ace(s) of cakes

my dear friend lilcee's birthday was last week.  and to celebrate, she wanted to head over to duff's cake mix on melrose to do a little cake decorating.

cake?  you don't have to ask me twice.

the bean and i both rocked some super fun 'dos for the day - for her, french braids done by rock-ell.  and for me, a new obsession called a "sock bun."  yes, there's really a sock in my hair.  i'm quite proud of being able to master it.

so, this joint is owned by duff goldman of "ace of cakes" fame.  it's right next door to the west coast outlet of his charm city cakes bakery, where the show first started.  being a sunday, it was closed - but i peeked in through the windows anyway.

the cake mix shop was super cute.  nice and roomy, with a bright orange theme and some really awesome whisk lamps hanging from the ceiling.

since i still had leftover mini cupcakes at home from the fundraiser, i opted for a cupcake kit instead of a full layer cake to play with.  it included four cupcakes, two colors of frosting, two "goodies," and a little glob of plain white fondant.

we also got to sample the different cake flavors available that day.  here, a piece of lemon poppyseed (which was really yummy) and red velvet.

the bean liked the lazy susans placed on the worktable.

i was far more interested in looking around at all of the cake decorating paraphernalia organized neatly on shelves just behind our table.

i didn't get to see this machine in action, but winnie and lilcee did.  they'd chosen to decorate layer cakes, so their package included enough fondant to cover it completely.  this doohickey created beautifully smooth, even sheets out of the ball that came with the cake kit.

so they started with this:

and with a little effort, had this lovely blank canvas to work with.

meanwhile, the bean was quite enchanted with the protective gear she'd been given.

she got a big ol' kick out of getting to squeeze her frosting out onto her cupcake and smooth it out with an offset spatula, just like mommy does at home.

while i thought this was great fun and a really cool outing for us, i found myself watching everyone else work on their cakes and stalling when it came to decorating my own.  as i contemplated this, i came to the conclusion that my lack of interest stemmed from the fact that i pretty much have all this stuff at home.  like, it wasn't a novelty for me because i can do this whenever i darn well please.  i mentioned this to lilcee and within seconds, we were discussing under our breath how awesome it would be to open our own version of this closer to home.  and in case any of duff's people are reading this, the chances of that actually happening are about as slim as the chances that any of duff's people are actually reading this.  haha, did you get that?

but this didn't keep us from having fun.  not at all.  here, the bean's and mini cee's creations:

oh, and i finally sucked it up and did something with my cupcake.

the bean's didn't even make it out the door.  she grubbed down on that puppy like she hadn't seen a cupcake in years.

and then she decided to make something with the leftover fondant.  for her, it was just a fun handful of edible play-doh.

meanwhile, lilcee and winnie worked happily on their creations.

since we needed something to wash down our snacks, i picked this to share:

and when that kicked in, we encountered this on our way to the potty.

i liked the framed cake recipes that came out of some vintage women's magazines.

of course, it wasn't complete without a group photo.

it was a great way to spend an afternoon with the girls, and while it wasn't cheap, it sure was fun.  but really - next time, we're totally doing this at my house.  i'll bust out all my supplies and it'll be just as fun.

well, minus the orange walls and whisk lamps.

birthday princess day '09

this year's festivities were very, very low key. not a bad thing, actually - fit right in with the still-ongoing operation downsize we've got going on over here. and it was nice to have the day off, paid! awesome. the hub was home for the day too, the best present this year being time spent together.

it started off with a sweet card from him, some snuggle time with the bean, and then a fun breakfast with MIL at one of my favorite local joints, flappy jack's. since calories don't count on your birthday, i went big and had the cheese blintzes AND bacon and eggs.

all that snuggling, plus a good filling breakfast and a ride in the car wore the bean out. she fell asleep while we ran a quick errand, and after the hub got her settled in her bed, he shooed me out of the house to go and get some pampering at the nail salon. yay!

i decided to stop at starbucks to collect my free birthday drink. i was a little annoyed when the dude who took my order knew nothing about any such perk, but he redeemed himself when i pulled up to the window. he handed me my caramel macchiato, wished me a happy birthday, and waved off my offer to pay. yay #2!

back at home, as i admired my pretty toes, the hub snuck in a little work via his cell phone and laptop. so i decided to make myself a birthday cake, using a recipe i'd had bookmarked for ages and recently reviewed by my friend ssinca for caramel cake, from one of our favorite food blogs.

i lined my pan with parchment paper and then buttered it, per the instructions. remember, the calories didn't count.

dry ingredients, all measured together:

perfectly softened butter.

remember that fun care package from my buddy ThatGirl? i finally got to use one of the items she'd sent me for this recipe.

the recipe said that the batter would look like it was curdled, and sure enough:

ew, kinda gross. but as soon as i mixed the dry ingredients in, it looked just fine. thank goodness.

i poured the batter into my prepared pan:

and 35ish minutes later, it was all pretty and golden and smelled lovely.

as we waited for it to cool, the bean decided to try out her sister's headphones with the long-forgotten iPod touch, onto which we'd uploaded her beloved blue's clues.

we ended up having some issues to deal with that afternoon and evening, which led us to a much simpler dinner with both girls than we'd planned - at chipotle. haha! it was super tasty, though, and since there wasn't a single movie i was interested in seeing at the local theater, we headed over to the grandparents' after we ate. there, i was serenaded over a yummy homemade chocolate cake and some fun birthday cards.

i ended up waiting till the next day to make the caramel topping for my cake, which was okay since birthday princess month still has a few days left in it anyway. heh.

i quickly realized that my pan was far too big for the glaze, when i clipped the thermometer to the side and the ingredients didn't quite reach the bulb. damn.

i got a little concerned when the mixture started looking like that failed bacon toffee from a few weeks ago.

i turned the heat off, stirred it vigorously, and it started to look better, although it had this super weird liquidy runoff.

hmmm. i poured it from the pan, gave the glaze another stir, and let 'er rip onto the top of my cake.

i knew i'd left the cake in the oven just a few minutes too long, as i took a bite and found that it was ever-so-slightly on the dry side. poo. but the flavor was quite good, as was that caramel topping. it was chewy and buttery (weird, since there isn't any in it) and sweet, and even the hub broke from his strict no-carbs diet to have a couple of bites.

and now i turn my attention to the bean's birthday bash, less than a week away. i have lots to do, although most of it has to wait till the day before. and this is a much less elaborate shindig, so it'll be a lot easier to pull together.

oh! my birthday present from the bean? two glorious nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep (and counting). cross your fingers that it continues. yay #3!