Cavel-Nelson Wedding

One of the wonderful young ladies from our church asked me to make a cake that she found in a magazine. i was excited about the challenge. a 5 tiered cake, with beautiful piping work and edible beads and a gorgeously contrasting colored ribbon.

i'm happy to report that overall it was a success... but i also have to admit that i committed one of the WORST mistakes you could ever commit when making a multi-tiered cake.

yep! completely forgot to put dowels in.

yep! the cake started to sink and tilt.

yep! i just about threw up AND had a heart attack when i finished the cake and realized what i had neglected to do. the decision was between destroying the cake to try to salvage it, or leaving it and hoping it would stay stacked and looking decent.

the bottom tier was a dummy cake.






you can already tell it's sinking in this picture. waaagh!





i think the big bow helped to distract from the tilting... a little. :/



just a closer look of the detail.

just as long as i don't end up on cake wrecks, i think all will be well ;)

Imposters!

there wasn't time for a cake, so i made sugar cookies.

this was my first attempt at icing a cookie with royal icing. i'll be trying again cause i wasn't happy with the icing, it never crusted. maybe i was impatient but hopefully someday i'll figure it all out.

4th of July

our middle daughter turned 4 yesterday! :)

she requested a pink cake. more specifically one that looked like the cake that is on the Memory Game cards. :) so that's what she got!



of course since her birthday is on the 4th of July i still needed to have something red, white, and blue!



this was my first time working with stabilized whipped cream (which i have ALWAYS loved to eat but have never made before). just a tub of cool whip, a couple packages of unflavored gelatin and a few tbsp of powdered sugar.

Bubble Gum Pink Tea Set

All of the dark pink parts are bubblegum :)

this was for a sweet little girl's 5th birthday! :)

Graduation 2009

i had a last minute request for a graduation cake for today. the colors needed to be a "not bright" royal blue. my first try came out too navy, i think my second try was just right.



french vanilla and chocolate swirled cake :)


i learned this trick on another website. when you have a large cake to layer (larger than 9x13), cut the top layer in half to make it easier to stack. it really is better than the cake breaking on you or putting it down in the wrong spot and trying to shift it over and the cake breaking on you :)


nice blue hands after rolling blue fondant balls. the most tedious part of any cake.

and the final result. that tassle was a pain in the butt! but it looked real and the only non edible part was the string from the tassle to the top of the cap.

still need to work on my writing. my hands were shaking so bad and my heart was pounding so fast. i was so nervous i would misspell it and end up on cakewrecks ;)

this is my normal swiss meringue buttercream, but i needed it to be white so i used the wilton whitening stuff and it worked nicely. it's not ultra brite white like if you use crisco, but a very natural white. i didn't measure it though. if i had to guess i would say i used about 4 tsp. {so that would be about 1 tsp per batch of smb}. oh and i did use the powdered vanilla instead since i knew i would be adding the white because it's pretty liquidy and i didn't want to comprmise the stability of the icing.

cake notes:

11x15 inch cake

serves 44

4 batches smb (filling and icing)-that's 2 cups egg white, 4 cups sugar, 11 sticks butter.

Pink and Brown Belly Cake

Oh my absolute favorite color combination for the last few years has definitely been pink and brown. i was so excited to have the chance to make a pink and brown belly cake.

too bad i completely forgot to take pictures of it! tragedy, i know.

thankfully the mom-to-be took a couple snapshots... but... it was after the cake had a little accident. somehow the plastic see through part of the box top touched the belly just right and stuck to the fondant and ripped it off. one of these days i will find cake boxes that are tall enough to accomidate taller cakes.

so here's a picture of the cake post c-section {i think they did a decent job moving the dots around to cover up the misshap}

Fishing Groom's Cake

mock-pineapple upside down cake {i used a crushed pineapple, cherry, sugar and molasses filling}


watery blue fondant.

add fondant boat, fishing poles, tackle box, worms, reeds, trees and seaweed. :)

Kipka Wedding (cause i don't know how to spell Jose's last name) :)

bottom tier: chocolate. top two tiers: vanilla.


fresh strawberry filling for the vanilla cakes.


