Tangled - Rapunzel Birthday Cake

I just finished a couple of cakes, and while I love all of the ones I've done (I'll post the latest in "My Work"), I want to share the Rapunzel cake.  It was a one on which I spent the most time, and am really happy with the way it turned out. In other words, that is the one I want to brag most about...

A few weeks ago little Christina's mother reached out to me to ask if I would make a cake for Christina's 4th birthday.  Of course I didn't pass the opportunity, so we started discussing what cake she wants.  It was then when she asked if I know who Rapunzel is. I have to admit, I had not seen the movie, but I agreed to make a Rapunzel themed cake. While discussing the details, I learned that the little girl is very observant and detail oriented, and is questioning anything that is not the same as in the Disney movie. In addition to this, during our conversation I found out that the dad is an artist (and working as a sculptor)! Talk about pressure! What did I get myself into! But... I love being challenged, so I was determined to make a beautiful cake, even without a professional training.

First, I had to see the movie, so thanks to my second daughter Nikol for sharing her DVD, I was able to see Disney's version of this beautiful story. I saw it once, but then went back over and over again to look for the details of all the things that I had to make out of fondant - the pan, Pascal, the brush, the lanterns, and of course, the tower and Rapunzel. I loved all the colors and characters, but now, how do I make all of it out of sugar? I am glad I started early...those took me some time. For someone who never learned this art, I think I did fairly well. And I wouldn't have done so well if it wasn't for my lovely daughter Natali, who once again, helped with drawing Rapunzel. She also helped with air brushing, shades, flower cutting, etc.

I didn't decide on the final design until the last minute. I had something different in mind first, but after some discussion and advise from my construction engineer (hubby), it was decided that I need a very sturdy base that will not only hold a heavy load of two cakes, but also will look good.

I made Pascal, the lanterns, the brush, and the pan and started thinking about how to actually put all of them on the cake. I knew I wanted to make everything as realistic as possible, so my plan was to have candles lit up inside the lanterns. I tried it and looked really cool, but I was concerned with safety, as the cake was for a 4 yr old and another 12 young princessess. While browsing the local craft store with my daughter, and while she was teasing me for spending too long in there, she came across those small, battery operated lights that supposedly stay lit for 8 hr, plus, no open flames! It was the perfect solution for my cake! I was so excited. I knew that the lanterns will be hanging in the air just like in the movie. So, it was onto making the cake!

Everything worked very well from there on. The cakes turned out nicely, very tasty, and all of the details were coming out as I expected. Only, I had planned to make the crown too, but ran out of time. I had the stones made out of clear sugar, made the circle for the base of the crown and didn't have time to finish it. I guess I just think I can do things much faster than I actually do them. Anyway, it was time to deliver the cake and I hadn't taken any pictures... Even my new tripod didn't help...but I guess you probably are used to the quality of my pictures by now, so I hope you will forgive me until I learn how to do better :)!

I had so much fun making this cake, I hope the birthday girl liked it as much as I do, and her guests found it as tasty as I think it is.
Thank you to her parents for allowing me to make her a cake, but also thank you for visiting. I enjoyed sharing my experience with you and am hoping you would be back soon for more of my beautilicious stories.

Birthday Car Cake

Hello again! Yes, I know...it has been a while. I've wanted to share many things during the last month, but was very busy. Really, I am not just saying it. There were many holidays and many reasons for me to bake, and I did....

In this post I want to show you something I made for my husband's birthday. It is a cake of course....and it is a blast from the past.

For those of you that don't know, "Moskvich" was a very popular Russian car in Bulgaria 20 or so years ago. There were many families who didn't own a car, and of those who did, most could only afford a Moskvich (there weren't many other choices anyway, and many, if not all, were cars from the Soviet Union). This should tell you that at that time, for a teenager to have a car to drive was a luxury. Hubby was one of those  privileged to drive his parent's Moskvich wherever and whenever he wants. At that time, 10+ yrs old, the car already needed frequent repairs. A trip to the Black Sea (some 350-400 kilometers) required special preparation (just to make sure you will get there). A popular feature of the Moskvich was its logo "AZLK", which translated in Bulgarian meant "Oh, why did I buy you?".

