ace(s) of cakes

my dear friend lilcee's birthday was last week.  and to celebrate, she wanted to head over to duff's cake mix on melrose to do a little cake decorating.

cake?  you don't have to ask me twice.

the bean and i both rocked some super fun 'dos for the day - for her, french braids done by rock-ell.  and for me, a new obsession called a "sock bun."  yes, there's really a sock in my hair.  i'm quite proud of being able to master it.

so, this joint is owned by duff goldman of "ace of cakes" fame.  it's right next door to the west coast outlet of his charm city cakes bakery, where the show first started.  being a sunday, it was closed - but i peeked in through the windows anyway.

the cake mix shop was super cute.  nice and roomy, with a bright orange theme and some really awesome whisk lamps hanging from the ceiling.

since i still had leftover mini cupcakes at home from the fundraiser, i opted for a cupcake kit instead of a full layer cake to play with.  it included four cupcakes, two colors of frosting, two "goodies," and a little glob of plain white fondant.

we also got to sample the different cake flavors available that day.  here, a piece of lemon poppyseed (which was really yummy) and red velvet.

the bean liked the lazy susans placed on the worktable.

i was far more interested in looking around at all of the cake decorating paraphernalia organized neatly on shelves just behind our table.

i didn't get to see this machine in action, but winnie and lilcee did.  they'd chosen to decorate layer cakes, so their package included enough fondant to cover it completely.  this doohickey created beautifully smooth, even sheets out of the ball that came with the cake kit.

so they started with this:

and with a little effort, had this lovely blank canvas to work with.

meanwhile, the bean was quite enchanted with the protective gear she'd been given.

she got a big ol' kick out of getting to squeeze her frosting out onto her cupcake and smooth it out with an offset spatula, just like mommy does at home.

while i thought this was great fun and a really cool outing for us, i found myself watching everyone else work on their cakes and stalling when it came to decorating my own.  as i contemplated this, i came to the conclusion that my lack of interest stemmed from the fact that i pretty much have all this stuff at home.  like, it wasn't a novelty for me because i can do this whenever i darn well please.  i mentioned this to lilcee and within seconds, we were discussing under our breath how awesome it would be to open our own version of this closer to home.  and in case any of duff's people are reading this, the chances of that actually happening are about as slim as the chances that any of duff's people are actually reading this.  haha, did you get that?

but this didn't keep us from having fun.  not at all.  here, the bean's and mini cee's creations:

oh, and i finally sucked it up and did something with my cupcake.

the bean's didn't even make it out the door.  she grubbed down on that puppy like she hadn't seen a cupcake in years.

and then she decided to make something with the leftover fondant.  for her, it was just a fun handful of edible play-doh.

meanwhile, lilcee and winnie worked happily on their creations.

since we needed something to wash down our snacks, i picked this to share:

and when that kicked in, we encountered this on our way to the potty.

i liked the framed cake recipes that came out of some vintage women's magazines.

of course, it wasn't complete without a group photo.

it was a great way to spend an afternoon with the girls, and while it wasn't cheap, it sure was fun.  but really - next time, we're totally doing this at my house.  i'll bust out all my supplies and it'll be just as fun.

well, minus the orange walls and whisk lamps.