She wanted to cake to be a simpler yet elegant cake.  A red velvet caked to feed 15, black and white as the colors and a monogram on top.

We baked two 8″ round red velvet cakes and covered with buttercream.  We made the monogram from royal icing the night before so it would have time to harden.  After placing it on top, we piped a black bead border around the top and bottom.

Due to the family friendly atmosphere of this site, I will not post the second cake we made for her.  It is like none that we have ever made before, but actually had a blast making.  Just think bachelorette party and let your mind run wild.  If you ever bump into me and want to see it, just ask.  I’ll be happy to share it and share a giggle. (Never thought I would have to censor myself from a cake.  Boy, the things we do for our friends.)

WHATEVER, WordPress! You can’t keep my cakes from the world!

We baked one soccer ball pan to form the belly and two small ball pans to form the well-endowed momma-to-be breasts. We covered with buttercream and then a layer of fondant to form the dress. We colored a small triangle piece of fondant tan and placed it on top to form the cleavage. White strips of fondant were cut and placed as the trim of the dress. Next, we colored some fondant pink and created the bow, ribbons and trim around the top of the dress. We then cut pink and purple flowers and placed them around the cake and piped a white buttercream dot in the center of each. After four hours total, the cake was complete. (See image below for cake progression)

Congrats, Gabe, on your sweet baby that will be here before you know it! Thanks, Jodi, for the opportunity to do this cute cake.

A while back, a girl in the PhD program with hubs got married and the girls asked me to do a shower cake for her. They gave me no instructions except that her colors were green and brown. I love when I have free reign on a cake.

I knew that I wanted to keep it on the simple side. And I knew that I wanted to do some ruffle flowers. I liked the idea of two toned stripes mixed with the brown. I was super happy with how this came out. It was exactly liked I had planned in my head. Love it when that happens.

I had the fondant rolled out and cut different size circles. I knew I wanted a few flowers, so I had lots of circles cut. I stacked them up to make sure that the sizes worked. I used the ball tool to thin out the circles—just keep smoothing it our until it starts to thin and be more flexible.

When the circles were thinned out, I got work on the ruffling of the edges. I used the pointy stick and rolled it all the way around each piece of the flower. As you move the stick around, it will make the fondant create a ruffled look so that the circles start to look more like flower petals. Each piece of the flower dried overnight and then I stacked them with a dab of water to finish the look.

I did two different colors of green for the cake. I liked the look of doing a sort of lime green and more grass green. I marked off the size for the big stripe and cut them with my trusty pizza cutter. I made the big stripes one inch and the smaller ones 1/2 inch. I really had to make sure they were all the same height or else the brown band would not have been straight.

Once they were all cut, I used a bit of water to stick the stripes to the cake. I just eyeballed where they would go and let it be kind of free form. I used the rest of the green to make the fondant balls to go around the cake base.  I like to have the edge of my fondant cakes covered, and the green balls were super cute with the stripes.

For the brown band, I rolled out the brown in a long strip. I used the ruler to mark the one inch strip and cut it. I rolled it up in a coil and unrolled it as I put it around the cake. When all of the stripes and balls were on, it was time for the flowers. The front one got a toothpick so that it would stick in the cake without falling off. The rest were just place on with a drop of water. I just put them where I thought they looked best and I was done!

I was super happy with how this cake came out. I was worried about the color combo, but loved how it looked in the end. It was my first time making any type of fondant flower and I really had fun with this cake.  The bride was happy and that was the best part. I love creating new cake designs and can’t wait to get going with some more!! Enjoy!!

Meg

Given all creative freedom on the cake, my husband and I sat and baked up some ideas and decided on a two tier yellow, brown and white cake.  We baked two-10″ round cakes and two-6″ round cakes.  We added yellow buttercream and then stacked the tiers.  We made up some brown and white marshmallow fondant.  We rolled out the brown fondant and cut strips to create the ribbon.  After attaching it to the cake, we piped in the white stitches and a white bead border around both tiers.  We then created the bows, placed them and piped the stitching.  We cut out white flowers and brown buttons and added them to the cake.  We came back and piped a white dot in the center of the flowers and thread on the buttons as if they were sewn to the cake.  We then created the white blanket to adorn the top of the cake.  Now it was time for sculpting the bear (our favorite part, if all goes as planned).  We sculpted the bear’s body, arms, legs and head from brown marshmallow fondant and attached them together.  We placed it on top, gave a smile of approval and walked away two happy cake makers.

