Holiday 2010

Monogram Snowman Christmas

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

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
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 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.

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Did somebody say, "Shortcake"??

Strawberry Shortcake, that is!

A big twelfth birthday party, for a girl we've known since she was four or five, called for a cake as big and girly as the occasion!  This four-layer homemade real-organic-strawberry cake, with decadent vanilla buttercream and fondant, was prepared for an early spring (indoor) pool party in Aurora.

Top detail of Miss Shortcake's Strawberry perch

The final product

And delivered/ set-up direct-to-party

(note eager little hands already sampling fondant grass & hand-shaped flower blossoms)

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Please let Macoda do the honors at your next celebration:
We're booking now, and look forward to making your cake something your child remembers forever!

xox,

- Cortney G.

Where do baby cakes come from??

 

From Macoda Cakeworks, of course!

These square cupcakes, a gluten-free chocolate fudge creation, with homemade vanilla buttercream and hand-tinted fondant, were whipped up for a second-baby shower in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Mom was looking for a modern-simple design with clean lines and easy colors: we paired rich chocolate browns with traditional baby-pastels, the result being "Exactly what I (the client) hoped for!"  

It's amazing these ingredients....

... become these beautiful cakes.

Individual chocolate-fudge cakes fresh from the oven--

check out those amazing caramelized veins of molten gourmet fudge

 

Inverted onto cooling racks:

these little guys still have their parchment paper liners intact, to prevent overbrowning on edges

Receiving a buttercream crumb-coat

And later, double-frosted for good measure!

Then comes the most finicky & labor-intensive part:

hand-tinting fondant

 

Everything ends up dusted in snowy confectioner's sugar when fondant is rolled out.

And each cupcake is rolled and covered individually, ensuring fondant and cake stays moist & fresh.

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Things clean up a bit as the cake is covered & fondant shaped and trimmed

The final product

And that's where baby cakes come from: 

Right here at Macoda.... hope you've enjoyed!

Concept Art for Online Pet Boutique

These aren't exactly cakes, but once upon a time, I began my path towards baking not only in my grandmother's kitchen, but as an artist:

 

Rest assured, whether you're seeking sculpture work, traditional cake design, or hand-painted detailing, your cake is in talented and able hands.

Looking for something realistic?

 

Simplified/ line art?

 

Perhaps a little more fun, cartoonish, or caricatured?

We can do them all!  

Hand-lettering, fondant punch, hand-painted, embellished-- it's all part of the package here at Macoda. And we look forward to sharing our talents and ridiculous cake enthusiasm at your next event!

 

Crayon draft art for Disney "Cars" project.... (2009)

with color decoration by our toddler :0)

Our Gluten-free Story... or "why we offer wheat-free alternatives"

"The California Snowball"

8-layer torted gluten-free coconut-lime cake, sour cream-lime custard filling, homemade coconut-reduction cream-cheese icing... dusted with lime zest & pan-toasted coconut

Some time ago, we had an angelic little baby we named Mason Rieve, and much to our chagrin, he grew into a beautiful little boy who eventually turned one.  The problem?  As a newborn, our pleasant & even-tempered child turned into a colicky, miserable, pain-wracked monster: at four months of age, his teeth began coming in, and on a whim we gave him a graham cracker to soothe his tiny jaws. 

What happened next-- hives, swelling, tomato-face, and anaphylaxis, swiftly led us to a diagnosis.....

Retirement Gala for Prominent Local Legal Figure

After 25 years of service as both judge and district magistrate, and his long, distinguished career in juvenile & family law, a Colorado attorney's many friends joined together to celebrate his transition to private mediation.

These cakes were a collaboration with Mrs. Barbie Yoder, also of Castle Rock:

Centerpiece: 

Delicious vanilla-creme cake with chocolate buttercream, sugar-encrusted fruit, fresh double-washed ivory roses

Complimentary cakes: 

Assortment of white, butter, and carrot cakes, all with homemade buttercream, ensconced in hand-painted and sculpted fondant

 

  

Cake interiors baked by Barbie Yoder, 

Fondant work, decoration & sculpting by Cortney Glauser

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