Baby Shoes

I'm making a cake for a baby shower next weekend, so I made the baby shoes in advance (sans shoestrings) and thought I'd share.

First Tasting

Sooooo, I had my first tasting / consultation on Saturday and it went very well!  I made three flavors of cake for the potential client (she brought her mom - awww) and colored the frosting to reflect her wedding colors.  I took a bunch of notes on what she wants for her wedding (in May) so that  I could get everything right in the order form.  I then sent the bride-to-be on her way with a box of goodies so she and her fiancee could make a final decision.

The very next morning, the client wrote this email to me:

"Thanks so much for all the effort that you put into yesterday!  We really loved meeting with you and your CAKE!!  You are extremely talented and I feel extremely fortunate to have found/met you!  My dad & finance, Ken, both enjoyed the cupcakes as well. :) Needless to say, we would love to move forward and get you a deposit to be able to secure the date!"

I

I'd say I'm making progress :)

My New Logo (As if I had an old one)

I figured if I am going to start marketing myself and selling my cakes, I needed a logo.  Some advanced Powerpoint skills and a lack of design experience yielded me this logo:

Spring Wedding Cupcakes

I have my very first tasting scheduled for next Saturday.  The potential client wants 150 cupcakes and an 8" round cake for her wedding.  I've never made more than 2 dozen cupcakes at a time, so that will be a challenge.  But I have to win the business first!  The client's wedding colors are Tiffany blue and green. Practice cupcakes below.

(I especially like to two-toned one on the bottom right!)

Diva Cake = DONE!

I finished the birthday cake I'd planned to make. The top tier gave me soo much trouble. I still have to transport it to the venue, so all's not finished yet. I hope the birthday girl loves it!

My Cake

The Video

Shooting Stars

In order to make my much anticipated "Diva" cake, I had to make the "shooting" stars.  I was bored at my bf's house while he was at work, so I made a tutorial.  No, seriously, I think I'm getting hooked on making YouTube videos.  I simply sat down to make the stars (since they needed to be made in advance anyway) and thought to myself, "Hmmm, I bet I could make a useless video!"  So, here it is.  Enjoy!

Simple Daisy Cake

I went to visit my friend Michelle and she wanted me to teach her how to make a fondant cake.  This is the cake we ended up creating.

The cake is simple, but remember that I was not in my own (fully equipped, mind you) kitchen.  We bought a couple of 9" pans, some red food coloring, a pixie fondant cutter, and ingredients for homemade buttercream and fondant. I have to give a shout out to Michelle for all of her hard work.  She did an amazing job!

P.S. Michelle, you'll always have a job in my bakery (whenever I open it :-D)

Decorated!

I decorated my practice cake today!  I think it came out pretty well.  The actual cake will replicate the first three layers of the inspiration cake, but the practice cake was two layers for simplicity. I learned alot from this dry run since this is my first time making such a cake.

The Cake

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The Video

Bling! Bling!

Remember that hand made monogram cake topper I told you about?? Well, I made it last night! I printed out the monogram letter from the internet, taped it to a 5" by 7" piece of aluminum flashing, cut the letter out with kitchen shears, and "bedazzled" it with gems and jewelry glue from Michael's. Below is the finished product. Next time, I will use smaller, same-sized gems for a neater, more uniform look.

Cake Topper for Diva Cake

Experimenting with Marshmallow Fondant (MMF)

Since I wanted to do a practice cake and didn't want to use my $17 tub of Satin Ice fondant, I decided to try and make my own. It was a sticky mess, but the fondant turned out fabulous! I got the recipe and instructions from a You Tube tutorial. I let the fondant rest over night and applied it to the cakes this evening. I was pleased with the texture and taste of the fondant, and it rolled out like a charm! I will definitely be making this again!

Below is a picture (taken with camera phone, so low quality) of my trial topsy-turvy cake. I did 6" and 8" tiers, but I didn't like the size combo (not enough space on bottom tier), so I've decided to revise my original plan (10", 8" and 6" tiers) and do 14", 10" and 6" tiers so that I will have more space. I need to make sharper edges when smoothing the fondant and taper the cake more, too. I didn't get to carve the top tier into a topsy-turvy shape because I didn't remeber to carve it before icing it. Oh well.




Also, I learned how to do the topsy-turvy cake from a You Tube tutorial.

Diva Birthday Cake

About a month ago, I agreed to make a diva-esque cake for a friend's birthday. The cake I plan to make is based on a design done by Pink Cake Box.

The Inspiration

The Revised (well, sort of - tier sizes revised)

As you can see, the inspiration cake is a four tier, topsy-turvy cake. I plan to do the first three layers only, but instead of putting my friends age on top, I will make a "bedazzled" monogram cake topper. The party is Saturday, December 26, so I've got about two weeks to get everything together. Not only that, I live on the east coast and the party is in Chicago! I have sooo much stuff to lug on the plane with me! I plan to make homemade marshmallow fondant, the stars, and the monogram in advance. I have access to a KitchenAid stand mixer and a well equipped kitchen in Chicago, so I think I can pull it off. I'm also going to make a practice cake in advance because I've never made a topsy-turvy cake before! Wish me luck, because I need it!

Recent Cakes

Here are two cakes I've done in the last two weeks.

Cake for office gift exchange (I won best gift!)

Cake for my coworker, Kim (duh?)

From Peasant to Princess

I started dabbling in cake decorating about a year ago, but I've really stepped it up in the last month. I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be, but I'm willing to put forth the work and dedication to earn the title of "Cake Artist". I have ABSOLUTELY NO formal culinary arts training (but I did work at McDonalds and Burger King when I was a teenager, hehe), so I'm learning everything as I go. My two biggest resources are Cake Central and various YouTube videos. I want to share my experiences with you as I transition from the Cake Peasant to the Cake Princess!