Cake Affection

Shore Bride Magazine!

2010-11-10T06:49:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been over a month since I've posted anything. Needless to say the holidays are here once again and that means life in our home gets crazy.

A while back I was excited to be contacted by a journalist for Shore Bride Magazine, for the upcoming Fall edition. What an honor considering I had only been in Michigan for a month! She had a few cakes of mine in mind, so I send her photos of several. The one that ended up printed is a beautiful fall cake, chocolate fondant and edible chocolate leaves adorning it.

I'm excited to begin working more with brides and grooms in this area!

The issue is out now, so I thought I would share the link. The article is on page 18 of the link.

http://http://issuu.com/shore/docs/shorebride_fall2010_smallweb

New Shirts!!

2010-10-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yay! I just got a package that I have been waiting anxiously for... our new cake t-shirts!

I thought it was about time to let the people of Kalamazoo know that there is a new cake girl in town. No longer do they need to worry about driving an hr to find a great cake! No longer do they need to order the same old plain sheet cake made with so much shortening it leaves your mouth coated in grease.

These shirts let people know I'm going to change the way they think of cake. Do you like them?

Pretty blossoms

2010-09-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a cake done with tiny blossoms in a bit of a retro style of black/white and red.

Complete with a few silver dragee's, this could make a beautiful cake for many different occasions. The look can be changed by changing the colors too.

Each blossom is cut with a cutter, then molded on a foam pad and allowed to dry before placing them on the cake. Not much skill required, however tiny blossoms can take a long time to make!

Back to baking!

2010-09-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

** Now you can also follow us on Facebook!**

Since Cake Affection is new to the Michigan area, I have had a lot less orders then I normally would have. I've used the time to develop and test some new recipes so I can add a few more flavors to my list.... and boy did I find some winners!

I've been working on a Chai cake recipe for over a year now, and was never able to get it right, until now. Introducing the BEST chai cake you've ever had! (And even those who didn't know what chai was couldn't stop eating these.)

Chai cake-sweet and spicy, moist and light, filled with a heavenly dark chai filling and topped with a fresh Ginger-Honey Buttercream. Absolutely divine.

Blueberry Bliss- Light, moist blueberry cake with fresh blueberries baked right in to it, filled with a tart but sweet sour cream, and topped with our silky Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream. The perfect cake for this much loved Michigan fruit!

P.B & Chocolate- Making a comeback to the menu! Rich dark chocolate cake, filled with smooth, slightly sweet peanut butter filling, and topped with melt in your mouth chocolate buttercream. A classic and perfect combination sure to please your taste buds!

EMS Cake

2010-07-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to finally be able to create my first cake in Michigan!

This was done for a company who makes medical supplies- my husband works for them and wanted to treat his team- plus, I needed to get feedback on a few new flavors to add to my menu.

The company colors are used on this cake, all fondant, and the ambulance is created with Rice Krispie Treats, then covered in buttercream and fondant.

All and all it was the perfect cake for this company and I was glad to get back to feeling sort of normal again after a very difficult month.

I look forward to more MI cakes in my future!

Cake Affection taking Michigan orders in Aug!

2010-07-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for so very long. We have been dealing with our move, and we had the unexpected loss of my dad.
It has been a rough month but Cake Affection will begin taking orders in Aug. from our new location in Kalamazzo/Portage Michigan!

I'm so excited to once again be a part of people's lives and can't wait to meet some new clients!

I was contacted recently by "Shore Bride" Magazine for an article being done on different wedding cakes, and out of that interview came a new cake flavor- Blueberry Bliss! It is layers of moist blueberry cake, with alternating layers of Sour Cream and Blueberry fillings- amazing, delicious- you won't want to stop eating it!

If you would like to see if your date is available, please visit my website and go to the contact page to fill out a form.
I can't wait to find out how Michigan peeps like their cakes!

Cake Decorating Parties- All the new rage!

2010-05-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Back in March I began offering Cake decorating parties for those young decorators in training.
It has been fun to see the skill of young people and to share many of the tips, tricks and ideas with people who may want to do this someday!

The first party I did was my own daughter-- good practice since she is in Kindergarten, and if you can teach a bunch of wee little tykes something you should be able to teach anyone... right?!

I'm attaching a few pics from her party, because I forgot to way back when.

The girls really surprised me with how talented they were and how cute some of the cakes turned out!

Moving Day

2010-05-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

It is with a heavy heart that I announce here that "Cake Affection- A Kansas Cakery" is soon to become a Michigan Cakery.

I have enjoyed sharing in all the sweet celebrations of my many clients in this area, and will miss the future celebrations. I do have a list of very talented bakers int he area on my website under the "info" tab- so give one of those ladies a call should you need an amazing cake for a special event.

My husband was offered a new job with an awesome company and a deal we cannot pass up! I plan to reopen in South West Michigan once I get everything in order there. Life here is becoming chaotic as I have last minute cakes to finish up, packing to do, and year end school events jam packing the schedule tight. Not to mention: playdates, dinners and good-byes to all of our wonderful friends here.

Today's cake has nothing to do with any of the above, but I wanted to share it as I think it is really cute! A ruffled cake,(made with a ruffle cutter). The flower on top was made with a leaf cutter in 2 sizes, and the broach for the bow was made with edible dragee's onto a piece of cutout fondant.

Yay for teachers!

2010-05-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last week teacher's around the country were showered with extra love, gifts and goodies in celebration of the hard work they do. Yay for teachers! Who else can spend 8/9 hrs a day in a tiny room jam packed with little kids?!

In honor of one of our great teachers, I made this cake. Girly, springy, and totally cute- (hello... who doesn't love polka dots?!) A tiny chalkboard completes this cake.

Thanks to all our teachers everywhere, who in my opinion, should be paid more then our NFL football players.

Camping cake for my lil camper

2010-05-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

You know how you hear older people talk as if their lives have just flown by? I've experienced that kind of a week as we celebrated my oldest child's birthday- he turned 12!

The realization that I nearly have a teenager already has made me want to freeze time and not allow any of them to grow one second older.

My 'lil man is an avid Boy Scout, who loves camping almost as much as he loves video games.

He decided this year that he wanted a party with some of his closest buds, and he wanted to camp out. I must say it was the easiest party I've done so far!

The cake was made to look like a camp out. The tent is made with a frame of popcicle sticks, and covered in carefully cut fondant pieces. The tree is chocolate clay for the trunk, and fondant covered in coconut shavings for the leaves.

What a day! Now we both have a whole year to decide what we do when he turns 13. His thoughts are all about the party and the cake, while mine are more along the lines of "what will I do with a teenager in the house?!"

Flowers and Stripes galore!

2010-05-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, once again this poor blog has been neglected. It is a lot to keep up with! CakeAffection now has a Facebook page as well where we post new pics of our cakes as they are done- check us out!

This cake was done for a charity, and I wanted it to look like a Parisian hotel that I stayed in while in Paris a few years ago.. for those who have never been, Parisian style is somewhat mismatched, and floral, yet at the same time it works and comes across as stylish. They are geniuses in my book!

This cake, done with bold black stripes, is balanced with the two hot pink anemone flowers, I made these with a 3 petal rose cutter! I think they turned out pretty cute.

The "fringe" around the flower centers is a cut circle, then I sniped the edges with a tiny pair of scissors. Each flower took about 1 hr. to make.

This cake is finished with a spray of luster dust... how you you go wrong with it?!

Cupcake Cake

2010-03-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

March marks my 3rd birthday of the year, and this year, since Cake Affection began offering Cake decorating parties, that's all my little girl wanted.
I was very thankful, since I am set up for this, it didn't take as much time for me to prep/plan!

I'll be posting pictures of all the fun at a later date, but today I wanted to share the cake that I made for her special day.

It was made with an 8" cake on the bottom, and the cupcake cake was created using 2 6" cakes along with a half ball pan cake. Hand carved to be tapered at the bottom and bigger at the top like a cupcake.

The cherry and 6 were gumpaste and covered in disco dust which added a sparkle fit for a princess!

Valentines Day Cake Truffles!

2010-02-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Wow!
Hard to believe February is nearly over. With the ice covering everything outside my window it's equally as hard to believe that spring is almost here!

Valentine's Day came and went and was a busy time for me, and now that I have a moment I thought I would post some info on Cake Truffles. These are a great way to use use up all the cake pieces that I always have laying around, are super delicious, and are easy to make- a win, win!

If you don't have cake scrapes left over you can bake a cake in a 9X13- let it cool then follow the directions below.

Needed:
A bowl full of crumbled cake (any flavor)
A TBPS or two of icing
about 1 1/2 bags Chocolate (Wilton melts work well if you aren't used to working with chocolate)
A TBSP of shortening (if using chocolate not Wilton candy melts)
Any "mix in"- corsley chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, coconut, etc.

First, take your crumbs, put them into your mixer and with the paddle attachment, mix until they are fine crumbs.

Next, Add your icing- a little goes a LONG way! (You can add flavored icing to add a hint of flavor, or Cream cheese icing to Red velvet or carrot cake) You will not need more then a few TBSP.

Allow this to mix on high only for a few seconds. You should see your crumbs binding together, until they are nice and moist- almost like a thick cookie dough, or an ultra moist brownie.
Add your mix in's and mix only a few seconds more.

Spoon out "dough" roll into balls, and place on wax paper.

Place in the freezer for a few minutes.

While the balls are in the freezer, melt your chocolate in a double broiler or microwave. Make sure you melt slowly! If you aren't using Wilton Melts you will need to add some shortening.

Dip your cake truffles into the chocolate using a fork. Place on wax paper. If using sprinkles, make sure you sprinkle before the chocolate sets!

