Cakerella

We all scream for ice cream!

2011-08-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

This was maybe the most fun little cupcake creation I've done so far... and so easy. I saw this picture somewhere late one night and have been saving the idea until we did our little ice cream party.

Basically, get a nice long serving platter or covered cardboard to put this on. Do that first. You'll be glad you figured that out before you get going.

Then, cut the back off of a waffle cone and place it on the bottom of your serving surface using a little icing as glue. Then ice your cupcakes and start layering them up - add sprinkles, chocolate sauce - whatever you like putting on ice cream (or cupcakes). My kids LOVED doing this! I popped the whole thing in the freezer and then we added some of that chocolate sauce that hardens right before serving. Very fun - and very delicious ;)

Some 4th of July treats

2011-08-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick assortment of our tasty 4th of July treats this year. We spread our celebrating out over several days - 4th of July is huge in Texas! So much fun. With the heat steadily rising, I was looking for ways to bake less and chill more. Here's what we ended up with:

These are layered jell-o pops that are frozen. The white in the middle is super delicious cream cheese mixed with Cool Whip. I'm not sure if you can see them, but we added some chopped up marshmallows in the blue... in an attempt to make stars to go with our stripes.

This was a hit! My first attempt at ice cream cake, and it worked. That always feels good. Basically, take one vanilla/white cake batter and split it in two. Color half red and half blue. Bake one and then bake the other. Then wrap and freeze both. Line the pan you used for the cakes with plastic wrap and spread some melty vanilla ice cream in it. Freeze well. Mix up your favorite type of icing - this was just plain buttercream and it worked great! Then layer everything together, frost the cake, enlist your daughter to help get the berries on top and then either freeze again, or serve! I'd recommend giving yourself time to freeze the cake a bit longer after icing and decorating... especially if you live in heat and humidity. Serve frozen - it is SO good!!!! (I mixed some strawberry puree in with the red and some blueberry in with the blue...not sure if it added too much, but it was fun)

And last, but certainly not least... Red Velvet Pancakes. I've wanted to try these for a while, and finally had a reason! I looked at a bunch of recipes and then just ended up doing my own version - I took our regular multi-grain pancake mix, added a scoop of cocoa powder, a little more sugar, some red food coloring and that was that! I served them layered with plain pancakes and topped with blueberry yogurt and blueberries. The kids thought they were awesome! Pretty fun, and not too terrible for you.

Jack is 2!

2011-08-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

My hilarious little boy turned two on June 19th - Father's Day. In order to celebrate both occasions with just one treat, I went with Handy Manny - popular with the 2-year old and tool-appropriate for Dad. It worked ;)

This is a frozen buttercream transfer that I pulled together a few days earlier and it stayed in the freezer until after dinner. I plopped that picture down on a bunch of mini-cupcakes - very simple, and very tasty!

And here is the 2-year old:

He is just recently in love with this tie; and no, the glasses are not for him :)

Just hand over the chocolate... and no one gets hurt.

2011-08-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is a little 6-inch chocolate cake for my sweet friend's birthday. I so enjoy working with her in our Primary at church... she is one of those rare guileless people who can always maintain such a great composure and kind feeling about her. I figured she wouldn't make any noise about her birthday, so I wanted to surprise her with something little - I feel like a 6-inch dark chocolate cake could be a treat you share with a few special people, or one that you enjoy as your own indulgence. I heard later that the cake didn't make it out of the church parking lot... sometimes it can be hard to wait for those stragglers, and it was nice to dig in to a treat while waiting! Dark chocolate cake (my favorite go-to recipe for chocolate lovers) and chocolate buttercream. Yum.

A Pea in the Pod

2011-05-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

For a shower my sister is throwing with a pea in the pod theme... a bunch of cake and cookie truffles and a 6" white cake with tart raspberry filling, icing with vanilla buttercream and covered with fondant.

Apple pancakes for dinner

2011-05-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

I know these aren't really cakes... but pancakes are a favorite in our house, and I'm constantly working out different variations. Especially if I can sneak in a few more fruits and veggies. These are a favorite for the boys. Very easy to make.

1. Core and slice up some apples so you have little apple rings. Peel is optional.

2. Mix up your favorite pancake batter. Add a splash of cinnamon and maybe a little nutmeg and/or ginger. I like doing a multi-grain pancake mix I make that has oatmeal, wheat flour, and other healthy junk.

3. Now the fun part - drop the apple rings into the pancake batter. Pull them out one by one and put them on your hot griddle. Flip like a normal pancake.

4. Place them on a plate - sprinkle with a little powdered sugar or a small drizzle of maple syrup. The apple in the middle softens up and tastes like applesauce in the middle of the pancake.

Super good... and not too bad for you.

Cake/Cookie balls

2011-05-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

So, I've been doing some experimenting with cake/cookie balls lately. I love and hate them at the same time, and since they're all the rage right now I figured I'd better get proficient at making them.

Here are a few pics of things I've been messing around with lately...

S'mores cake balls!

That's right - S'mores on a stick without the campfire and the melted chocolate mess. So, to make these little guys I used leftover graham cracker cake, mixed it with leftover chocolate frosting, froze it on the stick and then dipped the whole thing meringue - and then used my handy-dandy kitchen torch to toast them right up. These are SOOOOOO good!!! I did it another time with chocolate cake mixed with graham cracker crumbs and chocolate ganache in the center... very delicious.

I don't really love frosting...

