Friday, January 7, 2011

Cakes for a Good Cause

It feels great when you are able to do something out of your interest, your passion and at the same give back to the community.
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When I received a call from a good friend Imelda if I will be willing to donate a cake for a fundraising organized by her friend Aileen, my brain started thinking for a great cake design. Excited? Yes, I was. This is a great opportunity for me to put my passion to a meaningful use. Baking and Cake Decorating for charity!

I immediately thought of incorporating Chalmer's Regional Hospital foundation's logo on the cake design - the logo bursting out of a gift box cake design. Perfect!

Originally I thought of putting the same number of hearts as in the logo but when I finished making them, I thought it will be too heavy for the cake to handle.

So I used some at least 20 and here's what I came up with.

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This is a three layer chocolate cake with cream cheese filling and iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing.  This is my first time to make a Italian Swiss meringue buttercream and I'm loving it. It is not too sweet icing compared to the american icing recipe (icing sugar).  But a lot of work.

Italian Swiss Meringue is made of pasturized egg whites, granulated sugar and butter (lots of butter and egg whites).

Originally I thought of having a striped design just like the ribbon around the cake board. But due to the lack of time, it did not happen. Why? It was about 8PM and I have not started on the second cake. Yes, I was to make another cake for another association.

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It was for the Filipino Association of New Brunswick (FANB), Inc. for their Christmas in November Party. I partlially donated on this cake in order to achieve the design I was aiming for.

This is a two tiered chocolate cake, three layers 10 in cake and four layers 6in, chocolate cream cheese filling and iced in swiss meringue buttercream.

I was thinking of having the North American scene in the front and Filipino scene at the back (nipa hut and coconut tree). But again due to the lack of time (got the order a week from the delivery date), I was just able to make North American theme.  But I am still happy with the result.

My airbrush is a big help in acquiring this deep blue color. Mind you, I should have known that airbrushing will leave a big mess on everywhere. After I finished the two cakes (well half finish) around 2AM, I was scrubbing everything, countertops, floor, things covered in blue food color...another arghh!

The next morning I did the finishing touches on the cakes and finished around 2PM...in between preparing meals for my family.

I bought snowflakes sprinkles to make the snow scene and I used the Martha Stewart puncher for the tiny stars. The trees, cottage, snowman, FANB Logo and letterings were made using gumpaste.

It was so much fun and tiring making these two cakes in one night. Getting great compliments from friends and family after I posted the photos, makes the effort all worth it.

Thanks for looking and visiting my site. Cheers.

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