I will not deny that it was fun to drive in it. And not because it was comfortable, but because we had the freedom to go anywhere. Our group of friends was big and since my husband was the only one who had a car, you can only imagine how many people has this car seen and how many places it has been to. Only if the poor car could talk... No wonder why it was a favorite to many. It is worth mentioning that not only Valentin was exploiting it...his older brother learned how to drive using the Moskvich, then it was my husband's turn, and even I drove it when I was training. And let me tell you....you had to have special skills to be able to drive one of those...No hydraulics, "very sophisticated" brakes...one for which you needed some extra strength to push, otherwise you may not be able to stop. There were many other "features", but I wont go into that.

The car was slow, ok. In my opinion, it was designed for the elderly. However, my husband and his brother were so into cars and speeding, that the poor car was probably so sorry it ended up with this family. The two brothers were so wild that since there was nothing else to drive but the Moskvich, they were trying to make it drive like a Ferrari. It has been many times when they have raced with it, that it often felt like the pistons will fly out of from under the hood. May be because their dad didn't find out how his sons drove the car until later, and may be because if something went wrong, it was always fixed before dad came home, his family owned this car for more than 30 years. The cake brought so many memories back, so I let Valentin paint the Moskvich one more time...

Now about the cake...this was my first attempt to make a car, and it is obvious I would not make it into a collision shop! I was not happy with the result, but I know that some of you were waiting to see it, so I decided to share it anyway. Not to mention the picture quality... I hope you will bare with me until I get better. And lastly, please disregard the "support" underneath, I couldn't figure out how to make it stand on the tires only.



Thank you very much for checking my blog. I hope this brings good memories for some, and for those who are too young to know the old times, or have never had the privilege to ride in a Moskvich, I hope it is interesting to learn how I grew up (oops that shows how old I am).

Now let me go clean all that blue paint from everywhere in the house....:)

Little Artist Birthday Cake

To all Bulgarians March 1st is known as Baba Marta day, the day when we share "marteniza", the symbol of spring, health, and new beginning. Also on this day, my youngest nephew's was born. Mihail loves to paint, draw, and enjoys anything that has to do with art or gardening. My daughter Natali shares Mihail's love for art, so several years ago she started a painting of my sister and my little nephew that she never finished. Recently, when Mihail visited us, he saw the picture and ever since he keeps asking when will the picture be finished. Well, this past week that time came. I guess it is true when they say, an artist has to have an inspiration. 

Since I made the 101 Dalmations cake for my 3 yr old niece (her most favorite movie) a couple of weeks ago and she said she wanted a Winnie the Pooh cake, I thought I should do a better job for her brother's birthday. I wasn't sure how exactly to impress him, but decided that I have to combine the Baba Marta holiday with his hobbies. I had also recently bought an air brush that Natali was dying to try, so my idea of an artist's cake was born. I asked Natali to draw a picture for the cake and I was going to take care of the rest. 

The cake was made of chocolate layers with vanilla milk cream, and mixed with whipped cream filling. To sweeten it a little more, I added caramelized almonds. Well, since this was my next try for a tasty recipe, the filling turned out to be a little too runny. I put the cake together and ... it was not cool. Filling was running and the cake did not hold a shape at all. I didn't have time to fix it though, and it was too tasty to throw away...so I had to make it work. I figured I had to cover the sloping edges somehow, and that was done by throwing some colored "artist's rags" on top. A snow drop and а crocus symbolized the upcoming spring (and my nephew's love for plants and flowers). I made marteniza of fondant, and it was time for the artist's touches. A brush, a color tube and the artist's easel were created from sugar and waffles. The "canvas" was made out of two waffle layers "glued" together with Nutella and covered with fondant. Since Natali wanted to test the air brush, she promised to have a picture for the cake at the end of the day (I had no idea what she had in mind). I was amazed when I came home from work...she had painted an actual picture of Mihail and Geri to put on the cake! I was impressed! 

We put the cake together, but don't think we were all done. The easel was not strong enough to hold the heavy canvas and broke right when I was getting ready to take the first picture. When the picture fell, it broke some of the extremely fragile marteniza strings and left brown streaks on the white "cloth" that covered the cake. After some fussing around, the cake was ready....

Well, I think my nephew liked it. He wants to have all the cake decorations...so they are going into a parcel overseas.

Thanks for joining me in sharing the making of this fun cake!