August 20, 2011

Green Floral Bridal Shower Cuppies


These cupcakes were made from love for a dear friend's bridal shower. Her wedding colors are green, ivory, and black and I wanted to incorporate them into her bridal shower dessert as well.


These cupcakes were a delicious and light white cake with vanilla buttercream. I iced these cupcakes in two different designs to match the party decor.


With the buttercream on half of the cupcakes I swirled it to make it look like little flowers. Then I accented the floral swirl with some green sugar crystals.


The other half of the cupcakes were iced in a giant upward swirl. At the top of that swirl was a green fondant daisy. These daisies matched the green daisies that were on the invitations and sprinkled on the tables at the shower.


I love the way these little cuppies turned out and so did the bride-to-be! They matched the overall theme and were delicious to boot! I'm so glad that she chose me to be one of the ones to be there for her on her big day and making her cupcakes and helping to plan the shower was the least that I could do! Congratulations Tori and I can't wait for the big day!

August 19, 2011

Rockin' and Rollerskating!


This cake was for a 9 year old girl's birthday party. Can you tell where they went for the party? Ok, for those of you who don't get it they went to a rollerskating rink and her cake was 2 (pretty much) life size rollerskates!


These skates fed 30 people, 15 people per skate. The cake was a delicious white cake with vanilla buttercream. Then the entire cake was covered in purple fondant. Everything on this cake was edible except for the cake board and the support boards that each skate stood on.


The stoppers on the front of each skate were hand molded rice crispy treats into the proper shape. They were then covered in black fondant and scuffed up a bit to make them look authentic. I then attached them with some good old buttercream and a dowel for support.


The front of the skates looked much like real skates did with a tongue, laces, and hooks to lace those puppies up. I even ran a tool over the edges to make it look like stitching. I love the little details on cakes!


All 8 wheels were shaped from rice crispy treats as well. And again, they were covered in black fondant. I then piped "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" onto each wheel by hand with vanilla buttercream. Most rollerskate wheels have some type of writing on them so I thought it was appropriate to incorporate those words here.


Here's a shot showing most of the wheels and those long laces hanging down. The wooden base for these skates is hidden by the fondant soles on the skates and the wheels underneath. Who wants to eat a cake with a bunch of wood showing?!?!?


The cake board that the skates sat on was completely covered in fondant. I textured it by hand to look like a wood floor since most rollerskating rinks are wood. I also incorporated "Happy 9th Birthday Adaina!" just in case someone didn't get the clue that it was Adaina's birthday!


I had a lot of fun doing this cake and I think it turned out great! Adaina's mom, who ordered the cake, loved it as well when I delivered it. Unfortunately, sometimes gravity and cake do not mix and one of the skates had fallen over overnight. I was unable to get back to the cake before the party but Adaina's mom brought the one skate to the party and everyone loved it! Don't worry, she and I worked something out and she is happy to keep referring customers to me. You live and you learn and next time I will give each skate a little more support to keep those little guys upright!

"We took the single skate to the party and the guests were amazed, so I would definitely consider purchasing more of your cakes in the future" -Colette B.

August 13, 2011

Just for kicks, he's 106!


Yeah, I said 106! Last year I made this man's birthday cake as well. It was a lot fancier with a bigger party. Which cake was it you ask? It was the famous doctor's bag cake with the saxophone coming out of the top. You can see on my Before the Blog page.


This cake was a two tiered beauty. A 6" round cake atop an 8" round cake. Both cakes were iced in vanilla buttercream. The bottom tier was a rich chocolate cake and the top tier was a light vanilla cake. A perfect combination for such a young man at heart!


The sides of each tier were decorated with some simple yet elegant piping techniques with vanilla buttercream dyed blue. These "U's" mimic a garland around each tier.


The base of each tier was decorated with a simple blue swirl also in vanilla buttercream. Above that was a line of stars that really made the edge of this cake elegant and exciting!


In addition to the designs on the sides of each tier the numbers 106 were strategically placed to make this cake a 360 degree beauty and to let everyone know just how old (but still young at heart) the birthday boy is!


I'm really happy that the family of this man ordered his birthday cake again from me and I really like the way this one turned out. I know most of my cakes are made using some sort of fondant accents but it was nice to get back to my buttercream roots and decorate everything with a bag-o-frosting!


I can't wait to see what the family comes up with for his birthday party next year!

August 8, 2011

A Chocoholics Dream County Fair Cake!


Yes, I am a chocoholic and yes, this is my dream cake! I made this cake not for a customer but for my own personal goal of getting a blue ribbon at the county fair!


This cake was a three tiered chocolate (of course) cake with vanilla buttercream icing and covered in regular and chocolate fondant. It was never eaten since it sat out on display at the fair for a week but if it had I'm sure it would have been delicious!


I had to make this cake viewable from every angle since it would be out in the open at the county fair. So this whole cake, 360 degrees, was decorated to perfection and 100% edible!


The top of this cake was actually a solid piece of chocolate shaped in the form of a cupcake. The cupcake was swirled with chocolate buttercream and then adorned with a hand-shaped fondant strawberry. The strawberry had chocolate fondant on it so it looked like it was dipped in liquid chocolate.


Look at those little pores on the strawberry! And that shiny shiny chocolate! Mmmm... mmmm... mmmm!


The cupcake sat a top a slice of cake that literally looked like a slice of cake. This piece of cake was also covered in fondant and decorated to look as if it had just been cut from a larger round cake. I love the way the "crust" on the cake turned out, it makes it look like it could be a piece of pie. I guess it's up to your own interpretation.


On top of the slice of cake/pie sat three individual cherries. No these were not real cherries but actually hand rolled red fondant. The stems were also made from fondant and pushed into the cherries. I just want to gobble them up they are so cute!


I did not get a close up of the middle tier but I'll use this picture for my description. The middle cake was a full blown 100% chocolate cake. The swags were fondant along with the white swirls on top of that tier. I tried to make all of the tiers not only different but a little bit different colors so that each tier would stand out on its own. Misison accomplished!


The bottom layer of the cake was made to look like a bundt cake drizzled with chocolate ganache. I could have used chocolate ganache but instead used chocolate fondant. By now you are probably asking yourself, how did she get some of the fondant to look so shiny? Well, I sprayed some Pam on a piece of waxed paper and basically painted it on. It really gave this cake definition and pop as I like to call it!


On top of the bundt cake were a few little raspberries made from fondant and textured to look like actually raspberries. The white behind the raspberries is actually vanilla buttercream. It's one of the few appearances buttercream makes on the outside of this cake.


And the results are in! My cake won a first place blue ribbon in the decorated cakes category! I also won a whopping $3.00 as my prize money. I almost did not even cash it and just put it in the frame with my ribbon and a picture of my cake. Unfortunately, it did not fit so off to the bank I went. I was really proud of myself and I will definitely be entering again next year. Perhaps next time I'll enter more than one category!