And then there were four. Now these champions will face off in a birthday cake battle royale. Are you ready for some badass buttercreamin’? Polls will be open until tomorrow morning (May 2) at 8 am AST/7 am EST. That’s 24 hours of voting. The winner will be announced tomorrow as well.
I encourage our finalists to use any means possible to win. Get on yer email, facebook and twitter accounts. Ousted competitors, loyal movita fans: throw your weight behind your favourite baked masterpiece. That’s buttercream politics, people.
Let the smack down begin!
Your finalists…
. . .
eliza’s bedecked strawberry donut hole cake
Read the full post on Eliza’s cake, including her own description of her masterpiece, here.
This cake sparkles. This cake shines. There are strawberries in there. And vanilla pastry cream! It has strawberry glaze dripping over the sides. It looks really, really tall. IT HAS DONUT HOLES ON IT. (Did you see the flower on top?) Mother of pearl: IT HAS DONUT HOLES ON IT. This woman gets me. And I loves her for it. Enough said.
Read the full post on Carol Anne’s cake, including her own description of it, here.
First off, when I opened Carol Anne’s email and saw MYSELF ON THE TOP OF A CAKE, I did a grand jeté in the living room. That’s ballet speak for havin’ my freak freaked. It has three tiers! And also, BEER! Or stout, as they probably call it over on Carol Anne’s side of the ocean. The buttercream looks soft and sweet. The scrollwork is oh, so lovely. And she overcame adversity to Bake My Cake – holes in piping bags are no joke, people.
I’d probably walk 500 miles for this cake.
(You can see more from Carol Anne on her blog: Rock Salt.)
. . .
shannon’s cake: movita beaucoup’s bakery story
Read the full post on Shannon’s cake, including her own description of it, here.
People, this is cake insanity. Aaaaaaand it made me a little teary. It’s perfection from top to bottom. Brilliant concept. Every little detail. The wee pastries. The vintage ballerinas. The little tables and miniature serving trays. The window, menu, bakery case, tablecloths, plates, the teeny-tiny donuts… sigh. And when you’re completely terrified about the year ahead? About heading to baking school? Well, this cake is just the thing to make you feel a little better. A little inspired.
When I think of the time and care Shannon took with this creation? Well, I love her to pieces for it. Also, when Shannon hits it big – and she will – remember you heard it here first. I can feel it in my bones.
(If you’d like to read Shannon’s blog post on this cake, click here. You won’t be disappointed.)
. . .
elsa’s tugging at your heartstrings cake
Read the full post on Elsa’s cake, including her own description of it, here.
When I opened Elsa’s email? I was so incredibly touched by her elegant cake, and those dear, sweet, heart-shaped letters, that I burst into tears. Sometimes it’s the little things in life, people. The concept behind this cake is just as it should be for any birthday cake: filled with love and best wishes.
I think this entry speaks for itself. Don’t you?
. . .
There you go. It’s time to vote now. Thanks for getting involved – we really appreciate your votes and comments. YIPPIE!!
Votes must be cast by 8 am Atlantic Standard Time (7 am EST), Wednesday, May 2.
UPDATE!Winner declared! Elsa’s Tugging At Your Heartstrings Cake edged out the other competitors to win the heat! This heat had more votes than any other. And made me hold my breath. Thus, it has aged me an extra year, and I will now turn 41 tomorrow. Congrats, Elsa! See you in The Finals…
What up, peeps? Here is the fourth grouping of cakes. Katherine & Scott, Paul, and Haddy all competed against each in the final grouping of Ginger 2011. Which means that they all procrastinate and send in their entries at the last minute.
Don’t forget to vote at the bottom of the post!
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katherine and scott’s anti-rutherford iphone cake
This entry comes from Katherine and her dude – movita superfan, Scott. Scott once sent me an iPhone video of himself twirling. No lie. You may remember Katherine from Ginger 2011. She has a wicked awesome blog called Eggton. You should read it.
