Cake Hunting: Back to the Cakes

Hello, fellow cake lovers! Have you missed me? I have certainly missed my cakes. Due to some personal family matters, my cake team and I took a short hiatus, but we are back! I've got seven cakes coming your way today, along with some rule breaking, some wildlife seeing, and some people meeting. Enjoy the ride.

Jason, Bri, and Kelby

Scott Air Force Base Cake

This first cake was actually found almost a month ago, but I didn't have time to post about it. This one is at the Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. We were passing by on our way out of town, and Jason suggested we stop and take a picture with it since we were there. It was pretty entertaining because to get the picture with all three of us in it, Kelby had to put her phone in her shoe and set a camera timer. I think it worked out pretty well, since this is my favorite cake picture. It's the background on my phone now. Unfortunately, we didn't get the app points for this cake, so we'll have to back, but that's okay because...cakes.

Debbie and candle

World Bird Sanctuary Cake

So, no cakes for a while after that, but yesterday, my mom asked if I wanted to do a quick cake hunt while Jason spoke on his radio show. Of course I agreed! I love cakes! We tried to start with the cake at Maritz, but we passed it up, so we ended up starting with the World Bird Sanctuary. We arrived at 5:17, but it closed at five... Mom decided fences and closing times were no match for her, and went to get the cake anyway. I held down the fort (...car) while she took pictures with the cake. Ridiculous. No one spotted her, so everything went better than expected. We scurried to our next cake...

Bri (very excited to be caking again)

Lone Elk Park Cake (again)

...at Lone Elk Park! You may remember this cake from this post, but we didn't have the app points, so we had to redo it. We drove around the park for a little bit and saw some cute animals (like a family of raccoons, an elk standing on a shelter roof, and some more elk crossing the road). Mom wasn't paying enough attention to the road signs, so we actually looped around the park twice, but that's okay.

Bri

Endangered Wolf Center

Sticking with our animal theme, we went to the Endangered Wolf Center next. Of course, it was already closed, but Mom promised we could go back another time when it was open (wolves are cool, guys). We saw some other cake hunters, but they were already back in their car before we could get a chance to talk to them. After we took our cake picture and collected our points, we pulled over and made a list of some other cakes in the area that we wanted to get (we unfortunately didn't end up hitting them all), and then it was back on the road to continue the search!

Bri

Castlewood State Park Cake

Up next was the Castlewood State Park cake. I convinced Mom that it was her turn to take a picture with the cake. She wasn't a very big fan of that idea, and wouldn't let me post the picture on the blog (she's lame). It was pretty weird having just the two of us out for a cake hunt, but no one else wanted to go because they're all losers. We didn't spend too much time at this cake because, like I said, there were a lot of other cakes we wanted to hit that day.

Maritz Cake

Bri

We went back to Maritz and found the right entrance. That place is huge. So we finally find the cake, and as we're getting back in the car, we see the cake hunters from the Endangered Wolf Center pulling in. Of course, I had to talk to them. They'd found around 30-something cakes, with their two younger kids in tow. They seemed more interested in the cakes than talking to me, so I made our conversation pretty brief, and Mom and I headed out to our final cake for the day. On our way out of the parking lot, we saw a giant turkey! A real turkey. I was ecstatic. I really like animals... He refused to be photographed and kept hiding in the bushes, so we left him alone and proceeded to our last cake.

Bri

Laumeier Sculpture Park Cake

I'm not sure if you've ever been to Laumeier Sculpture Park, but it is amazing. We parked in the wrong parking lot for the cake, so we decided to walk to it instead of driving around trying to find the right one. We finally found it, and I have to be honest here, it's my favorite cake so far. It has so much detail and texture. One of my friends who saw a picture thought it looked like dynamite, which I think is super cool. Love love love this cake. And we met three different cake hunting groups at this one! On our walk to the cake, we encountered a group of three who had found over a hundred cakes. I'm always jealous of those people. I can't wait to hit the 100 mark. Then, at the cake, we met Peg, who had found about 25. We talked to her for a while and compared notes about various cakes and she showed us some of her pictures. She takes pictures of all sides of the cakes, and she's making a PowerPoint of all of them when she's done. Just as we were about to leave, a young couple and their one-year-old son came up and they took some pictures with the cake. I don't remember how many cakes they had, but I think it was somewhere in the 90s. I love meeting other cake enthusiasts, so if you ever see my cake team and me out and about, say hi! We'd love to chat about cakes with you.

