Memories, Farewell to Ed, R.I.P.

Farewell to Ed, this post is dedicated to my sons and to the loss of their dad.

Their dad passed away yesterday at 3pm, 9-11-2011

Their Dad's favorite tv series of all time was the original Star Trek.

Ed lost his battle with cancer.

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Live Long and Prosper.

The photos were taken at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, around two weeks before his passing.

Ed sitting in the Captain's Chair at the Kennedy Space Center 



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I love you both always, you are the best sons any mom or dad could ask for, my heart is full of sadness for you both.

I decided to make one of his favorite t.v. show the original Star Trek so this must be included in his memory.

The enterprise ship on this cake was made freehand using a toothpick drawn on the cake and then I filled it in with frosting using pastry tips and cake decorating tools. 

This cake is a marble cake with buttercream frosting.


 

Marble Cake Batter:

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. of almond extract
1 1/4 cups milk, half and half sour milk or buttermilk
1 cup of mini chocolate chip
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
Mix the butter-sugar together until light. Add flour, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and milk. Beat till smooth, around three minutes, and split the batter into two bowls.
Add the unsweetened cocoa powder to one bowl and mix well.
Grease the pan of your choice, o you can use a bundt pan, or two 8-inch pans using the same method. Start with a small amount of vanilla cake batter on the bottom, add a dollop of chocolate batter in the center, and sprinkle just the chocolate with mini chocolate chips. Continue layering until all the batter is gone. Do not stir. Bake at 350 for around 40 minutes till done, and test with a toothpick if it comes out clean in the center.

Cool completely.

 Tip Note:

The easiest way to do a transfer of a photo is to take a cookie sheet upside down flat even side. Place your on the back of a flat cookie sheet your favorite coloring book photo, and tape it. Place wax paper over it and tape securely then trace with frosting. When dry lift and place on the cake. If you are an artist like my husband you can draw the photo straight onto the cake with a toothpick and fill it in with a star tip.

You can use Royal icing or this frosting below, however, the one below will take up to three weeks to dry the one below hard enough so it won't break when lifting. The best thing about using the star tip to trace the photo even if it broke you can fix it with fresh frosting no one will know!

Butter Cream High Humidity Frosting:  Great for Florida or hot weather areas.

2 lbs powdered sugar

2/3 cup Crisco

2/3 cup water

1 package of dream whip

2 tablespoons clear vanilla

Beat with a flat beat in an industrial mixer 1 package dream whip and Crisco till light, gradually add the powdered sugar and little water at a time. Whip for 12 minutes, and fold in the vanilla. The frosting is thick and ready to frost a cooled cake.

In this picture, I used a large star tip for the shell border, and a small star tip for the enterprise. For the dark m&m for the top of the ship and under the ship, I used chocolate rounds cut out for the bottom deflector dish.

The gray frosting was tinted with a tiny bit of black food paste, I use Wiltons coloring.

If you would like the recipe for Royal icing see below.

This is Wilton's recipe:

2 tablespoons meringue powder

4 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons warm water

Mix all together in a very clean bowl with a handheld mixer till this makes soft peaks 10 to 12 minutes.