Penguin and Groundhog Wedding
I was lucky to be able to make a cake for and attend a beautiful wedding for my friends. She loves Penguins and he loves Groundhogs. 
The colors for the wedding were Red, Navy Blue and white.
The beautiful bride and groom settled on a lemon cake with raspberry preserves and a lemon curd, I covered the tiers in Swiss merengue butercream and fondant. 
I made two cute cake toppers for their two tiered cake. A penguin, and a groundhog. Made out of fondant.
The cupcakes also lemon cake, with lemon curd and raspberry preserves. All 130 cupcakes had a Swiss Merangue buttercream.
To display the cupcakes and cake. I made a cupcake stand and cupcake wrappers.
This was the mock up of the cupcake stand and cake stand. The cupcake wrappers were also a mock up. I did not like the solid red and white so I redid them, in the navy blue and red and white. With the punch out detail. I made all 130 wrappers as I could not find a wrapper that I liked for this wedding pre-made. I am pretty happy with the way they came out.
Here is a picture of the cupcake wrapper manufacturing. =)
I had a blast at the wedding, it was beautiful, and full of surprises. I hope the best for my happily married friends. I am putting the rest of the photos in a slide show. But here is a picture of my beautiful children first at the wedding. =)
Here are the other photos:
Baptism Daisy Cake
This client came in wanting a three tiered offset, rectangular cake. She wanted Daisy’s with lavender, light pink, and light yellow centers. She requested a pink ribbon, and a pink cross on the cake.
Flowers and ribbon fondant. The cakes were iced in white butter cream. The 1/4 sheet cake was white, the 1/8th sheet cake was chocolate, and the 1/16th sheet cake was white cake. 
Sorry the pictures came out white washed. Use my phone at work to take the pictures.
Fall Buttercream tiered cake
I hope everyone had a great holiday. We had a wonderful Turkey day. My kids had blast. I have been super busy so have neglected my blog.
One of my client came back in. Asking for a last minute Tiered Buttercream cake again. This time it was for their parents anniversary, and they loved the last cake I made them.
Here is a 1/2 sheet, 1/4 sheet and 1/8 sheet rectangular cake. All decorated with buttercream.
Checks and flowers cake
This was my second ever attempt at a fondant cake while I was in school. I wanted to try making a check pattern. I learned quickly that with symmetric design you have to be perfect in measurements and cutting. The more symmetric the more it will show up if you are not as accurate as you can be. We were asked to make another fondant cake by our chef instructor. I decided to a checks and flowers cake.
The dome is a dome of cake iced and covered in fondant.
It is nothing special just felt like playing around with the shapes.
When ever I was asked to do something in class I would try to take it a step further so that I could stretch myself doing the assignment.
Beautiful Tangerine and Dragees Wedding Cake
This last weekend I was privileged enough to be able to create a cake and attend a beautiful wedding. I know the Groom and Bride so it was a pleasure to make their special days cake. 
The Bride loves tangerine orange, and it was evident in her wedding the brides maids had the same color dresses, and grooms men had tangerine ties. 
The order was 5 x 10 inch cakes, that were 5 inches high. They requested a white cake, and I made Swiss buttercream. I have put the recipe on this blog before but I will add it to the bottom of the post. 
I had to make 10 cakes each cake was final cake was two layers. I only had room in my oven for 4 cakes at a time. =) For the Swiss Buttercream I had to make two batches of 3 times the recipe. The cakes are iced in the buttercream.
I made tangerine ribbons and bows out of the fondant, and I hand drageed all the cakes. They also requested that I make the cake topper, which were two cute hedge hogs. 
These were made out of fondant, I made them months in advance so that they would dry out completely.
This is the picture of the hedgehogs they wanted and found online. I am not certain where they got it from so if it is yours please let me know and I will credit you for your work. 
Here is the set up I did for their wedding cake table. I created the support structure and arranged the fabric.
The beautiful Bride and Groom loved the cakes and that was all I cared about. I wanted them to have a great day and a wonderful memories.
Swiss Buttercream:
4 ounces of egg whites 8 ounces of sugar 12 ounces of butter Cook the egg whites and the sugar, on ban marie. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, beat them till combined. Beat your egg whites and sugar 1/2 at a time, get it frothy. You want to get it to 140 degrees. Rub between your fingers, when it is not grainy safe. 3 to 4 minutes. Whip egg whites till cool using whip attachment. 4 to 5 minutes. Switch to paddle attachment, egg whites should be cool to the touch. Add the butter one piece at a time. Middle of it, the buttercream will look curdled. Keep beating. When done all butter will be incorporated it is silky, and will make a slapping sound in the machine.