Our cake hunting day was cut short because Jason needed to be picked up from the radio show, and by the time we were ready to leave, it was already too dark to continue our hunt.

Bonus Picture: breakin' the law

I can't wait until next time! Which might be sooner than you think! xoxo Cake Hunter

PS: cake count is now at 63!

Cake Hunting: Now With Twice the Cakes

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cakes and cake-hunters. I hope you had a lovely weekend filled with desserts. My weekend included 38 CAKES. We collected one cake on Friday, and one cake on Sunday. And...thirty-six cakes on Saturday. Yes, you read correctly. Thirty-six cakes in one day. What a day it was. (WARNING: This post is super long. Good luck.)

Today team consisted of Debbie, Jason, Bri, Kelby, and Collin. Collin is my sister's boyfriend, and he wanted to join in our our scavenger hunt for cakes. So we all woke up at nine and donned our custom-made cake shirts. Mom packed us up a bag of drinks and snacks, and we began our eight hour, well-planned cake journey.

It was supposed to be A-Z, but I didn't feel like using that theme. Sorry, folks.
My mom typed up this plan for us, down to the minute!

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Manchester City Hall Cake

Our original plan was to hit up two St. Charles cakes before moving closer to actual St. Louis, but we ended up doing those at the end. So, our first stop was Manchester City Hall. I loved how beautiful and artistic this cake was. I guess it's a highly valuable cake because it was actually chained to the flag pole in front of it. No one's stealing that cake anytime soon!

Collin, Bri, Kelby, and Ralph (on the cake)

AKC Museum of the Dog Cake

Up next was the AKC Museum of the Dog. It was covered in adorable dog paintings, with my favorite being the dachshund on the left side. It was nice to be back at the museum, because my sister used to go to a chihuahua group there once a month with our dog Jersey, but we stopped going a long time ago. This was a quick stop because we had a late start to our trip, but if you have the chance to walk around the AKC Museum of the Dog, you really should.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Lodge Des Peres Cake

Following that was the Lodge Des Peres, which was a really quick drive from the museum. At this point in our day, I accidentally spilled an entire Sierra Mist all over my door. Not fun, not fun at all. Also not fun was trying to get the points on the app for this cake, which we finally managed to do after driving around the parking lot a few times. Not terrible, but pretty annoying, since we only allotted a few minutes at this cake to take the picture. With the picture taken, we took a few seconds examining the cake, and we decided our favorite part was the realistic candle wax on the candle. Good touch!

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Edward Jones South Campus Cake

Moving on to the Edward Jones South Campus building, I realized that I had just turned around in that parking lot less than two weeks ago. So I was pretty irritated about missing out on a good cake opportunity. This cake was my sister's favorite because of how well the hot air balloons were painted. The colors on this cake flowed so well. This was a good milestone cake, as it was number 25! After our picture, we hopped back in the car, ready for our next cake.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Frank Lloyd Wright House Cake

If you are also on a mission to find these cakes, beware of this next one. The Frank Lloyd Wright House cake was scary to get to because it's another one of those cakes that's right on the side of the road. And this one had caution tape around it! Why? I'm not sure, but we just climbed around that. Gotta get our photo op!

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Barretts Elementary Cake

The Barretts Elementary School cake was decorated by students and artists, which really made it feel special to me. I loved loved loved the mosaic on the top tier. I like when the cakes have a little something different to set them apart from the other 249. This one also had glitter on the candle flame, and I love glitter (as long as it's not being used in my house...stuff gets everywhere). I also really love cakes, in case you were wondering.