After all your truffles are covered, you may want to place in the fridge for a minute or two to allow them to set.

Decorate anyway you like: (Tiny flowers, sprinkles, a drizzle of a different colored chocolate)

The combination's are endless for these.

Chocolate pecan coconut
Red velvet cream cheese
Lemon poppyseed
Chocolate peppermint
Carrot walnut
Chocolate Raspberry
White Almond

Let your imagination run wild- and have fun!

Why are custom cakes so expensive??

2010-02-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to take on a subject that is talked about often: the cost of a custom cake.

I get this question in one form or another all the time, and I know that for many people, a dollar mix in the baking isle of the grocery store comes to mind when they hear "cake".

As a baker, I don't take this personally. I know that people have no idea what goes into making a custom cake- so I thought I'd share a few thoughts.

First of all- the actual cake. Why doesn't your "box" cake at home turn out like one of mine? Several reasons...
Custom bakers use quality ingredients which cost more money! Sure, sugar is cheap, but butter, chocolate, even milk and eggs have sky -rocketed in price recently.

Most of my cakes use between 2-4 lbs of butter. Not meant to be healthy, just meant to taste delish!

Custom bakers have put time into learning the craft. You don't go to a Dr who hasn't had training, and you understand that the cost of your medical care has to do with the extensive amount of schooling that they had to pay for. Your baker isn't much different! Whether they have trained with the best in the world, or taught themselves with books... their time and money has gone into learning the skills to make you a wonderful cake- you can't create the same at home without the skills!

Supplies. You can't make custom cakes without having the proper supplies. You hire a person who has the proper skills and supplies to frame your photos, do the exterior work on your home, etc. because you can't possibly attain the same quality without the supplies.
As silly as it sounds, for amazing cakes, the supplies are extensive and expensive. From cutters, to sheeters, to slicers, to mixers, ovens and refrigerators (which run hundreds to thousands of dollars!)... not to mention molds and tools that can range from $10- $100+ dollars! And since every cake is different, every cake needs different supplies.

Time. You know you pay for people's time because it is precious. A baker is spending hours of their time on your cake. Some bakers do it as a side job. For me, my time would be spent with my family, and doing things for them. My cakes (even the smallest ones) take me a minimum of 4-6 to complete! That's a lot of time!

Energy/Clean up. We all love to eat out because it is easier. No mess to clean up. No kitchen to clean. No floors to sweep. When you order a custom cake, someone else is using their electricity, gas, and water to create your cake! They are also dirtying their pans, mixers, floors, counters-- you walk away with a beautiful cake, and they get the mess to clean up. This is part of the job but also part of the cost!

I hope that I given some new insight as to why your custom cake may not be as cheap as the sheet cake that is ready made at your local grocery store. Remember, you are paying not only for a much better tasting cake with much more quality ingredients, but also for the skills, the time, the supplies, the mess, the energy... A lot more then you think goes into a cake!

Lips for fun

2010-02-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

I received an order this week that I just loved.
The reason I loved this order was not just because the cake was very fun to make, but because this cake was something different, and it's based on a show which I love, the cult classic, Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Love it or hate it, you must admit that it is concept unique to this movie, that has made it withstand the test of time: Audience Participation.
In case you have no idea what I am talking about allow me to briefly explain. Every year, this movie is shown in select theaters. People come from all over, dressed as their favorite characters, with props.
Here is how it is explained on one website: "Rocky Horror is the first and only true audience partici-(SAY IT!)-pation movie. People yell back lines at the screen during the extended pauses between dialogue, dress up in costume and act out the film, and throw props various times during the film. The audience participation phenomenon was observed as early as the film's first run in 1975 (when it bombed during limited engagements in 7 of 8 cities), and was later re-released as a midnight movie where the audience participation really began to flourish. And by the way, for the "gore sensitive", Rocky Horror is NOT a horror film. It is a rock-musical send-up of old science-fiction and horror films."

To mix it up, I thought I'd post some stats you may not know about this show:

RHPS Premiered in the US in 1975

Widely known by mainstream audiences, it has a large international following and is one of the most well known and financially successful midnight movies of all time.

RHPS was filmed in England at what was then a dilapidated castle. Today the castle, Oakley Court, is a luxury hotel.

MTV was planning to remake it and release it in 2009, however, those plans were canceled.

Now, aren't you glad you know all those facts?
This cake was done to look like the lips of the main character. They were made out of a sheet cake, cut, stacked and carved.
Once they were covered in fondant, I airbrushed them using orange, pink and red, along with black for the inside of the mouth. Teeth were carefully measured and cut to fit the lines of the mouth (they were actually very hard and time consuming!)

I love the finished product and have had "Let's do the Time Warp again..." stuck in my head for days now.

Barbie Cake

2010-01-22T07:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-21T10:23:00.001-08:00

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

2010-01-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

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!

Adorable baby monkey

2009-12-30T07:25:00.000-08:00

The new year is almost upon us, and maybe you're like me... feeling bit and like we are living in the space age that used to be on movies. I mean, have you ever played the wii? It's like it walked straight out of the Jetsons!

And what about this date that is soon to change to 2010... I mean 2010- it just seems SO futuristic!

Well fortunately, we have a few days before we have to start writing it on our checks and saying it when we talk to our kids. And all of this has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with today's cake.
It's not space age or futuristic. It's just cute and done to celebrate a cutie's 1st birthday. Her mommy loves monkeys so it only seemed natural for her to order a monkey for her baby girl's special day.

Her mommy is also a fabulous photographer, which is why I have the awesome picture. You can visit her website here at Holly Smalley Photography. Check her out!

This little friend's head was a 1/2 ball pan sitting on a 6" round. the body was made using 8" cakes and carved. She's sitting on a 9" square package cake.

Merry Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

2009-12-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!
Yes, I am aware that Christmas is in fact over, however, we were so busy that I had no time to be able to post anything during the holidays.

I'm not sure what your family does, but for us, with no family here in this state, Christmas is day of simply hanging out. I love it. No pressure, no stress. Just fun. This Christmas was made even better when we received a foot of snow. Most people here complained, but our family was in heaven! Long days of shoveling, building and sledding, hot cocoa, marshmallows, and hot tubbing. Darn near a perfect weekend to celebrate the King of Kings coming here to Earth. I hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours.

Now I am normally a cake lady. I love the aspect of taking cake, and building with it- creating things that you wouldn't have though a cake could do. For this reason I don't do a lot of cupcakes. They aren't my forte. I did however branch out this year and make these cupcakes.

They were made 2 different ways. The first way was to cut large circles out of fondant, and set them into my "mold" (which was a mini ball pan- 6 1/2 balls per pan) then set that in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Pull them out carefully slide them out- they should be set in a dome shape, pipe some icing onto my cupcake, and then set the "cap" (molded fondant dome). I put mine back into the fridge for a few more minutes before decorating.

The second way I tried was actually baking little cakes into the miniball pan, (not filled full at all), then leveling off my cupcakes, attaching my dome cake with icing, icing the dome itself, then cutting circles of fondant and laying it down as you would on any cake. I also allowed these to set in the fridge a few minutes before piping on them.

Now, after trying both ways, I'm inclined to say I really like the first method the best. They looked better, cleaner, and were much less time then the second way. But the second way left me with bigger more impressive cupcakes.

Both sets I piped with royal icing, allowed that to dry, then painted the icing with various luster dusts. To make the hangers I rolled fondant out think- cut with a small circle cutter, then used a small sharp knife to indent the sides. I pushed a skewer through the middle to make a hole, then used tiny fondant rolls to make the actual hoops. Attach the hoops to the hanger bottom w/ royal and painted with luster.

Either way, I encourage you to try this. They were so cute- impressive and perfect for celebrating the season. They are time consuming as the details and small trival part take some time, but the wow factor will be worth it!

The book series sweeping the nation....

2009-12-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

Twilight!

This client contacted me and rather then want the usual twilight cake (checker pattern, chess pieces, etc.) She wanted one based on a design her daughter drew up. Apparently, her daughter is a fan of all the cake shows and had a sketch of her "dream" birthday cake. Mom found it, sneakingly took it, and promptly contacted me to create it. (I was thrilled to do this cake since the young lady and I share our special day!)

I must give it to this young lady, she had a pretty great design (decorating in her future? I think so!) and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I did have to change the fact that in her drawing, the tulip was laying draped over the K. I tried it, but it left a massive area blank on the top of the cake and swallowed up the K so that the letter was no longer recognizable.

In the end- the cake was really stunning. The white background was sprayed with pearl dust before the lace was put on, the red K and ribbon shimmered with disco dust, and the tulip was dripping with life like blood. The board was covered and hand painted in a checkerboard pattern.

I didn't take the time to do a tutorial on the tulip, but Diane's Decorating Diary has a great one so check it out!

Too warm for frosty!

2009-12-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

Yes- the holidays are indeed here, and as "the" day draws near I am increasingly stressed and worn out.
What exactly is the holiday spirit? That's what I've been asking as I deal with mean people in the stores, grouchy people on the roads and stressed people in my home and school. This isn't what Christmas is all about right?!

NOOOOO- It's about cold weather, sub-zero degree temperatures... so cold you are stuck inside and unable to do much of anything but surf the net. Or perhaps read a book. Try a new recipe. Drink hot choco.Watch a movie? That doesn't sound to bad now, does it?

Christmas is about snow, building snowmen, snow angles, snow forts, slides. Tubing, sledding. Yah- the white stuff isn't too bad sounding- is it?

Moving to the middle of america from the mountianous and snowy Northern Utah I REALLY miss the snow. A major snow "event" here is one inch. By contrast back west 1 inch was a skiff.
Maybe that's why this cake was a hoot to make. Snow is cold, wet. This man was much warmer and sweeter, and I got to stay inside.