Actually, I think I would like frosting more if I didn't frost things for hours at a time. That being said, I've really enjoyed making batches of cake balls using the leftover cake and the leftover filling ingredients as the center. This was a nice white cake mixed with a tart raspberry filling - super good. It was tasty dipped in dark chocolate and had a pleasant red middle without the harsh red that food coloring can add sometimes.

I've found that I like making balls with cookie crumbs of various varieties, too... oreo's with cream cheese are good; mint oreos with a little bit of chocolate icing are even better; chocolate chip cookies crumbed up in a food processor with a little homemade buttercream or cream cheese icing and then dipped in chocolate are super yum. Pretty fun so far!

Princess Birthday Cakes!

2011-05-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to do something like this for a while now, so when Ella (months ago) started talking about wanting a princess birthday party it gave me the perfect excuse! We had a little handful of friends over, and each girl had their own little princess cake - Ella picked which princess dresses to make and she even helped with some of the construction work. The inside was a from-scratch strawberry cake... tasted pretty good, though I should have shot some filling in the middle. Next time.

All the pretty princesses...

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White (my favorite dress)

Cinderella

Belle

Tiana or Tinkerbell
(depends on the girl and the day)

Next time I might spend more time on the details... I had intended to make a little apple for Snow White, a rose for Belle, a frog for Tiana, a shoe for Cinderella, and a crown for Sleeping Beauty. BUT, I wasn't up until the wee hours doing this, my family didn't miss me for hours on end - and the result was very pleasing for 4-year olds. All things considered, an overall success!

Super Mario Brothers Cupcake Toppers

2011-04-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, here's my best attempt at a tutorial for how to make a buttercream freezer transfer. This is a great technique to work on - you end up with a delicious buttercream topper that looks just like the image you've printed off. Enjoy! These were for my son's 6th birthday party... hence the Mario Brothers Theme.

Step 1: Choose and format the picture you want to use. Choose something that's not too terribly detailed, and won't require loads of different icing colors. Especially for your first attempt. To make these work as cupcake toppers, I downloaded some images I liked and then copied and pasted them until I had two sheets of varied pictures. I traced a circle around each one to have a border I could work in.

Step 2: Tape your picture down to a cutting board, cookie sheet or other portable flat surface. Then lay a piece of parchment or wax paper on top of the picture and tape the parchment paper down. This is important - if your parchment picks up while your piping it causes major headaches. I'm just sayin'...

Step 3: Using black icing and a tip of appropriate size, pipe over all the outlines on your design. Now, if I were going to have chocolate icing I would have just colored a bunch black and used that. However, I didn't use chocolate today and making strong black icing from plain white gives me a headache, it tastes bad, and it can turn teeth black - so, it was worth it to me to use this decorating icing for this go-round. I also added a little shortening and meringue powder to my icing for decorating because in the spring and summer months in Texas, cake decorators battle with high heat and high humidity. Adding a little shortening and some meringue powder will ensure that as your design thaws at the end, it will stay true to its form.

Step 4: Now that you've outlined your shapes, start going back in with the colors for the details. You will eventually be flipping this over, so the colors you pipe first will be on top when you are done. Keep that in mind as you are filling in your design. For example, I piped my black outline, then the whites of the eyes and teeth before filling in with the background color.

Step 5: Use a small wet paintbrush to push the icing into all the little nooks and crannies of your design.

Step 6: Now, use a tip of choice (I like the star tip) and fill in the remainder of your design. Go ahead and pipe over everything you've just done.

Step 7: Use a wet paintbrush to push the icing into any remaining nooks and crannies.

Step 8: Now, use a color and tip of your choice to fill in the background. This was important for cupcake toppers because I was planning on turning these into little buttercream discs to fit perfectly on top of a cupcake.

Step 9: Now, use a wet paintbrush to push the icing into any remaining nooks and crannies. You also want to make the top pretty flat... this will be the side that sits on your cake or cupcakes. So, if it's really uneven it might mess up your design as it thaws out.

Step 10: I reinforced the edge of my topper with black again, just to help even out the thickness of the whole thing. Now, if you've only been doing one big picture to put on a cake, it's time to put the whole thing in the freezer. If you're doing cupcake toppers, finish the remaining toppers and then put the whole thing in the freezer. I froze mine just overnight. I've done it for about 3 hours and had it work well. The real beauty is that you can freeze these for a week or more - so plan ahead and you'll save yourself some pre-party stress!

Step 11: When ready (day of the party), bring your design out of the freezer. For cupcake toppers, you'll want to cut the parchment paper and flip each topper individually.

Step 12: Place your design (buttercream down) on the cupcake. Press down gently to make sure it's really on there and anchored a bit. Frost your cupcakes with just a little icing before adding the frozen topper.

Step 13: Gently peel off the parchment paper, and voila! You've got it!

A Mario topper just for Liam... the birthday candle went in this one.

You can see the little guy on the left is a little more upset than his buddies... sometimes tracing with black icing takes a few trials and errors :)

Yoshi's! These were a hit.

The rest of the cupcakes... lots of vanilla cupcakes with red icing and dots for mushrooms. Chocolate and vanilla for the glittery "M"'s, and chocolate and vanilla for the buttercream transfer cupcakes.

Good luck - this is such a great mom technique!!!

Princess Presto!

2011-03-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

This cake was for a little girl turning...

