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The Cake That Was Airborn

There was once a cake created for no real purpose. Well – ok, it had a purpose: it was for a colorful cake competition (which I ended up not winning).

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Anyway, I find myself so pained when having to create and decorate a cake with absolutely no event planned for consuming it at the end… so if I must create a cake for decorating purposes only, I find a person to gift it to.

(Bonus: this makes me an often well-liked person!)

In the case of this cake, the competion happened to fall on the week before a quick visit to my brother in Dallas. With no real risk involved (my brother didn’t even know I was bringing it until right before) I decided to attempt to bring the cake as a carry-on on my flight.

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Friends, you are looking at a double-barrel (7-8 inch double-stacked) cake that survived the drive to the airport, being carried through the entire airport, riding through the security x-Ray machine on the conveyer belt (the security staff only stopped it once, looked confused, asked me what it was and then chuckled, letting it pass), riding the airport train while in my arms, and then – get this – the entire flight to Dallas in the overhead compartment. 

Are you laughing? I still am.

But that wasn’t it! Upon arrival, the cake then survived the Dallas airport and a one-hour trek through Dallas rush hour traffic in the back of my brother’s old 4Runner (with his crazy Dallas driving ;))

When we arrived at his home, I opened the box and…

Perfect!

Enjoy one last photo of my littlest angel wondering why I was planning to go to all that trouble when I could have just left it at home with her and Daddy…

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Rest assured that I have incredible faith in the durability of my cakes these days!

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Learn how to create a double-barrel cake here:

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An Elegant Iris & White Wedding Cake

This week a lovely couple celebrated their union in a gorgeous setting in Golden, Colorado, and I was so amazingly lucky to create their wedding cake!

As I walked into the venue, the gorgeous and romantic setting took my breath away for a moment. With stunning iris details everywhere and an atmosphere of pure excitement and happiness, I had the cake decorator moment… the one that is a perfect mix of relief and excitement – the one where I knew my cake was a success and would fit right in to this beautiful setting.

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This buttercream cake started with a design that the couple loved by Cake My Day, and evolved from there with some color and detail changes, as well as an added tier.

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It contained four tiers, each sized at 12 inches, 9 inches, 6 inches and a 4 inch anniversary/honeymoon tier, and stood over 22 inches tall with the gumpaste peony-style fantasy flower on top. The silver leaf edges on the flower added that special something.

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The lone iris tier was an eye catcher for sure, with it’s gorgeous color, edible diamonds and piped scroll design.

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The bottom tier was a labor of love… nearly 38 inches around of handmade fondant ruffles.

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I enjoyed every moment of this cake! Wishing the very best and many years of true love to Erik & Allie!

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Tools used in this project:

Online classes that I found useful for this project:

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Buttercream Birch Tree Cake

Hello, all!

What a fun week it was in my kitchen! This week I had a request that challenged me a bit at first. My wonderful customer wanted a birch bark cake… nothing I haven’t done before (and seen a million versions of tutorials online for), but she wanted this cake to be a buttercream cake. This was new to me!

Naturally, the first thing I did was take to the internet for ideas on how to accomplish this. I found (as usual) tons of tutorials on rustic buttercream birch bark cakes, but none that matched my style. Everything I found resulted in a messy sort of birch bark cake.

I know, I know, why should a rustic cake of this style be neat? Here’s the thing: when I first started cakes, I struggled so much with the “messy” cakes – the rustic cakes or more masculine cakes such as my Planes Fire & Rescue cake (which, coincidentally, has been my biggest success on Pinterest).

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When I realized that “messy” cakes were likely just never going to be my thing, I decided to take the ideas given to me and neaten them up in my own style. For example, I was asked to do a four-wheeling cake, and here was my final result.

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Clearly, this was before I realized the importance of good photography, (and the customer added the four-wheeling vehicles after pickup) but you get the idea. Instead of smearing the cake with chocolate frosting before covering with rocks and other debris (as would have been the most likely plan), I chose to panel it neatly with modeling chocolate and cover the tier tops with edible dirt instead. This way, it pleased my smooth-sided sensibilities but still made my customers very happy!

Back to the birch bark cake.

After feeling frustrated with the lack of ideas to achieve what I was picturing, I decided maybe I needed to find a fondant birch bark tutorial and figure out a way to translate it into buttercream. Well, I already had a version that I was in love with and had successfully created before… Shawna McGreevy’s birch bark cake! I followed her amazing tutorial for my sister’s baby shower cake earlier this summer, and was really pleased with the clean, beautiful results.

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Sooo… I did some mental planning and got to work.

What do you know… it was a success!

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This is buttercream, people!

I was very pleased with the way it turned out and with only one bump in the road, to the tune of my airbrush failing on me, which I rectified by hand-painting the top of the stump. And in fact, I know that I spent more time trying to fix my airbrush than I did painting the top. Isn’t that always the way?

Anyway, I filmed myself creating this cake just because, and was able to edit it into a short little bit of cakey fun!

Keep in mind, the original birch tree cake tutorial that I used came from the brilliant mind of Shawna McGreevy here! I simply adapted it in my own way to buttercream!