His arms are chocolate clay (recipe coming!) as are his mini hat. The carrot is fondant as is his heavy and realistic looking nose.
Real snowmen are great to make- but if in your neck of the woods there is no snow, why not try recreating this guy from the warmth of your kitchen!

Princess Castle Cake

2009-12-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Ok- so I decided that I've had enough Halloween posts in Dec. It's just not feeling right.

This cake was ordered last minute, but was requested to be pink, princess-ey. I consider these 2 things to be my expertise since I do have 3 daughters.

This cake was really a lot of time to make, but I love the way it turned out... you could see yourself standing outside of this, in a princess dress, singing about a prince-right?!

The cake was 2 rounds stacked. The towers were gumpaste, the turrets were rice crispie treats shaped, then covered in small circles of gumpaste.

The flowers were also gumpaste. The finished product was covered in sparkly luster dust, and viola! Castle fit for a princess.

This was a lot of fun to make!

I think I have some tree trimming to do now.

Going Batty!

2009-12-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

To keep up with the Halloween in Nov... Er... I mean December, I'm posting this cute vampire bat cake.

Super easy design, classic polka dots in fun colors, how could I go wrong?!

The bat is a half ball pan, supported in the same way you would support any other tiered cake.

The wings are attached with melted chocolate into slits of the cake. They were not going anywhere.

Happy Halloween! Um, I mean, Merry Christmas!

Halloween Cat Cake

2009-11-30T07:48:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know today is the last day of November, and yes, I also realize that Thanksgiving just happened.... so why am I posting a Halloween cake you ask?
Because I have gotten a bit behind on this blogging. That why. You know the holiday season gets crazy in your house. It does in mine too!

Does this cake look slightly familiar? It should! I learned how to make this at the cake convention, when Bronwen was kind enough to come and share her talents and knowledge with us.

This cake was super fun to make- however, Bronwen DID make it look a wee bit easier then it actually was.

This cake is made from 3 10", 3 6" cakes, a lot of modeling chocolate, and a Styrofoam ball which was cut and shaped like the head.
The other interesting thing to note is that the cat was all white fondant, then airbrushed with hot pink, then blue, then black. It gave the cake a very cool look. And the black turned out blacker.

The whiskers were spaghetti noodles, airbrushed.

I wish I had taken step by step photos to post... but maybe I'll do another one. Anyone ever heard of a Christmas cat?!

Wedding cake mania

2009-10-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a cake I did for a lovely bride.

I had to drive about an hr to deliver this, and did so with the cake totally set up- which worked lovely!

It was pumpkin cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream, then chocolate fondant. It smelled like heaven from a mile away!

The design for this cake was simple yet elegant as I hand piped the decor then hand painted it with gold luster dust. The monogram was also edible and hand painted. It all came together very nicely and just as I had planned! Thank the Lord!

The problem I did have with this cake could have never been imagined in a million years: there is a pumpkin shortage in the US! A pumpkin shortage in the fall? How crazy!

As I attempted to buy cans of pumpkin, it became clear, that I wasn't going to find it anywhere.... seriously, nowhere!! I never could have guessed that in order to give this bride the huge 4 tier cake to feed 200 people..her cake of her dreams.. in pumpkin (all of it).. as ordered, I would have to (gasp) cook down actual pumpkins!

After I got over the shock I decided to make a game of it. After all I used to love pretending to be a pioneer girl!
I did just that, as for 2 days my oven was stuffed with pumpkins, I pretended I was a pioneer lady, only with an electric oven. And a blender. And lights at the flip of a switch.

So I wasn't exactly a pioneer, but not being able to just open a million cans of pumpkin did put a little bit of a cramp in my style and it was many hours added of work that I wasn't excpeting.

The lesson learned? Expect the unexpected... no matter how crazy it seems. I mean no canned pumpkin on shelves anywhere? What has the world come to?

How to: Chocolate leaves

2009-10-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things that I love to make this time of year is chocolate leaves.

They are stunning and will impress anyone who sees them! They are also pretty simple, all they take are some basic things and patience. So before that tree in your yard looses all it's leaves- go get some, make some leaves, and store them for your next cake!

You'll need:
Chocolate (good kind) and 1-2 tsp. shortening (Wilton Candy Melts work well, need no shortening, but don't taste great)
Leaves (I always use real ones, washed and dried well)
Paint brush
Parchment or wax paper
Luster dusts and grain alcohol if you want them colored.

1. Wash your leaves. Make sure they are dried WELL before you use them. You can use fake leaves as well, but I've never done it. I like real. Obviously, make sure you aren't using a poisonous kind.

2. Melt your chocolate and shortening in a double broiler slowly. Make sure not to overheat, or get water in this.

3. Use your paint brush to paint the chocolate on the leaves. Pay special attention to get the middle vain thicker, and the bottom of the leaf as well.

4. Let dry on parchment- about 10 minutes or so, or pop into the fridge for a minute.

5. Starting at the bottom, slowly peel leaf away from chocolate. Hold gently, and peel straight up, saving the edges for last. It helps if you hold in the center/bottom.

6. Using a small pairing knife, clean up edges of leaf where small bits of the leaf may still be stuck to the chocolate leaf.

7. Use another brush dipped in alcohol to paint on colors of luster. I usually blend red/orange or yellow/red, or golds to make them appear more realistic.

You're done! Don't worry if some of them break on you, You can tuck broken pieces into places on your cake- so don't toss them!
Use chocolate or royal or buttercream to attach to tops your cakes and down the sides.
Use them to adorn platters filled with other goodies for fall.
Store them in air tight containers in cool places to make them last months.

Ok Sugar Show 2009

2009-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

This Past weekend was the date of one of the most fabulous sugar art competitions that exist in America.... The Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. It takes place during the state fair in Tulsa.
Sound familiar? Food Network usually does a special following a few of the competitors.

People not only come from all over the country to put their cake on display- but from all over the world. The talent is good, really good!

Fortunately for me, Tulsa isn't very far away from where I live. Unfortunately for me, I had a wedding cake that needed to be set up right in the middle o the day so there was no swinging me going to the fabulous competition.
Fortunately, I have other cake people who take and post photos of what I missed. This year the theme was "Of Sea and Shore".

I'm not posting any pics of the winners, just a few photos of cakes that are amazing. Stay tuned for the winning cakes!

The first photo is hand painted- WOW! Not to mention the detail on the bottom of the cake!
The second photo is an amazing mix of either royal or a new product called Sugarveil, and fondant. Gorgeous and modern. Perfect for todays brides!
The third pic I think is a stencil. Hard to manage those, and it is done wonderfully. I love the golden hue against the chocolate brown fondant. LOVE IT!

Ok- I'm done for today, go practice your cake skills and you can plan to be at this competion next year!

The wedding that made me covet

2009-10-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the honor of doing a wedding cake for a very sweet couple.

I tried out a new support system in their cake and really loved the ease it provided. I had no problems transporting their cake completely assembled! That means less time at the venue, less mess, etc.

This cake turned out lovely. It was the embodiment of simple yet elegant. Black and white.

I dare say I broke one of the 10 commandments as I walked away from setting this baby up. Not only was her wedding my favorite colors, her pattern of damask matches my bedroom, and her choice of flowers my all time favorites- Hydrangeas and Orchids. Oh yes- this wedding made me covet the reception and want to get married again! (Not to someone else... maybe just a big renewal ceremony?)

The monogram was made to look exactly like the couple napkins- and I have to give my handwriting genius the credit for it.

Art on a cake

2009-09-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

I had a different kind of request a few weeks ago.

The client who contacted me was requesting a cake for her grandfather's 100th birthday- which I though was pretty cool. That's when it got, well, strange. She proceeded to tell me her grandfather had passed away a few years ago. Hmmmm. This had my curiosity!

She then told me the story of her grandfather- who was an artist. A sculptor to be exact. She wondered whether I could do a cake with that in mind. Then she forwarded me a few pictures and I was astounded! He was not only a sculptor, but of marble. Large women and men carved by her grandfather's hand are scattered all over St Louis MO.

The time line I had to work on this cake was short, so she gave me a design to work with. I managed to put it on the cake with royal icing, which took nearly 5 hrs to pipe!
I love the finished product and think it is awesome that this man made such an impact, reaching out and loving his family, that they decided to honor him even after he is gone. (They traveled with cake in tow to St Louis and spent the weekend touring his works!)

An exciting weekend

2009-09-22T13:07:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, the world of cakes is becoming VERY popular these days. All the good channels have at least 1 cake show on.
This results in a few things:
#1- More people are getting interested in having a custom cake and awesome creation at their event. Never have more people known what can be accomplished with cake, and never before have people realized that a great cake is KEY to a great party. (My humble opinion!)

#2- More people are finding and calling people like me to create the cakes they see made on these shows. This can be both good and bad. The good part is listed in #1, the bad however, is that many people WANT awesome cakes, but aren't interested in spending money. We call it the Walmart budget in the cake biz.
I am happy to work with people on a budget, however, to do SUPER fantastic things it takes special supplies that can be expensive, the knowledge on how to use them properly, and TIME. LOTS of it! TV doesn't tell you the price of these,nor how much time actually goes into them.
For instance, Duff Goldman's cake START at $1000.00. Anything you see on Ace of Cakes cost AT LEAST that.

#3- More people are recognizing the art of all things sugar, and are wanting to learn themselves. (See link below for great learning tools!)

#4- Cake people are getting famous! Their are SO many talented, wonderful amazing decorators out there- and this is their day (Or year, or however long the high lasts.)