Top Row: Jason
Bottom Row: Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Museum of Transportation Cake

Our last stop on our "West County" section of our list was the Museum of Transportation, which was in the second parking lot. Jason was freaking out here, like a kid on Christmas, seriously. He was pretty upset that we didn't have the time/money to actually go look around. Like I've said a million times, this is supposed to be a free scavenger hunt (although we did spend money Saturday)! My mom said there's a good Groupon for the Museum of Transportation, so I'm sure we'll be back soon.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Webster University Cake

With our first section of the list done, Mom directed us to Webster University for our next cake, which I was disappointed to see graffiti on. I was also disappointed to see there were some ominous clouds headed our way, but I decided to ignore those.

Collin, Kelby, and Bri

Loretto-Hilton Repertory Theatre Cake

There was a second cake on Webster's campus, at the Loretto-Hilton Repertory Theatre. It was kind of hard to find, and then when we did find it, it was pretty surrounded by trees. That should explain my weird pose in that picture. The best part of this cake were the masks on the sides that really made the cake pop. Oh, and while we were taking this picture, there was a large gathering of people possibly for a wedding, about ten yards behind us. No big deal. Sorry to crash your party! We walked away, in search of the points for the app, and walked pretty far before giving up. So, no points for that cake, and it started raining on us. We made it back to the car, but not before getting sufficiently rain-drop-covered.

Top Row: Jason and Bri
Bottom Row: Collin and Kelby

Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream
Cake

Rain doesn't stop this cake-hunting crew, so we persevered! Up next was Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream! Of course, as soon as we make it to the parking lot, it starts raining even harder. So, we all run as fast as possible, giggling the whole time, to the building the cake is in (yes, this one is inside, so get there when they're open!), but our efforts were futile, and as you can see we were completely soaked from head to toe. Whatever! We took a quick picture with the cake and then talked to some other cake-hunters that were there. One of them was celebrating a birthday that day, so happy belated birthday, cake friend! I gave them my blog address, so maybe they'll see this little shout-out. I hope you guys found more cakes!

Kelby, Collin, Bri, and Jason

The College School Cake

We certainly found more cakes. After leaving the comfort of the inside of Serendipity, we had to race back to the car through more rain. Jason tried to run a little too fast and ended up face down in the parking lot, looking like he did a belly flop into the concrete. I couldn't help but laugh. I would have snapped a picture, but I didn't want to get my phone wet (I'm very attached to my phone). After picking Jason up and dusting him off, we plopped him back into the driver's seat and had him take us to The College School, where our next cake was positioned in a weird spot in the grass. Everyone's shoes got all gross and muddy (sorry, Jason's car!), but it was worth it for the cake. If you're wondering why there's a "50" on the top tier of the cake, it's because The College School is celebrating their fiftieth year of being open this year! This cake was a cool one, but I was happy to get out of the mud after it.

The Hill Cake

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Rigazzi's Cake

Thankfully our next cake was on a mud-free sidewalk. We went to the Hill and found our next cake at Amighetti's. My mom decided this would be a great place to pick up lunch, so we went inside and ordered. We made Jason wait for the food while the rest of us took a short walk over to Rigazzi's, where our next cake was. It was only a few blocks, but by the time we got back to Amaghetti's, Jason was already outside eating his sandwich. We piled back into the car for all of us to eat. My mom and I both got a Little Bit of Italy sandwich and it was spectacular. If you're on the Hill, please go to Amaghetti's and get something. At the very least get a cannoli. But be careful, because the powdered sugar will get all over everything you own. I found some in my hair twenty minutes later. Oops.

Are you sick of reading about these yet? Stick with me, now. We're halfway done!

Kelby, Collin, and Bri

Brightside St. Louis Cake

At Brightside St. Louis, my sister had some fun taking pictures with the caterpillar sculpture, then she also found some flowers she thought were pretty. Jason was hurrying us along though because he waited in the car for this one, since it was practically in the middle of the street. We got our picture and headed out.

