Two If By Sea "The Cake" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

Two If By Sea: The Cake
Inspired by a Martha Stewart cake I had been wanting to make for a long time and West's sweet baby voice constantly saying "I see lighthouses", I came up with my own version of her adorable cake with delicious 7-minute frosting.

My version of the cake isn't the vision of perfection that Martha's is, but I thought it turned out well. Here's how to make it:

The Cake: Here's the step-by-step instructions on making this cake: Martha Stewart's Sailboat Birthday Cake
Here's the One-bowl Chocolate Cake recipe she uses: One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Tip: Martha calls for two 8" square pans to make this cake, but I used two 9" square pans successfully.

I have to say that the chocolate cake recipe used here is absolutely delicious! I will make it again and plan on keeping this recipe as my must-have chocolate cake. It was so moist and so tasty!

THE 7-MINUTE FROSTING

The 7-Minute Frosting: I had never made 7-minute frosting before and I must say I loved it! It reminded me of marshmallow cream, but not as thick. Very light and tasty.

This frosting smooths on easily and is very different from typical frosting. It reminds me of a thicker version of royal icing. I couldn't get mine to peak on top as well as Martha's, but I was in a hurry and the frosting probably needed a few more minutes to set up before I attempted to make the peaks. You will need what is called a cake-comb to make the waves along the side of the cake. These can easily be purchased at a local craft or bake store for under $5.

THE CUTE SAILBOAT

The Sailboat: Now, every good sailboat cake needs a sailboat. Martha, of course, has a downloadable pdf file with the detailed instructions for making this boat. Just go to the how-to-page for the Sailboat Birthday Cake and click on the words "paper sailboat". The only modification I made to mine, was to use a ribbon for the flag instead of paper.

I am still trying to think of a clever way to make these for a party craft or a take home favor. They are just so cute! Any ideas?


The Lighthouse and Island: I wanted a quick way to build a lighthouse on West's cake and all I could think of was donuts, donuts, donuts. Chocolate and powdered donuts, made me think of the black and white striped Bodie Island lighthouse in the Outer Banks. I bought a box of regular sized chocolate and powdered donuts and bags of the smaller ones in both flavors.

Any lighthouse needs an island on which to sit and this is where baking chocolate came in. Big bricks of baking chocolate. I took the bricks and carved them with a knife (Please be careful!) until they resembled craggy rocks and then put them together in one corner of the cake, gluing them down to the cake with chocolate frosting. I also carved rocks to place around the four corners of the cake.

Then the light house construction could begin. Donut, by donut, I built the light house by alternating the chocolate and powdered sugar donuts, using frosting as glue, (Make sure not to use too much frosting, you don't want it oozing out the sides of your lighthouse.). I tried to use the largest donut I could find on the bottom and then tried to find ones that tapered off in size as I went up, saving the smallest donuts for the top. I had grander plans for the light at the top, but had to settle for a large marshmallow and a small yellow gumdrop, cut to size.

THE FISH COOKIES

The Fish Cookies: Martha's sugar cookie recipe calls for smaller fish cookie cutters than what I had, so I opted to use the larger one. I was already making fish, crab, lobster and clam sugar cookies for favors, so I made 5 extra fish, (One to spare!) for the four sides of the cake and flooded them with matching pale blue royal icing. Once the fish were made and the frosting had dried I placed one on each side of the cake or you could place several if you choose to make the smaller ones.

Here's to smooth sailing and even smoother frosting!

Call The Blu Sash if you would like us to design your child's birthday cake. We work with some amazing bakers in Lexington, Kentucky to create exactly what you dream up and we deliver. We also plan children's Birthday parties if you are interested in calling us for packages and pricing.
859.271.6934 or donias@theblusash.com

Two If By Sea "The Invitation" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part III

Two If By Sea: The Invitation

For my son's second birthday the theme was an easy pick. We had taken our first family vacation to the beach and aquarium in May and all West could talk about was lighthouses, "crabbies" and octopuses. Every we passed a tower-like structure, we heard "I see lighthouses" from the back seat. He had been impressed, to say the least.

Anything ocean related inspires me to no end, so I was thrilled to get started on the invitations for his party. I love the oceans majesty and wonder! I have always had a fascination with sharks and seashells, lighthouses and coral, sailboats and sand, so West comes by it naturally. Using cute silhouettes of ocean creatures and beach related structures in a pairing of light blue, navy blue and red, I came up with a retro nautical feel for the invites. The invitations were four (4.25" x 5.5"), individual sheets printed on a crisp white resume paper, rolled up and tied off with raffia and then placed in a bottle filled with sand and tiny seashells. These bottles, purchased from sandartsupplies.com, supposedly can be mailed with a label on them. I wanted to ere on the side of caution and mailed them in a padded envelope. The tricky part with these invitations was rolling them up tight enough to get them in the bottle and tying them off just right so they could be pulled out. Needless to say the invitations were a smashing success and an adorable keepsake.








If you are interested in ordering a customized version these invitations from The Blu Sash, please e-mail us donia@theblusash.com or give us a call — 859.271.6934.

Urban Marketplace and Capacity, Inc.

I just participated in the 2nd ever Urban Marketplace courtesy of Capacity, Inc. If you are in Lexington and have started a small business, I highly recommend this opportunity to you. Nowhere in Lexington can you get the kind of promotion and booth space Capacity, Inc. is offering for the price. Capacity, Inc. is doing great things to help local women get their businesses going.

This Urban Marketplace found it's home at the new Ford Showroom in Brannon Crossing. I had a booth there this last Saturday and it was encouraging to get the kind of enthusiastic response I received. I really hope it will help get the word out about The Blu Sash and aid in my marketing efforts. I debuted my Cookie Pops at this Marketplace by handing out small samples to everyone that came by. I handed out all 64, so turnout was good. My only regret is that I did not take better pictures of the Cookie Pops and the booth. Fortunately Sherry and her lovely daughter Jessica with Capacity, Inc. had taken some pictures and were gracious enough to let me use them.

I hope you will make an effort to come to the next one on Saturday, February 13th. It will be at the Hilton Suites in Lexington Green for the next 4 months. Please come check out all that these businesses have to offer!

Just in time for Valentines Day, The Blu Sash will be debuting and selling Cake Pops in cooperation with Martine's. I will also be selling Cookie Pops and a gift your children will love: "Cookie Dolls". I will also be debuting The Blu Sash Etsy shop to the public where you can purchase custom invitations and other stationery products, along with displaying some creative ideas for your next party or event.

All I can say is I have butterflies! I hope to see you there February 13th!

Wildcat Ford Showroom — January Urban Marketplace

Product shot of Cookie Pop samples & Somewhere Over The Rainbow Invitation

The Blu Sash booth