“Fruit Gobbler”

I was asked to organize a kindergarten Thanksgiving party a while ago.  It was my first time attempting such a thing.  So, I set out very diligently to find “fun finger foods” that 5 year olds would love to eat.  I came across this great website www.familyfun.com There, I located some very cute and fun foods for just such an occasion.  I was thrilled!  I am naturally inclined to go a bit overboard when I take on a project like this (I believe in a good and healthy way).  So, I had done my research and made a plan for the party food.  Now comes the time when I contact other moms who might want to help.  This is where it all heads south.  To put it lightly, these moms were not as “into it” as I was.  I was gently corrected by prominent mom’s who were “in the know”  that at these parties it is customary to get a meat and cheese tray from Costco so the kids can have sandwiches.    To Self;   “COSTCO?  Can you be more boring??”

Slight change of plans… I actually heard myself saying.. “Oh, that would be just great!  Anything you would like to contribute would be just wonderful.”  Of course, inside I am crushed and dying.  You see, I have a small control issue on stuff like this.  But, what are you gonna do?  One mom, who is now my dear friend was willing to “play along” with me.  She brought the cutest pilgrims hats made out of upside down Keebler cookies and chocolate dipped marshmallows.

Here was my contribution. 

       

Made with fruit and cheese skewers the kids got to “pluck”.  Totally fun to eat and healthy too! 

People, I know that we are all overworked and tired and stressed out.  But, seriously why would we pass up opportunities to make our kids holiday parties a tiny bit more festive?  Really, a sandwich tray for our little guys? Really?  Well, I guess it at least puts food in their stomachs… although, probably not a big smile of their faces.

Right now I know that some of you are cheering me on and others of you are cursing me.  Either way, I feel pretty good about just how cute this “fruit gobbler” turned out.  Thank you Family Fun.  Great ideas. Thank you Kelly for being such a great sport.

Nemo Cake

For my son’s 2nd birthday party we had a “Finding Nemo” swimming party.  The inspiration for the cake was a very large stuffed animal that looked like Nemo.  This was my very first attempt at a 3D cake.  Up till this time, I had only done one dimensional cakes.

             

For this cake I used a football cake mold to get close to the correct form.  Right now the eyes are crackin’ me up.  I don’t think I captured the correct shape.  Poor Nemo looks like he is in a trance.

    

I cut the fins out of cardboard, covered them in foil and frosted them.  For these types of elements I use wooden skewers that I attach to the object I need to connect to the cake body.

               

In retrospect, I have to wonder how traumatizing it may have been for my little guy to see his favorite Disney character hacked to pieces and eaten.  I guess we will just have to wait and see as the years progress.

This was in 2004.

R2-D2 Cake

I have to confess that this is one of my favorite cakes.  I was brainstorming a Star Wars theme birthday cake for my son’s 4th birthday.  My dad had this great idea that I should try an R2-D2 cake.  So, that is what I did.  He gets credit for the idea, I get credit for the construction.  But, it was our team work that made this cake happen.

This was in 2006 and I would call myself a “Super Novice” at that time.  I am still a novice today (2009) and I am considering taking a cake decorating class.  Wow, what a concept.  I bet they would be able to teach me all kinds of tricks to make everything look better.

The Process

 

The bottom of the cake wrapped in foil is Styrofoam to add light weight height and stability.  The top portion (dome) is from a soccer ball cake mold.

              

         The legs were made from rice crispy treats.

The cake is beginning to take shape! This might just work.

                                    

             Add the blue frosting and attach the legs.

Black frosting for the finer details.

                                                 

           Voila!  Finished product.

 

This blog post is in loving memory of my dad.  Without his confidence in me, I may never have attempted this R2-D2 cake.  I miss you dad.

Spiderman Cake / Downtown

For my son’s 5th birthday he was all about Spiderman.  I knew that I had to make something for that.  I just couldn’t come up with anything I liked for Spiderman himself.  I am not a fan of “flat” cakes.. you know, one level.  I like tall cakes… you know more than one level.  So, I had a dilemma on this one.  One day we were watching Spiderman – the movie.  I watched as Spidy swung from building to building… and BAM!  Just like that, I thought “I will do a downtown scene with Spiderman going from building to building.”  The logistics of having him swinging across the city was tougher than I thought it would be and it was going to require 2 separate cake structures, ugh.  Slight change of plans. Instead, I was lucky enough to find a great Spiderman candle that I perched atop my building as if to be watching the crime below.

