Giant 3 Tier Giraffe Birthday Cake - Making and Transporting

My friend's lil boy turned 1 year old last week!  She had a party for him at her house and I asked if she would like me to make the cake.  As soon as she said yes, I began thinking of super sweet cakes I could make with Giraffes on them - Giraffes being the theme.  I kept coming back to making a tiered cake as I saw it as a good opportunity to practice my skillz.

For tiered cakes, I looked into getting the Wilton Towering Tiers Cake Stand or the SPS Cake Separators.  But, since I didn't know if this would be a 1 time deal or not, I decided to go with Bubble Tea Fat Straw (50 pcs) along with cardboard cake boards to support each tier.  Bubble Tea Straws are nice and wide and easier to cut than wooden dowel rods, which other cake bakers use.  I also ended up purchasing 2 new pans - Parrish's Round Cake Pan, 12 x 3 Inches Deep and Parrish's Magic Line Round Cake Pan, 10 by 3-Inch Deep.  I already had some 8 inch pans.  I was really impressed with the Parrish pans.  They are made in the U.S.A and the cakes all cooked and came out perfectly.  Finally, I purchased some cardboard rounds for 12 Inch, 10 Inch and 8 Inch cakes.

Oh and I can't forget the decorations!  I got Sophie the Giraffe and a Bucket full of Plastic Jungle Animals.

 






I then proceeded to have way too much fun taking photos of plastic jungle animals....

Anyways, back to the cake  :)

I went with 3 flavors:

1. Bottom Layer (12") - Classic Vanilla Butter Cake - doubled to make 2 layers
2. Middle Layer (10") - Chocolate Cake - doubled to make 3 layers
3. Top Layer (8") - Strawberry and Lavender Buttermilk Cake - Original Recipe Amount

All cake recipes were from Sweetapolita - aka, the best cake blog ever.

It took me 3 nights and about 4 hours on Saturday to construct the entire thing.  Wednesday night I made two 12" layers - would have done 3 layers, but it was getting late.  I used convection bake for the 2nd layer and it cooked the cake a lot more evenly.  Each layer was an entire recipe; so I doubled the recipe for the two layers.

Here's Joshua enjoying some cake batter

 And the finished cake - shown with a water glass to illustrate its size  ;)

On Thursday night, I made the chocolate cake.  Since the recipe was for an 8" cake, I doubled it for 3 layers of 10" cake.

 This was another late night and where having a second (and maybe third) pan would have paid off.  Cooking one at a time took quite a while.

Friday night I made the Buttermilk cake and the Strawberry Filling.  Having 3 pans to cook all the layers at one time was amazing!

 On a side note - in order to wrap the cakes in plastic wrap (or just to flip the cake over), I used a pan and the cooling rack (2 pans would work as well).  Just stack, hold the pans together on each side with your hands, and flip.

Saturday morning was assembly time!

Here is what I started with.  Look at all that cake!  I stored the vanilla layers (from Wednesday) in the freezer and the others at counter temp.

For the bubble tea straws - used to support the top tiers - I placed the 10" pan on top to mark where the 2nd layer would go, and then evenly placed 6 straws around the perimeter.  I pushed one in at first to get the needed height, and then cut the other 5 to match.

 Here they are all pressed into the cake; almost flush with the frosting.

It was at this point that I began to rush and didn't take as many photos.  The chocolate frosting needed a long time to cool and the lavender strawberry cake had some not-so-clear instructions for keeping the  strawberry/whipped cream mixture inside the layers.  I also made the mistake of not soaking the lavender in the milk the night before.  If I would have remembered to do that, then I would have finished the lavender/strawberry cake first and not felt so stressed doing it last!

Transportation

Each tier was frosted and on top of a cardboard circle.  The bubble straws were placed in the 1st and 2nd tiers.  I placed one straw through the center of the top tier just as a piece-of mind that the layers wouldn't slide off each other.  

The bottom 2 layers were in cardboard boxes covered in cling wrap.  The top layer is in the blue cake/cupcake carrier.  The 3 tubs on the bottom right are leftover frosting - in case something were to go wrong on the drive.  The box on the right has cling wrap, about 8 spatulas (HA!), a knife, and the cake toppings.

In order to stack the layers, I had envisioned using spatulas, but I ended up just putting them on with my hands.  Left a few finger imprints on the bottom cake layers, but they went on fine.

There's the birthday boy behind the giraffe!!  He is eyeing up the gigantic cake!

After singing happy birthday, I cut the birthday boy a big piece of the strawberry lavender cake.  He played with it awhile before we showed him that he could eat it!

Once again, I removed the layers with my hands and sliced up the cake.  Here is what was leftover after ~60 people ate on it.

