Send in the Clowns

Like many other mothers, I can easily say that my inspiration for pretty much everything I do is my children. The memories I want to make with them. The life I want to give them. One of my earliest memories is when my Aunt Cindy made me a clown cake for my 2nd or 3^rd birthday. I remember the way the kitchen smelled as it was baking, I remember how the frosting decorated those little clowns perched on the cake and the feel of the little plastic balloons. I remember feeling so loved and special that something that had taken so much time and energy was made especially for me. I remember the anticipation bubbling waiting for it to be done. I also remember crying hysterically when it was time to cut my beautiful clown cake because I didn’t want it to end, knowing if we cut it and ate it, it would be gone forever.

Jane currently gets a lot of the spotlight here in my blog. Sweet Jane’s is named after her and she spends a lot of time with me in the kitchen as her brother is away at school all day. But, Thomas was truly my initial inspiration to start making cakes that were above and beyond a box mix and a can of frosting. That boy carries with him my heart, he made me a mother and he is one of the greatest gifts I have been given. He is something unique and hilarious and refreshingly unafraid to be an individual. I started out by wanting to give him a special birthday cake like I had, a cake that made him feel as special as he deserved to feel, one that he would look back on fondly with all his senses. This started my tradition of creating elaborate cakes per my children’s heart desires on their birthday. My cakes have certainly improved over the years which are aided by having a better understanding of the art and better supplies to go along with it. The goal was and is to create a tradition, to build the anticipation of the day that celebrates them, to show them in a tangible way that I am willing to try anything for them and hopefully give them a memory they can look back on and say “my mom made me the best cakes for my birthday.”  

Even though Thomas loves eating my creations, he generally is not interested in helping me in the kitchen. He is a miniature version of his father and the two of them often work in cahoots to sneak in and steal a finger full of frosting and then run out of the kitchen to do whatever it is boys do. Jane on the other hand, has the baking bug just like her mama. As soon as she sees me pull the Kitchen Aid out, she runs to the dining room yelling “my chair, my chair” and she pushes it over to the counter to climb on up and help. I would be lying if I said that I haven’t shed tears more than once when I look over at her little body standing tip-toe on the chair peeking over into the mixer and watching it swirl the batter around. These are the moments that make life special. These fleeting moments of mother and daughter baking together side by side that will someday be just a memory. I hope she never outgrows wanting to help me, I hope that I will always have her as my assistant. I hope that someday she can look back on these days of us together in our tiny kitchen with as much joy as I can. Life moves so fast and fades so quickly, moments created are soon memories, mostly forgotten and sometimes gone forever like my dismantled clown cake. I sure do hope these are the ones that last forever.

Has Cake Will Travel

   Tomorrow I will make my pilgrimage back to my Motherland! Yes I will make the trek from Buffalo to Perrysburg OH, traveling 4 and ½ hours through hills, cities, farmlands and fields. I will sustain myself on Chick Filet in Erie PA and a Starbucks latte at the rest stop right outside of Cleveland as is my tradition. But this time, my friends, I will do it with a chocolate cake as my passenger - I sure hope we both make it there safe!

   Going back home to spend a weekend with my best friend Janine is definitely on my list of the top 5 things that are good for my soul. I have pretty much a 2 month maximum that I can go without seeing her before I need a fix. We have been best friends since 5^th grade and we know each other inside and out as best girlfriends tend to do. I think any woman can attest that there are few better feelings than quality time spent with your best childhood friend. Usually our weekends are spent talking obnoxiously over everyone else in the room, drinking and drunk hugging and thusly being hung over and eating. Ah what glorious weekends these get-togethers are! Besides the obligatory boozing that will commence there is another reason for my visit. I get to check out Janine and her new husband Ben’s new house that they have recently moved into and have been busting their behinds on. I can’t wait to see it and I am sure it will be beautiful and I will be jealous and want to move in! J For this reason I decided that I would travel with a cake to congratulate them on their new home. It turned out super cute and I am pretty sure it will be the most delicious cake I have ever made. It is a seriously decadent chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse filling decorated in yellow and white butter cream. On the top it says “Congratulations Ben & Janine and I made a key with a bow tied on it out of fondant resting on it. I want to take a picture of it to put on Sweet Jane’s FB page but I don’t want to ruin the surprise so I will have to post the picture after the weekend is up.

