The boy! The boy turned 13. And had a bar mitzvah. And has accomplished all kinds of great growth this year. I am so proud of him.
His bar mitzvah was a week after his actual birthday, and we saved the big birthday cake until the Friday night before. (For his actual birthday, since we had to mark the occasion, he had three friends over and I made them some chocolate cupcakes with blue swirl frosting.)
This year, he requested a funfetti cake with rainbow frosting. There were about 50 of us for dinner, so I made a big, giant cake with rainbow swirled frosting and shards of stained glass candy as a decoration. It was hot out and apparently a little humid, because the candy began bending and drooping as the evening went on! Luckily, I caught some pictures early on so I know what it originally looked like, but - word to the wise - sugar is not your friend in humid weather!
The multi-colored frosting is fun to do. I piped stripes of frosting onto a piece of plastic wrap, twisted the ends into a tube, cut off the tip, and inserted the tube into a piping bag. The color distribution will be a little random as you squeeze, but it comes out really pretty.
I love how the candy catches the light!
To make the candy shards, I crushed up Jolly Ranchers and sprinkled them onto a silpat-lined baking sheet. I put them in the oven for just a few minutes to start to melt. As soon as I pulled them out, I used a toothpick to swirl them slightly, then let them harden, and them broke them into shards. I stored them in an airtight container separated by wax paper (maybe it was parchment? I forget) to try to keep as much humidity away from them as possible, because humidity would instantly start to soften the hard candy.
You can see the sugar pieces already starting to bend...
The funny thing about this picture is that Riley is next to Brenny in so many of his birthday pictures, up close and personal with the cake. His grin looks just like his dad, Kevin's, in this pic!
Happy 13th birthday, B!
His bar mitzvah was a week after his actual birthday, and we saved the big birthday cake until the Friday night before. (For his actual birthday, since we had to mark the occasion, he had three friends over and I made them some chocolate cupcakes with blue swirl frosting.)
This year, he requested a funfetti cake with rainbow frosting. There were about 50 of us for dinner, so I made a big, giant cake with rainbow swirled frosting and shards of stained glass candy as a decoration. It was hot out and apparently a little humid, because the candy began bending and drooping as the evening went on! Luckily, I caught some pictures early on so I know what it originally looked like, but - word to the wise - sugar is not your friend in humid weather!
The multi-colored frosting is fun to do. I piped stripes of frosting onto a piece of plastic wrap, twisted the ends into a tube, cut off the tip, and inserted the tube into a piping bag. The color distribution will be a little random as you squeeze, but it comes out really pretty.
I love how the candy catches the light!
To make the candy shards, I crushed up Jolly Ranchers and sprinkled them onto a silpat-lined baking sheet. I put them in the oven for just a few minutes to start to melt. As soon as I pulled them out, I used a toothpick to swirl them slightly, then let them harden, and them broke them into shards. I stored them in an airtight container separated by wax paper (maybe it was parchment? I forget) to try to keep as much humidity away from them as possible, because humidity would instantly start to soften the hard candy.
You can see the sugar pieces already starting to bend...
The funny thing about this picture is that Riley is next to Brenny in so many of his birthday pictures, up close and personal with the cake. His grin looks just like his dad, Kevin's, in this pic!
Happy 13th birthday, B!
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