Christ in Christmas & Happy New Year!

Can you believe it? Today is January 12, 2009 just twelve days since the start of the new year and I am feeling like Christmas flew right by me in a flash. Let me see what I have done over the holiday…I baked cakes; baked more cakes; even more cakes; and still more cakes. Lately I am starting to look like I enjoy eating the cakes I bake. About  five or more pounds heavier plus an inch or two in places that are easily seen. My take on this is…if you bake delicious cakes it should show that you like to eat them too.

Now the cake I really wanted to do for Christmas dinner was the only cake I did not get to bake. Here is a picture of the cake I had for Christmas dinner (picture at right). It was an Buttermilk Yellow sheet cake covered with Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I love this buttercream – butter is the operative word here. Butter, lots of it!!) The figures on the cake I made following one of Lorraine McKay’s tutorial. It was so simple making the Christmas trees and Frosty the Snowman, I could hardly believe I was making them.

I really wanted to make a Coconut Cake with a  Nativity scene on the the cake and the words: “Happy Birthday Jesus!” on it. Well it seems like Frosty got top billing on the Christmas cake. Thank God, it’s Christ who made the “mass” possible. Although Frosty is on the cake, Henry and I made sure we kept Christ in Christmas by our love for Him and how we share it with the people we love and care for. Even if “Jesus” in not on the cake, He is in the right place with us—He is in our hearts!

Happy baking, and walk good ‘till next time.

Jeannie

A Friend – Sugar Character

Last week I got one of Lorraine McKay’s “The Icing on the Cake – Tutorial” to make the female character and was so excited I could hardly wait to download the file. I had to print it three times because my inkjet printer kept on jamming. Spent most of the night doing it and the picture here is what it looks like.  I even made the coffee and toast, plus painted the cup and plate! The hardest part of doing the figure was getting the facial features just right.

I have looked at so many of Lorraine’s tutorial and is just amazed at how talented she is. Her sharing what she knows is such a blessing, because I believe that’s how she gets better at what she does. Aine2, I’m a big fan!

Well, I did not stop with this figure. I made the snowman and Christmas trees! Saturday I made a bunch of carrot cakes and one especially for a friend using another figure I made.  As you will notice, her mouth was not as ladylike as I would have like. The cake I made as a sofa and placed it on a tiled surface (fondant and used a brick impression mat.

My girlfriend loves to invite me over to have tea and crackers and cheese. Here I placed the toast I made, plus a pot of roses because she is an avid gardener. The cake is a carrot cake covered with Swiss Meringue buttercream and white chocolate fondant.