Which brings me to my post. This weekend I had the chance to attend a cake conference. It was fantastic. 2 days of learning techniques from the pros. How great it was that they shared their wealth of knowledge! Among the demonstrators were Pat Jacoby who renetly won a TLC competition w/ her lovely Uncle Sam cake; Jennifer Dontz who is amaazingly talented and will be on an episode of TLC's "Cake Off" next week; and Sharon Zambito who will be featured in another episode of the TLC's hit show on Oct. 5th. (Sharon makes fantastic vidoes for those of you who want to learn at home and sells them at http://www.sugaredproductions.com/Sugar_Ed_Productions.html )
The icing on the cake (pun intended) was Bronwen Weber (she has been and won numerous food network challenges) teaching us a scuplted cat cake. I will never do my sculpted cakes the same now that she has shared her wisdom! (The picture is me with Bronwen.)
It was inspiring and humbling to be in the midst of such talent, and I hope to make the 4 hr drive to the Oklahoma Cake Show to see more incredible works of art.
I am still buzzing from my weekend of sugar, and have so many ideas that I am dying to try. So come on people- order your cakes now!

Topsy-Turvy

2009-09-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

A dear friend of mine recently celebrated a milestone Birthday. Another friend had a party to help her ring in the special day, and of course I couldn't let the big day slip by without a cake.

My friend is an AWESOME mom to 5 kids- that's right- 5! She is an amazing mom who always puts her kids first. Totally self-less. She's fun to be around, a little nutty, and never spends money on herself. It was an honor to make a cake for such a lady, and the design was based off her fun-loving personality!

Unfortunately, I didn't allow my gumpaste to set up long enough, and I watch in horror as I was delivering it and the vibration from my tires broke the "4".
I managed to fix it once I got there but I couldn't stand it up again. Bummer!

Mickey's back!

2009-09-12T17:14:00.001-07:00

Today I finished another Mickey cake.

This time it was in honor of the cutest little 1 yr old boy.

I had to deliver this and to my shock, a lot of the driving was on gravel road- NOT the kind of road you want to travel on when you are carrying an edible work of art!
I had to hold my breath the whole way while gripping the steering wheel with fingers that were turning blue. I was thrilled when we got the cake in and on the table- still in one piece!

Babies, babies, babies!

2009-08-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

They say spring time is when the majority of kids are born. I'd never know that based on the orders for baby showers (not to mention the people I know who are expecting!)

I must confess I'm a softy and think nothing is more awesome then a new little person being born into this world, therefor these shower cakes are my favorite to make!

This shower cake was done for a friend and made with simple yet elegant polka dots. The silhouette was made using chocolate. Simple and elegant.

Yo Gabba Gabba

2009-08-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Today I finished this cake. I also was blessed enough to be the one who made Henry's first birthday cake.
I was really excited about making this one, since I have never been commissioned to make "Yo" before, and my kids love the show.

As I began on the actual decorating (the little guys were made before hand so that they would dry in this humidity), I couldn't stop singing "There's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy, there's a party in my tummy...."
If you've ever been forced to sit and watch this with your children you'll know it is one of the weirdest, and slightly annoying shows I've ever seen. Kids love it though, and if it buys me time to get things done while they sit glued and singing- more power to it!

Anyway, I had some issues with a few of my gumpaste decorations due to the recent rain and humidity, but other then that I thought it turned out very, very cute.

I hope Henry loves it as much!

When a cake goes wrong.....

2009-08-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Some weeks you just want to stay in bed, when "Old man Trouble" comes a knocking, it can knock you down, or you can get up and keep fighting.

This week has been one of those weeks here in our family. Everything seems to be breaking. First, the camera, then my phone (it's my business cell!!) and last, my car.... while driving with all 4 of my kids on a very busy road during rush hour.

When trouble comes a knocking we can choose to embrace it and see what we may learn, or we can choose to become frantic and throw in the towel- probably securing more trouble to come your way!

Thankfully, the troubles I've had have not been business related. That is a fear every cake person has, after all, we are only human- and although we can do our best to work with the elements to create wonderful things...... sometimes things just happen. Out of our control.

My worst nightmare would be a wedding. You only have one day and you want it perfect. It would be awful to have a disaster with one of my wedding cakes!

I am pleased to say (humbly however,) that I have never had something happen that I could not repair. I have however had many cakes in which my vision in my head, and what actually works, turns out differently.
One such cake is this 3D Elmo. this was the first one I had ever done, and the piping on his fur took me 6 hrs to complete! Talk about hand cramps! Numerous things didn't work on this design.
When I took him out the day of delivery, his mouth had "fallen" from a cute smile into a shocked "Oh my goodness" look. There was absolutely nothing I could do to help him smile. It was a disappointment for me although I did get a great response from the client.

Maybe we have things happen so that we can learn from them and we should (I should) learn to embrace the unexpected better. After all I'm not the one in control!

It's official!

2009-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's official!

School is back in and this year we hit another milestone in my home: 3, yes 3, of my children are in school this year. I have a Kindergartner again! Only 1 left with me at home- THIS is big!

In honor of my little girl becoming a "big kid" we are heading out to a new cup cakery in Overland Park called Smallcakes, where my big kid will get to choose the cupcake of her choice. I love getting to see what other bakers do too :)

Since we are honoring this milestone in my house with a cupcake I thought it only fitting to also inform you that the Guinness Book of World Record's recorded the World's biggest cupcake yesterday. This has not been an easy feet. Duff Goldman of Charm City cakes and the hit show "Ace of Cakes" had won the title only to be later stripped of it. So my hat is off to the awesome team that pulled off this monstrous cake!
I'm posting the story below:

Cruise cupcake proves that bigger is better

By CECIL ANGEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

At 13 Mile and Woodward in the Firestone’s parking lot Ryan Abood’s triple vanilla cupcake with a pink topping made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The 1,224 pound cupcake was a curiosity to many revelers and passers-by at the Dream Cruise, some of whom stopped to have their picture taken next to it, or to munch on the samples.

The 7–foot cupcake was a fundraiser for Passionately Pink for Cure, a program of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Abood’s company, GourmetGiftsBasket.com, pulled off the feat with help from Merengue Bakery Café of California and Jensen Industries in Whitmore Lake that loaned them their oven, which generally is used to bake the wings of aircraft.

The cake, which took 12 hours to bake, contains 700 pounds of batter, which includes 800 eggs, 200 pounds of sugar and 200 pounds of flour.

“It’s estimated to be around 2 million calories,’’ Abood said.

Life on the farm

2009-08-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular cakes I have ordered is the farm cake. Chalked full of bright primary colors- it is indeed a cute one and pretty darn fun to make.

I think one reason we get so many of these is that there is a popular free farmstead in our area that is a blast to visit. Did I mention it's free??

Summer is winding to an end, and leave/pumpkin cakes become pretty popular soon, but for now, I am loving the colorful farm animals I get to make reminiscent of days when you owned your own garden, and animals for food.

The cake I'm posting today is one I made trying to mix it up while keep the cake that the client desired.

Sonic the Hedgehog

2009-08-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

This cute 3D cake was done for a little boy who loves the famous games.

It was fun (and a bit challenging) to make- entirely out of cake!

He feeds about 40 people, and boy was his head heavy.

So here are a few interesting Sonic facts that I thought you may want to know. I pulled them off the web. I mean useless information may one day become useful...... right?

1. Sonic is blue, (sorry, couldn't resist!)
2. Sonic's birthday is the 23rd of June.
3. Sonics favorite food is chili dogs
4. Sonic's motto is, "i don't look back, i've got no regrets, cause time don't wait for me i choose to go my own way."
5. Sonic grew up in the emerald hill zone.
6. Sonic can't swim.
7. Sonic's sneakers were designed by professor Kintobor, (Dr robotnik before he went evil!)
8. The chaos emeralds were once twelve instead of six, (excluding the grey "control" emerald.
9. Sonic can travel faster than the speed of sound.
10. Sonic's favorite drink is cola
11. Sonic was once an ordinary brown hedgehog.
12. Sonic is better than Mario. Period.
13. Sonic's theme song is called "It doesn't matter"
14. Sonic two was one of the biggest selling games of all time.
15. Sonic has NO brothers and sisters, apart from in the blasphemous series Sonic Underground, which was shit and gay and a million other negative things.
16. Sonic has had four TV series based on him, and one anime movie.

Shark week!

2009-08-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've been watching lots of Discovery channel this week. You see, it's Shark week-- where the network decided that they'd try to scare everybody on the planet away from the oceans of the world.

I suppose for some it is fascinating, but for me me it's just downright terrifying. My hubby is an ocean lover and dreams of one day soon living on a remote island, where he can dive, surf and eat ocean creatures to his hearts desire. He seems to think that watching these "fascinating" shows will one day get me on board for his dream- ha! I love the BEACH- but that's where the love stops. I am a land- mountain lover.

I had an interesting order for a 16 yr old girls birthday recently. I never asked the story behind this but I guess this girl is one who loves great whites and finds them fascinating. Either that or dad was playing a really mean joke to help her ring in her big day!
This cake is as close to a shark as I hope I ever get.... and after watching the creatures all week, it was also spot on realistic, if I do say so myself!

Corporate cake

2009-08-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

What a week! Last week we decided on a last minute vacation to see family in TN. I had to shift all of my cakes that were due last weekend and I very much appreciate those who were willing to allow me to make their cakes a little earlier then first planned.

The break was much needed for my hubby who's been stressed at work lately.

We've found driving at night is the only way to go with 4 kiddos in the car, less stops, less whining, less fighting!

Before we left I had this corporate cake due. Make to look just like the company's logo ( a forklift).

The cake were make using sheet cakes, then carved. Logo cakes aren't SUPER exciting and are rarely adorable, but this cake turned out great and the company loved serving it to their clients.

