Advent Cake

I made this mostly buttercream cake for an Advent social I attended. I wanted something not "Christmasey" but not "generic holiday" and this is what I decided on. I used "REJOICE" since it's commonly heard in the song "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and is what the whole season of Advent is about...rejoicing as we await the coming of the Savior. So I also included text around the sides of the cake, "Hope. Joy. Love. Fiat (Your will be done)."

I was surprised how well I was able to pipe...given piping isn't my thing, but I think it has much more to do with a good consistency of icing. Which I actually managed to achieve by adding a bit of corn syrup to the all shortening buttercream. I'm really pleased that this little trick did wonders for my piping! Woo hoo!

The stars and dove are made from fondant. It's a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. Nothing fancy just a little cake for a very blessed night with the ladies. It was fun! I have lots leftover again...funny how even when I make it teeny it is still too much! LOL!

Advent Blessings!

Choo-Choo my son is two!

Happy Birthday to my little man! I cannot believe it has been two years this week!!!! He was born on the first Sunday of Advent so we are celebrating tomorrow...even though his birthday is not until Wednesday.

I made him this "Choo-choo" cake. He, as all little boys do; loves trains, planes and helicopters.

This cake was made all in one day so the fondant was a bit rough to work with hence a little bit of trouble here and there. I am overall happy with it although if it was for someone else I would have piped little royal icing dots over all the "seams" and hidden some of the fondant flaws. Given the holiday weekend...all of the shopping and having family in town...that didn't happen. Sooo I'm leaving him (the train) as is and remembering that my beloved 2 year old son will love his cake even with all its little flaws!

Advent Blessings!

Sugar and Spice Cake

This cake was for a baby shower I helped plan for a friend having her first girl. We did a "Sugar and Spice...that's what little girls are made of" theme. The colors were pink and green.




I had originally promised to make this cake simple and then I decided to change my mind. Hehe. WELL...in the midst of attempting a feat beyond my skill...I went back to the original plan for something simple. Soooo I ended up with an entire 6 inch 4 layer cake in my fridge because I ended up not using it atop my 8 inch cake. Long story short...keep it simple silly. :P It was for the best since about 5 people (for one reason or another) ended up canceling. So there was cake leftover even having an 8 inch. Good thing I changed my mind AGAIN! I also made gingerbread girl cookies for the favors which you can see here in this picture...a little bit...lol!



I did a chocolate/vanilla layered cake torted and filled with buttercream. In the center layer I added mini chocolate chips. It was covered and decorated with buttercream and marshmallow fondant decorations. I love the colors! I ended up changing my design a few times but in the end I was happy with it. I had some trouble with the buttercream...grrrrr. But I'm still learning!

Blessings!

Monkey/Ducky/Clothesline cake

This photo is not fan-tab-ulous, but I couldn't find my camera and my hubby took it with his cell phone. Oh well. I told you in the beginning I'm not a photographer...still working on that.

This was a baby shower cake for my sister-in-law who is pregnant with my first niece!!!! She and her husband love monkeys and ducks (their bathroom is decorated in this theme) and the party theme was based around baby clothes on a clothesline so I incorporated all of it into this cake.

The top tier is white cake with white chocolate buttercream. The bottom tier is yellow cake with eggless chocolate chip cookie dough buttercream (say that five times fast). Both tiers are covered in marshmallow fondant with fondant decorations. The clothesline is a sour candy string I rinsed and attached between pieces of fondant "wood". I piped the clothespins and handpainted the baby blanket. It was lots of work! BUT also lots of FUN! :)



Blessings!

Ladybug Cake

I made this cake for a friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party. She bought supplies and came over to help me put it all together. It was a lot of fun working on a project with "support staff" so to speak. I enjoy talking about cake decorating so I explained how I do things when I make cakes and she and I had a blast! Her daughter loves sunflowers so we incorporated that into the design.



I made cupcakes for the kids and we worked together to make ladybugs, flowers and leaves ahead of time. There is one little pink ladybug to represent her daughter and all the others are red. I was so worried there wouldn't be enought sunflower petals so I continued making them until all of my yellow fondant was gone!





I made the big ladybug out of krispie treats and stuck a lollipop stick into her head to help hold it higher and secure it.



The cake is chocolate/vanilla layers with buttercream filling/crumbcoat and marshmallow fondant. All of the decorations(excepting the krispie treat ladybug) are fondant.

Here's the view from above:


I had a lot of fun with this cake! I hope you enjoy it too!

Blessings!

A question for you!

Okay. I have some projects lined up and two of them are falling pretty close together. I have to work with limited time due to the kids and often need several days to make all the fondant and buttercream before I even start baking the cake and putting it all together.

I have a quick question. Those of you who have traveled with kids know you have to take everything but the kitchen sink with you. My daughter's food needs often involve packing extra items as well. Meaning...limited car space.

In this situation, where you had a cake to make for a locale that is hours away. Do you:
A) Bring some supplies, have nothing made (well maybe the icings premade) and work with what your friend has when you get there...doing the whole cake (baking, icing, covering, stacking, decorating) in one day and one night.
B) Make the whole cake ahead of time, cover it in fondant, decorate what you can (and finish decorations/stacking at locale) and balance it on your lap in a cake box the whole drive (keeping in mind this would put the cake done a day and a half early and make for no hand freedom to check on the kids during the drive).
C) Bake the cakes, make the icings and just bring them and supplies with you to the location where you fill, ice, stack and decorate.

Honestly...I have NO idea which would be best...I keep rolling it all around in my head. The last time I did this, made a cake for an event out of town, I did it all ahead of time but drove to the event (only an hour away) right after finishing the cake. I'm a little scared. My hubby thinks I should do it all there. But with the kids, their needs, the time constraints/locale constraints...it just concerns me to wait and do it all at once. Not to mention packing cake pans, cake divider, plus icings (premade) and all my fondant working supplies.

Any thoughts??? Hmmm? I don't have the luxury of an empty backseat or trunk to stick a no slip mat or anything cool like that...the one car with a full backseat and trunk. Doesn't leave much room for...well...much.

Please share any ideas! I'd REALLY appreciate it!

Blessings!

Birthday Dragon

I made this cake to enter in the Creative Cakes Competition. I'm hoping to win something! :)

Either way I had fun learning to carve freehand!! I carved all of this from a cake I had frozen that I didn't use for my "Wedding Birthday Cake". I carved the halved egg, whole egg, and dragon's torso from it and used mini cupcakes to make his neck which I glued onto his torso with buttercream. It was easier than I expected!! I have always been a little scared to lunge at cake with a knife, but it is not as scary as I thought and produced some great results!



The cake was a layer of vanilla and a layer of chocolate with buttercream and decorated entirely in marshmallow fondant and buttercream foliage. The toadstools are mini cupcakes stuck together.

I freehand sculpted his head (UGH this is can be so frustrating!) and made a party hat out of fondant too. I stuck his head in with a toothpick. Maybe not so sturdy in the long run, but for a quick pic and a cake that's going to be cut apart minutes later...it didn't matter much. lol.



He has a tail which you can't see in the first pic! I wish I could get a great pic and show everything, but alas it is not always possible!!!!


Hope you like it!!!!

Blessings!