The Result

We (by that, I mean my husband) made a city street around the cake with cars and emergency vehicles.  In person, this looked much more fun.  Wish you could have been there.

Here are a few more pictures.

You can see by looking here that the roof tops were on a separate board.  I put the top on when we got to the party, then piped in some filler frosting to bind the top of the buildings with the body of the buildings.

                   

 

Little known fact:  I use Styrofoam in the bottom half of these tall cakes.  It helps with stability and weight.  Also, it saves me from having to make 4-6 more box cakes to get the desired height.

                  

A little topsie turvie… I know.  But fun, which is the goal.

Star Wars At-At Walker Cake

For my son's 6th birthday party we decided on a "Jedi Training Camp" theme. So I asked Cole (my son) what he wanted his birthday cake to look like this year. He boldly asked for an AT AT walker cake.    ooooookay …Really?! Is that what you want? Are you sure? For those of you who are not captivated by the Star Wars series, here is a photo of an AT AT Walker.

 

Ok.... let's see. I need to make this thing into a cake. Right.... Let the brainstorming begin.  By golly, I think I’ve got it!

The Process

I bought 4 - 12” cake pillars because they make great legs.  In this case, I covered them in foil to make clean up easier.  I was going to be using a Crisco/powdered sugar frosting. 

            

I used an old car cake mold I had laying around for the chocolate top (which I sculpted into the correct shape) and a 12 x 12 cake pan for the yellow cake.  I ended up cutting the yellow cake in half and stacked it.  I also cut out a cardboard base for the underside of the cake (seen covered in foil down in the left corner).

Body- Lots and Lots of gray frosting…. interesting.

            

The head was carved from a Styrofoam cube.  It had to be light weight because I needed it to attach to the front of the body.

 

I glued the legs to the tray with rubber cement so they would not slip.

                 

                          I used the guns off of Cole’s at at walker.

I used bronze luster dust and a small paint brush to make the “rusty metal” appearance.

The Result

We transported the cake in 3 sections to the party. Some assembly required.

                     

I placed some of the action figures around the feet and on top of the at at walker.

                     What a great day!

Grand Piano Cake

I was asked about a month ago to assist with my dear friend Carol’s surprise birthday party.  I was pretty excited at the thought of getting to make a cake… you see, making fun cakes is what I am becoming known for.  Note: I said “fun” cakes not “great cakes” or “awesome cakes” or “beautiful cakes”.

In brainstorming this cake, I had to think of what might represent Carol the best that could also be edible.  That took me back about 3 years ago when I first met Carol.  She was leading worship in our little church.  You should have seen her… she has these blue eyes that just sparkle (especially when she sings about our Lord).  She had one hand on the piano, one hand on the keyboard and she was singing into her microphone!  I thought to myself “I wonder if she had symbols strapped to her knees under that piano too!”

So, I made the decision to make her a grand piano cake.

 

The Process

4 box cakes (with pudding in the mix)

                       

3 cake pillar legs and a custom reinforced cardboard cut out in the shape of the piano.  I also used a clear glass cutting board with this cake because I was scared to cut into it with only 3 legs.  Everything worked out well.

I used gum paste (which I dyed) to make the keys, sheet music holder and wrapped some around the legs.

I frosted with chocolate butter cream.  It was my first time using that type of frosting.  It went pretty well as far as spreading went.  By the time we ate the cake it had hardened a little.  It still tasted good and the cake was moist and delicious.

 

I moved the cake onto its legs and there you have it.  A chocolate butter cream grand piano cake.  It was so cute when it was finished that I almost gave it a name and kept it as a pet.

 

Amazing Yard “Art”

I need to share this with you. I know that it will trigger some of your “sensitive gag reflexes” (http://www.jennyonthespot.com/). But, my dog just amazes me. I am fairly new at pet ownership, in that my brother Paul and I did not grow up with pets. Sure, we picked up strays and tried to keep them, but my parents were just not havin’ it. So when I became an adult and had my own home, I thought it would be great to get a dog… since I am not a cat person.

We rescued this really sweet lab we named “Max”. He is pretty easy going….. after he greets you with a hug round the neck and wet kisses. He is an indoor dog. We love him.

Have I mentioned that I am attempting to home school my son this year? I digress… that is another story altogether.

