Jungle and Under the Sea

I made this cake for my niece. The design was all her idea! She sketched it all out on a paper for me. I tried to make it as close to her concept as possible. This cake was SO fun to make and it was a bit of a challenge for myself. Happy Birthday Nats!

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake

I made this cake for an acquaintance of mine. She called me two days before, wanting a two tiered white fondant cake to celebrate her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I was very excited because I'd never done a cake for anything other than a birthday, AND I had just bought a new Wilton stencil set I was DYING to try out.
Well, I definitely gained experience using the stencils. It was actually quite fun!
I made the cake from "semi-scratch," meaning I used cake mix as a base and then doctored it up using a recipe I found online. The result was a very moist and workable cake. It called for Almond extract but I wasn't sure any of Kathy's guests would have peanut allergies, so I opted to leave it out. It was delicious anyway!
She brought me the cake topper the night before. I think it was hilarious!

It's All About Giving Back

I'm so excited to share this news! The principal at my daughters' school asked if I could make cupcakes for the church jamaica. I said YES! So I made 100 mini cupcakes. I had been dying to try out a new cupcake flavor. Plus, I was curious to see if there is a market in East LA for fresh non-store-bought cupcakes. So, what better chance than this?
I made four kinds: Irish Cream, Lemon Daisy, Loaded Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercream.







All I can say is WOW! I never thought that custom cupcakes would be such a hit! As soon as my dad exited my car with trays full of cupcakes, people began calling out to him asking how they could get their hands on one, or two, or three... My dad is such a character! All he said was I don't know, I'm taking them over there to that booth. Then what? People started FOLLOWING him! OMG! Here are some pictures of the ladies rushing the cute cuppies.






Here is the principal, proudly holding a tray of goodies! She was so thankful, and I was so happy to make them for such a good cause!

Graduation Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my cousin's daughter's high school graduation. I looked around online and kind of combined my favorite aspects of different graduation cupcakes I found.
My cousin said the graduation gowns were going to be light grey so I got rolling with the fondant. Making the caps was actually very easy. For the base of the cap, I rolled out some fondant and used my pizza cutter to cut 2 inch strips at about every 1/3 of an inch. Then I just pinched the two ends together and set them aside. For the top of the cap, I rolled out my fondant thick, about 1/5 of an inch. Then I used my pizza cutter again to cut squares, with one of the sides at a bit of an angle.
With that drying, I filled my piping bag with brite white buttercream frosting and tip 1M and I swirled one after the other. Then, I positioned the base of the cap an an angle, making sure to dig into the frosting a little. I filled the base with some more frosting and placed the top of the cap on.
For the diploma, I rolled the fondant a little thinner. I cut rectangles about 1"x1 1/4" and just rolled them like little tacos. It just seemed like something was missing because the diplomas were white and were sitting on white frosting. So, I remembered my cousin said that the other color was navy blue.
I cut thin strips of dyed blue fondant and rolled them into mini-roses. Then, I secured them with frosting.
Finally, I mixed some green frosting and piped leaves on either side of the rose. My cousin, her daughter and all the guests loved them.

Two-Tier Fondant Hello Kitty Cake

My friend Crystal asked me to make a Hello Kitty Cake for her daughter Nadia who turned 6. It had been a while since I made a cake. I was really looking forward to it. I think it came out rather nice.
At first, I was debating whether to ice it with frosting, but although fondant is more challenging and is physically more strenuous, I prefer the look and now I'm glad I chose it.
I went to Michael's and bought the big box of white fondant. I swear this is the last time I use the Wilton brand. It's just SO hard to knead and dye. When I watch the tutorials, the Satin brand looks so much more pliable that I know for sure I'll be using that brand next.
So, this is the cake I was asked to make. My friend was rather flexible. She said to make something "like" it, so I decided to eliminate so many of the colors to make sure it all tied together. Just like when designing a piece of marketing material or a webpage, the less colors and mixes of font types, the better - as far as design goes anyway.
I had the wires in my hand at the store already, but even then, I just wasn't completely convinced. This cake looks real busy and the way I remember Hello Kitty from the 80's is thick lines and simple illustrations.
Crystal said she wanted strawberry filling. I used the crushed strawberries they sell at Costco. They're already sweetened and I think it gives the filling a sweeter flavor than fresh strawberries. So, in this cake, there's three layers in each tier. I made the mix from scratch and baked each layer individually -- no cutting. This kind of back-fired on me because when I was stacking the layers, I noticed that they were not very soft. I hoped that once I put the icing and filling in and around, they'd soak a little over night.
My schedule went like this:

• Friday: Bake, fill, stack, frost and cover in fondant.
  
• Saturday: Make fondant decorations and add final touches.

On Friday, I worked from 10am till 11:30pm, with breaks in between of course. Then Saturday, I was able to wake up at 8am, have breakfast and then get to work.
I think the result was worth it. The party was to start at 12:30pm and I was done by 11am. My sister, Terry, did the honors of delivering this massively heavy cake.

Oh Finally!

Finally, a chance to bake! My cousin asked me to make her some cupcakes. She is throwing a party in the jungle theme and had an exact idea in mind. Well, here is the result...

Piped green "shrubbery" with an animal sucker I bought from Oriental Trading, and a tree made with a pretzel.

Have I Lost My Mojo?

I can barely remember the last time I baked! It was some cookies I made for my kids' teachers and my husband's work - for Christmas! I know to some of you it doesn't seem like a long time, but to me-- ages.
I have to think of a new project. Williams-Sonoma had this cute cookie-cutter set on SUPER sale. I just opened it a couple of days ago (the box sat in my kitchen for over a week!). It was better than I expected.

So, stay tuned for my next baking adventure!