A Stitch in Time

DREAMERS: This weekend we checked on our bees, celebrated Father's Day, and did a few other things on the 'to do' list, but one of the biggest tasks was working on a donation cake for Birthday Dreams, a non-profit that provides birthday parties (decorations, gifts, cake, treats and all) for homeless youth.

The birthday person, an older teenager, we signed up for had a very specific request - they wanted a Lilo & Stitch-themed cake. 

We love making cakes for teens, and we love making specific/obscure cakes, so this was a good project to put the MPA cake squad to the test. 

We found a really great video online that featured a woman making a sculpted Stitch cake. While that's not the route we went, it helped Annabelle get some ideas for how to sculpt her Stitch out of homemade modeling chocolate. Annabelle watched it a couple of times and took notes.

Then, she was off to the races. She made the entire cake topper herself, fearlessly. I'm so impressed by her skill and confidence. 

Making blue modeling chocolate is a bit of a mess. At one point she said, "I look like I murdered a Smurf!"

Couldn't argue with her on that.

CJ was super helpful making the fondant and the pineapple filling for the top tier. 

The top tier is a coconut cake covered in coconut buttercream, with pineapple filling and chopped macadamia nuts for some crunch. It was our first go 'round for this particular recipe and I have to say, it tasted amazing. :) The "bamboo" around the top tier are hazelnut and vanilla Pirouette cookies. The sand on top of the cake is light brown sugar. The surfboard is modeling chocolate with sugar sheet and a little marshmallow fondant. (The recipient's name is on the surfboard, but I blurred it out, for the sake of confidentiality.)

The bottom tier is chocolate mocha cake with vanilla buttercream icing covered in red marshmallow fondant. Its filling is vanilla creme with mini chocolate chips.

Below is an early assembly photo. the column in the middle is to help hold the tall tier atop it.

Speaking of Birthday Dreams, despite the fact we've been donating cakes to them for a year now, this weekend we finally attended a (long overdue) volunteer orientation. 

It gave us a chance to learn more about how Birthday Dreams does what they do, and we were able to ask a few questions we've been wondering about for awhile now. 

After the orientation, we stopped by a nearby Jo-Ann store. As luck would have it, they were hosting a mini decorate-a-cookie or brownie table. The kids were all over that. CJ was still sporting his Birthday Dreams apron.