BEACH!!!!!!!

I've actually never been one to jump at going to the beach. Never. Probably b/c I've always hated the ritual of bathing suit buying and wearing. I mean no one needs to view the parts of my body that I generally work hard at hiding...seriously. BUT we take a family vacation every year over Memorial Weekend to a beach resort and this year I figured...eh...let's make a CAKE! This made the whole beachy thing much more fun for me. :)

That and, well, I have kids. So I'm bound (of course) to end up in a swimsuit, chasing them around and sitting in sand, while the whole time trying desperately to ignore the fact that everyone can see my legs. Oh well.

Here's the cake I made:


The photo is not so hot, but I'm lucky to have one at all so...thanks DAD! And I did preface this whole blogging experience with the words "I stink at photography"...or something to that effect. So get used to it! :)

The cake was the smallest I've made (all I have are huge 10 inch rounds...well I do have an 8 inch heart shaped one...but how often do you have an excuse to make a heart shaped cake??). I used my mom's pans and we worked together to bake it. It's vanilla with vanilla buttercream. Covered in Marshmallow Fondant with white chocolate shells and food coloring painted onto the side of the cake. I used a mix of brown sugar and turbinado sugar for the sand. It was thrown together pretty last minute and was the fastest I've ever decorated a cake...phew. Pretty neat effect considering I had none of my tools and used whatever I could find in mom's kitchen! Thanks mom!

All in all (in spite of the heat) the cake was a success! I was touched by the sweet comments my friends at the beach made about this cake. I seriously almost cried when a few of them told me it was the best cake they'd ever eaten. Maybe I would have been more proud if it had been my recipe...lol.

Well thanks for looking!

Blessings and Happy Feast of Pentecost!

Virus...urrrrgh.

I think I've got some kind of a virus in my computer now. Ever since I accidentally clicked something while trying to click something else...all very innocent yet resulting in catastrophe.

Now I can't go to the blogs I'm following easily...sooooo irritating. Every time I click on the dashboard and click on the link it takes me to some generic search site. ACK!!!!!!!!!

Okay so pray I get this figured out b/c I'm really much too lazy to type all of your blogs into my computer every day. I'd like to keep up with it all, but I'm finding this speedbump to be like a mosquito I just can't smack.

Blessings from virus land.

My very own cake wreck story...

Sorry no picture! I mean...I have pictures...but it's more a pic of what it looked like before it was wrecked and what it looked like after I fixed the wreckage.

So I mentioned before that I was making...or rather made this Gators Gradution cake for my brother who graduated law school from UF. Well it was lovely! I was so pleased to have achieved the effect I wanted and it was a success (I mean some minor flaws/stripe spacing issues with my fondant but nothing the average non baker/decorator would notice).

So here it is before the...uh...incident:



It is a little unfinished as I was waiting to do the gator eyes/border until the day of the event. HOWEVER I loved how clean the white mint fondant looks. Yes folk, mint fondant...you read right. MINT. I did some fancy schmancy stuff with this cake for my little brother. It was a chocolate mud cake with a chocolate mint cookie fudge filling (say that five times fast) and covered in buttercream then mint fondant. The top layer was the same but with a buttercream filling. Mmmmmm. It was yummy! I did a little plaque out of fondant that said 2009 and a banner with his name and his new title across the top layer. Everything is made from fondant with a bit of royal icing and a buttercream border which you'll see in the second pic.

Sooo I had the cake like in the above pic all ready to go and had even done the eyes and added a few last minute touches when...KABLAMO...my son sticks his 5 fingers (maybe somehow 7 fingers) into the side of the cake and CRACK there is this gaping gash in my poor Gators Graduation Cake. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Nightmare.

I didn't have time to remake the cake as we were driving to the graduation that morning and I was planning on finishing the border upon arrival. We had to leave the cake at my brother's apartment so it wouldn't sit out in the heat of the car during the graduation. So I cried. And then cried some more. And then I sucked it up...resisted the urge to punish my son for my mistake (I left the cake too close to the edge of the table); and fixed it.

