Winter Birthday Cake

Snowman Birthday Cake

Fondant Snowman

Cupcake Birthday Cake

We decided to celebrate our family kids' November birthdays at one party since we had several to celebrate.   I needed to make a cake for 5 kids ranging in age from 6 to 13 and for both boys and girls.  I decided to go with a generic birthday theme rather than trying to accommodate each kid so I put brightly colored cupcakes on top of the cake (white icing with edible glitter).  Since they were going on the cake, I wanted the entire cupcake to be edible so I used silicon baking cups and Wilton candy melts to create edible cups for them.  It turned out cute and the kids loved that they could eat the entire cupcake, wrapper and all!

Cupcake Birthday Cake

Here's how I made the edible cupcake cups:
I used silicon baking cups as molds and also to bake the cupcakes in to ensure the cupcakes would fit in them.  The paper wrappers seemed to be slightly larger than the silicone mold.  I particularly like this one made by Wilton because the flower petals around the sides made it easy to remove the candy cup.  I used Wilton white candy melts, but they would be cute in various colors.

I used about 10 candy melts for each one and microwaved about a minute and a half.  I then used a knife to spread the melted candy around the sides of the mold.

I put the mold in the freezer until the candy had hardened.  Then gently pulled the "petals" of the mold away from the candy to release it and peeled the mold off.

Here's the finished, totally edible, cupcake wrapper!  Just drop in a cupcake and decorate :-)

Happy Halloween!

University of Texas Longhorns birthday cake for my son with a Halloween twist...

Texas Longhorns Halloween Birthday Cake

Texas Longhorns Halloween Cake

Texas Longhorns Halloween Cake

Texas Longhorns Halloween Cake

Texas Longhorns Halloween Cake

Football Season!

We celebrated our October family birthdays yesterday so I went with football themed cakes.  I didn't have a lot of time so these were kept pretty simple and fondant free.  I used a color flow technique for the logos, but had found a recipe online that didn't require Wilton's Color Flow icing mix.  You beat 1 egg white and approximately one cup of sifted powdered sugar until the mixture turns white and forms stiff peaks.  I added a little more powdered sugar to get a slightly stiffer mixture to draw the outside lines.  I then added very small amounts of water until I got a runnier consistency to fill in the insides of the design.  You want it to be runny so that it "flows" into all the corners and edges of the design.  For tight areas, you can use a toothpick to push it where you want it to fill in.   This icing dries very hard, but it needs about 24 hours to dry.  To prepare the work surface, take the picture you want to duplicate and tape it to a thick piece of cardboard.  Tape waxed paper over the picture.  Then use your icing mixture to trace the outside lines of the design.  Let those harden a little and then fill in the design.  When you are ready to use it, remove the design and wax paper from the cardboard.  Carefully peel off the wax paper and place it on your cake.  It's a really easy technique that adds a cool touch to your cakes.  As easy as it is, this is the second time I've used this technique and I've screwed it up both times!  The first time I used it was before I knew you were supposed to cut the tops off cakes to get a flat work surface.  My design came out perfect, but when I placed it on the rounded cake top, it cracked in several places.  This time I knew I had to get those cakes flat to lay my icing pieces on.  However, I made them the night before and even though they had been drying for a few hours, I wasn't even thinking when I laid pieces of saran wrap over them to sit overnight.  The next morning the saran wrap had stuck to them.  So even though they looked okay, they didn't have the smooth and shiny finish they should have had.  So with that said, here is the picture of the cakes. 

Houston Texas Cake & Texas Longhorns Cake

I wanted to add a chocolate football to the Texans cake, so I melted chocolate chips and poured it on a piece of waxed paper on a cookie sheet.  I put it in the fridge to harden, then let it sit out a little while to soften.  I used a football shaped cookie cutter to cut the shape out of the chocolate and then used the same icing mixture to draw the details on the football.  I kept it in the fridge until I was ready to add it to the cake.  They were a big hit with the family and ironically, my brother was dressed to match his cake!

Happy Birthday Dad!

70th Birthday Submarine Cake

Pink Bow & Quilted Fondant Cake

Bon Voyage Birthday Cake

I wanted to make a cake for my boss' birthday, but his birthday fell during his vacation.  I decided to do a combination birthday/bon voyage cake for him before he left.  I used edible ink and icing sheets to print photos from places they were going to visit and also printed a photo of a passport cover.  I put the passport photo over a piece of fondant to raise it up and give it a more book like appearance.  It was an easy cake to make since all I had to do was print the photos and stick them on the cake, but I like the way it turned out.  It was a big hit at the office :-)

Passport Bon Voyage/Birthday Cake

Under The Sea Baby Shower Cake

Here's my latest fondant cake.  The sea animals were made using Wilton's Sea Creatures candy molds and candy melts.  The baby and seashell topper were made with gumpaste and the quilted baby blanket is fondant.

Under The Sea Baby Shower Cake

Pink & Black Cake

I created this cake for a friend's birthday.  The cake is covered in black fondant with pink fondant ribbons and a black and pink fondant ball border.  The flowers are made from gum paste with fondant centers dipped in edible black glitter.  Pink and black are the birthday girl's favorite colors and they worked really well together on this cake.  I coated my work surface with powdered sugar to roll out the black fondant and ended up with quite a bit of powdered sugar still on the cake.  I had seen a decorator use vodka to wipe down a black fondant cake on one of the cake shows I watch on Food Network to remove the powdered sugar.  The alcohol evaporates and leaves the cake powdered sugar free.  I tried it on this cake and it worked great!  I will definitely be using that trick on future cakes!  

I took a few pictures before writing on the cake...just in case I screwed it up!  I always add the writing last and it makes me very nervous!  I've seen too many professional decorators screw up spellings, etc...on cakes featured on http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com!

