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

Animal Crackers "The Party" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

Animal Crackers: The Party
With the invitations mailed and the cake designed I began to look for affordable favors, fun activities, creative food options and easy decorations. Here is what I came up with:

The Decorations: Keeping in mind that I was playing off all of Avery's favorites things we made sure to tie that theme in with the decor.

1) A STREAMER TENT: Due to the lack of time and help my husband and I had for this party, I did not get the amount of streamers I had envisioned for my "Streamer Tent", but all things considered, it turned out cute. My husband took alternating colors of streamers, that coordinated with the colors we were using, and streamed them from the chandelier in the dining room to the edges of the room all the way around. My vision was wall to wall coverage of streamers, but the time did not allow for it. Maybe you could tackle that one?

THE BARE-BONES "STREAMER TENT"

2) BALLOONS & FLOWERS: What is a Birthday party without balloons? Avery LOVED balloons at the time. A large bunch of multi-colored balloons to coordinate with the parties colors was just the right touch in the kitchen to make it look festive without going to a lot of trouble. I also lucked upon a gaudy $5 bouquet of daisies, at the grocery store, dyed bright colors. They were amazingly perfect for this party and added a wonderful touch to the food table.

VINTAGE "ABC" CARDS

3) VINTAGE ABC CARDS: We lined the dining room chair rail with all her vintage ABC flash cards, which made for cute, quick and easy decor.

4) KIDS TABLE: We borrowed a child-sized banquet table and chairs from church, which fit perfectly in the dining room, while still allowing room for toys and parents. We covered the table with a long roll of brown craft paper and placed stainless steel buckets of various shapes and sizes on the table filled with crayons and chalk for drawing. The kids had a blast coloring and so did the parents. The table was quite artsy by the time the party was over. We topped the table off with large round multi-colored confetti that gave the table a colorful and festive look and mimicked the look of the invitations.


5) THE FOOD TABLE: The food table was covered with a small, simple, white table cloth turned sideways and covered with the same confetti that the kids table had been covered with. I used various pieces from my dishes that were colorful or made of various materials to give the table an eclectic look. To highlight the cake at the center I placed the cake plate on an upturned green planter.


The Food: We served all of Avery's favorite foods at the party which took place over lunch. All of the foods we chose to serve were easy to make and quick as it was just my husband and I preparing the food for the party. Here's the menu:

• Peanut butter & jelly Quarters
• Ham and cheese quarters
• Miniature pigs-in-blankets
• Cheese & crackers
• Relish tray with dip
• Fruit salad: Watermelon balls, cantaloupe balls & purple and green grapes
• Cheddar bunnies
• M&M's
• Animal crackers (of course!)
• Large pitcher of lemonade

HER FAVORITE FOODS AT TWO

The Activities: There is NO way to organize toddlers and play a game. I've tried it. Please tell me if you have - I would love to know what you did! That being said we opted for free-play at this party in a tight space and it worked out quite well. Here is what we did:

1) PLAY KITCHEN: At this point in time our dining room was serving as a temporary play-room, so we were able to rearrange things and leave her play kitchen in the dining room for free-play. The kids loved it!

2) TENT & TUNNELS: We have a pop-up play tent and tunnels with balls that we placed all along one side of the room and the kids had a "ball" running through them.

3) WAGON: You don't have to go anywhere to have fun in a wagon! We placed our new wagon by the window and the kids loved climbing in and sitting together.

3) CHALK BOARD: In addition to coloring on the table we had a small chalkboard and a tin of chalk set up for drawing.

A WAGON IS A LOAD OF FUN IF YOU'RE TWO!

The Favors: I usually like to go all out with my favors, but being pregnant at this time, I opted for affordable, fun and easy. Each child got a $1 tub of sidewalk chalk and a box of the original Barnum's animal crackers I loved as a child. You can't get a more perfect or vintage fit than Barnum's animal crackers for an "Animal Crackers" party.

ANIMAL CRACKERS & SIDEWALK CHALK FAVORS

Animal Crackers "The Cake" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

Animal Crackers: The Cake
Playing off of the invitations and her love of carousels, I envisioned a tall round cake with two tiers, three layers each, in a creamy yellow with colorful frosting polka dots and topped with a miniature carousel made of animal crackers.

Being 3 months pregnant at the time I looked for ways to save time on this cake monstrosity, by using cake mixes, jams, store bought frosting and ribbon. Even so, I crawled into bed at 3 a.m. the night before the party. Crazy momma! What we won't do for our children.

The Cake Tiers: Each tier of the cake was 3 layers, with each layer being a different kind of cake. I chose a confetti white cake mix, a lemon yellow cake mix, and a decadent chocolate cake mix for the three layers. Layering the cake in the following order for each tier; chocolate, confetti white, and lemon yellow; I placed raspberry jam between the chocolate and the confetti white cakes and then orange marmalade between the confetti and the lemon yellow cakes. This combination of cakes and jams may sound bizarre, but it was surprisingly tasty!
Tip: Make sure to use dowel rods which you can find at any cake or craft store for stability. Place them down in the center of the bottom cake. It will keep a cake this tall from sliding or falling.

