's dangerous to go alone

This week, I made cupcakes and a small cake for the wedding of a friend and former coworker. The idea was that the cake would be the fairy fountain from Legend of Zelda, and the cupcakes would keep with the Zelda theme. The bride made her own cake toppers out of Perler beads, and we determined that they'd be hard to fit columns around, so the cake would be just the water in the fountain. 

 I didn't take a picture (due to lack of extra arms) of my new toy, the Wilton cake frosting tip. It's a giant tip, about two inches wide, that creates a thick ribbon of frosting on your cake that you then smooth out. It was a very efficient way to frost the cake, but you still definitely need a crumb coat first! My red velvet cake really really wanted to show it's crumbs through the cream cheese frosting, but I smoothed it into submission.

After a layer of white frosting went on the cake, I added random squiggles of blue frosting. Some careful and judicious swirling with a spatula gave the whole thing a fantastic, wavy, watery effect. Keep an eye out for this same technique on my State Fair cake!

Watery detail! Almost makes you thirsty.

This is my fridge with 80 cupcakes and an 8 in round cake. 

Link and Zelda cake toppers

The assembled cake and cupcake display.

The gems, known as rupees, are the currency in the Zelda games. The cupcake liners are purple & green flowers in keeping with the purple & green theme.

Congratulations, Phill and Hannah! I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Note to self

1 lb 8 oz shortening + 5 lb sugar was enough to cover 80 cupcakes while still having 2.5 lb frosting left over. It took just about 1 hour to make the frosting and frost all 80 cupcakes.

All the essentials - milk, orange juice, beer, and cupcakes.