Dear movita,
Scott and I made you an iPhone for your birthday. We loaded your bakery onto it so you can play Bakery Story and tweet from on the can. We programmed our phone numbers on there–they’re under speed dial 1 (me) and speed dial 2 (Scott). That way, when you’re at baking school in the fall, you can text us during recess.
Kisses, Katherine and Scott
p.s. We blocked the Rutherfords’ incoming calls. They won’t be able to bother you anymore.
That cake up there made me twirl. Look at that spectacular piece of Apple-inspired technology cake! DUDES, THAT IS MY BAKERY ON TOP THAT CAKE! Go ahead, click on the image to enlarge. DO IT. Scott is a physicist or robot or something, so I can only assume that’s how they figured out how to get my Bakery Story bakery on top of that cake. Science, people; stay in school.
Do you see the home button on my iPhone? The speakers? THE VOLUME BUTTONS? I’M YELLING! That’s because I’m super excited to see my birthday cake sitting on someone’s toilet.
Also, there aren’t a lot of people in the world who get just how awful The Rutherfords are. Welcome to team movita, Katherine and Scott. Welcome, indeed.
. . .
paul’s schneewhichen kuchen
You may remember Paul as The Shoe Guy from Ginger 2011 – he went head to head with my sister and her Three Little Piggies. And Katherine & Scott’s gingerfarm. And here we are again. Don’t you just love a rematch? Paul has a blog called The Ossington Kitchen. That’s where I learned that Schneewhichen Kuchen means: Snow White Cake. Which is weird, because I thought it meant “sandwich cart.” FYI, I thought my mother was Snow White until I was about seven years old. I wish I were kidding.
That’s a two-layer white cake studded with cherries and filled with chocolate ganache up there. Also, Paul got some Mennonites to make butter for the icing on this cake. Look at the fondant details! Daffodils and hydrangeas? A cat (effie) from the Cat Farm? One of Haddy’s piggies from Ginger 2011 in the bushes? Genius.
In the last competition, Paul’s mother forgot to vote for him. If that doesn’t buy your vote this year, I don’t know what will.
Tammie has a blog. It’s called craftytammie. She sent this note with her entry:
so. i made your cake. it was de-lic-ious!! blogged here. as promised, val and loni made an appearance. and here’s the creepy photos you wanted. or didn’t want. either way. happy happy birthday! thanks for making me laugh! tammie
The creepy kids in that photo – the ones licking my cake? Those are all hers. She says they get the creep from her husband. Also, Tammie reads my posts very carefully. For example, when I suggested that competitors include an awesome tidbit about their cakes? That people like hearing your stories, even you have something stupid to say, like how you were inspired by Val Kilmer? Well, uh, she remembered that. And when I told you to take good pictures of your cakes? And that we get that you like Loni Anderson, but we don’t necessarily need to see your Loni Anderson poster looming over your cake? Well, she remembered that too. And when I said not to send in photos that include your disgusting children? Because that would be creepy? Sigh…
FYI, that’s a triple layer meringue cake. Look at that thing – it’s as big as that kid on the left! I love meringue. I guess Tammie remembered that too. And it’s topped with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate shavings. And since she promised a side of awesome sauce? Well, you know the drill…
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elsa’s tugging at your heartstrings cake
You might remember Elsa from Ginger 2011. Oh, wait. No you won’t. Because she sent her entry to her mother’s email draft box instead of to me. So it was the entry that wasn’t. As a result, it wasn’t really a surprise when she sent her Bake My Cake entry to me 14 times on Friday night. She really wanted to make sure I got it.
Elsa sent the following note with her cake:
Hi, I’m Elsa Hodder and I am 13 years old. Ms. Dyer has been teaching me ballet since I was very little and she is so amazing. 40 of her students and I have written letters to show our appreciation to her and to wish her a happy birthday!!! Elsa <3
When I opened Elsa’s email? I was so incredibly touched by her elegant cake, and those dear, sweet, heart-shaped letters, that I burst into tears. Sometimes it’s the little things in life, people. The concept behind this cake is just as it should be for any birthday cake: filled with love and best wishes.