  I’ve never traveled by myself for hours with a cake so I am really nervous that it is going to make it there in its current condition. At the very least I can rest assure that I will be able to sustain myself on it if I get stuck in a snowstorm! Wish me luck!

Snow Angels

    For someone that often complains about being cold, I do really love winter. I am a homebody by nature and I feel far less guilt for not leaving the house on a winter day than I do on a sunshiny summery day. Winter means soup and lager and forgiving layers of clothes-all things after my own heart’s desire. Yesterday we took the kids sledding at Chestnut Ridge State Park and I realized that I have regressed in the bravery department as I have gotten older, or most likely I just no longer have that childhood sense of invisibility. Every time I sent a child down the hill, I help my breathe waiting for the fall, the blood, the tears, the broken bones. Of course it never happened, they had a fabulous time. Jane squealed “wee wee wee” (like a little pig!) through her whole descent and Thomas was mostly concerned with making sure he beat Isabell to the bottom. Isabell was given permission to try out the age 13 and up hill and almost chickened out until her father and I gave her the little push she needed (not figuratively, we literally pushed her down the hill.) Parents of the Year! Today I bundled up the littles and took them outside to play in the snow and the fresh air. Thomas got a snowball maker for Christmas which worked awesomely and we all had fun throwing snowballs into the air and at our little jack russell Zoe who was obsessed with jumping to catch and break them in her mouth. I taught Jane to make snow angels and she spent the majority of the morning making them and eating snow off her mittens. I asked the kids what would we have to do to survive if we lived outside in weather like this and Thomas, my little nature lover, immediately advised we would need a fire, animal pelts to use as blankets and squirrels to eat. Blech!  I’ll stick with indoor life (and that soup and dark beer that comes with it!)

   I haven’t baked anything for the past couple days and I am really getting the itch to! I have quite a few things I want to work on but ingredients are expensive and I can’t spend my entire paycheck on butter and cake flour! So, I am trying to resist the urge to bake unless it is for an actual purpose. I am going out of town to visit my best friend in all the world Janine this weekend and I am planning on making a chocolate cake to bring with me as a housewarming gift since her and her new husband Ben are just getting settled into their new home. I also have to work on my plan I have mentioned for Valentines Day but I feel like I can slack on that for at least a week. I finally figured out how to accept payments via PayPal so I hope that will help to make my Valentines Day plan a success.  Even though I do enjoy being in the house as I said, I am really happy that I got outside the past two days with the family. Breathing in cold winter air is really revitalizing and gives me a lot of clarity and I sure do need that as I try to navigate this new venture in the many days ahead.

The Little Baker Who Could

     Today has been my favorite kind of day- cold on the outside and warm on the inside; meaning it's blustery cold outside and my behind was happy to stay warm and cozy inside all day! Thomas is home from school nice and safe (which I was a little worried about since the roads are not great,) and I am content with all my birds in the nest, enjoying a gigantic cup of coffee. I sliced up some strawberries for the littles and they are entertaining themselves in the living room while I sneak a moment on the computer. (We'll see how long this lasts!) Today I made a very pretty 2-tiered cake wrapped in white fondant with lavender accents and a lavender fondant bow on top, it is almost too pretty to eat.....but I'm sure we'll muster through somehow. Gah I seriously want to just make cakes all day long! I am obsessed! If I'm not doing it, I'm thinking about it and if I'm not thinking about it, I'm dreaming about it!
      My house, I realized today as I looked around, has been woefully neglected  as it's upkeep has fallen to the wayside this week. I just finally put the clean laundry away that has been sitting in the baskets all week in order to fill them right back up with the dirty laundry I had been piling in our bedroom. I also could not take one more day of Tom looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes when he came home to realize I had not made anything for dinner besides frosting! So, I threw him a bone and put a pork roast in this morning that has been cooking on low all day and smells ah-mazing! And here is a tip- if you are ever out of super glue, just make a batch of royal icing! Wowza's that stuff dries hard and it really is not an awesome time trying to scrape it off your cupboards. Note to self: "Courtney CLEAN AS YOU GO!!" 
      Today my dear friend Pat hired me for two more jobs. My weekends are filling up fast and I love it! I hope that I can keep this momentum going because I really really really want to do this. I mean sure it is not NEARLY as exciting as my insurance job ;) but it just brings me so much satisfaction. I am praying to the depth of my soul that I can make this work. Self doubt sure is an ugly beast that finds a way to worm itself right in there, I'm trying my best to push past those feelings and believe in myself. I think I can...I think I can..I think I can...