Thank you, Rebecca, for the opportunity to do this cake.  We had fun!

Emily’s Bridal Shower Cake

It has been months since I received images. I finally, found the time to post.

The brooch was created in icing and not real. It was created in gum paste icing. The animal design was hand painted and the flower is made of gum paste.

I was happy to receive feed back regarding the taste of the cake.

Everyone loved the cake, very moist and very flavorful.
 

One of my favorite people in the world is getting married and she had  a “Fairy Tale” inspired bridal shower.

Here is the fantastic Cinderella slipper cake and party favors:

First things first, my production schedule. I know, who makes this for themselves? Well I like to pretend its from my future bakery and its a client. I know. Its weird! Anyway as you can tell its an all week thing. No, it doesn’t have to be, but I have time and wanted to do other things.

Monday, I did make my gumpaste. First time making it at home, and it was a little scary in my mixer. But it survived so all is well. I only wanted to do one flower, but got to thinking I may want to do more so I can pick and choose. Ta-da! Various flower centers.

Tuesday. Oh Tuesday was special, buttercream day. There are many different ways (and types) of buttercream. I personally like the Swiss Meringue. Its light, fluffy and oh so delicious. To make it, thats another story. Its a long process. I started with my fresh egg whites and sugar. Its in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water. You must to this to dissolve the sugar. It takes a while. And I like my whisk.

Stage 2, whip the heck out of it! It makes a stiff peak and once you reach that, you add 5 sticks of butter! Yes 5, per mixer. Thats a lot. Doesn’t it look beautiful? Well maybe not right now, but it will.

Told you! Its gorgeous! I even shared it with Jennyfer from Orlando. Its so yummy, very vanilla. Zach kept eating it. Finally had to slap his hand away, I mean I love you, but I need all of this. I guarded my bowl.

Have I lost you yet? We’re still on Tuesday remember? So next came my flowers. Now I LOVE  to make flowers at the house, it give me practice and they look nice. Do I use the ones I make? No. I save them..ok I secretly hoard my sugar flowers. Don’t tell my secret. Well I started that big green center. Got super frustrated with the thing and stopped that one. So I went to the star center. This one was my challenge one, I’ve never done a wire per petal on a flower before so it was something new.

So this morning I was super excited to see my petals were all dry and I dove into putting it together. The result? Something awesome! Its probably the one I will be using, but I still have more flowers to finish. I really don’t want to, but hey I already made the centers might as well finish them.

I had to start with the side shot, didn’t want to give away all the details! Just kidding. As you can tell its big. Not super big, but big.

Pow! needless to say, I love it. Can’t you tell? Its big. Its gorgeous. Its my first time doing that! I love big sugar flowers, I find them to look the best. Gave myself a pat on the back for this one. So happy to place it on my cake.

Now I know this is super long post, but I hope you enjoyed my process. Remember! This is one part of it. There will be more on me putting the cake together and then final decoration (at my shower).

Thanks for stopping by!

First things first, my production schedule. I know, who makes this for themselves? Well I like to pretend its from my future bakery and its a client. I know. Its weird! Anyway as you can tell its an all week thing. No, it doesn’t have to be, but I have time and wanted to do other things.

Monday, I did make my gumpaste. First time making it at home, and it was a little scary in my mixer. But it survived so all is well. I only wanted to do one flower, but got to thinking I may want to do more so I can pick and choose. Ta-da! Various flower centers.

Tuesday. Oh Tuesday was special, buttercream day. There are many different ways (and types) of buttercream. I personally like the Swiss Meringue. Its light, fluffy and oh so delicious. To make it, thats another story. Its a long process. I started with my fresh egg whites and sugar. Its in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water. You must to this to dissolve the sugar. It takes a while. And I like my whisk.

Stage 2, whip the heck out of it! It makes a stiff peak and once you reach that, you add 5 sticks of butter! Yes 5, per mixer. Thats a lot. Doesn’t it look beautiful? Well maybe not right now, but it will.

