Monday, June 11, 2012

'Brody's Farm' ~ Chocolate and Vanilla layered 3rd Birthday Cake

I knew when Lisa called about doing a 3rd Birthday cake for her son, Brody that it had to be special! Brody is the nephew of our girl, Rachel and We Love Rach!!  The fact is...Brody and his mom, Lisa and dad, Chad are pretty special too!
Lisa and I kind of passed ideas around and she told me Brody liked tractors. I'd never attempted farm implements in sugar art and my time was limited, we'd just come back from a 9 day vacation and I simply just didn't want to chance running short of time preparing this cake. So I decided to make Brody his very own farm, even made the sign leaning on a couple of hay stacks~

Though gumpaste isn't flavorful (little sweet, but not really tasty), the entire cake is edible...right down to the boards :o) I used spagetti to attach the heavier objects like the heads on the animals since the party was for toddlers...toothpicks are too risky.
I do believe the cake was a hit!








 

 I made the cakes with lot's of fresh eggs and real butter...Mmmm

Lisa requested a 1/2 Chocolate and 1/2 Vanilla sheet cake. She decided that a cake for 36 would be a good size and then, because she's one of the sweetest women I've met, she allowed me to get creative with Brody's cake.  She really didn't know what to expect, but I believe she was happy with the outcome!



I began with my tried and true Vanilla-Vanilla layer cake,  I've made this recipe several times and found it works really well for cakes that need to be moist but still firm enough to maintain the weight of fondant and sugar paste decorations.
 Here are a few of the key ingredients I included in these cakes (clockwise from top left) Buttercream Frosting, Dark Chocolate Ganache, Homemade Marshmallow fondant and real whipped cream~Just because:
The pink flowers are my plumerias that have been blooming like crazy! They are one of my favorites for their sweet fragrance. These are the flowers that make up Hawaiian lei's.
 



Here is a sample of the FABULOUS Chocolate cake recipe that I made some minor changes to and created what I consider to be one of my top 3 favorite chocolate recipes of all time! I'll be posting the recipe in my next blog post, so be sure to watch for it! This is one you'll want to try for yourself!!




Since I don't have a turntable for my cakes, I use a very large stainless steel bowl turned upside-down. I use caution when spinning the cake but so far this has worked just fine for me! Here I've stacked and crumb coated the cakes. I then place the cake in the fridge for about an hour to make sure the buttercream has firmed up enough that I can frost it further and/or place the fondant on with ease. I don't know if everyone does this, but it has worked well for me.

I did remember to photograph some of the process in making the farm animals, here's a few:

COW PARTS :o)

Coloring gumpaste to create Mr. Mole!



Gumpaste ladybugs and the beginning of bumble bees. Bumbles are some of my favorites...here's the reason why: 
Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway. ~Mary Kay Ash

Flower the Cow, Pink Pig, Chicks, Bumble Bees, Mr. Mole and the ladybugs.
A very special thank you to Lorraine McKay and her tutorial help on YouTube, she also has videos under the name aine2! The precious sheep below is from one of her videos...he was too much fun to make and turned out absolutely adorable!!


Above: The fence rails         Below: The fence posts


I just had to blow this guy up...is he too adorable or what?  Royal Icing and gumpaste, who would've guessed? I'm definitely going to have a make a herd of sheep!  Thanks to Lorraine McKay for the great tutorial~
http://www.extra-icing.blogspot.com/

Some buttercups~





And here's BRODY'S FARM CAKE! I was sure hoping he liked it!








What's a cake without the party, so I want to share just a few of the photos.
I had so much fun watching the kids bounce and laugh at Pump It Up! It was my first time to experience this really cool place.  If you've never been and want to throw an amazing kids party, this is the place! Over 2 1/2 hrs of fun in your very own private carpeted gym with the coolest, biggest and brightly colored blown up slides and jump on stuff you can imagine! Great for ANY AGE! There were guys as young as 18 months bouncing all over...all the way up to 'grown-up kids'! I don't know who had the most fun!!  Great party Lisa and Chad!!


Brody and mom, Lisa


Gammy, Rachel and Nanny
...I Love these ladies!






Oh, Mr. Mason!! What a cutie pie! Everytime you ask him What's up?...he nods his head back...18 months and just too precious!

 Birthday boy and the coolest kid on the block, Brody!! Dimples to die for, he's already a heartbreaker!  Sweetest and polite beyond his 3 years...So glad it was a Happy Birthday Brody!






The candle is on the cake and it's ready for the big moment!








Snack time before cake and presents!


Brody is very modest as well...he did great until he turned around and saw everyone staring at him!  Who wouldn't be a little intimidated? But didn't take long for the stage fright to vanish...Bring on the presents!! The photo below just made me laugh...the only thing you can see of Brody are those two little feet!! That was a BIG present!




I wanted to post this one because, for the first three or four gifts, Brody would take the tissue out of the bag or tear the wrapping paper off the gift and as he did, he would hand the trash to his mom. She would then pass it over Brody's head to the attendant to throw in the trash bag. Brody watched mom do this a few times then all of sudden that little arm just shot out to his right and he began handing it directly to the girl himself...he was looking at her here, but after a couple of gifts, that little arm just went out to the right and he never looked up at her again...he just knew she was going to take it! Maybe you just had to be there, but it was so fun to watch...I love a man who knows what he wants!!







Brody and mom, Lisa...think we were beginning to feel the long morning...jumping and running and the excitement of the day was catching up.  Brody had a busy birthday...Thanks to his mom and dad, it was a great one!

HAPPY 3rd  BIRTHDAY BRODY






 

2 comments:

  1. What a super cute cake...fabulous modelling! :-)

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    1. Thank you Laura, that's a HUGE compliment coming from you! I have to credit the instruction of Lorraine McKay's videos and her idea for the color scheme. It's so much fun making these cakes!!

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