Musikk og solskinn

Som jeg elsker musikk... Den er slik en stor del av livet, musikk er inspirasjon når jeg skaper noe, musikk får meg til å ville danse og synge selv om jeg ikke er spesielt god til noen av delene, musikk vekker noe mektig i sjelen. Jeg pleide å sovne til musikk omtrent fra det øyeblikket jeg fikk en kassettspiller med radio. Så drømte jeg meg bort med discman på en benk i skolegården på barneskolen, fikk cd-spiller som eneste permanente møbel gjennom flere soverom, ipod til jul av min kjære (som jo kjenner meg godt)... Så fikk jeg barn nummer en, som er også er glad i musikk. Så fikk jeg barn nummer to, som ikke bare er glad i musikk, men elsker det. Fra hun var veldig liten boppet hun i takt med eggtimer'en; hver gang hun hører musikk, beveger hun seg til den, bevisst eller ubevisst. Hun danser, synger, lever i musikken. Begge mine to små har gått på babysang, og mens eldstemann har begynt med barnedans, har yngstemann kost seg med småbarnssang denne våren. Nå er den avsluttet for sommeren, men vi gleder oss til høsten og nye eventyr i musikkens verden. Til da får vi danse og synge til hjemmestereoen og youtube-videoer, og nyte de lyse dagene som det begynner å bli mange av. Plantene som minsten har plantet vokser godt i solskinnet i vinduskarmen, fuglene synger sine ville, våryre triller utenfor, og jeg får koselige bakeoppdrag som kake til babysangen i Sentrumkirken. Livet er ikke så gælig ;)

"Liten" langpanne (ca.30x40), lys sjokoladekake med bringebær og krem (som faller i smak hos mange, virker det som :)), med marsipanlokk og marsipanpynt. Skrift i melis.

Naivistisk, enkel pynt med sukkerkuler, pyntegele og perlespray

:)

Jeg fikk til og med tid til å lage en liten vår-kake, som jeg tok med til mine foreldre på søndagslunsj *mumse*

Loreena McKennitt's Mummers Dance står godt til mitt humør denne vårdagen.

 

Happy Earth Day :)

Gears of War Cake

Gaming has been a well-incorporated part of my childhood. My dad used to work in an electronics shop when I was a child, and he would bring home a lot of the latest in gaming consoles, computer games, etc. It was a lot of fun playing, as well as watching particularly my brother or my mum playing. We had Super Mario, Zonic the Hedgehog, Zelda, Street Fighter, Altered Beast, Tekken, Zombies ate my Neighbours, Decap Attack, and maaany more, and that's just for the consoles. I've played some good games as a grown up as well, like the Heroes of Might and Magic-games (which I used to play with my husband when we were 16-17, and still do on occasion), or Broken Sword-games on PC or Playstation. I've watched as the gaming world has changed into something all-consuming for a lot of people, as technology and graphics improve and the internet grows so vast and very accessible, and I'm curious to see what this world will look like when my children are old enough to be part of it. My eldest has already started playing some innocent PC-games, and I know a lot of children her age have access to the latest console-stuff and often to their parents Iphones. 

There's no question games like these play a big role in most young (and relatively young) peoples lives. No surprise then, when someone orders a Gears of War-cake for their husband. Yeah, good sh*t!

Chocolate cake with chocolate cream and marzipan on top

Enjoy the Weekend!

Springtime!

We have several little plants growing on the window sill, courtesy of my youngest daughter (and her kindergarten) - there's tomato, strawberry, cress... And the little green leaves are stretching toward the light outside; this Easter has been such a nice, sunny time. We're just waiting for a bit more warmth now - no more frost, and the wee plants can move to the veranda. A few, brave spring flowers have made an appearance outside already, so I dare say springtime really has come. After all, vernal equinox has passed, and tomorrow daylight saving time begins as we set the clocks one hour forward.

I've made Easter cupcakes, to celebrate spring, Easter Eve and everything bright and colourful in life :)

Lemon cupcakes with a thin spread of lemon curd and a swirl of vanilla buttercream, decorated with white chocolate figurines

Chocolate and orange cupcakes with chocolate frosting and orange frosting

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Easter to You...

...Happy Birthday to Me! As I leave my twenties behind, I look forward to an Easter holiday filled with the celebration of my birthday and the salvation of mankind. I'm not so sure the two are related... 

I thought I'd say happy Easter to you all and share with you my crazy Cat-Easter-Birthday-Cake :3 I asked my daughters what kind of cake I should make for when their grandparents would come around in the afternoon, and they said "pink cat cake!"... I said "what taste?" and they said "strawberry!" And here it is...

I made two sponge-cakes, and filled one with strawberry jam (the "fresh" kind you buy frozen), chopped strawberries and whipped cream, covered with bright yellow marzipan, and sprayed with pearl spray (hence the not-so-bright colour in this picture)

The making of cat-cakes...

I made three cats, same filling as the main cake, with pink marzipan and more pearl spray :) Blue writing-gel for faces, and done!

Some roses and chocolate Easter eggs in wrapped in foil to make it extra party-ish!

Purple marzipan border with soft pearls

Look at that happy family - one for each daughter and one for mommy-cat <3 I hope daddy doesn't feel left out, with no cute, pink cat representing him...

Yum...

I have to add a couple of pics of the chickens my daughters have made, with a little help from me, just to really get the Easter-theme :)

...

I got some lovely flowers today <3

Have a terrific holiday!