I think this entry speaks for itself. Don’t you?
. . .
haddy’s cheesecake for one (or three)
Our final cake comes from my sister, Haddy. You might remember her from Ginger 2011. If you grew up in our village in the 1970′s, you probably remember her as The Cheese; her role in an ill-fated production of The Farmer in the Dell.
Haddy sent the following information with her entry:
Cheesecake for one. Or three.
That’s extra old mimolette on the right there. Which coincidentally looks like cake collapsing under the weight of marzipan.
And then later:
Cheese from The Cheese, right? The inside joke is all I have going for me here. And those pink fingers, which took longer to get right than they should have.
(Looks like bread, but it’s angel food cake.)
I loves The Cheese Haddy. Cheesecake! Get it? It’s cake? Shaped like cheese? She’s such a gouda sport. Who makes Swiss cheese out of marzipan? Haddy does. And look at those mice, mofos! I kinda wanna shove one in my mouth. You should know that both my sister and I are incredibly freaked out by the fleshy coloured tails on rats and mice, so I’m betting she gagged her way through the construction of this masterpiece. But Haddy would never let an opportunity to compete against Paul just brie-ze past her. Nope. No way. And I’m betting that iPhone cake up there is making her blood curd-le.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: the cheese stands alone. You cheddar believe it.
. . .
There you have it. That’s the last group. Get voting!
Votes must be cast by 8 am Atlantic Standard Time (7 am EST), Tuesday, May 1. The winner from this heat will proceed to the final round of voting on Tuesday, May 1st. For more on how the voting is gunna go down, click here.
Did you cast your vote in the Group 3 heat? Don’t forget to come back on Tuesday for the final smack down…
UPDATE! Winner declared! Shannon’s Cake: Movita’s Bakery Story took the heat with 50% of the vote! Congrats, Shannon! See you in The Finals…
More cakes! You people went ca-razy voting yesterday. We almost broke the interweb. So, let’s do it again! Here is the third grouping of baked awesomeness. Get yer vote on at the bottom of the post…
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fredi, faye and bella’s sleeping dragons cake
You might remember Faye from Ginger 2011. She’s one of my students. So is her mother, Fredi. Her sister, Bella, dances too. Also, before reading the note these fabulous ladies sent me, you should know that every year I receive about 400 packages of Marshmallow Peeps from my students, I got to EAT THIS CAKE, and I have an autographed Sherree Fitch book of poetry in my office.
In honour of your 40th birthday in the Year of the Dragon, and inspired by Sheree Fitch’s classic poem, “Sleeping Dragons All Around,” we present to you a Mocha Maple Chocolate Cake!!
In the poem, a young girl awakens a whole household of sleeping dragons in a midnight fridge-raiding pilgrimage to sneak a piece of this cake. Our creation combines a mexican chocolate cake with a mocha belgium chocolate centre and maple meringue frosting. The “dragon’s teeth and scales” are burnt sugar.
While decorating the cake, a Peep, hearing it was your birthday, unwittingly wandered too close and became mired in maple merengue. It was able to wrest a golden scale from the side before escaping the ensnaring teeth.
My inner dragon could easily devour this cake in a day, but she’s not allowed. So since we believe birthday cakes should not be virtual, we’ll be sharing this cake at a ballet class near you. Bring your dragon!
Enjoy!! Faye Fredi Bella
Oh, this cake was enjoyed. BY MY BELLY. Teeth and scales made out of burnt sugar? Brilliant! The maple meringue frosting was sheer delight and paired perfectly with the rich chocolate cake. Also, you may have noticed that there are three photos up there. Not two, as requested. Fredi, Faye and Bella sent me seven photos. I guess if they don’t listen to me in class, it’s not likely they’ll listen to me outside of class. But because I actually got to eat this cake, I posted three photos. Deal with it. It’s my party, people. Also, you should know that I shared this cake with a large number of my students, who kept exclaiming, “it’s got a chocolate SLAB in the middle! It’s…” (inaudible, icing smeared muttering) “… so gooooood.” Enough said.
