Lots of Cake!!!

After the July wedding cake, I was starting to think my cake days were ending when suddenly there were so many calls for birthday cakes! At first I was thrilled, then I realized that I had overbooked myself and completely forgotten that I was going back to school in the mix! Oops! I had to cut out about five cakes, and I felt horrible! But, my sanity is important, too, though I usually forget about this. Thanks to a husband and friend who keep me on track! Here are the ones I was able to do in between a San Diego wedding and school starting!

This cake was for Brooklyn's first birthday. We used the same cake I made for Simon's first birthday last year. This time around I made the trees ahead of time, so they stood up a little better. They chose white cake with raspberry filling. I got to eat some and it was pretty yum. :) I must say, this is one of my favorite cakes to make, I just love the animal patterns!

This was the cake I came up with for Steve's Hawaii 5-0 birthday party. Donna threw an amazing party, and I got to go and eat some cake! It was grandma's chocolate cake with buttercream filling and frosting. Pretty yummy if I do say so myself!

This cake was for a little boy in my neighborhood who loves Yo Gabba Gabba. I wasn't familiar with the show, but his mom sent me some pics and cake ideas and we combined two of them to create this cake. It's three layers of chocolate and vanilla with buttercream icing and fondant. I was very nervous as I made this trying to get the right intensity on the colors, but I loved the finished product.

This final cake was for my friend's little girl who turned one this year. She bought the Wilton daisy pan and matching mini daisy pan. It was a super fun cake to make and I thought it turned out pretty darn cute! I would LOVE to make this cake again.

Lost and Found!

No, I didn't fall completely off the face of the Earth, just hanging on! I found some pictures that were "lost" on a hardrive that crashed a couple years ago. I just found them last night! Here are a few....

I made this wedding cake for my cousin. It was Grandma Mary's chocolate with Raspberry filling. It was HARD to get the fondant to cover those huge layers! I was in quite a panic about all the flaws on it. The top layer was perfect, until my darling child climbed onto a chair and stuck in a finger! Grr!!! Thank goodness for florists! Isn't amazing how fresh flowers can transform a plain, ugly cake?

My friend's parents were celebrating their anniversary. This cake was gorgeous in the magazine, but really hard! It was the most difficult one I have attempted thanks to the stringwork. I would like to continue practicing. I love the look of stringwork, but it is so hard to get just right!

The flowers are made from royal icing and were sitting atop a small overturned bowl. The top two layers are rice krispies, the bottom was spice cake.

Requested Recipe

I have heard back from a few people wanting to try out the fondant recipe. I hope you like it as much as my kiddos do.

Marshmallow Fondant:
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 T. water
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c pwd. sugar

Place marshmallows in cup measure and pack them in. (I usually double this and just use one 16 oz package, or I'll eyeball it and just dump half the package in.) Place in microwave safe bowl and add the water. Microwave about 20 seconds until they "puff up." I always have to do more, but go slowly. Stir in with a spoon until it's all "soupy." Add the powdered sugar. I usually use four cups or 1 lb. of sugar. Knead it with the spoon until it's all mixed well. Then you can knead it on a lightly greased (with Crisco) surface.

I love this recipe because I can color it without coloring my hands. You just add the color when it is at the "soupy" stage. Also, you can add flavoring. I find that it tastes best to add it during the "soupy" stage so you aren't nuking the flavoring. Keep this covered in an air-tight container so it doesn't dry out. If it's too hard to work with, I stick it in the microwave for a few seconds, like ten or so, and it softens right up, like playdough!

You can also make chocolate or white chocolate fondant. I have yet to try the white chocolate:
for Chocolate:
add 1 oz. melted chocolate
1 t. cocoa powder to basic recipe

White Chocolate:
add 1 oz. (maybe 1 1/4 oz.) good quality white chocolate, melted to basic recipe.

Try it out. Tell me what you think.

Tricks of my Trade

Here are a few things I do a little differently than most. Thanks to those who taught me!


Fondant: Most people avoid fondant for two reasons. The taste and the cost. Personally I just am not a fan of the texture, but my kids love it. This is the first cake I made with fondant. Although it is super cute, it tasted HORRID! I used the Wilton ready to roll junk. It was pricey and stinky and YUCKY!!!



Thankfully, someone in my class passed on a delicious homemade recipie. It cuts the cost and it tastes great! My friends says it reminds her of those circus peanut candies. The chocolate tastes like a tootsie roll according to another friend. So here are some cakes I've made with my own fondant.








Fake cake: I know a lot of people will make cakes from styrofoam or other materials to cut costs, mostly on wedding cakes. Well, this drives me nuts! I dealt with this when looking for my own wedding cake. The thing is, it doesn't save that much money and you can't eat it. At the same time, a lot of people don't eat or serve the cake so that is fine. My solution was taught to me by a friend. Use rice krispy treats. They taste great, kids love them, they are super easy to work with, and they are so inexpensive to make!!! Here are a couple cakes made in part or whole from rice krispies.This entire "cake" is rice krispie because the family doesn't like cake.





Again, the dress is made from rice krispies.

Wedding Cakes

Since Wedding season for college students is upon us... here are some pictures of wedding cakes I have done. I have some others... but I took them on different cameras and now I can't find the pictures. I'll keep looking. I must admit, I love to look at the pictures, because it's harder to see the imperfections I notice while I'm making it! Although they cause me the most stress, I love to make them and see the finished product at the reception.This cake was difficult to get the look just right. I made it the day after Thanksgiving in someone else's kitchen after a three hour drive. But, it was one of the tastiest cakes! The bottom two layer are white cake with raspberry filling. There is a chocolate rasberry ganache poured over the cakes and the fondant is raspberry flavored. The brown is chocolate fondant that tastes like tootsie rolls.This cake was a team effort. The bride is my new sister-in-law and her sister, Kaylin and I worked on this together. I baked the cakes and frosted them, she did the fancy curliques and we added finishing details together. This one was also a yummy one. The bottom is again, white with raspberry. the middle is Grandma Mary's famous chocolate cake.This cake was actually for the bridal shower for my sister-in-law. The doll's hair is a little crazy, but the cake was fun and pretty quick considering. Its white cake with fondant. The doll's dress is actually made from rice krispies.