Friday, April 23, 2010

Monkey Business!


A young professional mom from Castle Rock commissioned us for her little monkey's big 1st birthday celebration, giving me one assignment:
Build a cake around the following invitation, with emphasis on the muted-blue striping and this adorable monkey motif!


After deciding on a sumptuous from-scratch butter cake, mid-chocolate ganache (my own blend of milk and dark chocolate) filling, with the final product cocooned in rich, homemade milk chocolate buttercream, I set to work replicating her mischievous little primate:



Ta-daa!
Assembled monkey, just before clean-up, dusting (for powdered sugar & cornstarch residue), and final smoothing-over


Oh, you say-- you noticed some broken chocolate lettering in the background??
This is, unfortunately, a semi-expected side effect of sugar and chocolate work on rainy days (water + sugar = sagging, melty, breakable mess... argh!).  But April birthdays = unforeseen sugar mishaps... the only problem is when it happens once the cake is finished.  And you're on the way out the door for a delivery.... which is *exactly* what happened there!

Free-hand re-letter after chocolate stencil's humidity collapse: saved!

And delivered, in the nick o' time
:0)

 Baby's personal "smoosh cake," served to side


Another memorable experience, a happy birthday boy, and another family's milestone Macoda was thrilled to be a part of... thank you, Colorado.


Hope you've enjoyed this cake as much as we did!
xox,
- Cortney G.
:0)