Sweet 16 Cake

I was asked to do a cake in November for January.  Sure, I said,  Give me the details.

Due to family sickness, travel, etc. on their part, the party date was changed like 4 times (January, February, March, back to February), the color scheme changed twice, the party theme changed at least 3 times.  In the end, I was just not happy.  The cake came out awesome, but it took me 19 hours to make.  I work full time and it took me 19 hours of time that I could have been with my own family (One Saturday, David took Isabel out flying and they were gone a total of 6 hours while I sat at home.)  They were given a DEEP DISCOUNT because they're fellow church goers.  This cake, due to the number of servings, would have cost them about $250-$320 dollars.  I won't tell you what I charged them. It's my own fault.  In trying to be nice, I made myself unhappy.

I've resolved to only make cakes for my immediate family; sisters, nieces/nephews, my kids, etc.  That's it.  Unless someone wants to pay $250-$300, I am done undervaluing myself and making myself miserable.

On with the cake!

 Two 6 x 3 inch cakes and two 8 x 3 inch cakes; 64 servings.   The average for fondant cakes is around $4-$5 a slice.  $256 - $320.

Her 16 favorite things, all around the cake.  I didn't take a picture of the back, but you can see above all the things I made for it.

Cookies for Church

This is the second year that Spring Break coincides with the Women's Retreat at church. For a second year, I am providing the desserts.  Brownies, 96 or so cake pops and these 4 dozen cookies.

Happy First Birthday Ava!

My niece turned 1 last week and I was asked to make the birthday cake.  (I had already made the baby shower cake when Ava was still "baking.")

The theme for her party?  Pink and black baby skulls.  (click the pics to make them bigger if you'd like.)

The top is a bandana with hearts.  It's an Oreo cookie cake.

The middle is an almond butter cake with buttercream, covered in fondant.

The bottom is a carrot cake in pink cream cheese frosting.  I stink at frosting cakes with icing.

The skull decorations on the cakes were hand cut out of gumpaste, all hand-decorated and all edible.

The only non-edible item was the pink glitter ribbon around the zebra tier.  That was me, being super-tired after an 8-hour work day, and 3 hours of decorating that same night,  saying "I give! No More! What do I have to put around this cake!?"

Ava's Smash Cake

Happy First Cutie Patootie!

Chic Baby Shower

Time for the baby shower cake!  Remember I made little baby molds, then the buttercream transfer girl, then the gumpaste girl?  That was all in preparation for my sister Vicky's baby shower cake.  

Almond butter cakes atop carrot cakes.

Cream cheese icing over the carrot cake, decorated with chocolate MMF.

Fondant-covered almond butter cakes on top.

I made different colored stripes with MMF.  I practiced these cute little rosettes too.

The final product, including some of the cupcakes I made.

Gumpaste Cut-Out; The Baby Shower Cake

After I made the frozen butter cream transfer of my sister's invitation, she and I talked about it.  In order for that exact-sized design to fit on the top of a cake, the cake would have to be baked in a 10" pan.  Since that would be the top level, and she wants a two-tier cake, the bottom tier would have to be 12".  We both agreed that would be too much cake for the small party.  I could try to make the woman smaller, but it was a lot of work and I had another idea; make the girl out of gumpaste. She would be 2D, not 3D.

I copied the invitation on to wax paper to use as my template.

Working with the X-Acto knife.  It was like putting a puzzle together.

Ta da!  

The only things missing are one earring (it fell off and I need to reattach it) and the gold chain of her purse, which will be done at a later date, closer to the shower, in yellow royal icing.

I will someone stand her up on the cake.  I am thinking of attaching a skewer to the back of her with gumpaste so it can dry securely, then I can insert the skewer into the cake. 

The party is April 30, so I will post the completed pictures right after the party weekend.
  

Cookies for Cousins

Tis the season for cookies. Two of my sisters and their families are coming over for Christmas day dinner. I said "NO PRESENTS!" and they agreed. I did tell them I would make the kids some Christmas cookies.

My beautiful gal helps flood the cookies.

Merry Christmas Everyone, and God Bless Us All!

Finishing the Graduation Cake

I love (not really) how I panic RIGHT before finishing a cake. "It's going to look bad." "It'll taste horrible." It happens each and every time. I'm a nut.

Here's the mortar board I made. Fondant-covered cardboard.

There are the 12" x 3" cakes I baked. I'm torting and filling at this stage.

Here are the 12" cakes, stacked and crumb-coated.

This is the small ball pan cake, covered in buttercream

The same ball pan, covered in black fondant, with the mortar board on top and gum paste numbers.

The bottom cake is actually two 8" carrot cakes iced and stacked on top of each other. The 12" cakes were in the fridge waiting to have fondant added to them

Here are the 12" cakes, covered in marbled purple mmf.

TA DAAAAA! The cake was a hit. Rachel kept saying "It's perfect," even when I wasn't within her view.

Congratulations Rachel!!

Graduation Gal w/Cap

Gumpaste Graduation Gal

My ex-sister-in-law Denise invited us (my husband David, too) to her daughter Rachel's graduation dinner party. Rachel is Jacob's first cousin on his dad's side; Denise is my ex-husband's sister. My ex-in-laws are all really terrific. I said yes, and after I hung up, I sent Denise a text message: "Want me to make the cake," to which she replied "YES!!!!"

I have the cake idea in mind (Thanks to Cakecentral.com, of course) and I started to make the gumpaste accents early so they would harden in time. One of the things that will be on the cake is a mini-Rachel in her cap and gown.

I started with the torso. I made the blouse and added some decoration to them collar.



Next up, I made the legs. She'll be kneeling.



Her school colors are purple and gold, and her cap and gown will be purple.





Time for the face. Hi Rachel!

Notice the hands holding the diploma.

"Rachel" was left to dry a couple of days, and then I got.....dum dum dum, a clay extruder! You can find them at Michael's or buy them on-line at Amazon.

So, why'd I get one?



TA DA!!! HAIR! I LOVE IT!!!

Next up will be placing her cap on her head, and then on to making and decorating the cakes. The party's not for over a week & 2 days, and I am so excited!

Cinderelly, Cinderelly

"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it's Cinderelly!" I had an idea for a cake, and when my sister came up for a visit, the idea changed into something else. We were on Cake Central, "ooooohing" over this picture and decided to try it.



My sister Brenda took charge of making the mice, while I



took charge of baking the cakes, stacking them, coloring the fondant and covering the cakes and doll torso pick.



I *love* how she made the teeth!

Can she be ANY SWEETER?!?

Brenda made the pin cushion while I made the buttons and beads.

I made the bird on the dress. There was a second bird, but it was too big and too heavy to fit.

Isabel loved it.

Here it is. Lumpy, I know. I really don't know what's up with me and the lumpies.  But we like it!!