3 obviously :)

She loves Super Why! and the party was going to be pink and purple for Princess Presto. The figures below are frozen buttercream transfers, which is an awesome technique that would be terrific for every mom to learn. You can basically replicate any coloring book or downloaded picture in buttercream and then apply it to your cake... just imagine the possibilities! So much better than grabbing a generic white cake and Wal-Mart and plunking some expensive figurines into the icing - I mean, that totally works, too - but some of these new cartoons don't even have figurines yet. The buttercream transfers can also be made well ahead of time and kept in your freezer until you need them, which can help with last minute party stress. Liam's party is in two weeks, so I'll try to post a tutorial while I'm working on his cupcake toppers - -they will be buttercream freezer transfers of the Mario Brothers characters. So much more delicious than fondant toppers.

Relief Society Birthday Cake

2011-03-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

This was done for my sister's ward Relief Society Birthday dinner. The flavors were chocolate cake with peanut butter filling, lemon cake with raspberry filling, and vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.

Ice Skating Cake

2011-03-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

I am so annoyed with myself that I didn't take time for better pictures of this cake!!! It turned out great - and my favorite part was the sketched out design from the birthday girl with exactly how the cake should look. Apparently she loves watching Cake Boss - and I hope I lived up to her expectations :)

Anyhow, this cake was vanilla and chocolate marble with chocolate icing and filling.

Spring Blossom Baby Shower cake

2011-01-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

This was a fun and pretty simple little cake for a friend's baby shower. Inside the cake was vanilla and red velvet in a checkerboard pattern - really fun to do! Cream cheese coconut icing under the fondant layer.

Pokemon Cake - Pikachu!

2011-01-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

This little guy was so much fun to make! A friend asked for some Pokemon ball cupcakes and a Pikachu character cake for her son's birthday. Yes - we both know that Pokemon is so 1990's... but it was her son's favorite thing in the 90's - and this was a little surprise for his 20th birthday dinner. I hope he got a kick out of it! The Pikachu was vanilla pound cake (to help sculpt those rounded edges) and the cupcakes were chocolate with buttercream icing. I'm hoping to do a casino themed cake for this friend next month... stay tuned!

Train birthday cake

2011-01-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

A birthday cake for one of my favorite cake families - happy 3rd birthday!

40 S'more Things to Love

2010-08-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Two kinds of S'mores cupcakes...

The picture above is a chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker crust, and a generous topping of toasted meringue icing.

The picture above is of a graham cracker cupcake, studded with chocolate pieces, and topped with a generous helping of toasted meringue icing.

Here is what the final products looked like:

These were pulled together for my husbands parents 40th Anniversary celebration up in Shaver Lake. I was trying to think of something simple and fairly easy to feed a crowd that could also be tied to camping/the mountains that we love to visit when we visit Brian's parents. So - S'mores cupcakes came together for me. I had all the relatives (grandkids, siblings, in-laws, outlaws, etc) and friends present write down one thing they loved about this couple - and the comments came together nicely for a cupcake topper decoration. I made a little sign that said, "40 S'more Things We Love About the Johnston's" - and the presentation was complete. After everyone enjoyed their cupcakes, the comments written on the toppers were placed in a vase - and they look darling on the Johnston's kitchen table in their amazing, completely made by hand, simply beautiful cabin in the woods. Happy Anniversary - I'll have to start thinking ahead for a 50th Anniversary treat!

Another dress!

2010-08-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

My sister asked if I could make a dress cake for her friend's birthday - and of course I said yes! I love making these little dresses... anytime I can find an occasion I pull a mini-dress together. We had recently watched the new Alice in Wonderland... so I was a little bit stuck on that color scheme and avoided pastels. The cake was coconut lime with swiss meringue buttercream.

(this photo was taken while the cake was sitting on my stovetop... I had no idea how much the black dress would dissolve into the black background!)

Sports Themed Baby Shower

2010-08-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

This was a baby shower for a baby boy on the way - a sports themed shower. The nursery decor was going to be vintage sports themed, so the cake topper has a bowling ball, golf ball, football, baseball and bat, and a basketball made out of fondant on top. The cupcakes had the initial J, or a fondant baseball or football topper for decoration. The cake and cupcakes were vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream icing - and the humidity was out of control!!! I'm glad things worked out all right.

Monogram Shower Cake

2010-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

This was my first attempt at a letter monogram for a cake top - I loved the color combination for this shower, and for the upcoming wedding. Black and sage green - they look so sharp and classic together. Anyhow, I had a picture of the wedding invitation to work from and the couple is using the monogram and the colors sage green and black and there were some polka-dots on the invite - so this is what I came up with. The cake is vanilla with vanilla buttercream, as are the cupcakes. The cupcakes were topped with one of the following - a black bow, a green bow, or black and green shavings.

I heard great reviews - I love when I hear back from people! Another order for this great client is coming up this weekend - summer is such a great cake and party season.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

2010-06-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

This was a small cake for a baby shower being thrown for a friend of mine - she's expecting a little girl this summer and is going to name her Ella - I love it! Anyhow - the cake was vanilla cake stacked on chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream in between the layers. Dark chocolate fondant covers the cake and the daisies are done in two tones of pink. The cupcakes were a mix of chocolate and vanilla cake with chocolate and vanilla icing. The flowers on each cupcake are made of gumpaste. The cake for this friend's bridal shower can be seen here. I tried to kind of echo the theme, but a little more delicately and with lots of pink due to the baby girl on her way.

Welcome to the Nest!

2010-06-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

My darling sister is having twins (a boy and a girl) this summer, and I did this cake for the shower we threw for her in Phoenix, AZ. It was my first time making a cake "on location" and it went pretty well I think. I'm actually really happy with how the little nests turned out (thank you Amanda and Melissa for crafting the little eggs) and the beadwork and gumpaste flowers, too (thanks, Melissa!) Ella actually make a flower that's on there, too - she was so excited to finally be part of the baby shower she'd been hearing about for weeks.

