Santa's cup of cocoa

Every year it has become tradition that we spend Christmas Eve with hubby's family, we take turns hosting, and this year was at my sister-in-law Dona's place.  Great food, great company, great time. Christmas morning is brunch with my kids and grand kids at my place, (minus Mandy & Jon, last yr and this yr, but soon to be back) then a quiet day with hubby while the kids are off to visit in-laws.  Boxing Day which we dubbed "Boxmas" we spend with my side of the family, my sister, my brother and my 2 nephews and my niece-in-laws and great nephews,  with again great food, great company and a great time and always too much food over the course of 3 days!  I love Christmas!
Since the inception of MaryMel Cakes it's almost a given that a cake is in order to complete our Christmas celebrations.
This year browsing through the web I came across a very talented lady here in Ontario from Doodle Cakes. Her work is fun and very creative. I liked one of her Christmas creations and decided to try it out for Christmas Eve. I just modified it slightly.

Santa soaking in a hot mug of cocoa. The mug is made of 9" choc Guinness cake layered with vanilla mousse and choc ganache. Covered in fondant and the cocoa in the mug is also choc ganache.Santa is made from a mix of fondant/tylose. The steam is also a mix of fondant/tylose but next time I think I'll use gum paste for these as gum paste holds up better.

The cake went over well after dinner and was delicious if I do say so myself and so did everybody there think so.

Now for "Boxmas" we decided to get a little more creative on our own.  The cake we came up with reminded me of a "Sleeping Santa" that I bought for my Dad many years ago, only Santa was in bed and actually snored, very cute, my Dad loved that Santa. I had told him it reminded me of him.

Here Santa's napping after a long night's work;

On his couch, didn't make it to bed, poor Santa.  The back of the couch and the arm rests are made from Choc Guinness cake and the seat is vanilla cake both filled with cream cheese filling.  Santa's sack is a choc Guinness cupcake wrapped in fondant. Like the previous Santa, this Santa is also made from a mix of fondant/tylose. The tree is fondant wrapped around an ice cream cone and embellished with dragees and non edible crystals.

With all the hard work Santa did he seems to have put a hole in sock, Mrs Claus has a little mending to do, lol.

A job well done Santa!  You deserve the rest, see you next year!  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Sweet 16 gala

Last week we made a yummy cake for Vanessa who's 16th birthday was on the 10th, but last night she celebrated her Sweet 16 in style at Le Jardin and we were delighted to help make her celebration more memorable.  The cake Vanessa and her mom decided on was to have 6 cakes displayed in a very traditional style.  We gave her a modern twist on this traditional setting.

The picture was taken at the venue as it all had to be set up there.  Her cakes consisted of  1 14" vanilla cake with lilac tinted vanilla mousse, 1 - 12" choc Guinness with Bailey's cream, 1 10" lemon cake with lemon curd, and 2 10" red velvet with cream cheese.  The 8" topper was a dummy cake as requested by Vanessa as she wanted to keep it as a memento along with the Sweet 16 doll on top.  The doll was provided by Vanessa's mom.  Vanessa held court of 8 girls and 8 guys which are depicted on the stairs.

All flowers were made from gum paste and dusted in various tones of lilac and purples. Each cake was covered in white fondant and we added a little purple food colouring in the fountain water.

We wish Vanessa all the best in future years.  This was a lot of fun to make and put together for her and we hope Vanessa and her guests enjoyed her cakes.

Happy Sweet 16 Vanessa!

Tis the season!

This cake is a repeat of a couple of years ago when we made our 1st "Santa's stuck" cake.  Mel and her hubby were attending a company's 1st annual Christmas party this past Saturday and this was Mel's contribution to the desserts. Since kids were also attending we thought "Santa's Stuck" would be a big hit.

The cake is a 9" chocolate Guinness cake with alternating layers of vanilla mousse and chocolate ganache. The brick work is created by textured choc fondant cut into brick sizes and filled in with butter cream for the mortar. The top part of the chimney is created by putting 2 cupcakes together. Vanilla fondant is used for the snow caps and a little white sprinkles resembling snow was added for shimmer.  The company logo done is by an edible printer. Santa's legs & boots are made from fondant.

I heard from a reliable source that the cake was a great success and they are looking forward to the next cake we will create for their next function.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

For the birthday boy

Last week we were recommended by a Valleywood neighbour to Jennifer who called and asked if we could make a cake for a surprise birthday party she was throwing for her husband. She didn't say if it was a milestone or not but a birthday non the less.  She specified that her husband would be intrigued by a "Boob" cake and requested that it be decorated in black & hot pink.  She also asked if we could give the boobs a tattoo with her husband's initials.

We apologize if it's a little riske, but we promise it was for an all adult crowd. The boobs were made from 8" 1/2 rounds and since there are 2 we always love to give a little variety.  One is choc cake with a hint of coffee with a baileys cream filling, the other is a vanilla cake with an Oreo cream cheese filling.  Placed on a heart board and covered in skin tone fondant along with the board. The corset is textured black fondant with luster dust and hot pink laces.  We finished her off with a heart tattoo with the birthday boy's initials and gave her a little bling by adding silver chain with rhinestone pendant.