Kelby, Debbie, Bri, and Collin

Missouri Botanical Garden Cake

We met a cranky traffic guard at the Missouri Botanical Garden, who gave us the evil eye the whole time we were posing with this beautiful cake. Look at that detail! As soon as we finished marveling at the cake, we ran into my old boss! She was there for a wedding, but it was pretty shocking to see her, since it had been almost a year. Caking brings people together, I tell ya! With this cake, I took a picture of a family so they could all be in the picture, and then they did the same for us. I love meeting other cake-hunters. They're always friendly.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Tower Grove Park Cake

 We encountered more scary guards at Tower Grove Park at the Piper Palm House, where there was a private event going on. I could see them staring us down, so I told them, "We're just here for the cake!" and they seemed satisfied with that. It was still terrifying, so I didn't even really look at the cake until I got back in the car and looked at the picture I'd taken. I'm a fan of how this artist painted everything, from the foliage to the dots on the numbers. Absolutely excellent cake, even if I didn't personally have much time to appreciate it.

Collin, Jason, Bri, and Kelby

Original Imo's Cake

When we were driving up to the cake at the Original Imo's, from the back the cake looks really boring. But when we actually got out of the car and really looked at it, it turned out being one of my favorite cakes. The top of the cake tiers look like pizzas, and the cake stand is decorated to look like a stack of pizza boxes. Amazing!

Top Row: Collin
Middle Row: Bri and Kelby
Bottom Row: Jason

Compton Hill Water Tower Cake

So after Imo's, we went to the Compton Hill Water Tower, and ran into some more cake-hunters! They have already found 108 cakes! My jealousy cannot be contained. I can't wait for when we have over a hundred cakes under our belts. We took pictures with the cake and then looked at the ducks in the nearby pond for a little bit, then scrambled back in the vehicle to mosey over to our next cake.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

SSM Cardinal Glennon Cake

Remember how I said geocaking is awkward at hospitals? Well, we went to another hospital. And it was still awkward. Hospitals aren't places to sight-see and find cakes. Maybe it's just me that finds it weird. Anyway. We went to SSM Cardinal Glennon and grabbed our cake pictures, then got out of there as quickly as possible. That completed everything in our 44 East Corridor section on our list, ending with cake number forty! Milestones rock.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Soulard Restoration Group Cake

Our third section of cakes to track down was in Soulard. We started with the cake at the Soulard Restoration Group. Not much to say here because we didn't really do much of anything at any of the cakes today. Today was a day for finding cakes, not having fun! Just kidding, finding cakes is fun.

Clementine's Cake

Collin, Earl Miller (Cakemeister), Bri, and Kelby

Then we went to Clementine's, St. Louis's oldest gay bar. Maybe you're wondering who that guy in the picture with us is? That, my friends, is Earl Miller. The Cakemeister. He supervised the painting of all 250 cakes for STL250, and he just happened to be going to Clementine's at the exact moment we were taking a picture. It was absolutely amazing to meet him and take a picture with him. Earl Miller also painted the cake at Powell Hall, but we haven't been there yet. Clementine's was the experience of the day by being able to meet Mr. Miller.

Collin, Kelby, and Bri

The Sweet Divine Cake

After all that excitement, we walked down to The Sweet Divine, a Cupcake Wars winner. We ended up going back there after the two other Soulard stops. I got a huge cupcake that had ice cream inside and it was delightful. Stopping there was a good break from all the walking we did in Soulard Market.

Collin, Bri, and Kelby

Historic Trinity Lutheran Church Cake

Before we went to Soulard Market, we stopped by the Historic Trinity Lutheran Church, and took our pictures just in time to get out of the way for a wedding that was going on. How many events can we crash in one day?! Luckily we were already on the sidewalk before we noticed that a wedding was getting ready to start. ...Wouldn't it be cool to get married somewhere with a cake!

Collin, Jason, Bri, and Kelby

Soulard Market Cake

And then we walked around Soulard Market for twenty minutes or so, mostly trying to locate the cake. Which is at the main entrance, in case you were wondering. While we were walking around, my sister convinced my mom to buy her a mango. Hooray, souvenirs! Walking around was kind of awful because it was so crowded. I am not a fan of crowds, so I was ready to hustle out of there.

