Girl Scout Cupcakes

Saturday I delivered 100 (you heard me) cupcakes to the Girl Scouts of Ohio, Canal Winchester Brownie Troupe. My niece Emma is a member and my sister Kathleen is a co-leader. They had their Investiture and Rededication Ceremony for the new members and the returning members. Emma joined the Girl Scouts shortly before she became ill last year, so she was not able to go to her Investiture ceremony.

That's my Girl! I am so proud of you!

  I made vanilla cupcakes (dyed green) with chocolate buttercream and chocolate chip cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.

She is such a good helper!

I hope you all had a good weekend, no matter what you did!

Katie Jewell Becker Dedication

Well, well, well, Miss Katie Becker...we meet again. If you recall, I made the cake for the baby shower in your honor. This morning husband and I were invited to be at the dedication of Katie. It was a wonderful ceremony officiated by Liz Becker's fantastic father, Rev. Dr. Thomas R. Jewell, among others. Afterwards, we traveled to the Becker home to partake in some brunch yummyness (yes, it's a word!). I have to say, Liz and Sean, your families put out a terrific spread (Bloody Mary's and all!).



I was honored to be a part of the celebration by providing the treats at the end. Guests noshed on White Almond Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream, topped with flaked grey sea salt and Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream. They were a great end to a beautiful day...Thank you Sean and Liz!

By the way, if you are in the Columbus area and looking for a way to get involved in your community, take a look at the Furniture Bank of Central Ohio. Sean is a coordinator for them (you may recognize him from his recent TV appearance on NBC4 Columbus, with Cabot Rea). So many families moving from transitional housing into a house of their own are helped out by the Furniture Bank. They provide the basic necessities like tables, chairs, and couches among other pieces to people that are getting back on their feet. It is a wonderful organization that I have volunteered for in the past, and plan to do way more of in the future.
Please check out their website and "like" them on Facebook. You will be glad you did!

Happy Birthday Emma!

Last weekend, a birthday cake was made for a very special 9 year old. Her name is Emma Suzanne McDermott. You would look at her, and say, what makes her so special? Well, the fact that last year, we were not sure that her 9th birthday would even occur.

About 2 weeks before my wedding (married on 10/31/09), I received a call stating that Emma had been taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital. The squad had just beaten me to the ER. When they took me back, I could not believe my eyes. This tiny creature had been hooked up to every machine imaginable. We told her how brave she was, and that we were going to take her out for ice cream after the doctors looked her over. We told her how beautiful she was going to look as a flower girl in my wedding. Then the anesthesia kicked in and she was out. I would not hear her voice for a few weeks. Then various organs started shutting down. They put her on dialysis. We were told she wold be there for a while. The doctor sat us all down and said it would be a tough battle. She had an unknown infection and H1N1. He went on to say that as tough as it would be, as long as her brain was still communicating with the medical team, they could fix her, she would get thru this. Even with this, we still had that lingering voice in the back of all our heads. What if the unthinkable happened? We were told not to think this way, but it was pretty hard not to let that thought wander in that first week.  She was in PICU a few more weeks.

Then, she woke up....she was home before Christmas. What can I say, she was determined to see Santa.

Fast forward to last week. She was turning 9. She is a typical girl, and she is obsessed with Pokemon. So I made her this...

Chocolate cake with nutella buttercream. It was delightful, as was her party. That little girl means a lot to me. I will never let her forget that.
















Happy Birthday my love. Remember, as you get older, I hug harder.

It's been a while...

Oh my it has been a few weeks!

We have been keeping as busy as possible over here at i love cake. But, not busy enough to appreciate the beautiful weather here in Central Ohio. Although it has been pretty hot over the last few months (like, Texas hot), and over the last week it has cooled down so much, we could turn off the A/C. I think I see the leaves starting to change (*wishful thinking*). Fall is most assuredly on its way! I wanted to finally post the pictures of the cupcakes I made for Jake's birthday...I was told the birthday boy scarfed these down leaving nothing in his wake...could not have asked for a better compliment!

2 dzn cupcakes were made. Half were vanilla and the other half were lemon. All were covered with Swiss Meriunge Buttercream.

Thanks again Mandy and fam. 

Happy Birthday Jake!

On Sunday I delivered cupcakes for a very special Birthday Boy! Jake is the son of my wedding florist, Mandy. She is one of the most bubbly people I know. She is immensely talented and is very passionate about what she does. If you want to check out her work, head on over to Manor House Flowers, you will not be sorry!

Jake had a Dr Seuss theme birthday party. I wish I would have taken a picture of his play room. Horton, the Lorax, Blue Fish, Sam I Am...the list goes on and on. All painted around his room. It is just wonderful!!

Now on to the food (which I have no pictures of due to the fact that I baked at my parents house and forgot my camera Do'h!) I made 2 dozen cupcakes. 12 lemon, 12 vanilla, all with Swiss Meringue Buttercream (which I have to say, Martha Stewart screwed me again!! More on that in a later post). The buttercream was colored sky blue, red and some remained white. They were sprinkled with colorful disk sprinkles (who does not like sprinkles?!?). I tried a new lemon emulsion instead of extract for the lemon ones, I thought it was pretty tasty! I will have to wait for the official interpretation from Jakes parents.

