Friday, July 20, 2007

My Future Career

Forget all that stuff I said here, last night while on a major internet browse I have discovered my calling to megabucks!

Having read Megan's post about her boys' birthdays, and that she's having a joint party for them I realised that since my kids' birthdays are 2 weeks apart in October, a joint party sounded like a great idea. So, because as a mother of two small kids, with a depleted pantry in need of restocking, I have nothing else to do, I sat and browsed birthday websites for inspiration. I was hoping to find a gender neutral theme - there aren't many.

Anyway - I started looking at cakes, and remembering the British cake designer and baker Jane Asher, (she's also an actress you know - my kind of girl - a Jack Jane of all Trades!) I googled her. Found this fabulous site and started looking around.

Miss E is big into Cinderella right now - and I found this gorgeous cake in Asher's custom cakes line and know Miss E would LOVE it.



Ambitious? Absolutely - but I love a little challenge and since I make these dollies from scratch with salt dough, I figure I have the dexterity and (eventually) the skill to do it!



So I'm thinking to myself that I would love to give this a try - if not for the October birthday - then for some other birthday in the future.

Then, I glanced at how much Jane Asher charges for this cake and my urge to try it gets a whole lot stronger.

Look at how much it costs!


Four Hundred and Fifteen Pounds! - that in dollars at today's exchange rate is a whopping $852!

It serves 40-45 people small portions. My wedding cake served over 100 people, decent portions and it cost nowhere near that!

Good on you Jane Asher. Don't worry about branching out in the US though, I think I'll have it covered!

(Before all you real cake artists and fancy bakers get all irate on me, I know there's a lot of hard work that goes into making those cakes - hours of fine detailing etc etc etc - I'm still thinking I can do it though ;-) )

19 comments:

Unknown said...

You should give it a go! I bet you'd be well able to do something cool like this the way mum used to do for mine!! I'm not going to get any work done now sitting thinking about the cool cakes I had...

Anonymous said...

That is expensive...But it is gorgeous!!!

tinamtl said...

Good luck! What talent youhave! Beautiful cake!

(I was going to suggest Dora and Diego...but you have more class then that it seems LOL)

Anonymous said...

Wow. I wouldn't even attempt it, but I'm wimpy in all ways culinary. Please post pics if you give it a go.

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic idea! Go for it! I love your dollies - they are super cute - you are obviously quite talented - don't see why you couldn't do it! Look at this UK blog I read - she's a SAHM who does cake decoration - beautiful stuff! http://dbizness.blogspot.com/

Good luck - will expect to see pictures soon! ;-)

shauna said...

I showed my daughter the cake (who is smitten with Cinderella) and she asked, "Mom, can you make a cake like that for MY birthday?" (which is in August). "Uhm," I said. "Mommy can't make (or afford to buy) a cake like that." To which she responded (as if hard of hearing). "But can you make a cake like that for MY birthday?"

It seems my butterfly cake just isn't going to "fly."

So you'll have to give us an update, and if you're successful, a play by play set of instructions. :) Your dollies are adorable, so I believe in you! Good luck!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Those dolls are so adorable!

I freely admit that I don't love my daughters enough to attempt such a thing. But then, I have the manual dexterity of a hippo.

The Good Woman said...

My only gripe with this idea is that you'll spend hours lovingly creating this masterpiece, only to have it oohed, aahed and eaten in 30 seconds flat. Although, £400 would make me feel a little better!

Jennifer said...

Go for it, and good luck!

Tuesday Girl said...

That is a great cake, my daughter would love it too.

Slackermommy said...

No matter how it turns out your kids will love it.

Do you have a Pampered Chef mixing bowl? It would be great for making the carriage. I use mine to make barbie cakes.

Make sure you post photos!

Iota said...

I think there is definitely a may-ja business opportunity here (unless you find that someone else has already cornered the local market - I don't suppose you'll be able to mail the cakes to customers).

Brillig said...

Holy crap. That is one expenive cake.

Good luck with your world domination via baking. I believe in you!

Marine Wife said...

So cool. We'll want to know how you did it so instruction will be forth-coming, right? I've seen soccer-ball cakes, so I'm assuming there are round (or at least half-round) cake pans out there). I have the PC mixing bowl and have done the princess cake with a friend but don't think it is round enough for this.

Best of luck, altho' doesn't sound like you need it!

J. A. Blackburn said...

woah... you made those?! you are one talented lady! you definitely could be making some major "dough" (pun INTENDED)...

laurie said...

i will be happy to eat the failures, assuming you have a few.

Laura McIntyre said...

A lovely cake i imagine any kid would love it. Yours so brave to even attempt it - good luck

Natalie said...

Good luck! If you are already crafty, and have done any kind of clay modeling before, that cake won't be that hard! Modeling gumpaste/fondant is very similar to clay :) The hardest part will be putting the fondant over the cake portion and sculpting it...not the little details.

And I've found kids to be absolutely non-critical of cakes. I did a Power Ranger cake that I was embarrassed about, but the kids LOOOOVED it.

P.S. The ladies, and guys at Cakecentral.com are awesome when it comes to helping newbies. I know this because I am a newbie myself.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I found this page. You can do it, patience is a virtue. But what will you do to match-up for a boy?