On a dime specialty cakes are the best, and worst.

A quickie mortar board cake put together in about 30 minutes... since, y'know, zero time and no notice. The chef of this restaurant comes to us needing cake for that night. Not the first time, but he got us on Page Six last time so it's okay.

He comes at 1 or so, shows me a blurry phone pic, needs it by 4. Sure, but I still have other cakes to finish and I'm leaving at 2:30 to go set up a wedding cake for my boss' brother.
Cake baking not included (Dude, you're paying for what we've already got to give you.), but carved, covered, iced and decorated in between other projects. Whoo!

Easter with Oliver+s year 3!

 

(Forgive the awkward, first time blogging from my phone.) Continuing in my 3 years of O&s patterns, I give you the Garden Party dress!  Since Easter weather is so  unpredictable (even literally the night before, which was when I bought, printed and assembled the pattern, and cut and sewed the dress)  I added length to the sleeves and a little gathered cuff just for fun. Yes I am that crazy person who does this as an all nighter before working the next day-- approximately 5 hours start to finish. The butterflies is from City Quilter and the sage green cotton challis is stash from the NYC fabric district... Paron maybe?
I loved the way it came together, and the  gathered detail. Mods for the future: lengthen the bodice (maybe two gathered sections and two bands) for a natural waist, and change the back opening to accommodate that.

Dalek cake sort-of tutorial!

Exterminate!!! No fancy way to beat this Dalek, just eat it. I started out with the idea of making a Dalek cake because -- well, because it's a Dalek and I love Doctor Who! A fellow geek's birthday was the perfect excuse.

First, chocolate cake layers: 2 each 4 inches, 5 inches, 6 inches and 7 inches, and 1 8 inch layer. In retrospect, the 4 inch layers rose so much that I could have gotten away with less in each pan, but the dome provided a good enough base for the round top that I trimmed the corners and was done. The second 4 inch layer was trimmed flat.  

For stability and flavor variation, I divided the cakes into sets of three (each set on its own cardboard base) -- with the top three being filled with peanut butter frosting, the middle three with coffee frosting, and the bottom three with chocolate frosting. When stacking, instead of centering, I kept the back edges close (but not quite flush) to maintain a backward slope that was flatter than the forward one. 

Four lollipop-stick dowels went into the bottom set, to support the weight of the top two cakes. (if I do this again, maybe three in the middle set as well.) After chilling, I put them all together as a stack and staked the entire thing with a sharpened 3/8 inch wooden dowel to go right through to the drum. 
I carved the bottom 5 inch, 6 inch and 7 inch cakes into the required slope and tapered the front of the 8 inch to a point.

Manipulator arm, gunstick, and eyestalk on lollipop sticks. I added tylose to the black so the plunger shape would dry unsupported. (The light receptors were on half-sticks for support as well.)

Crumb- coating the whole thing with vanilla frosting, then a sojourn in the freezer. It was hot that Saturday!

I covered the 4 inch top part with a small piece of purple fondant to get the dome perfect, then the majority of the "skirt" with a separate piece, like a cape, overlapping at the 5 inch "shoulder", with the seam running up the back. The gray strips for the base and shoulder were rolled out thicker. The ropes for the neck could have been more angular, now that I look at it objectively.

I made 36 of the "buttons" out of gray fondant and sprayed them silver. In retrospect, chocolate pistoles or candy melts sprayed silver are the perfect size. Not sure how 56 would fit, Tardis Data Core... 14 sections do not look right, even 9 was a pinch. Granted, I put a black control panel in the back to hide the ugly seam. 10 would look good if the back seam was perfect.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread, with whole wheat and sourdough.

What have we here? (Mother's on the scale)

Ingredients for the preferment: part of the flour, milk, part of the yeast, raw sugar.

Whisked well together... not too liquid but smooth.

In goes Mother, whisk that in well.

Measuring out the rest of the ingredients for the "blanket": the remaining flour, salt, sugar, the remaining yeast.

Pour it on top but don't mix in. Cover and let it rise (meanwhile, go to the store for raisins and stuff to make a salad lunch) 

All risen! see how it's poked up through the blanket. Stir the blanket in with a spatula.

