Nanny Libby

So, I have been making the occational cake for friends and family. Saturday, we had a baby shower for a friend with a great sense of humor. We constructed a replica of her Boxer, Libby. Libby is very excited to assist in the nurturing of the new little arrival.


I have included a couple of pictures to give you an idea of how this cake was made. The basic shape of the cake began with a stack of 6" hearts on the bottom, followed by 8" ovals, and the neck used 3 1/2" rounds. The head was constructed using foam balls and modeling chocolate (this cake needed to be kosher for religious reasons, so the typical medium of rice cereal and marshmallows could not be used)


Now that I am not baking for the general public, Sonya is allowed in the kitchen to watch.
The cake is covered in "stucko" after carving, which is a mixture of mousseline buttercream, filling, and cake crumbs. It allows for a smoother surface to ice.


The next step is a thick and very smooth layer of ganache. At this stage, you add the subtle details like muscle tone, brow ridges, etc.


Now, you can add the fondant, food coloring paint, ears and eyes.


The finishing touch of a matriarchal-looking lace cap and, VOULA! Instant Nanny!


Which one is the cake? Who knows- they both look soooooo excited!

So, what did I do on the first day of the first year without my cake business....?

...I made a cake, of course!!!


This was a wedding cake for the little sister of my very good friend, Rebecca. The request was to have an Oregon Forest-looking waterfall with a little bench and outhouse incorporated. I followed instructions. In the picture, the water looks black...weird lighting, I guess; but I assure you the waterfall was a dark blue.

You can see, in the background of this picture (in my kitchen just before delivery) that I used icecream cones to form the trees. I also mashed up fresh brownies to form the boulders, and poured gelatin to give a running water look.

The Last One...officially

This is the last cake that I will be doing under the name of Karren's Specialty Cakes. It was a sweet sixteen cake for a girly-girl who likes purses, shoes, and purple. This is what we came up with.
I will still post fun little cakes I do for family and friends along with, perhaps, some of my secrets and tips in the future. Stay tuned...

Food that looks like food....

...that it tastes nothing like. I promise you that these Tater Tots do not taste like nuggets of fried and salted potato mush:-).

The Battlestar!

Believe it or not, this is actually a Wedding cake. It was for a SUPER fun couple, with the groom being a huge BSG fan.

They even let me stick around to watch it's demolition! So much fun!

A Pretty Garden Wedding

This wedding cake was designed to match the flowers of the family's backyard garden. Unfortunately, this past Saturday topped out at over 100 degrees, and the cake needed to be set up in the air conditioned living room.
This will be one of only a few remaining cake posts, as we will be discontinuing our business. Stay tuned for the final 3 weddings remaining on our schedule.

Closing shop

We served the greater Portland area since October 2006. Sadly, due to health reasons, we have decided to discontinue our business. We will miss interacting with the community and participating in the special events of your lives. There are many qualified bakers who have arrived in the Portland area since we opened shop. They should be a great resource to you. One in particular is Artisan Cake Company whose business model most closely mirrors that of Karren's Specialty Cakes. Once again, thank you for all the business and loyalty!