Fall Cake

My last blog post was all about the tragedy of my poor broken dahlia. Well, here's the cake where my dahlia is now lives... 

Happy fall!!! :)

Pink & Lace Cake

I love it when things come together better then expected!!! 

Usually I have a pretty clear picture in my head of how a cake will turn out. Sometimes I'm excited and eager to get started on it... at other times I'm a little worried. I'll have to admit, that I was worried about this one. The cake pictures I had to work with were two completely different types. One cake was modern and minimalistic in it's style; while the other was very frilly, delicate, and more traditional. I just couldn't imagine the two styles combined together into one. But when all was said and done... I was very pleased! Oh Happy Day!!!!!

I placed a pearl border around the top edge of each tier. Then I added another pearl trim above the row of lace points. (Someone else called them lace "scoops"...LOL.) The pearls seemed to pull the two looks together very well.

So, my son had the camera. He likes to take pictures of me while I'm setting up the cakes. Sometimes the looks on my face are... well... not very flattering. You know when you get in "the zone", and you're unaware of everything else around you? Apparently, I pull some strange faces when I concentrate really hard. My face isn't too bad in this picture... so I decided to post it. Maybe one day I'll post the ugly ones too. (Yeah right, maybe when pigs fly. LOL)

Monogram & Roses

Monogram + Roses = Simply Elegant! 

Some people think I'm crazy... but I LOVE doing large wedding cakes! Don't get me wrong, large cakes can be much more stressful to make, deliver, and set up. Mainly because soooooo many things can go wrong!!! But I find that the larger size gives me much more of a "canvas" to work on and more space to create and decorate.

When you see a 4 plus tier wedding cake set up at a reception, the larger size really stands out and can become a beautiful focal point for the room.

This was a red velvet cake with white chocolate truffle filling. YUM! As the bride and groom cut into this cake, the bright red color really stood out and looked amazing next to the pale colors of the fondant.

The rose topper and monogram plaque were made several days before the wedding. So when the time cake to put them on the cake, they were completely dry and easily set into place.

The Grand America

I recently delivered a cake to the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. It's really a beautiful hotel and an absolutely gorgeous venue for a wedding reception.

The bride chose white and gold as her colors. The architecture of the room was designed with gold detailing in mind. There was gold in the paint, the mirrors, the lighting, the chandelier, the furniture, the fabric, and even the grand embellishments on the walls. So I brushed the edges of the top fantasy flower with gold to help bring everything together. The room was really breathtaking!

You might be asking yourself.... "How many little flowers did she make to cover that cake????"

 Over 650!!!!  .......Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see were tiny flowers!   ;)

My Son's Wedding & Cake

I'm a mother-in-law!!! It's hard to believe... seems like only yesterday that I was the newlywed. But then I remind myself that next year will be my 30th wedding anniversary! This doesn't mean I'm getting old does it??? Wait... don't answer that question!  ;)

Earlier this month, my son got married to a wonderful young lady. I'm very happy and excited for the two of them. Their wedding day was beautiful and everything turned out better than we'd even hoped for.

 In case you were wondering... yes, I made their wedding cake! Some people tried to convince me not to make it. They said it would put too much stress and pressure on me then send me over the edge! Well, I really wanted to make their cake! (I can be a little feisty at times... by the way.) So I gave myself plenty of time and planned out a VERY detailed schedule! All in all I learned one thing about myself... if I really want to do something, then I'll find a way to do it! (Like I said... I can be a little feisty at times!)

They wanted their cake to be five 6" tiers with two 1" spacers. The colors were peach and gray. They asked for Sahara and Vendella roses, large open white ranunculus with green centers, and peach/green blushed hydrangeas. They were worried about the color gray not showing up enough in the cake so we covered the 1"spacers with gray fondant and added gray berries to the floral design. I also made a pale gray/green leaf (kind of like the lambs ear plant) to further incorporate gray into the floral design. I added a fondant wrap accented with silver dragees at the base of three tiers. Someone said to me, "I guess if your mom's the cake decorator, then the sky's the limit!" I suppose they're right! LOL

From the base of the plateau to the top of the flowers this cake measured about 41-1/2" tall.