River Deep, Mountain High

Yes, she must love him quite a lot, to order for his birthday not one, but two big cakes. One with a boat theme, one with a skiing theme - this was a very interesting, and also somewhat frustrating challenge...

Yes, it's a mountain of red velvet and butter cheese frosting, covered in two layers of marzipan, sprayed with edible pearl spray for a glittery snow sheen, marzipan trees and a small cairn like you can find on many mountain tops...

...with a handsome skier, hopefully slightly in resemblance to the man of the day...

...with flash, to better show the colours...

You need some nice spruces on a mountain side, I do say

And then to the river deep. Or ocean wide, would be more appropriate, probably... A solid A Plus Carrot Cake with cheese cream, again covered in marzipan, decorated with... boat details... Oh, what a difficult task, to make symmetrical stuff on a soft, gooey cake o.O

Look at it drifting happily, on the big (...), blue marzipan ocean...

It's bigger than it looks... About 45cm in length, I think.

Ah, a rat on wings. So cozy...

Good luck with tomorrows opportunities ;)

Baby Shower Cake

There's nothing so amazing and strange like babies - they are soft, smell so nice, fill your heart with love - and at the same time they are big mysteries: where did they come from, who are they, really, how do you make them happy, why are they crying right now, are those spots normal, isn't he a bit too warm, what will she look like in a year, in three, in ten? It's completely crazy and utterly wonderful. You know what I'm talking about, R - again, good luck!

It's a little bizarre with an edible baby...

Loads of fondant mixed with marzipan and plenty of food colouring makes for a blue, purple and white baby shower-cake, decorated with soft, white sugar pearls and fondant-ribbons.

Fondant bow and ribbon with edible pearl spray to make it nice and shiny :)

 

Inside, one tier with chocolate cake and rich chocolate butter cream, and top tier with red velvet and butter cheese cream :3

A big smile to you from me :D

"Jeg liker bare ting hvis de er rosa..."

Hva er det med små (og noen store) jenter og rosa? Er det bare kommersielt, eller er det virkelig noe spesielt med denne fargen? Det finnes mye å lese om rosa og kjønn, blant annet dette (fra Wikipedia):

"An article in the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department in June 1918 said:

The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."

Hvem som kler rosa er kanskje en motesak, men en ting de fleste er enige i, er at rosa er en farge forbundet med kjærlighet og romantikk; kanskje det er dette som ligger bak fascinasjonen for mange jenter? Med morsdag søndag som var, Mardi Gras i går og Valentine's Day i morgen er det mye rosa å se i butikkene i byen om dagen. Ekstra mye, mener jeg... Rosa blomster, rosa kort, rosa sjokoladeesker, rosa prinsessekjoler til karnevalsesongen. Og jentene mine er i alle fall veldig fornøyde; med de rosa vingene kjøpt til karneval som var i går, de rosa kjolene de har, den rosa paljetthatten fra H&M, osv. Minstemanns første ord for farge var "lillarosa." Jeg liker å tro at jeg ikke har påvirket dem noe på dette området, ettersom jeg ikke er spesielt begeistret for rosa selv - men hvem vet; kanskje jeg er litt hjernevasket innerst inne. Det er i hvert fall ingen overraskelse når man får bestilling på bursdagskake til en jente som fyller 6 år, og den helst skal være rosa :3 

Jeg har vært fremme med silikonen igjen - jeg brukte to Filly-ponnier, en Filly Fairy og en Filly Unicorn, og lagde to grove avstøpninger. Slik kunne jeg forme og fikse litt ut fra dette utgangspunktet. Det sparte meg mye jobb, spesielt på detaljer som hår og kroner, som tar lang tid å håndlage.

...

...

...

...

En klassisk lys (eller etter min oppfatning lys) sjokoladekake med bringebærkrem (som er bringebær og krem) :3 Rosa fondant over, sjokoladekaketårn med fondant oppå, ponnier malt og på plass, blomsterdetaljer, bord nederst...

Fondantregnbue med navn og alder i Royal Icing (navn sensurert). Rosa nok?

 

Nyt kvelden :) 

 

 

Angel cake

"It's time to post something, and time to do it in Norwegian," I thought. But then I felt like practicing my English again. "It's not called back yard, it's called back garden," a certain English person (whom I'm very fond of by the way ;) ) said to me earlier today, and reminded me how confused I am. British English, American English, Norwegian, and sometimes pure nonsense, and it all comes out in a crazy mix at times... Aaanyway, there's no good way to quote Homer Simpson in Norwegian, is there? Because today's post concerns a cake that can only be described as sacrilicious :3

I made two chocolate sheet cakes, filled them with a rich chocolate butter cream, and made a marbled marzipan-'heaven' to cover it with. Goodness, it's difficult to cover two sheet cakes with one big, thin layer of marzipan o.O

There's a torrent of wind coming down in the top left corner (you can glimpse it in this picture), where the enormous sheet of marzipan cracked a bit and I used some lighter marzipan to repair. Talking about enormous - this angel is not the daintiest of ladies, being a two-packs-of-marzipan-and-a-good-lump-of-fondant-creation...

I put a few lilies and purple what-not on the angel/cake, a bit untidy, perhaps, but oh well. 

I usually end up making quite cartoony characters, both when I draw and when I sculpt. I guess that's no coincidence, as I love comic books, cartoons, anime... I'm kind of pleased with this girl, though, seeing as I had not so much time and about 70% of the family was ill (no rest for the wicked)...

Ah, the old draping ploy... It's fun to use paper-thin fondant to make clothes :) And feathery wings, of course.

A particularly splendid weekend to you all :)