Barbie Cake

Here is a picture of the cake made for my youngest daughter, and a shot of her with her pink cake batter.

She requested the colors pink, green and purple for her dress- which came off ok. The edges were painted with gold luster dust and the whole thing sprayed in shimmer dust- which I am totally addicted to. Not the best cake ever made by me, but it made my daughter squeal with delight, and that's all that matters.

If you've never made a fondant cake before, I suggest trying one of these. They are so easy!

You'll need a stainless steel bowel for the dress, along with at least 1 layer of 8" cake (you'll flip the bowl upside down and stack it onto the 8")

Let it cool, fill it, and then stick your new barbie in (hint- pin hair up using straight pins) Make sure to wrap her up tight in saran before inserting her.
Ice, then roll fondant really thin. Lay the fondant around the sides, making sure your seam is in the back. To make the top part of her dress simply wet her slightly, and cover in fondant- seam in the back. Decorate to your hearts desire!

Birthday week over!

Thank goodness we made it through birthday week here at my house. It always hits us like a wrecking ball-right after Christmas.

We don't always do parties, but this year I caved into mommy guilt and did parties for both of the girls. We had fun with a spa party for my oldest daughter and a tea party for my youngest.
My youngest daughter has never had a party so she was super excited this year. She even helped me bake her cake while Daddy took all the other kids rock climbing. She had a few requests for her cake. She wanted it pink (the actual cake) and barbie. Mommy was breathing a sign of relief as Barbie cakes aren't super hard to make. We just added food coloring to my standard white cake, and viola'! A happy 4 yr old!

Her flavor was "princess" which is actually a well know cake flavor consisting of raspberry and custard layer filling in a white cake.

Now that parties are over, and the cakes are gone, we can move on in our house.!

Spa Tote Cake

Today we celebrate my precious daughter's birthday. I've realized that although birthday's are fun for kids, they are amazing times for us parents' to reflex on that child's birth, their life so far, and the amazing way that we have been blessed. Much more rewarding then my own birthday for sure!

The big party is tomorrow, so I have been super busy with all the hustle and bustle.

I decided to go with a Spa bag for her cake, which fits our theme great.

This is 4 tiers of round cake. The ends are cut off on 2 sides and shaped slightly, leaving rounded edges. The top was cut to fit the cake out of fondant, then the sides were put on in 2 separate pieces, leaving seams on both sides for the seams of the bag. Stripes were put on, a sewing tool was used to create stitches on the strips and all the seams.

Inside the bad lay an eyemask to match the polka dots ones we have for the girls, a towel, and a slipper. Because I wanted to only use these colors, the things inside the bag faded instead of standing out. I wish I would have colored the fondant "inside" (aka the top) a dark color and make the strap green. Had this been for someone else I would have changed it, but it's only for us.

I love the way this turned out in person and wish I had been able to capture it better on camera!

Snowflake cake

Brrr... It's cold outside!

Here in KS God has answered my prayer for snow- and with that comes snow days. Having 4 kids in the house 24/7 can get crazy on these snow days, especially when they have already been home for a few weeks for Christmas break.

I broke the craziness with a Playdough Ice Cream Shop toy. Not a grand idea on my part as now I will be scraping dried playdough out of the rug for hours.

Along with the snow have come record breaking lows- meaning it's also too cold t go outside and play in all this snow. I'll remember to be more specific in my prayers from now on.

This cake today was done a couple of years ago and was my first experience with patchwork cutters. Please note: These cutters are very different then normal cutters or cookie cutters, and I had to learn the hard way. Patchwork cutters can be GREAT and they have so many cute ones out there, but they must be used properly or they will leave you sitting in a pool of tears (I know from experience.) So here are some tips for you:
#1- They MUST be used with gumpaste. Not a mix and not fondant.
#2- You must let your gumpaste sit for a minute or two before pressing your cutter into it!
#3- You will want to grease you surface then lay your gumpaste on it to cutout your shapes.
The ideal is that the piece stays ON your surface and not in your cutter. If you find yourself having to peel out of the cutter then let your stuff set up longer before cutting.
#4- Be prepared to clean up edges using a toothpick or another very small thing. These don't cut super clean most of the time.
#5- Have fun! There are so many of these available, and you can do so many things with them. I don't recommend using snowflakes on your first try!
Here's a few links to places that I like to buy from: Patty Cakes in IL, and Global Sugar Art

There's no better way to stay warm then baking!

Baby Days ahead

On this snowy, snowy day here in mid-America, some can't help but dream of spring.
I'm not one of those people, I'm loving all the snow- it so beautiful and fun to play in!

But just because I love the snow and this colder weather doesn't mean I can't sympathize with all my friends who aren't used to this and hate it. This post today is for them.

Spring is known for a few different thing:flowering trees, greener grass, birds chirping, budding colors everywhere.... and babies.

This cake was done for a much anticipated baby girl. Simple, girly, and don't miss those cute toes poking out of the blanket!

Now think warm thoughts and go enjoy the snow!

Crossword

Well, It is a new year! 2010 is upon us, and great thing will happen this year........ that's what I'm hoping anyway.

This cake was done for a lucky lady who was born just 2 days into a new year, back in 1930. That's right, she just celebrated her 80th Birthday!

I was honored to be the person selected to make such a special cake. This would be a surprise party for this women, she had no idea her family was planning this party!

The cake itself is very personal. It's made to look like a table with a lavender tablecloth draped over it. This Birthday girl loves crossword puzzles, so this Kansas City Star page was made with gumpaste and hand drawn with black edible marker- by my hubby- handwriting extraordinaire.

The cup is a coffee cup, again made with gumpaste. I used the outside of a small cup as the mold, and did the handle separately. After this dried a couple of days it was filled with chocolate, then I put some caramel on top of that. I mixed in white with the caramel to make it as realistic as possible. The end result was lovely- a cup of steaming coffee with milk.
The client asked for a Rosary, so I researched a bit on how these are made and why. I couldn't make this one exact but I did try to get the idea of the different prayer beads, separation and meaning in mine.
The puzzle pieces were again made of gumpaste. Cut and colored, then once dried, labeled to be the names of her already gone son, daughter and husband. I can't even imagine he loss, but hopefully this cake helped them be honored at her birthday as well.

Last was the bead work added to the center of the flowers embossed on the tablecloth.
I love the end result and I'm sure she did too!