Long time no nothin

Hey there, cake lovers!

To quote the great movie Dances With Wolves “Now I bet you were wonderin, why don’t he write?”  In my case, it’s she, but did anyone wonder?  Anybody google obits for cake ladies?

I’m still alive and kickin and makin lots of cakes, in fact!  I just haven’t been adding them to this blog.  The fact is, blogging takes time and I’m blessed with three kids, a cute husband,  and a full cake schedule.  About a year ago, I realized it made a lot more sense to post my pictures on my Facebook page instead.  It’s quick, easy, and gets the job done.

Check it out here if you like!

 

So, sorry this won’t be updated much.  Always feel free to email me or message my via my Facebook page.

It was good catchin’ up with ya!

 

Cakes for 7/7/14

Hello all.  We have just had the most amazingly wonderful week of weather in Indiana.  I mean, crazy awesome.  I have not had my AC on for a week… IN JULY!!!  It has been awesome.  Decorating a cake becomes so much better by a breezy screen door.

So let me show you what I made while enjoying the splendor of 70’s in July…

This one was for a little sweetie that loves unicorns

Unicorn Birthday Cake

Here are some beautiful ruffled baby shower cupcakes

Ruffled Cupcakes

These were for a soccer crazy little man.  His mom is so cool that she got a cookie cake for his actual birthday and another cake for his party with friends!

Soccer Ball birthday Cake Soccer Ball Cookie Cake

This one was for a Ball state student.

Striped Sheet Birthday Cake

And finally, my fave from last week.  The pinwheels are gumpaste and were so much fun to make.  This was for a very lucky little one year old.  I forgot to get a picture with the smash cake.  WHoops!

Pinwheel Birthday Cake

Get out and enjoy the weather!  I know I will.

Kickin’ it Old School

I am an old fashioned girl.  I am strict with my kids, love singing in church choir, knitting, and broccoli salad.  I had someone at my church recently tell me I am the oldest 38 year old they have ever met.

I took that as a huge compliment. :)

That old style translates to some of my taste in cake design.  One older style that I have always loved is Cornelli lace.  I had it on my wedding cake.  I love piping it.   I think it’s timeless.  So when my long time friend wanted a baptism cake and gave me creative freedom, what do you think I chose?  That’s right!  I laced it up, baby!  My hand ached 2/3 of the way through and I had fleeting thoughts of regret, but I persevered and was very happy with the result.  Here’s how you do it.

Ice your cake and smooth it as usual.

Cornelli 1

I used a #3 tip.  I then started squiggling away!  It’s easier to tell what not to do than what to do.

Do NOT make a pattern.

Do NOT touch or cross your line.

Do NOT over think this.

Just squirm the icing all over in little squiggles.  Make it as random as possible.

Cornelli 2

Make sure you let the piping lat over the edges.  You don’t want it to look like the top is separate from the rest of the cake.

Cornelli 3

That’s all there is to it!  It’s hard to mess up.  It looks timeless and elegant…in my humble opinion.  Feel free to practice on parchment or wax paper first until you are more comfortable with it.

Cornelli Lace Cross

Good luck and happy decorating!

Cakes for 6/30/14

Hello, cake lovers.  Sorry I am a couple days behind this week.  I am blessed with so much business that I haven’t had time this week to update my blog!  This week I have lots of fun firsts.  I can’t wait to share them with you next week.

In the meantime, check out what was cooking in my kitchen last week…

Here’s a birthday cake that would work for either gender and any time of year.

Confetti Birthday Cake

This one was 4th of July theme for a birthday boy.

4th of July Birthday Cake

How about a prescription for rest, relaxation, and fun?!  That’s just what this retiring pharmacist got!

Pharmacy cake

This one was for two babies from the same family that were being baptized.  This used an older technique called Cornelli lace, which you can see how to do here.

Cornelli Lace Cross

Well, that wraps up June!  I can’t believe summer break is halfway over already.  I am loving all my time with my kids.  I hope you are all making the most of your summer and enjoying every minute!

See ya next week!

Cakes for 06/23/14

Take a look at my busy, fun week!

Here’s a fun, girly grad cake.  There’s always a fun way to incorporate your school colors but keep it stylish.

Cheetah Print Grad Cake

Fun colorful cupcakes!  I made 175 of these last week, but 12 of them photographs just fine. :)

Neon Sprinkle Cupcakes

This was one for my Mother in law and sister in law whose birthdays are only a week apart.

White Daisy Cake

BAM!  POW!  Holy rusted metal, Batman!  Here’s a fun super hero cake!

Marvel Comic Cake

This one was definitely a first for me.   This was for a Cross Fit themed baby shower!  That’s one hot mama!

Crossfit Baby Shower Cake and cupcakes

Crossfit cupcakes

This one was my absolute favorite from last week.  I am so MAD at myself though because I didn’t realize the pics I took were blurry.  So sad.  Hopefully the sight of it will make you squeal with delight like the birthday girl did when she saw it…in spite of the blurry pictures.

Minion Cake

Minion Cake Top

So that’s it!  This week has a lot on the books too, so come back next week to check them out!