Blue's not blue!

2009-07-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

What a weekend!

I usually use Monday as a day to rest since a lot of times I am busy with cakes on the weekends. (Not to mention family stuff too!)

This cake I took as a last minute order and while I was sure I could some of it off, I wasn't sure the whole thing would come together as nicely as it did.

Blue (from Nick Jr's Blue's Clues) could have ended up being very blue, but the humidity was low, the temperatures mild and this all equaled dreamy conditions for cake making and gumpaste drying!

This doggy is totally edible. Her ears and hat are made out of gumpaste. Her legs are all make out of finely crushed rice krispie treats.
She's covered in fondant and is sprayed in Luster dust.

I think she turned out cute and especially where I did not have a lot of time to plan for how I would make her or support her! And I hope to hear a response from the little girl whose Daddy got her this great cake!

Sweet 11!

2009-07-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today I'm getting my daughter ready to go camping, my son is already at cub scout camp, and life feels- pretty calm!

I'm posting a picture of one of the most popular cakes I make... the polka dot! Super cute, fun, and whimsy all in one, this particular one was done for a sweet girl celebrating her 11th birthday. Her favorite colors in case you haven't guessed, are chartreuse and purple.

I'm sure she was the belle of the "ball" with this cake being presented!

Baker anyone?

2009-07-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today's cake was a tribute to one of my daughter's teacher. One of the best teachers' ever- might I add!

She loves baking and strawberries so I combined the two and came up with this!

The hat is made out off 2 6" cakes and a round 8" cake (carved round) and covered in 2 pieces of fondant- one for the bottom of the hat and one for the "poof"- the "poof" must be put on first.

Although you can't easily see it in the picture I also mad a cute apron complete with detailed stitching, a strawberry and a rolling pin hand panted to look like wood grain, and a strawberry. All together this is a one of a kind cake for an awesome, one of a kind teacher!

MMMM Sushi!

2009-07-13T06:34:00.001-07:00

What a nice weekend! We got some house work done, my car is now clean, and the rain mainly hit during the evening so we also got a day of kayaking in -hooray!

This is a cake made for the main squeeze in my life. The man doesn't like cake (go figure!) but rather likes cheesecake (something I'm tossing around perhaps adding to my menu.) I make a mean cheesecake, but every year offering my favorite man a plain looking cake topped with raspberries kills me. I mean, I am the cake lady!

So this year, I couldn't take it any longer, that plain jane little cheesecake staring out at me with no decoration at all, was.... sad.
My mind wondered... and an experiment was born! I gathered all the kids to help, which they loved. (They are never allowed to help me so this was a real treat!)

I inverted my cheesecake- crust on the top. I iced it with my special Italian meringue, and I carefully covered it in fondant. The kids were busy rolling fondant rice, and I got busy making the various pieces we'd need for "sushi"- daddy's favorite food!

When all was done, I hand painted on the wood grain for the table, and placed all of our fish on it. It turned out pretty good! An experiment that was a success!
And now I know, that my husband can have his cake, and eat it too- (the decor that is.)
I may start offering cheesecake to my customers in the future!

Vroom, Vroom- Cars!

2009-07-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

Sharing my grandma's pie yesterday made me remember some great times and sad times I had with her as a child.
One particular day stood out to me as I reminisced. It was her 60th birthday, and we were having a big backyard BBQ, complete with..... cake!

Although I didn't make it, one of my aunts had. 1 long sheet cake still in a glass pan.
My job to help was to carry the cake outside, through the garage and place in on a picnic table under the shady trees in the backyard. Sounds simple enough right?

Off to a great start I was halfway there when my hands slipped off the pan, glass hitting the hard cement and shattering into a million clear sharp dagger like pieces. I didn't know what to do so I ran away crying. Finding me sobbing and the cake mixed in with shards of glass, grandma assured me it was fine.... her birthday would go on...... it was just a cake.

I attribute this traumatic day as part of what helped be become what I am today.
I LOVE seeing people's faces light up when they have a truly extraordinary cake. I think a cake can and should be a reflection of the person it is made for- everyone of us unique and everyone of us extra special. I hope that I never have another day when I drop a cake and shatter someone's special day!

This cars cake is one of my favorite, Lighting is at the top and everything else is hand crafted and cut jut to look like a scene in Disney's movie. I'm sure there were no tears or disappointment when this little guy laid eyes on his birthday cake! THAT is my goal. And if I ever delivered any less I would be devastated. Just as I was that day, so many years ago, in grandma's backyard.

Missing my family

2009-07-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I did something I don't normally do- I rejected many a cake order to take a week off. It was for a good reason- my family was coming to visit!
By family, I mean my cousin (and best-est friend), her 4 kiddos, and my grandma. I hadn't seen them in years and was thrilled that they came.

I was able to show off some of the great things of the Kansas city area like shopping, art things and museums. With 8 kids between the two of us (and 1 older lady and 1 man) we were a sight to see and plenty of people here showed no shame in staring. We wanted to say "haven't you ever seen a kid before?!" But I'd like to hope my fellow Kansas Citians were only gawking at the cuteness of them.

It was also my grandma's 81st birthday while they were here. While I know grandpa was missing her, I was so thrilled to spend such a special day with a special lady. Every one who knows me knows that birthdays don't happen unless there is cake to be had, so I planned and shopped and was excited to make grandma a masterpiece......... until I realized that to make something (even simple) was going to take about 6 hrs of my time, precious time that could actually be spent with my grandma. So, I took a deep breath (3 or 4 actually) walked past the cupboard of supplies, and instead went and purchased my grandma her favorite pie- lemon meringue. (Only top of the line and fresh of course).

I got the kids together and we went to work decorating this pie once we got home. As grandma took the first bite, I was still feeling a bit guilty about not using my talents to create a cake she would never forget, she said through chews, "This is SO much better then cake!"- I knew this was the right choice. This would be unforgettable for her! We spent the rest of the day spoiling grandma. It was so great!

I'm attaching a picture of my happy grandma and her decorated pie.

Humidor vs the humidity

2009-07-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well a crazy busy summer is half way over. I must say that I'm thankful the humidity has held off as long as it has- it makes things take SO MUCH LONGER!
The perfectionist in me has to let go on some of these issues. I'm getting a de-humidifier to see if this can help me in the kitchen. I have high hopes!

I did this cake last week for a women having a surprise party for her hubby, who was turning 30.
The lid to this cake was a beast in this humidity, but I finally got it.

Mikes wife was elated when she came to get it. She even gave me a hug :) It made all the stress of putting it together worth it, and I hope Mike liked it as much as she did. I'm sure it made his surprise even sweeter, as it looked so real!

You can't really see from the pictures, but I did also make a cigar cutter, a box of matches and some match sticks to set in the box.
Getting all of the cigars to be the same shape and size took quite awhile as well.

And yes- EVERYTHING is edible on this cake, except the wooden rods holding up the lid!

Humidity and cakes DON'T mix!

2009-06-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's here! The hot, humid weather.
Being newer to this part of the country, I can say, I hate it. I hate it for what it does to may hair, (no point in combing it since it just ends up frizzy) it makes my makeup melt off revealing my not so perfect skin, and the worst offense of all: it ruins my fondant!

Usually you can put cakes in the fridge and they dry in there. As of this week, they do not dry in there, and when I pull them out to dry in the air, they get shinier and sticker my the minute.

This means massive headache and much more work then usual to get a cake right. This polka dot design should take about 5 hrs to complete, but today it took me all day- 12 full hours!

I like the way it turned out, but my back is so achy, not even a heavy ibuprofen would help!
Is it worth it you say??

It is! Every time I get frustrated I just think about how this cake is going to bless someone on their special day. People will gather around it, smile, laugh, share stories, and that makes it all worth it! In this case, this cake is for a surprise party. I'm sure the birthday girl will love it!

Finally! I'm back!

2009-05-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I cannot believe how crazy our lives have been. We have had a LOT going on in our house the last few months including a big move. Now that we are settled I can once again start posting on my favorite topic- Cakes!

In honor of the new Star Trek that's just come out, I'm posting the closest thing I have: Star Wars Clone Wars.
I know, I know, it's NOT the same thing (my hubby is a Sci-Fi fan, I know these things). It is however, the closest thing I've got since I've never been commissioned to make a Trek cake. And it does have the word STAR in it, so that counts, right??

Everything on this was hand made from either fondant or gumpaste and painted. No- it is not the original WARS, hence the difference in Yoda's look. I was pretty happy with how this turned out and I think the birthday boy liked it too!

Nascar headache

2009-01-26T06:24:00.001-08:00

It's finished!

After 18 hours of work- and loads of stressing and headache- the Nascar cake is finished!

I'm very thankful I have a husband who likes to help me when I'm stressed out. He stepped in and helped with all the tiny cutting out of each letter to go onto this cake.
We worked on it together for 5 hours!

Every aspect of this really was a headache with no major emergencies, but it took lots of patience.
I used the official Nascar cake pan- only to be disappointed that it wasn't really in the shape of an actual Nascar, and still required lots of carving.
Alas, the finished product: The perfectionist inside me isn't at all happy, but next time I will know how to better time it...... WAIT! There won't be a next time!!! Never again!

To help de-stress, we went to a local Ethiopian church yesterday. The obviously do everything in their native language of Amharic, which is beautiful to listen to!
The worship time was nothing short of amazing, and even though I couldn't understand a word they were singing, it brought me to tears.
They were gracious enough to give us a headset in which someone in a different room was translating the service into English- we were very thankful to that lady. Our brothers and sisters in Christ were very warm and welcoming to us and I got over feeling like we were sticking out like a sore thumb!

