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A “Two Wild” Birthday Cake & Wafer Paper Fan Flower Video

I could eat, sleep and breath cakes these days, and one of my very favorite aspects is the amazing and fun themes that my clients bring to me! From vintage rose first birthdays to sharks & strawberries (my adorable nephew’s choice) to pinwheels.

This week I was so thrilled to create a “Two Wild” themed cake! My incredibly fun returning customer wanted a jungle-themed cake using animal prints and black lace of some sort. She wanted it to be a bit more sophisticated than childish. This criteria was both incredibly fun and exciting, and also a little nerve-wracking! Animal prints can definitely be misused!

In continuing with my mission to discover my own style, I chose not to search online for examples (and to peek at the examples she sent me with squinty eyes). As I often do, I laid down on my back, closed my eyes and drew a picture in my head.

I still felt a bit unsure of the picture I had in my head, so I sketched it out just to make sure it was balanced.

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Thank goodness I can decorate a cake better than I can sketch, {and this particular sketch was done in haste and not meant to be seen} because the cake turned out much to my satisfaction!

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I used edible lace throughout this buttercream cake {I will link to the lace and mat below}, as well as wafer paper, fondant, edible glitter AND icing sheets.

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In order to respect my customer’s wishes for a buttercream cake, I chose to apply the fondant decorations in a way that would be easy to remove – note on the bottom tier {in the photo above} that the fondant is attached loosely, separated from the cake by the lace and only attached at the base.

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Lastly, McGreevy Cakes‘ wafer paper pom tutorial got me started on my wafer paper fan flowers, although I had to find my own way once I realized her amazing tutorial would not look so great with my one-sided printed paper.

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Below is a video of how I ended up creating my simple fan flowers!

Have a wonderful week! I would love to hear your comments!

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Tools used in this project:


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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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Let’s Talk Sketching

We see beautiful and artfully created cakes in magazines and online all the time. Even if you are not into designing or creating desserts of any kind, you may be one of those people who loves flipping through photos of them.

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Have you ever wondered how these masterpieces came to be? I’m not talking about the oven or the kitchen counter. I mean from the very beginning – the concept.

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While some cake decorators prefer not to bother with sketching their cakes in any form, some (like me) prefer to have a visual to create from.

imageWhen I first began decorating cakes, I was strongly against (or maybe afraid of?) having to sketch out my cake designs beforehand. I insisted that the visual was only in my head.

It took one wedding cake that was too confusing for me to explain to the bride and groom and forced me to sketch out my first cake. In that sketch, I learned that a) maybe I was not, in fact, the worst sketch artist on the planet (as I had previously thought), and b) putting my mental images on to paper was not as difficult as I had expected, and actually somewhat relaxing.

Since that time, I have also learned that having a visual to “copy” allows me the most success! Turns out I am a really great copier! Ha! Sketching out my own designs and then copying them works wonderfully for me. I now sketch out pretty much all of my more-than-basic designs.

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I use Adobe Sketch and my Apple Pencil for my images, although there are some earlier ones that were done with paper and pencil.

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At this point, I find that drawing out my cake designs (or even ideas for possible cake designs) is a calming activity in itself.

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And I always find it fun afterward to compare the two! Of course there are usually small details that change, but I am able to see just how closely I come to my original idea. It’s refreshing and it reminds me that the idea I created in my head really did have potential!

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