Cake flavors were: Carrot cake with cream cheese icing, dark chocolate cake with coconut filling, key lime cake with vanilla buttercream, and Swiss chocolate with coconut filling.

Purple Wedding Cake

2010-06-02T17:57:00.001-07:00

This cake was done just about a year ago - and I realized I didn't post a picture of it! I know one layer of this was chocolate with peanut butter, and one layer was vanilla... with raspberry I believe. Anywho - at the reception some calla lilies were added and a little glass temple was placed on top to finish off the look. She said purple and I point to some lavendar samples... but no, it was really supposed to be purple purple. The decor looked great at the reception - and the cake fit right in!

I-Pod cake

2010-05-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Brian, my fabulous husband, turned 35 this weekend - and the kids and I made him this I-Pod cake. I'm actually pretty proud of some of the apps we made - those are 1-inch squares, so the work on them had to be really small. A few special apps include: the yellow M app in the right column - Liam made that one because he likes going to "Old MacDonald's" with his dad for chicken nuggets and time to play with friends. Ella made the purpose flower app because she said she likes picking flowers with Dad in the backyard. Sweet, right? The date is 15, because his birthday is the 15th. There's a 3 and a 5 for 35 years... and I got a few questions about the time of 1:12 on the top. Was Brian born at that time? Was that the time we got married? Was that the time I finished the cake last night? Nope - that was the easiest time to make with fondant.

The cake was a new recipe I was trying out - chocolate chili spice cake and vanilla buttercream icing/filling. It was well received.

30th Birthday Purse Cake

2010-05-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

So, this is my first photographed purse cake, though I have done another one or two practice ones before. This was for a cute friend's 30th birthday - she loves purses, and I hope she loved eating this one! The cake was vanilla with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream icing underneath the fondant. I used the Satin Ice fondant on this cake and absolutely am sold on that brand now.

I also had our favorite baby-sitter come over and do some fondant work with me. I knew she liked working on cake things, and this was a great one to work on. She did an awesome buckle on the backside, cut out all the 3's and 0' s - I hope she had a good time. She mixed the shades of pink, too - I was told fuschia and bubble gum pink were the shades she liked, and I think the colors turned out just great. The handles and bows are made out of gumpaste, and when I delivered the cake, I kept the handles separated so she could just pop them in before the party. I was afraid of what damage the handles could do if they fell over during another car ride - yikes! Nobody likes a cheap knock-off :)

Pink and Black Topsy Turvy

2010-05-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here are two views of a topsy-turvy birthday cake I did this weekend. This was for a darling girl who told me a few weeks ago she really wanted vanilla cake and vanilla icing - so that's what's under the fondant madness. I actually tried out the Satin Ice brand of fondant and absolutely LOVED it - I don't know that I'll be using marshmallow fondant anymore... and definitely never the Wilton stuff. The taste is better, it's the perfect consistency, it's easily colored - I love it! Anyhow - the top picture is a birds-eye view and the bottom is from the side.

Ladybug Cupcakes

2010-05-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love my little cupcake model? She's a doll - these ladybug mini-cupcakes were for Ella's 3rd birthday party. She likes bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, flowers - pretty much everything you can find in our backyard! I think these turned out pretty great - the cupcakes are a dark chocolate cake recipe I was trying out - the icing is vanilla buttercream, as are the red ladybugs.

The roses are made out of Starburst candies... which I may try to post a tutorial for soon. These flowers are always a big hit, and they honestly don't take terribly long to make. The flowers are made on a dum-dum lollipop, so it's almost like having a reverse blow-pop or tootsie-roll pop... and the lollipop stick makes the flowers easy to place in a cake, or anchor on to cupcakes.

#2 Spiderman!

2010-05-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

This was Liam's 5th birthday cake - he was so excited to have a Spiderman cake he kept asking me for days when we were going to make it. He got to help make the fondant brick wall behind Spidey... the highlight of which was using the food coloring spray! He had a superhero themed party - it was great. The cake was chocolate with a new filling I tried out. It's a mixture of chocolate cake and raspberry jam with a little buttercream mixed all together - basically, it gives that slightly gooey texture right in the middle of the cake but with a yummy flavor. I love gooey brownies and things, but wanted to make sure the cake was baked all the way through, so that was my way to get a soft sweet center without the risk of raw eggs still being present. It was very well received! All the piping is done with vanilla buttercream.

Mickey Mouse cupcakes & topper

2010-03-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

This was a set of 40 cupcakes for a friend's daughter who was turning 2. This was particularly fun because I did her baby shower cake, her 1st birthday cake - and now her 2nd birthday cake, too! Anyhow - cupcakes were vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and each was topped with a black fondant Mickey Mouse shape (which I made using two sizes of circle cutter). The topper was also vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream under a black marshmallow fondant cover. I worked the ears over several times and finally settled on fondant covered cardboard circles that were then anchored into the cake with popsicle sticks - it was definitely sturdy. And I was actually pretty happy with my writing on the hat... I'm hypercritical of my icing writing skills, which I think may be mediocre at best. This came together nicely.

2010-03-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

I love how this one turned out! I was trying to make a meld of two cakes I've done - a daisy one, and a topsy turvy... the client loved it too. This was for a baby shower for a little girl... some surprise guests were coming and it sounded like such a fun event. The cakes were white chocolate with strawberry filling and dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling. Both were iced in vanilla buttercream and the fondant is marshmallow based. I included a few little butterflies to attach once the cake arrived at its destination - they were on wires, so it would appear that they were flying above the flowers.

