Congrats Abby and Rob!

Rob and Abby were blessed with some beautiful fall weather today for their beautiful fall wedding!  I, however, was trying to keep those darn helicopter leaves from flying into the cake.  The cake was designed around the fall theme with an added tribute to Rob, who is a fire fighter in Baltimore.  What a fun cake to make!  

Some added lessons in cake making...

I did learn that, while rice crispies are more stable, they don't always hold their shape well.  I felt like I was stretching the figurines every ten minutes to keep it from shrinking.  Also, red velvet cake takes a lot of red food coloring.  I am pretty sure I bought every bottle of red food coloring on the shelf!!   

Congratulations to Abby and Rob and best wishes in your life together! 

They Say It's Your Birthday...

Okay so maybe it's not your birthday, but it was the birthday of two of my favorite little men!  I had two very different cakes to make, but they were so much fun!  However, in the process of making these two birthday cakes, I learned a couple things about myself.

First, the more frustrated I become with something the less likely it is to turn out in my favor.  I went through four bags of marshmallows and two bags of powdered sugar only to have each batch of fondant crumble in my hands.  At about 11:45pm, I threw all of the failed batches away and went to bed.  The next morning I got up, took a deep breath, made the fondant once and it was perfect.  Damn you patience!

And speaking of fondant, another thing I have learned is that "No Fail" recipes are really "No Fail Unless You're Marlania" recipes.  See above for my experience with a "No Fail Fondant" recipe.  

I'm sure there are more lessons, but I feel a little caked out and the Ravens are playing!  So...

Until next time!

Happy 3rd Birthday Cash Man! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Ethan! 

 

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

I was asked to create a bridal shower cake that was centered around the bride's theme, Cinderella.   I decided to use the glass slipper as my focus, since that is how Cinderella finally comes to marry her Prince Charming.  Honestly, this cake went surprisingly well. 

My only snag was that I couldn't get the deep, navy blue I wanted for the icing.  I used a whole container of icing dye and half a tube of food coloring, and I still ended up with that light, royal blue color.  Personally, I think the color fits well with the theme.  I hope they agree.  I also hope that they check their teeth before taking pictures.  I sampled the icing and I felt like I could have starred in the new Smurfs movie!  Yikes! 

  

Love is Sweet...

...And So Is Cake!

I did it!  I made my first three-tier wedding cake.  It was a challenge, but I'm pretty proud of it!  I have definitely been running on adrenaline that last few days.  Nick and I got back from Wesley Forest, a camp we run for people with disabilities, late Thursday night.  I woke up early Friday and gathered all of my ingredients and such.  I started baking around noon and finished around 8pm.  Saturday was another early day.  I started around 7:30 am and finished by my goal time of 1:30pm.  Nick and I had a wedding Saturday, so I dropped off the cake in three pieces.  The wedding was Sunday, so I tiered the cake and finished the last minute details before getting ready for the wedding.  I also tried my had a floral arrangements, since I made the cake topper also.  So fun!

I was glad that I could contribute to such a beautiful day!

Working on the Middle Tier

Completed Middle Tier 

The Finished Product

As a thank you, Kim and Trey made me business cards.  I was sooooo excited!  They look amazing!

Using Four Letter Words!!

For my latest cake, I wanted to try a recipe for fondant.  Let's just say that I flowed through my four-letter vocabulary quite frequently yesterday.  I measured to the tee, because I knew that this would be a tricky recipe. It looked great in my mixing bowl and I was so excited when I started kneading the fondant.  My hope was high, and then it plummeted into the depths of darkness that is fondant hell.  Instead of beautiful, smooth and workable fondant, I ended up with a sticky, shiny mountain of goop that looks like the skin of an elephant when rolled out.  So frustrating.  I am not quitting!  I will try a new recipe until I get it right, but for this cake I resorted to store bought fondant.  The only fondant that is not store bought is the flesh colored fondant on the baby butt and the feet.  

This was my first "hired" cake.  So fun!  I can't take 100% credit for the idea.  I have seen several baby butt cakes, so I used the concept and made it my own.  I think it's my favorite cake so far! 

While looking through my pictures, I found one of my first non-specialty cakes.  Banana Lemon Raspberry Cake.  Also delicious.      

Come Sail Away...

Just finished a birthday cake for one of my mom's co-workers.  Bet you can't tell what her favorite hobby is!  I attempted to carve the deck, which proved to be a little bit more difficult than I expected.  I covered the cake in a brown fondant, since she has a teak sailboat.  The sails are made of gum paste and are really, really, really fragile.  

Happy Birthday Joyce!

Carved and Crumb Coated
Waiting for Fondant 

Ready to set sail!

Yummy Yummy

Held my first cake tasting this past weekend.  I am making my first wedding cake in July for my beautiful sister-in-law.  She and her fiance joined me this weekend for a cake tasting.  It was fun pretending to be professional!  I made a chocolate cake and a white cake, and I filled them with four different mousses.  So much cake!  I also had practice making the pink gerber daisies that will be part of the cake.

Each type of cake was sampled with the four different mousse flavors.
Strawberry Mousse, White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse, Mango Mousse, Chocolate Almond Mousse

My Practice Gerber Daisy 

Flip Flopping into Summer

As a way of welcoming summer for some of my fellow teachers, I made individual flip flop cakes!  The cakes, which are white cakes   with strawberry mousse, are the size of a small flip flop.  The tye-dye fondant was made by rolling multiple colors of fondant together.  

60 Cake

Covering cakes in fondant has gotten easier with all the practice, but curved numbers are horrible!  This cake was made for my mother-in-law, Kathy's, 60th birthday.  One good thing about this cake...I found my go to chocolate cake recipe.  Delicious!

Crumb Coating Before the Fondant

White Fondant with Orange and Pink Flowers

Wine Bottle Cake

The second cake I made was trickery than I anticipated.  For my mother's birthday, I really wanted to surprise her with a wine bottle cake.  What a process!  This cake was a total learning experience.

Things I now know...
1.  Dyeing fondant is very very messy, especially if you don't wear gloves.
2.  Gum paste sticks to things...lots of things.
3.  Chocolate melts quickly, which makes it difficult to shave it.

The cake was a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling.  The wine bottle, made of gum paste, was shaped and painted with icing dye.  The cake is framed with dyed fondant and topped with white chocolate shavings.

Oops!  Definitely should wear glove next time!

Wine Bottle Molds

Wine Bottle Cake 

  

It all started...

...when my brother proposed to his girlfriend.  I was watching the Food Network Channel and staring in awe at the amazing cakes being produced on the show.  Naturally I thought, "Hmmm...I wonder if I can do that."  I have never been much of a baker, considering the first time I tried to make my grandmother's chocolate jumbles I used coffee grounds because it called for a cup of coffee, but I was up for the challenge.  I made a simple vanilla cake with a blackberry filling, but I designed the cake in the shape of a ring box for the special occasion.  The process took far longer than I imagined.  I guess I'm truly an optimist or I'm just really really horrible at estimating time.  The cake was delicious and the design, though flawed, wasn't half bad.  I decided that practice might actually make perfect, and I knew that this wouldn't be the last cake I made.  

French Vanilla Cake with Blackberry Filling

    

Ring Box