WOW!! Summer just flew by...

So it's already coming to the end of August. My garden froze over 2 weeks ago and the grass is looking pretty brown. Where did the summer go?? I was very busy making cakes and doing everyday Mom stuff. Since my husband works away, I'll constantly doing something! Here are my July creations.

The most simple cake ever, but turned out cute. This was a marble cake with french buttercream filling.

A friend of mine asked for a naked woman cake and I was caught off guard because I never thought I'd make a cake like this. I'm no artist and defiantly cannot draw people, never mind a voluptuous naked woman!! So I googled naked woman and boy did I get a lot of interesting things! Finally after a while, I came across this animated girl and thought she looked easy enough to draw. I think the outcome turned out great!

Transformers... This was a very, very heavy cake. The 12" cake was homemade carrot with cream cheese icing. I wish I was invited to that party! Yum! I tried a new technique for the drawing of Optimus Prime, not overly proud of how he turned out, but the customer loved it! I can't believe how much detail went into this one. The chocolate cupcakes surrounded the cake and had chocolate garnishes saying 'Happy Birthday Jacob'.

Thomas was fun and I had a lot of fun creating him! I love it when a customer tells me to do whatever I want and gives me free range on all the decorations. I was very busy that week, so time pushed a bit and I didn't quite get the red icing to turn red, it was kinda pinky red, but the Mom was so awesome and easy going, she just loved it despite the color.




My first cupcake cake, which by the way is such a great idea! My husband's birthday fell on a weekend when he wasn't home and I was super busy with a wedding and another customer cake. He told me "My wife makes cakes and I don't even get one", so I waited until he was gone and the kids and I researched deer pictures on google. Ryan is a big time hunter and I wanted him to LOVE his cake. We were also going out camping and the cupcakes made it easier than having to wash plates and spoons. I am very proud, I free handed the entire and I think it looks quite well. Ryan was so surprised and very happy that we didn't forget about him!





Baby Shower cupcakes for Maxwell. Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes with the letter 'M' for Maxwell to welcome his arrival!




Party for a Princess. Shea turned 1 and brought it in as a beautiful princess. After making this I now know a few different techniques I could've used instead and it would've looked more flawless, but turned out fairly well. All piping was with royal icing.




Such a fun cake for a cute little sweetie. Zoe's 1st birthday. This is not my design, but the Mom wanted this cake and I replicated it. Very fun and interesting, the rainbow slide took a little work, but finally came together 20min before pick up.











My brother was married on July 25th and I was asked to make the cake. I was so excited and I love the colors they choose. Yellow and blue, they just complimented eachother so well. The was 130 cupcakes in vanilla and chocolate and a 8" double layer marble cake with french buttercream filling. At the end of the wedding, there were no cupcakes left! I love it when my cakes get eaten and aren't wasted! I love the display of this cake and cupcakes, I had to post more pics than usual!

Since it's almost the end of August and I just got to busy to blog since the beginning of July...I am promising I will blog all my August creations next weekend. I have a few wedding cakes and some birthday cakes and my son's real birthday is next Friday, so I am excited to create his cake. Austin has built some Lego dune buggies and wants a landscapes cake with mud holes and trails...this should be interesting. At least he can help because it's only us that going to eat it!

Life is...well Life!!

So It's been some time since I last blogged! I just have been so busy with life that coming on here was last on my list. I still have things sitting that need done, but I am so sick of doing dishes, that this is my break from reality!

So many events have come and gone and with that many tasty treats have been made. All of a sudden I am becoming swamped with cake orders. The birthdays are so much fun because I love seeing the look on the child's and parent's face when I deliver the cake. It just makes everything sooo worth it!


Here are the pics of the cakes I've done in the past few months...

A 1st bithday is always a special one and I love the smash cake idea! I'm always searching google images and came across smash cakes...soooo fun!

A little girl in my daughter's playschool class loves littlest pet shops. Her mom came to me with a pic of this exact cake, so I made my attempt to recreate it and I think it came out beautifully!! Fondant is a lot of fun to work with.

Made for 2 little girl's ballet recital. I saw them later on and they told me they froze the slippers to save for another time...how sweet!

A very mini tractor cake, this is becoming a all-time favorite! This one would only serve about 2-3 people.

Alyiva is following in my foot steps, everything that comes out of her mouth is cake this and cake that. She created this cake all by herself and decorated as well. I think it is wonderful!! Mommy is very proud of you, Alyvia!

Strawberry Shortcakes with real whipping cream and homemade lady fingers made for my Dad's 60th birthday. Boy, oh, boy were these tasty!! Actually, I want one right now!

A neat idea I found on someone's website, can't remember who. These are cake truffles and oh, so addicting! They would make great favors for any occasion, but very time consuming.

My niece, Teila's 1st birthday cake! My sister loves flowers and I tried to incorporate the look of Teila's bedroom into her cake. I love the way this one turned out.

My 1st attempt at a black forrest cake. Looks good, I hope it tasted good too! I didn't get to have a slice of this one, but I will make it again, quick and easy and very hard to resist!

Star Wars, well let's just say, I've never watched an episode or movie, I really hate Star Wars. So when it came to this particular cake, I was very worried! Yoda was a real pain in the ass! Because of the detail, I actually made fim 3 times, before I was satisfied with the final product. I am very surprised how well he came out and I think the cuppies turned out super. Customer was extremely happy and that's what really maters...I actually have a Transformers Cake coming up thanks to this customer!

My friend's husband's birthday. This cake was fun and super easy. It tasted great too!

Austin, my oldest boy's 8th birthday (party for his friends). He wanted the black pearl and this comes no where near that, but it still is a pirate ship and he was thrilled with the outcome. This cake was way too big for the size of the party, next time I will down size, this could have fed 50 people!