We wish the birthday boy all the best on his special day and hope he enjoyed his cake.  We wish many more wonderful years ahead.

Sweet 16

This past week was a busy one for us. We received a call regarding a sweet 16 cake that is for next Saturday the 17th of December. It seems that the person who was to make this special cake became unavailable to do so.  Vanessa, the sweet 16 and her mom came by to see me and ask if we could help celebrate this momentous occasion.  Mel & I were only too happy to accommodate.  There will be pictures and further postings on the cake next week.  In the meantime, Vanessa's actual birthday was this past Saturday, the 10th of December and her mom asked if could make just a small birthday cake for immediate family and her closest friends.  Vanessa's favourite colour is purple/lilac.  We had a little fun with the colours and made 8" hexagon vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream tinted lilac.  Here's a look at Vanessa's cake;

Happy Sweet 16 Vanessa!

Hope you enjoyed this cake and we

can't wait

to deliver your special cake next week.

United Way Sale-a-bration

Our dear friend Lisa who works for Region of Peel invited us to participate in their annual "Sale-a-bration" which is a wonderful showing of beautiful crafts, goodies and the likes from local vendors put together to raise money for the United Way which was held on December 1st from 10am to 3pm at 10 Peel Centre Dr.  Lisa is one of the people who put this event together and we were thrilled to be a part of it this year.  Not only did we make wonderful new friends we were able to buy some great gifts for Christmas, support local vendors and the "United Way" which help many.
As MaryMel Cakes we provided a taste of what MaryMel is all about. Since we couldn't very well make cakes for the showing we brought our wonderful flavours through cup cakes and our decorated sugar/shortbread Christmas cookies and we displayed pictures of our cakes for everyone to browse through.  Here's a look at a few of our goodies made for the event;

our melting snowman
and of course the pic was taken before
we actually finished him, he's missing
the holly on his hat, hehe

Can't forget Santa (though pic was taken before Mel finished his belt)

his gold belt buckle is missing, oh well

Our cookies were a mix of sugar cookies and shortbread cookies all were decorated with fondant, cookie and cake sprinkles, luster dust etc.  Unfortunately mostly everyone did not get a chance to see our "melting snowmen" and "star Santa" cookies as a very nice lady came in just before 10am and bought all of our "melting snowmen" and "star Santa's" and a few more of our other designs which included "snowflakes, trees, stockings, wreaths, bells and ornaments". Thank you!!!

A look at a few of our cookies

Here's a look at a few of the cupcakes. We made 7 flavours to choose from, a little something for everyone and of course everything we make is "NUT FREE";

Chocolate Guinness / Bailey's cream frosting

Red Velvet / cream cheese frosting

Carrot / cream cheese frosting

Pumpkin Apple Spice / Carmel butter cream frosting

Vanilla / chocolate fudge butter cream frosting

Chocolate Vegan / Oreo vegan butter cream frosting

Raspberry orange gluten free / with orange butter cream frosting

 The day went well and we received great feedback on our cupcakes and cookies. Sold out of our chocolate Guinness and red velvet and went home with very little left.  It was a wonderful day and great experience for us.  Thank you Lisa for inviting us to participate and you can surely count us in for next year!

Farm Birthday Cake

Also required for this past weekend was a birthday cake for Dylan who was turning 6 years old. He wanted a farm cake with animals.  This was actually quite a fun cake to make. Mel tackled the animals and did a great jobs.

The barn was made up of 4 8" chocolate cakes stacked and filled with Oreo cream cheese filling. We covered the barn in red wood textured fondant and black fondant for the roof.  All the animals were made from fondant/tylose mix. The mud was created with brown coloured royal icing and blue tinted piping gel was used for the pond.  A bail of hay (made from fondant) was added and a little vegetable garden. Here are a few close ups of our farm animals.

The cake was picked up by Dylan's mom Mary (Jackson's daycare provider) and she loved the cake. She was sure Dylan would too!

Happy 6th Birthday Dylan!

4 tier wedding cake

This past week Mel & I were busy working on a wedding cake which was delivered Sat Nov 12th. The bride, Tiffany is a former colleague of Melissa's and asked if we could make her wedding cake. She wanted a 4 tier cake and the flowers were to be as close as possible to her table center pieces. Her center pieces were done in beautiful fresh flowers in different shades of red. The flowers included were roses, Calla lilies, daisies, ranunculus and hydrangea.

