Topping off 2010

Woah, 2010 just flew by! It has been such an amazing year! To end it, I thought i'd do a little countdown to my top 5 creations of 2010:

5: My ICES show cake

Not only does this cake remind me of the awesome time I had at the ICES convention, all the wonderful people I met, and everything I learned. It also makes me laugh as I think back at what a challenge it was to transport this cake, and its ever so delicate gumpaste mask all the way down to San Diego in my suitcase. If you look closely you can spot a small crack on the mask. I was honestly surprised that was the worst of the damage! I never bothered trying to bring the cake home.

4: Finding Nemo Cake

I just had too much fun making this cake. I had never tried making fish before, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I was really pleased with the end result.

3: The Butterfly Cake

People love this cake! Brides keep asking for this design, or a similar one - adjusted to their colour choice. Simple and cute.

2: The cupcake pop!

Everyone knows i'm obsessed with cupcakes. Now, mini ones on a stick?! Really do I need to say more?

1: Duff's birthday cake!

Okay- this cake was not made at Le Gateau Bake Shop, but I did made it at Whole Foods. For those of you that don't know when i'm not busy running my business I spend my time working as assistant manager of the bakery at WF- one of the busiest bakeries in Vancouver.

Anyways, back to the cake. Duff Goldman, from the famed show "Ace of Cakes" was doing an autograph signing at Michaels on his birthday. The good people at Michaels asked your truly and WF to provide a birthday cake for him! At first I jumped at it- I was so excited. Then reality sunk in. I was going to make a cake of the Ace Of Cakes! "The guy". And- make it at Whole Foods, using only natural ingredients. Even food colouring had to be natural. One thing about plant based food colouring, its very unpredictable. To top it off, I had less then 24hrs to come up with it! This would truly be a challenge- a challenge not to embarrass myself it seemed like.So I decided to go for a fresh and natural approach, no fondant!

End result:

Really I was pretty happy about the turn out. I had made all the chocolate panels in record time. When the people at Michaels came to pick up the cake, they were so excited about it they asked if I would present it to him myself! That was the best part. I can honestly say Duff was one of the most awesome persons i've ever met. He was so nice, and fun to be around. I was so nervous, it was almost embarrassing. The whole experience was a great way to end the year :)