Fremont County Fair

So I took a little something to fair this year... and found I hadn't followed the rules!! All cakes, no matter what category, have to be tasted. Well, I hadn't counted on that. It is real cake, but I just didn't pay attention to things that I normally HAVE to! Didn't even watch for egg shells, no idea if I washed my hands and REALLY overbaked them so they could hold for three days. A normal cake stands for about six hours, so I knew three days was going to be a test in itself! They gave me a purple ribbon, but I'm afraid it may have been an act of compassion!! I checked for next year, and they said one edible tier would be fine. I can do that, but I'd still like supporting tiers to be completely overbaked!!

Anyway, the roses are royal icing, which means they're hard enough to crack teeth, but also strong enough to stand the Iowa heat. If I had been thinking, I would have put posts in each one. Had to learn that the hard way. I was putting them on the night before and at least four of them fell... actually rolled... off and I had to fix a little streak all the way down, along with the vines and shell border. What a mess. So, on a score card of 100 points, if I even got the 25 points for appearance I'm a lucky gal!!

You need what?!?

Always a fun time when you're knee deep in last minute fair preparations and Darling Hubby calls asking if you're remembering the residents' birthday cake. Of course, dear. They wanted white, right? That's good! Anyway, as we were going over the names, Michael told me who was no longer there, and it took me a while to realize he was saying that his favorite resident had passed away. I can only imagine how hard that is on him. She was a fun one. Always a dandy... "Finer than chocolate candy," was always her response to how she was doing. So, this is also in memory of Mary.

...catching up

This one was for my favorite twins. Nic is kind of sporty and Matt is pretty farmy. However the differences don't really end there. In fact, I've never seen any similarities in them other than their date of birth. But anyway, this was a somewhat last minute cake, so we had to come up with something fast. It was a bit disappointing because Nic is so fun to impress. Matt was impressed enough... it's cake. Normal reaction from him!! They're great boys and so talented.



The order for this one came from Michael's work. He just wanted a birthday cake for some gamer friends of his. No, I still don't have my airbrush; this is actually spray paint for cakes. It's new at the store and I haven't found it anywhere else yet. It can really fog up the house quickly, so next time I may try doing it in the mud room!!




...Then there was a groom's cake. A brownie, actually. It was for a Cubs fan, obviously!! The bridal cake was done by a family member who actually preceded me at the bakery. I never got to work with her, but I've met her a few times and she is a complete riot. Anyway, her cake was all red velvet (don't envy that job!!), so the groom's cake needed to be something far out of the ordinary. The bride's mom suggested brownies, since they were the groom's favorite. Don't know how you go wrong with that!! He loved it!!

Firehouse

Morgan's best friend was having a birthday party while we were gone, so we had to freeze this one. Jake's mom said it worked very well! She had approached me thinking Jake was asking for the world, but after some of the cakes my kids have requested, this wasn't too hard. At the last moment, when Jake's dad was coming for the cake, the boys asked if Jake and Matt, his brother, could spend the night. We got that all worked out so when they all came we looked at the cake, then Steve and the cake left. We never could get a straight answer out of Jake as to whether he liked the cake, so I was very nervous that I just didn't get what he wanted. Well, the party went very well and it seemed that he was really happy with his cake, so the only thing his mom can figure is that he was afraid Steve would eat it on the way home!! Now what would make him think that?...

Basketweave

This was one I'd hoped I'd never have to do!! Basketweaving takes forever!! But it did turn out very nice. This was also the first time I'd had someone else do the flowers. They had called their florist to talk to me about what would fit between the tiers and I thought we had it all straight. I thought wrong. I wound up taking a lot of them apart and redoing them, and wishing I'd redone the rest. I think I'll do my own flowers from now on. There has been one other cake that I really wish I'd had more floral control, but she loved how it looked, so that's what matters.
Anyway, the photographer was setting up at the same time I was, so she offered to take our picture. I declined, but she talked Mallory into it! She's the real expert anyway. They really enjoyed Mallory's knowledge of the process. They were quizzing her about everything, and even I was surprised at how much she knew! I've got to get her going on the rest!!

Hurry Hurry!

This was a rush! I wanted to make it last night, but we spent the whole evening working on the pool and I was too tired. So I had to rush it this morning. There's only one birthday at the Ambassador in June, so I made her favorite. This also ensures that the residents get some chocolate frosted chocolate cake, because I can't stand it and don't usually make it if I don't have to!!

...and one more from the past

Michael just had a new administrator join him in Sidney and we found a connection! I made her wedding cake! So I thought I'd welcome her with photos she might recognize. The white one is hers and the chocolate is the groom's cake.