Fishing Cake

I made this cake for this past father's day, but it can easily be made for any special occasion! It's a marble cake that was made in a 13x9 pan. Then for the water, I used light blue buttercream and swirled in a darker blue for more depth. The grass was made of green buttercream, and the dock and fishing pole was made of gumpaste. The fish and other little sea-creatures were made of fondant. Overall this was a fun cake to make, and my dad and grandfather's really enjoyed it!

A Birthday Cake

Sometimes nothing says "Happy Birthday" better then a simply decorated, delicious birthday cake. With nice, smooth butter cream, a simple rope boarder and sweet little sugar flowers, the first thing your eye gravitates to is a message. A simple and meaningful "Happy Birthday."

This cake was made for my wonderful grandfather's 96th birthday. He is so sweet - always a positive spirit and get this: he still drives...well! With a full head of hair and a memory that is sharp as a tack, Grandpa was truly appreciative of this cake. He didn't believe me when I said I made it - he insisted that I bought it at a bakery!

Also - I decided to post this cake because at this time last year I made grandpa's 95th birthday cake. After I made that cake, I decided to take the Wilton classes. So I urge you to look back at this post and take a look at that cake. 1 year, 16 Wilton classes and countless cakes later I am very pleased with my improvement and again can't say enough about how great the Wilton classes are.

A Snowflake Cake

This past weekend I hosted a holiday brunch for some close family and friends. And of course, I had to make a cake. This was a gingerbread cake with creamy gingerbread frosting. The whole thing was topped in homemade fondant and the snowflakes were piped on the cake freehand with royal icing. I chose to use the rope boarder for the bottom, which I also did in royal icing.

If you're wondering why there is a big space at the top of the cake, that's because there was *supposed* to be a cake topper up there. I made a snowflake out of royal using the color flow technique however it was just too delicate and fell apart as I was taking it off the wax paper. Ahhh well, live and learn.

Besides the cake topper incident I was very pleased with the cake and had SO much fun making the snowflakes. After all, I am one of those rare breed of people who LOVES the snow and loved making my cake look all snowy! And, as I served this cake, snow started falling from the sky in droves which made for quite the conversation starter!

Pea Pod Baby Shower Cake & Cookies

A month or two ago, a family friend asked if I would do a cake for her daughter's upcoming baby shower. The theme of the shower was "A Pea in a Pod" which gave me a lot to work with. However I was nervous at first since this would be the first cake that I would do for someone other then family, and the first one that I'd actually get paid for.

But the cake ended up coming out great and the proud mom and grandmother to be were just so happy and pleased with the end result which made the labor and stress totally worth it. To see the smiles on their faces and their continual praise upon seeing the cake made me feel so beyond happy I can't even express it. I'm so glad they provided me with the opportunity to do my first "real" cake and am grateful that they loved it just as much as I loved making it.

The cake was an almond scented white cake with fresh raspberry filling. I topped that with homemade butter cream and homemade fondant. I made the pea pods out of fondant and the cake topper was also made of fondant (I added in some gum tex to strengthen it).

This was such a fun cake to do and again I was so happy that the mom-to-be loved it!

Autumn Leaves Cake

Over the weekend my family and I joined together in celebration of my aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. My cousin hosted the beautiful party at her house and of course I supplied the cake. Since my aunt and uncle love the fall, I decided to decorate the cake around this beautiful season.

The cake is frosted with chocolate buttercream since my aunt doesn't like fondant (even the homemade stuff!) so of course I would have loved to have gotten it smoother but I just did the best I could and used swiss dots for more visual interest. The leaves were made of fondant and cut out with leaf cookie cutters and then dusted with gold luster dust. I also arranged extra leaves on the cake table at the party.

The party was so much fun and of course my aunt and uncle loved the cake (they even fed each other the first slice of the cake just like they did at their wedding! Awww...)

Anniversary Cake

This past weekend my family and I got together in celebration of my parent's 35th wedding anniversary. I had a small party at my house, and the cooking and entertaining was fun of course, but the biggest part of the weekend (for me at least) was giving them their anniversary cake!

I had it planned for weeks, and watching it come to life was really fun. This was the 1st 3-tiered wedding type cake I've done, so I was admittedly (very) nervous about it, but all in all it came out great and wasn't as hard as I thought!

I did two layers of chocolate cake (one filled with raspberry jam, the other with hazelnut chocolate frosting) and one layer of spice cake filled with blackberries (recipe is forthcoming!) and topped the whole thing with buttercream and homemade marshmallow fondant. The calla lillies, leaves, and "35" on top of the cake were made of gumpaste and brushed with silver luster dust.

In terms of assembling the cake, I just placed each cake on top of a piece of cardboard exactly the size of the cake that sat on it, and placed one wooden dowel in the center of all the cakes (make sure you cut a whole in the center of the cardboard before you put the cake on!) so they didn't slide from side to side. Then on the bottom and middle layers, I studded the cakes with wooden dowels the exact height of the cake to support the layer above it.

The cake was a success, and my parents were very appreciative of it and the party!

Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste Course, Class 4

Last Sunday marked my final class of the Wilton cake decorating course. It's a little sad, I really enjoyed all of the classes. But I feel like I learned so much which is really exciting!

For the last class, I played around with some of my new fondant tools which was fun, and made some gum paste daisies which I think are just the cutest!

If you are thinking about taking the Wilton classes, I really suggest that you do. I can't believe how much I learned and how I can apply the techniques to many different things. I know cake decorating will be a skill that I can use for many, many years to come so in my opinion it's most certainly worth the money on the classes.

A Rainbow Cake!

Since I saw this cake featured on the Omnomicon blog, I have been hoping for an occasion to make it. Most cakes I make don't really scream "rainbow cake," but finally I found an occasion to make it! In the second class of Wilton's Fondant and Gum Paste course, you make a "sampler" cake. You learn how to drape, make garlands and a pretty handkerchief technique. So since the outside of the cake is sort of a mish-mash, I thought the inside could be fun as well! For really awesomely detailed instructions, head over to the Omnomicon blog. Besides making a boat load of dishes, it's really very easy to make. I did use boxed mix just because I wanted the batter to be perfectly white when I started. I also didn't really care about fat-content because I was making this for my co-workers, so I just followed the directions on the box. In addition, I used only egg whites and I used Wilton gel coloring for the rainbow-ing. I iced the cake in traditional buttercream topped with fondant, and the center is chocolate buttercream.

Whatever occasion you choose to make this cake for, enjoy! It will put a smile on everyone's face and you will certainly get the question..."How did you do that?!"

Wilton Course 3, Class 4 (Final Cake)

Well this was by far my favorite class (don't I say that after every Wilton class?!) I had such a ball doing a 2 tiered cake and really having the reins to create exactly what I wanted. I had an idea in my head about what I wanted to do for class for a week or so, but didn't know how everything would come together until I got to class. This class gave me a ton of confidence, and I'm really glad I've been through the 1st 3 courses. Not everything came out perfect (my fondant got wrinkled in some places and my string work wasn't the best), but overall I'm very pleased with it.

Next week I start the Fondant and Gum Paste course (our teacher calls it Course 4 but she says she's not supposed to call it that!) and I'm really excited for that one as well!

Wilton Course 3, Class 2

Yikes! Sorry I've been such a slacker about blogging! I have no other excuse other then I've simply been super busy with work and my home life (my veggie garden requires a lot of TLC!) But I have been cooking like usual and continuing on with my Wilton classes!

I'm finally up to course 3 which I am SO excited about. I love working with fondant and I especially love how it looks on a cake. Class 2 was dedicated to learning about the basics of fondant and assembling our cake with it. We also make the fondant rose which was really fun and came out so pretty. So far course 3 has definitely been my favorite!!!

Wilton Course 2 Final Cake

I haven't been updating you all on my weekly Wilton classes because there is only 1 final cake involved in course 2. Every week you make different royal icing flowers, and then on the final class you learn to do basket weave on the side of the cake and then you arrange the flowers you made from previous classes. I really thought the cake turned out beautiful! The basket weave wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I really like the rope boarder much better then the shell! All in all this was my favorite Wilton class to date! Also, this cake isn't exactly like some of the other course 2 cakes you might see...mainly the absence of the little blue color flow birds! But our instructor has been doing this for SO many years and they used to do the fence, which she liked better. Personally, I liked it better too! The pictures with the fence I took in class, then I went home to get some better shots but I didn't unwrap the fence again. Anyways, I really had a lot of fun with it. I think this cake would be lovely for a tea or garden party with the girls!

Next week: Course 3!

Wilton Course 1, Class 4

I thought that this was by far the best class we took in course 1. It was really fun and the things we learned are things I will most definitely use in the future. The roses were challenging at first, but I think by the end of the class I got better at them! I still have more practice to do, but all and all I was really happy with Course 1. Next week: Course 2!

Wilton Course 1, Class 3

Oh the dreaded clown cake! My instructor insisted that these were cute clowns, but I'm guessing she has to say that because they really aren't. Personally, I hate clowns and I don't have any kids so this cake was a bit of a wash since I'll (probably) never have to use my new found clown making skills again. However, I did learn how to do the shell border and fill up a bag with 2 colors so it was worth it!

Wilton Course 1, Class 2

Since I missed the 1st Wilton class due to my vacation, the 2nd class was technically my first, but we decorated a cake in this one which I was really excited about!

I've been wanting to take the Wilton classes for ages now, but could never find the time/people to go with! So me and 2 other "nesties" got together and are taking the class!

The first class was so much fun but I am SO excited to learn the more difficult techniques. I have a lot of practice to do (ie. writing...I stink at it!!!) but I'm really looking forward to practicing more and more.

Everyone in the class did an Easter themed cake, but I asked my instructor if she had any birthday related patterns since I was bringing the cake into work and had two birthdays early this week! So I did balloons!

I used my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe, but used the "special dark" cocoa powder for something different. I filled it with strawberry mousse, which was a great addition.

All in all I was very happy with the 1st class and am SO excited to continue on with the rest of the Wilton cake decorating classes!