After I fixed it (the gash and the other pokes which I'm assuming he did after jabbing it), it looked like this:




I made a fondant "drape" and fondant "ribbons" in blue/orange fondant that (THANK THE GOOD LORD) I had leftover. I also redid a few stripes to hide some other pushed areas and added some bubbles/water from the gator down the drape to make it appear to have been intended. Hehe. Sooo I'm not a professional and I'm by no means recommending anyone does this if they are selling a cake. I only did it b/c it was for my brother and family and friends. They don't care. I told them...they still devoured it.

All in all I think I managed to fix the wreckiness...lol. I preferred the clean white look of the first pic, but I'm just glad I was able to salvage it after the...dunn dun dun...incident.

Blessings!

Desert Island Baking

Okay. So in general some things about cake decorating come easy to me...others...not so much. BUT I realized yesterday, as I tried to pipe some text without a piping tip and without some REAL stuff to use as tools, that this type of decorating (sans tools) is NOT A GOOD TIME. SIGH. So back to the drawing board. I'm just going to have to go out and buy what I need because I can't write with those store bought icing writers or gel writers...too melty...icky .

I am spoiled. Truly I am. Just ask anyone.

Okay, I'm ending this here I've got to go make a cake!

Blessings!

Love for Bakerella

So although I don't have the pics to post a full story about my Gators Law Graduation Cake, I wanted to throw some love Bakerella's way because her Graduation Candy Caps made my cake successful! Here's a close-up of the gator modeling his candy cap:



And here's a pic of him chowing down on some Gator Head...lol!



Thanks Bakerella!!!

Blessings,
Cakedreamer

Seminole Blues

I recently made a cake for my brother's law school graduation. (YAY for the lil' bro!) It turned out great! I've got to find time to collect my pics as I have a Cake Wreck/horror story to tell about it. Sooo you'll have to be patient until I can get back home to get my before shots of the cake.

In the meantime I was thinking of doing a Seminoles dummy cake for my brother-in-law's birthday. He chooses not to eat the sweet stuff but I thought he still deserves all the bells and whistles...soooo...why not! BUT in my searches of google images...the main things that pop up when you search for FSU cake are pics of half naked coeds dancing around in low cut tops and lingerie. ACK. I was not pleased. And the majority of the cakes I saw online and on Cake Central were of Chief Osceola's head. I'm thinking I'll have to be inspired by the colors of Garnet and Gold alone as the pics online don't look promising. Oh well. I'm just venting as this whole naked FSU Coed thing irritated me. As an alum myself I would hope the Seminole chicks could represent a little more of a dignified image...I mean I didn't see this much skin when I was searching and researching Gator cakes. Sheesh. Come on ladies...find your clothes!

Okay...end vent.

Blessings,
Cakedreamer

OH Baby...Shower.

As I mentioned before these are my "catch-up" posts and I'm excited to tell you that this is the LAST ONE! Which means I need to get working on some new ideas!

I was blessed to have the opportunity to make a cake for a friend's baby shower. The lovely little Maria was already born when this shower was thrown, so I steered away from the pregnancy theme and chose to work with the invitation colors which were pink and brown.

I made these little baby shoes out of fondant to be a little topper for the cake. The funny story that goes along with this is that I...ummm...well...attempted to make them as traditional white baby booties based on something I saw using a cutter on sugarcraft's website here: http://sugaredblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-baby-booties.html

BUT that was a disaster as I don't have the cutter she used and I let all my pieces dry instead of, oh I don't know...following directions! Sooooo they were a little cracked. I opted to cover the hardened cracked shell of a shoe with some pink fondant and to detail it with stitching and a little heart. Not too shabby compared to what they looked like originally. I should've taken a picture. It's probably better I didn't. They were a little scary before I covered them. Here they are all pretty in pink...



The most exciting part of this cake was that it was the first time I didn't actually volunteer for the event. A friend throwing the shower asked if I would make the cake! This was a neat first for me! :)

Also some other firsts: First time making chocolate fondant, first time doing fondant polka dots, and first time making ribbon roses. YAY! Here it is in the BOX! Very fun to buy a cake box and put it all together as though I'm a professional or something. Maybe someday (after some training or lots and lots more practice).



