Barbie Cake

A cute neighbor and one of my Beehives turned 14. She wanted a BRIGHT pink cake, with zebra print.  People call her Barbie so she wanted that in there too.  I decided to try my hand at making the cake looks like zebra print as well. I didn’t get the circles exactly centered, but they said it turned out just right. I wish I had a pic of the inside, but I don’t. I used fondant as well as buttercream. I need to get better at smoothing out buttercream, but I used a new technique of a warm/ watered down knife to smooth it.  When I bake and create I usually have a vision for how I want things to turn out, it never turns out as I think and unfortunately, how I hope, but it seems like they still look fine and the buyers are happy. That’s all that matters.  I need to learn to throw perfection out the window. (:

Isn’t she cute!?Happy Birthday Bayli!

“You’re a baker!”

Says my husband to me the other night.  I laughed in the middle of my mixing and said, “what do you mean by that?” Wondering if he was being sarcastic or just making a comment. He said, “you’ve just been baking everyday.” To which I sarcastically replied, “it’s your fault, you bought me the class!” 

I have {finally} been taking a cake decorating thanks to my supportive husband and great friend, Natasha.  He bought me the class for Christmas and Tash takes the kids for me while I go.  It has been a wonderful out. I have loved taking the time to learn new tricks and just be able to practice. I lucked out with private lessons because the lady who was in it with me had family problems so she will take it next month.  The instructor is great and what a small world, she knows my mom and makes stuff for bereavement for the hospital and I know her son and daughter in law!

Here are a few of our creations…

Week 2

week 3- Cupcakes and flowers

                                        

Week 4 –Design your own cake using the skills you have learned.  I made a cake for Natasha, using the flowers and rosettes we learned during class the writing wasn’t my favorite, but I’ll work on it.  Then I also decided to make a Super Bowl cake for Sunday. Dave is so excited that is favorite team is playing in it!  GO NINERS!

This week I was also asked to make some cookies for a baby shower.  Here is what she requested…

I have another month that I’m going to be starting next week and I am so excited.

I worked on these cakes last fall and never posted them, thought his would be a good post to do so.  Our relief society president was having surgery and in lots of pain. I had been playing around with roses and thought I would add it on top. It was a simple and I was just playing around, but it was fun.

This was a cake I was asked to make for anniversary. I was SOOO nervous about it going well. I didn’t know what to charge, I was nervous about it slumping like my popcorn cake, and there were new techniques involved that I hadn’t done before. I used ribbon for the first time,  I tried all new recipes, including cream cheese frosting and homemade cakes I tried my hand at gum paste roses and was pleasantly surprised by their outcome (my friend’s husband thought I bought them), and made it a 3 tier square cake.  In the end my frosting was too warm or something and wasn’t going on over the fondant as I would have like so I had to make some royal icing to add the swirls. It didn’t go exactly as I would have wanted, but they were pleased  and overall it turned out okay.

Lego Cake

My good friend has always had faith in me and my cakes.  She asked me to make the Popcorn Cake, and though it almost fell over she trusted me to make another cake.  Here is her seven year old’s wish….

Baking and the Learning curves..

I am a wanna be baker. I admit it. I want to take courses to be better, but until the day I can take professional ones I will do my own research and try try try to get better.  I could spend hours (oops and I do) looking at cakes, cookies, blogs, books, pinterest ideas, etc. I love art and I love eating sugar so it just makes sense to be in love with beautiful and yummy creations.

Here are my latest “experiments:”

I was a Young Women Girls Camp Assistant Director this year.  Our theme was “Amazing Race” so for camp kick off I made these World Cookies….

I learned that my hand is not so steady and I probably should take the time to make a template or use a projector something. I thought they were okay for being freehanded!

The HEAVY fondant Popcorn Cake! My dear friend, Natasha, asked me MANY months ago to help her with her daughter’s 4th birthday party.   It was a carnival party and needed some popcorn! I LOVED researching this cake, it was a lot of fun.  It was a crazy week to try to make this cake, plan for girls camp, help plan the nitty gritty of the family reunion, see friends visiting, pack for two weeks worth of vacations and keep up with my family. However, I didn’t want to pass this opportunity up.  So here you have it….

So I  didn’t cut my cakes perfectly and it was a little crooked in the back to start, then adding all that HEAVY fondant make for an unbalanced cake.  It was okay for a little bit, then with the travel and heat it had had enough! I was so sad to watch it all night long and see it slowly falling. I am still an amateur at this stuff so I didn’t put in any supports and by the end of the party it was VERY droopy.  I was so mortified!  Needless to say, I will use a support system with my next one and do more research about types of cakes and fondants work best.  This was my go to fondant recipe and it was really stretchy on this cake. It was way too moist, despite my efforts to add powder sugar.  Those little popcorn kernels were a fun headache too. (:  The birthday girl had asked for a pink cake so I made strawberry on the inside. 

The day of Rhiece said she wanted an elephant cake, so I added a fondant elephant to the top. I worked perfect wit the theme.

She was pretty happy with it! Anna loves her friend Rhiece! We all do. Especially when she makes faces like that! HA!HA!

MORE“falling” photos… ):

The inside…  This cake was SUPER sweet and a major sugar overload, but nevertheless yummy!