Wilton Class - Grand Finale Cake (with a little help from my kids :)! )

This was the Grand Finale Cake for the Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste class I took in September. I made medium & large pink daisies with green leaves. I brushed them with pink & green luster dust so they really sparkled! I finished it with a twisted rope fondant border. I just love that Dark Chocolate Fondant! It's left over from the wedding cake I made this summer - so you can probably expect to see more cakes covered in it!

My children made the little bugs and flowers from the left over gumpaste. (I believe Larry the Cucumber is there somewhere!) They really did a great job.

Wilton Class - Draping 101

I took a Wilton Class this September & I'm just now posting pictures! I know, terrible of me. I've just not found the time to post. Thinking back on that class (Wilton's Fondant & Gum Paste Class), I was hoping to get some fondant tips & learn how to make flowers. Unfortunately, we only learned 3 flowers, but it sure got me interested in learning more. The flowers are really pretty & the more you practice the better they come out. It really helped being able to watch the instructor actually work the flower in front of you instead of watching a video or look at a book. Anyway, it was fun. This cake was our first cake. We used a fondant & gum paste mix, which makes the fondant drape really nice!

Special Occasions continued...

My Mom has hosted a Ladies Bible Study every Tuesday night for over 10 years. Every year we end our study with a dinner. Since it was around Mother's Day, I made a cake to celebrate. I had seen this cake in an ACD magazine & wanted to see if I could make it.
The green fondant covered cake was covered with gumpaste hydrangea flowers that I had to make a ton of. (I think I still have some left over!)

Special Occasions

This cake was for my Dad's Retirement Party. He worked for the Town of Windsor for over 30 years. Our theme was "Let It Snow". Retirement = No More Plowing :) !

The cake was chocolate, of course (Dad's favorite) and was covered in Dark Chocolate Fondant. I made the chocolate box & filled it with chocolate stars. The Monogram on top of the cake was also made out of chocolate & covered with a chocolate star transfer. For the finishing touch, I airbrushed gold over the entire cake. It was yummy!

Cakes for the Kids....

The Summer of Weddings

I thought I would post the other wedding cakes I have done - since this seems to have been my summer of wedding cakes. I haven't made very many since I only make cakes for family & close friends.

The first wedding cake I ever did was also the first fondant covered cake I did. I had only done birthday cakes up till then & wanted to help friends out who were on a shoe-string budget. They wanted a cake to match the topper they had picked out. Bears with a red heart - thus the red roses.


The next was my favorite - until Christa & Matt's (I love brown & blue). It was a fondant tiered cake that was covered in sugared fruit. That cake was for Carissa & Ben's outdoor reception, it looked great outside!


Cake #3 was for the niece of family friends. It also was fondant covered & had a purple theme. Funny story about this cake. This wedding was catered by Maneeley's; a fact that was unknown to me until I got there to set up the cake! This was the first wedding that I did a cake for that wasn't catered by friends! So I had to go and set up the cake with other professional bakers looking on. Now setting up cakes is stressful enough without feeling like I was taking some type of test, but they were really nice & said it looked great.


Cake #4 was a really "hip" cake that I did for a young couple looking for a more modern cake. They picked out all the color combinations & provided all the flowers for me to decorate the cake. It matched their wedding colors perfectly & was exactly the cake they wanted. They were really happy with it.

Allison & Ryan's Wedding Cake

Top Two Layers - Packed & Ready to Go

Bottom Two Layers - Ready to Go

The Finishing Touches

Alli & Ryan's Wedding Cake

Well, as you can see from the pictures, this wedding cake started as a 4 layer cake! However, after being transported from CT to Portsmouth, NH, the bottom layer's fondant had cracked. So it then became a 3 layer! Oh Well - it still looked okay, once I put on the flower top. It added some height.

My cousin Alli's wedding was really wonderful. It was great to see family that we don't get to see very often. Congratulations Ryan & Alli!

Cake Stats:

• 4 uhh I mean 3 Layer Yellow Cake
• Raspberry Seedless Preserve Filling
• Vanilla Satin Ice Fondant
• Sugar Pearls (cakeart)
• Pearl Dust
• Brown Ribbon Trim
• 118 Servings
  

Christa & Matt's Wedding Cake

On July 5, 2008, Matt & Christa were joined in Holy Matrimony. It was a beautiful ceremony. I use to babysit Christa and her sister Shiloh (see Cross Country Cake) and I was having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that I was witnessing her being married! Matt is a wonderful, Godly man and Christa was blessed to find him. I was honored to be able to make their wedding cake and very happy to say that the rain stopped and we were able to celebrate with them outside in The Meadow on her family's farm. The cake held up pretty well - in spite of the weather being very humid and never completely dry. Fondant and humidity do not get along at all! It lasted about 4 hours and then the fondant started sweating and seeping through the ribbon along the bottom of the layers. Other than that problem (and pictures were taken well before that time!) it did just fine.

Cake Stats:
* 4 Layer Chocolate Cake (6",8",12",16")
* Filled & Frosted with Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream
* Covered with Dark Chocolate Fondant (Satin Ice from Pfeil & Holing )
* Brown & Teal Stripe Ribbon Trim
* Teal Fondant Polka Dots
* Serves 180

Down - But Not Out!

Well - it made it in practically one piece! Shiloh said that the cake had shifted slightly but the flowers were perfect. It obviously was pretty warm because the fondant was very shiny and soft. Next time (if there ever is a next time) I think I will freeze the cake before shipping it & pack it into a shipping cooler with ice packs or dry ice. That should prevent the melting & shifting. See note below on how it was packed and shipped (via USPS priority mail) All in all, the cake arrived in edible condition, and the flowers were still beautiful. Of course, cake is yummy even if its slightly battered! I would have to say the Experiment was a success in that the cake made it still standing, but improvements could be made. What do you think? As Shiloh said "it traveled 3,000 miles quite well".

Shipping Notes: Here is how I packed the cake for shipping. Obviously for those who know me, I went to my fellow packing professionals at Fast Pak! I bought a Sterilite Cake Saver as an Anniversary present. I then placed the cake on the bottom tray & wrapped the decorated cake in plastic wrap and used bubble pack to surround the cake and then put the top of the cake saver on. Then we put it into a box and surrounded it with egg crates to prevent the cake saver from moving. Much thanks to my Mom & Elizabeth (and all their Fast Pak knowledge) for helping me package it and for making a donation towards shipping costs.

Oh! Here are the cake stats:

• Orange Layer Cake (I torted each layer for a total of 4 layers)
• Filled & Frosted with Chocolate Buttercream
• Covered with Dark Chocolate Fondant (Satin Ice from Pfeil & Holing )
• Brown Ribbon Trim
• Lindt Intense Orange Squares (around flowers)
  
• Gumpaste Flowers with Fabric Leaves (Flowers from Pfeil & Holing )
  

Cross Country Cake!

As some of you know, I dabble in the art of cake decorating. My latest endeavor may be historical! At least in Google history, since no where via Google, could I find anyone attempting what I attempted. In fact, everything I did find was DON'T do it! What is this great historical attempt you ask? I shipped a cake to Silverdale, Washington. The cake was a 1-year anniversary present for friends stationed in Washington State. So I decided to take a chance and ship them a cake - we will have to wait and see what happens. I am posting a picture of the "Before" so they can see how their cake looked before it took its journey. I asked for an "After" picture and will post that when I get it. Should be interesting......