Node Kage / Musical Notes Cake

Min ældste datters bedste veninde fyldte 18 i går. Hendes mor ville gerne overraske hende med en kage, og spurgte om jeg kunne hjælpe, og det ville jeg jo hellere end gerne. Jeg måtte have hjælp fra min datter til valg af både fyld og tema, og da jeg snakkede med moren om, at det kunne være en ide, hvis kagen havde noget med musik at gøre, fortalte hun den sødeste historie: Hun plejede at synge Alberte's Månebarn for hende, da hun var lille, og sangen betød så meget for pigen, at hun overvejede at få lavet en tatovering, hvor der står Månebarn på. Jeg syntes, at historien var så sød, at vi på en eller anden måde måtte få det på kagen. Nu vidste jeg jo ikke, hvordan tatovering skulle se ud, så jeg valgte i stedet for, at pynte kagen med noderne til sangen - eller så meget af den, som jeg nu fik plads til på kagen:
My daughter's best friend turned 18 yesterday and her mother wanted to surprise her with a cake. I had to have my daughter help chose both fillings and theme, and when I talked to the mother about doing something music themed, she told me the sweetest story: She used to sing a lulabye called "Moonchild" (directly translated) for her when she was (a lot) younger, and the song meant so much to the girl, that she was considering having a tattoo made with the title. I thought it was so cute, that I had to get that on the cake somehow, but since I didn't know, what the tattoo would look like, I decide to just decorate the cake with the musical notes for the song - or as much of it, as I could fit on it:

Kagen var en Chokoladekage med Jordbærmousse og Chokorange Creme, smurt op med Chokolade Smørcreme og overtrukket med Wilton's fondant. Pynten er lavet af sort Pettinice fondant.
The cake was a Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Mousse and Chocolate-Orange Creme, coated with Chocolate Buttercream and covered in Wilton's fondant. The decorations were made using black Pettinice fondant.

Kurv med Julestrik Kage / Christmas Knitting Basket Cake

Ann-Britt's mor har fødselsdag juleaften, og da jeg i sin tid lavede min første Strikkurv, spurgte hun straks, om jeg ikke kunne lave en til den 23. dec for hende. Godt at hun spurgte tidligt, for ellers ville jeg være meget svær at overtale til at lave en kage så tæt på jul - da har jeg jo travlt nok med andet julehygge med familien. Selv om det var en fødselsdagsgave, måtte den også godt være julet, og det blev den så:
Ann-Britt's mother's birthday is on Christmas Eve (which is when we celebrate Christmas here in Denmark), and when I made my other knitting basket back in the day, she asked right away if I could make one for her to pick up on the 23rd. Good thing she asked early, since it would have been difficult to talk me into caking this close to Christmas, since I'm usually busy with the family, but this way it was planned for. Even though it was a birthday present, she wouldn't mind some Christmasy decorations, so that is what I did:

Kagen var en White Chocolate Mudcake (bagetid afhænger af størrelsen), med Chokolade Smørcreme og hakket Daim, smurt op med samme smørcreme (dog uden Daim) og pyntet med halv modelleringschokolade, halv fondant. Garnnøglerne er lavet af romkugledej og overtrukket med fondant.
The cake was a White Chocolate Mudcake with Chocolate Buttercream and chopped Daim (crunchy butter almond bar covered in milk chocolate), coated with the same buttercream (without the Daim) and decorated with half modelling chocolate/half fondant. The yarn was made as fondant-covered truffles.

Sidste gang jeg lavede kurven, lovede jeg at lave en how-to, og jeg har da også fået taget billeder af processen, men vi skal nok lige over juledagene, inden jeg har tid til at skrive den.
The last time I made the basket, I promised to make a How-To, and I did take lots of pictures, but the writing has to wait until after Christmas.

Sølvbryllup / 25th Wedding Anniversary Cake

En gang i mellem er det sjovt med de færinger (og det må jeg godt sige, når jeg nu selv er halv-færing). Så som når man står i Netto en lørdag aften og bliver spurgt, om man ikke lige kan lave en sølvbryllupskage til på onsdag - til 100 pers. Jeg har svært ved at forestille mig danskere, der ikke har styr på enhver lille detalje til sådan en stor fest 4 dage før den store dag. Tilgengæld var det slet ikke en katastrofe, hvis jeg ikke kunne, og der var tusindvis af andre kager planlagt også som ved alle færøske fester (måske jeg har overdrevet lidt), så vi blev enige om at "nøjes" med en kage i 3 lag til ca 60 personer - så har resterne nok også været lidt mere overskuelige. Kagen skulle bare have noget med sølv og 25, og så måtte de enkelte lag gerne indeholde forskelligt fyld:
Once in a while the Faroese people are quite funny (and I am allowed to say that as half-Faroese myself). Like when you are standing in the grocery store on a Saturday evening, and you are asked to do a 25th anniversary cake for Wednesday - serving 100 people. I have a hard time  imagining Danish people not having every single detail planned 4 days before such a big event. On the other hand, it wasn't a big problem if I couldn't do it, as there was already thousands of other cakes planned (sounds about average for a good Faroese party - slightly exaggerated maybe), so we agreed on a 3 tiered cake for about 60 people - that way the leftovers might be more managable as well :) The cake just had to have something with silver and 25 on it, and preferably different fillings in each tier:

