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!!!

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.

 

Lace Inspired...

The instructions for this cake were:

1. A "lacy" looking cake... but not the heavy antique style of lace you get from a mold. 
2. An elegant look... white lace with an ivory or pink background. 
3. This is for a birthday so make sure it doesn't look like a wedding cake.

I wanted to come up with something a little different then the usual type of lace cakes you often see. So I looked around to get some ideas and ran across this web site:  http://www.lavender-cakes.co.uk/
On the home page is a cake that's covered with lots of little cutouts. I really liked this technique and thought it gave the cake a pretty lacy look. So I used it as inspiration for the my birthday cake.

I decided that pink fondant would be a better background for showing off the cutouts. I also thought pink would have less of a wedding cake feel. Needing to keep the look a little less formal, I couldn't decide between using a simple flower or a large bow. Flowers are a little more elegant to me, so I went with a "fantasy" flower. It's made from gumpaste and lightly dusted with pink and green powder.

 I won't lie... cutting out all those little fondant pieces was very time consuming, but I'm sooooo happy with the end result! Such a pretty birthday cake!

Look What I Found!!!

Guess what? I was going through some old pictures and look what I found....

Yeah I know, don't laugh too hard! I made this cake 28 years ago. That was long before I ever had any intention of being a cake decorator!

My husband's birthday falls on the 4th, we were married on the 5th, and my birthday is on the 6th of the same month. So the year we got married, I came up with this idea... I'd bake him a birthday cake and decorate it to look like a wedding cake! That's why there's a corny bride & groom on top, and that's why it says "Got'cha!!!" on the front. Ohhh... the joys of young love!!!

There is absolutely no support system in this cake! It's a miracle it didn't collapsed or crumble into a million pieces. I remember my mom only had two 8" round cake pans, so I improvised and decided to use different sized mixing bowls to bake the cakes in. Are you impressed yet??? Then to top it all off... we took the cake into the back yard, set it in the grass (bugs and all), then took this wonderful picture!

Hahaha, what great memories! I hope you've had fun taking this trip down memory lane with me. I think my cake decorating skills have improved a little since then. But regardless of how it looks, I can honestly say... there was never a cake made with more love!

Red Red Roses

I recently made this wedding cake for a dear friend of my daughter. The bride and groom's nickname for each other was "bug". So they asked if I could put two little ladybugs on one of the rose petals as a symbol of them. If you look carefully at the bottom rose, you'll see the ladybugs. My husband was taking pictures while I was cleaning up, and he forgot to take a close up picture of the ladybugs... darn. So I tried to crop and blow up a shot of the them, but the quality isn't too great. Anyway, I thought those cute little bugs were an adorable idea!

 

This event was held at one of those "high end" restaurants. (I sure wish they'd ironed the linens before putting them on the table. Ugh!) It was kind place we go to maybe.... once every 10 years. The kind of place where you want chew every single bite as slowly as possible... just to savor all the flavors! LOL


As I was putting the cake together, several of the employees came out to see what I was doing. (It makes me a little nervous to have an audience watching my every move. Yikes!)

After I'd finished the cake and was about the leave, the head chef came out. (Double yikes!!) He was wearing the full uniform: tall chef's hat, white pastry jacket, white pants, carrying a white kitchen towel... the whole shabang! He said he'd heard about my cake and wanted to come take a look. (Triple yikes!!!) He asked me a few questions about the cake and was very complimentary to me. (Whew!) He said one day he'd like to take some classes and learn how to make cakes like mine... (Double cheesy grin from me. :D )