the dragon cake

i love the idea behind these cakes - cool designs from regular pans. the dragon requires 2, 9 inch round pans. and if you don't have them, you should just go out and buy some. i had to, and i spent $7 on each (baker's secret brand) and they are excellent quality for the price.

i didn't get a good picture with the sparklers - we add them for the fire-breathing part.

we modified the tail pieces to make it look like this. much better, i thought.


we (i say "we" because mike was totally into the candy placement, and he made the wings) used fruit roll ups for wings, and because it was saturday evening on easter weekend when i decided to make the dragon, i had to call around to find those fruit roll ups. that's the perils of living in a small town - stores are actually closed on holidays. good thing we keep a steady supply of jelly beans and hershey bars.

matthew's cake

although i would normally make the cake from scratch, i didn't this time because you can't beat a $2 cake mix when you're slightly hungover from a night of drinking too much red wine and spending too much money (re: du banquet).

i got the inspiration for this very simple cake design from a book of cakes that my mother-in-law inherited from her mother. in total there about a dozen different cakes you can make, here's the penguin cake my mom and i did for his first birthday:

made from 2, 9x13 cakes

matthew's current obsession are cows so i came up with a cow-like design for him. in the end, he honestly wasn't that impressed... his cow card he received from his nana and poppa was a much bigger hit than the actual cow cake. a little disappointing, but i get points for the cake none the less. and for the record this was only the second time i have ever decorated a cake, i know i can do a better job next time.

sorry for the blurriness

iced using my grandma's icing tools, circa 1950.
she still had the price tag on it, it was 49 cents.

i'm not sure if the trip to the store specifically
for the licorice tail was worth it. but there you have it.

moral of this story? never rent or buy a fancy cake pan again!