My Signature Cake...

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week! Actually, I can. I warned you that I was lousy at blogging. I may be many things, but I almost always tell the truth. So to get back in the swing of things here is a little bit about my "signature" cake. There is only one cake I've ever made more than once (excluding simple cakes). The Princess Pillow Cake with a gumpaste crown. My inspiration for this cake was my step daughter Lexi. Unfortunately, the version I made for Alexis was my first and far from my best. I was so nervous about carving it too much that I didn't carve it nearly as much as I should have. The crown was made of gumpaste. My original plan was to make the individual pieces and then let them dry together. Unfortunately, the gumpaste had other ideas. The pieces didn't stick together as they dried. So I had to make edible glue. While the crown dried white, the "glue" dried with a yellowish tint. It just about sent me over the edge. Despite all these problems I was thrilled with this pitiful little cake.

A year went by before I had the opportunity to re-attempt this cake. When I met with soon to be four year old Emma she knew exactly what kind of cake she wanted. I sat down with her one morning and asked her what kind she was thinking about. She didn't hesitate before passing me a well loved door knocker featuring the Classic Disney Princesses and a small pink plastic cell phone with Princess Aurora on the front. Emma pointed to Sleeping Beauty and announced that she wanted a princess crown cake. I described the princess pillow cake and Emma quickly agreed. So here is what she got:

My original plan was to airbrush the crown gold after adding the swirls and accents. But when I saw this it looked so much like the cartoon version of Princess Aurora's crown that I didn't want to risk messing it up. In the end, Emma loved her cake (at least that's what my sources say). And a week or so later I was commissioned to make a cake for an adult "Princess" and for her I went ahead with the airbrushing. And was thrilled with the results! So was the birthday girl.

Here you go Angel...

I'm writing this blog right now for the benefit of my dear, dear friend Angel. She is my biggest supporter and my greatest encourager when it comes not only to life, but to my cakes. She's also the main reason I started this blog. She's a big time blogger, and she likes to read them as much as she likes writing them. Anyway, here you are Angel. Monday afternoon at three o'clock a friend of mine asked if I could make a cake for her (actually, it's for the twentieth wedding anniversary of the pastors of our church). "Sure," I replied, "when do you need it?" "Um, Wednesday?" Okay. Now what? I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that butter cream is not my strong suit. But this cake is entirely butter cream. The super short notice did not allow me the time to make fondant. This is the first time my butter cream roses have actually made it on to a cake Although the icing is as smooth as I've ever been able to get it, I still need a little more work in that area. Swirls hide a multitude of sins, and they look great.

Elmo's Birthday Surprise

About a year and a half ago I donated a kidney (I had a spare ;) to Mike. Well, Mike's only grandson turned two this past March. Austin's favorite character is....Elmo! Of course. So I was privileged to get to make Austin's birthday cake. I must admit, I really like this cake. But there is one mistake I can't believe I made. Have you spotted it? It's his... eyes! I can't believe I didn't put them together! I guess I just assumed I knew what he looks like. I know, stupid mistake. All I had to do was pull up a picture of one of the most well known characters in the last ten years. Other than that "uh-oh," I was very pleased with how this cake came together. The hand painted "box" is the actual cake. Elmo's body is also made of cake, his head and arms are made from a crispy rice cereal recipe molded into the desired shape. It was time consuming, forced me to be creative with the how twos, and I prayed his arms would stay attached until he reached the party. This one was definitely a learning experience. All things considered, I was thrilled with the way this cake turned out. According to his mom, Austin liked it too. And that is the most important thing.

Campfire Fun...