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shannon’s cake: movita beaucoup’s bakery story
This is Shannon’s cake. She has a blog called A Periodic Table. It is the bomb. She sent this note with her entry:
Happy Birthday! I made you your very own Bakery (Life) Story Cake.
the info:
cake name: Movita Beacuoup’s Bakery Story
cake flavor: 4-layer, 2-story vanilla buttermilk.
cake size: 1 10-inch round, 1 8-inch round.
cake filling: a from-scratch lemon curd with ground pistachios (because i know how much you love pistachios, and i think you’re fond of lemon as well)
cake frosting: vanilla buttercream
the decorations: vintage ballerinas, hand-decorated cheerios, an abundance of sprinkles, foam core bakery counter with clear plastic sheet “glass” windows, construction paper/plastic sheet window, construction paper menu, foam core tables with match stick bases, muslin tablecloths, dollhouse silver tray, miniature cake, and porcelain plates.
quote from mr. table upon seeing the finished product: “wow. that is literally insane.”
theme: I know how much you love Bakery Story, and i know you’re switching gears from ballet teacher to bakery school student in the fall, and i know how awesome you are, so i thought i’d do a little still life of, well…your life. the ballerinas represent your current career, and the bakery represents you opening up a little super-terrific bakery someday so we can all visit and hang out and chatter about crazy things and bake our faces off. You’d be great at it. And i would totally come for the grand opening. I think you’re fantastic. And so do those ballerinas; they flew in all the way from the ’60′s to celebrate your 40th with you. If you’ll notice, three of them have stolen pastries and are dancing with them.
oh! and i know you said two photos maximum, but i wanted you to see the details. there will be copious “how i put this f**ker together” photos on my blog.
So, Rachael (Movita), there’s your cake. i hope you love it to pieces. I really wish you could see it in person because it is EPIC. i’ll have a blog post about it nearer to your actual birthday. I hope you have an excellent one.
shannon (a periodic table.)
People, this is cake insanity. Aaaaaaand it made me a little teary. It’s perfection from top to bottom. Brilliant concept. Every little detail. The wee pastries. The vintage ballerinas. The little tables and miniature serving trays. The window, menu, bakery case, tablecloths, plates, the teeny-tiny donuts… sigh. And when you’re completely terrified about the year ahead? About heading to baking school? Well, this cake is just the thing to make you feel a little better. A little inspired.
When I think of the time and care Shannon took with this creation? Well, I love her to pieces for it. Also, when Shannon hits it big – and she will – remember you heard it here first. I can feel it in my bones.
(If you’d like to read Shannon’s blog post on this cake, click here. You won’t be disappointed.)
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wendy’s movita-inspired foodgasm cake
Things you should know: Wendy has an awesome blog called Chez Chloe. Wendy ate this cake for breakfast on Friday. Wendy and her daughter, Chloe, hate the m-word (moist) almost as much as I do. Wendy used the beautiful backdrops in these photos to hide her Magnum, P.I. posters.
Hi Movita,
This cake is for you and my boy who is turning 24 the 1st of May!
I thought and thought about what to bake. Despite a flood of ideas, just one failed to surface and I procrastinated a bit. Then when I saw the chocolate cake you made on Wednesday, it hit me. So call me unoriginal or brilliant but I decided if this was the cake you baked for your mother… someone should bake it for you. It was incredible. The first words out of my almost 14 yr old daughter, Chloe, was foodgasm. I was proud and scared in the same moment.
I had so much fun making it.
Can’t decide if we should share it because we just want to inhale it ourselves… but I so love to see other people experience chocolate ecstasy. Hmmm and I wonder where the daughter gets it from. Our neighbors will be happy.