Told you! Its gorgeous! I even shared it with Jennyfer from Orlando. Its so yummy, very vanilla. Zach kept eating it. Finally had to slap his hand away, I mean I love you, but I need all of this. I guarded my bowl.

Have I lost you yet? We’re still on Tuesday remember? So next came my flowers. Now I LOVE  to make flowers at the house, it give me practice and they look nice. Do I use the ones I make? No. I save them..ok I secretly hoard my sugar flowers. Don’t tell my secret. Well I started that big green center. Got super frustrated with the thing and stopped that one. So I went to the star center. This one was my challenge one, I’ve never done a wire per petal on a flower before so it was something new.

So this morning I was super excited to see my petals were all dry and I dove into putting it together. The result? Something awesome! Its probably the one I will be using, but I still have more flowers to finish. I really don’t want to, but hey I already made the centers might as well finish them.

I had to start with the side shot, didn’t want to give away all the details! Just kidding. As you can tell its big. Not super big, but big.

Pow! needless to say, I love it. Can’t you tell? Its big. Its gorgeous. Its my first time doing that! I love big sugar flowers, I find them to look the best. Gave myself a pat on the back for this one. So happy to place it on my cake.

Now I know this is super long post, but I hope you enjoyed my process. Remember! This is one part of it. There will be more on me putting the cake together and then final decoration (at my shower).

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to Peacock Paradise…

Colorful Centerpieces

Feathered Napkins

The fantastic Heidi Monsour from Sugar Mama Cakes created this beautiful cake.

To see more of the creative cakes by Sugar Mama Cakes click here https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sugar-Mama-Cakes/165406530147091?sk=info.

Teddy Baby Shower Cake

AngelKitten and I had a conversation, and decided we were up to the task. I would make the cake (this pink raspberry and vanilla swirl cake), and she would be responsible for the exterior decoration, with assistance from me. We went shopping, and found a lovely brown haired doll with a princess crown already in place, and we also picked up a skirt cake mold from Wilton. I practiced my cake, and AngelKitten drew designs and planned a mixture of fondant, royal icing, buttercream and glitter!

We realised pretty early on that the cake skirt mold would not fit the doll – she was too tall for it. So I knew I had to bake three cakes – a base cake (which we buttercreamed and covered in pink fondant), and then a second smaller round cake, upon which the skirt cake would be stacked. We buttercreamed the small cake and skirt cake, and stuck them together, and then added a top layer of vanilla buttercream. We then covered the skirt cake in white fondant for contrast, and then put a second layer of cut out pink fondant over the top to build up a design. We cut out flowers from the pink fondant so that some of the white would show through, and the design worked really well. We used a lovely white and pink flower ribbon I had originally bought for Chinese New Year cakes – this became the border for the pink fondant on the skirt, as well as a belt, a ribbon tie at the back of the doll, and a shawl.

AngelKitten made beautiful roses from royal icing, which we then added to little mini cupcakes, and she also cut out the lettering from white and light purple fondant. We allowed the lettering to dry overnight, and then we attached it to the cake with royal icing (which dries hard and is like edible superglue!) AngelKitten also made four beautiful purple flower cutouts and attached the letters of MizZ’s name to four organic lollypops. She stuck the lollies through the purple flowers, which she had positioned on mini cupcakes. Finally, AngelKitten spent quite a while delicately going over the cake and highlighting it with edible glitter so our pink princess shimmered and shined.

It was quite a massive undertaking, but the end results were lovely, even if I do say so myself. I like the fact that the ribbon we used was quite Asian … and so the princess had an identity which made sense to us. We christened her Princess Theresa-san … and I am not sure who was happier with her, MizZ or her mama

Here are some photos of the cake. Please do contact me if you want help in assembling your own princess cake for a birthday or baby shower. I think our cake proves that even those of us without much experience can pull it off!

Princess Theresa-san the night before her debut

Princess Theresa-san at MizZ's Birthday

Princess Theresa-san awaiting the arrival of the children

The back view - we belted Princess T with ribbon (in part to cover up any fondant mistakes!) and AngelKitten tied a beautiful almost kimono like bow at the back. Very pretty!

Happy 3rd Birthday! Our fondant words, cupcakes, and MizZ's name, not in lights, but in lollypops!