A view from the other side.

Close up of the flowers on the base tier.

A fun angle from the top looking down as I put on more flowers.

One of the large open ranunculus.

Adding the final details.

As I was setting up the cake, a video was playing in the background of the bride and groom. The video showed many pictures of them from their births to their engagement. It was accompanied by beautiful love songs. This was the first time I'd seen the video. OH MY GOSH!!!! Seeing those pictures... especially the baby pictures of my son made me a little, kind of, slightly, quite, very... OK OK OK extremely emotional! In fact I was crying so hard, that I couldn't even see the cake because of all the tears! Didn't you notice the huge bags under my eyes in this picture?!? I'm such a mom...*sigh.

Luckily I pulled myself together before the reception that night.

The bride and groom cutting their cake.

Me and my hubby of almost 30 years!

My 17 yr old son caught the garter.  He's was so cute... a little embarrassed and not quite sure what to do with it.

Their first dance as husband and wife.

The mother and son dance.

Here are my other three children. They're all awesome kids!!! And I know... they don't look like each other at all!

Instead of throwing rice or blowing bubbles... they wanted a shower of sparklers to send them on their way.

If I had it to do over, would I make their wedding cake again? Absolutely... it was a labor of love and I enjoyed every moment. The key to making it possible was "planning and preparation". And of course being a little bit feisty never hurts!

It was an amazing day for two awesome people! I wish them nothing but the best for their future life together!!!

And the Answer is.....

On my last post I asked you to look at the picture and try to guess what I was making. Well, I'm sad to say that no one got it right... in fact no one even commented or dared to guess!!! I can't say that I blame you for not trying, they really were weird looking things! LOL

Ok, you've waited long enough. Here's the answer.... BUZZARDS!!!!!! :D

I had a total blast doing this cake! My client asked for an "Over the Hill" birthday cake, but gave me the freedom to decorate it anyway I wanted. Preferring to make something besides the usual "Grim Reaper/grave yard" or the "Road of Life" cake, I decided to go out on a limb. (Hahaha... get it? Buzzards.... tree... limb! Hahaha) So this is what I came up with:

As I put this cake together, I caught myself giggling out loud several times. When I saw the buzzard on top of the cake with his head hanging down right above the "You Old Buzzard" sign... it just make me chuckle! I laughed so much that my daughter thought I was loosing it! They loved the cake and I found that helping someone celebrate their 40th birthday was a real hoot!!!

Get it? Hoot... bird... buzzard? Ok... I'm done. ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Precious Baby Shower

 Babies are a blessing... 

This cake was for a couple who've been trying to have a baby for 8 years! I'm so happy for them and the sweet little girl they'll welcome into their home. I designed this cake to match the bedding they chose for her nursery.

This color scheme was fun to work with. It's a little different then the usual pinks and blues... but still very dainty.

The cake board was stamped with a whimsical floral design.

This was my first attempt at making baby shoes... they're happy little things that just make me smile! :D

The Cake That Would Not Quit!

Squeeeeeel! I'm beyond happy and excited... they picked my cake!!!

This is the cake that would not quit...  I say this because several times during it's construction I tried to quit, not finish it, and just walk away!  

Last year Cake Central held a "Wedding Cake of the Year" contest. They ended up choosing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners plus 4 Honorable Mentions. I was fortunate enough to be one of the Honorable Mention cakes they published in their magazine! Squeeeeeeel (again)!

The grand prize for this contest was worth $2000, so I figured there would be a million entries. (OK, so that's an exaggerated number, but I'm sure there were a lot!) I debated for several months whether or not to even enter... but eventually convinced myself that it was a great opportunity. My only goal was to try and get published in their magazine.

