Santa's Winter Wonderland Cake

This was a cake that I made for Christmas Eve.

It is a Decadent Chocolate Cake with a peaunut butter filling.

Iced in buttercream and then covered in fondant.

The characters are made from fondant.

Santa's sleigh is made out of modeling chocolate.

Trees are ice cream cones cut to size and then iced with royal icing.

Snowflakes are rolled fondant cut with PME snowflake cutter.

Life is short!

Eat Dessert first!!

Baby Bootie!

I've seen baby bootie's on cakes before and always thought that they were so adorable.   I've never had a reason to make one before.   So, I was very excited when the opportunity to make one came up.   It is surprisingly easy to make one.     All you really need is some gumpaste (or in my case Satin Ice mixed with Tylose powder) and a pattern.   

This is not the finished product as I plan to add a flower design on the front, but I just wanted to share.

Look for the finished cake with more instructions next week.

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

Turkey Dinner Cake

This cake has become a tradition in my family now.   It is so fun to make and I get even more joy out of the kids faces when we cut into it!

Everything is edible!

First I started with a 9x13 chocolate cake and a football shaped cake.

Then carve the chocolate cake to match the football shape.

Use the cut pieces for you stuffing.

"stuffing" is a mixture of spice and chocolate cake cut into cubes.

carrots, peas, and cranberries are just shaped fondant.

wings and drumsticks are rice krispie treats shaped and covered in fondant.

I use a white fondant that I spray with bronze lustre spray.   I then paint it with a mixture of luster dust and clear vanilla.

How would you like this on your table?

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

Fall Leaves and Apples

The bushel basket is made from three layers of a four inch vanilla cake.   I carved the cake slightly to shape more like a basket.   Then covered it in white fondant which I then "painted" with a mixture of food gel coloring and alcohol.    Then I wrapped brown fondant around the sides for the bushel basket effect.

 The apples (I know they look don't look red in the picture, but they were red in real life) were shaped RKT covered in red fondant.   Then I shaped some more.   For the stem, I made a whole in the top with my paintbrush and cut a piece of a tootsie roll to create it.    To make them look a little more realistic, I brushed on some Luster Dust.

If you want people to be able to actually eat the apples, you need to make them the day of the event.   These apples did not make it through the party and everyone was amazed that they could eat them.

The bushel basket was placed on a 12 inch cake filled with chocolate chip buttercream filling.   I used the grass tip for the grass effect around the basket.   The leaves are rolled fondant, cut with small leaf cookie cutters.   Then I added some dimension with my veining tool and then dusted them with several colors of luster dust.   It took me some time to decide on what to do on the sides of the cake,   I went with the brown basket weave buttrcream technique and like the way it came out.   If there is one thing about basket weave, it is true that the more you do it the easier it gets!

Thanks for stopping by!

Life is short, Eat Dessert First!!

Who doesn't love the Wii??

What gamer would not love a Wii birthday cake?

None that I know!

The only question I was asked when this cake was finished....

Where is the TV to play it on?

Come on!!

This was another fun cake to make, 

although it did require some engineering to get it done.

First, I had to calculate how tall and wide the console needed to be.

The finished product

3 inches wide

9 inches long

8 inches tall sloping to 7 1/2 inches

To get the required height, I cut and stacked 2 two layer cakes plated and cut to size.

These cakes were covered in vanilla fondant.

I do think that next time, I may cover them in white modeling chocolate for extra strength.

Over all, I am very pleased with this cake.

Life is short

Eat dessert first!!

Rubber Duckie Your the One

I made a very simple baby shower cake.    Per the request, I used baby rubber duckies on the cake.   This was a fun cake to make.  It was for a small shower, so they only needed an 8 inch round cake which was perfect for the design I used.

After I leveled the cake and dirty iced it, I wrapped it in modelling chocolate that I made to look like wood planks.  I then added blue icing for the water.   After placing the ducks on the cake, I made a bar of soap out of fondant.   Then added fondant bubbles that I used white sparkle dust on.   For the border, I added white buttercream bubbles as well as adding some on the cake.   Put some more white sparkles on the waves in the water and a perfect baby shower cake!

Life is short!

Eat Dessert First!

Racing Tire Cake coming soon!!

Strawberry Cake with Chocolate Vanilla Buttercream

I wanted to try a new recipie for Summer.

I was torn between Lemonade, Cherry, or a Strawberry Cake.

I decided to start with Strawberry.

Good choice!

I also wanted didn't want to make a plain buttercream

and

went with a Chocolate Vanilla Butter cream icing.

Another good choice.

I tinted the icing a pretty shade of pink to match the cake too.

I did pink this time.

Lastly, I wanted to try some new techniques.

The first one I did was a ribbon effect on a 6 inch cake.