A beautiful purple flower cupcake

The cake was designed based on the baby girls’ nursery. The blossoms and daisies were matched to the crib bedding; the lavender fondant matched the walls.

Both layers are double chocolate cake, with vanilla fondant.  This was my first stacked chocolate cake, and was a little more difficult to work with, but it turned out in the end!

A pretty, dreamy cake for a girl of any age!

I have a friend who’s expecting her third child.  Her first 2 are boys and I mean all boys.  She’s been waiting so long for a girl.  Don’t get me wrong, boys are wonderful but they won’t wear lace tights and hair bows.  Well, since Shanna has been eagerly anticipating her new arrival and is enjoying the anticipation of dressing her little girl in all the girly girl things her shower cake just had to reflect her desires. 

The cake is lemon with a strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream.  The “lace” around the bottom is fondant as well as the flowers.  The bow and name are gumpaste.  I hope Shanna was thrilled with the cake.

Yellow & Chocolate Cake w/ Vanilla Buttercream

Chocolate and Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Chocolate & Vanilla Cake w/ Vanilla Buttercream

So I took last Tuesday off to watch the inauguration and I decided that I would run out and take the stuff for the diaper cake back and just get our friends something off of their registry. However, when I ran out to the store it was closed. So I said hmm… maybe God just wants me to go ahead and make it. So when I got back home, I finished up Bree’s favors and made the diaper cake while I watched the inauguration with my husband. It came out great!

I was in AC Moore earlier in the day and saw a bunch of cute baby girls’ clothing scrapbook stickers and got the idea that it would be cute to make a little baby clothes line to circle the 1st and 3rd tiers of the cake. The baby’s room is going to be pink and brown so I got to use these colors yet again.

I think the clothes line could have been a little neater. The scrapbook stickers were falling off in some places and the actual clothes line wasn’t uniformly sagged. But I digress. I can be very critical of myself at times. Aside from that I think it looks neat. Here’s the finished product all wrapped up and ready to go

Before venturing out, the day went as follows.   1.  Finished the shower cake for Kelly.

Shower cake and rattle butter cookies

2. Had left over butter cookie dough, so naturally I made PBJ Butter Cookie Roll Ups.

 3.  Formed a dinner plan which was Beans and Veggie Brats. Home made Egg Bread. Sauteed broccoli, onion and tomatoes topped with shaved sharp provolone.

The Bean Mix

The Bean Recipe:

• Let beans soak in the morning 6 hours. Change water 3 times. Add to boiling water for 5 minutes and let sit for 1 hour.  Add the beans to the crock pot, set to HIGH and add 2 TBS cider vinegar + 1 PKG Yves Veggie Brats,sliced + 1 TBS whole grain dijon mustard + 1 1/2 to 2 cups Veggie Broth + 1 TBS Agave syrup.  Let cook about 6 1/2 hours.  Add 1 container Creamy Butternut Squash Soup.
• The Egg Bread was done in the bread maker using 1/3 cup + 2 TBS Egg Beaters + 1 TBS Olive Oil + 2 1/2 TBS sugar + 1 tsp salt + 2 cups Whole Wheat flour + 2 cups Regular Flour + 4 tsp yeast. Set on Fast Bake.

The Vegetable Saute was cooked as follows:

• Sauteed 1/2 onion, chopped in 1 TBS EVOO, about 5 min on med-hi. Let broccoli sit in HOT water for about 8 minutes then added to onions. Sprinkled with salt and pepper and cooked 3 minute.  Topped with 2 sliced large plum tomatoes and sprinkled basil on tomatoes. Shaved (using veggie peeler) Sharp Provolone and topped tomatoes. Let cook about 3 more minutes.

I cut a large slab of bread, toasted it, topped it with some shaved provolone and broiled about 1 minute.

Bean stew and Veggie Brats

Sauteed Broccoli, Onion, tomatoes with Provolone

Bean Stew and Veggie Brats, Sauteed Veggies and Slice of Egg Bread with shaved provolone

Now it’s off to find a good book. Oh…by the way, I finished a great book for all of you so interested in cooking and food AND found the site for it.  Check it out.

The Sharper Your Knife…

BV Coastal Estates Cabernet Sauvingnon