Sunday Sweets: Miss Independent
July 4, 2010 Today we get to look at some of America's best birthday cakes. :)
By CC (aka Cake Central) member sugarchiconeI don't feature sheet cakes too often here on Sunday Sweets, but this one is postcard-perfect; and all buttercream! Those are some sweet piping skills.
Another that looks almost too perfect to be real:
By Spring Lake CakeLove the bow.
By CC member tcamPlus, this cake was beautiful *inside* as well as out:
Surprise!And then CC member themaytrix took the hidden flag idea to the next level:
Sweeeet.If you read the Reader's Digest, you may remember this couple:
This is Ralph Archbold & Linda Wilde, who play Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross in Old City Philadelphia. When they got married (on July 3rd, no less!) this was their wedding cake:
And here's the gazebo the band would play in:
Proving that simple can also be stunning:
Believe it or not, those daisies are also gumpaste. Gorgeous!
Here's a cool idea, and executed flawlessly:
CC member mimiguk wrote the words to the national anthem as the stripes in the flag. Painstaking, I'm sure, but oh-so-perfect! (Just looking at all that script makes my hand cramp. Yow.)And speaking of our national anthem, here's a cake celebrating its writing:
By MixinVixen
By KupKake TreeHappy Belated Canada Day! Sorry again for almost forgetting it on Thursday.
Fortunately, most of you Canadians both know what your national anthem is AND have a sense of humor, but a select few who don't on both counts were "patriotic" enough to write angry e-mails and leave goofy cake blogs over an imagined maligning of said anthem. [sigh]
So, for those still here who were offended: wrong song, and we certainly meant no offense. We love Canada. We love Canadians. Your bacon is awesome, William Shatner is da man, and we like that Celine Dion song...um...well, her music is Ok. So, yeah. Hope the beaver cake makes up for everything. Wreck on, eh?
Reader Comments (125)
lovely!! happy fourth to all, and yes, we love canadians too...
Happy 4th of July! The cakes are wonderful! And yes, I started humming Stars and Stripes Forever even before I read your comment about that one cake. I'd love to have any one of them at a party. As for the Canada cake --- that's just plain adorable.
happy rebellion day, awkward colonials!
Angry emails over a joke? Eternal birthday CCCs to those poo heads who wrote you angry emails.
Beautiful! Happy 4th of July!!!
OMG the flag in a cake cake is perfect, an the rest of them were beautiful-loved the anthem cake
Are those intricate star designs on the wedding cake edible? Just wondering. They're pretty awesome, definitely a lot of work to get the flag INSIDE the cake. I could never do it, neither could my local bakery.
As a Canadian, I am embarrassed to know there are people who misunderstood that post and I apologize on behalf of those who actually have a sense of humor and realized the true intent of what you were getting at. There's one in every crowd, I guess. You still rock Jen and the American flag design makes spectacular cakes; those are some stunning works of art!
I'm Canadian, I don't know what Epcot song you're talking about, but I found your version of the National Anthem hilarious. It is actually very similar to my version of your National Anthem: "Oh say can you seeeeee... by the dawn's early light... something duuuunnnn dun dun dun, dun dun dun...." - well, you can use your imagination for the rest.
Some people just have no sense of humor. And your blog is a funny blog. So why are they watching your blog if they have no sense of humor? That is the question.
Most of the time I like your Sunday Sweets. They're cute. They're amazing. But it's rare that they actually take my breath away. Most of today's did. (I wonder if it's because it was such a patriotic post - even though we are neighbors, I feel as though we are so closely intertwined that we are the same.)
And in conclusion: (well, I was going to write the ending of your National Anthem here, but I don't even know the tune at the end. My apologizes.)
Pretty cakes!
silly question, maybe, what is a CC member?
Thanks,
M
Happy 4th to everyone of you Yanks, and anyone who took offense to your mangling of the Epcot anthem should get over themselves..
In a recent survey on Canadian's choice of a national dish, "beaver" was mentioned...um, more than once..
We do have a sense of humour..can you say Jim Carey or Russell Peters?
Love this blog..except I have a 'Constant Craving' for cake after i look at it...(for the uninitiated, that's a kd lang song..our really impressive chanteuse...)
Heh. We weren't offended. Honestly.
And if we had been, that beaver would have been fantastic enough to make up for it!
Beautiful cakes! Loved the one with the daisies and the draped flag!
I so love this blog. I feel like something is missing if I can't check it every day. :) Keep up the fantastic work!
I've always hated patriotic cakes because I've never seen one that was well-done... until now. Thanks for proving that there can be beautiful patriotic cakes!
I LOVE these.
I don't comment much, but first: gorgeous, gorgeous cakes!