This cake was a gift for a special teacher.

 Pink was a good choice for this effect.

Then I did a Petal effect on a 8 inch cake

This is another technique that looks hard

but it is surprisingly easy to make.

To achieve this look

1. pipe a row of circle vertically up the cake.

2.  Take a small spatula and smush down the circle slightly while pulling the spatula to the side.

3.  Continue pattern around the cake.

Then on the other side of the cake.

I wanted to do a basket weave design

Another simple techinique that scares so many to try.

Lastley, I did the paper towel design.

I  just happened to have paper towels in the house with heart designs on them.

It is hard to see in this picture, but they came out perfect.

The trick is to make sure your icing is crusted over enough before attempting this one.

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

A Caste Cake

Castle cakes have a WOW factor.

Castle cakes can be intimidating to make.

But the truth is although time consuming,

they are fun to make and not that difficult.

The trick is to figure out what you will make your towers out of.

Some people like to make them out of stacked ice cream cones.

I, myself, like to make mine out of  Gelatin Icing.

It hardens nicely, but is easy to make and use.

All different,

but following the same steps.

Life is short

Eat dessert first!

Jewlery Box Cake

This was a cake I made for a Jewelry Party that I was having.  

An All American Cake

Happy day after July 4th!

I thought I would share my July 4th cake with you.

Isn't it pretty?

Now if that wasn't patriotic enough....

Wait till you take a piece.

 Impressive isn't it?

The red and blue are Red Velvet Cake

Although, I guess you would call the blue Blue Velvet Cake.

The white is a Elegant White Cake.

The white icing is stabilized whipped cream.

 I can not take the credit for this design as I saw it on another blog

17 and Baking

I do cut my cake a little different  as I stack my blue cake on top of my halved white and red cake.

This way I can make sure to have a perfect fit when putting it all together.

What did you bake for the 4th?

Life is short

Eat dessert first!

Batter Up!!

I got the chance to make another baseball cake recently.

It was fun!

This one was a little different than the first one that  made.

Here is the first one

a

It is covered with rolled buttercream

The hat was made from 6 & 4 inch round pans crreved.

The glove is rice krispie treats (RKT) carved and molded in the shape of a glove

The ball is also RKT, covered in white chocolate to smooth it out,

then covered with white fondant and painted.

The bat is fondant, rolled and painted.

The ball, glove, and hat brim needed to be made in advance for drying time

Here is the one that I just made

This was supposed to be a simpilar cake as it did not have the glove, ball or bat
It also was covered in crusting buttercream.
It was fun to make and I hope to make another one soon!

A Day at the Beach!

I was asked to make a cake for a 13 year old girl who is having a luau themed birthday party.   Originally I was thinking about making a Flip Flop Cake, but then the idea came to do something more tropical.    Nothing says tropical like Palm Trees!

To make my Palm Tree, I rolled out a mixture of gum paste and green fondant.   Using a leaf cutter, I created enough for 6 leaves per tree with extras just in case:)    Then I used a vein tool to create the cuts for each leaf.  Finally, I shaped them as leaves are not just lying limp on the tree.   Finally, I gave them some drying time.

After a few days of drying it was time to create the actual tree.  I used pirouette wafers for the actual tree and attached the leaves layering them to make it look like a Palm Tree.   I think next time, I might make the tree out of gum paste, although I do like the way it came out.   The wafers take less time and still look good.

Now onto the cake!

I baked a 2-layer 8 inch round

and

a 2-layer 4 inch rounds.

The bottom layer became my ocean covered in crusting buttercream  dusted in luster dust and accented with chocolate shells.  

The top layer is surrounded my more pirouette wafers for a bamboo look.  Then I accented it with fondant flowers.   Sand is a mixture of brown sugar and crushed vanilla wafer cookies.

I am happy with the way it it came out.

What do you think?

Life is short

Eat dessert first!

It's Picnic Time

I am really starting to love making shaped cakes.

Last week, I created a hot dog cake and a hamburger cake.

They actually were not hard to make,

but the effect is amazing.

You would not believe the wow's you get by bringing these to a picnic.

 To make the hot dog,

Just bake your normal cake recipe in a loaf shaped pan.

Once cooled, cut the middle for the "hot dog."

My hot dog is a mixture of fondant and gum paste with yellow and brown color added.

I rolled it by hand.   

I was wearing gloves and the gloves gave it just the right texture of a cooked hot dog

The "fries" are pieces of the cake that I cut out of the middle of the loaf cake.

I then just cut them in the right shape of fries.

Tinted fondant the shade of the roll.

We like Potato rolls in my house.

Covered the cake.

Added the hot dog.

The condiments are just pieces of fondant and the ketchup is just red icing/piping gel.