My cute client/friend wrote after the shower:

Tanya,

The cake was a HUGE hit!!!! Everyone thought that it was so cute and it tasted GREAT! My boys loved it too.

Thank you for making it for us, it made her shower so special...

Success - hooray! My one regret is not shooting the pictures of this cake in my light box... I've got to plan my time a little better, or set things up a little better so I can take my pictures in there. It's shocking how professional the cakes look when the pictures are taken with a white background. I'll add that to my to do list...

Topsy Turvy Baby Shower

2010-02-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

This cake is three layers of chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing. The decorations match a bedding pattern that is going to be used in the baby girl's nursery. I was happy with the angles of this topsy turvy design... I've been trying to be more precise in cutting and shaping the cakes to avoid the "flat-tire" look where the middle layer looks a little smashy. Pretty happy with these overall results - the fondant was all marshmallow based, so it was pretty tasty (Ella and Liam worked alongside me for a while with their fondant and tools until I had to cut them off... Ella is a marshmallow fiend!)

Scout Themed Cakes

2010-02-27T05:22:00.000-08:00

So, this set of four cakes was made for our scout group - the scouting organization is celebrating 100 years this year... quite an accomplishment!

These were styled after the Bear, Wolf and Webelo badges. The flavors were: lemon cake, spice cake, chocolate cake, and vanilla cake all with vanilla buttercream icing and filling.

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

2010-02-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

This cake was for a friend having her third baby - a little boy. The shower was a Dr. Seuss theme - these colors matched the invite. The cake was white chocolate with cookies and cream filling.

If the shoe fits...

2009-11-29T18:05:00.000-08:00

These are fondant shoes I made for an event my sister did in Phoenix, AZ. It was for a church Young Women's evening and the theme was the "Worth of Soles" - the shoes survived a FedEx trip and arrived in good condition, I'm told. These were SO much fun to work on - mostly late at night or early in the morning when the kiddos were all sleeping. The purple tennis shoe was a little difficult to figure out, but I think the basic idea comes across all right. I hope to do more of these in the future, with even more details.

Wild Topsy Turvy

2009-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

This was so fun to put together! Each layer of this cake is vanilla cake with strawberry filling - pulled together for our friend's 6th birthday. I loved doing a topsy-turvy again - and the mom was an excellent cake designer. I love when people can give me a clear description of what they want... I especially liked the feathers on top - such a girly touch!

Spiderman!

2009-11-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

This was for a 4-year old friend's birthday party - we perched a Spiderman figure on top and it looked great! It's chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse filling - and it disappeared quickly at the outdoor party. Happy Birthday, Dominic!

Mater

2009-09-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

And this little guy was lucky to make it out of our house - Liam was thrilled with this little cake, it was hard for him to part with it! I feel another Mater cake coming in the near future... This was a chocolate cake with vanilla icing and chocolate fondant as the majority of it's covering. Again, like Lightning, I figured if I could get his face to look right - particularly the eyes and the mouth on this one, that the rest of the features would just seem to fit. I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. I've heard through the grapevine that the 2 year old recipient dug right in and enjoyed the end result, too!

Lightning McQueen

2009-09-06T13:00:00.001-07:00

To go with the sheet cake below, I was asked to make a small single serve cake of both Lightning McQueen and his pal, Mater. This is how Lightning turned out:

Not too bad considering he's all cake and icing and fondant! Lightning was made out of vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream. I figured if I could get the eyes, the color and a few lightning bolts on him, the rest would kind of take care of itself.

Here are both cakes waiting in their box - I thought they looked really lifelike in there, so it was actually hard to close the lid on them!

CARS emblem sheet cake

2009-09-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

This sheet cake was made to serve 30ish people for a joint 2nd birthday party. The theme was CARS (the movie) and the invitation had this emblem on the front. The emblem is made out of fondant (I wasn't up to dealing with the royal icing in humidity this week) and the cake is vanilla with strawberry cream filling. I've heard that it was pretty tasty and enjoyed by all - that always makes me so happy!

Orange & Fuschia Wedding Cake

2009-09-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

This cake was made for a wedding with fuschia and orange as the color choices. I didn't have swatches to work with, so I did the best I could with colors and was relieved to deliver the cake and see balloons, daisies and roses in the same hues. This cake was made to serve 100 people (not including the top layer) and flavors included: chocolate cake with coconut cream filling; vanilla cake with red cherry filling; red velvet cake with key lime filling and icing. Possibly the most delicious flavor combinations I've made to date!

Dragon Cake

2009-09-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

My sister let me borrow a cake book for a while, and it was full of cute little ideas. Liam picked out a dragon for us to make - and this was our finished product! The dragon is only about 3 inches tall, though I'm pretty sure I could create it on a larger scale, too. Liam helped pick the colors from the fondant I had available - I think he turned out pretty great! Liam and Ella liked him - and the especially liked eating him. I can't remember for sure, but I'm willing to bet that inside this dragon was chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

A pair of gift boxes!

2009-09-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

These two cakes were made for cousins who were both turning 11. Teressa's cake (with the green bow) was key lime cake with key lime filling icing. Tyson's cake (the pink bow) was pink velvet cake with strawberry filling and vanilla icing under the fondant. I love how bright the colors came out! Tyson's cake was pretty bright inside - the pink velvet cake should have made a nice contrast with the bright white fondant and the dark red strawberry filling. Happy Birthday Girls!

