Since the “yellow cake” thread is in this forum, I decided to ask fellow Dopers for ideas here.
In November and December my family will be hosting two parties to celebrate the 100th birthday of my grandmother. I’m a baker, and will be doing the cakes.
Okay, the cakes are not difficult. They will be flat sheet cakes, the better to serve numbers of guests.
But with as many pastry items as I’ve made, I’m coming up blank on how to decorate the top of the sheet. I mean, after one hundred years, “Happy Birthday Esther” seems kind of lame. I’ve toyed with the idea of one of those edible portrait photos, but should it be a current picture, one from her childhood, or what? A picture of a “family tree”?
Has anyone out there got any good ideas to toss my way? I want this cake to be as special as my grandmother. You know what she had for lunch on her 99th birthday? Two slices of pizza and half a can of beer! Her hearing and eyesight are kind of poor, but she’s still sharp as a tack mentally. I’m the oldest grandchild, you’d think I’d have some bright ideas for a special cake, but so far I don’t
If I use someone’s ideas I’ll let you know, and send you a picture when the cake is made!
Assemble a photo collage, make a high-quality copy of it, and have the airbrush bakery people transfer it onto the cake. Include scenes from as many parts of her life as you can / as are appropriate.
What flavor cake does she like? The thing I hate about most professional cakes is they sort of loose the taste in order to get the design. You get that horrendous whipped crisco and sugar icing. I also sort of hate the photograph cakes. I am not exactly sure why they seem more canabalistic than delicious looking to me.
For my wedding cake we did a chocolate cake with fudge chocolate icing sort if a backwards version of this. On the top of that was what looked like a lace doily draped over it made of white chocolate. I did find this that looked really elegant in the white chocolate with dark chocolate motife
In my searches i also saw this clock cake that fasinated me. Also you may want to consider the teired cake idea as a way to serve alot of people without taking up the same amount of table space. It also can give you an option of different flavored layers and you won’t need pans as big.
Thanks for all the replies so far! The ideas are great.
masonite, the photo collage would be perfect, except that there were so very few pictures taken of my grandmother during the first half of her life. I believe I have only seen two of her as a teenager, and no child photos at all. NO wedding photo, nothing. Of course we have many in the second fifty years.
Idlewild, my grandmother had a number of interests. She was a teacher, involved in her church, homemaker, needlework. Maybe I can figure something out.
furlibusea, she likes any kind of cake. Knowing this family I may go with chocolate, it’s a general favorite. And the clock idea is pretty cool.
aruvqan, I may bookmark too!
Cherry2000, I saw a special on the Food Channel not long ago, on a wedding cake competition. Colette Peters was the winner, and I loved her cake, but the others were cool too. If you went to the FC website you could probably get pictures of the cakes that were entered.
What about something over the top like gold-leaf or using the pearlescent powders to decorate? Personally, if I was making this one, I’d use a nice neutral (or a pastel) colored buttercream as the base, then do an intricate baroque kind of desgin with a shiny gold or pearly colored buttercream.
Can you tell I’m a huge fan of buttercream?
What about decorating with sugared flowers?
If you’re going with chocolate cake, what about a beautiful, glossy ganache, decorated with gorgeous raspberries?
I guess I’m trying to go in a different direction and making a design that doesn’t necessarily focus on a part of her life, because you have so much to choose from.
It might mean alot just to have something that’s really, well, fancy. I don’t know your grandmother, and I may be totally off base, but in my experience, Depression-aged folks often have habitually denied themselves of anything frivolous, like whimsical cakes. The nice thing about getting a really indulgant cake from a professional-baker grandaughter is that she can enjoy something elegant without worrying about paying some stranger a couple hundred bucks for something when a grocery-store sheet cake would have worked just as well–not that your time and materials aren’t worth just as much as that, but somehow a gift of time and material on something frivolous seems less indulgant than a gift of cold, hard cash on something frivolous.
I think a really fancy tiered cake with a tree motif–to go with te family tree idea–would be stunning, especially if someone else in the family could draw up a family tree (or have someone do it if no one is artistic) and have it framed and displayed next to the cake.
Needlework, eh? Have you considered decorating the cakes to look like some of her favorite projects? A sheet cake lends itself well to being turned into a quilt or afghan.
The more I look at this idea the more I like it. The tope tier could have her name and my grandfather’s, then down to the kids, the grandkids, and finally great-grandkids. I haven’t done a four-tier before, just three, but I think I could do it.
If anyone clicked on the links **furlibusea ** provided there is a lovely tiered cake with vines and leaves snaking up it. I could do it in colors, instead of chocolate, with small photos nestled in a flat blossom or leafy framework.
JavaMaven 1 I too am a buttercream fan, and so is most of the family. Perhaps for the family party I could do a smaller cake, with buttercream, and for the bigger reception do a fondant-iced cake. The latter are really coming into fashion, as they look so smooth and elegant.
CrazyCatLady, if I don’t go with the floral motif above I could use tinted fondant to make imitation crocheted “granny squares” as trim and border, with family names or pictures on the sides of the tiers.
I think I’m a lot closer to having a cake design now. I appreciate all the ideas! But don’t stop if you have others!
How many children does your grandmother have? Make a small cake for each child, and place them around a large cake just for her. You can “attach” each small cake to the large one with a ribbon. When you ice the cake tops make it extra thick, then each family can add things to the cake top that have some connection with Grandma. Hobby stuff, photographs, little trinkets and doodads[humorous, sweet,odd,etc.] flowers, pictures cut from magazines, jewelry, family heirlooms, whatever. Some items can be fairly obvious to all, and others can make everybody wonder what IS the connection[until a family member reveals it] Maybe someone in each family can make one of the smaller cakes[a personal favorite recipe or house specialty might be nice] leaving you to concentrate on the real showstopper. A centenary celebration is certainly to be applauded,admired and wished-for. Hope everyone, especially Grandma’, has a great time.