The hamburger was just as easy and fun to make.

Bake 3 round cakes of the same size and one smaller one for the top of the bun.

Level all of your cakes except the smaller round.

Cover your bottom bun in colored fondant.

Cover your "burger" layer in black or chocolate fondant.

I added lines on the side of my burger for effect.

Then stack this on top of your bottom bun.

I then rolled out some green fondant very thin for my lettuce   Do not cut the ends straight as lettuce should not have a straight cut.   

Roll orange/red fondant out thicker (depending on how you slice your tomatoes).  

Then add your onions, mayo, lettuce, and what ever else you like on your burgers.

Viola!

Life is short

Eat Dessert First!

Purse Cake

Well I did it!

I do like the way it came out,

Don't you?

Even though I do think it came out really well and cute,

I would do a few things differently.

Only to make it easier on myself.

For the cake, I did bake the 2 loaf pans.

Froze them.

Shaped them

and

Finally iced it.

This I would do exactly the same

as I do like the shape of this purse.

I then made panels to cover each side.

I probably would do this the same as I do like the look.

How I would make my life easier though is BEFORE I ice the cake,

I would make templates to make it easier to make the panels.

Now onto my lovely handle.

You remember me talking about that yesterday.

Don't you?

Next time, before making them I would know exactly where I wanted them on my cake.

I broke one of my two handles that I made.

I need to make another spare today on the off chance it breaks on the way to the party.

Life is short

Eat Dessert first!

Purse Handles

I'm making a purse cake for this weeekend.

Actually, I'm making a much bigger cake than that,

but the plan also includes a purse cake.

I'm very excited and nervous about it.

I've googled "How to make a purse cakes"

I only got 11,400,000 matches:)

Obviously, I didn't check them all out,

but it felt like it!

Origonly, I thought that I would make Two eight inch round pans.

Cut the bottom off,

glue the sides together with buttercream

and stand up.

As much as I liked this idea,

what I went with is baking two loaf pans.

I will stack them, shape them, and I think they will be much more sturdy.

Now, earlier in the week I started my preperation.

I made 2 purse handles out of fondant.

They looked good, 

but this was a big mistake to make them out of fondant.

As they did not harden enough and broke.

Ooops.

Luckily,  I made them with a little time to spare.

What I did is made another set

(the Heir and the spare)

I made them out of fondant again,

but this time I added Tylose  Powder to it.

Then I put them on a cookie tray to dry.

Put the tray in the oven with the light on.

DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON!.

They dried so nicely and I can't wait t carve the cake today.

Life is short

Eat Dessert First!

A rose by any other name is still a rose!

At least I think....

I did something tonight that I ave wanted to do for a LONG, LONG, LONG time.

Why haven't I done it before?

Well, I'm not really sure

except to say maybe because if you don't tr,

you can't fail.

But tonight, I bit the bullet and did it.

I made my first fondant rose.

I watched several Utube videos.

This one really inspired me

http://youtu.be/CBWYlklg6AU

Anyway,

I'm happy with how mine came out

The beginning.

 How a petal starts out

Add several layers of petals 

and

Viola!

A Rose!!

What do you think?

Life is short

Eat Dessert First

Is is Spring or is it Fall because I smell Pumpkin!

Yes, it is spring.

No, it does not feel like it at all.

Today,  wore sandals just because I felt it the right thing to do.

That being said, my feet were freezing because it feels like fall.

Therefore, I have decided to embrace fall with

Pumpkin Bread!

Nothing smells like fall like the smell of pumpkin muffins baking in the oven.

Yum, Yum, Yum!!

I will say that I did not come up with this recipe and I'm not really sure where it came from.

Sorry that I can not give credit where credit is due.

I will say that they are super yummy and worth the effort!

So even if it is supposedly Spring,

We can at least enjoy the bounty of a good harvest!

Life is short,

Eat Dessert First!

Scrapbooking that you Eat!

I am no Cake Boss nor am I Ace of Cakes.

What I am is a self taught baker with a passion to create.  

I have always been creative and looked for Creative outlets.   

For years that outlet was my scrapbooking which I still love, but then I realized that I could use these same creative genes in my kitchen.   

I often refer to my cakes as

"Scrapbooking that you Eat"

I will admit that my baking has taken on a life of it's own.  

I started simple.   

Baking simple cakes for my family.

Before my first son was born, I even took an introduction cake decorating class.   

I really didn't use it much and really only took it because my sister-in-law didn't want to take it by herself.  

I thought it was fun, but left it at that.

Fast Forward

Years

and

many cakes later....

I have found another creative passion and outlet.

So, I invite you to come on my journey with me

as I learn,

try new techniques

and

bake!

Life is Short

Eat Dessert first!!