Jameson Whiskey S@%*Show 2011

Coors Light Cake girl's mom, who is also a caterer, called on Tuesday for a Carrot/Coconut cake for Thursday. Somewhat last min, but that's ok with me. No problem, I thought! However, when I started asking for more details, how many people, where to deliver to, etc... things started getting scary. My simple, no prob, carrot cake suddenly turned into a carrot cake made to look like a Jameson Whiskey bottle and needed to serve 45 people. That's a big cake, and I have one day to make it.... with a 5 year old in tow.
I emailed her back and let her know that I wasn't sure I had all the necessary supplies to make a cake shimmer green like a bottle, but that I would let her know that evening. She replied with some more info... that it was Pat's 50th bday. He has ALS. This would totally make his night! Weeelllll Sheeeeit! How do you say no to that? ....You don't, and I was happy to give it my best shot.
So I made it work, extremely inefficiently and def not cost effective, but it came together.
Here's how my baking shitshow progressed:

• Wed am: Ask Scott to pick up Soph from school so I could make my craft store rounds that morning.
• 10am: Collected all my coupons (joann's, Michaels, party city ALWAYS have 40 - 50% off one item type coupons)
• 10:15am -Woman on a mission. Stole the 550 to ride in style as I cruise the craft store strip (aka, crossroads). With JoAnn's, Michaels, and Party City all next door to each other, this is where you'll score the good shiz. 
• 10:30am - Fist stop - Party City since I got a tip that Duff Goldman's  blue, yellow, and red fondant were half off. I figured I'd be able to use the blue and yellow to make green and use it in other projects, regardless. So I snatched up somma da and quickly walked the isles looking for yellow signs that might indicate a good deal... SCORE.... cake boxes all sizes 70cents, suckaaa!! Gimme!
• 10:35am - 2nd Stop - Starbucks - 5 shots on ice plaheeeeze. They know me round deez parts. 
• 10:40am - 3rd Stop - JoAnns. I have a 40% off one item coupon, but wasn't sure what I needed. Sheet cake pan and cake boards.. biguns. 13x19. Sweet. I also bought a book - 1000 ways to Decorate Cookies... it was a good idea at the time, but later realized I would have got more out of lighting the 20 dollars on fire... meh.. can't win em all. Oh.. and paintbrushes, a variety pack. 
• 11am - 4th Stop - Michael's: Gold Luster Dust, Wilton white fondant, Moss green food coloring
• 11:15am - 5th Stop - QFC - Baby Carrots, Coconut, Cream Cheese, coke zero (duh)
• 11:30am - 6th Stop - Home. Let the baking begin. 

My plan was to get all the ingredients ready and measured out for two batches of the carrot/coconut cake, but not actually mix/bake until after Sophia's Dance Class. Ready... switch gears:

• 1:30pm -7th stop - Dance Class @ NW Ariels. A brief break from my morning chaos. I watch Sophia's gymnastics for about 30 min, then she goes to dance, where I can't see her. So, I sit on a hard blue chair in a room with blue carpet on every wall, alone with my ex husband.... du du dunnnn... Not really. I have the most amazing ex husband in the world.
• 2:45pm - 8th Stop - Home

We are FINALLY ready to bake the cake. I love making carrot cake because it's so easy. So I made two batches using this recipe in separate bowls, then baked on 11X15 sheet cake and one 8" square cake. 

While the cakes were chillin', I made Soph dinner, read her some stories, bathed her, put her to bed, etc... then I got down with turning the fondant green. What a horrible experience. I was having a really hard time getting the dark green bottle color, so I gave up and decided I'd just paint it with food coloring after I got in on the cake.

Anyway.. the cake basically took all night, but I'm happy to say that everyone was totally psyched when they saw it.