So, overall, I would say the project was a success!!!  Maybe I should get into the cake making business ;)  I have a new found respect for all wedding cake bakers!

Spring Cleaning - AKA - My dog got sprayed by a skunk and now I must clean my entire house

Well, it happened.  The day I had hoped would never come.  Snoops, my beautiful lovely smelling indoor dog, got sprayed by a skunk!  It happened as we returned home from the X Games Detroit Release Party where there were awesome skateboarders, free Detroit beer and the preview of the X Games Detroit Bid Video.

We arrived home and Josh let Snoops out to go potty.  Then I hear a lot of yelling and Josh drags Snoops inside saying he doesn't know what is wrong with him but he thinks he got sprayed by a skunk.  The smell was not that bad....at first.  It didn't smell like skunk at all, but more a rubbery chemical smell.  It wasn't nice, but it wasn't nasty.  Snoops was foaming at the mouth and had a nice patch of yellow on his chest a a few dots on his face.  He was obviously miserable and began rubbing on his bed and our rug.

Rule #1 if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk - Do NOT bring the dog in the house unless you absolutely have to.

With it being midnight, below freezing and us now knowing for sure what happened to him, we broke rule number 1 and brought him in the house.  After his rub-fest on various items in the dining room, we pulled him up into the bathroom where he very willingly put himself in the bath tub after rubbing on the bathroom mats.

Rule #2 if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk - Pull the dog straight to the bathroom and do not let him touch anything.

We then washed him off where he got sprayed and scrubbed him a few times with his doggie shampoo.  I also sprayed out his mouth and gave him some toothpaste since I was quite sure he had got some in the mouth.  This removed it, but he still smelled, obviously.  Us being tired and just wanting the nightmare to be over with and thinking the dog was clean enough, we brought him into the bedroom to his bed to go to sleep.  Can you tell that neither of us had had a dog sprayed by a skunk before?

Rule #3 if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk - Do NOT bring the dog into your bedroom when you think he is clean.  Keep him segregated until he can be completely clean.

After trying to sleep for 10 minutes, but the smell being too horrendous, we moved him into the bathroom with his bed and closed the door.  He was a good boy and didn't even whine the whole night.  I think he knew he was in trouble.  Or else he was just happy to not have his eyes burning anymore.

We woke up the next morning and went straight to Kroger to get cleaning supplies.  After some googling, we decided to pick up:

• Murphy's Oil Soap - to wash down walls, floors, etc.
• Oxi Clean - to wash dog beds and other fabrics in the house
• Hydrogen Peroxide - we found a sweet dog-skunk-smell-removal recipe online

I went straight to work on the dog while Josh started wiping down various surfaces in the house and starting the washing machine, which ran the entire day, non-stop.  When we woke up in the morning, we thought the smell wasn't too bad, but after returning from Kroger...our house was t.e.r.r.i.b.l.e!!  Everything in the house smelled like skunk.  Even stuff in rooms where the dog hadn't been  :(

Washing the dog wasn't too bad.  I made a mixture of a quart of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda and 2 tablespoons Dawn.  It foamed up and neutralized the odor.  It worked wonders on his chest where the majority of it was.  I rubbed it on and let it set for about 5 minutes - did this 3 times.  I didn't put it on his face as I was a bit scared of the consequences of getting it in his eyes.  (As I sit here writing this, his face still smells...)  I washed his face/head really well with Dawn and then with his dog shampoo but it didn't remove the skunk smell.  Boo.  Hydrogen peroxide solution is the way to go though!

Rule # 4 if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk - Wash the dog as soon as  you can with the hydrogen peroxide solution described above.

Cleaning the house was the worst part, but I guess it needed it.  I wiped down all the walls and all the furniture in the dining room and kitchen (floor where Snoops entered the house).  We had to toss 1 dog bed, the shower curtain and the door mats.  Everything else in the house came clean.  

Dining room - Steam Cleaning the Rug Snoops rubbed on

Plants, Shoes and bathroom rugs airing out

Freshly mopped kitchen - note the culprit in the corner of the photo

His collar smelled so terrible that it got thrown out.  His dog tags are still soaking...they smell sooo bad!

Water that came out of the rug!  I cleaned this thing a few months ago!

Living Room Steam Clean Prep - where is all the furniture?

There it is!  And there is the culprit hiding on the couch...He was the best smelling thing in the house after his bath.

Water from cleaning the carpet.  yuk.  I must confess, these haven't been cleaned since they were installed...sooo like 3 years-ish  

We are on Day 2 of cleaning and I just finished steam cleaning the second half of the living room carpet.  So, the house is really clean but we are still finding random things that smell like skunk.  Like the fridge, our book bags after we got to work, my hands, some of the kitchen dishes, the car even though the dog never went in there, and lunch pails.