Pecan Praline Buttercream for the chocolate cake {THIS was SUPER good!}


swiss meringue buttercream-ed and ready to be fondant-ed.


Ivory fondant-ed and stacked. {just how did the middle tier end up being taller than the other two?}

fondant pearls added {glued on with my new favorite glue, piping gel}

add ribbons {to match the brides dress} and fondant hearts.

notice there aren't any nifty floral scrolls anywhere. my molds didn't do what i wanted them to do; so, since everything else in the wedding had hearts, we just added a few more.

it's hard to tell in the picture, but the pearls and the hearts had white pearl dust to give them a nice little shimmer.

Pecan Praline Buttercream Icing

oh. my. goodness. this is definitely my new favorite icing. at least until i discover another favorite recipe that is.

here's how to make it {it's actually really simple and super yummy and totally bad for you}


2/3 cup sugar in pot.


Heat sugar over medium heat, stirring frequently. *Do not use a plastic spoon, it will melt, trust me* :)


stir until completely melted and a nice amber color.


stir in 1 cup of chopped pecans. mixture gets stiff but keep stirring and heat until the sugar is hot and bubbly. *Do NOT use a whisk for this part, trust me, use a metal spoon* :)

spread praline pecans on parchment paper. let cool completely.

break pecans into pieces and place in food processor.

process until it resembles brown sugar (slightly moist, but not pastey)

toss in your favorite buttercream recipe and voila, super yummy goodness!

for use as a filling i only added about 1.5 cups of icing to keep the praline flavor strong, but for icing a cake i would probably add about 3 or so cups of icing.

****

my buttercream recipe that yeilds approx 3.5-4cups

1/2 cup egg whites

1 cup sugar

2 sticks + 6tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

follow directions given here. :)

Current Project

Baby Blue Belly Cake

coming soon

baby shower on the 7th and a wedding on the 14th!

this will be my third belly cake, so i'm hoping it will go fairly smoothly.

as for the wedding, the bride has been injured and can't seem to find any relief or time to work on the wedding. i still don't know what flavors she wants... it'll be fine though, i'm just doing my best to avoid getting too anxious. :)

Paper Dress Cupcake Toppers Tutorial

well, since there wasn't any actual cake involved, i posted the tutorial on my regular blog (although i do hope to have a picture of them adorning actual cupcakes later today). so head on over HERE to learn how to make your own!! :)

Tutorials a comin'

Hopefully, I will have a tutorial up at the end of the week for some Bridal Shower Cupcake Toppers!

The TANK Cake

well my plans to paint on the camoflauge designs didn't work. so i used my quick thinking brain (AACK, PANIC!), grabbed some almond bark and used that for the brown squiggles and just piped on the dark moss color and black. i was doing my best to avoid using fondant, so it's not clean cut like i prefer, but it's a cake for a seven year old and he's not complaining :)

The TANK Cake (preview)

I am NOT a guru of all things military, so no, this will not be an exact replica of anything specific, it's just a simple cake that will hopefully resemble a tank of some sort by tomorrow.

here's a sneak peek...

Christmas Carnival Popcorn Cake!

This was for a 2yr old boy birthday. three layer chocolate cake, swiss meringue buttercream icing, Fondant, marshmallows and Fruit by the Foot.

6inch bottom and 2 8inch (cause i don't have a 7inch). cut to shape and SMB iced.


add the white fondant. THIS was the TOUGHEST part. i was a dufus and didn't want to cover the top, i was trying something out and it just wasn't working and it was late and i was tired, so i just put the fondant on in large strips. it sufficed.


messy job, that's for sure. again, i've realized that i have horrible handwriting (with and without a piping bag) so i wised up and used stamps! a little food coloring and vanilla and voila!

