Recent Bakes: Cake and cupcakes for Good Mews Animal Foundation!

Hi guys! Wow, it has been an EXCEPTIONALLY busy few months for me, both personally and professionally.  I know I’ve been posting sporadically, but I have high hopes that things will get a bit calmer and I’ll have more time to dedicate to the blog very soon. Thanks so much for your patience, and for continuing to read!

My most recent big project was a cupcake and cake spread for Good Mews Animal Foundation. You may remember Good Mews from a previous entry, where I made a Tsum Tsum cake for the volunteers there. (I did two entries on that cake: 1 2) In case you haven’t read that entry: Good Mews is a no-kill, cage free cat shelter in the Atlanta area that I visit whenever I can. One of our own cats, French Toast, was also adopted from there! It’s a truly exceptional organization, and recently they were finally able to move into their very own freestanding building! They’ve been working toward this facility for years, and after being in a temporary shelter for a few months they finally moved in! This past Sunday they celebrated with a grand opening, and I was extremely excited when they asked if I’d provide the cake.

I wound up creating a spread for a little over 200 people. Most of the cake consisted of a fairly self-explanatory design of cats frolicking with moving boxes and packing peanuts, complete with MEW-Haul signs because puns improve all things. But the top part of the cake requires a little explanation!

For the past 8 years, Good Mews has had an exceptional kitty mascot named Tricky. She was the only cat not available for adoption at Good Mews, and her story is both sad and wonderful.

Photo taken from the Good Mews site!

In short, Tricky was shot in a domestic violence incident and left paralyzed from the waist down. Because of this, she was usually sporting a diaper (and by that I mean almost always, except the times she decided to streak). After Good Mews took her in, she quickly became a favorite of volunteers and visitors alike. She was extremely sassy and always lived up to her title of Queen of Good Mews, usually hanging out in the office and greeting visitors. The first time I saw her on the move, she saw me open a door and decided to make a run for it. I was truly impressed as I watched her prop herself up on her front two paws and scoot through the door at top speed. Tricky was anything but sad or helpless. I saw many people respond with pity or melancholy upon first seeing her, but those feelings would quickly transform into delight and admiration.

A few weeks ago, Tricky passed away at age 11. I’ve truly never known an animal that was more loved, and Tricky spent the final 8 years of her life in the best possible home she could have found! She stuck around long enough to move into the new facility with all her friends before moving on. As a result, it felt only right to include a tribute to Tricky on the cake.

To make angel Tricky, I sculpted her from modeling chocolate (complete with solid gold “fancy pants,” the name volunteers gave to the handmade diaper covers Tricky wore to events). I initially had her sitting on a cotton candy cloud, but the cotton candy melted so quickly that I ended up going with cotton balls instead. I knew absolutely no one would have the heart to take a bite out of Tricky anyway, so this wasn’t a big deal! To give the illusion of her floating, I mounted her on a thick strip wire that I screwed onto the cake board of the top tier. I love this method because it also gave her a little bobble/movement.

The cake itself was covered in a modeling chocolate mixture. The packing peanuts were made of fondant. It was weirdly zen rolling dozens of tiny packing peanuts, not going to lie.

For the cupcakes, I made an assortment: black forest cake, strawberry shortcake and lemon meringue. I even did pun names, because I’m a child: Black-Cat Forest, Pawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meowringue.

After we’d dropped off everything, we made rounds at the shelter! First my friend and I visited the bake sale table and got some delicious hazelnut rolls and jelly. This amazing lady has baked insane amounts of goodies to sell over the years, all to benefit Good Mews.

Then we walked around the lovely facility, which was bright with natural sunlight and filled with happy cat fans!

We also snuggled LOTS of cats, of course. The kitten room is always wonderful, but I was most excited to spend time with my buddy Gandalf, who’s on the left below. He’s one half of my two favorite current shelter residents along with Cinderella, who’s at the bottom right.

More kitties!

If you want more cat pictures, you should check out the Instagram feed of Rebecca Pruett, who I met at the grand opening! I was watching her take photos and the results are beautiful.

All in all, it was a wonderful event and I was honored to be a part of it. Thanks for all you do, Good Mews!