Baby Boy Gift Box

2009-06-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

This will be the last post for a little while - we're expecting our own bouncing baby boy in the next few weeks, so I've been turning down cakes until later in July. This cake was done for a baby shower that was being held at the Kimbell Art Museum in downtown Ft. Worth (I think it was the Kimbell... if not the Kimbell, it was another art museum, which I thought was a great location for an adult baby shower). The cake was three layers of chocolate cake with two layers of raspberry filling and a fat layer of chocolate buttercream on the outside. The decorations are all fondant - chocolate fondant for the box, and green marshmallow fondant for the decor. The bow is held together with melted white chocolate that's been colored green - from this particular angle you can see that the green didn't match the fondant exactly. BUT, from most views (and if you aren't the one who made the cake), the chocolate glue wasn't even noticeable.

Pirate Ship on a windy day!

2009-05-10T02:42:00.000-07:00

This is my son's 4th birthday cake! He's so fascinated with pirates and swords currently - he and I made this together the afternoon of his birthday party. I should've taken a picture of the whole thing before it was exposed to the extreme wind - the sail had lift-off several times, the pirates were blown over - even the candy decor and the goldfish took off at several points! All in all it was a success, though. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing (Liam's requests) are always a hit, whether the sail blows away in the wind or not! Liam had an especially good time drawing the lines around the cake to make it look like wood - he also swirled the ocean and got to spray paint it blue (edible spray paint) and carefully placed each and every goldfish and each pirate figurine. Happy Birthday to my sweet little Liam!

Guitar Birthday Cake

2009-05-10T02:35:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at a guitar shaped cake - for a cute 7 year-old little girl's Pop Star birthday party. I think it turned out all right! The whole thing was chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling. The entire cake was edible - that's what I shoot for each time I do a cake... no cardboard props, etc. In my original sketches, I had the neck/whammy board piece extending out a bit further so the proportions would be a little more accurate. However, when I got home from work and it was over 90 degrees for the third day in a row with super high humidity, I changed my plan a bit. The original design wouldn't have fit in a standard sized refrigerator - and while the ingredients would've been fine overnight an an air-conditioned house, the icing would have been ridiculously soft. I chopped the whole thing down a bit and built it up instead of out - and this was the final result. There's edible glitter all over the guitar - what 7 year old little girl doesn't like glitter? Hope it worked out well!

Easter Cakes 2009

2009-05-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

Here were two cakes I did for Easter this year - I think the basketweave turned out just fine. The basketweave cake is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. The small pink flowers are made out of Starbursts (my kids love these - most kids love these more than royal icing flowers).

The smaller cake was for our family dinner - carrot cake (for Brian) and a chocolate bunny topper with jelly beans (for Liam and Ella). I'm particularly fond of the new tip I used to make the grass - it looks particularly "grassy", I think.

Easter Cakes

2009-03-30T11:04:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to figure out a good Easter dessert to use this year. This basket cake is what I did last year - I was really happy with how the flowers turned out! This year I think I'm going to try something a little less cakey and go for a berry something with some chocolate art techniques I've been working on and reading about. Stay tuned - this could be interesting!

Princess Crown Cakes

2009-03-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

These two were made for a darling little girl turning 1. The theme was princess, and the rest of the decorations looked like this, which is why I made the crowns this particular way. The little one on the top was just a few inches on each side - it was the bash cake for the birthday girl. The cake inside was chocolate and vanilla cake marble and all the icing was vanilla buttercream - I don't think my pictures show it very well (my little natives were getting restless when picture time rolled around) but there was lots of pink and white glitter to help bling up the decorations.

Umbrella themed baby shower

2009-03-12T05:49:00.000-07:00

This was done the day after the daisy bridal shower cake - it was a cake for a baby shower with an umbrella theme (gotta love those Cricut machines!) This was my first attempt at doing a little baby with a blanket on top, and I think it turned out all right. I'm curious if the baby was removed before the cake was cut - or how exactly that was handled. While I was making it I kept thinking, "Is it really appropriate to put a baby figure on a baby shower cake that's going to be eaten?" I think it turned out pretty cute, though. Next time I need to make the blanket a little thicker - you can see the color of the baby's bum under the blanket! This was a lemon cake with cream cheese icing and filling (brownies and other chocolate goodies were being served at the shower, too). The brown fondant is chocolate fondant - mostly because that seems to be the best way to get a nice, dark brown fondant color.

Bridal Shower Daisies

2009-03-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

We had a fun bridal shower for a cute co-worker last week, and since I had some time open I volunteered to make the cake! I learned through the grapevine that her colors were orange and brown - and this was what I came up with. I considered doing a handbag or a shoe box or something like that, but since things at work have been a little stressful lately, I thought some cheery flowers and a good chocolate cake would be more appropriate. The cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling and icing, and the brown fondant is chocolate fondant - it definitely hit the chocolate spot on a Friday afternoon! I was pretty happy with how all the daisies turned out - though next time I think I'll go with gum paste instead of fondant for flowers of that size (on the top). I got some great compliments on the decoration and the cake itself - which is always great! The most important thing was that Ashley (the bride to be) seemed to like it - and since the whole wedding ordeal is really about the babe in the dress, that was enough for me. Congratulations, Ashley!

Black & White wedding cake

2009-02-21T13:26:00.001-08:00

I had some exciting plans for this cake, but plans changed last minute with wedding details, so the cake was left very simple - a silver cake topper was to be added at the reception. For a good photo op, I put a big bow on top - if I did a bow on top of a cake like this I would incorporate black, too. It turned out nicely, I think. The cake was vanilla with cream cheese icing on all three layers.

