It's Mickey! (and he's vegan!)

Actually, Mickey Mouse probably isn't vegan. After all, he is a mouse. Mice eat cheese. But that's beside the point. My point is... that this was my very first vegan cake!

It all started a few weeks ago when I was visiting with some friends from out of town and got a message on my phone from my facebook page from a lady named Nicci. I was very excited - I hadn't had a cake order in two months and was itching to get back to decorating cakes again. And then came the actual message. The person who wanted to order a cake from me had several requests - the cake had to be egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free and corn-free. Yikes! I almost sent this potential client to a gluten-free bakery (and I later discovered that among all of the birthday boy's allergies, gluten was not one of them), but I decided to give it a try. I asked my friend Ann if she knew of any good recipes that would work and she sent me one for Wacky Cake. I discovered that not only has this recipe been around for decades, but it is completely vegan. No eggs. No dairy. I did a test run and my kids and husband loved it. I even gave a piece to my mom when she came over one day and she didn't believe that it was vegan. I was set with the cake then, but still unsure of the frosting. After all - powdered sugar has cornstarch in it. Kind of hard to make frosting without it. I sent a message to Nicci telling her about my dilemna. She then informed me that her son's corn allergy was very mild so he should be okay to eat the frosting. Yay!

So, I made the two cake layers, got ready to make the frosting and something made me look at the  ingredients on the container of shortening. I almost fainted. Right there, ingredient number one - soybean oil. I went to the store to see if they had a soy-free shortening alternative (aside from lard - and really, who wants frosting made with lard? yuck!) and there was none. It was the day that Nicci's husband was supposed to pick up the cake and I just about had a nervous breakdown. I sent a message with many apologies, asking if perhaps her son's soy allergy was mild like the corn one. I then started looking for soy-free shortening online and found one - but just as I was about to call Whole Foods to see if they sold it, I got a message back from Nicci - the shortening would be fine, they could just scrape it off their son's piece of cake. Double yay!!

I got to work decorating the cake, and in the end was very pleased. The design is modeled after the party decorations with everything in fondant except for mickey's face, which is a fondant-gum paste mix. The cake itself is vegan chocolate, with vanilla buttercream filling and frosting.

I felt bad that the birthday boy couldn't have any of that yummy frosting, but I figure, with all of his food allergies, at least he gets cake!

Happy Birthday Bryson and I hope you had a wonderful day. (and next year, I'll make a cake with frosting you can eat - I promise! :) )

R is for Rebro!

I have a BIG family. Well, actually, it's my husband's family, but they are my family too. To give you an idea of just how big, I could rattle off a bunch of numbers, but I'll start with a picture taken by Becky Kasun, the daughter of my husband's cousin Lori. Because, as we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words!

Yep - these are all Rebros. Minus the 25 that weren't there. And half of that group is my husband's immediate family. He is one of 10 children, and altogether we have... 40 nieces and nephews. My mother-in-law (who was not present since she is still recovering from having back surgery two weeks ago) has 13 great-grandchildren, and counting!

My brother-in-law Ed and his cousin Dave started planning this a year ago. Lori added another bit of fun by having each family wear a different color shirt. There was some contention among my husband's brothers and sisters about being chosen to wear yellow, so some of them wore white instead, but it was amazing to see it all. A big part of making this a success was that everyone brought a dish to pass. I, of course, made cupcakes. I thought of making a sheet cake, but when 5 other people signed up for desserts as well, I figured cupcakes would be better. I made 3 dozen and in the end, with all of the other desserts there, 3 cupcakes were left for my husband and kids to have the next day.

They are funfetti cupcakes - made with a box mix that I added some ingredients to, to stretch it out to make 36 instead of 24. And then I added more sprinkles too, to make them even more colorful. I topped each one with a vanilla buttercream swirl and a fondant letter R in the various colors that everyone was wearing. Here are some of them -

Just want to add one more thing - when I was carrying the cupcakes in to the picnic site, I started to get this weird deja-vu feeling. Turns out, this picnic site was the exact location of the Rebro Family Reunion in 2002. The family reunion that my husband, who was at that time my boyfriend of only one month, had taken me to on our fourth date. To meet his entire extended family. I didn't realize how big the family was at that time. I could have easily been overwhelmed and ran for the hills, but they were all so kind and welcoming. I got so many hugs that day from people who barely knew me, I just knew myself that this was a family I wanted to be part of. And the rest is history.

Planes!

