Thursday, March 17, 2011

My Nephew is 12!

My sister and her husband invited Jake and I to spend a night with them at their timeshare in Bear Lake this past weekend! My parents, and younger sister were able to join us as well! Everyone met at the condo on Sunday afternoon and threw a birthday bash for Mckay - He is the oldest of her kids and turned twelve! Upon arrival we baked some Pizza for dinner, mmmm. Then it was time for swimming! (Yeah... we didn't wait very long after we ate. We were too excited.)  Lots of splashing, floaty wings, basketball, and diving rings - and don't forget the hot tub! It is such an awesome feeling to go swimming in the winter. After the pool closed for kids, we all went in for some birthday cake! A quite awesome looking birthday cake if I do say so myself :) I was assigned the task of making one to save his Mom the time, and this is what I came up with:
A ski hill, complete with fondant figures which depicted each member of their family. I also added trees, skis, and a frosty looking #12. Made from layers of Devil's Food Cake by request. It took me a whole day to finish, because I am just learning, but it was really fun and was a big hit! Each kid got to eat their own little person and got a sugar high just before bedtime.

The next morning we got up early to greet another fun day. We shoveled some eggs in our faces for breakfast then were on our way to the real ski hill! Just a half hour away we arrived at Beaver Mountain in Logan. This is the place that Jake and I most often go skiing, because of it's proximity and good prices. So it was fun to have some of my family there this time!  The kids did an awesome job on the bunny hill. They learned the tricks of the trade and we had a good time helping out where we could. The weather was not ideal, but they were troopers about it. For lunch, they brought a big box of sandwiches and snacks which we ate by the fireplace while our clothes dried out. After grabbing some grub, we headed back out for another few hours of battling the blizzard. All the kids wanted to go up the big lift for a challenge. It was easier for some than others, but they all made it down eventually :)
And now I am going to post the steps of making the cake for my own future reference. So for those of you not interested in the process and painstaking deatils.... read no further :)

Step One: Bake Cakes. Two Rectangle, One 8" round, and two halves of Wilton's Sports Ball Cake Pan.
Freeze overnight for easier handling and decorating. 

Step Two:  Layer, shape, and frost with a thin layer of chocolate or Buttercream Frosting.

StepThree: Roll out Marshmallow Fondant and cover entire cake.

Step Four: Color Fondant, and cut out letters for name.

Step Five: Make Fondant Figures and let them harden as long as possible.

Step Six: Assemble with gumpaste glue, frosting, or toothpicks.

Step Seven: Be very proud!... But then inspect to determine how to improve the next go around :)

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