Home Economics

One of the things that I love the most about making cakes is that I get to learn about different traditions and such. For example, I was asked to make a sporran cake. I never really thought about sporrans before, or knew they had a name. They are those pouches that are traditionally worn on top of a man’s kilt, as Sean Connery is wearing in the below picture:

I found some interesting things out about the sporran. Legend has it that their main function is to weigh down a man’s kilt, so it doesn’t blow up in the wind. Also, they used to be made out of weasel and badger heads. That’s pretty crazy. These days, there are all sorts of designs and styles available, and they are quite beautiful with lots of silver detailing and tassels and patterns. The cake I made was for a family gathering, so the front of the sporran cake featured the family name’s tartan (didn’t know that family names had different tartans, either!); and the family name featured amongst the silver detailing. Here are some photos of the cake coming together, enjoy!:

The licorice tassels were very exciting to me!!:

….and the finished piece:

As previously mentioned, the best store in Vancouver is The Regional Assembly of Text, and every August I have the pleasure of making the cake for their anniversary party.

For the 2009 fourth anniversary I went with another typewriter, complimenting the 2008 piece. Last years’ was a short, mint green Smith Corona with smartie keys. This year, the model was a handsome tall antique L.C. Smith & Bros:

This one involved a ton of detail, including rolos on mint-flavoured toothpicks (for after-cake use) for keys…

Of course, the cakewriter was typing up a well-wishing anniversary letter to the Assembly:

getting the cake there is always the worst part, but it made it….

….and had a lovely spot on the party table next to the Assembly’s iconic ‘punch bowl fountain’

and now for the best part, cutting the cake!!

everyone got to enjoy a piece of cake, each garnished with a rolo key

Thanksgiving 2009: the tradition continues. The meat cake tradition, that is (check out the inaugural cake here). This season, I went for a nice, big, glazed ham. Here is my recipe:

Step 1.
bake six red velvet cakes (always a crowd pleaser).

Step 2.
Stack ‘em, and stack ‘em high.

Step 3.
Cut into the shape of a large ham. Start getting the buttercream on there.

Step 4
Smooth out the ‘face’ of the skin. Insert a large marshmallow to act as the ham bone (if you think about it hard, this act is an act of ‘completing the circle’… in a really twisted reality). Add appropriate texture and white, ah, ’stuff’….

Step 5
add ‘outer’ skin texture to remaining body of ham

Step 6.
Don’t forget the cloves!!

Step 7.
Next, glaze the beast with melted caramel

Step 8.
Finish the ham with classic maraschino cherries as a garnish

The ham was a real crowd pleaser. As the tradition calls for, I carved slices for all.

…is a fabulous kids book illustrated and written by multi-talented Lisa Cinar. I was fortunate enough to collaborate with her on making a cake to celebrate the book launch! We did a cake shaped like the book’s main character, Mr. Tadaa. How can this guy not make you smile?

The launch, and the book (which went on to win a prestigious award!), were a big hit, although it was sad to cut up Mr. Tadaa and see him go! He went down OK, though

A while back, the lovely and talented Rebecca Chaperon had an opening at Little Mountain Gallery in the Vancouver neighborhood Mount Pleasant, and I had the pleasure of making a cake to celebrate the opening night. I went out of my comfort zone – and made something pretty for once. The feature image on the cake is a reproduction of one of Ms. Chaperon’s drawings, and the hand-piped detailing around the perimeter is of a pattern borrowed from the background of one of her works.

one of the most exciting design features of this cake was reserved for once it was cut…………..

The best store in Vancouver is The Regional Assembly of Text on Main Street. Go now.

Every August, they throw an anniversary party for their store. Since moving to Vancouver and meeting the lovely ladies that run the Assembly, I have had the pleasure of making their annual anniversary cake. For their 3rd anniversary, I made a classic Smith-Corona mint green typewriter:

………with Smartie keys

……and their coat of arms inscribed on the back

the cake was true-to-life scale of a real typewriter, allowing for good times photo-ops…..

The successful ladies cut their cake….