My Cake Hobby: 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.