Thanks for the inspiration and have a wonderful entrance to a new decade. It’s a good one!
best, wendy
First off, Wendy is a genius. Baking one of my new favourite cakes? Nicely done. I adore her decorating style – just the right flair. The beautiful peaks of icing on top are beggin’ you to dip a finger in there! And the candles are perfect. I want to pick up that plate, hide in a closet, and dive into that sucker. Alone.
I also feel that you should know that Wendy went to cooking school IN FRANCE at age 35 and got into all sorts of trouble with her younger classmates. She even had a crush on a 23 year old who took her on the back of his bike through the streets of Paris at 2 am. Read her bio, and you’ll want to grab life by the fistful just like Wendy does. She’s basically my idol. She should probably be yours too.
. . .
sharyn’s mexican chocolate masterpiece
Sharyn has a blog called The Kale Chronicles. This ain’t your typical food blog, because instead of highly stylized food photography, she creates paintings of her recipes. Dudes, that’s next level. You should seriously check her out. Also, you should buy me one of her paintings so I can put it in my kitchen.
It pretty much says it all. I took some actual photos. I’m sending one and also the photo of the painting I used on the blog. But I plead ignorance: I don’t know how to size photos. I hope that doesn’t spoil your birthday.
I can’t wait for the fun around all of the birthday cakes.
Cheers!
Sharyn
All is forgiven, Sharyn. You photos didn’t crash my computer. And your cake is the bomb. So you didn’t spoil my birthday. Nope, not one bit.
When I opened Sharyn’s email, I squealed with delight. Look at that painting! Plus, that cake has Mexican chocolate in it. And cinnamon. And beets! And Sharyn says I can de-healthify this recipe by serving it up in a pool of caramel sauce. See? She gets me.
Also, Sharyn thinks red velvet cake is a sham. I’VE BEEN SAYING THAT FOR TWO YEARS. Red food colouring isn’t a flavour, people. Move on.
A vote for Sharyn is a vote for art. And a vote against using red food colouring to create a trend that is way stupid.
. . .
There you go – get voting!
Votes must be cast by 8 am Atlantic Standard Time (7 am EST), Tuesday, May 1. The winner from this heat will proceed to the final round of voting on Tuesday, May 1st. For more on how the voting is gunna go down, click here.
Don’t forget to cast your vote in the Group 4 heat… and come back on Tuesday for the final round of voting.
UPDATE! Winner declared! Carol Anne’s Boozy Cake edged out Lan’s Cake Trilogy in a nail biter of a finish! Congrats, Eliza! See you in The Finals…
More sugary goodness! Here is the second grouping of cakes – you can cast your vote at the bottom of the post…
. . .
emily’s clementine cake
My friend, Emily, sent the following note with her entry:
Dearest Movita!
For the first time since we both lived in crazy-ville, I will be in the vicinity of your royal fabulousness around your birthday. It is therefore theoretically possible that I could bake you a birthday cake in person but, given that I will have a baby attached to my hip (and likely my boob… we will not speak the dreaded “n” word), baking is very unlikely. So, I have baked one of my favourite cakes for your contest. It is easy, it has four ingredients, it is gluten-free (not a problem for me, but for many others), it is kosher for Passover, it is actually kind of healthy (horrors!) and, most importantly, it is delicious! Enjoy!
Oh, and if I don’t win, I may be forced to leave the baby at your house overnight… just sayin’.
Em
Emily sent me the recipe for this cake – it has a base made out of clementines and almonds and is then topped with a chocolate glaze. Look. At. That. Glaze. It’s genius. I want to press my face into it’s shiny goodness. And you know how I loves me a one-bowl cake. Emily is one of the best friends a gal could have, people. She’s an über busy, super sassy, guru of educating-your-arse mother of two, and she still managed to bake me a cake. I loves her hard. But people? I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that the thought of a baby in my house OVERNIGHT chilled me to my core. If that doesn’t convince to vote for her cake, nothing will.
. . .
toby’s butterfly cake
Toby is one of my students. You might remember her from Ginger 2011, when she and her dad, Ron, went head to head with my other ginger-crazed fans. Toby was in charge of the labor intensive decoration of this brightly coloured butterfly cake, with baking support from her family.