Pink and Black Cake

Pink and Black Cake

Pink and Black Cake

Happy Easter!

This cake is decorated with all fondant and royal icing.  The gingham patterns and Easter eggs were painted with food coloring.

I 

Easter Cake

 

I used the leftover cake to make cake balls which were delicious.  This was the first time I have made them, but it's a great way to use those tops I cut off the cakes for stacking.  My chocolate didn't melt as smooth as I would have liked so they weren't as pretty as I had hoped, but they tasted great.  The kids loved them and are now asking me to make cake balls instead of cakes :-)

My first post - a lot of cakes to catch up on!

I meant to start this blog a long time ago as a way to journalize my progression in cake decorating, but just never got around to it until now.  I have always enjoyed decorating cakes and found myself getting hooked on all those cake shows on Food Network.  Of course they always make it look so easy!  Whether it was making it look easy or the beautiful cakes they created, I became inspired.  Here are photos of some of my pre-fondant cakes:

Watermelon Cake

Computer Cake

Lawn Mower Cake

Football Cake

Beach Cake

Cat Cake

Beach - Flip Flop Cake

Then I decided to attempt making and using fondant.  I found a great website with how to videos and recipes www.piece-a-cake.com.  I was planning on using fondant for a baby shower cake and needed to practice.  I tried the buttercream fondant recipe first:

Butterflies and Flowers

 
It was pretty greasy, but had a shiny finish which was nice.  I then tried the rolled fondant recipe for a co-worker's birthday.  It was getting pretty late by the time I got to the final decorating and I didn't take the time I should have to get my circles more accurate (and centered!).  The gun was made from rice krispie treats covered in fondant.

Gun Cake

Now it was time to tackle the baby shower cake.  My original vision had been 3 tiers, but it ended up only being 2.  I used the marshmallow fondant recipe for this one and found it to be the easiest to make and use.  I have used that recipe on all my cakes since.  I was pretty happy with the result:

Baby Shower Cake - Butterflies and Flowers

My next cake was for a friend's 50th birthday.  I have never been able to get black food coloring to ever turn my icing black...it usually ends up gray or purple.  So for this one I bought black fondant and decorated with royal icing flowers.

50th Birthday Cake

This cake was for a co-worker's birthday.  This was my first time to use gum paste.  I used it on the 3 larger flowers and butterflies because I knew it would dry harder than the fondant and wanted a more 3-dimensional effect.  Someday I want to learn to make my own gum paste, but for now, I buy it pre-made.

Birthday Cake - Butterflies and Flowers

This is one of my favorites.  It was a birthday cake for a special couple and very dear friends who were both celebrating birthdays in October.  They love to scuba dive and I couldn't think of anything more fitting for them.  The scuba divers and dolphins were made of gum paste.  The cake was covered in fondant and decorated with royal icing.  These were my first gum paste "people" so even though they aren't "Cake Boss" quality, I was pretty proud of them.

Scuba Diving - Beach Cake

My husband also had a birthday in October...his 40th.  Even though an over the hill themed black cake would have been fitting, we both love to sail and knew he would love a sailboat cake, but since he was turning 40 after all, I just had to name the boat "Over the Hill" :-)  This was my first time to carve cake.  The sailboat is all cake covered in fondant.  The seashells are chocolate painted with pearl dust.  It didn't turn out exactly like our boat, but it was a good representation.

Sailboat Cake

We had a lot of birthdays in October!  This cake was for a co-worker and yes, it's basically the same cake I posted earlier just with different colors.  Flowers and butterflies are easy and I think they make beautiful cakes so you will see I use them alot!

 Birthday Cake - Butterflies and Flowers

And the October birthdays continue...I made both of these cakes in one night (it was a long night!) except for the roses which were made ahead of time.  It was my first time to "quilt" fondant and my first gum paste roses.  I really like the effect of the quilting.

Quilted Fondant & Rose Cake

Sailboat - Beach Cake

I used a Wilton helmet cake pan (easier than carving!) for this cake and covered it in fondant.  The fondant bubbled up pretty bad on this one...I think I rolled it out to thin.  They really showed once I painted it silver!  It was a big hit with Cameron though so that was all that mattered!

Dallas Cowboys Cake

My wonderful husband gave me an airbrush for Christmas!  This was the first cake I decorated using it.  I also got the cake stand for Christmas from my in-laws.  I loved using the airbrush and was pleased with the outcome of the cake.  I found it very easy to cover up mistakes when using an airbrush!

Birthday Cake - Butterflies and Flowers

More flowers and butterflies!  I sprayed the fondant with a purple sheen using the airbrush on this cake.  The center of the flowers were dipped in edible glitter.  This was my first fondant bow...I was extremely happy with how it turned out!

Birthday Cake - Butterflies and Flowers

These cakes were made for our February family birthdays.  The Texas Tech logo was done making templates out of paper using printed logos off the internet.  One had all of the red areas cut out and the other the black areas.  I used another logo as a guide to cut out a piece of white fondant.  I then used the templates and my airbrush to add the red and black colors on the fondant.  The other cake was covered in chocolate fondant (store bought), and all the flowers and bow were made with my marshmallow fondant.

Fondant Bow Birthday Cake

Texas Tech Cake

This cake was made for a going away party at work for a co-worker that had been called into active duty with the military.

Military Cake

Now to my most recent cake.  I have been wanting one for a long time and finally broke down and bought a printer with edible ink cartridges and paper.  I love the idea of putting pictures on cakes.  It makes them so much more personal.  This was the first cake I have printed pictures for and I think it really added a lot to the cake.

Birthday Cake - Dance

 This first post was a long one, but now that I am current with all my cakes, I will be able to keep it up...one cake at a time!