Det øverste lag bestod af Klassiske lagkagebunde med Blåbærmousse og Hvid Chokoladecreme m. Daim.
Andet lag bestod af Klassiske lagkagebunde med Hindbærmousse og Skildpaddecreme.
Nederste lag bestod af Chokoladekagebunde med Jordbærmousse og Mintchokoladecreme.
Alle lag var smurt op med Chokoladesmørcreme og overtrukket med Wilton's fondant. Al pynt var lavet af fondant og sukkerkugler.
The top tier consisted of Classic Sponge Layers with Blueberry Mousse and White Chocolatecreme with Daim (crunchy butter almond bar covered in milk chocolate).
The middle tier had Classic Sponge Layers with Raspberry Mousse and Caramel-Chocolate Creme.
The bottom tier consisted of Chocolate Cake layers with Strawberry Mousse and Mint-Chocolatecreme.
All tiers were coated in Chocolate Buttercream and covered with Wilton's fondant.
All decorations were made of fondant and sugarpearls.

Sort BMW Kage / Black BMW Cake

Ann-Britt skulle bruge en bilkage, og først troede jeg, at det var en McQueen kage igen, men det var (heldigvis - det er jo sjovere med noget nyt) en sort BMW kage, og da jeg spurgte om modellen, var det en E30, og så kom den til at se sådan her ud:
Ann-Britt needed a car cake, and at first I assumed it was another McQueen cake, but luckily it was a black BMW she needed (more fun to make a different cake), and when I asked about the model, it was an E30, so this is what I ended up with:

Kagen var en chokoladekage med Jordbærmousse og Chokorangecreme, smurt op med Chokolade Smørcreme og overtrukket med Wilton's fondant.
The cake was a Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Mousse and Chocolate-Orange Cream, coated with Chocolate Buttercream and covered in Wilton's fondant.

Her var inspirationen:
The inspiration:

Bryllups Overraskelse / Wedding Surprise

Det er altså ikke ofte, at man får lov til at lave en bryllupskage som en overraskelse, men brudens mor ville overraske hende med en bryllupskage, og den endte sådan her (undskyld dårlig billedkvalitet):
It isn't often that you get to make a wedding cake as a surprise, but this cake was made as a surprise from the bride's mother (sorry for the poor quality of the picture):

Kagen var færdig i allersidste øjeblik, så selvom jeg lige nåede at tage et billede hjemmefra, så var vinklen helt, helt forkert og på stedet fik jeg kun taget slørede billeder.... jeg burde ønske mig et kursus i julegave, men jeg bør nok opgradere kameraet først.
The cake was finished at the very last second, and even though I managed to get a picture at home, it was from a really, really bad angle and after delivery I only got blurry pictures... I probably should put photo lessons on my Christmas wishlist, but I really should upgrade the camera first.

Kagen bestod ellers af Klassiske lagkagebunde med Hindbær Mousse  og Hvid Chokoladecreme m. Daim, smurt op med IMBC og overtrukket med Wilton's fondant.
The cake was classic sponge layers with Raspberry Mousse and White Chocolate Cream with Daim (crunchy butter almond bar covered in milk chocolate), coated with IMBC and covered in Wilton's fondant.

Monster High 2

Malan skulle også lige have en lagkage. Designet var op til mig, men jeg syntes ligeså godt, jeg kunne holde mig til Monster High-temaet, så den endte sådan her:
Malan was also getting a layered cake. the design was up to me, but I figured I might as well stick to the Monster High theme, and this is what she got:

Kagen var Klassiske Lagkagebunde med Blåbærmousse og Hvid Chokoladecreme m. Daim, smurt op med Chokolade Smørcreme og overtrukket med Wilton's fondant.
The cake was classic sponge layers with Blueberry Mousse and White Chocolate Cream with Daim (crunchy butter almond bar covered in milk chocolate), coated with Chocolate Buttercream and covered in Wilton's fondant.

Her har jeg gået og troet, at en ruder-udstikker er et overflødigt værktøj, da man jo nemt kan lave dem selv, med kniv og lineal. Tjah, nemt og nemt - det ville da helt sikkert være meget tids-besparende med de udstikkere, men det var nu alligevel det hvide bånd, der tog 100 år at sætte fast på kagen - for en gangs skyld kunne jeg godt have tænkt mig, at kagen svedte, så jeg kunne slippe for at lime i hvert fald... Den var nu hyggelig at lave alligevel - bare ikke hurtig:)
Here I thought that diamond cutters were totally superfluous pieces of equipment, since you can make diamonds easily with a knife and ruler. Well, I wouldn't necessarily say easy anymore - at the very least, they would have been nice timesavers.  Still, it was the white lines that took the longest to put on the cake - for once, I wish the cake was sweating, so at least I could skip the gluing part... It was still a fun and easy (just not fast) cake to make :)