And here it is set up at the party:



The only thing I would change is the uncurved edge featured in the photo...it looks pointy to me, I was going for curvy not pointy. Oh well.

Everything is made of fondant except the little ribbon on top of the baby shoes.
The cake was vanilla cake (don't ask about the botched new recipe I tried before sticking to my favorite one) with buttercream filling and all fondant decorations.

Blessings!

Easter Sweets...LOTS of them!

Okay. So I know Easter Sunday has come and gone. But I'm a pretty traditional Catholic girl and it is technically still the Easter Season sooo although I'm late I'm not overshooting by posting this now...right?!?!? So here it goes.

These cupcakes show some of my firsts...first piping buttercream text without a guide, first fondant flowers, first fondant covered cupcakes. I'm ever amazed at how much better my cupcakes look when I just use a piping bag and a star tip to decorate them. It's seriously the best cupcake secret ever! Shhhh. However I realized I again forgot to rewhip my refrigerated icing...oops. So the icing looks...how shall I put it, dilapidated? Next time I shall not make this mistake. I hope.



Did I mention my daughter has food allergies? Oh yeah...I already did that...well because of those pesky allergies we have a difficult time finding yummy treats for Easter. Soooo I made some! :)

These are krispie treats shaped like eggs and decorated with (a little too neon) fondant. Now I've learned it really does only take a teeny bit of icing color to get the desired effect. Oops. Hehe. At least they are fun! My kiddos LOVE to eat the marshmallow fondant so hence the fondant decorations. I know that this is a huge no-no in some cake decorating circles...ahem. But I needed an option for my daughter and this was perfect! She loved them and they were all gone before Easter Week ended. Now she just snags whatever bits of fondant she can get out of my hands. She's a fondant lover. I guess that's what happens when you can't have chocolate on Easter. I still prefer straight chocolate (dark chocolate if possible) over fondant. But that's me. :)


As if I wasn't busy enough I also did an Easter Cake. What better excuse to make cake? It's 1) the celebration of the greatest event in Christian History, 2) the time when I get to eat cake or sweets again, and 3)an opportunity to practice cake decorating. I couldn't resist!

This first photo is of the fondant flowers I worked and worked on for days. The second is of the 3 layer heart-shaped, crumb-coated cake. I did two layers of yellow cake with a chocolate layer sandwiched between them. Buttercream, buttercream galore! I did, however, use boxed cake mixes this time. Well, as you can see from the above pics, I was busy. I have to state that I really prefer scratch cake. It generally has never failed me in the taste department where as this was, eh...so so.




I thought the crumb coated heart cake was so amazing! I've never made a cake this TALL. LOL.



Next I made my mmf (marshmallow fondant)and covered the cake with a little pinching and imperfection action here and there. I covered some of the imperfections with flowers (yay for hiding mistakes!) and allowed myself to be imperfect. Perfectionism is my vice and for once I had to let it go. After all I'm an amateur and this was my...4th? Yes. My 4th attempt with fondant. It was my first attempt at a shaped cake, so I'm supposing it's not bad...considering.



I made the cross from krispie treat (yes I watch too many cake T.V. shows...or I did when we had cable) and covered it in marbled brown fondant. I made it in 3 pieces and used toothpicks to hold it together. I think next time a gumpaste one would be nice. That way it could stand straight up and not sink into the cake. I could've been ingenius and used hidden pillars, but I was too lazy for that. I propped it up with balls of white fondant (also lazy) but I achieved the effect I wanted and it was just for us at home, so nobody cares. :) Unless you do. Please let me know.



I piped a little buttercream dot border and discovered the bigger the tip the easier it is to pipe a larger dot...duh. My hand hurt after about 10 size 3 tip dots and then I realized...oh maybe I should use a bigger tip. YES. That's the trick. MUCH, much easier with a larger tip.

All in all it has been a GREAT EASTER! Yay for seasonal caking. Happy almost Pentecost.

Blessings!

