Nancy is a very good friend of mine who I met about 11 years ago, she is closer to me than a sister. When she was turning 50 last year (2010), she asked me to make her cake. I agonized over it a bit because I wanted it to be perfect, I wanted to please her, but more importantly, I wanted to impress her.
After thinking about a designed, I called to talk it over with her. She was planning a party at a local restaurant and was inviting 15-20 people. I told her that I hadn't come up with a design yet, but that I kept coming to the idea that a cake for her had to be elegant. She was touched by my desire to express my impression of her with elegance, but quickly stated her desire to have an old lady with a big nose on her cake. She wanted this birthday to be fun and full of laughter. I said, OK, an old lady it is.
I went on a search for an old lady I could draw an image from. I found a great lady in my kid's book, "Why was I adopted". The lady had a fat face, big nose, a large over coat with a little kid tucked into her pocket book and another kid riding under her arm.
Nancy wanted a lemon cake with lemon filling. I thought the lemon filling would be too much lemon so she suggested I use vanilla pudding blended with cool whip. That filling proved to be amazingly refreshing.
When I got the cake to the restaraunt, Nancy didn't want to see it until it was time to sing and cut the cake. When she saw it, she laughed out loud and thought that was my best every cake for the design as well as the flavor. It was a winner. Everyone just loved it.
After thinking about a designed, I called to talk it over with her. She was planning a party at a local restaurant and was inviting 15-20 people. I told her that I hadn't come up with a design yet, but that I kept coming to the idea that a cake for her had to be elegant. She was touched by my desire to express my impression of her with elegance, but quickly stated her desire to have an old lady with a big nose on her cake. She wanted this birthday to be fun and full of laughter. I said, OK, an old lady it is.
I went on a search for an old lady I could draw an image from. I found a great lady in my kid's book, "Why was I adopted". The lady had a fat face, big nose, a large over coat with a little kid tucked into her pocket book and another kid riding under her arm.
I drew her full figure and pocket book, minus the kids. Then, I attempted to transfer the image to the cake. I almost pulled a "cake boss" and wanted to throw the thing on the floor. I was frustrated because I couldn't tranfer that much detail onto the cake and have it look in proportion. My husband encourgaged me to keep trying and convinced me - it could be done. I asked him to enlarge the picture and just draw her face and neckline. I colored frosting black for the outlining, peach for her skin, brown for her coat as well as pink and yellow for her hat, flowers and buttons. After drawing the outline of the lady and all her facial detail, I filled in with the appropriate color.
When I got the cake to the restaraunt, Nancy didn't want to see it until it was time to sing and cut the cake. When she saw it, she laughed out loud and thought that was my best every cake for the design as well as the flavor. It was a winner. Everyone just loved it.