A week of Firsts

2009-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that it is mid January already.

Your mom told the truth: Time flies when you get old!

This was a week of historical firsts for our country as we have the first black president, and it was also a week of firsts in our home. We got our first kitten. She still remains name-less at this point after 1 week of being part of our family, but she is well loved and brings a certain joy to our home as she pounces to attack our toes in the middle of the night.

In honor of firsts, I also tried another new cake flavor and I encourage you to make your own at home!
The cake itself was dark chocolate, dosed in a blackberry simple syrup. For the filling, I used my special dark chocolate ganache, and while it was still soft, I topped it with fresh blackberries- cut in half. ALOT of blackberries.
So simple, yet remarkably great tasting.

In honor of this special week of firsts, here is a first birthday cake. Made with delicate royal icing butterflies and sprayed with pearl sparkle, I hope it was a hit for the little girl's special day!

Good-bye 2008!!

2008-12-31T13:14:00.000-08:00

Wow!!
Hard to believe tonight is the last day of 2008!
Ever wonder where all that time goes?
As I reflect today, I am reminded of all the ways that the Lord has blessed me this past year.
We've had our share of struggles- and those are the times that the fragrance of my King are the strongest.

I know the coming year will bring new goals, new ambitions, new cakes, new failures.... and I know that I can hold fast to the promises of God. He will still hear , see, bless, heal, and forgive. My hope is that I may walk in that truth in the coming year.

Awww... the Christmas Spirit

2008-12-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know how things have been at your house, but things here in our home get CHAOTIC during this time of year. School concerts, school fundraisers, school parties, church events, shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Baking, cooking.......
It usually leaves us all exhausted and begs the question "Is this what Christmas is all about?"

This year we are doing something decidedly different in an effort to pull something more out of the mangled mess that Christmas has become. Focusing all things on Christ, they are giving all the money they would have received presents with, and have chosen instead to give to the poor of other countries.
Mom and Dad are still giving them one family present- but that's it.
This has done wonders for the spirit of Christmas around our home. Mom and dad aren't stressing with guilt of things we can't afford, nor worrying about where we will store all the gifts once they are opened. The kids felt great getting to choose where they wanted their money to go, realizing that they don't "need" anything else to be happy.
Our home have been filled with peace, and joy this year. (As peaceful as can be with 4 kids!)

All this said, I ran across the article below! It caught my attention since it is about cake. And then it left me to ponder how the Christmas spirit isn't always one of peace and joy. I hope it leaves you thinking (and chuckling)!

Stolen cake sparks bank data alert in Germany

Fri Dec 19, 2:56 pm ET

FRANKFURT, Germany – Two couriers at a package distribution center stole a Christmas cake destined for a German newspaper and mailed in its place a package of credit card data, prosecutors said Friday. The mix-up triggered an alarm over lost bank customer details. A batch of microfilmed data including names, addresses and card transactions ended up at the Frankfurter Rundschau daily last week — instead of the cake. Police advised credit card customers with Landesbank Berlin to check their accounts for inconsistencies.

But the incident turned out to be less sinister than feared.

Frankfurt prosecutors said that two couriers stole a Stollen, a German-style Christmas cake, at a distribution center in Mainz.

In an attempt to cover up the theft, the men instead sent one of several packages of credit card billing details destined for Landesbank Berlin to the newspaper, the cake's intended recipient.

Doris Moeller-Scheu, a spokesman for Frankfurt prosecutors, said the suspected thieves didn't open the package and "could not know what was in it," so no harm came to customers.

She said the two men had admitted to the theft. Prosecutors did not name the courier service involved or identify the two suspects.

Something fishey going on here

2008-11-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well, with turkey day almost here, I am busy runnign around like a chicken with it's head cut off. (Speaking of which poor turkey- we are resposible for the killing of 2 birds this year!)

The cake above was done this week- for someone flying in from out of town to surprise their mom for their 60th birthday.

It was beautiful, shimmery and looked like an enchanted underwater cake.

All the fish were hand cute, the pearls hand painted, and it had tiny royal icing detail. The inspiration for this was from a Colette Peter's book. when I first saw that book I loved the colors of that cake and I'm glad to have finally gotten a chance to make it!

Well, I have eggnog to make, tidying up to do. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monkeying around?

2008-11-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

Ok- so it has been a while since I last posted anything.

I've not been doing much- well, as not-much as I can do with 4 children.

We've been able to have some fun times monkeying around lately. All that sugar from Halloween that we have *still* been consuming has left our body in extremes highs- followed by the all familiar sugar crash.
Picture 4 kids, all crazily bouncing off of couches- walls, balls, screaming, shrieking,laughing evil laughs..... followed by crying, more screaming, bleeding, bruising, and bumped.
Yup- that's been my house since the first day of November!
I'm not sure why we even allow that dreaded holiday really!
No kidding!

So on the topic of monkeying around I thought I'd post this cute cake I made recently. I loved making this thing and think it turned out so cute! All my kids decided this is the cake THEY want for THEIR birthday.

For those who are curious- it's a wondermold sitting on an 8" cake, followed by a mini ball pan for he head and a fondant "cone" smothered in icing and covered in fondant. Of course, cardboard is placed though-out as well as dowls and one big dowel through the whole thing.
Everything else is fondant too.

Well daddy took the huge bag of candy t work today and I say "good-bye! good riddens!" Now maybe our house can get back to semi-peaceful!

Which brings me to the monkey cake

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

It's the day for candy and spooky things. I don't know about you, but I feel blessed to have 4 children on this day. They get to go beg for treats and I have quadruple the amount of candy to choose from at the end of the night!
In honor of Halloween I'm posting this cake.
I recently made this and while normally this would have been fairly simple, I was going for realism. You see, this cake was for an ophthalmologist! A man who looks at eyeballs all day would be looking with scrutiny at my cake. I HAD to make this eyeball realistic!

With a round cake sitting on top of an 8" cake, I carved it a bit, and then added all the details. It took layers and layers of painting with food coloring in different colors to achieve the look. Then I finished it with clear piping gel for a "glisten".

It left me thinking that maybe one day I'll host a Halloween party. If I do, this is the cake I'll be making!

A true Kansas Cake!

2008-10-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

I heard from the weather man that the coming weekend should be the peak in fall colors.
I love fall and am so excited to breath in the beauty of the fall air this weekend!

Last weekend I had this huge cake due for my son's former teacher. Her friends were throwing her a big surprise bash! She loves sports, but more so, she loves Kansas teams, so this cake was (hopefully) perfect!

A bit of a challenge as I am still supposed to be spending my days "down". With no lifting or bending. I have become master of kneading with only my arm muscles, sitting while putting fondant on cakes, ect. I'm not sure I'll know what to do once I am able to stand!

The funny story behind the delivery of his cake is this: On a crazy Friday we drove 30 min. to deliver this. The address I had was wrong, but we found the place. Since I cannot lift, my hubby had to go in. I watched through the windows as he tromped through pockets of people, weaving in and out, smiling, waiting for the recipient to come toward him.
No such luck.
Instead, he ended up back at the car. I seems we were one day early on the delivery. OOPS! I'm not sure how it happened. I wrote the (wrong) date down on 3 different calendars!
However, the next day, we got the cake there- on time and everything:) Although not without a bit of embarrassment!

This cake has gumpaste plaques- written on with edible markers, then painstakingly painted with food coloring and a tiny tiny brush. Obviously, everything else is fondant.

MMMMM The smell of ... chocolate... In the air?

2008-10-17T05:40:00.001-07:00

Well, This week my kids were out of school a few days. It was parent teacher conference- which I may say, is always a bit awkward.
You know, you sit and listen to the teacher tell you all the things your kids need to work on and all the things they are doing well at. But I always feel like there isn't really enough time to get to the "real" stuff, such as "Is my child being bullied?" "How is there character when I'm not around?",
However, once again my kids have been blessed with great amazing teachers who work really hard and , come on, put up with them for over 8 hours a day for pennies!

One way I can help show my appreciation to these guys is cakes. In honor of fall, I took in a dark chocolate-pumpkin cake. It's a new flavor I am working to develop, and I hope it was as good as it smelled.
To top it off I made chocolate leaves- which is really simple.
First- Pick some leaves. Wash them, dry them really well.
Second- Melt chocolate (semi or white works best) slowly in the microwave or pan over boiling water. Don't overheat here!! Add in a bit of Crisco (like 1 tbsp per 13oz. of chocolate)
Third- Using a bush, paint the chocolate on the BACKSIDE of the leaves. Make sure it is really thick and all the way to the tips.
Fourth- Pop it into the freezer for only about 2 minutes.
Take them out and carefully and quickly pull off the leaf.
Viola!!! You have a lovely leave! Make sure to keep them covered if you don't use them right away.
In the picture above I painted them using my luster dusts and LOVE the way they turned out but they look cool being just plain too.

Elmo, or something like him

2008-10-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have to start by saying this one was harder then I thought!
I know all the fur takes FOREVER to pipe. (This one was a full 4 hrs pf pure piping- can you say hand cramp??!)

The body is made from an 8" and the doll pan- stacked.
All the limbs and head are made from Rice Crispie treats. -This is where the problems arose from.
I didn't let these dry nearly long enough before they were expected to hold pounds and pounds of bright red- stains everything icing!

Also, at the last minute, his mouth started to fall open from the weight of icing and lack of drying time so he ended up looking more like a gasping elmo. Maybe he was offended the little 2 yrs old was going to eat him!

This guy was about 1 1/2 feet high, and used and entire 12 C. of my fantastic icing! (That amount usually covers a huge wedding cake!)
3 pounds pure butter and 13 eggs!
Yes, everything in my kitchen is stained red, and I was covered from head to toe, but how can you not love such a cute furry ...um.... puppet/monster thingy.

