Camper Cake

I wish I would have had more time on this cake.  I had a lot of great ideas to make a fire pit and some trees, make the camper look a lot better.  I was called the night before and had to move my time up about 6 hours.  I wasn't ready for that!  I at least had the cake baked, but nothing else done.  I would've started the night before, but I didn't get back from a school field trip with my son until 9pm.  It was a long, exhausting day.  6 hours on a bus with grade 2 and 3 kids and wearing a back pack full of lunch and water bottles took a toll on me.  I am not used to that.  It was a great experience, but I'm a tad bit sore.  So after that, I wasn't going to being decorating a cake.   After I got Austin off to school the next day, I began the cake and ran out of time quickly.  Here's what it looked like. 

My Weekend!

It was so beautiful outside this past weekend.  With +30 Celsius weather and trips to the park, the kids and I loved it!  Ryan was up in Conklin working, so I was soloing the entire time.  On top of making a new flower bed, hauling dirt, playing with the kids, cleaning house, I had five cake orders!!  Today I am still exhausted, I just want to sleep for an extra few hours everyday, but Aidan's been waking up at 5:30-6:00am.  WHY???  I hope that changes, and quick!  Anyways here are the pictures from last weekend.

So this is my first wedding cake for 2010.  I absolutely love it!!  A few firsts on this.  I only did quilting once before on a birthday cake which didn't turn out, this turned out perfect.  I didn't get a chance to make it to the city, so I made my own quilting tool.  I used a piece of thick card stock cut to kinda resemble a ruler with a diagonal end, a tool to poke the points into the fondant and a roller tool.  It worked, which still amazes me, probably took much longer than it should have, but I did what needed to be done!  I also made the calla lilies for the first time.  They actually weren't as bad as I thought they'd be.  Again, didn't have the right tools, so I made my own cones from printer paper and didn't have a ball roller, so I used a rounded lid. 

"Thank you so much for the beautiful cake Andrea. I absolutely loved it and it tasted great too. Thanks."

Well, one out of nine wedding cakes done.  Super excited for the next one coming up in June!!  Stay tuned!

My neighbour wanted her little guy's favorite teddy bear, I mean stuffed donkey to be replicated out of cake.  This was a challenge for me.  At first I didn't even know where to start.  I was so exhausted the night before, I woke up in the morning and made this before the party.  I think he turned out pretty cute!

"Thanks Andrea! You did an amazing job on the cake. When Wyatt saw it, he smiled and said "donkey" so thanks again! The cupcakes were delicious! :)"

A few of 36 cupcakes I made for triplets.  E, A and C are the first letter of their names.  I got the idea for the three cupcakes out of the Hello Cupcake book. 

"The cupcakes were awesome. Can't wait for the cake. "

I'm not really sure what kind of cake this was, the little girl's mom came to me with a a picture of the cake she wanted, but only wanted a one layer cake.  I changed it up a bit and made the mask, fan, bow, #5, name flower and hangy things out of gumpaste.  I've really enjoyed working with gumpaste, it's alot of fun and I can do alot more with it than fondant.  Anyways, back to the cake...  She also told her mom she wanted diamonds on the cupcakes.  I came by these diamond rings at a dollar store, I could only get 16 though, so I changed up the other cupcakes a bit.  I think the rings look pretty cute on the cupcakes.

Horse cake.  Not my design, I saw a picture on google somewheres'.  My daughter loved this cake, she has become very fond of horses, maybe I'll have to make her one next January.

And here are some pics of the kids enjoying the nice weather. 

Yummy Watermelon!

Alyvia, Aidan and cousin, Teila on the tire swing.

Alyvia checking out her butterflies she caught.

Austin and Alyvia looking for butterflies.

Aidan and Austin on the top of monkey bars.  Yes, my little 2 year old can climb anything!!

A Beautiful Photo!

I really wanted to post these pictures of one of my wedding cakes I made last year.  It was professionally photographed by a friend of mine and wonderful photographer!!!  Chantelle does such beautiful work and you can check her out at http://mflphotographybychantelle.blogspot.com/  or on her facebook page . 

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Create!!!

So today was a great day!  Back in March I took a scrapbook class and found out I really want to expand my creativity!  My sister and I went together and had so much fun, that when another class came up, we jumped at the chance to go.  Not only do I get a day break from life, I get to use my brain to create beautiful pages in a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.   Rebecca is so amazing and creative and taught us how to make a mini coil album.  I can't stop looking at mine, I LOVE it!!  I am so impressed that I actually made it and didn't copy exactly what she did.  The first class, I was quite the copy cat, but now I feel I can branch out and try something on my own.  I can't wait for the next class!