Big Fat Fondant Bow

2009-02-20T18:34:00.000-08:00

This is the first really big bow I've attempted - and it turned out pretty well! Much more stable and sturdy than it looks. It's set on quite a small cake, which accentuates its size. The bow loops an tails have some stitching details from a tool I have that actually came from my grandmother's sewing things. I think the tool is meant to transfer patters onto fabric, but I've found it to be terrifically useful when adding a stitched look to my cake projects.

Shirt Cakes

2009-02-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

Father's Day Cake

The first shirt cake I made was for Father's Day 2008. Tonight I made a small, simple shirt for Liam - every time I'm working on a cake for someone he'll ask, "Are you making me another cake mom?" So tonight I decided to make him his own small cake. The bigger shirt cake fits perfectly inside a shirt box - so we actually gave it to Brian wrapped in tissue paper with several other boxes of shirts. Liam's is just a few inches on each side - which means I won't feel terrible if he ends up eating the whole thing in one day.

Liam's Cake

Box of Chocolates

2009-02-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

This was a sample cake I did during a little cake class I taught this week. The class was a lot of fun - I kept this one really simple so I could just demonstrate some basic things and then help do flowers and other fun things with the ladies in the class. I loved watching everyone figure things out! I think they all had a good time - and they each took home a beautiful cake! This one reminded me of a box of chocolates - it's a chocolate cake inside, and I think a pink pearl border along the base, with a name piped on top would look darling for almost any occasion. The chocolate fondant continues to be surprisingly good!

And of course, the bows continue to be a hit.

Baby Girl Gift Boxes

2009-02-20T16:09:00.001-08:00

I was so happy with how this cake turned out! It looks just like I was picturing it would in my mind. I did this in 2008, but realized it wasn't posted on the new blog page. The cake layers were white chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, white chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream filling, and chocolate cake with oreos and cream filling. The fondant was all marshmallow based, and the brown fondant is all chocolate fondant. I heard great comments back, which always makes me happy!

Basketball cupcakes

2009-02-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

This set-up was made for our neighbor - her son's basketball team was having their end of season trophy lunch, and she asked if I could do some basketball cupcakes and a topper to go along with their team - the Heat. There were 25 cupcakes (1/2 vanilla and 1/2 chocolate) with buttercream icing, and jersey numbers were written on ten of the cupcakes. I think the ball topper turned out pretty well - it doesn't look quite the same in the picture, but pretty close. The only thing I think I'd get more details on in the future would be the exact color of orange that's desired - I mixed up a color that's closer to the NBA ball colors, but then I realized little guys usually play with a brighter orange ball! I don't think it was an issue for anyone - just something I realized during the time I was icing everything. I'm looking forward to doing a football for this same family in the spring - and this might be a great thing to jazz up a little and advertise around playoff time, or maybe a baseball during the spring season. So many ideas!

Dora the Explorer

2009-01-03T11:56:00.001-08:00

This was the only cake I took on in December. It's buttercream (which I think had a touch too much meringue powder in it) icing on a two layer chocolate cake with Boston cream pie filling. I'm pretty happy with how the Dora figure turned out - I meant for the whole cake to be a bit smaller, but the cakes baked higher than expected. Better to have too much cake than too little cake, I suppose. Can you ever really have too much cake?

For the five cake clients I turned down in December - thanks for understanding about my plans for a low-key holiday! Call back anytime.

Hello, Kitty!

2008-12-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

I was so happy with how this little figure turned out. She's all fondant (marshmallow fondant). I know her little figure is pretty basic and an easy shape; I was just happy with how closely she resembled the picture I had printed off as a model.

This picture just shows the wrapped edging on the gift box cake - people really seem to like that little detail (and I like using that technique because it makes life much simpler when smoothing fondant over a square shape).

And a picture of the finished product - a very girly and cute cake, if I say so myself! The cake itself was strawberry with vanilla buttercream. Pink and white inside and out!

Fall Wedding Cake

2008-12-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

This was a wedding cake I did in mid-November. It was cream colored and I made a bunch of fondant leaves to decorate with, but when I got to the reception to set it up I realized I had really made the colors too bright. I was glad these extra petals were available - I think it turned out looking pretty great - and I've heard that it tasted really good, too. The bottom layer was chocolate with chocolate hazelnut filling; middle was carrot cake with cream cheese icing; top layer was white chocolate with raspberry filling. Very rich and delicious!

Turquoise Wedding Cake

2008-11-04T03:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted pictures for a while - not because I haven't done any cakes, but because I've been so busy with cakes that I haven't had time to post any pictures! This was a wedding cake for a cute couple who were married on October 25th. The piping along the bottom two tiers dried lighter than I hoped - but the colors are a bit more exaggerated in this picture than they were in actuality.

The bottom tier was vanilla cake with strawberry filling, middle was chocolate cake with chocolate hazelnut, and the top was white chocolate with chocolate hazelnut filling. I also did 100 cupcakes - all vanilla cake with swiss meringue icing and fillings of strawberry, raspberry and chocolate hazelnut. The picture was taken in the walk-in cooler of the restaurant where the wedding dinner would be - it was pretty chilly, so I didn't spend too much time getting a beautiful shot this time!

Tropical Punch Shower

2008-10-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

This cake was so much fun to pull together! Amy was referred to me through a mutual friend (thanks, Summer!) and she and I planned out this cake design to match a nursery with a Tropical Punch bedding theme. The colors came out just as I was planning, and I think the topsy turvy effect was a little cleaner than my last attempt. It's nice to see progress! The layers were spice cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.

