Max's iPad cake

My first born turned 8 on Wednesday and for the first time in four years, he didn't request a racetrack cake or some sort of New York Mets themed design. Nope, he's a big boy now and aimed much higher - my all-things-electronic-obsessed sweet boy requested an iPad cake, specifically an iPad2 cake, just like the one I have and rarely let him use.

As usual, photos taken by the world's best cake picture taker (and my husband) Doug Schneider.

Side by side with the real thing (realized after the fact that I should have changed my wall paper so it matched a little better, oh well!)

close up: the Facebook, foursquare, Photo and iPod buttons are my favorite

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though the NY area was in the middle of a crazy heat wave and his party was at a local swimming pool (at least 95 degrees in the shade!)  We kept the cake in the refrigerator as long as possible, but even after 5 minutes it started to look a little shiny and melty. But it was a lot of fun to make and I'd love to make another one soon!  The cake was vanilla bean with a layer of melted chocolate and chocolate and vanilla swirl buttercream (another request from the birthday boy). Cake covered in fondant and all the app buttons were hand made from gumpaste.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! I can't wait to find out what you've got in mind for next year's cake!

Update on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 1:52PM by Sara

Thanks to Brand 66 for the mention!

Mets! Mets! Mets!

Let me start by saying I am NOT a sports fan - not even a little bit. I seem to have lost the gene that makes me care about grown men (and women) hitting/throwing/chasing some sort of ball around a field/rink/court.

That said, my 7 yr old is a big sports fan, thanks to his sports fan father (the 3 yr old isn't that interested yet, but I'm sure his time will come), and after three years of race track cakes, decided his 7th birthday should feature his favorite baseball team, The New York Mets, and their mascot, Mr. Met.

But this wasn't a completely original idea. I made this cake a couple weeks before - totally edible (if not completely palatable) Mr. Met out of gumpaste. Cake was vanilla bean with vanilla buttercream, fondant baseball diamond.

The weather was warm and poor Mr. Met was in danger of toppling over a couple of times, and was very happy that I provided him with an extra stack of bases to keep him upright.

Since the summer was getting hotter and Mr. Met doesn't seem to respond well to hot weather (unless I was going for a "Sloppy Drunk Mr. Met" look) I "encouraged" Max to choose another type of Mr. Met cake - one that wouldn't involve lots of toothpicks and bases made out of gumpaste as props. The result was a 12" vanilla bean/vanilla buttercream Mr. Met head and hat. Fondant stripes in Mets colors on the sides of the cake.

(The NY on the hat was my favorite part of the cake!)

I realized after the fact that a real baseball doesn't have red lines underneath the stitching, but since I'm sure Max is going to request this cake a couple of more years, I'll have a chance to redeem myself:)

Finally, a friend who attended Max's party decided he also wanted a Mets cake for his birthday, but with a twist. Milo might be a bigger Mets fan than Max and his baseball party included "Milo" t-shirts in a Mets-type font for all the kids. I used that lettering and added it to the familiar Mets skyline logo and LOVE the result. Everything was cut out by hand and edible (gumpaste and fondant). Cake was 12" chocolate with chocolate buttercream.

Happy Summer!

Happy Birthday, Max!

First it was Mets/Max cupcakes for his kindergarten class, then Max requested a racetrack cake for his actual birthday party, held at a local slot car racing place.

I've had a lot of practice making racetrack cakes, because it's the exact same cake Max requested when he turned 4 and when he turned 5! So this is racetrack cake 3.0! Cake was a combo of vanilla bean and chocolate with vanilla buttercream. Track "dirt" made from crushed chocolate cookies, grass is buttercream, all other decorations made from gumpaste.

Racetrack cake, circa 2009

(thanks to Flickr user CakeJournal for the race car inspiration!)

Racetrack cake, circa 2008

Racetrack cake, circa 2007

My friend Mike Schneider (no relation) says at a good blog is all about video, so here goes!

Maxie's (or Mets) Cupcakes

My sweet Maxie (a non-cupcake lover/eater, imagine that) turned 6 on June 8 and today he got to celebrate with his kindergarten class. He's a huge Mets fan and requested baseballs with a M on them. Actually, what he originally asked for was "a big green wall on each cupcake, with a baseball flying over it," but since he wasn't a paying customer I steered him in the direction of a ball with an M on it:)

Max and I agreed that there may be some people in his class who aren't Mets fans, including his teacher, so we told everyone, it's M for Max OR for Mets.

The circles and Ms are made from gumpaste, and I painted on the stripes with some powdered orange food coloring mixed with vodka. Have been looking for a reason to use the striped liners I got last year at Surfas, and I think these are a perfect combo.

Ready for their trip to kindergarten

Max and Stella's cake

Max turned 5 on June 8 and one of his best friends Stella turns 5 on the 21st, so we decided to have a joint b-day party (I should add they go to school together and have almost all of the same friends.) Maxie's cake ideas ran the gamut from subway car, to race car, to Amtrak train, to (well, I guess his ideas weren't that broad!) Finally he decided on a racetrack cake, which just so happens to be the same cake he wanted last year, for his 4th birthday. Perfect! Again with the cobbler's children thing, I didn't have a ton of time to get things together and make a new completely original cake, so I was very happy.

Same size - two 9-inch layer cakes, chocolate and vanilla bean, with chocolate buttercream filling, outside was colored vanilla bean frosting and chocolate cookies for the dirt. Last years cake had green coconut for grass, which people loved, but I thought it made the whole thing look like a monster so I decided black/white stripes fit in better.

I think someone has photos of the cake in action, with flags, candles, etc, and I'll post them when I get them.

Stella's name was on the other side, also in orange.

The 9-inch layers pieced together

crumb coat - looks a little bit like boobs, I think

Lining up the circles