So, I was outside scooping poop on Monday. I could see on my lawn a strangely beautiful and unusual display of colors. There were flecks of ultra blue, violet red, unmellow yellow and burnt sienna. As I rubbed my eyes trying to be sure of what I was seeing, the thought came to me “had magical ferries dusted my lawn with a rainbow of pixie dust?” Oh, the beauty! I had never seen anything like it before. As I went in to get a closer look, I discovered that those “magical ferries” were my dog Max. You see, a couple of days earlier, Max ate a box of my son’s Crayola Crayons. This was the result.

There was a lot more than this… and even larger “yard art”. He is an 80 pound dog after all. I just could not bring myself to “arrange” them for this picture.

So, there you have it, my dog poops rainbows! Maybe I should contact “America’s got talent”!

Is That All There Is

A little background before I begin this story. I am a faithful follower of Christ Jesus and serve in our local church in the music department.

I am working on giving myself completely to the work of the Lord and being mindful that I have been “bought by the blood of Christ” and so my life is no longer mine to do with whatever I please.

Keeping that in mind, I was asked Thursday night to take a look at a song that my pastor wanted me to sing during his sermon on Sunday (yes, Sunday… 3 days later). As I looked at this song written on the paper, the first thing that caught my attention was that in the chorus one of the reoccurring lines went like this, “let’s break out the booze and have a ball”. To say the least, this was a surprising line and not anything like what I had sung in church in the past.

Oh… wait. I get it! This must be one of those moments. It seems as though the Lord has given me an opportunity to be obedient and lean fully on Him to get the details of the service worked out.

Even though I had never heard this song, I committed to learn it for Sunday.

A couple of extra details about the piece I now refer to as my “A cappella song-o-logue”. It is mostly talking, stories of loss and disappointment. I was to do this solo A Cappella (with no music… just me…. and the crowd staring back at me like there must be some mistake. Quick, Lord, I need an injection of faith!)

Let me say that after 2 days of practice and a ton of prayer, the Lord did indeed see me through this challenge. The “song” went off without a hitch and my pastor was able to frame the message in such a way that the song is the opposite of how things really are if we are committed to the Lord. That IS NOT all there is for us.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to me during this challenge. I could not have done it on my own.

If you would like to have a listen to this “song", I have a version of it done here by Peggy Lee- the artist who make it famous in the late 60’s.

CAUTION: What you are about to hear is a little grim. Please remove all sharp objects, things that shoot bullets and any long lengths of rope you may have laying around. Then sit back and enjoy what the world has to offer you.

X-BOX 360 Cake

Let the Games Begin!

This year I was inspired to make my son an x-box cake for his birthday. I really wanted to try my hand at fondant this time. I thought the 360 with it's white smooth surface would give me some advantage for my first try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was really pleased with the end result. Although the scale was a bit off, the spirit of the cake was captured for sure. Some of my favorite details of the cake were the knobs on the controllers which I molded with gum paste, and the venting in the console on the top and sides which I made using a meat thermometer (wired, I know... but just the right tool). Oh, I also really liked how the power button turned out. I used store bought green gel from the cake section.

I will caution you that one of the unexpected side effects of making this cake is now when I play x-box I have an almost uncontrollable urge to lick my controller.

Cake Specs: 5 box cakes with pudding in the mix (1 box for controllers and 4 boxes for console), 4 lbs of my favorie store bought fondant (Home Cake in Seattle) a bit of gum paste, black food coloring, dark chocolate M&M's and about 9 hours (including baking time).

My sister in law Jenny posted these pictures on her blog www.jennyonthespot.com and I am so grateful to her because my pictures didn't turn out very good. Thanks Jeanie!

Check back for more of Ace of "Kerry" creations!

What do you mean?? Ace of "Kerry"?? That doesn't mean anything.

You are correct. The brain child for this name was my brother. It is a really bad, nonsensical play on the title "Ace of Cakes". You know, that show about the funky cake decorators. Anyway, my brother threw it out there as a joke and I can't stop thinking about how very nondescript a name it would be for my blog. I do make cake and I even like to make goofy cakes. Also, it just so happens that my name is Kerry. I can't explain the quote marks around my name... since my name really is Kerry. I just thought it would add to the stupidity of the name for this blog. So, there you have it. Ace of "Kerry" (AOK) is born.

Not sure this is my thing.

Ok.. I have buckled to the pressure of the blogger world to see what this is all about. I am going to attempt to blog about things here that may or may not be interesting to you. I need to give credit to my sister in law http://www.jennyonthespot.com/ for the inspiration. She is proving to be a rising star in the blogger world. We are all very proud of her "skills".

I am already boring myself. So, I will stop here.

Next post will be a brief bio about Ace of "Kerry".