The contest deadline was November 30th, but by mid November I was not as far along as I'd hoped. A few days before Thanksgiving I realized I had a decision to make:  Either spend the entire holiday weekend pushing myself to get this cake done; or quit, relax, and just enjoy the time with my family. I decided to enjoy the time with my family..... so no cake.

A few days after Thanksgiving, Cake Central announced that the deadline had been moved back to December 31st. "Wow!" I thought, "Maybe I can finish this cake after all." I'd already invested a lot of time into the design and making the gumpaste flowers. So I made up my mind to give it another shot.

For the next couple of weeks I worked on the cake whenever I could. But December can be very unpredictable, and my Christmas shopping didn't go as planned. Well, everything that could go wrong... did go wrong. UGH! December's deadline was creeping up on me too fast, and I was waaaaaaay behind schedule. So once again... I debated whether I should even try to finish.

Several days later I drove to my local cake decorating store to buy more tylose and food coloring. While there, I walked past the cake dummies and checked to see what they had. The store was low on supplies and didn't have what I needed. I already knew that there wasn't enough time to order dummies online. So it just confirmed to me that I wouldn't be able to finish my cake. I have to admit that I felt a little sad but realized it was out of my hands.

As I was checking out, the store employee asked if I'd found everything I needed? At first I said yes, but then stopped and told her that I couldn't find cake dummies in the right sizes. She mentioned that they'd be getting a new shipment in right after the first of the year. I explained to her that I was entering a contest and needed the dummies before January. She thought for a minute... then said she wanted to go check in the back to see what was there.

A couple of minutes later she returned carrying 2 cake dummies in her arms. She said, "It's your lucky day! The only dummies we had left were the exact sizes you need!" Wow! I thought to myself. This must be a sign... maybe I'm supposed to finish this crazy cake after all. LOL! 

I went home that day determined to finish. After working very hard and putting in some extra time... my cake was finally done! This was on December 31st... the last day. I quickly set up a backdrop and lighting then started taking pictures. After finishing the photos, I looked at the clock and it was 5:00 pm. Whew! What a feeling of relief... I was finally done. Best of all, I was very happy with the end result!

I had 7 hours left to send my information to their website. "That's plenty of time." I said to myself. So I began uploading my pictures... but there was a problem. It wasn't working! I tried and tried for quite a while but with no luck!!!  Something was wrong. By this time I was getting frantic! I'd been through so much with this cake. Now if I couldn't enter the contest because of a computer glitch??? I didn't even want to think about it!

After a bazillion attempts, (OK... I'm exaggerating again but that's what it felt like!) I decided to email Cake Central explaining my problem. All I could do now was sit back and wait as the clock ticked closer and closer to the midnight deadline!

Finally, after waiting a couple of hours (It seemed like a lifetime!), I received an email back. They sent me instructions with an alternate way to submit my information. So I tried once again and... Voila! Upload successful! OH HAPPY DAY!!!  ;D

Starting to put it all together.

 The cake had to be at least 18" high. So they wanted a picture of me, with a ruler, showing the height.

 To help the judges remember my cake, I needed to find a way to make it standout from the others. 

So I decided to push the limits with the color scheme.

Lime green, burgundy, and coral... not colors I would normally put together. In fact, I was very worried about how the cake would look once everything was assembled. It wasn't until I'd completely finished that I felt it pulled together and actually "worked".

I wanted to add an elegant Victorian influence to the design. So I made an old fashioned broach, used a damask design, and finished the detail with dragees and a few mini flowers.

Cabbage roses, tea roses, green cymbidium orchids, hydrangeas, green daisies, berries, and filler flowers. Just in case you're wondering... Yes, it took a long time to make all these flowers!

The little medallions that go around the outside of the two shorter layers were made from white chocolate pearls and silver dragees. I think I started seeing double after making them!

 I was so happy with the end result. Seeing the cake turn out as I'd hoped was a great feeling. If I hadn't finished decorating it, I probably would have kicked myself forever!

The cake in Cake Central Magazine.