Happy October! Happy Fall!

2008-10-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hooray!
I am so happy it is Oct. already. Where has the year gone?
Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the colors/smells/sounds/ tastes of fall.
I LOVE the fruits and veggies of fall. (Yes! I'm a closet squash lover!) I love to bake all things apple and make homemade applebutter.
I love to cook down fresh pumpkins and freeze the pulp so that I have delicious pumpkin at my fingertips all years round- for cakes and more!

Since I'm still unable to bake per Dr's orders- I have been creating yummy fall cakes in my head. As soon as I get the go-ahead from the Doc, I'll be experimenting and perhaps posting some recipes!
(How does nutty caramel apple cake sound? Apple cake, caramel filling packed with pecans?)
What about pumpkin spice cake and delicious cream cheese filling?
Or even better- pumpkin cake layered with dark European Ganache for a "Dark chocolate pumpkin cake"

Well, In honor of the first day of October here is a picture of a pumpkin cake. These are very fun to make, an a perfect accent to any fall party table!

Golf Cake

2008-09-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Although I am not yet allowed to work, I had taken this order back before all these complications from surgery came up.
What makes this one so special? Most of it was done sitting down and my great hubby had to work and roll out the fondant since that type of movement is a big no-no for me right now.

Hopefully this was manly enough for a man- I have a tendency to make girly cakes and really have to fight the urge to cover everything in sparkle!

A few golf facts to ponder:

--There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

--Up until the mid 19th century, golf balls were typically made of feathers. The feathers had to be boiled to make them soft and they were then stuffed into a leather pouch, which was subsequently sewn up into a ball shape. Feather ball making was a slow process, with workers only managing to produce about three to four balls a day.

--Back in 1603, James VI of Scotland appointed a specialist craftsman to make him his own golf clubs.

-- Americans spend $630 million dollars on golf balls every year!

Our Caterpillar- God's gift

2008-09-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

Ok- so I haven't been able to blog about cakes because I haven't been able to make cakes. I am still on extreme rest per the Dr orders. My body doesn't appear to be healing yet either. So... since I don't have anything cakey to share today I thought I'd share a little about what has been going on in our house lately!

It had only been a few days since the first surgery of my entire 29 yrs of life. It was a major one, and I was under sedation for many hours. We knew it was going to take a long time to recover. My mother- in- law came to care for my children while I rested and recovered. One day grandma took the kids out. When they returned after several hours, my 4 yr old daughter was beaming with joy. In her hand she held a glass jar, and inside that was a pile of leaves and a beautiful fat caterpillar. I recognized it right away as a monarch, and for a moment, drifted back to one of the only pleasant memories from my childhood. My mom loved taking us out into fields as the weather cooled, to hunt for the big long milky pods that the creatures called their home. When we had found and collected many, we would take them home,(with the only food they could eat: the milkweed) to care and nurture them, until they transformed.

Now, so many years later, it brought such joy to my heart as one of my own children had "stumbled"
upon this little guy and would get to enjoy watching his transformation.
However, there did prove to be a problem.... this "grub" had been found in the garden and although I
knew monarchs ate only milkweed, grandma wasn't as sure. We tried feeding him many different leaves from around our yard, but it didn't matter what green delicate leave we tried. He would not eat it. I simply could not go tromping through fields as I wasn't allowed to walk or even drive yet. Grandma wasn't really up for that challenge either. I prepared for my little daughters sadness that I knew would come, when her precious new friend died of starvation.

Only a few days later, on a small outing, did I stop to gaze at a gorgeous green vine covered in delicate clumps of white flowers. As I leaned in to look closer and inhale a breathe of sweetness (I had assumed this was the very fragrant jasmine plant) did I notice strange pods. They looked suspiciously like a milkweed pod but were very clearly attached and growing from this lovely bush- headed straight to heaven on a lamp pole. Would this be a good source of food for our new little friend? I picked a pod and scratched my fingernail down it, and was delighted when white milky substance began to ooze from it's wound. I picked a few of them and walked to the car which I hadn't noticed before- was parked directly behind this big flowering wonder!
At home, we gently inserted our new found food into the jar and waited eagerly. That little caterpillar devoured the entire pod in only one day! I was praising God for providing food for our "pet" so that we would get to see first hand his amazing transformation! I was overjoyed to get to share this with my kids!

For days our friend ate and ate and ate. He was a VERY hungry caterpillar indeed.
One day, just as his last pod was almost gone, my daughter noticed him hanging on the lid. (We had provided a nice little stick for him, but he obviously felt safer at the very top of the jar!) As I explained how a caterpillar changed into a butterfly I told her we should watch him closely today. About a half hour later she checked again and came running, shrieking in delight. Her caterpillar was now a smooth jade and gold "sac"!

We set our pet's jar in a high, safe place so that no one could touch it and took turns watching him to see if anymore visible changes were taking place. As we all waited in patient anticipation we talked about how we would have to let our pet go once he came out. Our children, not liking the idea, begged for us to let him stay inside. Once again I explained how this guy would need flowers to eat and the sunshine to frolic in. Thankfully, the kids understood and were ready for the day they knew they had to say good-bye.

One week later I noticed the lovely green had turned colors- a monarch wing was now visible! We needed to go out that day and had hoped our friend would leave his grand finale for when we returned home. When we arrived back at home however, my 4 yr. old was the first into the house and ran straight to check on her caterpillar. She came bolting back downstairs shouting that she no longer had a caterpillar or a chrysalis- now she had a butterfly!

We all shuffled inside to gaze on a newly hatched, brightly colored, monarch butterfly. We all gazed in shear amazement at the incredible transformation that had taken place.
After a few moments, we headed outside equipped with our jar and of course our camera. Aaron snapped many shots before we gently "poured" him out onto one of my long pink zinnia's. He sat for a few minutes, perhaps enjoying the sunshine while allowing his wet wings to dry. Then after some coaxing from little hands too eager to touch his lovely wings, he flew away...........

Looking at this creature makes me smile at the thought of the creator. The creation is amazing, how much more awesome and awe-inspiring is the one who made these? A verse commonly used from the Bible is found in 2nd Corinthians 5:17-18 and says "Therefor if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself in Christ". Christian gear with this verse commonly has a butterfly as it's symbol. I held on to this verse as a brand new believer as a way to constantly remind me who my new identity was. But to look deeper into the life of our family "pet" shows even more of God's wonders hidden in the life cycle of the tiny thing.
This little wonder can ONLY eat milkweed. One plant- out of all of the other vegetation on our planet! As a child of the Almighty God I too have only one thing that feeds me. The Word of God- The Bible. I can read Christian self-help books, Christian Bible studies, listen to Christian music and sermons on the radio..... but all of this.... will eventually leave me starved for the pure and simple Word of God. I am simply created to "eat it up", to be filled, and nothing else will do. On the other hand, just like the little monarch caterpillar, if I am reading God's love letter to me, my guide for life, I am fed so well I become plump, fat, and cannot help what comes next-amazing transformation! It will happen! Soon my life becomes enclosed by God's word, (like the caterpillar in his chrysalis),His will... I may have to wait until I see the physical transformation, but it will happen, if I will just rest in Him.

I have thanked God a thousand times in the last few days for bringing this tiny guy into our house and allowing us to behold it wondrous transformation. I saw God telling me how much he cares for all his creation when he supplied our starved friend with strange milkweed to eat, and how much he loved me to give me a slice of something wonderful to share with my family, when I was feeling so bad about my health.

"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin

yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!" Matthew 6:28-30

Surgerys done!

2008-09-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today marks 2 weeks since my surgery. I am happy to be mostly off of the narcotics for pain, so I am able to at least think straight. I have unfortunately developed some complications which are going to delay my healing even longer.
I am not allowed to drive yet- and can't start back to work or doing anything on my feet until I heal more. ICK!
I am sad to not be able to makes cakes as I LOVE doing it so much- but have decided instead to enjoy the down time and relish in the fact that now I have LOTS of time to read my Bible and get into a deep relationship w/ my King. Already I have been amazed by what I'm learning that I thought I already knew!

Back to cakes- I love http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ blog and that also helps me pass time while I am allowed to only sit around. Some really funny stuff there!

(Note: The picture is a cake I did and forgot to take a photo of- It was really cute outside the box!-And I wasn't on pain meds yet!)

Micky

2008-08-26T07:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, so here is one of the cutest cakes I did over the weekend.
Talk about a bunch of little tiny parts to be made! Wow!

I love how it turned out, although I did have some trouble as one of the cakes I baked fell apart, I had to rebake at the last minute pushing all the other decorating out too- which was a push since I had other cakes scheduled. Alas, it all turned out fine after a few nervous breakdowns. :) I also made a cute little smash cake but forgot to snap a photo before I boxed it up. Maybe the recipient has a photo they could send me?

Today I am off to shop fo a comfy outfit to wear home from the hospital, and I am busy making a big stack of meals to be frozen so that we have food when I am unable to cook.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a picture of a simple cake I did but it was oh-so-cute!

No cakes? What we do?

2008-08-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I have now officially finished my last cake orders before I have to take time off for an upcoming surgery. Whew! This weekend was a lot of work! I'm glad it's Monday, my day of rest.
They all turned out really cute and I will be posting pictures of them tomorrow.

You might wonder what we do for fun in our house when things aren't all crazy for cakes. Well, you take one out of this world wacky man: 4 children: and a history of weird and exotic trips and you have..... viola.... fun in our house!

Daddy loves to entertain with stories of his travels to virtually unknown lands, explaining the mysterious foods they eat and their foreign rituals, along with showing all the prized possessions he acquired.

