I Am My Father's Daughter

Today is Father's Day.....so instead of highlighting the cakes that I made in honor of the occasion, I'd like to give you a peek at the man behind the blue eyes .....the man I once called "Dad".

I inherited his sense of humor. Some times he told the same corny jokes over and over...most of the time just to see me roll my eyes and say, "Da-a-a-a-ad".

When we were kids, one of his favorite sayings was "Cheese and Crackers" in lieu of swearing and using something equally profane. We always knew he really wanted to let one rip.....but he never did. At least not in front of us.

He loved to go out to eat. LOVED IT. Didn't matter where it was, he just loved the experience of dining someplace other than home.

He was always on time. Never late for anything. Ever. You could set your clock by him.

He was adventurous. For me, the highlight of our Thanksgiving trip to Disney World in 1999, was sitting next to my dad on the Tower of Terror and Space Mountain. At the time, he was 71 years old but out-yelled everyone else on the ride and he loved every minute of it.

He was spontaneous....but then again...so am I. I had owned several boats, each one a little larger than the one before. There was the 18 footer, then the 20 footer.....and then there was "the" boat. He found it. I loved it. It was a big boat, so we both signed for it. All 26 feet of it.

Although he loved it, he never drove it. He left that entirely up to me. As we were pulling out of the Marina one day, headed for Boston Harbor, he grinned and said, "I can't believe this"...."I've always wanted to do this....and here we are.....we're on our boat....we're really doing it......I can't believe it".

...and then there was that late summer day in 1996 when we drove past a used car lot on Cape Cod. We both saw the little maroon Mercedes-Benz convertible at the same time. My dad started grinning even as he was turning the car around to go back for a closer look. He got the keys from the salesman and we both jumped in for a quick test drive around the Hyannis rotary. It was a cranberry-red 1973 350SL two-seater convertible with 96,000 miles on it. Not bad for being 23 years old. We were only in the car about 30 seconds and as my dad smoothly shifted into third gear, he gave me a sidelong glance and said, "What do you think?" I grinned and said, "What do I think?..... Are you crazy?.....It's awesome.....just get it!" . That was all he needed to hear. We drove back to the lot, he left a deposit and we returned the next day to pick up the car. My dad smiled ear to ear all the way home.

When she heard the news, my practical sister Kathy was horrified. "Didn't you have the car checked out by a mechanic?", "Do you know what the Blue Book value is?", "How do you know it's not going to break down tomorrow?". My dad was too star-struck to listen to her concerns, besides.....he had me. I always backed up any and all of his impulsive decisions. Like the Healthrider....and his contact lenses. Let's not talk about that one. We encouraged each other....not a good thing all of the time. You see, my father had one daughter who was and still is extremely practical, consistent, excellent with money,...in short, rarely colors outside the lines. Then there's the daughter who has always taken the road less traveled. She is spontaneous, compulsive, owns way too many shoes and colors outside the lines ALL THE TIME. He had the best of both worlds. Now....guess which one I am??

I love this shot. It was taken on the steps of my house when I lived on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. My father came to visit for a long weekend and fell in love with the island. It was only two streets away from the beach and you could smell the salty air from every room in the house. (Sigh) I loved it there.

And then, Cameron came along. Cam is Kathy's oldest and the only grandchild that was lucky enough to meet my father. The world came to a screeching halt when Cameron was around. All he had to do was point to something and my father got it for him.

Although he wasn't the best at recalling a name, he remembered everyone he'd ever met. He was always there to pick me up and dust me off...and he did it unconditionally...too many times to count. We lost him suddenly to a stroke in February 2001 and there isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of him. And miss him. And wish that I could just sit down and have another cup of coffee with him.

Just one more cup.

Maybe with a piece of cake.

So tell me.......did you hug your Dad today?

B.C. High or Bust!

My latest adventure in cake started when my cousin Regina asked me to make "the cake" for her son Andrew's high school graduation party. Since she was expecting about 100 people, the cake had to be big and beautiful. I wanted a certain percentage of the "Wow" factor too ....so even before I started sketching it out, I started stacking pans just to get an idea of how tall I wanted it. I started with only two large ones, then I just kept adding.............and adding.

The colors of Boston College High are maroon and gold, but since those colors together make me shudder (reminds me of a wound), I exercised my artistic license and tweaked the colors "just a bit". I usually order fondant from a commercial bakery supply, but because this was such a big cake I also made a couple of batches from scratch as a back-up. I think I've said before that I'm not a fan of fondant. Athough it tastes like marshmallow, I've always thought it was sort of rubbery. I am usually the one who peels the fondant off the cake before it. So given a choice, I'd choose buttercream everytime. Until now.

The home made fondant is pretty tasty. I mean you wouldn't want to make a meal of it or anything, but overall....it's not bad. It's loaded with confectioner's sugar, glucose and corn syrup of course, but it had a more delicate texture than the commercial brands, AND it tastes so much better. I like it. It's a little messy to make because the corn syrup sticks to everything. In fact, my flip-flops are still stuck to the floor under my computer table but I'm considering this a good thing because now I will always know where they are. Seriously, the recipe is really easy, but you definitely need a heavy duty mixer. Don't even think about making rolled fondant without one......unless Superman drops in to help you mix it up. Once the fondant is smooth and pliable, it's wrapped up in Saran Wrap and left to rest on the counter for at least 12 hours. Do not EVER refrigerate fondant. Even though you'll be tempted to do it. Don't. A fondant-covered cake actually seals out all the air and moisture and can be left (lightly covered with Saran Wrap) in a cool, dry place for up to 4 days. So there.