This is always the scariest part of the whole process!

made it! safe and sound.

The "popcorn" is mini marshamallows cut and then painted inside. that was definitely the most tedious of all tasks.

tis the season for cake!

see these are the times when i DO wish i had more of a "business" for my cakes; at least someone to bake the cakes and then i could just decorate them. I'm making a popcorn birthday cake for the 6th and an army birthday cake for the 9th and i just got a call for a graduation cake for the 7th, but i had to say no. :( if i had said yes, i would have been dead from exhaustion or from my husband utilizing his black belt skills on my insane self ;) it's just too tough to bake full time AND raise 4 kiddos AND keep a happy home at the same time.

What a Wonderful Mess!

Here are all the sweet little Bakers... see their cute little baker hats they made earlier in their class!


(the three without hats are my kids who happily got to join in on the ELO fun today)

And here's the wonderful mess that we made! they actually did a fairly good job of keeping stuff contained in their own areas. :) and they shared the rolling pins without complaint! great job kiddos!


my goal was to talk a little bit about baking in general, then focus on cakes and decorating tools. then we would have the hands-on stuff. i had also planned on decorating a two-layer 6 inch cake as they were working on their own cupcakes, but it didn't work out that way. but i think they all still had a fun time. they basically iced the cupcakes, rolled out some fondant (single color and then swirled) and cut out shapes to top the cupcakes with. i also demonstrated how to make a quick christmas tree and snowman. they liked those. it was a fun and fast experience!

tomorrow morning i have the honor of teaching a group of 5 & 6 year olds how to decorate a cake/cupcake. hopefully i'll come home with some cute pictures :)

Striped Pregnant Belly Cake

this cake is smaller than the other belly cake. this pregnant torso sits on 1/4 sheet and feeds about 30-40. (the other one was on 1/3 sheet and feeds about 40-50).

I was asked to make a pregnent belly cake to match this plate, so that's what i tried to do. :)

the cake was lemon and white with raspberry filling, swiss meringue buttercream and marshmallow fondant.

Cake Notes

2 boxes lemon cake (plus water, eggs, mayo) yields approx 12.5 cups batter
7 cups batter for 9x13
2 cups batter for mini batter bowl (belly)
1 cup batter for 2 ramekins (chest)
remaining batter for 1 dozen small level cupcakes

1 batch of marshmallow fondant was just enough to cover this belly cake.

14 egg whites
4 cups sugar
11 sticks butter
2 tsp vanilla
equals 13 cups swiss meringue buttercream icing-almost too much for my kitchenaid.
(need verify these amounts sometime, cause my scribbly notes were a little difficult to decipher)
**i used 2 less tbsp butter than the 1-2-3 s.m.buttercream recipe and i liked it a lot better. less butter color and fluffier texture.**

well, the baby shower is in exactly 24 hours... have i even started the cake yet? nope! but my kitchen is clean and ready to go, which is half the battle. i'm off to bake.

finally

october's almost over, which means my super busy month is too! i've got another belly cake to make for nov 8th and in the distant future (april) a wedding cake. as i was speaking to the bride-to-be she mentioned the ballerina cupcakes and it instantly hit me how absolutely wonderful it would be to have those cupcakes topped with white wedding dresses for a bridal shower! she loved the idea too! i love weddings!

my son's birthday is fast approaching and he wants an army/soldier, so i need to come up with something camoflauge that preferrably does not look like a pile of green and brown "you know what". :/

Sprinkle Fun

directions:

• pull out one 6" layer of chocolate cake from freezer (previsouly baked from leftover batter from another cake)
• purchase one can of chocolate fudge frosting with confetti sprinkles.
• spread and smooth frosting.
• go to town with the sprinkles
• enjoy your kids smiling faces :) :) :) :)

Calla Lily Cake & How To Make Calla Lilies

This cake was for a surprise birthday party for a mother of eight! Her husband wanted something encouraging. he wanted to convey the idea of peacefulness, stillness and rest (something which is a little more difficult for a mother of eight to find). as i set out to start the cake, i was on day two of a four day long headache. i had trouble envisioning how to produce what he had put on paper. well this is what came out of it (which looked nothing like what he drawn on the computer-which was more of an actual outdoorsy scene of a green pasture and a river of water-but i think it got the point across).