A couple of years ago I told my neighbors that I would make a cake for her son, if she would let me pick the cake. I can't quite remember if the theme of the party was born from the cake or vise-versa. Regardless, the party had a "camping" out theme, and everyone knows camping is no fun with out a campfire. This cake was so much fun to make, and it was kinda at the beginning of
my cake "career," so it was definitely a learning process. The cakes were baked in bread pans and then carved into log shapes. I carefully placed the cake logs on a bed of chocolate doughnut holes coated in confectioners' sugar. Personally, I think the detail that just makes this cake awesome is the flames. I found a recipe for suckers (lollipops) and instead of pouring the mixture in to molds I free formed the flames on parchment paper. I did several different sizes and thicknesses because I wasn't sure which (if any) would work. While the sugar mixture was still gooey (for lack of a better word) I mixed in yellow and orange food coloring to give the flames some life. Last, but not least, I covered the cake board in green grass and Rita (the neighbor) added the bugs. This cake was simple to make, but it is still one of my favorites.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all you mother's out there are having as good a Mother's day as I am. Benj and the kids let me sleep in, which y'all know is a luxury we dedicated mom's don't often get. When I did wake up I was greeted with, yep, you guessed it, breakfast in bed. A Mom's Day classic. My family did really well with this decadent meal, serving croissants, fresh strawberries, bacon and hashbrowns. Then I was lavished with gifts, including tickets to a Randy Travis concert this Friday night, and a delightful pedicure.

Although I may offer snippets of my life in this blog its primary purpose is to extol the adventures and misadventures of my cake baking, designing, and decorating. This week I had the pleasure of making a soon to be first time mom her son's first cake. The fact that he is still in utero is beside the point. Joshia's (he's the baby) aunt happened to be dining at a local resturant when we were celebrating my eldest daughter's 12th birthday. Because we were all sitting in the same section we shared the cake with everyone who wanted a piece. I gave my contact information out to those who wanted it. And within a couple of days Josiah's aunt and I were discussing her sister's baby shower cake. In the end they decided on a train theme. Benji loves this cake, says its one of his favorites. I think its cute, but I was kinda disappointed too. I should have make the base cake bigger. This one is 9 inches, it should have been at least ten. The top layer was originally 8 inches, but I cut it down a bit to make more room for the train track. I should have gone ahead and made a six inch round. The name should have been more even because I used cookie cutters, but for some reason the "I" looks much too big. I'll correct that mishap on the next cake I make with a name on it. Right now my next cake up is a graduation cake, but I have yet to speak to the mom about the details. I guess thats it for this post. Hope y'all are having a great day!

Brandi and Phillip's Wedding Cakes...

Late last year Brandi (the bride) was kind enough to ask me to make her wedding cakes. She knew her color scheme and that she wanted something unique and visually impressive. I drew up a few rough (very rough) sketches and she chose her favorite.


I was actually pleased with how the finished cake turned out. Hind sight being twenty-twenty, I would probably make the flower columns smaller in diameter. Oh, and the monogram should have been black, but I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to paint it.

And now for the groom's cake.

This is the cake that had me in tears on my kitchen floor (I had to mop it first, but that's beside the point). The original neck of the guitar was made of gum paste. And it was completely decorated. I had it resting on the counter when
my son blew through the kitchen and somehow managed to knock it to the floor. It shattered on impact. Did I mention that this happened on Saturday morning and the cakes had to be ready by six? No time to make another one. So once I pulled myself up off the floor, showed my son the errors of his ways, and dried my tears I said a prayer and asked the Good Lord for an idea. I ended up at Hobby Lobby (twice) but I did find some thin wood strips that I could use in place of my poor shattered guitar neck. Unfortunately, the time ate up by this solution meant I didn't have enough time left to detail the guitar as much as I would have liked. Mercifully, my husband, Ben, made it home from work in time to help me finish what I could and deliver them to the reception.

Thank you to my wonderful husband/sometimes pastry sous chef for all your evaluable help. And thank you to Brandi and Phillip for believing in me enough to let me make your wedding cake. I wish you all the best!

But Mom, I hate this blogging thing...(should be said with a nasally voice)

I've tried blogging before and failed miserably. I guess I don't really think anything going on in my life is so interesting that anyone else would possibly want to read about it. And the parts of my life that are juicy are generally not appropriate for strangers =). So I've decided to dedicate this blog to my cakes. Although I've made a lot of cakes I still consider myself to be a newbie. So far I've taught myself everything via websites, books, TV shows and a lot of trial and error. I prefer to work with fondant, but I'm forcing myself to start working on my buttercream skills. The actual buttercream taste really good, but I've got a long way to go in application. My flowers are rarely to my liking, so I tend to stick with fondant for those. Anyway, I'll start posting pics as soon as I get a chance. Right now I've got a baby shower cake to finish. =O)

God Bless.