Making a difference one stick of butter at a time

What’s up, everybody?  Last week was crazy busy!  I am blessed with business and really amazing customers.  I am enjoying pick up day more than anything lately.  All the gasps, smiles, and hugs are worth every minute of work.  I LOVE being a part of people’s special events.  It’s amazing how much emphasis our society places on the cake at an event.  Think about event pictures from your life.  How many of them are posed around a cake?  I am willing to bet you all have a picture of a birthday party or milestone party and the person of honor is holding their cake.  So now, think about what an honor it is for me to be creating those cakes that will be in all those family albums.  It’s almost overwhelming when put in those terms.  My job is a gift and I don’t take it for granted for a single minute.  So, my mission for you is this.  Find what about your job makes a difference for people around you.  Some jobs are obvious.  Nurses, teachers, soldiers, and the like are clearly heroes for those around them.  But what about you?  Do you work in an office?  How about in food service?  I’m sure a lot of you don’t feel like your job makes a noble impact in people’s lives.  There’s several of you out there that feel like altruism escapes them.  But I guarantee each and every one of you is making a difference in the lives of someone somewhere.  We are all linked on some level and need to make the most of it.  If I can find the ways I impact people through something like cake, then you can find your way too!  I would love for you to leave a comment of what your job is and how you are positively impacting those around you and beyond.

 Thank you for coming back each week to see what I’ve been making.  I love sharing them with you all!

Cakes for week of 06/16/14

Hey, ya’all!  wonderin’ where I’ve been?  VA-CA-TION!!!  I got away to Michigan with my wonderful husband for four days and then took a week of no cakes for my kids.  We wrapped up the week with a trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana.  We have had a great time, but now I’m back to the grind.  Of course by grind I mean my awesome work from home job that enables me to be creative.

Here’s what was cooking in my kitchen before vacation.

2014 Grad Cake

Here’s a fun grad cake that’s unique, but easy to cut and serve to a large crowd.

Yellow banded cake

This was a wedding cake for an awesome Purdue couple!  My husband and I are both Boilermakers and are VERY happily married, so I’m sure it will play a large part in their marriage success.  :)

Not too much this post, but next week will be chock full!  I have 200 cupcakes and five other orders!

Time to settle the score

So, I’m not big on sheet cakes.  Let’s be honest. They aren’t the best way to showcase a beautiful cake design.  But when done well, they are definitely a great option for an easy to cut and serve cake for a large group.

To make it especially easy, sometimes they are scored.  This is a very easy technique.  Let me show ya how…

First, ice the cake and scrape it smooth.

Scoring Cakes 7

Then, using a CLEAN yard stick (I have one specifically for cakes.  Let’s not get grody, people) make a small hash mark every two inches of each cake edge.

Scoring Cakes 9

Then, gently roll your yardstick across the hash marks.  Make sure the yardstick touches the icing as it rolls across the surface.  It will ever so slightly pick up a line of icing off the cake.

Scoring Cakes 11

Scoring Cakes 6

That’s all there is to it!

Scoring Cakes 3

Now you can fill in each square with the decor of your choosing.  For this one, it was fondant music notes and butter cream rosebuds.

Scoring Cakes 4

Whoops,  missed a spot.

Music Note Sheet Cake

There, that’s better.

Happy Decorating, friends.

Cakes for 6/2/14

Hello and welcome back!  Thanks to all of you that keep coming back to see what I’ve been making and welcome to you newcomers.  Last week was fun because I got to do some new techniques I had never tried.  I also got to make a cake for a very special event at my church.  Take a look at what was cooking in my kitchen last week…

Here’s bright, fun cake for a Curious George themed party

Curious George Cake

Let me explain the ridiculousness of this one.  This was for a banquet at my church that was Sound of Music themed.  This is the face of our Music Director who was retiring from his ministry position.  My husband did the photo shop handy work while I did the cake.  We make a pretty good team, don’t ‘cha think?

Sound of Music Cake

Here’s a sheet cake I made to accompany it.  Lots of people were at this fun event so we needed lots of cake!  Here’s a tutorial for scoring a cake like this one.

Music Note Sheet Cake

This last one was a bigger challenge than I anticipated because I don’t do well with architectural cakes.  Straight lines are my nemesis.  Dr. Who fans will recognize this as the Tardis phone booth that transports the characters through time.

Tardis Cake

Tardis Cake side view

Yipes, stripes!

A really fun technique to use is color striping a cake.  It always looks so great.  A really great stripe to learn with a this Dr. Suess theme.  If you look at the sketches in his books, the lines aren’t perfectly straight and clean.  Let me show you how to add color in a fun way to your cake!

Start with a cake iced in your base color.  Place it in the freezer until the cake is firm to the touch.

Striped colors 5

For this design, the stripe color is also the top color for the cake, so I started there.  I placed the color in the middle first, gradually pushing towards to outer edge of the cake and eventually over the edge.

Striped colors 4

Then, pipe on your stripe color.  It doesn’t need to be very thick if it’s a darker color than the base color.  I intentionally made the lines imperfect to mimic the look of Dr. Suess.

Striped colors 1

Striped Colors 2

After drawing on all of your stripes, use a plastic scraper to smooth all the stripes onto the cake.  You will have to clean off your scraper often to make sure the colors don’t bleed onto each other.

Striped cake 3

Again, these are imperfect on purpose.  If the stripes need to be straight, pipe them slowly and steadily.  You will also have to keep the cake cold by putting it back in the freezer occasionally.

I then added thin black piping along the edges of the red stripes to complete the look.  I LOVE how it turned out!

Cat in the Hat Cake with Smash

Happy striping, everyone!  I hope you have fun with this technique.

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