Here's a quick lesson on how to make the little calla lilies.

1. cut out white fondant hearts. roll yellow pea size fondant balls into a "stamen" shape.

2. place the "stamen" on the heart (place a dab of water to help "glue" them together). fold one round edge of the heart over the stamen, then the other. squeeze and roll the bottom to form a stem extension of the flower.

3. cut out green fondant leaves. (i used the middle size of the basic three sized leaf cutters sold at craft stores) pinch off the white extension, leaving a small stump.

4. dab some water on the leaf to glue the flower, then fold the leaf over the stump.

5. squeez and roll the leaf to form the final stem. bend back the lily petal and leaf and lay on parchment paper to dry.

i discovered today that i am TERRIFIED of piping letters. I'm just not good at it at all! by the time the cake is at the point that the lettering needs to be done, i'm tired and usually a little shaky (cause i usually skip a meal when making a cake... i just get so involved, i forget) anyways. i kept practicing and just couldn't get it right. so i shortened the verse and left out the "happy birthday" and just did it in rolled fondant. then i brushed on gold pearl dust.

afterwards i set it on the side of the cake pan to dry so that it would have the correct curve when it was time to apply it to the actual cake.

psst!

i should have a new cake up in a few days... sorry it's been awhile, but when they're aren't any cakes, there just aren't any cakes. if you need something to keep you going visit the cakewrecks blog on the left, it's oh so funny and awful all at the same time ;)

"Welcome Babies" pregnant belly cake

Cake Tip: within the first few minutes of pulling your cake out of the oven, grab a tea towel and press down on the cake. the tea towel is to keep you from scolding your hand with the hot steam you'll be pushing out. don't stay too long in one spot so that the cake doesn't stick to the towel. press and move your hand, press and move, press and move. as you press down it will help to even out the mound that forms while baking. this will also help the cake be more dense and easier to work with when torting, moving or shaping.




another half-tip, don't flip your cake over on a cooling rack without parchment paper and leave it there while you leave the house... you'll end up with a grid on your cake... eh, it'll be covered at least. ;)


Fondant Flowers


Fondant Bow... this was my second attempt.


crumb coat the cake then place in fridge. (this keeps the crumbs from getting into the pretty icing)


spread on the "pretty" SMB... looks like a big'ol slab of butter to me! trim with fondant "pearls".


using the cakes as a guide, cut out the cake board for the body cake.


(not shown in picture) before the crumb coat and icing, cut the cakes, little bits at a time, to round out the bowl edges from baking.


should i be censoring these pictures? i mean really.


lay on the rolled out fondant and cut out desired dress shape.


now, how do i get THAT on top of THIS?!?! very carefully!


add "accessories" and here's the final cake!

Longview Mothers League Cakes: Cupcake Bouquets

Here's how i made them...

paint the pot.


add the bow.


put in the styrofoam ball.


make 9 dozen mini cupcakes.


stick a toothpick in


place on styrofoam ball, push toothpick in to "adhere" cupcake.

this was just my practice bouquet... for now the cupcakes are in the freezer. I plan to stick them on and then decorate them just before the luncheon. most websites say to decorate the cupcakes and then place them on the toothpicks that are already inserted in the styrofoam ball, but i found that the paper liner wasn't stiff enough to be poked through. it might be different when the cupcakes are cold, but i can also imagine spending time decorating the cupcakes and then either dropping them or messing up the icing while trying to get them on the toothpicks. so, in my opinion, adding a little icing once the cupcakes are stuck on, will be much easier. we'll see.


add swiss meringue buttercream.