Last Minute Red and White Wedding Cake
So I had a call in to me where the Reverend was calling in. He said he forgot to call and order a wedding cake. The wedding was put together at the last-minute, and that there were going to be about 50 people at it. He wanted to do something nice and get a wedding cake for them, so it did not feel so rushed.
However, he needed the cake in 1 hour. I had just that one hour to stack ice and decorate that cake. I told him it would have to be in buttercream. He said that is perfectly fine. I asked if he wanted any particular colors, or the wedding couple had any particular favorite colors, and he said what ever I thought would look good.
He was so grateful for me doing it.
It’s not my best work by far, but I got it done in one hour and had some time to spare. 
Cake dimensions are, three tiered cake, with bottom tier 1/2 sheet, middle tier 1/4 sheet, and top tier 1/8 th sheet. White cake with vanilla buttercream. 
White/Bronze Roses Wedding Cake
An absolutely adorable couple asked me to do their wedding cake. Their colors were bronze and navy blue. After meeting they decided on a three tiered white cake, with fresh strawberries and fresh blackberries. I made all the roses out of gumpaste for the cake. 
When we first started talking about the cake it was before I knew I was pregnant. I had my baby boy and he was 5 months old when the wedding was to take place. The bride being the sweet wonderful person she is, asked if I was still ok doing the cake now that I have a new baby to take care of. I said of course, I said I would do the cake for you and I would never back out now. 
This is a close up picture of the roses. White roses with a bronze dusting was what was ordered. I dry brushed the luster dust on. 
The three tiers were covered in fondant, I also made a full sheet kitchen cake that was cut up for the rest of the guests.
After a nerve wrecking ride to the event site, we made it, cake and baby in tow.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake and it was a lovely wedding.
Sunflower Wedding
This is a 4 tiered wedding cake I made last year. It is covered in white fondant, and has a Cornelli Lace design. The bride also wanted the white swag and beading. The bride and groom provided the cake topper, and I was informed that the brides flowers were sunflowers. 
The cake is an almond cake, with almond buttercream icing. I made two kitchen cakes as well, 1 full and 1 half sheet, so that they had enough for their large wedding. 
The bride was stunning, and the groom so handsome. They told me that they and their entire family loved the cakes. 
I recently spoke them and they are finally able to go to their honeymoon. They are going to the Bahamas, and are so excited. I am excited for them. I wished them a good time. =) 
Fall butterfly and flowers cake
Here we have a stacked cake decorated with buttercream, marzipan, pulled sugar, pastillage and royal icing. I made this while in Baking and Pastry school at CIA.
(note: pastillage is a special type of sugar dough. http://www.pastrysampler.com/Questions_and_Answers/pastillage.htm
The cake was a vanilla chiffon cake, Chambord syrup, and raspberry mousse filling. (note: Chambord is a liquor made of black raspberries, and very tasty)
The ribbon and flowers were made out of marzipan that i colored red, orange and yellow.
This was my first buttercream stacked cake, or wedding cake. For the basket I use a balloon and royal icing. I made a base and made intersecting lines, once the royal icing was dried, I popped the balloon, or you can try to ease the basket off of the balloon.
For the butterfly I used sheet gelatin. I knew it would curl up as it dried, I was hoping for a good curve and not a complete tube when I came back to it. I made sure to cut out the wings, and pipe the royal icing on to the outer part of the gelatin sheet. You can see its “natural” slight curve. (I say “natural” cause gelatin sheets are not natural and are man made, but they tend to have a curve to them after manufacturing.) I left some of the wing clear and some of the wing area I colored in with different color royal icing.
The base of the topper, I made a pastillage disk and let it dry over night before assembling.
Image of the middle of the cake. The springs/curls are pulled sugar strings that were wrapped around a plastic tube. Also known in this case as a sharpie marker.
Pastillage Recipe:
1 package of plain gelatin
1/2 c water
1 t cream of tartar
5 c powdered sugar
1 c cornstarch
Sift the powdered sugar and cornstarch together. In a small saucepan, place water and cream of tartar in, then sprinkle the plain gelatin over the top. Stir over low heat until dissolved. There may be an amount of cream of tartar that doesn’t dissolve, just be sure no amount of gelatin is left undissolved. Remove from heat and add to bowl of stand up mixer, like a Kitchen-Aid. Put on a paddle attachment and with low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing spoonful by mixing spoonful (couple of tablespoons at a time or so) at a time. When all is incorporated, switch to medium speed until mixture is lightened and very white, about 3 minutes. Remove from bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for half an hour before rolling out. Can be frozen; place in refrigerator overnight to thaw. Roll out with cornstarch.