So, for those who have been following along, what do you do if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk?  Don't bring him inside unless it is dark and/or below freezing.  Wash him immediately with the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Dawn solution.  And don't let him anywhere in the house until you are sure he does not smell anything at all like a skunk.

Finally, if you want to find out how much your house (or yourself, for that matter) smells, just leave and come back.  Or go to band practice and see how long it takes for people to smell you.  It took me less than 10 seconds.

I hope everyone's week is going better than ours!  I guess Snoops just really wanted 5 baths in one day and for us to clean the house...haha

The Art of Finding Bridesmaid Dresses

Well internet friends, we finally succeeded in finalizing the bridesmaid dresses!!

As with my wedding dress, which is a whole other story, I tried to find a dress that was either made in the U.S.A., handmade via Etsy, or really really cheap.  The first dress I found on Etsy and fell in love.  It is made in Chicago by Atelier Signature.  This mismatched bridesmaid dress looked perfect.

Image taken from Atelier Signature on Etsy

So, I got really excited.  These were handmade in the US and came with a pretty reasonable price of $100.  I envisioned all three of my ladies in the cute grey dresses with red, orange and yellow sashes to match the groomsmen in their red, orange and yellow ties.

My Awesome Paint Shop Skillz

But alas, my dreams were quickly dashed.  I emailed the seller and said I really really wanted her dresses for my bridesmaids and asked what the next step was.  After that, I decided to peruse the seller feedback.  This is when I found a slew of recent negative feedback, which I was confused by as all the other reviews were 100% positive.  The review made sense, saying that when you pay for the dress, you need to do the review within a certain amount of time, which is typically before your dress will be arriving.  So, people were making positive reviews at the beginning when the seller was attentive and then when it came down to getting the dress, they may have been disappointed but unable to leave another review or change their previous review.  Here is a snippet of the poor reviews I saw:

Now, as I write this, I find this positive review.  Not sure what to think of this.  Maybe we would have been ok ordering from her?








Not sure it would have been worth the risk.  If Marian was suffering from a terrible tragedy, shouldn't she have stopped receiving orders for the time being especially if she was unable to full-fill them?

My next step was looking through other Etsy sellers, but I couldn't find anything as cute or for a cheap enough price to make the risk of going through Etsy worth it considering the importance of being clothed for my wedding.  My maid of honor then found what I thought was the jackpot of dresses!  Under $100 and super cute looking, just what we wanted.

 


From left to right: Grey Simple Bateau Neck, Knee Length V-Neck Chiffon & Gray V-Neck Cap Sleeves.  At between $60 and $70 each, I was ecstatic.  But since I had been tricked before, I decided to do some quick googling on the websites these were selling from: Celeb 16 and DH Gate.

There are entire websites dedicated to hating on these retailers.  DH Gate Pissed Customer & Bridal Disaster Blog Post, for example.  The websites look like you are buying from a company, but really you are buying from a shop in China which makes replica dresses.  The part I diskliked the most was that they were using photos from other dress designers to market their dresses.  Those photos of dresses and models above, are not the real dresses that they personally make.  They make something that will look kind of like that dress.  There is inherent risk as to the quality of the dress and if/when it will arrive.  Celeb 16, the other site, had the same kind of reviews.

So after trying to pursue my dreams of a made in the USA wedding, or at least handmade in the USA wedding, I ended up doing what most all other brides do.  Go to a Bridal Shop, try on bridesmaid dresses, make sure bridesmaids like dress & order the dress.  Much less risky to deal with a reputable shop where you can talk to people in person, even if it is a bit pricier.  More money is better than no dress at all or a botched dress, right?

My mom, grandma and I's first stop: Sempliners in Bay City.  This was the same shop that grandma got her wedding dress from!

 

 I had great success at Sempliners.  All the dresses were really cute...but they were all over $200 :(

Our next stop was Unique Bridal.  I found a TON of dresses here that were absolutely perfect.  All cute , with straps/sleeves and knee length.  Then the lady informs me that none, I repeat none, of those dresses comes in a grey color.  What??  All of them?  I almost lost it then and there.  Perfect dresses, perfect prices, all other colors under the rainbow, but no grey.  Is the world against me?  haha  I got myself together and did find two dresses that were ~$160 and what we were looking for.

 

The one on the right was the one myself and my maid of honor liked the most, but were a bit sad that bra straps show a little bit where the neckline comes in and then circles around the neck.  We reasoned that the bridesmaids could pin their bra in there, wear a strapless, or wear clear straps.  It was literally less than 1/2 square inch of bra that would show.  No biggie.

So we went with it.  The Alfred Angelo Style 7053 in Charcoal.

Here's to hoping ordering from a bridal shop for bridesmaid dresses will be less stressful than ordering online from some unknown source!