Place in freezer for a few minutes to harden icing (this will allow for minimal damage when adding the leaves)


add a squirt.


push in silk leaves with a dowel.


voila!



store in fridge. for mini-cupcakes, let sit at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving for the best icing texture.

***Things i'll do differently next time***

• use a bigger fridge :)


• use a different icing tip (these are not the "flowers" i was intending)


• use chocolate cake mix, especially since the cake part is still visible and the colors were pink and brown, the brown/chocolate would have worked well.


• use floral pins (the kind with the bead at the end) for the leaves... i'm worried the leaves will decide to fall off sometime during lunch tomorrow since i didn't use royal icing. we'll see and i'll learn from it! :)


• make sure i have enough silk leaves... two bouquets will have to be tissue paper, and i'll have to wait until the last minute so that the icing doesn't make the tissue paper too greasy (plus it would get wilty in the fridge)

M5 Ballet Cake

The Invitations and Party Favor bags had an "M" (for Micah) and "5" stamped on them so in keeping with the theme, i had a gumpaste "M" and "5" on the cake as well. This was a 4 layer torted chocolate cake with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream icing. i had intended to video a lot of the process, but time did not afford me that luxury. sorry folks, next cake i promise!

the cupcake toppers were made to match the ballerina's on the invitations. that tutorial is found here.

Bloggers, meet gumpaste. Gumpaste, meet bloggers.

This is gumpaste. Her qualities include a moldable personality and a quick drying dispostition. she and i are merely aquaintances, but i hope to someday be good friends. But as with any relationship, there must be a time of adjustment, exploration, some slight frustration, but hopefully in the end a lifelong meeting of souls. enough of that.

i made the mistake of rolling out the gumpaste too thick which made it more difficult to work with AND made more cracks appear as i was trying to shape the two template pieces into a ballet slipper. so next time, no fudging on the 1/16 of an inch thickness.

the nice thing is that itty bitty flowers like this will hold their shape rather quickly. the bad side is that you of course have to work fast and might get rather frustrated everytime the phone rings or a child needs you to do ... well, anything.


i've seen names and numbers "written" out of rolled gumpaste and wanted to give it a try. probably next time i'll roll it just a little bit thinner, the very thick "5" is already hard enough to keeps it's shape (after just a few hours)


these will be decorations for either mini-cakes or cupcakes for a bridal shower, i can't seem to decide. cupcakes are much much faster so i might just end up doing that. we'll see.

save the link

i'm linking to this frosting post on cupcakes take the cake cause i want to be able to remember these recipes... mmm ,they sound yummy!

Cakes to come...

1. August 11: Ballerina Birthday

2. August 14: Bridal Shower

3. August 23: LML Membership Brunch

4. August 24: Baby Shower

my personal favorite

in honor of all weddings this summer, here's a picture of my all time favorite wedding cake... my own!!! (taken July 1, 2000) :)

the calm after the storm

well, no exciting cake news. my door hasn't been knocked down with a gazillion wedding cake orders. :) not that i necessarily want that.. i do have a day job... four infact! :) my next big project will be for my eldest daughter's birthday party, which won't be until the 11th of august. she has specifically asked for this cake but with ballet slippers on top. well, i guess now's as good a time as any to learn to make "real" looking things out of gumpaste or whatever i'll be using. i'm not a sculpter so i'm sure lots of practice will do me plenty of good. later!

tossing around the idea

somewhere in the back of my brain i've had this thought come and go. i've been thinking about having a half-day cake class/tutorial/hands-on-seminar. seminar seems toooo big a word, but you get the idea. we'd go from start to finish on a cake or two, or maybe a cake and some cupcakes, or something along those lines. **disclaimer... this is NOT a wilton class. i'd be teaching from what i've learned through experience, and those who have different or better experience are welcome to offer advice, but i don't want to be compared to wilton techniques.** enough of that. so just to get an idea, is that even something any of you (i think it might only be like four readers and you might not even be here in east texas) :) might be interested in? get together, bake a cake, play with different decorating ideas and techniques, and all that jazz. and of course the best part, eating it! even if it was just a couple of folks, i'd love the extra practice for myself. i dunno, we'll see what happens... september is a slow month for me, so maybe sometime then.

wedding cake day 4: The finale

stack em up...