Winter Blues or Tiffany Blue

            Wow this weather is crazy huh? Usually by this time of year I am cursing living in Buffalo and the salt on my boots, the wet tattered cuffs of my pants and my crazy windblown static-cling hair that comes along with it. Today I took Jane to music class and didn’t even wear a coat. In mid-January! Best.winter.ever. This, combined with all the lovely glowy feelings I’m having over the cake shop and I am over the moon (and probably annoying to be around.)

I got another request today to do a tiered cake for a little girl’s first birthday. I am so excited to create these flowery, feminine things! Today I made an adorable Tiffany blue cupcake with a white gum paste bow, which turned out beautifully and tasted awesome when I gulped it down (in the bathroom…hiding from Jane… so I didn’t have to share it.) Am I the only mom that sneaks treats into the bathroom so she doesn’t have to share with her kids? I feel like more of us are doing this than maybe we care to admit. J I also think I perfected my sponge recipe (it was Tom approved!) These requests for tiered cakes had me inspired so I made a couple layers of the sponge so I can stack and frost it tomorrow. I think I am going to try a couple fillings I have wanted to try out as well. I’ll, of course, post the results. I probably should just go get a gym membership now, if I keep up with all this taste testing and I am going to have to roll myself out of the kitchen.

Many many thanks to those that “liked” my FB page today, getting up to 50 was a big deal for me, I think I’ll have some cake LOL.

A site is born

You know I have never been the type to take anything lightly, pretty much any time I have decided to do something I go for it 100%. Apparently the launch of Sweet Jane’s is no different, I am on fire! In just a few measly days I have created a FB page, advertised (and drummed up a substantial amount of business,) ordered business cards, started this lovely blog, and have begun to work on my website! I’ve also discovered that creating the aforementioned website is way above my payscale! I am not tech-savy AT ALL, and it is all seriously Greek to me. Thank Baby Jesus my husband Tom is a techie, because I have convinced him he must help me this weekend. (I think a 6-pack may be in order.) www.sweetjanescakery.com should be here soon! Even though it is just a homepage at this point with pretty much zero content, I am obsessed with clicking on that link with MY name on it and seeing MY website pop up! Ah, sweet simple gratification!

In baking news I picked up the class schedule for a fondant and gum paste class I have wanted to take and will probably go register for it tomorrow. Once thing I love about cake design and baking in general is that there is always something new to learn and I want to know it all!! I am working on creating and staging pictures for a Valentines Day cupcake pack that I will be advertising soon. Who wouldn’t want a variety of delicious cupcakes delivered to them on Valentines Day from their secret admirer? I certainly would, (so much better than boring old flowers and a much better deal too!) Little Miss Jane (my 2 year old assistant and muse) helped me to make some jumbo vanilla spongecake cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes today. The first two varieties turned out lovely, the chocolate were a disaster (I think I added too many of one of my secret ingredients) and went in the trash. Ah well live and learn, mistakes will be made, especially with a business partner that can’t see over the counter. J

The first day of the rest of my life....

Today was a huge day for me. It was the day I decided to take a secret that has been burning inside of me and share it with the world. I told people I want to make cakes, and that I want make them for other people, and that I want them to buy them from me. Gulp! I have felt in my heart for a long time that this is my calling and of course Oprah told us that if you do what you love you will be successful. Nonetheless, it is a scary prospect to assume your creative outlet is good enough that other people will pay you for it. So with my New Year resolution drilled fresh into my mind “pursue your dreams,” I posted a little post on Face Book that I was looking to start a business. The feedback that I got was overwhelming and I am so honored to have such great friends that would say the simple words “I need a cake,” and help my dream to take flight. Right now I have a million things floating through my brain; fondant, website, gum paste, business cards, butter cream…I feel ready to burst, but it is a good good feeling.

I hope I can use this blog to share my voyage into the unknown with my friends and (hopefully) customers. I am constantly learning and trying to improve upon my last endeavor. Some of my cakes have been so good they have brought a tear to my eye and some have been so utterly craptastic they have brought a lot more tears! This isn’t just a blog to promote a business so I hope to share some personal stories and thoughts as well and welcome you along for the ride!