FaceTime

A friend asked me to make her Grandmother's 80th birthday cake this weekend. I called my partner to see if she was available to help that weekend and she of course said yes. My friend requested a floral cake which was great because I love making flowers. A week before I started to make the flowers. But as I was making them I was thoroughly bored. I was on my own except of course my little sidekicks, my three and six year old daughters. My mom who is my partner in my cake decorating hobby was not here.

My husband being incredible thoughtful got the IPad, called my mom on FaceTime and set it up in front of me so we could chit chat and make the gumpaste flowers together. I love sitting around with family doing crafts, cooking, baking or just catching up. I'm from the Midwest and I think it's ingrained in me. I can remember as a little girl watching my great aunts, my mom and our dear sweet friend Cola drinking their sweet tea, sitting around the table chit chatting. I loved it then and I love it now.

The cake was a two tiered carrot cake covered in a vanilla buttercream, then covered in vanilla fondant with gumpaste flowers. My great aunts and Cola would have loved this one, especially the carrot cake. We just need to make some sweet tea to go with it.

Will You Make Our Wedding Cake?

At one of the birthday parties for my niece, some friends asked who made the cake. My mom and I said we did and the next question was if we do wedding cakes and would we make theirs. I was shocked because this was only a fun hobby for us.

Now let me give you a little background on my wedding cake. Besides obviously marrying my husband, this was the most important part of my wedding. I wanted the cake to be perfect and it was. Our friend Roberta made it and she did an amazing job. It was a five tiered gorgeous fall themed cake. Each layer was a different flavor and filling. It was the wedding cake I had always dreamed of.

So when asked to make someone's wedding cake, I was a nervous wreck. My mom had made one wedding cake before but this would be my first. We planned for months on this cake. It took us 3 full days to make the cake and flowers. We delivered the cake which took at least 45 minutes to get there because I drove about 15 miles below the speed limit. My stomach was in knots! All I could think of was, "Just get it there in one piece!"

Thankfully we did get it there and all went well with the set up. Except maybe when my mom stepped in and said she would put on the flowers because my hand was shaking. Yes, I was nervous. I had a long drive home that day but we waited until after the ceremony to leave because I had to see if the bride liked it. She cried...good tears. That alone made it worth it because that's exactly how I felt when I saw my wedding cake.

That Will Be a Piece of Cake

A friend asked me to make her sister a baby shower cake back in January. I of course said yes not only because she's a good friend but also because I've never made a baby shower cake. We figured out a plan for the cake. The design we chose was very simple but cute so we thought this won't take much time at all.

Famous last words....

Three days before we were supposed to make the cake I started to get a scratchy throat. The next day (two days before the shower) I woke up with chills, fever and a cough. Are you kidding me??? I don't have time for this. My mom arrived that night and started baking the cake. By the next day, I at least felt up to decorating the cake.

The hardest part about this cake were the toy blocks on top. They were made out of cake which we thought would be easy. We couldn't be more wrong. After multiple attempts, we figured out its best to freeze the cake cubes because small pieces of moist cake break apart when trying to ice and cover them in fondant. Also using jam or jelly is good to use instead of icing for small objects like the blocks.

We delivered the cake the next day and I was so grateful for my mom because there is no way I could have done it on my own.

Never ever say it will be easy because you will definitely jinx yourself!

Sift

So my mom and I have taken a few classes at a local cupcake shop, Sift Cupcakes. Here are a few pictures of the cupcakes. If you are ever in the area check this place out. They have some delicious cupcakes and their classes were a lot of fun. Sadly the last class we took in November was one of their last ones.

http://www.siftcupcakes.com/

The first class we took was an "Under the Sea" theme. The fondant crab is sitting on top of a cupcake dipped in brown sugar to make sand. The coral was a bit tricky because they are short classes and getting them to dry in time to take home was impossible. I loved the octopus! I thought this was adorable and very easy. The one thing with these classes is you learn new tricks. With this class we learned that cornstarch is the best way to handle fondant. For a long time before this I used powdered sugar which isn't as effective for handling sticky fondant.

The second class was a "Princess" theme. These were cute and of course they were a hit with my kids. My two girls kissed the frog!

I think my favorite was the "Thanksgiving" theme class. The instructor was the head decorator and she was amazing. My mom and I were the only ones signed up for this class. We were able to ask so many questions and learned quite a bit from her. The pie cupcake was my favorite. It had real raspberry jam inside the pie and it was delicious!

I have to say, it's hard for me to say no to a cupcake so these classes are not good for my waistline!

Ladybug Cake

My daughter who was turning three announced she wanted a ladybug cake. So my mom and I came up with this cake. The top ladybug is made of rice crispy treats and covered in fondant. It was a hit with the kids. The colors on this one were not my favorite but it was still cute. We thought we would do red and black colors but all I could think of is people eating the cake with red and black teeth and we were not going for a pirate theme party.

Also when we went to put on the antennas that were made of gum paste they broke in half. That's why they are laying down on the ladybug. Each cake we make is a learning experience. Gum paste and fondant decorations need time to dry. It's best to let gum paste dry for at least three or more days.

Until next time....

Tinkerbell Inspired Cake

Today is my first posting for this blog. After dozens of cakes, I decided to start a cake blog. It's been quite the journey and a wonderful one at that.

My mom Mary Kay and I are quite the team decorating and making these cakes. It's something that we both love.

A little bit about myself. I'm married to a wonderful man and have three beautiful kids who light up my life every day. I also run a busy orthopedic medical practice.

The cake fascination started when I was a little girl watching my mom bake and decorate cakes. She would make my brother and my birthday cakes as well as cakes for our cousins and even a wedding cake for my aunt. I can remember when my mom was working full time, exhausted and found the energy to make me a cake when I was 13. It meant so much and that's saying a lot because I was a teenager! The other thing I remember is we went to dinner that night and when we got home the cat had walked across the top off the cake. The kitty paw prints in the top of the cake gave it away. We laughed and ate the icing in the mixing bowl instead!

As a mom I wanted to make cakes for my kids, family and friends. I love coming up with ideas and learning new techniques.

So here is the Tinkerbell inspired cake we made yesterday for my beautiful niece. It was made over two weekends to let the gum paste flowers dry. This was one of my favorites so far. The top tier was lemon with lemon curd filling and the bottom tier was marble with fudge filling. The best thing about this cake was using my new airbrush (thank you mom for my birthday present!). We used the pearl essence color to make it sparkle. A little, okay maybe a lot of luster dust was used as well. It needed pixie dust, right?

I'll post pictures soon of the other cakes and cupcakes.

Thanks for reading!