...add ribbon, dots, roses, topper and voila!




it was a joy to make this cake for the bride and groom!

wedding cake day 3: fill and ice

covering cake board


yummy strawberry jam


always the scary part, putting the top layer on.


ice. smooth. scrape. ice. smooth. smoooth. smooooooth.


into the fridge-ya-later! (wish my fridge was this deep and wide) ;)

wedding cake day 2: baking

parchment paper... better than ... umm anything! :)


golden delicious


perfectly plopped out :)


hurry up and cool already!


stacked sneak preview... off to the fridge, you cakes, you!

wedding cake day 1: Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:


1. Egg whites (8oz)


2. Sugar (16oz)


3. Butter (unsalted, 24oz)

Directions:

1. add a dash of salt to egg whites. beat for 30 seconds. place over a double broiler. pasteurize egg whites adding sugar 1/2 cup at a time. gently whip with whisk until the egg whites no longer feel grainy when rubbed between fingertips.


2. use whisk attachment and whip on medium high until the bowl is cool to the touch (approx 5+ minutes)


3. Cut up cold but not hard butter and slowly add to meringue.


4. using paddle attachment, mix butter into meringue on medium high. the icing might go through a couple of strange stages (i.e. soupy and/or curdled) but keep mixing until you hear the "slapping" sound. that is when your buttercream is ready.


5. add vanilla (i use 2 tsp) and any needed coloring (make sure it's gel/paste). beat for another minute. ta da! smooth, silky, not too sweet, Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing! :)

just wondering

what do you get when you mix 4 boxes of lemon cake mix, 5 boxes of white cake mix, 1 jar of raspberry jam, 1 jar of strawberry jam, 48 eggs, 14 sticks of butter, 4.5 cups of sugar, and 3 cups of mayonnaise?

Survivor Cake

A survivor themed cake for a friends surprise birthday party.

• chocolate and pineapple cake,
• rum flavored swiss meringue butter cream
• tootsie roll, graham cracker, fruit rollup, pringles stix, pirouettes, chocolate rock candy, jello, yogos, and pearl dust decorations :)

Cake Math :)

What do you get when you mix


plus

plus

plus

plus

plus

plus

plus

plus


Hopefully something that looks and tastes good!

Blue-n-Brown Diaper Bag

• Chocolate and BLueberry Cake covered in MMF
• Bottle, rattle, and pacifier are real.

Video Tutorial: Bubblegum Roses

A Bushel of Roses

• For my 3rd Daughter's 1st birthday
• Strawberry and Chocolate Swirled Cake covered in MMF and Tootsie Roll & Bubblegum Roses.

Tea Party

• For a friend's daughter's 5th birthday.
• White cake covered in MMF, Bubblegum handles & roses, and tootsie roll "tea".

Longview Mothers League

• For our local mothers league meeting.
• Lemon with raspberry filling; Swiss Meringue buttercream; Chocolate transfer

City Skyline

• For a Friend's Son's 5th birthday
• 2 layer 9inch round cake, swiss meringue buttercream & royal icing
• Candy Bar Buildings & mini-hotwheels

Pagoda

• For my Husband's Black Belt Ceremony
• chocolate, white, and carrot cake on bottom; top half is a dummy cake
• Swiss Meringue Buttercream, Gumpaste Roof, Chocolate Transfer Windows and accents.