More importantly: as a Canadian I wasn't not the least bit offended, and thought it was hilarious! So boo to those who thought it was offensive!
Happy 4th of July! I really love the one with the lyrics! I can't imagine how painstaking the work must have been.
As for the Canadians... I'm surprised. They're usually the first ones to poke fun at themselves. How about the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics with Michael Buble and the dancing mounties and the giant inflatable beaver that looked a whole lot like today's cake?
Okay, that's funny as heck! Love the US cakes ... LOVE the Beaver the most ... since I'm one of those Canadians who actually had a great laugh over your "forgotten" Canada Day post ... too cute!!
Wow-- I am so impressed, and that goes double for the one with the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics written out. I'd say I wondered why I've never seen that done before, but then again... :P
Ben and Betsy's wedding cake is beautiful, but I believe those are plastic "flowers" attached with straight pins decorating it. If you left-click for a larger view, you can see the pins. That's okay as long as the baker is the one serving the cake and retrieves the "roughage".
These cakes were all outstanding. The flag done in script makes me wonder how you "white out" piping in case of an error. Though your Monday-Friday posts show most wreckerators don't bother. That cake required great skill and talent. Well done!
Absolutely AWESOME patriotic cakes!!!! I wish I wasn't so OCD, though! I counted 15 stripes on the second flag within a cake!!!
I'm Canadian and I absolutely love the beaver!! And I wasn't offended by thursday's post. i thought it was pretty funny.
Happy 4th, guys!
As a Canadian, I was not offended by your Epcot song. What I do find horribly offensive, though, is your reminder that Celine Dion is Canadian. We're pretty sure that she's been in the US long enough now that she counts as yours.
I love that beaver cake! of course like all other Canadians on this blog, I am sorry some of our fellow citizens have no sense of humour. As for Celine Dion, um you guys can keep her *flees*
Another reason to love Canada? Nathan Fillion. *sigh*
OK you're forgiven LOL.
However I still must take offense to that Canada cake: it doesn't look much like Celine Dion..... altho the poo color looked good!
BTW for all of you, Americans & Candians alike, astounded about us Canadians getting upset over the facetious Canada Day post....maybe it's because there are still too many people worldwide! who know nothing about Canada other than we are a land of ice & snow or who think we're an extension of the US of A.
so lighten up & don't apologize for the rest of us!
I'm gobsmacked. That flag in the sliced cake amazed me. How cool is that? The anthem cake was awesome, too. Well done by everyone.
I love the detail in these cakes - well, maybe not the FIFTEEN stripes representing the original colonies, but artistic license prevails. Norine
The second cake from the top... now THAT is how you combine "cake" and "cupcake!" If people were to follow this example, the scourge of the CCC would be no more!
The cakes are lovely, but I have to admit, two little things bother me. The first cake's swags are upside down; flag code dictates that blue should be on top, followed by white and red. And the cake you said was simple and stunning? They started the flag with a white stripe; really?!
I know it's nitpicky, but when my father is fighting so hard to defend our flag, I'd prefer it to be right.
Adorable beaver, though. :)
Loved these cakes. Not only flawless but you can practically see the hours of extra effort that make these cakes stand out.
(If it's any consolation, people who are easily offended by cake blogs eventually wonder why no one tells them jokes anymore, and why their lives are so bland and boring.)
-Teabunny
wv pressent - double ss means I get 2 gifts?
Holy Yankee Doodle macaroni! Some of these cakes are just jaw-dropping! The one by Nunuck is like.. fireworks personified as a cake. Cakesonified! So much fun, and I love the braided rope borders.
Also dyyyying over the little firecrackers on top of the Kyle cake!
Happy 4th to all the Statesies, and a belated Happy Canada Day to our lovable neighbors up north!
TysMomma & GotAppies - I noticed the same thing on both cakes you mentioned. If you're going to take the time to do something that well, take a second to make sure it's accurate.
The cake with the writing on is amazing. To be able to write that small and perfect with a pastry bag is an incredible talent.
Those cakes are absolutely breathtaking. Happy Fourth of July!
Those cakes with the flag hidden on the inside look amazing! But the second one looks like it has a TON of frosting - not sure how much I'd be able to handle!
p.s. My hubby thinks the written-out anthem was done by machine. Is he just bursting my bubble? Even if it was, it's an awesome cake and a masterpiece of creativity.
Wow....to think that people,e went all gah gah over whenI put red and blue food color in the cakes inside a flag cake that I made. I think the biggest part i likes about that is the dedication that went into making the layers that ended up being the flag. As an avid cake scuplter they might have put the cake in the Freezer before slicing it into layers to build the flag with. It's a common trick and one I use alot after either sculpting a cake to shape or just before I sculpt it.