Eight years ago, I was blessed with the greatest gift ever - my son. He is an amazing little boy - so smart, silly, sweet, did I mention silly. Honestly, this kid makes me laugh every day. Sometimes, with the crazy things he has done, I'm amazed he's lived this long. But that's a boy for you!

For his birthday cake, he's had this planned out in his head for the past year and a half. On Christmas of 2011, we got him the Cars 2 DVD, and when he watched it, there was a preview for the new Disney Movie set to come out in theaters in the summer of 2013. From above the world of Cars.... it's Disney Planes!

The moment he saw it, a spark ignited into a wildfire of excitement. Lucas LOVES planes. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up - along with a truck driver like daddy, a policeman and a firefighter. But mostly a pilot. We live near an airport and have been taking him to a parking lot by the runway to watch the planes take off and land since he's been a baby. On his 2nd birthday, we took him to the EAA museum in Oshkosh. Every year for the past 3 years we have taken him to see the Air Show in downtown Milwaukee. And... *shhh... keep this a secret* my husband and I are thinking of taking him to the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh in two years when he turns 10.

But I digress. With the movie set to be released in theaters three weeks after his birthday this year, I knew that this would be the perfect time to make him the Disney Planes cake he's been wanting. I had this big huge picture in my head, but it ended up being scaled back somewhat as the guest list shrank. No problem - in fact I think he loved it.

The cake itself is yellow cake with chocolate buttercream filling, and all of the decorations, with the exception of the airplane, are made with frosting. His favorite part, besides the plane, was the skywriting on the side of the cake. The airplane is a toy I purchased - and after eating his slice of cake, he grabbed the toy and ran away with it to have many adventures.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

40 years of love

I made this cake two weeks ago, but it has taken a while for me to think of just the right words for the story I am about to write.

One year ago, my husband and I hosted the annual choir picnic for the church choir I am part of. After everyone left, a few people stayed behind for a bonfire, and we had a wonderful time. Two of those people were Pat and Jeff Kramer. A wonderful couple - high school sweethearts that had been married for 39 years, and still acted like newlyweds. Several years ago, Jeff was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and even as his condition worsened, their love only grew stronger. Such an inspiration. Well, on that lovely summer evening last year as we were sitting around the fire while my kids and two of their friends played and chased fireflies, Jeff told me that he wanted me to make a cake for their 40th anniversary the following year. He had been following my cake adventures for quite some time and has always had such nice things to say about my creations. Of course I said yes - he and his wife have been friends of ours since I first joined the choir and to tell the truth I was honored that they were choosing me to be a part of their special day.

Fast forward eight months later, and tragedy struck. On March 28, 2013, Jeff Kramer had a sudden heart attack and passed away. I was deeply saddened by this, as were my husband and children, who always delighted in going to their house for past choir picnics and Christmas parties, and watching him play with his train set in the basement (Jeff loved trains!). Of course, I just figured that Pat would no longer be having an anniversary party, but I still offered to make her a small gluten-free cake if she wanted it. Well, she surprised me and said that after thinking and talking to her children, she decided to still have the party, as a celebration of Jeff's life and the love that they shared for well over the 40 years that they were married. I was so deeply touched by this gesture, and was happy to make the cakes for them.

Since Pat has celiac disease, she did request a gluten-free yellow cake with  lemon buttercream filling for herself, and then a sheet cake for the rest of her guests - a layer each of chocolate and yellow cake with almond buttercream filling. It was my first time making a gluten-free cake, and I was surprised with how well is turned out. I even tasted a bit of the leftover cake from when I cut the dome off the top, and it was a bit more dense than the usual cake, but still yummy so I knew she'd love it. The decorations were simple - purple roses and border, just like their wedding cake 40 years ago. For the small cake I used some purple royal icing roses that I had stored away, but for the main cake, I used buttercream. Well, of course the morning I decorated the cakes, the weather was warm and humid, so the roses didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, but I think they still looked okay. And Pat loved it, wiping away any doubts I had in my mind of having made her a sub-standard cake.

Then there was the message. I had a hard time figuring this out myself, as did Pat. She finally sent me a message three days before their anniversary with the final details about the cake, along with the message she wanted on top. I think it is so fitting.

Thanks Pat for letting me be part of yours and Jeff's lives together - your love is an inspiration to everyone whose lives you've touched over the past 40 years.

Princess T-Rex!