A 12" chocolate Guinness cake with chocolate ganache & vanilla mousse made up the base, a 10" red velvet cake with a cream cheese butter cream filling followed.  The bride wanted the 4 tier look but did not require all that cake so we decided to do the 8" as a dummy cake to achieve the look she wanted. The 6" top tier was their intention to freeze and enjoy on their 1st wedding anniversary.  The flavour for this tier came down to 2 options we offered; our yummy carrot cake with cream cheese butter cream or a pumpkin apple spice with a Carmel butter cream.  Decisions, decisions......they could not decide.......they asked us to make a decision on the flavour but to keep it a surprise for them so we can not reveal the flavour but I can assure you it will be worth the 1 year wait. 

Here are some more pictures of the cake which is covered in ivory fondant with ivory royal icing scroll work. The flowers and leaves are all made from gum paste and dusted in various shades of red. I think we definitely captured the look Tiffany wanted.

This is the arrangement on the top tier.

A few close ups of the flowers.

Mel and her hubby were guests at this wedding and the bride & groom absolutely loved the cake. At the end of the day our main objective is to make our client happy and we were honoured to have been able to be a part of their special day.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW LIFE TOGETHER!

40th Birthday

Our dear friend Mary, who by the way is Jackson's daycare provider, asked us to make a special cake for her husband Chis who is celebrating his 40th birthday.  As Chris apparently is a "boob" man, as Mary puts it, she asked if we could make him a pair. Since her kids and other family kiddies will be at the party we made the boobs a little conservative, well you be the judge;

We started with 2 - 1/2 rounds, with 1 vanilla cake filled with cream cheese butter cream and the other is our chocolate Guinness cake filled with an Oreo cream cheese butter cream.  We put them on a heart shaped board and covered the boobs and the board with skin tone fondant.  The bra is black fondant trimmed in red fondant flowers and white edible pearls.

Mary had given us the colours of choice being black & red. She also asked if we could give our boobs a little tattoo.  We painted a little butterfly with edible food colours and dusts.

We also decided to put another tattoo by her belly button, a "C" for Chris and added a little belly button jewelry, non edible crystals.  Mary came by to pick the cake up and loved it.  I'm sure Chris will have no problem taking a bite out of these, hahaha. 

Happy 40th Chris!

Enjoy!

Rock Star 1st Birthday

Mel & I had fun with this cake. My daughter Amanda's friend Aleah has a little one turning 1 years old. Rock Star is what little Johnny's parents call him and believe me he is a cutie and who knows one day he may be a rock star. Aleah called and asked if we could make a cake to help little Johnny celebrate his 1st birthday. Of course we were thrilled. The only criteria on this cake was that it has to be a gluten free cake, so Aleah can also enjoy some cake, and the colours chosen for the festivities are blue and silver.  The rest was left up to us so we thought we'd do a play on the "Rock Star" theme.  We started by making a yummy Gluten free orange dream cake, double layer 10"x10" filled it with a cream cheese butter cream with a hint of orange.  Then we covered the cake in a blue fondant, added a little silver here and there and.........well have a look at what we came up with;

The # 1 is made from gum paste with added blue glitter, the guitar is made from blue chocolate using a guitar mold,  with added fondant stars and a little glitter.  All other details are made from fondant.

Here's a close up of the guitar. It's hard to tell from the picture but we had brushed silver dust along the strings to make the guitar strings stand out and little dots of black fondant make up the knobs for the strings. The guitar is inserted into the cake with a lollipop stick.

And we even made a little star smash cake for Johnny to enjoy. This is a glutton free double layer star cupcake with the same cream cheese/orange butter cream filling and covered in butter cream icing. We added little star sprinkles and the "J" for Johnny is made from fondant.

Johnny's dad Chris came by today to pick up the cake and was thrilled with it. Said it fell right into the theme of the party, with stars, guitars, blue and silver.  I'm sure the party will be a big # 1 hit!

Happy 1st Birthday Johnny!

aka;  ROCK STAR!!

Whimsical Sweet 16

This cake was just delivered today for a Sweet 16 birthday party.  A previous customer and friend Mary, who's daughter turned Sweet 16 requested this cake for her party being held this evening.  The birthday girl had a vision of what she wanted for her cake.  Colourful and fun is the theme.

The colours, all chosen by Kaitlyn, are a reflection of her fun personality and colours being used for tonights gala.  The bottom tier represents the skirt of her dress which is hot pink lace over a leopard print skirt.

Kaitlyn's name on the bottom tier is made from gum paste as is the #16 on the top of the cake.  The bottom 2 tiers are red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream filling.  The top 2 tiers are dummy cakes (styrofoam forms) covered in fondant. They wanted the look of the full 4 tier topsy turvy but did not require all that cake.

All flowers and other details are made from fondant.  The colours chosen are lime green, hot pink and lilac. The leopard pattern was created by painting brown food colouring mixed with a little vodka on a cream coloured fondant base.  A little glitter was used to set off the flowers, #16 and Kaitlyn's name and a few little crystals were added for a little sparkle.  Mary loved the cake when she picked it up.  Let's hope we lived up to our birthday girl's expectation.

Happy Sweet 16 Kaitlyn!

may all your dreams come true!