Collin, Kelby, Jason, Bri

Anheuser-Busch Brewery Cake

When we got to Anheuser-Busch Brewery, the plan was to go on the brewery tour and then take pictures with the Clydesdales, but the next tour didn't start until forty-five minutes after we got there, and we didn't want to wait, so we just left. More time to move on to bigger and better cakes (or cakes of the same size but whatever).

Top Row: Jason, Collin, Bri
Bottom Row: Kelby

Venice Café Cake

Our next cake was at Venice Café. As we were driving up, Jason was talking about how the cake was plain and boring. But as he finished saying that, we saw the other side of the cake that had a slice taken out of it! Definitely not boring! It fit in really well with all the unique decorations around the building.

Luvy Duvy's Cake

Bri, Kelby, and Collin

After Venice Café was Luvy Duvy's Café! Two cafés in one day. Fancy, fancy. This cake was so detailed. So much effort was put into it and it really shows. Definitely one of my favorite cakes of the day. I've added it to my "places I want to go back to when I have money" list. Remind me.

STL Style Cake

Bri, Kelby, and Collin

At STL Style, it started raining a little bit again. We didn't think too much of it, just took our cutesy pictures and left.

Cherokee Business District Cake

Jason's Arm, Bri, Kelby, and Collin

But by the time we got to the Cherokee Business District, it was getting to the point where it was irritating. We waited under an awning for a little bit to see if it would die out, but it didn't, so we just shuffled back to the car.

Off Broadway Cake

Jason, Bri, Kelby, and Collin

It wasn't until we showed up at Off Broadway that the rain turned practically torrential. No one even wanted to get out of the car. I can't resist a good cake, so I had to go. My phone wouldn't even work with how much water was all over it. It posted an upside down picture of the cake to my Snapchat story, with the temperature on it. We went back after the rain stopped later and retook our pictures. After the first round though, my mom and I had to swim down the sidewalk to get into the car. The water was mid-calf on me. I took off my shoes and cake-hunted barefoot from here on out.

Bri

Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion Cake

The cake at the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion was behind a fence, so we couldn't get a good picture with it, not that anyone wanted to get out of the car anyway. These pictures were actually taken twice, because the first time, we tried to take them from the car. It didn't work, so we came back later that day to retake them.

Bri, Jason, Kelby, and Collin

Lemp Mansion Cake

So my actual first barefoot cake was at the Lemp Mansion. I've been begging my mom to go on a tour there with me for years, so hopefully at some point this summer that happens. Bug her about it so I can blog about it when it happens.

Kelby

Lyon Park Cake

My next barefoot cake was at Lyon Park. I had to walk on gravel and through some mud and grass that could have been hiding all sorts of scary, sharp objects. I didn't want to be in this picture because my hair was a crazy mess from the rain, so we let Kelby take over on this one. She seemed happy being in the spotlight.

Collin, Kelby, and Bri

Centennial Greenway/Katy Trail Cake

Our last two cakes were on our way back home, so they're both in the St. Charles area. The fist was the Centennial Greenway/Katy Trail cake. Another cake in the middle of the grass. Why do they have to put cakes there? It was so muddy from the rain. Ew.

Bri and Jason

St. Charles County
Heritage Museum Cake

And finally, our last cake for the day, cake number 57, was the St. Charles County Heritage Museum. I love this cake, and this is my favorite picture of the day. That's all I have to say.

I cannot believe we saw thirty-six cakes in one day. Thirty-six! We more than doubled our total in one day! It was exhausting, but so worth it. I feel so accomplished. I won't lie though. It was great being able to go home and change into dry clothes and watch season two of Orange Is The New Black for the rest of the night. That's why this post is being put up on Monday instead of Saturday night or Sunday. I love cakes, but I love Netflix, too.

Debbie and Bri

Collin, Kelby, and Bri

Then, on Sunday, my sister and her boyfriend had to be taken to MASC, a five day summer camp for student council kids in Fulton, Missouri. So on the way out there, we stopped in Warrenton at the Warren County Courthouse and grabbed that cake, since we were out that way. Unfortunately, I forgot to save the picture from my Snapchat story, so this is the only picture I've got of the cake. I'm very sad about it. But oh well!

I can't wait for the next round of cakes! This was such a successful weekend!