Thank you Jake (and family!), I loved making the cupcakes and I hope you enjoyed eating them...or smashing them into your face...whichever came first!

I will have pictures as soon as I snag my parents camera and download them.

The Foray into Gob's

So last night I dove head first into making Gob's (also known as Whoopie Pies). I was really pleased with the results. Lovely cake disks surrounding a super creamy filling. They are just divine. I made chocolate pies with salty peanut butter filling. I lifted the recipe from Bakerella (which, if you have not ever been to her site, go now...it is just as awesome as the name). She got the recipe from the new book Whoopie Pies. I am telling you, if this recipe is just a small indication of the rest of the book, I am all over that sucker.

The whole reason I made said pies, was to thank a good friend, Lisa, for coming over and looking after the 2 furry monsters we have residing in our abode (AKA Snickers and The Scout). I wanted to bake something, but did not have the supplies on hand to make a whole cake, plus it was hella hot here last night! Lisa, I hope you like the pies, and thanks so much for watching the gang while we go to Cincy to enjoy some baseball.

On a whole other note, Lisa and her husband Gabriel just adopted a little fuzzy one of their own, by the name of Lacy. She is floppy, totally uncoordinated, she loves to hang with Snickers and Scout (a feat unto itself) and is about the biggest damn love you have ever met.

She is a pit bull rescue from one of the many pitty rescues in Ohio. While pittys may not be your cup of tea, there are so many animals are in need of good homes. If you can, seek out your local shelter when you are in the market for a new love of your life!

Until next time...

Happy Birthday Mark!

Yesterday I made the birthday cake for my good friend Bernie's husband, Mark. When I asked her what he liked the best, she said, Beer. Thus, I give you the keg. This was my first foray, if you will, into what I call imitation cakes. Cakes that are made to look like something else other than cake. I think it is a good first effort, and I learned some things from this cake.

It is 3 layers of Mexican Vanilla Bean cake with custard filling and chocolate buttercream (Bernie can really pick good flavors!) all is covered and decorated in homemade fondant. I have been tinkering with some new buttercream recipes, and i think I hit on a good one with this cake. I will have to wait to the final verdict from Bernie and Mark's 3 boys.


Thank you guys for letting me make this cake for you guys. I really hope you liked it!!

Thank You!!

Wow!!

The reaction to I Love Cake has been so very kind. Thank you to all who emailed me your wonderful words of encouragement. It means so very much to me. I have a few upcoming orders this month that I will share with you at later time, but for now, I am just going to enjoy the long holiday weekend.

Have a very happy and safe 4th of July!

Baby Flick

Last evening I was privileged enough to make a cake for the baby shower for my friend Rachel Flick (she also is a co-worker of mine). Her baby girl is due in just under 3 weeks! I had a blast making this cake. The nursery is being decorated in sheep, and pink...two of my favorite things. I modeled the sheep after the Aardman claymation characters Shaun the Sheep and his flock (of Wallace and Gromit fame). The top tier was red velvet with cream cheese buttercream, and the bottom was chocolate with whipped chocolate ganache. Both tiers were covered in homemade fondant. It has been very (VERY) warm here lately, so I did have a bit of a rough go with the fondant as it kept melting even with my A/C on.

Thank you, Rachel, I loved making this cake for you.

Baby Becker

Our good friends Sean and Elizabeth Becker are having a little offspring in July. I was fortunate enough to be able to make the cake for Elizabeth's baby shower a few weeks ago. The design was based off of the invitations that her mother Kay had created. Since the sex of the baby will be a surprise, the gender neutral theme of farm animals was chosen, and I think it was a fantastic theme.

Both tiers were the same flavor, lemon cake with homemade lemon curd with swiss meringue buttercreme. It was covered in homemade fondant.

Thank you so much for letting me be apart of your special day Elizabeth, I am so very happy for you and Sean. John and I cannot wait to meet the little one!!

Jeg elske kage.

Hello, my name is Michele, and I am a cake-a-holic.

Don't get me wrong, there have been the rare occasions that I felt like I might be a little sick of it. Yet, then I eat some and I fall in love all over again. Cake is a chameleon. It has the ability to change color, form, texture at a whim. It has the ability to make people so very happy even in the most dire of circumstances (divorce cake anyone?) It can be dense, sculpted, smashed, or made light as air. It just waits for you to tell it what you want.

I titled this blog Jeg elske kage, or I Love Cake in Danish as a tribute to my grandparents. My grandparents are my inspiration in all of this. My mothers parents passed away before I was born, however their legacy lived on thru my mother and now through me. I have the diploma for my Grandfather Clark from his bakery school. I have wonderful pictures of my Grandmother Pearl decorating massive wedding cakes (self taught) in the window of their shop, Schooler Bakery (pronounced shh-kool-er) in Santa Barbara, California. The bakery is no longer there, but the photos and stories from my mother will live in infamy. I hope to live to their high standards, and when I have children, they will know why I am so passionate about baking, and hopefully love baking as much as I do.

I am not a pastry chef by any means. I am just a girl with a whisk and a bowl waiting to make you a creation that you will love.