Flower Ball Cake-thinking out of the box
So last night was the last night of my fondant class for a few weeks. The goal for the class was to use things learned in class and make a stacked/tired cake. I taught them how to cut, support and stack a cake. 
These are pictures of the blanks before I left home for the class. Yellow fondant with an orange border.
I also talked to them about thinking outside the box. Instead of using the tiered, old, Grecian pillars, or just stacking a cake, why not use something unexpected. Like a flower, or and I am going to have to try this… a gold fish. (I thought about the gold fish while I was talking to them.)
(note: the cakes shifted in transport, and the top two tiers decided to spring out at me when I opened the door, so they look a little beat up. Husband thought they look a little roughed up. )
(note: You can see the difference in pictures from the blank cakes before I left for class at the top of the page and the slightly bumpy nature of the top tiers on the finished cake =( …)
We talked about the importance of making sure everything was level. Also if you are doing something new it is always good to do a trial run. This was the first time I did this cake, so I showed them how to look at it critically, and how to test balance etc. I was also able to show them that a disaster like dropping the top two tiers in the cake carrier, like I did when everything shifted in my car, was not a complete wash if you are careful you can gently try to shift everything back into place. 
The cake dimensions are 9 inch by 2.5 inch high bottom round, 7 inch round by 2.5 inch high middle, and a 5 inch round by 2.5 inch high round top tier. I made a chocolate devils food cake, with a raspberry coulis, and a vanilla almond butercream.
This was a great class, I loved having them, and they seemed very happy. Here are some of their creations. 
Tiffany Blue Wedding
I get brides in that sometimes do not want a big wedding, or don’t have the budget for a big wedding. Either way, they are looking for a more frugal cake.
This woman did not know what to do, she was having a small wedding with just close friends and immediate family. She did not have a huge budget and was distraught. She had been to several other places to no avail and ended up in my area.
She came in not knowing what she wanted. I asked her what her colors were, what kind of wedding it was (traditional, elopement, etc.) She told me her color was Tiffany and Co. Blue. I told her I would make a cake for her that would wow her party, and fit her budget. I gave her an out line of what I would do for the cake but asked her to trust me, and I would not let her down. 
She returned for the cake and loved it. It was exactly what she wanted in her budget and she left with a wonderful smile on her face. She has since returned for cakes for other occasions and asks for me. =)
Wedding cake tasting 7/10/11
I had a standard wedding cake tasting. The bride was uncertain about the type of cake she wanted. So since I fortunately know the bride and groom I was able to come up with some flavors that they would like.
So I came up with 4 different cakes and fillings. 
One white cake, with a raspberry, lemon curd filling, and vanilla buttercream. One white cake, with a raspberry, white chocolate, and cream cheese filling, and a white chocolate cream cheese frosting. One chocolate cake, with a chocolate hazelnut mousse filling, and chocolate butercream. One chocolate cake, with chocolate ganache filling, and chocolate butercream. 
I threw the decorations together in thirty minutes, because I did not want to just give them a slice of cake. 
The bride and the maid of honor were going to come to my house for the tasting, however, there was a mishap and I ended up driving out to them. It turned out for the best that I went, as the Groom had a chance to taste the cakes as well. 
They unanimously loved the raspberry lemon cake, and also the chocolate hazelnut cake.
I have lost count…
I have lost count of how many cakes I have made. I can show you my very first fondant wedding cake I made at school. However, it would be a nightmare to try to chronologically go through all my pictures and show you them in order from oldest to newest. I will be slowly adding pictures and a descriptions of all of my cakes. Each one has a story, each one was either a pain in the ass or wonderful, or both.
This was the first tiered wedding cake I ever made (Napa Valley CA, CIA campus some time around 2005). In class we were asked to make a tiered wedding cake covered in fondant. We were not given any other parameters. Our chef instructors wanted to see what we would come up with, what our design skills were like. I wanted to try a detailing decoration that I had seen in a picture. I had no idea what it was called and or how to do what I know now as brush embroidery. As you can see I used two shades of lavender, and white fondant. For the brush embroidery I used a lavender and white, alternating on the opposite colored tiers. I completed my assignment, waiting nervously for the critique.
My Chef instructor came around looking at my cake, making notes, and looking at all angles of my masterpiece. He nods, then tells me it is good (note: it is not that great is impossible just that those words are rare from his lips) color and composition are very good. He liked my brush embroidery. My what? I had no idea what he was talking about, and must have looked like it. I was informed that the decorations/design I made were brush embroidery. Apparently he was somewhat impressed I could copy a style without step by step instruction. Needless to say I went home with a huge smile on my face. I found one of my passions in the B&P world.
cakesplosion 