Barnyard Cake

2008-10-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

This cake was done for a little boy's first birthday party - the family had a petting zoo and lots of little guests were expected. The barn is lemon cake, the yard is vanilla cake with strawberry filling, and the silo is a big stack of cookies. The road and sides of the cake are covered with granola - to give that rustic effect. This was a lot of fun to make - my own two kiddos liked watching the animals as they were formed.

And this little cake was the smash cake - especially for the birthday boy!

Halloween Cookies

2008-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Some Halloween cookies with new cutters - some came from my sister's collection, and some came from a collector on Craig's list who was selling some of her duplicate cutters. Craig's List, Ebay, and Amazon all have lots of cute cutter sets - I try not to spend too much time looking, because anything I buy has to find a place somewhere in our house! The black cookies are covered with chocolate fondant with additional black coloring. I especially like the witch on the broom - I think it might be a vintage cookie cutter shape. I remember seeing one similar to it in my grandma's cookie cutter collection, I think...

Halloween Goodies

2008-10-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

I picked up this house pan for a barn-yard cake I'm doing a little later this month. I wanted to see how well it would stand up on its own, so I did a quick haunted house decoration - I love Halloween! The pumpkins on this house are made of fondant - though it would be easier to use those little candy corn pumpkins, if you have them on hand. If you're going to use a lot of black frosting like this, definitely start with dark chocolate frosting - it tastes SO much better than white frosting with loads of black food coloring added.

Onesie's

2008-09-18T10:47:00.005-07:00

I think onesie's are one of the best inventions around - right up there with Post-It notes and duct tape! So, I've been doing some experimenting with a new onesie cookie cutter and some sheet cake shaping. This cake and cookie combination were NOT done at the same time - so they're not meant to coordinate. I think the cookies are coming along really well now - I've got my recipe and timing down. The sky's the limit with decorating options - which is always fun!

And I'm so happy to have a light box now! Brian pulled the whole thing together one night - and it's awesome. The pictures look much clearer, and it saves me lots of editing time. Thanks, honey!

My favorite things

2008-09-18T10:47:00.004-07:00

These little cake dresses are quickly becoming one of my favorite things to decorate. I love the variety that's available, and the size is just darling. This one was yellow cake with vanilla pudding, if I remember correctly. I'd love to find someone who'd like a dozen or two of these - for a birthday party or bridal shower or something. That would be a lot of fun to put together!

Think Tink!

2008-09-18T10:47:00.003-07:00

This was for a cute 2 year old little girl's birthday party. It was so fun to make this! The base cake is vanilla with strawberry filling, and the top is chocolate with peanut butter cup filling. The tree trunk is chocolate fondant - and I have to say I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing came together. My one regret, now that I'm looking at the pictures, is that I didn't bring along extra leaves to blend that line between the tree top cake and the plate that it's sitting on. Everything else was pretty great, I think! I even got to try using those little color sprays on the base - that was fun. I hope to use those again in the future to add some color here and there.

Splash motif baby shower

2008-09-18T10:47:00.002-07:00

This was for another baby shower - this time a baby boy. The nursery was going to be decorated in this "splash" theme (www.migistyle.com) - so I tried to make the cake top match the bedding pattern. The top cake was chocolate with cream cheese filling, and the cupcakes were chocolate and vanilla with cream cheese icing.

And thanks to Buck and Nadia for sending this awesome cupcake stand! It was super easy to set up, and while this picture doesn't show it terribly well, it really made a nice centerpiece on the table. Thanks for being so thoughtful - and so handy - and so crafty!

Daisy Themed Baby Shower

2008-09-18T10:47:00.001-07:00

This one was made for a cute friend in our ward who was having a baby shower. I was so happy to have the chance to make this! Inside was chocolate cake with peanut butter cup filling. The outside is marshmallow fondant - the flowers are marshmallow fondant (mmf), too. I love working with that stuff! It tastes quite a bit better than the Wilton fondant and I find it's much easier to work with, too. There were about 25-30 cupcakes to accompany this little cake. Some were chocolate with peanut butter cup icing, and others were margarita/key lime with key lime buttercream icing. The cake got good reviews - I love how happy people look when you walk in with a cute cake for them!

Frog Themed Baby Shower

2008-09-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

This cake was done during the summer for a baby shower with a frog theme. The base layer was chocolate with peanut butter cup filling, and I believe the top layer was white cake with cookies and cream filling. It was one of my many attempts at improving my figure sculpting with fondant - I think the frogs turned out okay (Liam knew what they were, so that made me feel good)

Topsy Turvy 26

2008-09-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

This was done for a relative of my friend, Kari. She's been an awesome relay for customer referrals - and I appreciate swapping cakes for cute haircuts with her!

This was my first attempt at a topsy-turvy layered cake. They're getting to be pretty popular, so I thought I'd better figure them out! This one is covered in marshmallow fondant (homemade) and chocolate fondant (also homemade - and it tastes like tootsie rolls). The cake flavors were chocolate chip vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream filling on the base, chocolate cake with peanut butter cup filling on the middle layer, and a chocolate/vanilla marbled cake with vanilla buttercream on top. Chocolate cakes and pink and brown decorations for about 35 people were my only requirements for this - it was a blast to pull together!

New Cake Blog started!

2008-09-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

So, having recently picked up more cake requests for shower, birthdays, etc., I've decided to create my own blog with just pictures of my sweet creations and descriptions of what each entails.

My thought is that this will keep me motivated to make ever more impressive cakes/sweets, and I'll actually have a simple web-address to send people to when they want to see examples of my work!