Add the rest of the ingredients: raisins, cinnamon and coconut oil. Mix with the hook until it's picked itself up off the sides and makes a satisfactory slap-slap sound. 

Knead a bit on the counter if you like, until it's nice and smooth. Put a bit more oil into the mixer bowl.

Drop the dough back in, cover and let it rise.

Oooooh, it's gotten big! See how much nearer it is to the rim of the bowl.

Knock it down, then divide in two equal pieces.

 Make a rectangle as wide as the pan and about twice as long.

Roll down a third, pinching at the fold.

Roll up to the end, pinching the seam closed.

Push the side of your hand in at an angle, making flaps.

Pinch up and seal the flaps -- this makes a nice firm short end that is not too skimpy for sandwiches.

Put each into the oiled pans. It should touch the short ends but don't worry if it doesn't touch the long sides. Let them rise until they come up above the pan side. When they are level with the top, start to preheat the oven.

Ready to bake!

The final product -- how yummy! Between the three of us we finished half a loaf while it was still warm.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread!! I decided to rope K into making some replenishments for her lunchbox. While I'm reconciled to making croissants, I was pleasantly surprised to have her agree to cinnamon raisin bread, that was safe for P as well.
Jumping-off point was The Bread Bible, with a few changes: soy milk, or whatever milk they drink, and coconut oil instead of the dairy originals; raw sugar instead of honey; a starring role for Mother, my sourdough; a little whole wheat, and more raisins.
As pretty as swirl bread is, I really don't like when there is a huge gap in the slice -- known as shelling. So instead of sprinkling on the raisins and cinnamon when rolling up, we added them directly to the dough.
Nom nom nom.

long-overdue dance dress redo!

There was this beautiful tulle with gold flower spangles. Is it washable, I asked Spandex House. "For $3 a 60" yd?", he shrugged. Point. On the way to the cashier I picked up exactly-matching spandex, how often does that happen in such an off-beat color?
Not proud to say that I relied on squinted-at pix of patterns to make the first one, and it came out a good bit too small. K gamely squeezed into it anyway for her birthday ballet class last year, but you can tell that it's poorly fitted. (with bonus big brother photobomb, and crazed faces from both.)

It's taken 8 months for me to redo this; at first I thought to just add material at the seams of the wrap-style bodice, but eventually I figured out that I had enough of the spandex to make a whole new leotard with three-quarter sleeves (because she says she's cold in class sometimes), and a much fuller skirt with the rest of the spangly tulle.  I actually had to work a bit to pick off some of the flowers to put on the neckline, so I'm confident they'll stay on in the wash... 

It's only when they're put together that you can see how long it's taken me to do this!! It was a great success, and she wore it proudly to dance class the next day.

dance school barter, or everything is beautiful at...

January was crunch time for sewing, as my trade for free dance lessons for Franny in exchange for repairing, altering or embellishing costumes for the dance school comes due. This year they had a lovely Storybook Ballet, with two performances featuring all ages of the students.
I didn't get pix of all my work, but this is everything: overlays and appliques for 15 classical pancake tutus (13 swans, and a surprise 4 bluebirds) and 2 french-style tutus (foxes), and appliques for 6 purple, 12 green and 14 pink long/romantic-style tutus.

belated Halloween costume post 2

Cinderella dress made from flannel-backed satin with a sheer overlay. This was overdue from the year of Katrina! Made ahead for her best friend's costume party in early October. I had the most fun with the long gloves!

Ninja outfit in super-comfy black cotton knit. I made the pants from an old pair of mine about a year ago, but the top part is actually a hack of a crossover top pattern for girls; I didn't want to make an actual wrap because these are intended to double as pajamas afterward. 
I winged the mask and it totally didn't work the first time; after he tried it on I sewed the part on the forehead and that actually made it functional. It needed to be longer, but since this was literally the morning of the parade, that didn't happen. But yes, doesn't it look funny to have that much skin between the top and the mask! By peer consensus he won for most ninja-looking of four in his grade. :D