I've done some pretty interesting cakes in the past two years (yep! two years!) but I have to say that this one is one of the funnest cakes I've ever made. It all started when I saw a new friend of mine, Meghann, post on facebook about planning her daughter Mollie's upcoming first birthday. Being the savvy businesswoman I am, I sent her a message asking if she needed a cake. Why yes she did! Upon asking what her theme was, she replied, "Princess Trex". At first I thought it was some new kids toy... and then I realized, this was T-rex. The mean, carnivorous, vicious dinosaur. I did a google search of images and didn't come up with much, but then I saw a link in a regular search for Princess T-Rex puzzle and clicked on it. I showed it to Meghann and she loved it! Here it is:
 
I was going to get a different template for the dinosaur, but the more I thought about it, the original design was just more fun. And it worked so well with the final cake, it's like it was meant to be.
Here it is: two layer cake with chocolate on the bottom, yellow on the top and creamy chocolate buttercream in the middle. Buttercream on the outside with fondant and gum paste decorations.

But something was missing. And the more I looked at that dinosaur, the more I realized what it was. The way she was standing on one foot, she almost looked like she was . . . dancing! I found a piece of lavender tulle in my sewing basket from a tutu I made for my niece last year, got my trusty needle and thread, and made a tutu for the dinosaur. And here is the final result.

Pretty cute, huh? And of course you can't have a first birthday without a special little smash cake for the birthday girl! Same flavors of cake and filling, in a smaller package. I even put diamonds on the side to tie in to the "regal" feel of the main cake.

As a side note, I want to throw out a shout-out to Meghann's sister Beth, and her business Lylas Designs. She had posted a picture of an adorable sunflower pin shortly before Meghann placed the order, and I ordered one for myself to put on my purse. When I dropped off the cake and asked how much her sister wanted for the pin, she said it was taken care of. An extra little bonus for making such a wonderful cake! And here it is on my purse.

Happy Birthday Mollie, aka. Princess T-Rex! Hope you're birthday was amazing!

Lucas's First Communion

I can hardly believe how quickly the years have gone by. It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating my son's baptism, and here he is, 7 years old and receiving his First Communion. I was so proud of him - he's been working so hard to be good in church, even when the mass was longer than he thought it would be. He was even chosen to read one of the petitions at mass, and read it perfectly . After everything he has done, I knew I had to make an extra special cake for his extra special day .

One of the things he did for his First Communion was to make a banner. I made one for my First communion as well, so it was fun helping Lucas make his. Cecilia actually played a role in the design. After I helped him draw a picture of what he wanted the banner to look like, Cecilia asked if she could color the picture while we cut out the pieces of felt. I told her, "sure, go for it!". When she got to the cross, she asked if she could make it colorful, after which Lucas said, "I want my cross to be colorful too!". I asked him how he wanted to do that, and after thinking a little bit, we decided to make a stained glass cross by gluing scraps of different colors to the black cross we had cut out. It was beautiful. Here Lucas is on his First Communion Day with his banner.

When it came time to make the cake - I decided to base it on that stained glass cross. The cake itself is chocolate and yellow with raspberry filling (just like the one I made a few weeks ago!), and the stained glass effect was acheived using black icing for the borders and tinted piping gel for the glass. The circle in the middle is fondant with the message written in black icing.

But I didn't stop there - nope, not this proud momma. I had some leftover frosting, so I put it to use making a special breakfast for my little man. Whole wheat pancakes with white frosting crosses, strawberries and grape juice!

Happy First Communion Lucas! We are all so proud of you!

Elmo loves birthdays - and sharing!

The First Communion cake I made came with an added bonus - one dozen cupcakes and a smash cake for Kim's son who would be sharing the spotlight with his big sister. So nice when you can combine celebrations like that. I'd do it with my own children, but their birthdays are in opposite seasons - summer for my son and winter for my daughter. The only combining that happens around here is for my daughter's birthday, which is four days after Christmas.

Anyhow, after looking through all of my cake pictures and having a hard time deciding on what she wanted for her son, she chose something that I had never done before but have always wanted to - Elmo!  Since the First Communion cake was plenty to feed the 20 adults that would be at the celebration, she decided that a dozen cupcakes would be perfect for the 10 children that would be there. Strawberry cake in adorable  red, yellow and blue cupcake liners, frosted with a vanilla buttercream swirl and topped with an Elmo candy. The smash cake is the same, with fondant circles (which are oddly reminiscent of the design on a bag of Wonder Bread - don't you think?) and a fondant number 1 to mark this milestone for little Evan.

Happy Birthday Evan!