Monday, December 28, 2009

My Nephew´s Baptism Cake


So, here I am in Argentina, and I still got a chance to scratch my cake itch! This was for my little nephew Eugenio´s baptism. My husband´s family postponed this special occasion to share it with us.
The figurines I made beforehand and brought along with my marshmallow fondant and a box full of my most important cake decorating tools.


The shepherd was somewhat inspired by a ¨Precious Moments¨figurine. I used a guide on the internet for the sheep. It comes from Utilisima, a great cake decorating tool here in Argentina http://www.utilisima.com/pasteles/5862
Yanina made the cake and I ganached and covered it in fondant. Everything is made with fondant. I worked in a very small space with his family watching, but it turned out ok. My sister-in-law is a trained artist and she helped me with the design and gave me the great idea of covering popsicle sticks with fondant for the fence instead of having to wait for the fondant to dry hard. She also gave me some great tips on mixing colors.


By the way, it´s summer here, and boy was this cake sweating! I learned a great lesson which is to always make sure the legs of a figurine are made out of fondant that is equally as hard as the body. The pink fondant was way too soft and kept squashing under the sheep´s body weight. The sheep on the top jumped off the hill and committed suicide!
I used a fan brushed to paint the texture for the grass and that turned out pretty cool.


Here I am with my hubby, my sister-in-law, Yanina, and the adorable nephew, Eugenio.


Me and the cutey-pie

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hockey Puck Cake


Washington Capitals Hockey Puck Cake

Cake was yellow with chocolate buttercream, covered with chocolate ganache and fondant. Airbrushed black. Fondant logo with handwritten message used with edible markers.

John Deer Birthday Explosion Cake


The was a variation of the explosion design from Planet Cake's book. This was a 50th birthday for a John Deere lover.


Tractor was made out of candy clay. Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, covered in chocolate ganache & fondant.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Florida Gators Cake

Helmet was made out of rice cereal bars, covered in candy clay and fondant with gumpaste for the mask brace. Gator was made with a mold and fondant.

The cake was yellow with cream cheese filling, covered with white chocolate ganache and vanilla fondant. The cake was airbrushed and dusted with silver pearl dust.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Most Recent Wedding Cake


Here are some pics from my most recent wedding cake.

The bride opted for an easy design, which I was very thankful for since this was only my second wedding cake and they're still a little scary!


Wedding topper was purchased from "If It's Paper" on Washington Rd., a great little shop for wedding and party supplies. The flowers were handmade from fondant and painted with pearl and petal dusts.


The cake was fudge marble with chocolate buttercream filling and covered with chocolate ganache and vanilla fondant.
My husband took the pics and my mom edited them. A big thanks to both!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

3D Pumpkin Cake!!!


Didn't know about the cool bundt idea until after I baked the cakes already, but it worked out fine. I baked three very thick 9 in. cakes and then carved them down.



This was one of those "good cake" days, you know? No real setbacks and the finished product is pretty much what you had hoped for. After carved, frosting, and covering with fondant, I airbrushed the cake, starting with yellow, orange/red, brown, green, and a little black. The stem was fondant and marshmallow fondant mixed together. The leaves were cut out of fondant, thinned out, embossed, handpainted, airbrushed, and stuck with wire. The wire I actually painted with vanilla/coloring and then painted on top with green pearl dust to help keep the color.


Since this was for family and I use family as my cake guinea pigs, I tried a new recipe which was peanut butter cake, torted and filled with chocolate ganache and Reeses peanut butter chips, and then covered with chocolate ganache and a thin layer of vanilla marshmallow fondant.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Flower Baby Shower Cake


This cake was devil's food chocolate with vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream, covered in marshmallow fondant.

Each fondant leaf was veined, handpainted, and hooked with wires. Then I stuck each leaf individually into the cake. The cake was airbrushed. On the top I made some lines with an embosser and then used some orange and brown airbrush paint to add detail. The baby was made out of fondant and I used a stamp that said "Shower" at the front of the cake.

And of course my mom took these fab pics -
http://sharontannerphotography.blogspot.com/

Another Georgia Cake


It was very nice to return to an old design. This was for a 50th birthday. I made the top using a Georgia stencil I made by hand and the airbrush. It didn't come out as clean as I would have liked, so I'll need to work on that.

Another Monkey Cake


Once again, this is an old design, however the mother helped add a new spin on it by requesting that the top tier be only done in buttercream and brown dots. As always, the buttercream and I fought constantly, but I think I won, hopefully.


horrible pic but you can still see how happy the monkeys are :P
I used my klay gun for the green vines and it's really nice but it was so hard to press out. My fondant I think was too tough, so I added glucose and that seemed to help. Does anyone have tips on using the klay gun?