THE LAYERS

The Frosting: For the frosting I used a store-bought cream cheese frosting that I had planned on tinting a pale yellow. As luck would have it, it turned out to be the perfect color straight from the can. Make sure you have 4-6 cans of frosting to frost a cake like this. The keys to eliminating the crumbs from your frosting is to spread it on thick in long sweeping strokes and if there is time to do a crumb coat I highly suggest it. A crumb coat is a first layer of frosting that is allowed to dry or set in the fridge overnight. This ensures that the second coat will be virtually crumb free. Sadly, I did not have time for a crumb coat on this cake and it was not crumb free. Fortunately, two-year-olds are forgiving little people. Spreading the frosting on thick with the second coat will ensure a more even surface and will prevent your spatula from sticking to the cake or the crumb coat and pulling it up.

Now, comes the hardest part and that is smoothing the frosting out. I have yet to master this skill, but I hope one day to perfect it. I have found that longer sweeping strokes with the full-length of the spatula smooth better than shorter, choppier strokes with only the end of the spatula pressing the frosting. Another very useful tip I learned in 4-H years ago, was to dip your spatula in a cold glass of water, gently shake the excess water off and then smooth over rough spots. It really helps!

THE RIBBON STRIPPING, LETTERING & POLKA DOTS

The Decorations: As a last minute stroke of, what I thought was genius, I decided to use ribbon on the bottom half of the cake for my stripes rather than frosting. It saves you from having to get the stripes perfectly even, smooth and spaced correctly with a piping bag, which can be very difficult. I was also running low on frosting and wanted to have enough for the polka-dots. I alternated colored ribbon stripes all the way around the entire bottom half of the cake. I measured out the ribbons, cut them all at the same time and then tacked them on with frosting. To cover the uneven spots at the top and bottom, where the ribbons ended, I piped coordinating polka-dots in alternating colors around the base of the top and bottom tiers. This technique saved oodles of time.

I then wrote Avery's name on the top tier at the front in a font similar to what I had used on her invitations. Being a graphic designer and someone who LOVES fonts this is fairly easy for me to freehand. If it's not easy for you, try printing out the letters in your font of choice to the exact size you want them. Then cut them out and carefully arrange them on the cake. Take a toothpick and trace around them in the frosting and then peel the paper letters off the cake. Pipe the letters with alternating colors.

After piping in the name, I placed medium and large polka-dots in the various colors all over the top tier of the cake and piped a very small border of tiny dots in alternating colors all the way around the edge of the cake top. Mine were somewhat sloppy as I was getting very tired at that point!

The Carousel: To make the carousel I took a small hand-held flag that had a finial at its top and carefully removed the flag and staples. Using the pole as the center of my carousel, I placed it down in the center of the top cake to the height I preferred. I then took 5 colored toothpicks and stuck them down in the outer edges of the cake top at even intervals. I took the same colored ribbons I had used on the cake, measured them out and then using a thin strip of teal-colored duck tape, I taped them all to the center pole at the very top, just below the finial by winding the tape around the top of the pole about 3 times to secure the ribbon (Please make sure that the ribbon is spaced around the pole evenly and not taped down in the same spot).

I set up 4 or 5 animal crackers marching in a circle around the pole as if on a carousel and then
strung the ribbon out toward the toothpicks (one ribbon per toothpick), to make my tented carousel. I poked the ribbon through the top of each toothpick to hold it in place. (Make sure there is some slack in the ribbon before you poke the tip of the toothpick through it. You want the ribbon to swag a little between the flag pole and the tooth pick to resemble a tent. Allow about 4" of ribbon to hang down from the other side of the toothpick.) Now you have a miniature carousel. For extra measure stick a parade of animal crackers somewhere around the base of the cake.

THE CAROUSEL

Animal Crackers "The Invitation" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

Animal Crackers: The Invitation

For my daughter's second birthday, I wasn't sure what to do. Her interests were quite unusual for a two-year old. Musicals. Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music were her favorite movies, with Oklahoma running a close third. We were routinely singing "My Favorite Things" and "Doe a Deer" at bedtime. She watched the carousel scene in Mary Poppins over and over and loved listening to a song we had on CD about carousels. Reciting ABC's and 123's were a daily practice, she was taken with the moon and adored cooking with us at night, so we chose to celebrate the eclectic mix of all her favorite things she loved and was doing at the age of two.

Inspired visually by a vintage set of ABC's flash cards Avery and her father played with every day and a song I couldn't get out of my head "Animal Crackers in my soup..." from an old Shirley Temple movie, I came up with a vintage look. Using eclectic imagery and whimsical colors these vintage invitations, paired with red-orange polka-dotted envelopes from Envelopemall.com, were fun and unusual.

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.

Let them eat cake

This morning I delivered my first commissioned cake to a wonderful friend who presented me with this great opportunity as a way to get my name out to the community.

I love making cakes. I am passionate about cakes, but I have to say, I will leave the cake making to the professionals. It was way too stressful, but it was also a whole lot of fun! If my daughter's cake falls in or that glop of chocolate frosting falls somewhere it's not supposed to be — oh well — I will do it differently next time. If you trip and drop the purchased baby shower cake on the way to the door — that's a whole new ball game.

I was much relieved when I dropped off the package at it's final destination. Everyone was pleased and so was I!

Although The Blu Sash will not be in the business of baking your cake, we do offer cake design services and have local vendors we work with to create the perfect cake for your occasion. Let us coordinate with those lovely invitations and party favors we look forward to designing for you!

Here's to having your cake and eating it too!