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Movie Night Cake and Cupcake Project

March 11th, 2012

Movie Night Cake and Cupcake Project – edible film reel cake, complete with clapperboard and mini popcorn bucket while accompanying cupcakes have an assortment of movie-themed toppers: movie ticket, star and popcorn. Price available upon request

a night in hollywood

I admit—I am a certified movie buff. But the weird thing is I now seldom go to the cinemas. Most of the movies I have seen were the ones I watched from the comfort of our home and in this age of modern technology, the internet.

When I was a young child, my parents used to bring me and my siblings to the movie theater. They are big fans of Dolphy. We also watched big Hollywood productions like King Kong and MacArthur but the movies that certainly made an impact on my young mind were these two classics: Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon by Eddie Romero (though I was too young to understand its social relevance, I was mesmerized by the film’s setting and the ensemble of fine actors of Philippine cinema—Leopoldo Salcedo, Eddie Garcia, Gloria Diaz, a youngish Christopher de Leon and a much-younger Dranreb) and The Omen starring Gregory Peck (because the frightening images are still embedded in my mind until now. Really).

I could go on discussing my favorite movies but this isn’t a blog on movies. So on to the cake and cupcake project! More on movies later!

When E._ sent me photos of cakes with old Hollywood as theme, I immediately wanted to make a film reel cake.  The first challenge for me was how to make an edible film strip. I thought of using edible wafer paper but having the film strip printed by a third party wasn’t cost effective. Chocolate to the rescue! I used the chocolate method as described in one of the books I own, The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun-to-Make Cakes That Taste as Good as They Look.

It was a tedious project that I fully embraced. Masochist, I am. Tell me a baker who isn’t!

I had to work quickly because the chocolate film strip would harden quickly as soon as it came in contact with the cold ganache coating of the cake.  If it hardened while still not in its proper position, I have to remove it and recoat the cake. Fortunately no mishaps like that happened, thank goodness.

Next challenge was the clapperboard. It was still made of chocolate but to reinforce it I sandwiched a cracker biscuit in between the chocolate. Writing the text sure wasn’t a cakewalk and to my consternation our microwave oven broke down! I melt my chocolates in the microwave because it is faster than the double boiler method. But with the setback, I had no choice but to bring out the double boiler. Doing the clapperboard became a long, arduous process. I was able to get things right on my second attempt. A delicious reward: I ended up eating the failed clapperboard.

Good thing I was able to make the cupcake toppers before the microwave conked out. The chocolate stars were brushed with edible gold dust and the silver balls are dragees. The movie ticket was made of chocolate of course. The popcorn were marshmallows, pinched and cut and painted with yellow food color.

The cake was devil’s food chocolate filled and covered with dark chocolate ganache. The cupcakes were of the same flavor and frosting.

Just a few hours before pick up, I took the cake out for some photos. Horror of horrors, the perfectly made clapperboard cracked, with a massive fissure right in the center! I only had an hour to fix the situation and start anew but with the microwave not working, I thought I would not be able to finish the new clapperboard on time.  So, was I able to pull it off?

YES! I completed it in the nick of time. And the best thing was the text message I got from E._ after their celebration: “Thank you so much for the wonderful cake and cupcakes, you did great! We really love them. Two thumbs up!”

’nuff said!

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the movie(s) in my mind

I really love watching the classics that’s why I love the MGM channel. My all-time favorite is Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. I’ve become a Jack Lemmon fan since and I was delighted to catch three more of his earlier movies: The Apartment, Irma la Douce, and Avanti. When I saw the t-shirt below being sold in SM, I grabbed it (after jumping for joy). It is now one of my wardrobe staples.

As I wrote earlier, I was scared out of my wits by The Omen when I watched it and I wasn’t even 10 years old at that time. However, there are several frightening movies that I was able to survive as I got older. After watching The Thing (starring Kurt Russell), I could not touch our dog for a week. I still remember the face peeling scene in The Poltergeist. I watched the original Japanese version of  Ju-on: The Grudge and even if the movie was so scary, I was transfixed. Once when I was going up the stairs from my sister’s dark basement, I suddenly remembered a scene from that movie where the corporeal form of the ghost of the murdered wife was crawling down the stairs. I laughed a little because I thought that if that ghost were to follow me at that moment, she would have to do so in reverse! That thought sure eased my fear!

There are three horror movies that I so love because they are not hair-rising scary: (1) the original version of Let the Right One In, a story of friendship between two children who are social outcasts, one a vampire and the other a bullied boy; (2) Shaun of the Dead, about a zombie outbreak in London, and (3) The Lost Boys, a hip vampire flick starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric and the late Corey Haim. Memorable line: “Death by stereo!”

Just a warning, if you click on the links above, you will be taken to clips of the scenes I described. If you are one of the faint-hearted, you better ignore those link. But then again … *evil laugh*

On the local front, my favorites that I’ve watched are Lino Brocka’s Kapit sa Patalim and Maynila; Mike de Leon’s Kisapmata, Manny Reyes’s Dreaming Filipinos and Doy del Mundo’s Pepot Artista. I know I should watch more Pinoy films but as far as I’m concerned, they don’t make movies like they used to. *sigh*

Entry Filed under: All About Cupcakes,Cakes,Children's Cupcakes,Chocolate,Movie Night Cake and Cupcake Project,Whimsical