I really love this cute butterfly cake my assistant, Alyvia choose for her friend, Tialandis's birtday. Alyvia loves sprinkles and wanted to incorporate them into the cake. I'm not a huge fan, but hey, kids love them!! Alyvia put all the sprinkles on the mini cupcakes and she did an awesome job!

These 2 sesame street cakes were a ton of fun to make, especially cookie monster! I homemade all the cookies and made the eyes from fondant. These both were very easy, I think because I really enjoyed making them, the time went by quickly. When I met up with Seth's mom, I showed Seth through the car window his cookie monster cake and his eyes just popped! That was such a great moment, I usually don't get to see the look on the child's face and I'm glad I did this time!

Bridal shower cupcake minis. White, chocolate and carrot cake. The carrot cake with cream cheese icing were delectable! My sister and I must have eaten 4 each! I had a blast icing these, they were very summery and fun. I found of later the bride to be couldn't eat any because she's lactose intolerant and can't have butter, so I'd love to make her something that she can eat...must find a recipe!

My second wedding cake and I love it!! Completely homemade, which I am very proud of! It was white and chocolate cake filled with french buttercream and iced with swiss meringue buttercream and then covered with homemade fondant. The couple are friend's of mine and my husband and loved it!

I am really excited for this summer because I have 4 other weddings to do. Two are cupcake wedding cakes and there is one 3-tier and 0ne 4-tier cake as well. I got a new mixer, a fance kitchenaid one, which makes everything much easier and less time consuming! I don't know how I did it before with that old hand mixer!

FUN, FUN, Fondant!

I was asked by a mother of a girl in my daughter's class if I would make a cake for her using fondant. I never actually thought about using it before, I guess it's appearance of perfection always scared me away. Well I got up the courage to try it out and so happy I did! I was told to just try out ready made fondant from Wilton's, but since I never get to the city, I thought I'd try making it myself. It wasn't that bad! I watched a few videos on youtube and some people were taking hours to make a 3 pound batch, but I did find a clip that was quick and easy! Very messy, but I don't mind getting dirty! The fondant turned out very good, too sweet for my liking, but I iced the cake with SMBC underneath, so the fondant can always be stripped away and the cake eaten without. Alyvia, my daughter, was such a great helper and I think the cake turned out super, for my first time! I am looking forward to working lots with rolled fondant.

The Results

So my adventure is over for this week. I think my cakes came out well.

Elmo turned out to be one of my favs. The red was a little hard, but soon realized with time the color darkens, I wish I would have known that earlier. I used a 1/4 jar of color paste!! LOL. Next time I will prepare colors the day before. He was definately a challenge and must have taken 3 hours to ice, if not 4! I've got the hang of the SMBC and can now whip it up in a jiffy, even with my junky electric hand beater!

John Deere, this was so fun to build! I actually spent less time on this one than Elmo. The cake seemed to sculpt really well and didn't crumble too much. I used a lot of scewers to brace it because it needed to be transported and taken to a pool party, didn't want it to melt!! I feel the colors came out really nice and the shape looked very tractor-like, I actually impressed myself. I can't even draw a tractor, never mind carve one from cake, but I did it. YAY!! The icing was very difficult to get smooth on here, but my small offset spatula helped, I used to use this jumbo one which really sucked!!

When it came around to the castle cake, I just started wearing out. I now know never make 3 cakes in 2 days, just too much!! My time was closing in and I still hadn't decorated the castle, so a quick job had to be done. Jade was still very happy and it tasted oh so good, but I am not personally satisfied with it. Next time, I will schedule more time and try to get it smoother and more even. I'd also like to try making more of a flower garden around it, I think this would add so much to the princess castle look.

Creations!!

This coming Saturday I have an order for 3 cakes!! I am a little nervous. 1, because Ryan is away and I have the kids to take care of and 2, because the cakes are for actual paying customers!! I am very excited though because I am getting to learn and try new things and I don't have to eat the cake!! I'd be 400 lbs!

The one I started on tonight is a Elmo sheet cake. A little nervous about this one because it has red. I've never really used red, so I hope the color comes out alright, I bough no taste red paste by Wiltons. I am going to try a new technique on this one that I saw on you tube. Using a flat edge to smooth the sides of the cake, I hate using the off-set spatula, it never reallygets smooth.

Tomorrow morning I am going to start carving out a John Deere tractor from two loaf pans. I am pretty excited and can't wait for the finished product, I just have to be patient though because I tend to want the end result now and rush my work! This was Ryan's idea to make the tractor instead of drawing one out on a sheet cake.

The last cake, which I'll probably do on Saturday morning is for a friend of mine's daughter. She is turning 6 and is having a princess party. I made a castle cake for my daughter's 4th birhtday, it was okay (started leaning because I didn't brace it properly, or maybe not at all). Jade wants one just like Alyvia's. I bought scewers this time and I hope those work!

Lots to do tomorrow, make SMBC and hopefully that is on my side, or else I'm just using regular old buttercream. I did however find a great recipie on the net, which I tried today and it's pretty good. I haven't piped with it yet, but it tastes nice.

Well this is all very new to me! I've been reading a lot of great blogs and I am hoping by bogging I will learn and get advice on a new passion in my life, baking.


Here are a few pics of recent cakes I've decorated.








This is an ice cream cake I made for a friend's little boy. He loves chocolate, so I used chocolate ice cream, Kit Kat bar filling and chocolate whipped cream frosting.

This is a marble cake made with Swiss Meringe Buttercream (thanks How to Eat a Cupcake) and Whipped Raspberry Filling. I piped on with a Wilton's writer's tip, turned out great , I think!