Along with Andrew's name and class year on the cake, Regina also wanted me to recognize Andrew's recent Eagle Scout achievement. She emailed me a link to a particular eagle she found amusing and asked if I could use it as a starting point.

As you can see, the figure is very comical and I loved it! Because I wanted to make the eagle bigger and sitting beside the cake as opposed to smaller and sitting on the cake, I knew there would be some "engineering" issues. If I made it entirely out of fondant, it would have taken from now until Christmas to dry out. I needed a "moldable" medium. Enter Rice Krispie Treats....(or a Whole Foods comparable facsimile because I didn't want to drive any further to Stop & Shop).

I loved these things as a kid, didn't you?? My nephew just informed me that for his birthday in July, he would like an entire cake made out of Rice Krispie treats. What an easy gig.

Sweet.

Once the mixture cooled, I just reached right into the pot and grabbed a handful. Then I squeezed it and twisted it and compressed it into the beginnings of an eagle shape. Sort of.

Once I had the general structure, I refrigerated it overnight and the next day I covered it with chocolate fondant.

Next I rolled out pieces of chocolate fondant strips to shape into feathers.

Then I pressed them into the body of the eagle just to give the impression of tail feathers.

Eagle feet?? Hardly, right. Pssst! In the fondant world, we can get away with anything.

Next, I rolled out white fondant to cover the head. I left some extra on the sides to give the face some shape.

I'm gonna have nightmares about this one......it's a little too close to looking like something out of a Stephen King novel.

Although I have to admit...... this guy is a riot.

I actually made this almost a week prior to the event. Then it sat out on the counter, covered lightly with Saran Wrap so it could dry out and become nice and solid.

Okay, now for the cake. It would be a four tiered tower made up of decadent Devil's Food, rich Gold cake and Tahitian Coconut. The Devil's Food cake was a 14" round double layer filled with Chocolate Mousse Meringue, then comes a 12" Vanilla with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, the third is an 8" Coconut with flaked coconut buttercream and lastly, just because I hate odd numbers, the forth tier is a 6" Coconut Cake with Chocolate Ganache.

Thought you'd like to see just how stuffed my refrigerator was this week. I think I need to convert a closet in to a walk-in fridge like they have in restaurants. Wouldn't that be great??? Why don't they have those in homes?? I'd have one in mine in a minute, dang it. I don't have nearly enough counter space in my kitchen and my cabinets (the few I have) are chock full of baking supplies. Actually, if anyone knows of a contest with a complete kitchen give-a-way, sign me up because I want to GIVE MINE AWAY!

*My apologies for the quality of some of the photos in this post. They are usually much clearer and I know the white balance (yellow cast in some of the photos) is off by a country mile. I think I need another eye exam.

I used A LOT of fondant for this project. Actually, it was a total of 6 pounds of fondant. The cake construction consisted of two dozen eggs, 4 pounds of butter, 5 pounds of flour, two pounds of granulated sugar and (you better sit down for this) 10 pounds of confectioners sugar. Are your teeth aching yet??

Since this was a tiered cake, I used thick plastic tubes cut to the cake's height. The tubes are pushed into each cake so the next cake can be placed on top.

I usually keep a loose layer of Saran Wrap on the fondant-covered cakes until I'm ready to start working with them.

I just love animal stripes, don't you??

I used a rich chocolate ganache to pipe beading at the bottom of each cake.

I cut a mortarboard 8 x 8" to fit on top of the 6-inch cake at the top of the tier. I was afraid that the mortarboard would break enroute to the event, so I bolstered it underneath with a small piece of corregated cardboard.

Did I mention that my friend Julie asked me to be godmother to her new son Ryan, and both events coincided? (That baby is just the sweetest little thing!) So on the day of the graduation party, my sister Kathy offered to deliver the cake. I constructed a special "crate" with styrofoam pads and with the help of my friend Dawn, used additional dowels hammered through the cakes to secure all four tiers together. The dowels had to have a sharp point on one end (do you like to whittle?) in order for them to pass through layers of cake and cardboard. I had to stand on a stool to hammer them in.

I finished off the eagle by making him a well-deserved white fondant sash......isn't he cool?

After some internet research, I finished the bottom tier by piping the descriptives of Scout Law around the circumference of the cake.....trustworthy, loyal, kind, brave, reverent, clean, cheerful, thrifty, helpful, courteous and friendly. And since Andrew's favorite candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I arranged some mini's on fondant circles around the center tier.

At the eleventh hour I decided to add fondant stars suspended on each side of the cake with silver floral wire. I know, I know....it wasn't in the original plan. But you know me, that's just my rebel side popping out.

Kathy did a great job on the delivery. I think I'm going to hire her as my assistant. Since the cake weighed about 60 pounds, my brother-in-law John flexed his biceps and carried it singlehandedly into the function hall. The only obvious "wreckage" was that the tassle on the mortarboard broke off enroute.....but I replaced it as soon as I arrived at the party. I noticed that the fondant suffered through some temperature and humidity changes in the car, but all things considered, the cake was in one piece. So Regina was happy.......

Andrew was happy.....

....and I was happy.