Before all the fun I had today, I was busy for three days baking and decorating.  I was only suppose to have one order this week and then a few last minutes came, which I didn't mind. 

The first was for my cousin's father in law. It's not a super 'WOW' cake, just something I was able to get together quickly before they came (I only had one day notice).  Again terrible picture quality, like I said, last minute.  He was fun to create though. 

"Hey Andrea! Just wanted to let you know that everyone loved the cake, it was awesome!!! Thanks again!!"

The BIG, FAT, Calico Cat!!  I love this cake!  My calico didn't do as it was suppose to.  Originally it was suppose to be a white with grey, black and brown mix, then when I added the black, it turned purple!  This isn't Alice in Wonderland!  So I just mixed in a few more colors, ended up with grey and then attempted to see what would happen when I put the white, black and brown.  It was all the fondant I had left, so I was glad it turned out alright.  Marbling is a bit harder than I had anticipated.  He was really fun to make and the customer absolutely loved it when she picked it up the next morning!!

The lady who ordered this cake has a mother who loves Cardinals.  She asked me if I could create a 3D bird, I think I hesitated before I answered.  This could be a toughy!!  She told me every year her and her sister compete to see who can get the best cardinal gift for their mom.  She said a cardinal cake could never be beat.  I was honored to make this!  It took a bit of planning and figuring out how to stack the cake and shape the cake into a bird figure. Then came the decorating and making of the feathers.  I will admit, this was a challenge, but I am pretty pleased with the end result.  The pictures are terrible, but this cake really needs to be seen in person.  I was able to try a new technique out, which I always love. I painted the fondant on this cake.  The 8" bottom was originally supposed to be white, but I kept dropping red paint on it, so I made it brown. 

"LOL won the competion hands down with the cake...it was awesome, my mom didn't want to eat it....but we convinced her!! The cake also tasted awesome!! Thanx Andrea! "

Stay tuned, next week another busy one.  A birthday cake, birthday cupcakes and  a tiered wedding cake!!!  Wedding Season is here!

Not so busy to SUPER BUSY!!

So this month of April started out with a few cakes with just a few bookings (previously posted) and then snowballed into craziness for April and May!  My photography skills are terrible, so don't mind some of the photos look pretty bad! 

My niece, Teila's birthday was on the 19th.  Alyvia and I came up with the idea since she was having a garden party.  I love it!  I also love that I got to use the dessert stand my Grandma gave me, it was hers when she was younger.  There was a ice cream cake that went along with this, but my camera is on the blitz and didn't save the pictures I took.  It was just white with a big flower in the middle, but the best ice cream cake I've ever had!!  It was chocolate caramel chunk with Oreo crust...so good!

For my Grandma's 82nd birthday I made her this green embroidery texture cake.  She is from Northern Ireland where all is green and loved the color (I kinda messed up on the color, I think it looks more hospital like, lol).  This was a new technique I wanted to give a try and I think it would have worked better on fondant, but I only wanted to use buttercream.  My son Austin with his Great Grandma and then a picture of some of the great grandchildren with her as well.  Teila was just about to cry!

Thomas the Train.  I love this cake!  So does my little Aidan, he kept saying "TRAIN, TRAIN!!".  I think I know what I'll have to make for him for his 3rd birthday.  This past weekend was super crazy.  Ryan came home and had hurt his back, so we were running back and forth to hospitals, chiropractors, for a massage, etc, etc...Anyways, I squeezed this cake into my craziness, but didn't even have time to take a good picture of it.  I took these when the customer was here to pick up the cake, talk about last minute! 

I have a lot of weddings coming up this spring, summer and fall.  So far, nine!  My first one is mid-May and I think I'll get in the wedding groove.  Wedding cakes take a lot of time and not only time baking and decorating.  There is more time put into sitting with the bride and groom (if he wants to come that is!) and figuring out what they want in a cake.  Sometimes this goes quickly, like a cake I booked last week.  She was the most awesome bride to be ever and booked her cake in 25 minutes!  She didn't car to have a taste testing, she trusted that my cakes are delicious, just by what she's seen and heard.  That make life a bit easier.  But some brides are different, some take months to figure out what they want.  That's fine, but I don't think they realize I have a life too and if I charged them for all the consultations and time and effort I've put into their cake, it would be very expensive!!  Sorry to vent, I think maybe I am just feeling a little frustrated with everything that's been going on.  It feels better to get it out! lol!~