Look at that cake, people! All ballet teachers love flying things. It’s what we do. Look at the colours. It’s like spring barfed all over that cake. That’s festive, baby! Also, I’m thinking that cake wouldn’t have been easy to shape – it probably involved blueprints, laser levels and a team of caterpillars armed with bevel protractors. That, my friends, demonstrates some skill and vision. No square cake here. No way. Yippie!
. . .
lan’s cake trilogy
Lan writes a blog. It’s called Angry Asian Creations. You should consider voting for her cakes. Mostly because she’s been a total badass since grade four, and still seems capable of mayhem today. She also has a cool Live It List, which I find pretty inspiring given that I am now officially… middle-aged.
I couldn’t decide what design to do for your cake, so i made three mini ones instead.
Pros to this:
you get THREE cakes
they’re miniatures, even if you ate all three in one sitting, they won’t hurt your girlish figure
if someone tries to steal any from you, they’re small enough you could shove all three in your mouth and still be able to curse them out for trying to mug you.
Cons:
there are none. unless you count that fact that you can inhale all three in one sitting.
happiest of birthday wishes to you!
Lan
I like the way Lan thinks. Why shouldn’t I have three cakes? Look at those little suckers! Don’t you just wanna shove them in your face? Yah, you do. I’d probably fight a bear off for one of those cakes. Lan has baked me a classic, one-bowl cake. Deep, dark and chocolatey. Each cake looks a little different – did you notice that? One for each decade I’ve survived on the planet. And have I ever told you how I feel about things that are sprinkled with a little confectioner’s sugar? Cake perfection.
(Want the recipe? Check it out here on Lan’s blog – you’ll probably want to stay for a while. Because she’s pretty awesome and stuff.)
. . .
carol anne’s boozy cake
Carol Anne has a lovely blog called Rock Salt. She’s from Glasgow, Scotland, so she probably hangs with Billy Connolley and Mark Knopfler. Also, Carol Anne is the complete opposite of me – she’s cool.
Here is the note she sent along with her entry:
Here is my entry for Bake My Cake. I am sad, because I love the cake very much, but I am not good at photos.
On the outside, the cake is pretty, if a bit edgy – it’s black and white, it’s got little stars on, it looks every so slightly like a Tim Burton forest. Still, it’s three tiers of pure class. On the inside, it’s full of chocolate and booze. I am not making any direct comparisons, but if someone were to describe me as classy on the outside and full of chocolate and booze on the inside, I’d be pretty happy about it.
It’s a Guinness and chocolate sponge, filled with Guinness vanilla frosting and finished with a plain vanilla buttercream – the piping work is all buttercream, too, I much prefer it to royal icing. I decorated most of the cake with a burst piping bag, desparately trying to cover up the hole with my palm as black icing oozed down my arm.
Also the cake is infused with the music of The Proclaimers.
Oh and it has a surprise Movita on the top! She is drawn right on there with an icing pen.
Happy birthday,
Carol Anne
First off, when I opened Carol Anne’s email and saw MYSELF ON THE TOP OF A CAKE, I did a grand jeté in the living room. That’s ballet speak for havin’ my freak freaked. It has three tiers! And also, BEER! Or stout, as they probably call it over on Carol Anne’s side of the ocean. The buttercream looks soft and sweet. The scrollwork is oh, so lovely. And she overcame adversity to Bake My Cake – holes in piping bags are no joke, people.
I’d probably walk 500 miles for this cake.
. . .
Okay, kiddens, get voting!
Votes must be cast by 8 am Atlantic Standard Time (7 am EST), Monday, April 30. The winner from this heat will proceed to the final round of voting on Tuesday, May 1st. For more on how the voting is gunna go down, click here.
Have you cast your vote for Group 1? Click here to get on it! And don’t forget to come back on Monday to vote for the competitors in Group 3 and Group 4.