You really should have a Sweets day devoted to gifted hobbiest like myself.
As a Canadian, I'm not offended in the slightest. Those who took offense probably dislike most things in their lives and are generally unhappy. The rest of us up here are laughing with you...as you laugh with us, right?
*my mistake, apparently he is going through puberty now.
so you love all those things about Canada-the question is, do you love Justin Bieber, that well-known pre-pubescent 15 year old?
To Jennifer at 10:53 AM--don't feel bad about not knowing the U.S. National Anthem. I didn't know Canada's, other than, "O Canada" until the Vancouver Olympics. By the end, I knew the whole first stanza because we'd heard it so often. Unfortunately, most of it is gone now except the first two and last two lines (of course, the last two are identical so I guess I technically only know three.)
To Jen, blog owner (and John, too)--I'm sorry that you were subjected to angry emails over a joke about a song that you plainly stated was from EPCOT. Even if it HAD been about the National Anthem, it is, IMO, silly to get angry about it unless one is the composer of said anthem. It's not a crime to forget the words of a song and make up silly replacement lyrics. Lighten up, easily offended Canadians! (By which I mean those Canadians who are easily offended, and not that every Canadian is.)
I'm a July 4th baby - and I've never had a cake quite so awesome as these! Loooooove them!
How about some Union Jack cakes for the Brits out here? I mean, we can't help it that certain Yanks in the 1700s didn't want to pay taxes. Now look, you can't spell properly (you all spell "colour" wrong), you can't make a proper cup of tea or a scone, your fish and chips are dismal, your beer is worse, you stole Hugh Laurie, and you inflicted something called an "English Muffin" on the world we want no part of. Let's not talk about your health care bollocks-up.
Now, taxes support schools, social programmes, police and fire, why on EARTH do you think its bad to pay them?
They are beautiful...
but...
there are 15 stripes on the inside of the cake and on the draped cake...
and...
the draped cake starts with white, instead of red....
otherwise, BEAUTIFUL!
Gorgeous cakes! Though I have to say, even as a Canadian married to an American-Canadian (or the other way around?), who served as a Marine but lives up here now, that the flag draped on the cake is a total NO-NO! A flag never drapes on anything and I realize it is a cake and just icing BUT the message is wrong.
Semper Fi!
And the angry emails? Understandable. We're sick and tired of being made fun of, especially when the States are hyper patriotic and seemingly would never do it to their own.
I however, will keep reading this blog :)
Captain Momma
Not to be nitpicky in an unfriendly way (well, nitpicky, yes; unfriendly, I hope not!), but there was indeed a 15-striped flag. In fact, the flag flying over Ft. McHenry, about which Mr. Key wrote what became the national anthem, was a 15-striper!
At the time, the idea was to add a star and stripe with each new state added to the Union, but it pretty quickly became obvious that wasn't going to work. So the flag was returned to the original 13 stripes and only the star field was modified as more states were added.
So one could depict a flag with 48 stars and not be incorrect at all, in other words. It would simply be the flag that was in use between 1912, the addition of (47)New Mexico and (48)Arizona, and 1959, the addition of (49)Alaska and (50)Hawaii.
I'm a Yankee who spent a couple of years in Canada, and I have to say, in my experience, the only thing Canadians like better than making fun of Canada is making fun of America, and boo to all Canadians (and everyone else out there) who doesn't have a sense of humor.
And, er, Jen? You may just want to cut out the Epcot references from now on. They seem to just cause trouble. At least among those who are easily offended and don't read the comments others have posted before posting themselves. Just a suggestion, I thought both the Canada song and the Spaceship Earth thing were hilarious.
Yeah. I love these cakes, especially the sheet cake--I didn't know it was possible for a piped cake to avoid being a wreck. and the hidden flags--WOW! I can see how it'd be done, but so much work!
*is reeling from the sheer awesomeness of these cakes*
Love the "hidden flag" cakes - those have got to be tricky to make! Major kudos to the bakers! :)
Also, the Canada cake is way too cute. :)
Diana- what the.. what? It was about taxation without representation in parliament (among other things of course.)
Perhaps you'll see some Union Jacks around Guy Fawkes day. or something. I could whip up an England flag cake no problem. ;)
-expat American living in the UK
Those are beautiful. Absolutely stunning - thank you for sharing! But count me among the group that is a bit bothered by the fact that they did such a fabulous job, but don't know how many stripes are on the flag, or which color comes first. (Bunting color order, too...but I can excuse that. And somehow it's one thing to "abbreviate" a flag with fewer stripes. But 15 of them?)
That said, if they do these cakes this beautifully, I'm sure they do other work beautifully as well. I would love to see more from them!