Saturday, November 7, 2009

21st Birthday Cake


Devil's Food Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache, and Marshmallow Fondant
I used a cookie cutter for the fondant cutouts and handpainted them. The bubbles were premade with royal icing.
The cake was airbrushed and sponge painted with pink pearl dust.


The mug is candy clay that was airbrushed and piped on top with royal icing. I touched up the royal icing with silver pearl dust to add depth.

Friday, October 30, 2009

"The Great Pumpkin" Cake!!


I really, really loved doing this cake. I donated it for the MCG Beeper Bake Sale.


The cake is devil's food with vanilla buttercream. The cake was airbrushed on the sides, handpainted on the top. Fondant figurines & pumpkins and royal icing stars.

Watching the video with the kindergarteners at my school really helped for the inspiration :)

Optimus Prime Cake


The idea had been to make a 3D Optimus Prime cake out of cake, but I don't think I'm ready to do that successsfully. I opted for a 10 in. candy clay figurine on a gravel cake base.



I didn't know too much about this guy before I started this cake. Now we are good friends :P
A big thanks to my mom for salvaging these pics with her super photoshop skills!

Fall Cake


I love chocolate ganache!
This cake was sinfully chocolate with devil's food chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache. Leaves are fondant and candy clay.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sneak Peek!


This is a sneak peek at a cake I'm doing this week for a charity fundraiser at MCG. The Great Pumpkin, fun!

Jack-O-Lantern Gingerbread Cookies



Yay! What fun! I finally got to do some more cookie decorating. There are more than 60 of these guys and it took up my whole Sunday, phew!


(clockwise starting at the top) scary, mad, scared, happy

Decorated cookies are a great party favor for any occasion. Keep me in mind next time you celebrate!

Baby Bathtub Cake


This is the second time I've done this design. I was a little fearful trying to recopy a design, sometimes that can be more difficult than coming up with something new.


Yellow cake with vanilla frosting and marshmallow fondant. Fondant figurine, ducks, bubbles and tile floor.


Fondant duck cupcakes that also went with the cake.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Flower Overlay Cake


Mother's 60th birthday
The daughter wanted bright colors with the wavy overlay design. The overlay was airbrushed and the bottom was handpainted. The flower was several large fondant/gum tex circles ruffled on the edges like a carnation and then a royal icing button in the middle.


I used pearl dust to paint the fondant flowers and royal icing dots. The cake was yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant.

Pink Quinceanera Cake


This was for a girl's quinceanera or 15th birthday party. Overall, this cake was fine but I was really out of my league trying a square topsy-turvy cake. If anyone knows of a demo or any tips or where to learn more about how it's done, that would be greatly appreciated.


A big thanks to my mom for huge help. Not only did she write this message on the card but she kept the kitchen clean and helped deliver it to the Mariott hotel. And thanks to my hubby who stresses out even more than me. I think we almost all had heart attacks.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Rubber Ducky/Umbrella baby Shower Cake

This was a baby shower cake for a boy. The design was based off of the invitation. It was devil's food chocolate with vanilla cream cheese frosting.

Dora Cake


The cake was for two adorable twin girls who were turning 3. It was devil's food chocolate with chocolate buttercream, covered in marshmallow fondant.


This cake was one of those that kept messing up on me. It took way longer than it should have. Boots was supposed to be hanging from a palm tree. As you can see, gravity won me out :(


Dora
These figurines were handmade out of fondant.


Boots

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Surprise Topsy-Turvy Cake


This was my other cake this weekend for a very special friend, Ashley! She and I were good friends in college at North Greenville University and her mom came all the way from Greenville to pick up the cake and surprise her on her birthday. Happy Birthday, Ashley!!


The cake was french vanilla with chocolate ganache, covered in marshmallow fondant. I actually used a greeting card as a base for this design.


This is my second attempt at a topsy-turvy cake. The first one was last January and I definitely won't be posting pics of that!

Rose Baby Cake and Alphabet Block Cupcakes


This baby shower cake was fudge marble with vanilla icing, covered in Wilton fondant. The sign reads "3 down, 1 more to go." The mother has a goal of four children, I believe, and already has three.


"Rose Baby" - special request from the client


Sister of the baby


Brother of the baby
He kind of reminds me of Calvin from "Calvin & Hobbes".


These went along with the cake. They were supposed to be petit fours but that didn't work out :( Can anyboy tell me how to successfully cover petit fours?