 Enjoy!

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Tools used in this project:

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To Cover or Not to Cover…

Hello, sweet friends!

I was scrolling down through some of my older photos and feeling like I was watching myself grow while doing so… all of my cakes, from the very oldest until now. I would like to think that there was not much difference, and maybe tell myself that I was always good at cakes – but that is, of course, not the case.

One thing I do notice right off the bat is the fact that it took me about a year or so to realize the importance of decorating my cake boards.

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Whether it is something as simple as sanding sugar…

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… or even a solid fondant with a message on it, I always try to at least cover my boards.

As I’ve grown in confidence as a cake designer, I have gotten more and more fancy with my boards.

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I’ve learned how much extra detail and character it adds to the cake. I’ve even gone as far as the create a board that almost overshadows the cake itself.

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Fellow bakers, if you want to feel worth the money you know you should be charging, you need to take care every detail of your cake… this definitely includes the board. A beautifully decorated board adds so much to the quality of your cake!

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Really… just take my word for it.

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But if you still need a little more convincing, check out this video by Liz Merrick that convinced me I was right.

I would love to know your thoughts!

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If you are subscribed to this blog, you have likely been receiving blank blog posts in your inbox. I apologize for the mistakes! I am working diligently to resolve the issue.

Thank you!

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Back-to-School Teacher Gifts

Hello, my friends! The best thing about today? It’s Saturday.

<happy sigh>

With all of the cake orders I have had in the last few weeks, I have to say that a week jam-packed full of cookies was a welcome change! While cakes are definitely my favorite creative outlet, there is something so relaxing about piping cookie after cookie, and I think everyone knows by now that I love creating beautiful things in smaller sizes.

Here is but one set that resulted from this week’s labor.

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I hope they will put a big smile on our teachers’ faces!

I also pulled out my video camera for a little while and put together this fun video of the making of the chalkboard cookies. It is short and fun!

If you know anything about me, you likely know that I started decorating cookies basically out of nowhere three years ago. I take pride in all that I have learned, developed and grown when it comes to my business, especially because I am self-taught (with the help of the internet).

Incredible amounts of learning and studying up have lead me to where I am in my cake and cookie decorating!

I am guessing there are so many other people out there like me, who have had an interest but never known where to start! A few basic YouTube videos and Craftsy classes really cleared up the basics for me and gave me enough base knowledge to move forward!

I am so passionate about online learning, because the knowledge is really at your finger tips.

One of my very favorite online learning avenues, Craftsy, is having a wonderful sale this weekend… 50% off of their NEW classes!

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This includes a class I have taken (ok, a TON of classes I have taken, but ONE in particular), by my absolute cookie idol Callye Alvarado of Sweet Sugarbelle. Must. have. this. class. Seriously – a class by Callye for UNDER $20. If you have been at all tempted to give it a go, this is a great place to start.

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I love to share my passion for sugar… it has brought so much joy into my life and I know it could for some of you also!

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Tools used in this project:

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A Vintage Airplane Cake Topper

A couple of weeks ago, I had the most wonderful opportunity to create a vintage airplane birthday cake for an incredibly loved little boy. From the moment his mom sent me a copy of the party invitation, I knew I was going to love this project! And I did… from start to finish.

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The airplanes on the side of the cake are hand-painted with food coloring. I just love painting on cakes… it is so relaxing and creates such a wonderful look! I especially loved the dreamy clouds on this cake. Every once in a while, there is a project that reminds me of the magic of childhood, and this one did just that!

But of course the element that I enjoyed the most was the adorable airplane cake topper!

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This sweet topper was created from gum paste and was nearly all edible (minus the toothpicks). It traveled straight from my imagination to the top of this cake, and I adore it.

So much, in fact, that I created a video of the making of this topper!

Enjoy!

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A few fabulous tools used in this project:

Craftsy Cake Decorating Class

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A Tiffany & Co. Inspired Cake

The gorgeous “Tiffany blue” box. The delicate satin ribbon. Those tiny black inscribed letters that mean so much.

The Tiffany & Co. box is a long-standing symbol of elegance and class. For this reason, Tiffany & Co. inspired cakes are a popular and often-requested theme, especially for bridal showers and the like.

I was approached to create a small Tiffany box cake to be central on a bridal shower dessert table. The excitement of a first-time theme drew my interest immediately, as it always does… especially with it being one so prominent on Pinterest and other online communities.

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One thing that most excited me in planning this cake was my client’s request for size – this cake was to be 4″. I really enjoy when cakes are ordered in the size best suited for their design and, as a Tiffany box is often small and square, this was perfect.

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In order for the ribbon to catch your eye, I used super pearl dust to give it some shine and a satin-like appearance.

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The beautiful lace-like look of the cake board happened by complete accident. That will have to be a story for another day. 😉 The inside of this cake was delicious dark chocolate with creamy dark chocolate ganache filling.

My hope is that I was successful in providing the bride-to-be and her special ladies with a beautiful and decadent centerpiece for their memorable event.

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Used in the creation of this cake:

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