This day, he was recounting his expedition to Papua New Guinea (if you are curious you can pick up the book "Beyond Fear- A harrowing Journey " about this trip in any bookstore or order it cheaper online) He had out his bags, while the kids listened with intrigue to him recount what Papuans use these things for.

The "baby" in our house is still small enough to help her daddy recount times in the jungle.

Wow! This is an amazing cake!

2008-08-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

This is a cake NOT done by me. I wish I could claim such extraordinary work and maybe one day I'll get there, but for now I just like to gawk, ohh and awww over such masterful work!

Out of all of this Russian decorators work I chose this one in honor of my upcoming surgery.

Bridal shower Lingerie

2008-08-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

I must admit that this cake was actually really enjoyable to make. I found it even funnier when a friend (who also makes cakes) emailed me and said she had also just finished a "boob" cake and she also really enjoyed making it.

It makes no sense to me- but this was fun, and for a Bridal Shower. I prayed all the while making it (as I do with all my cakes). However, this time I asked for this bride and her husband to have a lasting marriage. It's all fun and games until real life hits (SMACK!!). I believe God has made marriage to last and heard a survey that said people who were unhappy and divorced in 4 yrs were still.... unhappy. However, those that stayed married and stuck it through the "unhappy" times were in 4 yrs.... happy! I figured the best thing I could do for this dear bride to be and her husband was pray like crazy that they won't give in when tough times come.

This is carved from a 10" square. Covered in fondant, painted with luster dust, with modeling clay roses-(which is really fun stuff to make for your kids to play with- see recipe below!)

Chocolate Modeling Clay
14 oz. chocolate chips (any flavor, milk, white, semi, swirl)
1/3 C karo syrup

Melt the chocolate in the microwave slowly- stopping to stir every 10-15 seconds. This is important! Don't overheat!
Once totally melted, stir in Karo and stir.
Dump it out onto parchment or wax paper and let set a few hrs- viola! Edible dough to play with!

Back to school!

2008-08-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yay! The sheer thought that summer is over is both exciting and exhausting for me. I will (starting tomorrow!) only have 2 of my children home with me during the day. This is both good and bad. As a mommy, it is nice to be able to have the older kids there to help and watch the younger ones, however, all the bickering that has been going on in my home the last couple of weeks has almost driven me to insanity!
We also have many personal things going on at the moment so I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.
In honor of back to school I am posting a "teachers" cake- all edible of course, along with a few pictures of our kids this summer.
As for me... I'm dreaming of pumpkin and cinnamon, nutmeg and squash.... falling leaves and apple butter- almost time to switch to my fall cake menu!! Recipes will be coming soon.

Radiohead

2008-08-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

I had a request for a client who wanted to surprise his wife with a cake.

She loves the Food Network, loves watching Ace of Cakes, and would apprecite a cake made just for her- said her thoughtful hubby.

When he called to order he had no idea what style or type so I asked him to think about what she likes an get back with me- and did he ever!

He decided on a cake after her favortive band- Radiohead. He actually drew me a picture of their logo and asked that I somehow put a few lines (he had very specific lines) from a song called "True Love Waits." He asked for the cake to be 3-D.

While I recall the badn from years ago I had to research what this band was all about- their symbols and logos and was a bit bummed that it wasn't more girly. I REALLY had to resist covering this cake in luster dust to make it "sparkle". (I fought that idea to the end!)

After it's all said and done it turned out nicely in a weird alternative kind of way. The lyrics on the back read "And true love waits

In haunted attics

And true love lives

On lollipops and crisps"

I hope she likes it and feels..... loved.

Cell Phones!

2008-08-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

Well, today ends a two yr. contract with our cell phone company. We re rejoicing! We've had nothing but problems with our service and can't wait to jump ship! My hubby was out late last night hunting down the cell phones we wanted, then after working with an employee (of a certain Super chain) for 30 minutes- he was informed that it was past 9:00 now (9:05 to be exact) and he'd have to wait until another time. (Really where do they find these people??!)
I was sad to awake and not have the new phone and phone company.
I wonder when someone will ask for a cell phone cake?

Today I'm posting an old cake pic of one I get asked about a lot. The treasure chest.

This is all edible and the pearl stands were made by hand. (Each pearl took forever!)

It is basically a 3 tier cake for the bottom "box" carved a bit, and the top is a single sheet cake on cardboard propped open with dowels protruding out the top, which are hidden in the center of the cake!
Of course covered in fondant and painted to look like woodgrain.
It's one cake that brings out the "A-Hoy Matey" in us all here!

BMW Z4

2008-08-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

The car cake is finished and I am on my way to deliver it!
13 hrs went into this little gem- and I can't say I ever really want to do one again!
My husband was very kind to help me carve it while I worked on the tedious job of getting the tires and rims in order.
BMW's are proud of their car and their logos cover it!

This was baked in a 9X13 then torted and filled with custard and raspberry preserves.
Fondant covered then painted, then all the details! Lights are all royal icing.

I got really tired at about 3:30Am went to bed- followed by only a couple of hrs of sleep before I had to awaken, care for the kids, and spend a few more hrs finishing this!

All and all I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Day of rest.... and caffine?

2008-08-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a relaxing day. I had only a few things to work on for the convertible car cake (coming tomorrow!)
I am planning to be up all night working on the thing, so I thought it appropriate to post a photo of a a Starbucks cake.
This one is made out of lots of small round cakes- stacked and then carved to be smaller at the bottom. The "bucks" logo is hand drawn onto fondant, cut out and placed onto the "cup". (The logo itself took 2 hrs to finish!) To top it off is actually whipping cream which started to slide off as I delivered this- whoops! I was a bit disappointed that it turn out just a wee bit crisper looking. Next time it will be more icing instead. I was trying to do for realism.

What goes into a cake?

2008-08-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

After a busy and crazy weekend of cakes, a concert, and running to and fro church/shopping, etc. - we are unwinding this morning. I am also busy working on a BMW cake that I'll have pictures of when it is finished.

So some people gasp at the price of custom made cakes - "it's just a cake" is something we bakers hear often. But is it just a cake? What goes into a cake?

Well, of course recipes differ but it's pretty standard to have ingredients like milk, eggs, flour sugar, heavy cream and butter- have you checked out prices on these items lately? Add to that things like electricity that bakes your cakes, pans and tools to create your cake, dishwasher (soap and more electricity) to clean the mess and my kitchen getting dirty in place of yours.
Then you have to have your cake on something to be able to take it home- and a box to carry it home in.
Wow! It's really a lot that goes into making a cake! When you add in all the hours- after the cost of my supplies- most times, I end up making less then $2 an hour!
Although, of course I did not begin doing this to"make it big"- but because I absolutely enjoy the process of creating a cake. It is a creative outlet that I need, and lastly, it is so satisfying to help be a part of someone's event and to see the sheer excitement on their face when they see a cake made extra- special-just-for-them (With loads of time and love!)
Or... you could just stop by your local store and get a cake from them- although more often then not you do end up getting what you pay for! (See photo of actual cake someone ordered from Walmart)

Weekend Frenzy!

2008-08-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy... Today is a day of rest and I am so glad!
This weekend was a crazy whirlwind of last minute cake orders on top of normal "family" plans.
Rushing around, living off of caffeine, and lack of sleep has made be a bit crazier then normal.
I love the "rummy" card cake I made to celebrate a man's 80th birthday. It was a surprise for him so I had to rush and deliver it and get out! (My bright pink chef's coat may have tipped him off had he walked in while I was there:) Kuddos to his family for talking the time to make his 80th be a huge extra special event. Anyone who lives that many years should get the most elaborate celebrations possible (in my humble opinion). The cards are fondant/gumpaste mix and the cake is fondant covered and painted to look like a wood grain table. It made me want to break out the cards and play the game that I haven't played since I was a teen!
The other difficult cake this weekend was Scrabble. Thanks to Duff and all the wonderful guys at Charm City cakes I get people wanting this cake all the time!
it's a great cake but oh so time consuming and oh so hard to get every little detail perfect- put that all into play with a last minute order and it could spell a CAKE DISASTER! Thankfully we pulled this one off without a hitch (other then the no sleep thing). My hunny got a big hug for free handing the "Scrabble"logo onto the cake for me. He is so talented! We already knew we were a match made in heaven- but his unique talent for awsome handwriting has helped us see that we really work great together!

Cakes... are not quick!

2008-07-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

Cakes.... awwww.
The word brings thoughts of beautiful colors and happy times, tastes and smells of sweet aromas which tantalize the taste buds.....and....... your local grocer?
One of these things seem out of place to me.
Can you take a guess?
Yes- I marvel at the wonderful conveniences of our modern world. We no longer have to pick out food in season and can it if we wish for it to last. We can drive to our local grocer and get anything.... I mean anything, at the tip of our fingers! But wait- the cake! Rows of fun and colorful sheets. Covered in mounds of icing..... how long has it been there? Was it baked today? WHAT IS IN THE STUFF??
I love being able to offer something different and so simple yet not simple at all. It is a pride I take seriously to provide the best quality... flavor and look- something you can't just walk up and pick "off the rack".
So-- my pet peeve of the week?
People calling, desiring a cake....... the next day. Maybe two.

Cakes- the custom kind- take hours and hours and hours (just ask my family!) of painstaking detail, baking, and that doesn't count all the supplies needed to "plate" it or box it.
You can't simply call and order a custom cake for the next day! (That's what the grocery store kind are for.)

Yes, they are similar to designer clothes- made just for a person with just the right touch. And it doesn't happen overnight. (I actually pull many overnighters) :)
You know what I mean.....
Quality... just takes............time!!
(Although the cake in this picture is one such "overnight" specialty)