Hi-jacking the Disco Inferno Cake

We knew that our cake making days weren't over! Based on our mutual feelings & the responses from our supportive family & friends we kept thinking & conceptualizing more interesting & elaborate feats. Less than a month later, we embarked on our next baking adventure, which we created for a dear friend of ours. It was for her "21st" birthday celebration [wink wink]. Knowing this wonderful woman like we do, we decided to bake a "Disco-tastic" cake for her. We tossed around different ideas, read & researched on how to take our ideas & make them a reality. Being that this was only our second cake to ever really create [other than standard cakes] we thought we'd keep it relatively simple.

This second cake consisted of a dark chocolate center, smothered with a creamy, whipped icing & covered in a couple of thinly layered multi-colored fondant. Baking the half-round cake was a challenge [being that we're both novices to dimensional cake making]. We needed a serious baking bowl to use & that not one we owned was large enough for the task. So, unbeknownst to our friend, we received some back-up from her loving man [whom was the party planning master]. What did he have? The perfect shaped baking bowl! And off we went, creating something we'd never created before, a semi-round cake. We set it to bake & it nearly took two times longer than we had anticipated! Oops, we didn't foresee that one! It just so happened to be raining outside, so due to the inclimate weather, we turned the heat down to 325(f). After some trial & error, checking the middle, checking it again... viola, a cake was born! Luckily the coloring process & homemade fondant were completed & waiting for the final assemblage. After carving the cake to get a nice rounded & smooth surface, we iced it with the whipped topping. Then we added the under layer of white fondant & proceeded to add the colored, sugary fondant squares [that we meticulously cut & “glittered” with colored crystal sugars] around the cake to give it that mirror ball feel. It took some patience & may tries [some basic trigonometry] to figure out the pattern in which to lay the square pieces. We didn’t perfect it by any means but, have gained the knowledge on placement of square objects onto round surfaces. This was our “prototype” if you will.

But, let us rewind a bit. Before actually starting the process of measuring, mixing, baking, sculpting, cutting, etc., we needed a little inspiration outside ourselves. Being the music enthusiasts that we are, decided to dial into some funk & disco fundamentals. Thank you internet radio! With the tunes blazing in the background, which most definitely set the tone, we started to create. Literally, we were grooving around the kitchen! Oh to be a fly on the wall.

Much to our friends’ surprise, after being winded & dined, blind-folded, driven aimlessly through town, she had no inkling of what lied ahead as she was shuffled into the party space… SURPRISE! Needless to say she was one happy lady. With disco tunes blaring in the background the party started, the candle was lit & the cake was devoured!

02.17.10

Welcomes you!

We will strive to bring YOU, our readers, up-to-date creative cakes for inspirational purposes & we hope to possibly make one of our locals a very happy baked goods consumer!

Piper at the Cakes of Dawn was founded by artisan partners Sean Cook & Dawn Dreyer in their suburban home in the outskirts of Dallas, Texas. Through their combined creative forces they have decided to stretch their imaginative “legs” & embark upon a new artistic outlet… you guessed it, baking cakes! Both cake designers have an extensive background in the fine arts & graphic arts realm, which is applied in the designing of these confectionery delights. The sweet-tooth couple view cooking & baking as a relaxing, yet creative way to enjoy each others’ company.

Their first cake inspiration came to them through their daughter’s birthday cake request. Knowing that it was nearly impossible to find & purchase a cake to her liking locally, decided that attempting to capture the element of surprise would be up to them. So, this cake in all its’ fun-loving glory was created. Much to their daughter’s, relatives & the birthday party attendee's surprise, a Mario Kart themed, layered cake was unveiled! Tears of joy were brought to their daughter's eyes as she gleefully got a visual of what had been created just for her. It suffices to say that this was the inception of the Piper at the Cakes of Dawn. From this moment of humility & shear excitement prompted several cakes to follow.