Queque

When Axel was a toddler, he spoke a lot of Spanish words since he was home with me and we only speak Spanish together. One of his favorite things was cake, which he learned to say in Spanish: "Queque", which is actually Spanglish. Whenever my Mom would visit, he'd beg her to make him a queque, which is the first thing she'd do, and add frosting and sprinkles, of course.

Queque!

Diversion in subject: Baby Moose is now 8 weeks old. At his checkup, he weighed in at a good and solid 12.8 lbs, was 24.4 inches long (95th percentile), and his head measured off the charts at 24.6 inches (99th percentile). That didn't make sense to me. So the circumference of his head is greater than his length? In any case, Axel's head also always measured off the charts. So it's now our claim to fame that we birth babies with ginorma-domes. We are all so in love with his cuteness, and Axel is still one of his biggest fans.

Brothers

So since I have a newborn, it's an obvious time for me to start a side business of baking cakes. I mean, I have so much spare time, it makes total sense (sarcasm). I don't know why this passion started. I'm not actually starting a business. A neighbor asked me the other day if this was my plan, it's not. I simply call it my new hobby. It really just kind of happened and I've just followed it along. I think my first sense that I loved making cakes (like, real cakes, not the normal everyday pound cake) was when I made Axel's 2nd birthday cake. Until then, I had only made a yellow pound cake from a Swedish recipe called sockerkaka (sugar cake). The cake that I baked for Axel's birthday was a buttermilk cake with swiss meringue buttercream frosting. I made it into a train cake, with the second layer being a cave the train was coming out of. I'm so sad I have no photos! But it was much more involved than I was used to, it took me the entire day, and made me feel like I had accomplished something afterwards because it took quite a bit of skill and ability to follow directions and use my creativity. My love for baking is also due to the fact that I have some girlfriends in San Diego who are incredible bakers whom I've been watching and listening to for years as they make incredible creations. We joke about opening a bakery someday. At least I think it's a joke.

So since we moved to Toronto, I got this idea to start baking cakes for my neighbors whenever anyone has a birthday. It's an excuse for me to get my cake baking fix, practice, and also love on my neighbors. Although, sometimes I have to force them to take it because, for some reason, they don't want to  eat a bunch of butter and sugar on their birthday. Weirdos! In the beginning, my decorating skills were extremely lacking. I am no expert now, but at that time I didn't have a good handle on frosting textures or decorating techniques. So I started reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and asking my girlfriends for tips and tricks. As I slowly pushed my cakes on people, I actually started getting orders from neighbors and friends, and even got to make my first official fancy cake for a neighbors' in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary! Since then I've been getting more creative and my cakes are looking less and less like they were made by a preschooler. Plus, I think my cakes are delicious. I've never been a fan of the store bought cakes, I'm a bit of a snob in this area. But after baking my own cakes for so long, I wouldn't be caught dead buying onefrom a store because I think homemade cakes taste so much better.

Minecraft cake for Axel's birthday. April 2017.

Caramel, caramelized pear, and toffee cake with whipped cream frosting. August 2017.

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake. Buttermilk cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting. January 2018.

Valentines Day! Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting.

Easter Cupcakes for the kids. April 2018.

Easter Celebration Cake. Lemon Blueberry with Cream Cheese Frosting. April 2018.

Neighbor Requested Birthday Cake. Lemon Raspberry Almond with Cream Cheese Frosting and White Chocolate Ganache. April 2018.

Neighbor Requested Pokemon Cake. Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting and Fondant Outer. April 2018.

I don't have photos of all of my prior cakes, but as you can see, they didn't start out so pretty. But that doesn't mean they're perfect now either. When I decided to make the lemon raspberry almond cake for my neighbors' mother in laws' birthday, I did a trial version that completely misfired. I was so glad I had done a trial version and learned from my mistakes! Apparently, you can't pour ganache on top of frosting while the ganache and the frosting are still warm. This is why I have historically been a terrible baker. I am quite impatient, and I don't like following instructions. However, when I decide that I want my cakes to look perfect, I suck it up and follow those instructions.

Poor, sad, cake with floppy Ganache :(

Making cakes has reminded me a bit of who I am and has brought out realizations of my shortcomings. It has highlighted the fact that I mentioned before, that I am quite impatient. I don't like instructions or word problems, as I typically skip the entire paragraph and head straight to the end and say to myself "I've got this!", overconfidently. It reminded me of years ago when I was studying for my Engineering licensing exam, that I took the 8 hour exam three times and failed because I was taking the hardest exam each time. I never read the list completely of which 8 hour exams I could choose from because I was too impatient to read the list all the way to the end and choose "general", the easiest one. Finally, a co-worker mentioned this to me, I slapped myself on the forehead, and, needless to say, the fourth time was a charm! I see this in Axel as well. I notice that he's not very good at math word problems even though he is great at math. Impatience is genetic, apparently!

So, in summary, this new love for baking and creating cakes has been such a welcomed outlet for me to dive into something I'm passionate about and a hobby I love. I love using my left and right brain, I love the challenge, and I love giving them to people to make them happy. So if anyone needs a cake, and you're willing to bet on my novice abilities, you know who to call!