Castle Cake and Sleeping Beauty Cake

I know this is LONG overdue. I do have a good excuse. Really. What? You don't believe me?!?! Seriously. I have had about (how long has it been??) two and a half months worth of illness circulating through my household. Stomach bugs, allergies, colds and runny noses have been in full effect. Luckily it seems to have ended. Finally. So I'm back! And, the sad part is, I've been caking it like crazy without ANY time to blog. So this is going to be a lot of "past cake" action again. I'm attempting to catch it all up by the end of the week...so please be patient. :)

Castle Cake! My dear little princess of a 3 year old requested a Cinderella's Castle Cake for her 3rd birthday. I was slightly overwhelmed by the enormity (is this a word...I'm using it anyway) of this project. After mulling over whether or not to make a cake that is decorated to look like a big castle (which involves a lot of stacking of cakes...something I know nothing about yet) or to make a smaller castle topper...I opted for the latter. See, I'm not good at constructing much of anything...I would've failed out of architecture or engineering...so I'm pretty frightened of complex cake construction...at least until I can take a class and have someone with lots 'o' experience show me the light that is stacked cakin' it. Until then...topper it is!



I made the "topper" (it was pretty big for a topper) out of krispie treat and fondant based on an idea I saw by Krazy Kake Bakers on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26449841@N03/2641902525/

I think their cake is AMAZING. Mine turned out the way I wanted it to, but was...ahem...difficult to stabilize...back to the whole difficulty with "construction" thing. I stuck dowels through it in spots and jerry rigged it to work the way I wanted by pasting extra fondant on the back. For a first attempt it went pretty well, but next time I think I will think more about the inner workings of building it before diving into assembly. I propped it up using some non-edible items wrapped in plastic wrap since the cake I made was allergen free (my daughter is allergic to about 7 or 8 random things of which 3 are essential to a sturdy cake). It has fondant decorations and the "dairy free, egg free, wheat free cake" is covered in some mangled fondant. :P I mangled it by forgetting to rewhip my refrigerated, dairy free buttercream. After going back and forth with a friend who is trained in baking I realized much later on (D'oh) that this was most likely what botched my second fondant covering attempt. I also got the idea for my bushes and little trees from a post on Cake Wrecks for a Sunday Sweets segment seen here:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunday-sweets-cutey-patootey-dragon.html
If you scroll down the to princess/knight and dragon cake you will see where I got the "poke the bush with a paintbrush end" idea. Which, by the way, is brilliant and SUPER DUPER easy!



Luckily my 3rd attempt with fondant was a success! See below...


The photo isn't great as it was 1am when I took it and I didn't think to take one before I covered it in the cake container my sweet mother-in-law brought me to wash and reuse. I also didn't get a pic of the cupcakes before they were devoured. I've been BEGGING my relatives to send me better pics, but alas to no avail. So here's my plea again: PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Send them to me Puh-leeeeeeeeeeze! Okay. I'm done.

I made 2 cakes and cupcakes for my daughter's party as I figured not everyone likes allergen friendly cardboard tasting cakes . Well actually it is that my husband is a cake aficionado and would have thrown a fit (well maybe not) if there wasn't real EDIBLE cake...hehe. So I did this Sleeping Beauty Cake. I say Sleeping Beauty Cake because that's where the quote is from. After the time spent doing the castle I was not in any mood to sculpt anything complex and I sort of threw this together last minute since I didn't feel like waiting for 24 cupcakes to bake (I only have one cupcake pan). I torted a one layer cake piece in half and filled in with buttercream. I made my own fondant for both of these projects (marshmallow fondant that I colored myself). I got the recipe off of a site a fellow amateur cake artist sent me...thanks Moni!

I was super happy with the results thanks to using a bunch of kickin' supplies that my husband's aunt sent to me for NOTHING. I was so excited to have all this neat fun stuff for fondant working that I just dove in and had a good time. :) Aunt T. you ROCK!


So if I happen to come across cupcake pictures I'll post them. The little cupcake toppers were made from fondant and royal icing and included swords, shields, frogs, hearts, and tiaras/crowns. They were adorable! I wish I had pics...:(

'Til my next "catch-up" blog!

Blessings!